Alex Hoops
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
A lot of Rookie of the Year comes down to timing. And you can either...
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
popping early seems to help a lot like guys who are good quick helps a lot but if you're not able to sustain like a baseline level of like solidness it seems like you can taper off really easily and I think that's kind of what's happened here with with guys like Jalen Wells where it's like he hasn't been bad not at all he's been he's just been fine he's been contributing in a pretty limited role because the Grizzlies are just healthy at this point and it's
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
The need for Jalen Wells has gone down. That's not to say his production necessarily has diminished or fallen off of a cliff. It's just the loudness of Jalen Wells is not quite there anymore. And I think there's such a... there's such a balance of how loud is your production and how long are you able to sustain that production?
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
It's like, are you a starter or are you a guy who's the seventh man in the rotation? Yeah. It's going to be a lot easier for a Zachary research or a Steph castle to to maintain that buzz over an 82 game season than it is for a guy like Jalen Wells, where he's only playing 26 minutes a night, um, for a guy like Kalel, where playing 26 minutes a night and not necessarily, um,
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
you know, always getting the usage that those guys are getting.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
Okay. So who I would take number one and who I think will be the best are two different answers. Give me, give me who you think. Okay, sure. Yeah, go for it. So I know this is controversial. If I am your average NBA team trying to contend in a vacuum. All right. I'm probably taking Zachary research.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
So that's your number one pick, right? I think the fact that Zachary Reese O'Shea went number one, I think that's totally reasonable. I understand there are other guys with higher upside, but the fact that his production is where it is at 19 years old and he's contributing... at a positive level already, I'm like, cool, I'll take that from a number one overall pick.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
It was funny in the fourth quarter because it seemed like The Pacers, you could tell the Pacers really wanted to win. Miles Turner was clamping up. His defense was fantastic. On offense, they were just really clicking at the right time. Everything was going right. Then the Lakers, it was like,
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
People are like, he might be like, he gets a lot of Michael Porter Jr. comps, he gets a lot of Klay Thompson comps. I'm like, if you get that with the number one overall pick, that's fine. That's totally fine. For 99% of NBA teams, that's totally fine. Now, best player, who I think will be the best. There is only one player that I have watched this year where I watch him
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
OK, first one caveat is probably Jared McCain. I think Jared McCain is going to be the best, but he's hurt. So I'm not going to include him. Yes, it's probably going to be him, though. He would run away with rookie of the year right now.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
OK, aside from him, the only guy that I've watched this year where I've his play like gives me star vibes and he does like star things where I'm like, whoa, I can't believe you just did that on an NBA court against NBA defenders and like
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
are helping win games while doing this crazy stuff right dude it's modest buzellus wow yeah i love it just i am blown away by some of the stuff that he does and maybe part of it is like me longing for the g league ignite to have one good thing come out of it yeah and uh i mean i understand jonathan cominga is like technically you know he was still a good player but like
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
I just really want there to be a star from the G League Ignite emerge from the ashes. And maybe that's Modest Booz Ellis, but he... Like you said, I'm working on a video on him right now. And just... the willingness to try some of the stuff that he does, like the audacity to do some of the things that he does with the basketball. I'm like, you've got it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
I don't know if you're, it's like, it's kind of, um, Who is it for the jazz?
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
Other guard. I can't think of his name. Oh, Keontae George. Keontae George. There you go. It's like Keontae George syndrome where I don't know if you'll ever be efficient, but holy cow, you've got the star gene. Right. Where you do star things, but the ball does not fall in the basket at a star rate. Yeah. That's kind of my thing with Booz Ellis. I'm like, the flashes are there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
He's doing the things. It's like, does the ball go in the hoop enough? And does he get enough opportunity to put it all together?
