Without any doubts, the month of June and July are busy months in the calendar of any NBA General Manager as talent evaluation and draft night preparations reach their peak. Inevitably, some teams come away with steals while others find out months later that they could have used their precious first round pick to acquire a much better player. Thus, it is about time to take a look at the performance of some previously heralded rookies in the first two weeks of play.

While the Los Angeles Clippers were thrilled when they won the draft lottery and subsequently picked Blake Griffin, GM Mike Dunleavy was fairly disappointed when Griffin suffered a stress fracture in his right knee that will keep him sidelined until some point in December. That said, he looked very impressive during the summer league and preseason and will most likely become a valuable NBA player in the future. In contrast, the Memphis Grizzlies are very disappointed with the performance of second overall pick Hasheem Thabeet thus far. More precisely, Thabeet showed no offensive game whatsoever and did not seem to be a particularly good defender either, apart from his shot blocking ability that is. In fact, the Tanzanian center only got to play 6 minutes per contest in the first two weeks of play, averaging 0.7 points and 1.8 rebounds.

As far as early considerations for the Rookie of the Year award go, three names come to most experts’ mind: Tyreke Evans, Jonny Flynn and Brandon Jennings. Especially Brandon Jennings looked like a steal for the Milwaukee Bucks as he played phenomenal in his first six NBA games. Averaging 18.4 points, 4.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 31 minutes per contest, Jennings helped the struggling Milwaukee Bucks to get back on track, starting the season with a solid 3-2 record. Similarly, Jonny Flynn could be a candidate for the ROY award down the stretch as he put up 15.0 points, 3.5 assists and 3.1 boards per game as well as shooting 44% from beyond the arc. That said, Flynn’s performance did not translate into wins for the struggling Timberwolves but could be Minnesota’s point guard for years to come. Last but not least, fourth overall pick Tyreke Evans lived up to everyone’s expectations as he continues to improve steadily and erupted for 32 points and 7 assists in an upsetting road win versus the Utah Jazz. In six games with the Sacramento Kings, Evans scored 15.9 points, dished out 3.9 assists and pulled down 3.7 boards in 32 minutes per game.

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