Who Is Going To Be The 2022 Rookie of the Year? | Weekly Round-Up
Why Scottie Barnes is winning 2022 ROY, Steve Kerr on Warriors' hot start, Jordan Pooles' old man game, and more.
Hey all,
Welcome to the Weekly Round-Up on the Old Man Game Newsletter, where I share with you the best and most crucial NBA stories from the week, plus some other cool stuff.
This week, I want to start off by asking: Who, based on play and stats thus far (biased feelings are acceptable as well), do you think will be deemed the Rookie of the Year?
To help you with your decision, here are some stat lines (based on approximately the first 10 games, with the exception of Cunningham, who has not played 10 games yet) of the top-performing rookies:
Raptor’s Scottie Barnes - 16 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists
Cavs’ Evan Mobley - 15 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists
Pacers’ Chris Duarte - 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists
Magics’ Franz Wagner - 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists
Thunders’ Josh Giddey - 10 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists
Rocket’s Jalen Green - 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Magic’s Jalen Suggs - 12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Piston’s Cade Cunningham - 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
If the voting started tomorrow, I would pick Scottie Barnes. The reason why is because the Raptors have a pretty good record and he is a big contributor to their success.
Additionally, I am heavily biased (remember, these feelings are acceptable).
I’m a Raptors fan and I like the style that Barnes plays. I’m drawn to players like him -big players who love to assist and run plays.
But who would you pick?
Blog Post of the Week
This week, I’m going to change things up a bit.
Instead of featuring a blog post, I am going to feature a product that I recently created.
If you don’t know, a couple of weeks ago I sent out an announcement about an activity guide that I launched. This isn’t about that.
This is a different product, though it’s still an activity guide (actually, it’s more of a planner).
It’s called the Old Man Game DIY Activity Guide and unlike the other one, with this, you can customize your workout.
It’s also a PDF worksheet, so you don’t need Notion to use it (unlike the other one).
In this guide, I give you a list of activities (drills and exercises) to do and you pick which ones you want to do during the workout.
If this sounds interesting to you, you can click here to learn more about it.
The Wire
The NBA Wants Its Own ManningCast
Via Front Office Sports:
“Meanwhile, the NBA is ramping up ‘conversations’ with national TV partners ESPN and Turner Sports about creating more alternate telecasts, sources told Front Office Sports. The goal: lure viewers who might not tune in for linear basketball telecasts on ABC/ESPN and TNT.
Some formats could be similar to the Manning brothers’ ‘Monday Night Football’ MegaCast on ESPN2 and ESPN+: an unscripted conversation between two smart, funny stars.”
Golden State Warrior’s Steve Kerr Explains The Team's Hot Start
Via ESPN:
"Everybody is loving playing together," [Steve] Kerr said. "Belli (Nemanja Bjelica), you can see how skilled he is, and the way we play he becomes a focal point in the offense as a passer a lot, not just as a pick-and-pop shooter. And he loves to pass, he loves to play-make. He grew up doing that, and you can see how skilled he is, so when you have a bunch of guys who can all do that and the ball moves, that's the most fun way to play basketball. So they're all having fun. The coaches are too."
An unheralded quartet of guards is electrifying the 76ers' offense
By The Score’s Joe Wolfond:
“The biggest reason the Sixers have weathered these various setbacks is their revelatory guard play, which has been better this season than at any point in Embiid's career outside of the short-lived Jimmy Butler era. If a seer had told you before the start of the season that the Sixers' offense would thrive, thanks in large part to a rejuvenated backcourt, you'd likely have thought [Ben] Simmons was about to get traded for a star creator. Instead, the team has been buoyed by Seth Curry, Tyrese Maxey, Furkan Korkmaz, and Shake Milton, each of whom has handled an increased ball-handling and shot-taking load with aplomb.”
Kevin Durant Praises Scottie Barnes on the Defensive End
Via SLAM:
“How old is he? 19? 20? Sheesh. He knows how to play the right way, and he’s only going to get better,” [Kevin] Durant said.
Damian Lillard Feels Like The Game Is Being Officiated In An ‘Unacceptable’ Way
Via Dime:
“I feel like the way the game is being officiated is unacceptable,” Lillard said on Tuesday night after the Portland Trail Blazers lost to the Los Angeles Clippers. ” I don’t want to go too deep into it so they make a big deal out of it, but the explanations, the sh*t that’s getting missed, I mean, come on, man. I felt like coming in, the rule change wouldn’t affect me, because I don’t do the trick the referees, I don’t do the trick plays. It’s unacceptable.”
Pacers’ Myles Turner says coach Carlisle is one of the best “when it comes to the Xs and Os”
Via HoopsHype:
“I think if you didn’t know anything about Rick [Carlisle], and I knew a lot about him coming from talking to former players and being in Dallas and knowing his background, but if you never met him before, you’d start having a conversation with him and think he’s socially awkward, but it’s not that. He’s just a constant thinker who’s thinking ahead all the time. He’s an interesting guy. He really knows his stuff when it comes to basketball and the Xs and Os. He’s one of the better coaches I’ve had at that.”
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Final Thoughts
Well, that was, once again, a jam-packed week.
Anyway, hope you all have a great rest of your week and I’ll see you all again next week!
Nam