All-Rookie Teams: Some old, Not enough Young

by Jake Whitacre on May 14, 2008 11:13 AM EDT in Player Analysis

Yesterday the All-Rookie teams were announced and (again) Dominic McGuire was blackballed out of any votes. That's the bad news, the good is that Nick Young was much closer to make the All-Rookie team than anyone on the team was to making the All-Defensive team. Had he made it, he would've been the first Wizards to make it since Jarvis Hayes back in 2004. Bonus points to whoever knows who was the last Wizard to make the team before Jarvis. No cheating!

Nick didn't end up making either team, but he's still looking like a good pick from Ernie Grunfeld. Just going on simple fact that the player taken 16th in the draft ended up 13th in the rookie voting speaks to the value of the pick. It gets better when you realize that three of the rookies that got more votes (Jamario Moon, Luis Scola, and JC Navarro) weren't even taken in this year's draft, so you could say that the Wizards wound up with the 10th best rookie from the '07 class, based on the voting. However, I would be quick to mention that Greg Oden was out all season, so 11th would probably be a little more fair.

It'll still take a few more years before we can really evaluate whether taking Young was the best move, but the early returns are looking pretty good for the high-flyer. Now if only we could get him in the dunk contest...

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All Rookie Team - last Wizard

Rip Hamilton?

by AndNone on May 14, 2008 12:30 PM EDT reply actions

That was my original guess, too

But Richard Hamilton did not make the All-Rooke 1st or 2nd team.

Bullets Forever: Where fancy numbers and YouTube come together.

by Jake Whitacre on May 14, 2008 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions

my guess

juwan howard?

by DarrellWalkerFan on May 14, 2008 1:08 PM EDT reply actions

Nope

He did make the team, but someone else made it more recently.

Bullets Forever: Where fancy numbers and YouTube come together.

by Jake Whitacre on May 14, 2008 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

My initial guess would be Rasheed Wallace

And he did make the 2nd team in 95-96.

But the answer (2nd team in 00-01) is quite the surprise…dude’s last flirtation with the NBA was in 06-07 when he played for Denver in the preseason…last real game was April 16, 2003.

And actually, the answer wasn’t even drafted by the Wiz as he was aquired mid-season and appeared in 27 games, averaging 17.0 per.

Who is he?

by Kyle Weidie on May 14, 2008 1:09 PM EDT reply actions

by Jake Whitacre on May 14, 2008 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions

No wonder I barely remember those years -

I’ve tried to block out everything MJ -Wizards related from my mind.

by ooba on May 14, 2008 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions

He had one good stretch

At the end of the 2000/2001 season playing alongside Rip Hamilton. Then, MJ came along and stole his job, Alexander came into the 2001/02 season in bad shape, and the rest is history.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on May 14, 2008 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions