ROOKIE REPORT CARD

I learned a lot in my first year covering the NBA.

I was way too cocky when I started HBIQ.

Not only did I want to tell you which rookies would be great in the NBA, I wanted to tell you which ones would be terrible as well.

And Derrick Favors, Cole Aldrich and Ed Davis were pegged as the three rookies who would do nothing in the NBA.

Right or wrong, it should have never been written.

Anyone can do almost anything they put their mind to, and I should have never written these guys off without giving them a chance to make it in the association.

Since that time, I've been able to put together a full view of what it takes to succeed in the NBA (which goes far beyond what can be learned from viewing college highlights, games and statistics) and follow it up with a look at some late bloomers to stop fans from freaking out when their prized rookies don't look to be panning out early on.

Needless to say, we've come a long way. So let's take a look at some rookies and how they did in their first year on the NBA stage.


John Wall, Washington: Wall has a long way to go.

He plays bad defense, can't run a team, can't shoot and is more out of control than Russell Westbrook.

Like many young point guards, you wonder if he'll ever get it. And right when you think he never will you look up, and he's there.

Evan Turner, Philadelphia: Turner is ahead of almost all of the rookies because he is contributing to a playoff team.

He got off to a slow start but was able to turn the corner mid-way through the season and show the all-around skills which made him the second pick.

His jumper has to get better going into next season.

Wes Johnson, Minnesota: He shot Minnesota out of as many games as he shot them into with his questionable shot selection.

Johnson has the same issue now that he had coming in, the inability to put the ball on the floor and drive to the rim for easy dunks and layups. Without any dribble-penetration moves, he was forced to rely only on his outside shot, which was streaky at best.

Otherwise, he showed a good floor game with lots of versatility.

DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento: You could say that Cousins lived up to everything people who said he was the top player in the draft thought he would.

His remarkable passing ability was a sight to behold, and his jumper rained down on opponents from coast to coast.

He was a tough-guy who led Sacramento to big wins over some the league's top teams and gave the team hope for the future as a key building block.

Cousins had a nice rookie season.

Ekpe Udoh, Golden State: Udoh had his breakout game in a home win over Chicago, where his defense on Carlos Boozer helped turn the game in Golden State's favor.

He missed the start of the season with a wrist injury but came on as the season went along. He learned to pass the ball without turning it over and is getting more and more comfortable with his outside shot and making moves in the post.

Udoh is turning out to be a nice pick.

Greg Monroe, Detroit: Monroe showed no signs of being soft in his first season in Detroit, one of the concerns about him coming in.

And his motor looked fine.

As he got more comfortable and more playing time, he started making the shots around the rim that he used to miss and developed into a consistent big man.

There are still more aspects of his game which haven't been shown which should come out in due time.

Al-Farouq Aminu, Los Angeles: The best thing you can say about Aminu is that he no longer looks lost.

Some time in March, things just started to click for him; and you could start to see the No. 8 pick coming out.

At one point it was looking like the Clippers were going to have a hole to fill at small forward in the off-season, but he (or Jamario Moon) may be the one to fill it.

Gordon Hayward, Utah: G-Time saved his best for last, scoring a career-high 34 points on the last day of the season.

But it was his game against Kobe Bryant in a win at Los Angeles a week earlier which signaled his official arrival to the NBA.

His official HBIQ arrival came in a blowout loss at New Orleans in mid-December. That was where he showed he could play NBA defense and showed flashes of the game that became more consistent late in the season.

Hayward has serious game and skills and knows what he has to work on to get better.

Paul George, Indiana: George is another guy who is well ahead of the other rookies due to him contributing to a winning team, or at least a playoff team.

Indiana has been a winning team since he recently moved into the starting lineup.

Sometimes, a rookie is going to be a rookie. But you can see that Indiana has something in Paul George.

Ed Davis, Toronto: Oops!

It looks like this guy can play after all. He has a knack for hitting the offensive glass and for scoring in general, even without many post moves.

His defense leaves a lot to be desired and should be the thing looked to improve on heading into next season.

Larry Sanders, Milwaukee: Sanders is another guy who is as green as his uniform.

But when you tune in to Milwaukee games, you hear phrases like "unlimited potential" thrown around quite often when Sanders is mentioned by the team broadcasters, the words reported back from the coaches.

Sanders is a legit 6-11 and with Andrew Bogut can provide the scary type of interior defense which wins a lot of important games.

