First-Year Greats

[hipcoolster]

Not many players come into the league and dominate in their first year. Who are the exceptions to this rule?

Who had the best rookie season of all time?

Who had the single best moment as a rookie, whether it be a huge game or just a historic occurrence?

[Darrin]

55 points by Brandon Jennings against the Warriors comes to mind. That's the freshest thing. Lebron getting 20, 5, and 5 and joining Michael and Oscar as the only ones to do that. Jason Kidd getting 5 triple-doubles in his rookie season is impressive. Jay Williams had a tremendous first-month with the Bulls including a game-winner, and a triple-double. Dwight Howard getting 20 rebounds in his first season. Tony Parker's performance all year was impressive. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.

[024]

blair had some nice 20/20 games.

[Chieflion]

Tyreke Evans had a better 20-5-5 season than LeBron James.

[hipcoolster]

Jennings' 55 was really cool to see. It was the first time I ever got to see a player dominate in that kind of fashion. He was unstoppable, especially in that 3rd quarter.

Too bad his FG% dropped horrendously later in the season. Hopefully the 55 foreshadows more good things to come.

[MI21]

Daniel Gibson's effort out of nowhere against Detroit in the 07 playoffs was pretty amazing.

I think it was 31 he dropped on Billups in the deciding game of ECF.

[scanry]

Michael Jordan probably trumps em all when it comes to First year greats. Scoring 28 ppg is what brought every sponsor to his feet.

Another one would be Magic Johnson. Even though he lost the ROY to Bird, Magic sealed the deal as who the better player was in the NBA Finals... Amazing performance in Game 6 of the 1980 finals.. The Greatest Laker of all time by far...

[cheguevara]

Recently, Westbrook did not look like a rookie. Rose neither.

John Wall will not look like a rookie either.

[Ashy Larry]

Tyreke Evans had a better 20-5-5 season than LeBron James.

Being that the misses is a Kings fan, I caught many of their games and Tyreke really impressed me. Once he gets his first two to four years in, he's going to be nice if he's not already there.

Good driver as well, to the hole and on the freeway......

[Chieflion]

Being that the misses is a Kings fan, I caught many of their games and Tyreke really impressed me. Once he gets his first two to four years in, he's going to be nice if he's not already there.

Good driver as well, to the hole and on the freeway......

My thoughts exactly. Tyreke Evans needs to stay out of off-court trouble, and don't Reke Havoc on the highway. He could be a really fantastic player. He played like a veteran being a rookie and was deceptive attacking the rim.

Looked like he was slow, but he faked everyone with his size and deceptive body control.

[Purch]

SN5LdZEzWKo



Tim Duncan's first game in the playoffs as a rookie.

[lebomb]

Timmy? Almost 22pts and 12 boards a game? 3 blocks?

Rookie of the year???

[Ashy Larry]

My thoughts exactly. Tyreke Evans needs to stay out of off-court trouble, and don't Reke Havoc on the highway. He could be a really fantastic player. He played like a veteran being a rookie and was deceptive attacking the rim.

Looked like he was slow, but he faked everyone with his size and deceptive body control.

nothing more than a dark-skinned Deron Williams minus the consistent jumper and facial hair. He's not gonna have that second season like a Durant had but you can see the maturation process slowly developing.

Dude has got to stay out of trouble though. Yeah, Sacramento is a shit hole and there's nothing to do except go the San Francisco but he's got to keep his melon on straight. Hopefully this run in with the law will open his eyes and let him know that he's not bullet proof.

[hipcoolster]

Michael Jordan probably trumps em all when it comes to First year greats. Scoring 28 ppg is what brought every sponsor to his feet.

Another one would be Magic Johnson. Even though he lost the ROY to Bird, Magic sealed the deal as who the better player was in the NBA Finals... Amazing performance in Game 6 of the 1980 finals.. The Greatest Laker of all time by far...

Did Michael just have the one good game or was he good all season long?

Also I agree fully with the Magic comments. His playoff performance was WAY past a rookie's responsibilities.

[hipcoolster]

Can we actually give credit to Wilt Chamberlain for not only winning ROY but also MVP? I mean sure he was really good, but it was a different time and he was a 7 foot, athletic black guy playing basketball against 6 foot white guys.

[TIMMYD!]

Timmy? Almost 22pts and 12 boards a game? 3 blocks?

Rookie of the year???

