First-Year Greats

[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.