Each NBA team's most impressive rookie for 2019-20

Guard Cam Reddish turned a corner beginning on Jan. 12, but forward De'Andre Hunter gets the nod as the standout rookie for the Atlanta Hawks this season. In 63 appearances, 62 of those starts, Hunter was in the top 10 among rookies  in PPG (12.3), REB (4.5), and he was first in minutes played per contest (32). He also shot 35.5 percent from beyond the arc. Defense will be a concern heading into the summer, but that has more to do with the overall state of the team on that end of the court (Trae Young) than about Hunter’s specific deficiencies. 

As much as we enjoyed watching Tacko Fall  conduct at Symphony Hall, it’s forward Grant Williams who offered more to the Boston Celtics on the court. Williams appeared in 62 of Boston’s 64 contests, and he averaged 3.5 PPG, 2.7 REB, 0.5 BLK and 15.6 minutes per game. At the end of January, Forbes’ Hunter Felt wondered if Williams was the club’s most valuable rookie. Celtics Life contributor, Tomasz Kordylewski, produced a highlight reel of Williams’ top defensive plays of his first season. 

Once the Brooklyn Nets acquired Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the club began planning for the start of the 2020-21 season. This made rookies a superfluous part of the team’s equation for the current campaign. Second-round pick  Nicolas Claxton may not be long for the club, depending on how the team approaches the upcoming offseason, but the forward did average 4.4 PPG, 2.9 REB, 1.1 AST and 12.5 minutes per game in 15 appearances. As noted by Basketball-Reference, the 20-year-old shot nearly 66 percent from the field and averaged 16.7 PPG in G League action. 

The Charlotte Hornets not completely falling apart following the departures of Kemba Walker and Jeremy Lamb was one of the more positive stories of the NBA season. Forward  PJ Washington, the 12th selection of the 2019 draft, became a starter for a team that often punched above its weight. The 21-year-old averaged 12.2 PPG, was fifth among rookies in REB (5.4) and third in blocks (44). He rated 19th overall in defensive real plus-minus among players at his position. 

Count Chicago Bulls guard Coby White among rookies lamenting the premature stoppage of the 2019-20 NBA season. According to Jasmyn Wimbish of CBS Sports, the 20-year-old made history in February when he became the Association’s first rookie to ever tally 30 points in three consecutive games coming off the bench. White averaged 20.1 PPG, 4.1 AST, 4.0 REB and 1.0 STL while shooting 41 percent from three-point range that same month. In five March outings, he notched 22.4 PPG, 6.0 AST and 4.0 REB. He made more three-point shots than any other rookie as of the end of March. 

Kevin Porter Jr. deserves an honorable mention, but Darius Garland offered more for a Cleveland Cavaliers side that would hold the conference’s worst record if the season was called off without another game played. The rookie guard started in all 59 of his appearances, he averaged 12.3 PPG and he was third among first-year pros in assists (3.9).  Cleveland’s experiment of playing Garland alongside Collin Sexton left plenty to be desired as it pertains to winning. Even though Sexton was Cleveland’s best player during a dreadful campaign, we wouldn’t be shocked to see him dealt at the right price. 

We’re sure Penn State product Josh Reaves is a great young man, but even fans of the Dallas Mavericks  may not remember the guard making a couple of appearances for the club. Dallas’ real rookie was Kristaps Porzingis, who started the second act of his career with the club in October after he missed a year-and-a-half of action due to a torn ACL. So long as Lordzingis and Luka Doncic remain healthy, Dallas’ future remains bright. 

Perhaps the extra time off will serve as another teaching moment for Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., the 21-year-old who redshirted what should’ve been his debut season due to lingering back issues. As Mike Singer of the Denver Post wrote, Nuggets coach Michael Malone reduced Porter’s minutes following the All-Star break for the betterment of Denver’s defense. At the other end of the floor, Porter shot 42.2 percent from distance and averaged 7.5 PPG and 4.1 REB in 48 appearances. He’s going to need starting minutes soon to show the Nuggets what he is...or what he isn’t. 

As Keith Langlois of Pistons.com explained, The Detroit Pistons originally intended for Sekou Doumbouya to come along slowly in the G League for the majority of the season. Injuries resulted in the 19-year-old forward experiencing an uptick in Association minutes beginning on Jan. 2. In his first month as a member of the rotation, Doumbouya averaged 9.3 PPG and 4.3 REB. His breakout game occurred on Jan. 15 when he dropped 24 points on the Celtics. He hit double-digit points only once more before the suspension of the campaign, though, and he’ll need to work on both his ball movement and shooting over the summer. 

The Golden State Warriors could finish the regular season with the league’s worst record, both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson rested and ready to go in October, Andrew Wiggins as a relatively new toy or a trade piece and Eric Paschall as a surprising Rookie of the Year candidate. Things could be worse.  The second-round pick out of Villanova averaged 18.1 PPG in November, and he sat fifth among rookies in PPG (14.0) and seventh in REB (4.6) when play stopped. As noted by Drew Shiller of NBC Sports Bay Area , coach Steve Kerr is intrigued by the idea of playing Paschall alongside Draymond Green when the Dubs have their full assortment of weapons in the fall. 

