Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel continues to steer the NBA in 3-pointers made and stays on the high of the Kia Rookie Ladder.
The nearer we get to the tip of the common season, the extra we hear from varied precincts in regards to the extra deserving alternative for Kia Rookie of the Year.
The two favorites, as they’ve been a lot of the season, are the Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel and the Dallas Mavericks’ Cooper Flagg. After the previous Duke teammates, the Philadelphia 76ers’ VJ Edgecombe has been a fixture on the Kia Rookie Ladder’s No. 3 rung, neither rising nor going through any critical problem for that spot.
Several NBA heavyweights reported in just lately, sharing their takes on the hotly contested rookie race. A panel on Amazon Prime featured John Wall, Steve Nash and Blake Griffin all making arguments on Knueppel’s behalf.
“No one expected him to be as good as he is. He surprised everybody,” Wall stated. “He should be clear-cut Rookie of the Year.”
Many, nevertheless, don’t concur. Former NBA wing Iman Shumpert likened this 12 months’s Flagg-Knueppel battle to the one in 2004 when LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony each have been placing up deserving numbers.
One parallel he famous: Knueppel helps his staff chase a playoff spot, much like what Anthony did for Denver. Flagg’s staff is lottery-bound, identical as James’ Cavs on the finish of his rookie season. Shumpert was hardly definitive in his breakdown of the race.
“I get that they have similar numbers,” he stated, (*3*)
A way of James’ presumed greatness gained out over Anthony’s staff affect. Anthony scored extra, rebounded extra, and shot higher throughout the board than James. The Nuggets gained eight extra video games than Cleveland. Yet James bought 78 first-place votes and 508 factors to win the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy to Anthony’s 40 and 430.
Here is the most recent version of the Kia Rookie Ladder:
Weekly recap
- When Flagg put up 27 factors, six rebounds and 10 assists at Cleveland on Sunday, he turned the second-youngest participant in NBA historical past with such a efficiency (25+ factors, 5+ rebounds and 10+ assists). James did it in December 2003, 10 days earlier than turning 19.
- Just as some rookies have pale – or been waylaid by accidents or held again by the max-games restrict on two-way gamers – so have others perked up or seized alternatives down the stretch. Sacramento’s Nique Clifford and Washington’s Will Riley have logged probably the most minutes since Feb. 1. Utah’s Ace Bailey is the fifth in factors per sport (15.1) since that date. Kings’ heart Maxime Raynaud (9.1) has grabbed probably the most rebounds, and Walter Clayton Jr. (6.2) has been the highest help man.
- New Orleans heart Derik Queen has seen his stats dip since Feb. 1, all the way down to tenth in rebounding, twentieth in assists and tied for 18th in scoring. He ranked first, second and seventh in these classes through Jan. 31. But the Pelicans’ 8-4 run of their final 12 video games has taken among the potential warmth off their younger large. Everyone is aware of the Pelicans traded their first-round choose to Atlanta for the possibility to maneuver as much as choose Queen. But as their lottery odds go down, there may be much less stress on Queen to repay like a No. 1, 2 or 3 choose.
Storyline to observe
From Flagg to checkered flag. Whatever lead Knueppel has in voters’ minds for ROY in all probability is a slim one, identical as on the Ladder. Flagg missed eight video games with a left foot sprain by and previous the All-Star break, however now he’s been again for eight (18.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 6.6 apg, 2.2 spg+bpg). Both the Hornets and the Mavericks have 13 video games remaining, as of Wednesday, loads of time for one to get scorching or overachieve sufficient to swing votes his manner.
(All stats by Tuesday, March 17)
1. Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
Season stats: 19.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.4 apg
Last Ladder: No. 1
Draft pick: No. 4
Knueppel continued his environment friendly methods within the Hornets’ blowout of Miami Tuesday, scoring 22 factors in 23 minutes whereas making eight of his 14 pictures. It was his twenty eighth sport this season, scoring 20+ whereas capturing 50% or higher. The Charlotte ahead added two extra 3-pointers to his league-leading total of 238, on 43.7% accuracy.
2. Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Season stats: 20.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.5 apg
Last Ladder: No. 2
Draft pick: No. 1
With guard Kyrie Irving ruled out for the rest of the season, Mavs followers gained’t get to see any two-man magic between him and Flagg. But Flagg advised ESPN in an interview this week that Irving has been a invaluable useful resource for him off the courtroom, commiserating in regards to the quantity of losses most No. 1 picks are likely to undergo. “I’d never lost that much in my life,” Flagg advised Malika Andrews. “But just to hear him … tell me that I’m doing everything I need to be doing and just to stay with it and stay positive, it definitely helped me out a lot.”
3. VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
Season stats: 15.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.9 apg
Last Ladder: No. 3
Draft pick: No. 3
Edgecombe finds methods to contribute nightly, whether or not scoring, defending or doing one thing else. Some extent of emphasis currently has been rebounding, and he’s averaging a couple of additional board per sport for the reason that All-Star break. After he grabbed his season excessive of 12 in opposition to Portland Sunday, the rookie stated: “They get on me about it. [Assistant coach Doug] West especially tells me I got to rebound. He’ll be like, you jump too high not to be able to grab rebounds. And that allows me to get into transition, or at least create something for somebody.”
4. Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
Season stats: 11.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.3 apg
Last Ladder: No. 5
Draft pick: No. 42
Raynaud has inspired some comparisons to former Kings large males who introduced their NBA arrivals with robust rookie seasons, such as DeMarcus Cousins, Marvin Bagley, Brian Grant and Jason Thompson. And the truth that he has finished it out as the No. 42 choose makes it all of the extra spectacular. His 23 factors on 11-for-12 capturing Saturday, adopted by a career-high 32 factors Tuesday, are simply the most recent examples.
5. Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
Season stats: 11.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.8 apg
Last Ladder: No. 4
Draft pick: No. 2
Harper missed two video games with a proper calf contusion and was energetic Tuesday to face Sacramento. Teammate Victor Wembanyama just lately paid Harper a praise when addressing a legendary “re-draft” of the Class of 2025. “I have zero doubt that if there was a re-draft today, we would take him,” Wembanyama stated. “He’s so good, so composed, I’m so happy that Dylan is super young and can be there for years and years because I want to share the court with him for as long as possible.”
The subsequent 5
6. Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 13.3 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.8 apg
Last Ladder: No. 7
Draft pick: No. 11
The Grizzlies’ give attention to the draft lottery and subsequent season has prioritized growing the Washington State rookie’s ability set. “At his size, he is able to do some intriguing things,” Memphis coach Tuomas Iisalo stated. “He is a good on-ball creator. You’ll see him go full court, get the rebound, which he is very good at for his position, [and] push down in three seconds. He’ll get to the rim on the other end and finish. Athletically, defensively, he makes some really rare plays for a 2-guard where he is coming from the weakside and blocking centers that are trying to finish inside.”
7. Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz
Season stats: 12.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.7 apg
Last Ladder: No. 8
Draft pick: No. 5
Bailey was off to a quick begin in opposition to Portland on Friday (eight factors in seven minutes, flawless capturing) when he suffered a concussion and was misplaced for the evening and for Sunday’s sport at Sacramento. He was nonetheless listed as questionable for the Jazz’s sport on Wednesday at Minnesota.
8. Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 11.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 3.8 apg
Last Ladder: No. 6
Draft pick: No. 13
It was a tough week for Queen, who averaged simply 4 factors, 5 rebounds and 15.8 minutes whereas capturing 30% general. If solely New Orleans performed Dallas extra typically — Queen averaged 14.8 factors, 7.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists of their 4 conferences with the Mavs.
9. Jeremiah Fears, New Orleans Pelicans
Season stats: 13.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.2 apg
Last Ladder: No. 9
Draft pick: No. 9
Fears turned in considered one of his greatest video games Monday vs. Dallas, with 17 factors, six boards, 5 assists and a plus-18, considered one of solely seven in double digits within the black (in comparison with 23 within the minus pool by 10 or extra).
10. Javon Small, Memphis Grizzlies
Season stats: 8.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.8 apg
Last Ladder: Not ranked
Draft pick: No. 48
A moribund season for Memphis hasn’t gotten in the best way of Small’s improvement. The 23-year-old level guard from South Bend, Indiana — together with three excessive faculties and three school groups — has made probably the most of his reps. He has had 11 of his 13 double-digit scoring video games and logged 401 of his 607 minutes since Feb. 1.
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Steve Aschburner has written in regards to the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, discover his archive here and follow him on X.