He has a good offensive game too, with much more versatility than you would expect from a guy his size.

Luke Babbitt, Portland: Like Anthony Randolph, Babbitt is another highly-talented player wasting away at the end of someone's bench for no good reason.

Portland had plenty of opportunity to work him in early in the season when the team was struggling to find something which worked.

The only reasons I'm not absolutely killing Nate McMillan for this poor coaching decision are because the team is winning and because the guys ahead of Babbitt played relatively well in the end.

Still, there is no excuse for limited amount of playing time Babbitt averaged.

Eric Bledsoe, Los Angeles: With Blake Griffin getting all of the headlines, it's hard for many other Clippers to get any love.

Bledsoe had a strong start to his rookie season but fizzled out at the end.

He has tremendous speed and can do a lot of things, but his defense needs work.

The rookie wall may be the best way to explain what happened.

Trevor Booker, Washington: This was part of my learning experience, tweeners.

At 6-7, Booker is just going to have a hard time matching up against some power forwards.

But he can play and more than hold his own against them all.

With powerful, high-flying dunks and a well-rounded game, Booker was a bright spot for Washington before he got injured.

He is one of the many pieces Washington now has in place for what looks like a bright future.

Landry Fields, New York: The final draftee putting in work for a playoff team.

Fields was rolling before New York traded for Carmelo Anthony. Since then he has sort of gotten lost.

He can beat you in many different ways and is a nice complement to a cast of stars.

New York had a lot of big games this year, and Fields showed up for most of them, contributing in ways which don't usually generate a lot of headlines but are no less important to winning.

Jeremy Lin, Golden State: Lin had early trouble stepping up to the big stage of the NBA but eventually settled in offensively.

His defense was there all along, and he should have received more playing time for his defense alone.

In the season finale against Portland, Lin showed every aspect of his game; and there are plenty of them.

More than anything, he is a playmaker. And he is a point guard.

His jumper has to be improved along with his ability to finish with his left hand.

But Lin is a baller.

I've learned the secret of some NBA coaches: wait until the last game of the season and see what the rookies can do.

It's a shame because these guys can play and should have gotten minutes a long time ago.

Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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The Cavalry

Imagine starting out on a long and challenging journey and realizing shortly after you left that you weren't going to make it.

You've gone too far to turn back but not nearly far enough to reach your destination. You're running out of food and supplies and know that the end is near.

It is just a matter of time.

As you lie there waiting for the end to arrive and wondering how you got yourself into this awful situation, you hear something in the distance.

Weak and barely alive, you look up just long enough to see men on horseback coming to your rescue. They arrive and give you the food, supplies and the manpower you need to survive trip.

It would be quite a relief.

Although all of the teams which have suffered through injuries this season aren't in a situation as desperate as this, some are.

And fortunately, the cavalry has either arrived or is on the way.


CARLOS BOOZER

Carlos Boozer missed the first month of the season with a broken hand.

Chicago suffered two blowout losses to Orlando and Boston as he worked himself into the lineup but has won four in a row since, with impressive wins over Oklahoma City and the Lakers.

Chicago should only get better as Boozer, Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose play more games together.

They currently sit at fourth place in the East.


ANDREW BYNUM

Los Angeles started the season strongly, but slowly, the absence of Andrew Bynum is starting to catch up to them.

Bynum practiced fully this week for the first time and appears to be on track to return next week.

It doesn't take many words to describe the impact his return will have on the team. We've all been watching Los Angeles during championship runs over the past three seasons and know how important he is to the team.


MARIO CHALMERS

Miami has been on a roll since Mario Chalmers (ankle) made his way back into the rotation.

He still looks to be limping at times, but his impact cannot be denied.

Miami's offense has a much better flow to it thanks to his contagious passing, which makes the team highly-entertaining now and fun to watch.

82games.com has one of the greatest advanced statistics of all time. It breaks down turnovers by type and focuses in on what it calls the "Assist/Bad Pass" ratio.

This helps identify the most accurate passers by eliminating all other turnovers from consideration and only looking at the turnovers a player makes while passing the basketball.

As of the time of this post, Chalmers averages 10 assists for every passing turnover he makes.

Compare that to Chris Paul (7.7), Deron Williams (6) and Steve Nash (5.1).


BARON DAVIS AND CHRIS KAMAN

This is a team which simply can't catch a break.

After waiting nearly a month for Baron Davis and Chris Kaman to return and racking up the worst record in the association in the process, both players returned in early December.

