Rookies Who Could Provide a Boost in the NBA Playoffs
There weren't a ton of dominant rookies this year, and the best ones won't even be in the postseason.
Andrew Wiggins is done. Nerlens Noel's season is over. Elfrid Payton has vanished until October. But we still have a group of first-year players remaining in the postseason.
It's rare that we see rookies make an impact during the playoffs. Usually, the best ones (or the highest-drafted ones) end up on subpar teams for the first year or more of their careers. And when lower-drafted ones get into April, May and June, their minutes decrease as coaches' rotations shorten.
Still, we're bound to see at least a few rookies get playing time during the postseason. Heck, some playoff teams even have young'uns in their starting lineups. There may not be many, but the ones who are still around certainly stand out.
K.J. McDaniels, Houston Rockets
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There was a time not too long ago when K.J. McDaniels was garnering First-Team All-Rookie consideration. Actually, some of the crazies out there thought K.J. was the most effective rookie in the entire league.
That was in a different basketball life, though, before he was dealt at the trade deadline only to lose minutes subsequently. That was McDaniels, the Philadelphia 76er. Not McDaniels, the Houston Rocket.
McDaniels, the 76er, was playing 25.4 minutes a night, pestering opposing ball-handlers on the defensive end and manning anyone the Sixers told him to guard. He was already an above-average defender.
McDaniels, the Rocket, isn't necessarily worse. He's just more absent.
Since being shipped to Houston for Isaiah Canaan and a second-round pick right before mid-February's deadline, McDaniels has played just 33 total minutes. It's not his fault. The Rockets don't need a rookie coming in and mucking up what's helped them leap to 56 victories. Plus, Houston loves shooters, and McDaniels is hardly that.
Still, with some injuries on the roster (Patrick Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas are done for the year), the Rockets could find themselves looking for some extra help come the postseason. There's a chance they find contributions from a first-year player.
Markel Brown, Brooklyn Nets
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Markel Brown is kind of like Marcus Smart (yes, we'll get to him), except not quite as good at anything.
He's not going to give you much offensively. There is a reason, after all, that he elicits Tony Allen comparisons, even from his head coach, Lionel Hollins, who worked with Allen during his days leading the Memphis Grizzlies. But Brown will help you on the defensive end.
Even as a former second-round pick in the midst of his rookie season, Brown has become the Nets' best on-ball perimeter stopper. He's physical and able to get into guys' faces. He's aggressive with his hands. He's agile enough to step in front of penetrators and quick enough to contest shots.
Brown still has work to do guarding off the ball, but he's going to have his hands full during his Round 1 series against the Atlanta Hawks. He'll man the Jeff Teague, one of the NBA's most underrated point guards. He'll likely have to defend Dennis Schroder, too. It doesn't seem fair for a rookie, but that's the type of position the Nets are in considering Brown is easily Brooklyn's most athletic defensive-minded guard.
He might not shoot or score at all, but his place in the starting lineup makes sense against a team like Atlanta. He'll likely stay in the first unit, as he has for the past 29 games, and though his impact probably won't be seen in the box score, it'll be felt in certain non-statistical facets of the game.
Bojan Bogdanovic, Brooklyn Nets
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It is an absolute certainty that Bojan Bogdanovic will play a big role for the Nets. How successful he is within such a role is up for debate, though.
The man whose teammates refer to him as "Boggy" had an up-and-down season during his first pro year, but he finished strong. He dropped 28, a career high, in the Nets' playoff-clinching victory over the Orlando Magic to finish the season, just a culmination of how much better he's become over the past couple of months.
Bogdanovic has averaged 12.0 points on 50.7 percent field-goal shooting and 45.3 percent three-point shooting in 23 games since March 5. He's looked more comfortable on the defensive end, too, though that's mainly been while guarding the ball. He still struggles to run with guys away from it.
Either way, the Nets don't have much shooting, and if they can get consistency from beyond the arc in Boggy, they're going to lean on him. A bunch.
Brooklyn made just 33 percent of its threes during the regular season, ranking a mere 26th in accuracy from beyond the arc. The team needs a kid who's been this hot from downtown to continue the trend into the postseason if it wants any shot to take even a game or two from the Hawks in the first round.
Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
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There might not be another rookie who defends the perimeter like Marcus Smart does: the aggression, the skill, the physicality, the quickness. He's already learned how to dominate on that end.
The Celtics don't have anyone to man the rim, which means they rely on the quality of their wing defenders to prevent points. That leaves much of what they do defensively in the hands (and feet) of Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and, of course, Smart.
We're going to see the rookie guard Kyrie Irving during Round 1. Heck, maybe we'll even see some of him on LeBron James, even if it makes the most sense for Crowder to get the bulk of LBJ tries during the C's first-round series.
Smart is still learning how to score, though his shooting is progressing (he's 36.9 percent from three over the past 21 games), but he's already figured out how to dominate on defense. Because of that, he could make more of an impact than most any other rookie in the postseason.
Nikola Mirotic, Chicago Bulls
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Nikola Mirotic has become a sneaky choice for Rookie of the Year, even if he did fall out of coach Tom Thibodeau's rotation on more than one occasion this season.
Still, with the way the Montenegrin has performed during the second half, you know he's bound to contribute come playoff time. If he doesn't, the Bulls, who heavily lean on him now, are in trouble.
Mirotic has averaged 17.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in 28.0 minutes a night over his past 23 games. His percentages are somewhat unimpressive over that time (only 29 percent from long range), but his usage has skyrocketed.
A 6'10" big who can shoot, put the ball on the ground and pass a little bit? That's the dream, even if he is operating inside an offense that's as disappointing as the Bulls', which tailed off in the second half of the season and finished the year ranking 10th in points per possession.
Follow Fred Katz on Twitter at @FredKatz.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of April 16 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