Beat me to it, and you can't forget about D-Rob: 24.3 pts, 12 boards, and 4 blocks.

[ambchang]

Wes Unseld and Wilt Chamberlain both won MVP during their Rookie years.

Robinson and Shaq put up some insane numbers as a rookie.

[Ashy Larry]

Shaquille: 23.4 pts. 13.9 rebounds 3.5 blocks ....... rookie year

not bad at all


second year, avg'd 29 points per game.

[sefant77]

Jennings' 55 was really cool to see. It was the first time I ever got to see a player dominate in that kind of fashion. He was unstoppable, especially in that 3rd quarter.

Too bad his FG% dropped horrendously later in the season. Hopefully the 55 foreshadows more good things to come.

Too bad it was the Warriors. Beaubois dropped later 40 against them, in 30min off the bench.

[mindcrime]

Not great but pretty damn good.

Chris Webber
17.5 pts
9.1 boards
2.2 blks

[ohmwrecker]

http://www.realgm.com/src_feature/973/20070813/the_best_rookie_seasons_in_nba_history/

[JamStone]

Michael Jordan probably trumps em all when it comes to First year greats. Scoring 28 ppg is what brought every sponsor to his feet.


30.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 9.7 apg

[jacobdrj]

55 points by Brandon Jennings against the Warriors comes to mind. That's the freshest thing. Lebron getting 20, 5, and 5 and joining Michael and Oscar as the only ones to do that. Jason Kidd getting 5 triple-doubles in his rookie season is impressive. Jay Williams had a tremendous first-month with the Bulls including a game-winner, and a triple-double. Dwight Howard getting 20 rebounds in his first season. Tony Parker's performance all year was impressive. That's all I can remember off the top of my head.
Jay Williams... Way to pull that one out of the blue. Very cool. Didn't know that about him.

G-Hill had a hell of a rookie season too, IIRC...

[Ashy Larry]

http://www.realgm.com/src_feature/973/20070813/the_best_rookie_seasons_in_nba_history/


By Christopher Reina


10. Tim Duncan (http://www.realgm.com/src_playerfile/324/tim_duncan/), San Antonio Spurs (http://spurs.realgm.com/) 1997-98

Duncan is the last ROY to be a four-year college player and it showed, as he was an immediate first team All-NBA. He averaged 21.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, helping David Robinson (http://www.realgm.com/src_playerfile/316/david_robinson/) lead the Spurs to a 53-29 record.





9. Larry Bird, Boston Celtics (http://celtics.realgm.com/) , 1979-80

As a 23-year-old rookie, Bird instantly became the focal point of a 60-win team. Bird averaged 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game during that season. Like Duncan, Bird also made the first team All-NBA as a rookie.





8. David Robinson (http://www.realgm.com/src_playerfile/316/david_robinson/), San Antonio Spurs (http://spurs.realgm.com/) , 1989-90

Robinson was even a year older than Bird as a rookie following his stint in the Navy. He averaged 24.3 points, 12 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game. He also posted a PER of 26.3, 5th best in the NBA that season.






7. Shaquille O’Neal, Orlando Magic (http://magic.realgm.com/) , 1992-93

O’Neal lived up to the great hype surrounding his entry into the NBA by averaging 23.4 points, 13.9 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game (the second two being career highs). He helped turn the Magic into a .500 team after going 21-61 the season before.






6. Michael Jordan (http://www.realgm.com/src_playerfile/596/michael_jordan/), Chicago Bulls (http://bulls.realgm.com/) , 1984-85

Jordan wasted no time in proving he would be a legendary player when he averaged 28.2 points per game as a rookie. His PER of 25.8 was second that season behind Larry Bird’s 26.5.






5. Elgin Baylor, Minneapolis Lakers, 1958-59

Baylor’s rookie season was the first in a string of four (Baylor, Chamberlain, Robertson and Bellamy) that made this list and is unmatched in any other era. Baylor began his stretch of seven straight All-NBA first team selections, as he averaged 24.9 points (4th overall) and 15 rebounds (3rd overall) per game.

Baylor turned a 19-53 team a year before his arrival into a team that went to the Finals before being swept by the Celtics.






4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Milwaukee Bucks (http://bucks.realgm.com/) , 1969-70

Abdul-Jabbar followed his storied UCLA career with a distinguished rookie season with Milwaukee. He averaged 26.7 points (2nd overall) and 13.5 rebounds (3rd overall) per game for the 56-26 Bucks. His PER of 22.5 trailed only Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West.






