hi this article has PPat on the cover and if any one with insider can post it that'd be awesome..thanks http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insi...ry?columnist=thorpe_david&page=Rookies-110112
Philly's Evan Turner and Houston's Patrick Patterson are finally showing why they were lottery picks. Few NBA rookies come out of the gates and crush it. Most guys start slowly before contributing more or see their production change dramatically from week to week. The early struggles vary from player to player and team to team (or coach to coach), but most rookies begin to display the talents they've had for years when given enough time and opportunity -- especially guys who were drafted in the lottery. Of course, each draft class typically has one or two busts in the lottery. And although it seemed unlikely that Evan Turner and Patrick Patterson would ever be in that conversation, they did nothing as pros in 2010 -- summer league and the regular season -- to help their cause. Thankfully for them and their franchises, the beginning of a new year arrived and so have their talents. Let's take a closer look at what they are doing now. Evan Turner, 76ers Turner has always been a bit difficult to categorize because his game is so distinctive. He's not a shooter, yet he's been a scorer throughout his career. He's able to get after the glass. And he's a gifted passer with the ball in his hands. The problem for Turner in Philadelphia early on was that with Jrue Holiday and Andre Iguodala taking care of much of the ball-handling duty, he struggled to find his offense. He didn't play a whole lot, either. But with Iguodala missing time with an injury, Turner has had chances to play more like he did in college, and he has taken advantage. After not scoring 10 or more points since Dec. 3, he has done so in four of his past seven games, including 19- and 23-point performances (his top two career scoring games). ROOKIE 50 RANKINGS We're keeping track of every NBA rook. Here are the latest Top 50 rankings. Rank Player Stock 1 Blake Griffin 2 John Wall 3 DeMarcus Cousins 4 Gary Neal 5 Landry Fields 6 Greg Monroe 7 Derrick Favors 8 Gary Forbes 9 Ed Davis 10 Wesley Johnson Before the draft, experts felt that although he was not a pure shooter, he did have a dynamite midrange game -- a part of the game that requires tremendous confidence and rhythm to be successful. Those are two things Turner was lacking early on but has made big strides in recently. Contrary to popular opinion, his jumper from this distance looks very good most of the time. He gets a good arc on the shot and stays balanced -- two huge keys. And with more success on his jump shot, he'll be able to use fakes and stutters to get more shots in the paint. He needs to be careful not to settle for 18-footers when he's crafty enough to get 13-footers. In addition, as his scoring increases, so will his opportunities to create shots for teammates, a staple of his game and a big reason the 76ers drafted him so high. No one is suggesting that Turner is going to make a strong run for Rookie of the Year or even All-Rookie First Team. But he can be a key rotation player for a team in playoff contention, without a doubt. Patrick Patterson, Rockets Patterson has a better excuse than Turner for not doing much in 2010. He was stuck behind an assortment of veterans on a Houston team hoping to make a serious playoff run. So he mostly sat on the bench and even spent some time in the D-League, where he played great (18.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg in nine games). But when Yao Ming and Chuck Hayes went down with injuries, Patterson was given a chance to play. And he has managed to exceed everyone's expectations, to say the least. He looks as though he can be a quality starter in this league. On New Year's Eve, in his first real action of the season, Patterson got 15 points and 10 boards and shot 6-for-9 from the floor. All in 25 minutes. Two nights later in Portland, he grabbed 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. Later that week in Orlando, he made 6 of 7 shots in 22 minutes. And Monday night in Boston, he hit 5 of 6 shots to help the Rockets upset the Celtics. Patterson has an excellent shooting stroke, one that hints at his being a 3-point threat later in his career. He has made 15 of his past 21 shots, with a good portion of those makes being jumpers. He also has quick feet and an active body, which work beautifully with his natural feel for the game. He is often in the right spot before anyone else is. What has impressed me most about him, though, are his hands, which are stronger and softer than I realized, helping him make plays in the scrum inside. So he plays even bigger than his listed height of 6-9. The Rockets are going through some growing pains right now with Patterson and second-year man Jordan Hill having to play during Houston's brutal January schedule. However, the experience will help them be better players for the Rockets down the stretch. Rookie updates Jan. 12 John Wall: The No. 1 pick learned two valuable lessons against the Kings. Both were delivered by fellow rookie Pooh Jeter. The first was this: In this league, everybody can play, whether they were drafted or not. Jeter does not have the pedigree Wall has, but he still put up 8 points, 11 assists and no turnovers against Wall's Wizards, while Wall had 22 points on 6-of-19 shooting, plus 9 assists and 6 turnovers. Jeter did his damage in just 21 minutes, compared with Wall's 43. The second lesson was perhaps more valuable. Down two with five seconds left, Jeter roared past an unfocused Wall with a simple dribble drive to score an easy layup and force overtime. Why didn't Wall wrap him up and force him to make the free throws? He got beat so badly that, if this had been a flag football game, he wouldn't have even been able to pull Jeter's flag. Next time, I suspect Wall will put up a better defensive effort and not give up the easy layup -- it's a no-no to let someone tie the score that way. Gary Neal: Neal was quiet against Minnesota on Tuesday night, but he had three straight double-figure scoring games this week. He's cemented into the rotation. Landry Fields: The Knicks beat Portland on the road, with Fields putting up a solid 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. He had a good week overall and seems to have found his shooting stroke again. Timofey Mozgov: Mozgov is out of the playing rotation right now for the Knicks. Jan. 11 Greivis Vasquez: Vasquez has appeared in 29 consecutive games. Although he has struggled as a shooter all