The All-Star break is here and it’s time to take stock of the rookie class. Here are the five best first-year players to date.
We’ve hit the point of the NBA season where the vast majority of the Association’s players can go on vacation. This break is particularly important for rookies who are trying desperately to avoid “hitting the wall.” The five guys we’ll detail in this piece have shown zero signs of slowing down thus far.
You won’t see any rookies in the All Star Game itself, but several will be involved in other festivities during the weekend in Charlotte. Keep a close eye on the Rising Stars game and the Skills Competition if you want to check out some of your favorite first-year pros.
While All Star weekend is a great spectacle, it’s the regular season games that really define how a player is progressing. Each of our top five players have meant an awful lot to their franchises at the halfway mark of the 2018/19 regular season.
5. Marvin Bagley
Full credit to Bagley for getting better as the season has progressed. He looked lost early, but now he’s showing real signs of breaking out for the Kings.
Bagley has been particularly good on the offensive end of the floor. He’s becoming a double-double machine and he openly tells reporters that the game is “slowing down” for him. There’s no reason to think he won’t be an effective offensive force for years to come.
Unfortunately, he’s the slow one on the defensive end of the floor. He lacks the foot speed to guard players out on the perimeter and he’s not an effective rim protector either. That limits his ceiling moving forward. The Kings can safely count on him to be a starter moving forward, but expecting stardom is too ambitious for Sacramento’s front office.