Rookie Soph...er Rising Stars Challenge

This year's Rising Stars Challenge (nee Rookie Sophomore Game) has taken 9 sophomores and 9 rookies. Shaq and Chuck will draft their own team. I thought it might be fun to give a little statistical background to our big GMs so they can make the best choice for their up-and-coming squads.

In this post, I'll list only the Sophomores. Rookies are explosive, volatile, and intriguing. Due to not being allowed to watch basketball highlights at work, I haven't seen enough of the new kids on the block to really justify any of their stats: other than Kyrie Irving and Ricky Rubio who seem to "got game."

The sophomores include: All-Star Blake Griffin, nutcase talent Demarcus Cousins, the other Knick sophomore guard Landry Fields, Indiana's Paul George, Utah up and comer Gordon Hayward, the big man from Motown Greg Monroe, the Brazilian Tiago Splitter, and last year's number 1 pick John Wall.

Griffin is obviously the cream of the crop, but who is the next best Sophomore available. Based on Player Efficiency Rating, Monroe actually outperforms Griffin with a PER of 24.29. Granted this is for a bad Detroit team, but Monroe does seem to have a more solid all around game than anyone else. He puts up good numbers 16.8 ppg/ 9.9 rpg, too. If you want to go on numbers, take a look at Cousins' 15.8 ppg/ 11.3 rpg. Cousins and Griffin are the only two to record a double double average.

There are a good selection of shooting guards available in Turner, George, Hayward, and Fields. Fields ranks lowest in PER in 13.05 but his all around game 10.1 ppg/ 3.1 rpg/ 3.0 apg is what gets him in this talent pool. Turner should be the second to go from the Sophomore guards. The first sophomore guard picked should be John Wall. When Wall is not busy leading a horrid Wizards team (which unfortunately is just about 4 times a week for him), he remains a great talent with undeniable speed and prowess. The outside shot is lacking but he finds other ways to produce as noted by his 7.1 apg.

That leaves us with only one more to talk about: Tiago Splitter. He's being groomed by Pop over in San Antonio. He puts up the 3rd highest PER yet averages only 9/5 a game. If you're looking for a solid backup to your PF/C as a coach, take Splitter over some of the flashier names. Unfortunately, this is a show and I doubt if Splitter doesn't go in the 16th-18th range. Then again, Kawhi Leonard is in the Rookie pool and I believe he should go last.