Rookie Cardboard Rankings: NBA Edition
John Wall and Blake Griffin will go blow for blow for basketball's rookie of the year award during the 2010-11 NBA Season. Wall jumped out to a huge lead after becoming the 3rd youngest player in NBA History to record a triple in early November. Several weeks later Blake Griffin responded with his own piece of NBA folklore after recording a 44-point, 15-rebound, 7-assist evening against New York. Due to the intrigue of John Wall and the fact that his rookie cards come out of 2010-11 basketball products, it would be extremely tough for Griffin to ever move ahead of Wall during the 2010-11 basketball card season.
After the big two, there's a pretty big drop off. Evan Turner's hold on the #3 spot in RCR is solid as collectors remain intrigued with the potential of former Buckeye, but at some point his terrible signature could catch up to him should another rookie explode.
Derrick Favors and DeMarcus Cousins seemingly alternate spots with each new product. Despite ruminations that the Kings may already be looking to cut their losses with Cousins due to attitude problems and the view that he is a terrible influence on last year's ROY Tyreke Evans, the Kentucky Wildcat factor has seemingly cemented his status as a hobby rookie favorite.
After surging during Baron Davis' absence, Clippers rookie PG Eric Bledsoe has cooled off a bit, but not nearly enough to drop the Kentucky alum from the Top 10. Although it hurts me to say this as a Minnesota sports enthusiast, the Wolves factor is definitely "childress-ing" Wesley Johnson's hobby stock.
The up and coming name to keep an eye on is Knicks' guard Landry Fields, who is currently 3rd in rookie scoring (10.4 PPG) and tied for 3rd in rookie rebounding (6.4 RPG). Unfortunately, due to the fact that he was a 2nd round pick with little fanfare, the Knicks rookie doesn't have a high quality rookie auto currently available, his only two rookie autos at the moment are sticker-drops from 2010-11 Prestige and 2010-11 Rookies & Stars.
Despite averaging a little over 2 PPG, Jazz rookie Gordon Hayward makes the top 10 due to collector interest forged during Butler's epic run to the 2009 NCAA Championship Game. Al-Farouq Aminu probably deserves his spot, but being out-shined by two rookie teammates (Griffin, Bledsoe) and playing for the NBA's least storied organization tends to do that to a guy's cards (Clippers).
John Wall, Washington Wizards PG- Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers PF
- Evan Turner, Philadelphia 76ers F
- Derrick Favors, New Jersey Nets F
- Demarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings F/C
- Wesley Johnson, Minnesota Timberwolves SF
- Eric Bledsoe, Los Angeles Clippers PG
- Landry Fields, New York Knicks G
- James Anderson, San Antonio Spurs G
- Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz G
Just Missed:Al-Farouq Aminu, Paul George, Xavier Henry, Jordan Crawford, Greg Monroe, Greivis Vasquez
Sleepers:Tiago Splitter, Jeremy Lin, Ish Smith, Armon Johnson, Ekpe Udoh (out for year)
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