Wanna see Ricky Rubio throw lobs to Blake Griffin? How about John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins teaming up again, as they did at Kentucky?As we reported Tuesday, the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge is no more. NBA assistant coaches picked the pool of nine rookies and nine sophomores listed below, but TNT analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will serve as GMs and draft teams Feb. 16 on the air that will meet each other on Feb. 24.
Ultimately, each team should have a mix of first- and second-year players – unless Barkley loses his mind and picks all rookies.
The rookies are:
MarShon Brooks, G, New Jersey
Kyrie Irving, G Cleveland
Brandon Knight, G Detroit
Kawhi Leonard, G-F, San Antonio
Markkieff Morris, F Phoenix
Ricky Rubio, G Minnesota
Tristan Thompson, F, Cleveland
Kemba Walker, G Charlotte
Derrick Williams, F Minnesota
Not making the cut were New York’s Iman Shumpert and Sacramento’s Jimmer Fredette.
The second-year players are:
DeMarcus Cousins, C, Sacramento
Landry Fields, G-F, New York
Paul George, G-F, Indiana
Blake Griffin, F, LA Clippers
Gordon Hayward, G-F, Utah
Greg Monroe, F-C, Detroit
Tiago Splitter, F-C, San Antonio
Evan Turner, G-F, Philadelphia
John Wall, G Washington
Cousins, Fields, Griffin, Monroe and Wall played for the Rookies a year ago. Not making the cut were Washington’s Jordan Crawford and Minnesota’s Nikola Pekovic, two of just six second-year-players averaging double figures.
When will the NBA and media acknowledge this all-star draft idea was copied from the NHL. Hockey’s been running their All-Star game this way for the past two seasons. Hardly original Mr. Stern
This is such a great idea. I guess it means Blake is a def Non starter for the dunk comp then?
I’m going to hunt down and beat the crap out of every NBA coach who didn’t vote me onto this team.