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.

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As The Basketball World Turns

Stories for the NBA season are now starting to take shape.

Teams have had a good number of games to play together and get used to each other, and you can already see separation taking place between the best teams and the worst teams.

You can also see predictions starting to go up in smoke!

So much for those Clipper predictions. People are jumping off of that bandwagon faster than two Baron Davis three-point attempts.

And that's fast!

The most surprising story to me has been Miami. Who would have ever thought that a team with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on it would not only struggle to win games but also be hard to watch?

It just goes to show you.


STAN FLUNKS PSYCHOLOGY

After Miami pulverized Orlando a few weeks ago, Stan Van Gundy had some interesting things to say about his team, "We don't have -- and this isn't to put down anybody in our locker room -- but we don't have the great one-on-one players.

"I mean, we don't have [Dwyane] Wade and [LeBron] James and Paul Pierce and Kobe Bryant.

"And so for us to play well offensively, we have to get great ball movement. We really have to execute and move the ball.

"And yeah, we struggled to do that against a very good team in Boston and we struggled to do that again tonight."

Great motivator, that Stan Van Gundy.

How would he like it if one of his players said ...

Not to put down anybody in our locker room, but we don't have a great offensive coach like Phil Jackson or Doc Rivers or Nate McMillan.

So in order to play well offensively we have to use our skills and athleticism to make up for the poor play-calling and unimaginative sets. And we didn't do that again tonight ... ?

And how is this going over with Otis Smith, the general manager who gave Van Gundy this team supposedly without any great one-on-one players?

It would work much better for Van Gundy to say that they have very good one-on-one players, but it makes the game much easier and the team better and more efficient when they pass the basketball.


WILL "THE CHILL"

This was touched on in my "Eastern Conference Preview," but that was before any games were played, and I didn't express myself clearly.

Detroit really needs a pass-first point guard to back up Rodney Stuckey.

In his first six games of the season, backup point guard Will Bynum shot the ball 39 times compared to only 12 assists, a 3.25:1 ratio.

The box score against the Clippers is a perfect example of the problem, even though Detroit was able to win the game because they were playing the undermanned Clippers.

The players coming off the pine with Bynum shot .654, compared to his .250; yet he still shot the ball four times for every assist he made.

With the explosive arsenal Detroit has coming off the bench, there is no way Will Bynum should be shooting the ball that much.

Detroit could average 110 points per game with a pass-first point guard who knows how to play the game in his spot.

The No. 4 spot in the East is up for grabs, and Detroit could easily snatch it by upgrading the backup point guard position on their roster.

It is true that Joe Dumars loves Will Bynum (:46), but Bynum's excessive shooting is creating a "chilling effect" on Detroit's offense.

Dumars has to do what is best for the team and make a move here.

Greg Monroe must also get more playing time.

On a team where 36-year-old Ben Wallace is the only semblance of a big man other than Monroe, Monroe should be playing 30+ minutes every night.

Monroe's lack of playing time is an embarrassingly poor coaching decision by John Kuester.

Note: Will Bynum did have his distribution game going in the second half of a blowout loss to the Lakers. And against Golden State he shot only three times with two assists. He deserves credit for sharing the basketball and being very unselfish during that time.


THE INFIRMARY

I saw Oklahoma City play San Antonio in the return of Nick Collison and Jeff Green. Even though they lost, it was the first game I saw this season where they looked like the team from last year.

Watching the game, you could see how the team played with more energy because it had more fresh bodies available.

It showed that missing even a seemingly minor rotation player can disrupt a team and throw everything off.

And missing two players can be a disaster.

CBS Sports does the best job of tracking and updating these injuries.

These are the teams who have been most devastated by critical injuries to key rotation players with the number of games each player has missed in parentheses.

Teams have played about 12 games so far this season.

Denver -- Chris Andersen (all); Kenyon Martin (all); Nene (3).

Houston -- Aaron Brooks (7); Kyle Lowry (4); Yao Ming (7).

Los Angeles -- Baron Davis (9); Randy Foye (10); Chris Kaman (5).

Miami -- Mario Chalmers (4), limited in others; Mike Miller (all).

Milwaukee -- Carlos Delfino (5); Chris Douglas-Roberts (all); Michael Redd (all).

Minnesota -- Wayne Ellington (5); Jonny Flynn (all); Nikola Pekovic (4); Luke Ridnour (5); Martell Webster (all).

Oklahoma City -- Nick Collison (8); Jeff Green (6).

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Early Impressions

The 2010-11 NBA season is four days old. These are some of my early impressions from the young season.


LUIS SCOLA

Luis Scola is far more productive than I thought he would be. Charley Rosen picked Houston to possibly unseat Los Angeles in the West. I wouldn't go that far, but Scola's early production has raised my eyebrow.


BIG AL'S OLD TRICKS

Al Jefferson is up to his old tricks again. The optimism of his preseason FGA:A ratio has withered away into ice-cold reality.

Through two games, Jefferson has played 68 minutes and has 24 field goal attempts and zero assists. In Utah's home opener against Phoenix he took 18 shots and didn't muster a single assist.

Among the many reasons for Utah's 0-2 start, Al Jefferson's passing inefficiency has to be one of them.


WHERE'S GREG?

No. 7 pick Greg Monroe has yet to see the court for the Detroit Pistons. I understand that he is a rookie and all, but not one stinking minute?

It's preposterous! A good coach should be able to get a talented rookie a few early minutes without it hurting the team.

The same thing goes for Vinny Del Negro and Al-Farouq Aminu. Aminu can't be any worse than the other players who played small forward for the Clippers last night.


MOST IMPRESSIVE WINS

Cleveland over Boston -- Cleveland wasn't supposed to be able to win a game against a team this good without the "Chosen One."

Memphis over Dallas -- Dallas was the No. 2 seed in the West last year. Memphis missed the playoffs. This is a huge road win.

Indiana over Charlotte -- Another win by a non-playoff team against a playoff team on the road. A come-from-behind victory on the road against a tough Charlotte team showed a lot of character.

Los Angeles over Houston -- Los Angeles was expected to win the game, but it is how they won. It is impressive when your big off-season acquisition (Steve Blake) hits a game-winning three-pointer in his first game.


WHY I LOVE NBA LEAGUE PASS

While everyone without LP had to watch the Lakers and Suns, I got to watch the Clippers and Warriors.

Golden State's new arena floor and uniforms look beautiful on television, and the blue shoes worn by Dorell Wright and Monta Ellis only added to the visual appeal of the game.

Then the Warriors came out and kicked butt. They pass the ball like Sacramento of the early 2000s and play pretty good defense too.

They were more entertaining than Run TMC until Stephen Curry re-aggravated his ankle injury and had to leave the game in the third quarter.

Golden State went on to win and go to 2-0 for the first time since 1994-95.*

*NBA GameTime

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