David Thorpe's Ridiculous Rookie Rankings

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http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...mnist=thorpe_david&page=RookieRankings-090722

James Johnson not even a top 20 rookie? Are you kidding me? I thought the guy looked terrific in summer league. Definitely top 20.

 

[Newskoolbulls]

James looked much better than Daye and Lawson for sure.

 

[houheffna]

Can't see the report because I am not a member, will take your word for it.

 

[Diddy1122]

houheffna wrote:

Can't see the report because I am not a member, will take your word for it.

And that's why ESPN blows. You have to pay to read anything on their site now, especially basketball. But most of their writers suck anyway so its no big loss to me.

 

[??? ??????]

WTF. After posting this I can't access ESPN Insider anymore....now I can't see it.

He had Demmarre Carroll at 12. Carroll is my boy, and the Bulls should have drafted him at 26th instead of Gibson, but in no way is he anywhere close to being as good as Johnson.

 

[senrad]

I have ESPN insider and they wont let me access until I give them my CC#. My subscription runs through the end of the year but they still won't let me see the insider stuff even though it is free with the mag. they want my CC so they can auto renew my subscription. Ass hats IMO.

 

[JimmyBulls]

These rankings are worthless until the regular season begins.

That being said, James Johnson looked far from terrific in summer league play.

 

[RPK]

Summer league is good to get an idea of a rookie's skill set.

We were able to see that JJ has:

[ul]slick ball handling[/ul]
[ul]decent passer[/ul]
[ul]good-to-above-average athleticism[/ul]
[ul]form perfect jumper[/ul]
[ul]decent rebounder[/ul]
[ul]suspect defensively[/ul]
[ul]no real post game[/ul]

Scoring production should be taken with a grain of salt as the defensive level of competition is far from NBA level.

Thorpe has been known to over value summer league in the past (ex. - last year when he had Rose 6th and Beasley #1).

 

[senrad]

He once called Noah "the best passing big man since Bill Walton" LOL

 

[wjb1492]

Thorpe's rankings are based on a combination of skill and the playing time he thinks they will get - it's not about just talent, or who he thinks will have the best career, but what kind of impact the rook will make on his team this year, which is why PT is such a big aspect of it. He's guessing JJ won't get much PT because we have a lot of forwards for him to compete with.

This is what he said in the actual ranking:

James Johnson, Bulls
He showed excellent talent as a passer and had some impressive moments during summer league. But with Luol Deng, John Salmons, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah in front of him at the 3 and 4 spots, how much will he play?

He talks about PT being open for many of the players he's put ahead of JJ. He also updates the rankings regularly through the season, and guys do move all over the place depending on what they do on the court, so there's not much point in getting all pissed at him for thinking JJ won't get a ton of time before training camp has even started.