Early Season Impressions on This Year's NBA Rookies

The 2008-09 NBA season has been off to an exciting start with the Lakers and Celtics once again on top as the most dominate teams in the NBA. New to the elite party is the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cavaliers are now 16-0 at home and improving. The additions of Mo Williams and a healthy Delonte West have propelled them past mediocrity. This year's draft picks, while not franchise changing, have been suprisingly impressive. Half a season is hardly enough time to determine anyone's career, but they are telling signs. Here are the early season winners and losers of the 2008-09 rookie class.

Winners

Derrick Rose, PG, Chicago Bulls - Rose was the number one draft pick of this season and has so far exceeded the expectations of many. He made and instant inpact on the Bulls and took over the starting point guard job within games. Bulls fans are once again talking playoff and are excited for the future. Rose struggles with defense at times and have yet to develope any long range game, however, his ability to penetrate the defense, create his own shot, and finding an open man have been superb. So far he is averaging about 17 points, six assists, and three rebounds per game. The most impressive stat for Rose has to be the 47% field goal percentage. Rookies usually tend to have poor shot selection, and most guards in the NBA shoot around 40-45%. Now Rose has yet to hit the rookie wall, but the early showing indicates that he will be an elite guard for years to come. Now, for both Chicago, himself, and the NBA, let's hope he stays off the motorcycle.

OJ Mayo, SG, Memphis Grizzlies -With a name like OJ Mayo, everyone knew he was destined to be a superstar. Mayo, like Rose, has exceeded all of his expectations and is emerging as one of the premier scorers in the league. As the starting shooting guard, he is averaging 20+ points and shooting free throws at an pristine 88%. OJ Mayo has also become the first rookie since Iverson to post four 30+ point performances in the first 17 games of the season. Mayo's defense, despite its various rookie lapses, have been solid and he averages at least one steal per game. Memphis has a bright future with many young stars and prospects. However, it appears that playoffs appearances for this franchise is still several years away unless Mayo and Rudy Gay make great leaps next year. Until then, Gay-Mayo remains one of the best named duos in the NBA.

Russell Westbrook, PG Oklahoma City Thunder - Westbrook came in with lots of expectations and received much hype early. His play, though inconsistent at times, has earned him a starting job. He has had some brilliant outings so far and some not so brilliant outings as well. His field goal shooting is bottomed out at 38% and can only improve from here. The most impressive faucets of his game has been his ability to get in the passing lanes and making the steal. So close yet so far, so good. My only wish is that he was not on the OKC Team stealers a team I have vowed to root against for the rest of my life.

Brook Lopez, C, New Jersey Nets - So far, the best big man out of this year's draft based on performance. He has earned a well deserved starting gig thanks to injury to original starter Josh Boone. Though not as spectacular as some of his successful draft mates, Brook has contributed points, boards, and blocks to the Nets consistently, notching a few double-doubles this year already. The most impressive aspect of his game are the blocks as he is averaging a whooping 2.0 blocks per game right now. The best thing about Lopez? Well the NBA now has another prominent twin brothers dual since the days of Horace and Harvey Grant.

DJ Augustin, PG, Charlotte Bobcats - Many people decided Augustin was a horrible draft pick and cried out against Jordan and Larry Brown for their influence on his drafting over Brook Lopez. Augustin was an undersized point guard at 5'11'' and the Bobcats desperately needed more help in the front court. The bad news is that the Bobcats are still lacking in the front court even after their Boris Diaw/Raja Bell trade. The good news is that Augustin has shown that he is better than most thought and had been impressive in the few starts he had when Jason Richardson was out. The problem is that now DJ is back on the bench thanks to Raja Bell and suffering in terms of stats. The Bobcats need to develope Augustin but are dropping the ball again by starting Bell. I guess it's nice to try to pretend that the team is competitive.

Honorable Mentions: Eric Gordon (starter, shooting well), Jason Thompson (earned starting spot for a while), Mario Chalmers (almost notched triple doubles on several occasions), Rudy Fernandez (great in bench role, shooting well from 3pt line)

Losers:

Michael Beasley, PF, Miami Heat - Beasley was the number two draft pick this year and was expected to be a franchise changing power forward. So far, he has done the opposite of that. Not only has he been demoted to the bench since the start of the season, he has also failed to rebound enough to notch even one double double. Hopefully this is only an adjustment period and he will improve from here on out. However, judging from his current performance and his weed-capades, it's a uphill battle.

Danilo Gallinari, SF, New York Knicks - Gallinari is a success in the sense that almost everyone expected him to fail and he has met those expectations flawlessly. He has only played in two games this season for the Knicks and has averaged 1.0 point per game in that span. The perfect example of a wasted number six draft pick. Another great move by the Knicks.

Jerryd Bayless, PG, Portland Trailblazers - Jerryd has disappointed through no fault of his own. He was hyped to be the third best guard in the draft. However, his trade to the amazingly deep Portland team has destroyed any chance he had at playing time. If he had stayed on the Indiana Pacers, we might have been seeing his name in the winners column. Sometimes the NBA is cruel. Hopefully, we will get a chance to see his abilities in the future, but for now he belongs on this list.

Dishonorable Mentions: Joe Alexander (lack of playing time), Robin Lopez (Shaq playing like it's 1999 prevents his playing time), Kevin Love (failed to take advantage of starting role, inconsistent)