3. Walt Bellamy, Chicago Packers, 1961-62

Bellamy was the number one overall choice out of Indiana and posted one of the most dominating rookie campaigns in history. :wow:wowHe averaged 31.6 points and 19 rebounds :wow:wow, which still ranks as second best as a rookie and third best as a rookie respectively.






2. Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati Royals, 1960-61

Robertson famously averaged a tripe-double in the 61-62 season, but he was just a few assists away as a rookie. :wow:wow:wowHe recorded 30.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 9.7 assists per game during his first tour of duty. :wow:wow:wow:wowThis began a string of nine consecutive seasons as an All-NBA first team selection. He had the third best PER that season as well, with his 25.9 trailing only Baylor and Chamberlain.






1. Wilt Chamberlain, Philadelphia Warriors 1959-60

After spending a year with the Harlem Globetrotters, Chamberlain joined the NBA and averaged 37.6 points and 27 rebounds per game, dominating the competition and winning the MVP. :rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin: rollin:rollin:rollin:rollin The rebound clip remains second best in history (behind his 27.20 the next season) and beat the previous best set by Bill Russell, which was 23 rebounds per game. Chamberlain would go on to average better than 37 points per game three more times and only Michael Jordan (http://www.realgm.com/src_playerfile/596/michael_jordan/) has hit that plateau.

Read more: http://www.realgm.com/src_feature/973/20070813/the_best_rookie_seasons_in_nba_history/#ixzz0x5G0AdqJ

[Ashy Larry]

37 and 27 is just gangsta .....

[JamStone]

Jay Williams had a tremendous first-month with the Bulls including a game-winner, and a triple-double.

Jay Williams actually had an extremely disappointing start to his rookie campaign. His first month (plus the one game in October), he averaged 10 points, 5 assists on 37% shooting. That triple double was about the only thing that was tremendous his first month in the league, particularly because it was on Jason Kidd and a Nets team that went to the Finals that year. I don't remember his game winner.

But with all the hype and expectations he had coming into the league, he actually was pretty bad, and the rest of the season didn't get much better for him. The most indelible memory I have of Jay Williams' rookie (and only) NBA season is him going up for a dunk and getting hung by the rim and the camera panning to his Bulls teammates on the bench and them laughing their asses off at him.

[JMarkJohns]

Jay Williams actually had an extremely disappointing start to his rookie campaign. His first month (plus the one game in October), he averaged 10 points, 5 assists on 37% shooting. That triple double was about the only thing that was tremendous his first month in the league, particularly because it was on Jason Kidd and a Nets team that went to the Finals that year. I don't remember his game winner.

But with all the hype and expectations he had coming into the league, he actually was pretty bad, and the rest of the season didn't get much better for him. The most indelible memory I have of Jay Williams' rookie (and only) NBA season is him going up for a dunk and getting hung by the rim and the camera panning to his Bulls teammates on the bench and them laughing their asses off at him.

This, and, the bolded was very well deserved since he entered so full of himself that he took Jordan's locker, being the first Bull since Jordan's retirement to do so.

[JamStone]

Forgot about Allen Iverson's five consecutive 40 point games in his rookie season. And while he's often criticized for being a inefficient volume scorer, he shot over 50% from the field and 48% from three point range in that 5 game span. In only one of those 5 games did he shoot under 50% from the field.

There is an asterisk on the feat though. The last game he scored 40 points in that stretch, he was sitting at 37 points with the clock winding down and losing in a 20 point blowout by the Bullets. Coach Johnny Davis calls a timeout just to set up a three point shot for Iverson. Pissed off the Bullets coaches and players. They didn't even try to defend Iverson at the top of the key and gave him the wide open jumper to keep that 40 point string going. Still a pretty impressive feat for a rookie. 5 straight games scoring 40 points or more.

[daslicer]

I would say Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson had great rookie seasons. Alonzo especially had an amazing year averaging 21-11 on 50 percent shooting along with almost 3 blocks a game its just that he got overshadowed by Shaq's great rookie year. LJ was also awesome averaging close to 20-11 his rookie year. Also Grant Hill and Derick Coleman had great rookie years. These are the guys who come to my mind of having great rookie years that haven't been mention yet in this thread.