Giving rookies a plethora of playing time was not of much concern to the Houston Rockets after the franchise paired Russell Westbrook with James Harden. Guard  Chris Clemons split time between the Rockets and G. League during the campaign, and he failed to make much of a mark over his last six games with Houston. He averaged over 5.0 PPG from the start of November through Jan. 9, though, and he hit over 35 percent of his three-point attempts in 29 appearances. 

The Indiana Pacers did more than remain afloat waiting for Victor Oladipo to return from injury. Giving multiple rookies significant playing time wasn’t part of that process. In 49 appearances, center  Goga Bitadze  tallied 3.1 PPG and 2.0 REB, but he averaged under six minutes per contest over his last 11 opportunities. He remains a project for the future, as the organization ponders what to do with Myles Turner considering Domantas Sabonis’ breakout year as the club’s MVP. 

Developing would-be stars wasn’t much of a concern for a Los Angeles Clippers  franchise chasing a championship with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams all in the rotation. The Clippers  acquired the rights to Florida State forward Mfiondu Kabengele from the Brooklyn Nets, and he mostly hung around the G League outside of his 12 appearances for L.A. Kabengele, the nephew of legend Dikembe Mutumbo, notched a player efficiency rating of 18.23 while averaging 3.5 PPG and a paltry 5.3 minutes per outing. He buried 53 of 162 threes in the G League and shot 45 percent (9-20) from that range on the big stage. 

A LeBron James team not concerned with rookies? Whoever heard of such a tale? The King had no time for the likes of Zach Norvell Jr. over the first 63 games played by the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Lake Show will end March with the conference’s best record. The 19-year-old  Talen Horton-Tucker, a second-round selection, averaged 18.1 PPG and 6.3 REB in 38 G-League outings. 

The Memphis Grizzlies will be a playoff team, if the Association takes teams directly into a 16-club postseason whenever play resumes, thanks largely to rookie guard Ja Morant. At just 20 years old, Morant was even better than advertised for the rebuilding Grizzlies, as the dynamic playmaker led his team in scoring (17.6 PPG). He also led all rookies in AST (6.9), and he was fifth on the Memphis roster in player efficiency rating. On March 19, Sports Illustrated writers voted Morant Rookie of the Year, and 70 different voters polled by ESPN later that month agreed. 

Kendrick Nunn was never supposed to be a Rookie of the Year candidate. The undrafted guard once deemed  surplus to requirements by the Golden State Warriors became an instant starter for the Miami Heat during his tenure with that organization, and he sits behind only Ja Morant and Zion Williamson in PPG (15.6) among eligible  rookies  as of the league’s shutdown. Nunn isn’t a stat-filler for a non-playoff side, as the Heat were fourth in the conference standings when play came to a halt. Coby White (133) is the only  rookie to have more threes than Nunn (131) as of the end of March. 

The Milwaukee Bucks traded away their first-round draft pick and, ultimately, didn’t use a single selection in last year’s player-selection process. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, older brother to the Greek Freak and reigning league MVP who will probably repeat as the holder of that award, has played in only 20 regular-season games, so we guess he’s as good a candidate as any who appeared for the Bucks in 2019-20. The future is now for the side with the league’s best record and a team that probably desperately wants to finish the campaign as quickly as possible. 

As Kyle Ratke of NBA.com  explained, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jarrett Culver located a shooting stroke after the stabilization of the post-trade-deadline portion of the season. In the 11 contests after that date through March 5, the 21-year-old bumped his field-goal percentage by nearly eight points (38.6 percent to 46.5) and his three-point shooting from 27.2 percent to 42.9. Per  Ethan Becker of Hoops Habit and others , Culver could be included in a trade that would land the Wolves a star such as Devin Booker this summer. 

The three-word phrase that best describes New Orleans Pelicans force, Zion Williamson? Worth the wait. In 19 games, from Jan. 22 through March 8, Williamson averaged an incredible 23.6 PPG and 6.8 REB, both league bests among rookies who played in more than one game. He hit on six of 13 three-pointers, shot nearly 59 percent from the field and produced a mixtape opposing coaches and defenders should find terrifying. He was also his team’s runaway leader in player efficiency rating.  Only LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler sat above Williamson in  real plus-minus among eligible players at the position, and only James held a higher offensive RPM.

RJ Barrett isn’t the rookie New York Knicks fan wanted (see Williamson, Zion), and Barrett’s shooting numbers (40.2 FG percentage, 32.0 3P percentage, 61.4 FT percentage) do nothing to erase criticisms of that aspect of his game that existed ahead of the draft. Barrett’s 14.3 PPG was good for fourth among debuting youngsters, and he was also fourth in steals among rookies. Little has changed about Barrett from about 12 months ago in that he has to develop a jump shot as a pro to reach what is hoped to be his ceiling. 

