SI grades the 2012 NBA Draft

[jonathanlambert33]

http://nba.si.com/2013/03/27/nba-rookie-grades-anthony-davis-damian-lillard-andre-drummond/

The members of the 2012 draft class are just a few weeks away from the end of their rookie seasons. Rob Mahoney examined the development of several rookies Tuesday. Now, lets go player by player through the first round to assess how the top 30 picks have fared. Letter grades are given for all players who have played at least 450 minutes this season; all others receive an incomplete. (All stats and records are through Tuesday.)

 

[elcheato]

Beal and Waiters have pretty much the exact same numbers with Beal having a higher 3PT%. How does that constitute such a difference in grade, especially considering Beal went one pick higher? You could even argue Waiters has been better considering much more of his offense comes from himself, and not the play making of others.
 
B+ for Barnes is puzzling as well. They basically gave it to him because he's starting on a playoff team, even though he's so underwhelming as a player. His issues in college of creating for himself and others and doing much of anything other than spot up shooting and pull up jumpers have translated to the NBA, as expected.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

He looked at more than just raw stats. He stated Waiters has the highest usage rate of any rookie, and that goes with the fact that Beal is scoring .91 points per play while Waiters is scoring just .85 points per play. Beal turns the ball over 11 times per 100 possessions, Waiters 12 per 100 possessions. Then of course you have to take into account their defense. Beal has been a solid defender this year, while Waiters has been real bad. Beals allowing 0.89 points per play, Waiters is allowing 1.07 points per play. 104 defensive rating for Beal to 112 defensive rating for Waiters. That sort of thing.

 

[elcheato]

I don't remember where I saw the numbers, but I'm fairly certain it said that around 60% of Beal's shots are assisted on, and although he has a higher usage rate and less points per play, he has to create more for himself and isn't spoon fed open looks (not saying all his looks are open ones, because the Wizards aren't very good themselves, so people aren't really going to sag off Beal). I think Waiters has been more impressive purely with his ability to get to the rim. I wouldn't say elite but he's shown to be a pretty explosive driver. He'll have to improve his finishing, but his scoring and %'s are going to increase simply when he gets more respect from officials, because per usual, not much is called for rookies.
 
But my points might be based more on potential than how this season has gone.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

I saw the number earlier, it's much higher than 60%.

 

[bosoxlover12]

I don't get how Davis goes from an A to an A- due to injury, but Sully gets a C for being injured

He averaged 3.64 ORPG/36 and is 19th in the NBA in RPG/36.


He was like #6 for ROTY candidates before his injury. a C is bullshit