season, the Grizzlies have to be happy with his talent as a lead guard. Thus far, he has amassed 71 assists to just 31 turnovers. Sherron Collins: Collins has played just seven minutes total since Dec. 21. Greg Monroe: The Pistons might be a mess, but Monroe is starting to turn some heads. He has three straight double-doubles and has been particularly impressive on the offensive glass. In those three games, he grabbed 13 offensive boards. Jan. 10 DeMarcus Cousins: The big man with maturity issues continues to both impress and confound. He's playing at a high level, scoring and rebounding consistently and proving to be a go-to scorer in the paint. He's still fouling too much, but there's no reason to think he won't figure this part of the game out. Lots of rookies have similar problems but learn how to be competitive without fouling. Numerous coaches and players have told me they think Cousins is the most immature player in the league, with many insisting he's worse than any other player they've ever seen in the NBA. My comment to them? You'd better take advantage of that now because when he grows up, you're all in a lot of trouble." Ed Davis: Davis has been relatively quiet of late, but he still manages to play efficiently for the most part. He struggled against the Kings, who have great size and athleticism inside. Ekpe Udoh: The Warriors have to be very pleased with the defense Udoh is providing, considering he's averaging more than a block a game. He looks as if he's going to be an excellent paint defender who plays with energy in the transition game, as well. Al-Farouq Aminu: All season, I've been concerned that Aminu relies too much on his surprisingly strong 3-point shooting and he has proved me wrong for the most part. Until now. Mired in an 0-for-10 streak from 3, he's shooting just 27 percent overall in January. The good news is he is going to the offensive glass and has grabbed at least one offensive rebound in six straight games. Wesley Johnson: Johnson was asked to come off the bench against the Spurs so the Wolves could put Corey Brewer on Manu Ginobili, and Johnson reacted to the move by jacking up some awful jump shots. He has done so twice in recent games, going a combined 8-for-27 by taking so many ill-advised jumpers. Factor in that he hasn't attempted one free throw in his past four games and it's clear that Johnson is moving even further away from being the player Minnesota needs him to be. Christian Eyenga: Eyenga has been thrust into the lineup in Cleveland, which now realizes it is best served by developing some players. He has been aggressive as a shooter, taking at least six shots in all four games he has played and making 15 of his 32 shots overall. He's just 1-for-12 from 3, however. I'm impressed with his defense: He blocked 5 shots in his past three games. Samardo Samuels: The injury to Anderson Varejao might give Samuels some extended minutes. He had a 9-rebound game against Phoenix on Sunday, almost double the number of rebounds (five) he had in all of his limited minutes before then. Jan. 9 Paul George: George is getting more rotation minutes now with the Pacers struggling, and as long as he stays out of foul trouble, he'll continue to get playing time. His 10 points in Atlanta marked his second double-figure scoring game in his past four games. Previously, he had only one double-digit scoring effort, which came on Nov. 5. Dominique Jones: Jones got called up from the D-League on Jan. 2, then made just 2 of 10 shots against Cleveland that night. But he has grabbed at least one rebound in his past four games, showing his focus to provide energy off the bench. Gordon Hayward: Continued his strong play by finishing shots well in limited opportunities against the Hawks and Grizzlies. But he struggled and got three fouls in eight minutes against Houston while trying to guard the Rockets' quick 2s. I think he'll be able to do this eventually, but he's not ready to defend the better shooting guards in the league.
Also, for people that don't know, the guy who wrote it is David Thorpe (Martin's and Lee's offseason skills coach).
David Thorpe's Analysis January 12, 2011 Patrick Patterson Power Forward Houston Rockets Rookie Rank: 19 Jan. 12: Patterson has a better excuse than Turner for not doing much in 2010. He was stuck behind an assortment of veterans on a Houston team hoping to make a serious playoff run. So he mostly sat on the bench and even spent some time in the D-League, where he played great (18.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg in nine games). But when Yao Ming and Chuck Hayes went down with injuries, Patterson was given a chance to play. And he has managed to exceed everyone's expectations, to say the least. He looks as though he can be a quality starter in this league. On New Year's Eve, in his first real action of the season, Patterson got 15 points and 10 boards and shot 6-for-9 from the floor. All in 25 minutes. Two nights later in Portland, he grabbed 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. Later that week in Orlando, he made 6 of 7 shots in 22 minutes. And Monday night in Boston, he hit 5 of 6 shots to help the Rockets upset the Celtics. Patterson has an excellent shooting stroke, one that hints at his being a 3-point threat later in his career. He has made 15 of his past 21 shots, with a good portion of those makes being jumpers. He also has quick feet and an active body, which work beautifully with his natural feel for the game. He is often in the right spot before anyone else is. What has impressed me most about him, though, are his hands, which are stronger and softer than I realized, helping him make plays in the scrum inside. So he plays even bigger than his listed height of 6-9.
You actually think that 19 means something? You think that Ed Davis is a better player that PPat? I mean, it's honestly not even close, so I'm not sure what they're basing this on.
that's pretty funny actually. but if you made a graph of rookie production and vs minutes played, im sure your statistical analysis would prove patterson a top 15 rookie easily.
Morey had Patterson #6 on his draft board and picked him up since he fell that far. His situation reminds me of Landry imo. Landry was sent to the D-League played well and came back and started to see minutes same with Patterson.
-------------For single seasons; played in the NBA/BAA; in the regular season; in 2010-11; in rookie season; requiring Minutes Played >= 150; sorted by descending PER. Name PER Blake Griffin 22.8 Patrick Patterson 18.6 John Wall 16.1 Second best rookie in the league.
