TI’s week 5 rookie ladder: Josh Giddey on the rise

With five weeks in the books, the rookie ladder hasn’t shifted perhaps as much as anticipated. A group of five have separated themselves, at least for the moment including OKC Thunder point guard Josh Giddey.

While I combed through the stats, watched as many games as possible something became crystal clear. The five players who are consistently ranking in the top five all impact their teammate’s ability to perform and in varying degrees impact winning.

Most years the Rookie of the Year is awarded to the player who lands on a lottery team and is given free rein to fire away. Points accumulate and stat boxes are filled with the rookie who scores the most typically winning at season end. But that’s not all that should be up for consideration, especially this season.

This year’s class is so deep we need to dive deeper and look at the complete package the rookie brings to the court. For the first time in years, there are more than a handful of rookies who are already making a mark on the defensive end of the floor. When you combine their offensive production with their ability to improve the defense we’re talking a whole new ball game.

Intentions week five rookie ladder: Josh Giddey offers strong performances

Each member of the top five does more than one thing well and impacts his team’s overall product. Some (like Giddey) are masters at dishing dimes and directly linked to putting the offense into gear. Others like Mobley and Barnes and even Wagner are impacting the defensive side of the floor already picking up defensive matchups featuring star talents.

Every one of these top five has demonstrated the ability to be the x-factor in wins which isn’t something we typically see from rookies — and definitely not from this many so early.

There are a few players not making the list who are also quality rookies and in any other year would find themselves making the weekly ladder.  For example, I vacillated on Pacers wing Chris Duarte who has been nothing short of a quality shooter and shown maturity on both sides of the court.

He has the benefit of maturity and the full four years at college. Although that’s great for the Pacers something said on the Friday night broadcast of the Raptors – Pacers game left an impression — Matt Devlin pointed out Duarte is two years older than Gary Trent Jr. Taking that a step further, Duarte is a full year older than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and almost two years older than Luguentz Dort.

It’s not that I’m punishing Duarte (who is incredible) for his age. Rather, the quintet on this ladder is 20 years old  (other than our OKC Thunder rook who is only 19). Realistically, this group of five has a higher ceiling, frankly because they have additional years and time over Duarte to develop within the system that drafted them.

As per usual the honorable mentions list is long and full of talent. The aforementioned Duarte just missed the cut and gets the hat tip along with Alperen Sengun, Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland, Jalen Green, Davion Mitchell, and Herb Jones.

Also of note, Jalen Suggs is showing improvement and perhaps part of that is due to him benefitting from the absence of Cole Anthony as he strung together a couple of great performances.  We’ll have to see how Jamahl Mosely gets the duo to work in concert or if the Magic determine they should move one since Markelle Fultz’s return could impact the situation even further.