And what happened?

It turns out Kaman's ankle wasn't quite ready yet, and Davis started struggling with a hamstring problem, a different injury than the knee which kept him out for so long.

Davis has continued to play, but Kaman will be out for at least three more weeks.

The cavalry may not arrive in time to save the Clippers this season.


JONNY FLYNN AND MARTELL WEBSTER

The only team which has suffered more with injuries than the Clippers is the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It got so bad for them that at one point they were down five players (Jonny Flynn, Luke Ridnour, Martell Webster, Nikola Pekovic, Wayne Ellington) in a game at Charlotte, a game which they almost won.

Flynn (hip) and Webster have both been cleared to play their first games this season, and Pekovic returned last week to solidify the big man rotation.

Flynn has been rehabbing by playing a few games in the development league while Kurt Rambis is waiting to get Webster some good practice time before putting him back in the lineup.

Flynn and Webster are both major, impact players for Minnesota.

Webster had an outstanding preseason and had Minnesota looking like one of the most improved teams in the league before he had to have back surgery and miss the start of the season.

And Jonny Flynn is one of the most gifted, young point guards in the NBA.

David Kahn may not have made the right decision in drafting him ahead of Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings, but he certainly didn't make the wrong one either.

Minnesota looks to be on their way back.


EKPE UDOH AND DAVID LEE

Golden State has lost six games in a row, but all were against playoff teams from last year and some of the best teams in the NBA so far this season.

The team had gotten so razor thin up front that Vladimir Radmanovic started a few games at power forward.

David Lee returned from his elbow injury seven games ago, and Ekpe Udoh made his season debut last night against Miami. Louis Amundson returned recently as well to help shore up the depth at power forward.

Acie Law was a nice addition and will help fill the void while Stephen Curry recovers from his ankle injury and help when Curry comes back.

The schedule starts to lighten up a bit, and Golden State could finish the season in a good way assuming they can remain healthy and assuming Keith Smart utilizes all of the talent he has on this roster.

Comment or e-mail: thenbaoutsider@yahoo.com
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Most Improved Teams

The life of a sports fan is a roller coaster of emotions. You go from delirious highs to gut-wrenching lows over the course of a season, a game or even a few seconds.

We love our sports, and we love our teams and our players.

They may never win a championship or even come close, but we still love them for trying.

When you really think about it, all you can ask from a team is that they do their best and try to get better every year in hopes of winning a championship.

No fan of any team in any sport should have to suffer supporting a team which never improves and remains hopelessly stuck in the land of mediocrity, or even worse, atrocity.

Looking at this off-season in the NBA, it is safe to say that everybody knows teams like the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls got better, and the Milwaukee Bucks have received recognition for their improvement as well, although I may have been the first to give them their due.

At the same time, there are other improved teams which for one reason or another haven't received the same publicity for their key additions and other moves which will make them better next season.

Before we get started, it should be pointed out that teams which decide to play lottery-ball instead of basketball can't be accounted for.

"Lottery-ball" is the term made up here to describe teams which play to win next season's NBA Draft Lottery rather than this season's schedule of games.

It is a phenomenon in the NBA which happens almost every year, especially when there is a can't-miss, franchise player available.

Bill Simmons has written about it, and here is a Dime Magazine summary of a Chris Tomasson piece quoting John Lucas and his description of how Cleveland sabotaged their 2002-03 season to win the right to draft LeBron James, a charge former Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund denies.

This phenomenon goes all the way back to the days before the NBA Draft Lottery, and it is why the league felt it had to input the lottery to begin with, although some people will tell you it was put in place in 1985 so the NBA could put Patrick Ewing on the New York Knicks by fixing the lottery.

Injuries are another thing which can't be accounted for, so this list is put in place assuming the teams (1) will remain relatively healthy and (2) will try their best to win as many games as possible.


(1) Detroit Pistons

One way to spot a team destined to improve is to look at teams who lost a lot of minutes from their best player(s).

This causes them to lose a lot of games, many more than they would have with the player(s) available.

They then end up in the lottery and get a player they never would have gotten with a healthy team.

The best player(s) come back joined by the lottery pick and poof!

Instant improvement.

Last year, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, probably Detroit's best two players, both missed about half of the season.

The Pistons were able to parlay that misery into No. 7 overall pick Greg Monroe.

Hamilton and Prince returning and teaming up with high draft pick Monroe puts Detroit in prime position to improve its win total from last season.

