NBA rookies roundtable: Debating Rookie of the Year, favorite Victor Wembanyama preseason highlight and more

The 2023-24 NBA season has arrived, and with it one of the most fun rookie categories ever. No. 1 total decide Victor Wembanyama is a generational prospect, Scoot Henderson is already being in comparison to Russell Westbrook and final season’s No. 2 total decide Chet Holmgren will in the end make his debut. And that is to mention not anything of the likes of Brandon Miller, the Thompson twins, Amen and Ausar, and the numerous different intriguing skills. 

Before the motion will get underway, we took a while to sit down down and talk about this staff of kids, debating the whole lot from Rookie of the Year to our favorite non-lottery selections. 

Who do you’ve gotten profitable Rookie of the Year?

Jack Maloney: Victor Wembanyama. This is an important elegance and you’ll be able to beautiful simply zag right here if you wish to, however Wembanyama is simply too complex, and too excellent on each side of the ball already. And Rookie of the Year is exempt from the new 65-game threshold for awards, so that you shouldn’t have to fret about him lacking out on a technicality if the Spurs tempo him. It’s Wembanyama all the means for me. 

Sam Quinn: Victor Wembanyama. That decide defies the ancient stranglehold guards have held in this award. Only two conventional giant males (Blake Griffin and Karl-Anthony Towns) have received this award since 2006, however Wembanyama defies positional designations. He’ll have the ball a minimum of as ceaselessly as Paolo Banchero did a 12 months in the past, and dominance like his is uncommon sufficient to conquer any sturdiness issues we would possibly have. If Joel Embiid can get 23 first-place votes for Rookie of the Year after enjoying 31 video games in 2017, Wembanyama actually most effective must play 50 or so that you could knot up this award.

James Herbert: Victor Wembanyama. I will see each Chet Holmgren and Scoot Henderson having ROY-caliber seasons, however we should not be stunned if Wembanyama’s first 12 months is an all-timer. The man turns out like a Defensive Player of the Year candidate already, which isn’t one thing I’ve ever mentioned about anyone who has but to play a regular-season NBA recreation. After observing him dominate in the preseason, I’ve little interest in tempering my wild, wild expectancies. 

What was once your favorite Victor Wembanyama preseason highlight? 

Maloney: It’s loopy how tough it’s to select, however I believe I’ve to move with the thieve from his preseason debut the place he digs at the nail whilst nonetheless having one foot on the 3-point line. That wasn’t the most fun play, however it was once the maximum “what the f—, how did he do that?” one for me. With rookies, the solution is nearly at all times offensively, however now not for Wembanyama. There are going to be nights the place he is getting driven off his spots, or his shot is not falling, however his protection will at all times be there. His period, instincts and timing are outstanding for anyone his age.

Quinn: The nutmeg. Come on, how is it now not the nutmeg? Putting apart the audacity of the transfer itself, the whole collection showcases the whole lot particular about Wembanyama. The thieve that ended in it showcased his period and imaginative and prescient. If he does not entire the thieve, it is two simple Houston issues. The transfer itself, in opposition to a longtime, veteran defender, confirmed simply how uncommon his aggregate of dimension and ball-handling was once. Then, as he approaches the basket, he makes the good play and dumps it inside of to Charles Bassey, who were given fouled. His ability, bodily items and basketball IQ have been all on show in that one second.

Herbert: The block in opposition to Jalen Williams. It simply should not be imaginable. Williams had absolutely shaken Wemby, who merely grew to become round, introduced himself from out of doors the fee circle on the proper facet of the basket to dam a layup on the left facet. I really like that he is an ambidextrous shot-blocker, and I really like imagining what will have to had been going thru Williams’ head. (This play was once even higher in real-time, because it got here mere possessions after Williams had crushed Wembanyama off the dribble for an and-1. A revenge swat!)

Will Chet Holmgren make sufficient of an have an effect on to get the Thunder into the playoffs this season?

Maloney: I’m leaning sure as a result of a real giant guy was once the key piece they have been lacking final season and Holmgren has had a complete 12 months of NBA-level vitamin, lifting and non-game enjoy, so he must be more complex than a daily rookie. Plus, he is regarded superior in the preseason. However, the Western Conference is so deep that you are most definitely going to need to win a minimum of 45 video games to ensure a top-six spot. I believe the Thunder indubitably can do this, however I’d now not be stunned if they are a play-in staff once more. 

