Usually, the All-Rookie teams are a complete wash. There are only a handful of rookies that typically make an impact right away, and the rest of the 10 spots are picking from a bunch of end-of-bench guys based on a handful of good games they had at some point in the season. Not this year. The 2015 draft class may well go down as one of the deepest ever, and it’s almost unprecedented in the number of rookies who are already solid rotation players.
The NBA released the results of All-Rookie voting, and it’s pretty impressive.
First Team:
Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Kristaps Porzingis (New York Knicks)
Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns)
Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
Jahlil Okafor (Philadelphia 76ers)
Second Team:
Justise Winslow (Miami Heat)
D’Angelo Russell (Los Angeles Lakers)
Emmanuel Mudiay (Denver Nuggets)
Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers)
Willie Cauley-Stein (Sacramento Kings)
Yes, Towns and Porzingis were locks, and they’re the only two guys in this rookie class with true franchise-player potential. But two players on the second team (Winslow and Turner) were rotation players on playoff teams, and this list of 10 names leaves off promising prospects like Stanley Johnson, Trey Lyles and Josh Richardson. Every player in the 2015 lottery, and all but a few first-rounders, already looks to be at the very least a good NBA player, some maybe more.
