Comments on: Brandon Knight fourth in Grantland’s week one ‘Rookie Rankings’

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:29:03 +0000

oh, i didn’t realize it was for up to jan 1. i see you said that but i must have missed it. objections retracted.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:30:13 +0000

@tarsier:

The list was for Jan. 1 and prior performances. Irving had a 20 point/6 assist/0 turnover/80 percent shooting night Jan. 3. Also, I think Knight's shooting numbers have declined more after Jan. 1. For the performances he looked at to do the first week of rankings, I think the two were probably more comparable.

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:07:39 +0000

I explained how? I mentioned Knight’s poor numbers. Unless you mean the defense which is really only slightly better than Irving’s imo. And their TOs are comparable too.

By: danny

danny — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:37:06 +0000

You just explained how.

And I know Frank wants to take the approach of putting the best team on the floor, or making Knight earn his minutes, or whatever, but Knight is our future, and he needs to start. The more he plays, the quicker he’ll cut out the TO’s and get comfortable.

By: tarsier

tarsier — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:41:37 +0000

I don’t think Knight deserves to be ahead of Irving. He has only had one good game thus far. He is shooting 42% from the field and 30% from three. He has just 3 free throw attempts on 72 field goal attempts. His defense is a plus, but his play has thus far been akin to Keith Bogans last year. I love Knight and all and am excited about his upside, especially the defensive capacity he has shown. But how does 10/3/3 on 10 shots in 25 mpg beat 14/4/5 on 12 shots in 26 mpg?

By: Steve K

Steve K — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:40:08 +0000

Obviously it’s super early, but Knight’s defense is an unexpected and excellent development. It’s not unlike Monroe’s surprising aptitude to rebound so well, when most draft pundits thought that would be a weakness.

If Knight continues to improve defensively, no doubt his offense will benefit from increased steals and stops.