Andre Drummond, Brandon Knight selected for Rising Stars Challenge

Andre Drummond and Brandon Knight have been selected for the Rising Stars Challenge, according to an NBA release.

The game – a replacement for the rookie-sophomore game – will be played Friday, Feb. 15, in Houston during All-Star weekend. The aspect I find more interesting than the game itself: Charles and Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal will draft the teams Thursday, Feb. 7 mixing nine rookies and nine sophomores.

Predictions:

• Drummond will go top four. Kyrie Irving will be No. 1 with Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard and Drummond (not necessarily in order) following shortly thereafter.
• Knight, if the draft follows the same format as last year, again won’t be picked. Irving and Lillard will be premium picks. Someone will scoop up Kemba Walker, and then there’s a drop to Knight.

I’m a bit surprised Kyle Singler didn’t make it over Tyler Zeller, but the Duke-North Carolina strikes again.

Here is the full pool of players:

Rookies:

• Harrison Barnes, Golden State
• Bradley Beal, Washington
• Anthony Davis, New Orleans
• Andre Drummond, Detroit
• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte
• Damian Lillard, Portland
• Alexey Shved, Minnesota
• Dion Waiters, Cleveland
• Tyler Zeller, Cleveland

Sophomores:

• Kenneth Faried, Denver
• Kyrie Irving, Cleveland
• Brandon Knight, Detroit
• Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio
• Chandler Parsons, Houston
• Klay Thompson, Golden State
• Tristan Thompson, Cleveland
• Nikola Vucevic, Orlando
• Kemba Walker, Charlotte

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