Those injuries also allowed young players like Jonas Jerebko, Will Bynum and Austin Daye to gain valuable experience which will help the team.

Detroit has a deep team with many talented players whose skills go together. They should be much better than they were last year.


(2) Minnesota Timberwolves

The biggest reason Minnesota will be better this year is that they were so far down to begin with. With only 15 wins, there is almost no other way to go but up.

Thankfully, for the team's fans and fans of good basketball, general manager David Kahn and coach Kurt Rambis did much to improve the team after the end of last season.

The talent upgrade alone should double their win total, and they could finish around .500 or better with intangibles like team chemistry breaking their way.

In a trade with the Miami Heat, Minnesota picked up Michael Beasley. We must remind ourselves how great Michael Beasley was in his one season at Kansas State.

Here is some footage from that season.

Without Beasley having issues, there is no way Minnesota gets him as cheaply as they did or even at all. Beasley is an all-world talent who can take Minnesota wherever they want to go.

He just has to get himself together and on the right path and also learn how to pass the basketball (10.9:1 career FGA:A ratio).

Minnesota also added Wesley Johnson, Luke Ridnour, Sebastian Telfair and Martell Webster to go along with Corey Brewer, Jonny Flynn, Kevin Love, Darko Milicic and Wayne Ellington.

That is a very nice group of players.

They still need a rebounder/shot-blocker to become a real threat, but that player can be picked up next season.

For now, fans should be thrilled with the prospects of the current team.


(3) Los Angeles Clippers

No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin missed the entire season last year. The Clippers drafted Al-Farouq Aminu No. 8 in the draft, so the Clippers will be adding two top-eight picks to their team from last season.

Griffin is another all-world talent.

The NBA has never before seen a power forward like him.

Here he is at Oklahoma, like Beasley, just incredible footage.

Another thing to look for is a team with a good backup point guard. Teams with good number-two point guards tend to do well because they allow teams to sustain their offenses for the full 48 minutes.

Like the Timberwolves with Ridnour and Telfair, the Clippers have Randy Foye. This was an excellent and underrated signing which will greatly help Los Angeles.

The Clips also have Chris Kaman and Baron Davis, two of the best players in the league at their positions. They have made significant roster upgrades and actually look like they are trying to win.

Coach Vinny Del Negro did an excellent job in Chicago last year, finishing 6-2 down the stretch to eke into the playoffs and making a great showing in the playoffs.

He did this while battling the adversity of having team executive John Paxson assault him in his office and the team suffering a 10-game losing streak when center Joakim Noah sat out with an injury.

The Clippers could make the playoffs this season.


(4) Indiana Pacers

Danny Granger missed 20 games last season, and TJ Ford missed 35. Indiana played Roy Hibbert only 25 minutes per game.

Neither of these three players played the most minutes (scroll down to "TOTALS" and click "MP") for the Pacers last year.

That honor belongs to Brandon Rush, followed by Troy Murphy and Earl Watson, not exactly the Super Friends.

That alone explains why Indiana won only 32 games. No team is going to win many games with those three players playing the most minutes.

Now that they drafted Paul George, maybe Indiana can start playing its best players again.

They have a deep and talented team and a championship core: Ford, George, Granger, Hibbert. These four players playing the most minutes will no doubt take the Pacers back to the playoffs.

The Pacers need a rebounder/shot-blocker at power forward and maybe a better backup point guard to compete for a championship, but we'll see how the team plays together and make that call later in the year.


(5) Golden State Warriors

Golden State was already covered here with their signing of Jeremy Lin.

We'll have to wait until Ekpe Udoh comes back from wrist surgery to fully evaluate them because along with Andris Biedrins, who missed 49 games last year, he gives them the ability to defend the paint, the most important thing a basketball team must do to win and a weakness of the Warriors since forever.

Look at who played the most minutes for Golden State last year.

Their only shot-blockers were Ronny Turiaf, Biedrins and Anthony Randolph; and they played in 42, 33 and 33 games.

That explains why Golden State allowed the most points in the league and had the second-worst field goal percentage defense.

Of the five players who played the most minutes, Corey Maggette was the tallest at 6-6; and Monta Ellis, at all of 6-3, led those five players with 25 blocks (.4 per game).

Nothing more needs to be said.

The Warriors will have to hold down the fort until Udoh comes back then try to make a run late in the season to make the playoffs.

Even without Udoh they should be drastically improved.

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