Quinn: As Jack discussed, Oklahoma City did not use giant males final season, and their enjoying genre mirrored it. Their competitive protection generated the maximum turnovers in the league, however the different facet of that equation was once that the Thunder fouled continuously and ranked twenty eighth in defensive rebounding charge. Hopefully having a large guy like Holmgren permits the protection to calm down a bit of, and whilst Holmgren wishes so as to add a bit of more muscle prior to he turns into an have an effect on rebounder, he is certainly an growth on that finish of the ground. His taking pictures goes to be treasured as effectively for a staff that begins two shaky shooters (Lu Dort and Josh Giddey), and in all probability most significantly, half-hour or so in step with evening of Holmgren manner 30 fewer mins of Oklahoma City’s developmental kids. Add all of that in combination and sure, his presence must be sufficient to boost the Thunder into the playoffs.

Herbert: Hell yeah. It turns out like the playoff/play-in race goes to be extraordinarily tight, however I love Oklahoma City’s possibilities of sneaking in. Holmgren is more difficult than his thin body suggests, and he will fly round defensively, erasing benefits and deterring drives. Offensively, too, I will see him improving the whole lot the Thunder already had going for them. They put a ton of drive on the rim, and now they will have a lob danger who doubles as a ground spacer (and but every other participant who can power and kick). This solution is each an endorsement of Holmgren as a profitable participant instantly out of the field and an endorsement of how OKC’s items have compatibility. 

Can Scoot Henderson in fact be Russell Westbrook 2.0, as Scott Brooks claims? 

Maloney: In common, the protected solution to those types of lofty comparisons is not any, simply because the odds of a tender participant being an MVP and a top-75 all-time participant are slender. But the whole lot we’ve got observed and heard about Henderson up to now suggests he has an actual likelihood to be particular. The bodily items are obtrusive, he has an improbable paintings ethic and he excels at getting downhill. If Westbrook’s former trainer is pronouncing the similarities are “uncanny,” we must most definitely remember.

Quinn: Can he be? Sure. He has the bodily equipment. But must he be? That’s the more fascinating query. Westbrook’s building as a participant emphasised accentuating strengths moderately than bettering weaknesses. If he have been to do it yet again, his groups would most definitely choose him to speculate the ones early years into growing even a midway applicable jumper and the proper conduct defensively. There’s a lesson in there for Henderson. The fashionable NBA is much better provided to punish Westbrook-style gamers than it was once even all through Westbrook’s height. Henderson’s bodily items will outline him as a participant, but when he desires to steer clear of the perpetual postseason disappointments Westbrook persevered, his very best guess is to concentrate on turning into a more well-rounded level guard than the 2017 MVP did.

Herbert: I’m now not right here to place any limits on Henderson’s doable. Stylistically he strikes a chord in my memory more of Baron Davis, but when he develops as a shooter and a defender then he may just theoretically be higher than each of the ones guys. Please needless to say he does not even flip 20 till February, despite the fact that, and Westbrook himself was once far and wide the position as a rookie.

Which non-lottery decide intrigues you the maximum? 

Maloney: Julian Strawther. After dropping Bruce Brown and Jeff Green in the offseason, there are some questions on the Nuggets’ intensity. They will have discovered a solution in Strawther, who has been a preseason standout, averaging 17.8 issues on 45.2% taking pictures from 3-point land. Michael Malone has raved about his taking pictures, and Denver can at all times use dependable out of doors threats round Nikola Jokic. It can be fascinating to look what kind of alternative Strawther will get as soon as the genuine video games get started. 

Quinn: Why can not Keyonte George get started at level guard for the Utah Jazz at the moment? The Jazz have masses of guards, however no entrenched starters in the backcourt. George shined at Summer League and in the preseason. His creativity as a ball-handler and power as a pick-and-roll motive force must mesh effectively with Lauri Markkanen, however his willingness to fireside clear of 3 will lend a hand him have compatibility into a longtime offensive hierarchy early on. If there is a darkish horse for Rookie of the Year, it is George. Utah struck gold with Walker Kessler in final 12 months’s rookie crop. George has a possibility to make a identical have an effect on for the Jazz this season.

Herbert: Leonard Miller, a 6-foot-10 playmaking 4 who can do a bit of of the whole lot and could be the thieve of the draft. I do not know the way a lot room there’s for him in the Timberwolves’ crowded frontcourt rotation, but when and when he will get a chance to play, I’ll be tuned in. His building with the G League Ignite was once insane, and the whole lot he did at summer season league strengthened the perception that he must had been picked means upper than No. 33.