We may be a few short years away from remembering how the Oklahoma City Thunder improved the organization after the club moved on from both Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Rookie guard  Luguentz Dort made his official OKC debut on Dec. 6, and Dort became a starter on Jan. 20. He was in the lineup for 21 of his 29 appearances.  As with any rookie, let alone an undrafted player, Dort experienced ups and downs during his initial pro journey. He scored 23 points against the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 29 but shot a woeful 23.1 percent from three in February games. Per  Carlan Gay of NBA.com , Dort showed a surprising calmness on defense while “leading the team in charges drawn, contested three-point shots and has recovered 75 percent of defensive loose balls” after he became a starter. Clearly Dort learned some lessons from teammate Chris Paul. 

The lack of available options  leaves us with little to say about the Orlando Magic. Chuma Okeke, the 16th pick of the  2019 NBA Draft, is still recovering from the torn ACL he suffered in March 2019. Forward Vic Law averaged 19.7 PPG, 8.1 REB and 34.9 minutes per game in 33 G League starts. So far the Magic taking a flier on Philadelphia 76ers castoff Markelle Fultz looks like a solid gamble. The 21-year-old started in 59 of 64 games, and he averaged 12.1 PPG, 5.2 AST, and 1.3 STL while shooting 47.3 percent from the field. Most importantly, the former No. 1 overall pick remained healthy during his first season with the organization. 

Rookie guard Matisse Thybulle didn’t fill offensive box scores for the Philadelphia 76ers on a nightly basis, but he showed glimpses he could soon be an All-Defensive asset. The 23-year-old rookie is 10th among all players at his position in defensive real plus-minus, and he notched 1.4 STL despite averaging under 20 minutes per game. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer added this info: “The squad is 20-6 in games in which (Thybulle’s) played at least 20 minutes. However, he’s played fewer than 20 minutes in each of the last 11 games.”

Remember when the Phoenix Suns were crushed for grabbing forward Cameron Johnson with the 11th pick of the draft? The 24-year-old may have been on the verge of silencing such critics before the campaign abruptly ended. He drained 43.1 percent of his shots from distance in December and then hit 40 percent of his threes throughout February. From Brian Keyes of The Daily Tar Heel: “Johnson was out with mononucleosis for the last three games before the abrupt suspension of the NBA, but in his prior 11 games, Johnson was averaging 9.2 points and 2.3 made threes a game, shooting 41.5 percent from the floor and 39.7 percent from deep.” 

The Portland Trail Blazers weren’t a playoff team when the season came to a halt. Things were so bad for Portland earlier in the campaign that the club brought Carmelo Anthony back from exile. In  Nassir Little, the Trail Blazers landed a forward who averaged under 12 minutes per game and who failed to convert even 24 percent (14-59) of his three-pointers. Little’s 3.6 PPG and 2.3 REB barely reflect on his play because the overall product remains a small sample size. 

Injury setbacks turned what could’ve been a promising season into one that couldn’t end soon enough for the Sacramento Kings. There isn’t much to see regarding the team’s current rookie crop. Guard Justin James, a second-round pick, twice dropped 14 points on opponents during the fall before he had a cup of coffee in the G League. He averaged 2.5 PPG and 6.4 minutes per game, but he was mostly a non-factor after January. 

As the San Antonio Spurs approach a future that will include somebody other than  Gregg Popovich coaching the club, nobody within the organization knows, for sure, what the team has in 20-year-old Keldon Johnson. In 31  G League appearances, the swingman averaged 20.3 PPG and 5.8 REB, and he shot over 53 percent from the field. While he played in only nine NBA contests, that was enough for Pop to sing the rookie’s praises in March, as Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News reported. “He’s very coachable, a great kid,” Popovich said. “He has a great personality and is taking advantage of the minutes he has been getting. He will continue to improve, and I think he ought to have a really good season next year.”

Starting in late February, Toronto Raptors guard Terence Davis seemed to collide with the figurative “rookie wall.” That’s not too shabby for an undrafted rookie who appeared in 64 games his debut year and who was seventh on his team in scoring (7.7 PPG). Despite a few poor showings in February, he scored 12.2 PPG and shot 43.6 percent from three that month. After he was robbed of a spot in the Rising Stars game, he tallied 31 points in a Toronto win over the Chicago Bulls on Feb. 2. 

We didn’t see enough of either Rayjon Tucker or Juwan Morgan with the Utah Jazz to offer any definitive grade, assuming neither will play another minute in the Association until October at the earliest. Tucker spent time with G League affiliates the Wisconsin Herd and, later, the Salt Lake City Stars. In 19 total appearances at that level, the undrafted guard/forward averaged 23.3 PPG, 4.8 REB and 2.5 AST. He shot 36.1 percent from three (39-108). 

What would have been for Washington Wizards forward Rui Hachimura had a groin problem not derailed his momentum before Christmas? Think about this: In eight December contests, which included a pair of matchups vs. the Los Angeles Clippers and an injury-shortened showing against the Detroit Pistons, the 22-year-old averaged 17.3 PPG and 6.6 REB. As Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington (h/t Yahoo Sports ) wrote, Hachimura’s work vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo on Feb. 24 provided signs Washington’s rookie was making strides on defense before unavoidable circumstances stripped him of needed playing time.