NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[Who]

The All-Rookie teams have been announced

First Team:

    Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
    Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets
    VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia 76ers
    Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs
    Cedric Coward, Memphis Grizzlies

The first team is quality. All deserving players.

I see Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper as having franchise player level potential. Knueppel and Edgecombe All-Star potential. Coward above average starter potential. Maybe All-Star potential but not fully sold yet.

Second Team:

    Ace Bailey, Utah Jazz
    Jeremiah Fears, New Orleans Pelicans
    Collin Murray-Boyles, Toronto Raptors
    Maxime Raynaud, Sacramento Kings
    Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans

The 2nd team was largely trash in their rookie seasons with the exception of Collin Muray Boyles. CMB was the only player to help his team win games. The rest of them were junk.

Ace Bailey was a 3rd stringer / borderline rotation player as a rookie. Maxime Raynaud only played because they had no other backup big men. He wouldn't have gotten playing time on 90% of the other teams in the league. His defense is awful. A net negative.

Then you got the two guys in New Orleans. They are in between CMB and Bailey / Raynaud. Neither guy (Fears, Queen) did much to help NOP win games. They did lose games for their team; certainly more often than they won games for their team. Fears is too inefficient. 52.5% TS 2.2 tunovers to 3.4 assists per game. Only 3.4apg in 25.8mpg. Dodgy defense. Queen couldn't play defense if his life depended on it. A one-way center. An offense only player who only scores at 54.6% TS.

6 good rookies. 4 meh rookies.

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Ace Bailey is a bad player in the present but he flashed legit potential. He has a super long way to go though. Possible All-Star level talent down the road.

Fears is so inefficient / mistake prone it is hard to be too bullish on him. I see his main hurdle being establishing himself as a legit starting PG rather than a journeyman backup guard. He has some talent but he has major flaws.

Not a fan of D Queen. Reminds me of Greg Monroe. A lot to prove. A starter level center with good but not great offense and well below average defense. A guy who needs a lot of touches / shot attempts without having a big impact on games. Actually, that is kinda like Vucevic.

Raynaud might become a good player in time if he bulks up some and learns to play with physicality. Learns to play defense. Too easy to bully right now. Unless he gets hot on offense, he is a net negative which is probably 80% of his games.

[Roy H.]

I'm surprised that Kalkbrenner didn't find a slot.  His stats were just okay, but he actually impacted games.  He faded a bit, but he played meaningful minutes.