Last Year's Rookie/Soph Challenge

Jet here,

I dug this post up from last year - I threw it up after watching last year's Rookie/Soph Challenge. I'm hoping to watch this year's contest (tonight). I'll blog on it if I can.
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Just got done watching the "NBA All-Star Rookie Challenge and Youth Jam" (I refuse to mention the stupid sponsor in the title). Wow, this was actually entertaining to watch even though the Sophomore's stomped the Rookies by about 40 points. Personally, I was disappointed - Portland fan here, I had tuned in to watch Brandon Roy, who deferred the whole night and wasn't very involved. Oh well, I guess this sort of event isn't really tailor-made for Roy (he's not a flashy player).

The guy I was impressed with was Monta Ellis. Wow, this guy can absolutely fly! I had no idea! Why isn't Ellis in the dunk competition? I'm sure he'd be better than some of the guys they've got this year, and he could have been in there last year easily. Nate Robinson is just going to miss about 15 dunks again, why do we have to watch him? (oh yeah, he's the champ after totally robbing Andre Iguodala)... Dwight Howard can certainly touch the clouds, but when was the last time a man that big did anything impressive in the slam dunk competition? If a young Amare Stoudemire can't win this contest, Dwight Howard certainly isn't going to. Ellis looked like he was on wires for a couple of those dunks in the Rookie Challenge... I think the NBA is dropping the ball on this one.

David Lee gets the MVP for the game after making a ridiculous 14-14 shots (probably 10 of them dunks). He shouldn't have been the MVP, but I have to feel good for Lee, who absolutely has no business not starting for the Knicks. I guess Isiah Thomas prefers watching Quentin Richardson brick shots and pull back muscles over Lee's hustle, defense, and surprising (for a white boy) ability to throw down finishers. The jury is still out on whether Lee is an East Coast version of Nick Collison or something special, but there's no doubt that he deserves more minutes than any other Knick.

The real reason the Sophomores dominated was the play of their stud point guards, Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Williams set the tone and had the ball whizzing around to Sophs for open shots and uncontested dunks. He was the MVP, in my eyes.

The Sophomores really had a loaded team - Paul : absolute stud (what is it with Chris Paul, he suddently pulls out these bada$ dunks sometimes), Williams : awesome. Granger - sick athlete and some great handles for a pretty big guy. Lee is the hustle player that every team needs. I still think Bogut is a bit of a stiff, but he's got the potential to be a Divac type some day. Ellis certainly looked sick tonight (see above). Head and Felton are both nice players, - there's just no way the Rookies had a chance in this.

On the rookie team, I thought Bargnani looked pretty good. Morrison can score, I'll give him that. As a Blazer fan, I can tell you that Roy is much better than he showed tonight. In his defense, they had Foye running the point while the starters were playing, and Foye just doesn't pass. I guess it was the Rookie Challenge, but Foye was a black hole in this game. He's an impressive player, but I think he's less of a point guard than Brandon Roy is right now. Millsap is a great hustle guy who is all over the glass. They should have started him, then maybe they would have had a shot to keep in under a 20 point lead for longer than the first 10 minutes of the game. Morrison, Gay, and Bargnani were like matadors on that Rookie interior defense. Gay is a freak of nature with his leaping ability and wingspan. I saw a nice shooting touch out there, too. I know Shane Battier is a great "glue guy," but I think the Rockets might really regret that draft-day deal in a few years.

Some impressive young players, it will be fun to see how they develop over the next few years. I think Brandon Roy still wins Rookie of the Year, but Gay, Foye, and Bargnani could be primed to give him a run for his money over the second half.

-Jet out

Images : Noah Graham (NBAE), Kevork Djansezian (AP), Mark Terrill (AP)