Written by joehulbert at The Lottery Mafia
These rookies are impressing early in the season (note: I’ve not chosen the obvious ones).
Nemanja Bjelica
An older rookie, but nonetheless a rookie, the Serbian has performed relatively well in his first dozen or so NBA games. A stretch four who has the agility and creativity to play at the three, the former EuroLeague MVP has given Sam Mitchell an awful lot of flexibility on the offensive end. He has utilized him as a power forward alongside Karl Towns but on occasion as a small forward alongside Gorgui Dieng and the legendary ‘KAT’. His nickname is ‘professor big shots’- his 50% field goal percentage is proof that he can live up to this name and he has made a series of big shots in close games for this young team.
Something Minnesota were supposed to struggle with this year was defensive rebounding as they don’t really have an awful lot of height or power, but Bjelica has rebounded really well and it has been rather surprising. Seven boards per game puts him in the higher region of the Minnesota statistical rankings and he has been a welcome addition. His defence could be an issue in the short term, the opponent’s offensive rating is 107 when he is on the court but a measly 92 when he is sitting on the bench. There is some context to this, Bjelica has often played with the bench whose defence is frankly abysmal, however it is clear that his one downfall could be his defending. Minnesota are only paying him four million dollars per seasn, they are getting an awful lot of production for their output.
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