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
they put their foot on the gas and they went really hard for like two or three minutes in the fourth quarter. And then at one point it was like, they kind of just stopped playing defense and the Pacers got like, like six straight points at the rim, just like early offense driving past the front line. And then there was nobody in the paint. And I was like,
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
Come on, like the Lakers want to win or not? And then they pulled it out at the end there. But man, heartbreaking if you're a Pacers fan, that's for sure.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
So a couple of things with that, I think one, it kind of depends on your definition of like a deep playoff run, because there's like, You know, if they ran into OKC early, like first or second round, that's a tough sell for me. I'd be like, I don't know if that might be a bridge too far. But this team is not a team that I envisioned getting first-rounded.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
Just based on the talent that they have at their disposal. Like, it's Luka and LeBron. Luca doesn't really seem to get first-rounded lately, recently in his career. And so, as far as the basketball of it all, I think what the Lakers have done... is they're not necessarily going to be the most perfectly constructed team. Like we said, they don't have a truly reliable defensive anchor.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
They're doing like band-aids on bullet wounds with Jackson Hayes and doing like... They're getting by. But what's more important than that to me that the Lakers have done is they have given LeBron and Luka enough stuff that synergizes with their strengths that it's like... Yeah, this team is not constructed perfectly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
There's a lot of flaws, but it's like at this point with what they have, the name of the game is double down on our strengths and try to hide our weaknesses as much as we can. And they do a good job of it. They end up in a lot of high blood pressure moments like tonight, but... But they have the guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
I think they're a team that's just... They're designed to punch other teams in the mouth and catch them off guard. Just their fast style of play and the... the high octane level that their offense can reach where they're just going to rain threes on you. And there's kind of nothing you can do about it. And then like, you also have Benedict Matherin who had some really great moments tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
I thought, obviously there was, there was a couple of moments here and there where like, he didn't get the call that he wanted and he kind of stayed back and didn't get back on defense and was just yelling at the ref. And it was like, all right, come on. He maybe should have gotten the foul, but yeah,
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
You got to get back when there's like three minutes left in the fourth quarter and you're down by two. It's like, come on. But we saw last... The Pacers have done enough for themselves. And I understand there were some external factors in their postseason run last year that they benefited from other teams, injury luck, stuff like that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
But they've proven enough with just like their level of play in that gear that they can switch to where... I think a lot of East teams are looking at them and saying, yeah, we probably don't want to play the Pacers because, yeah, we believe we can beat them, but we're going to be exhausted by the end of that series. Look at the Knicks and how many injuries happened over the course of that series.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
It's like they wear you down regardless of if you may sweep them. The Boston Celtics swept them. But it was tough. It was the hardest four-game sweep they probably could have possibly had.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
The Nuggets are just... If Jokic is on the floor, and this is the other thing, is not even just when Jokic... is on the floor. Yeah. Like the bucks struggled tonight. They did with Jokic, not on the floor. And what I have written in my notes is if the nuggets can hold a 10 point lead against you without Jokic, your team's got some problems.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
And I was watching, I think it was in the second quarter. It was the second or third quarter where the nuggets were up by 10 and Jokic wasn't on the floor. And the bucks like would score a bucket and, And then the nuggets would come right back and score a bucket. And it was like, you gotta be able to chip away a little bit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
I, I think Castle will win it. Okay. That being said, the way the discussion is kind of framed right now, I feel as though people have kind of just overlooked Zachary research. I think he has done enough to warrant getting serious buzz in the conversation. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
Maybe not like just being outright the favorite, because I think the thing with castle is his contribution, being able to contribute as a rookie immediately is hard. It doesn't,
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
it doesn't happen especially in draft classes like this where there's not a ton of like super high-end talent where guys are being thrown into the fire and like hey you're our franchise guy go out there do everything castle was an impactful player from day one yeah um and you know wembie's been out for so long at this point that we kind of forget that the spurs were in the playoff race
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
until Wemby went out, they were, they were a top 10 seed. They were hanging right in there with the rest of those kind of six through 10 West teams. And Stefan Castle was a big part of that. And I think that absolutely has, has helped his case immensely. And I think if he were to win, he would be a completely deserving winner.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
That being said, Zachary research since the start of the new year has been In terms of volume and efficiency, he has been the most, probably most impactful scoring rookie since the start of the new year. 50, 40, 75 shooting splits. Obviously, the free throw percentage is whatever, but 40% from three on 4.7 attempts a night.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
The thing that really popped to me when I was diving into him a little bit is... He's not only averaging the most points or the third most points since January 1st among all rookies, but his points per touch is by far the highest of any rookie right now. People use the fact that he's not a ball handler. He's not a shot creator. They use that against him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
But in the context of this Hawks team, it's his strength. The fact that when he gets the ball, he's scoring it at a really efficient level. I've been super impressed with his play.
The Athletic NBA Daily
LeBron Game Winner + Rookie Check In
And Stephen A. Smith boxing match, apparently. Yes, apparently.