Best rookie season of all-time

[Marchesk]

Using a combination of stats, awards, impact on the team, championship run, and impact on the league.

ABA is included.

Strong Candidates:

Wilt
Oscar
Kareem
Dr J
Magic
Bird
MJ
Shaq
D. Robinson

[CeltsGarlic]

Tyreke Evans!

[SamuraiSWISH]

That I've seen since I started watching? Probably Shaq. Or David Robinson.

[T_L_P]

Definitely Robinson imo.

You forgot Duncan on your strong candidates list. His rookie year was probably better than Bird's.. :confusedshrug:

[Marchesk]

Definitely Robinson imo.

You forgot Duncan on your strong candidates list. His rookie year was probably better than Bird's.. :confusedshrug:

Fair enough. But was it better than Sampson or Hakeem's?

[SamuraiSWISH]

Truly great big men are more equipped to come in and make lasting immediate impact.

[pastis]

Definitely Robinson imo.

You forgot Duncan on your strong candidates list. His rookie year was probably better than Bird's.. :confusedshrug:

only thing you could blame duncan is his FT%. hehe. imagine... if he would be a solid 87-90% shooter.....wow. i mean there isnt anything he didnt archieve in his career....but like shaq...a little bit better FT% and and he would be EVEN MORE scarry

[dunksby]

Kareem takes this easily, dominant from day one.

[dubeta]

Best 18 year old season - LeBron

Best 19 year old season - LeBron

Best 20 year old season - LeBron



Absolutely no arguments

[Marchesk]

Kareem takes this easily, dominant from day one.

http://www.eba-stats.com/images/legends/chamberlain_jabbar.JPG

[Marchesk]

Best 18 year old season - LeBron

Best 19 year old season - LeBron

Best 20 year old season - LeBron

Absolutely no arguments

Yeah, since guys like Kareem and Wilt couldn't join the NBA until they were 22.

And MJ couldn't come out until after his junior season.

[T_L_P]

only thing you could blame duncan is his FT%. hehe. imagine... if he would be a solid 87-90% shooter.....wow. i mean there isnt anything he didnt archieve in his career....but like shaq...a little bit better FT% and and he would be EVEN MORE scarry

Yeah, his FT shooting is odd. Sometimes it was low-60s, others it was in the 80s.

His form on the line is horrible these days (the inward twisting of his ankle makes me cringe). But he's been a solid 75% shooter for the past 3 years. :cheers:


Fair enough. But was it better than Sampson or Hakeem's?

Duncan's? I think it was better than Hakeem's, but I don't know nearly enough about Sampson to properly judge.

[kurple]

shaq

[LAZERUSS]

Kareem takes this easily, dominant from day one.

Wilt's first NBA game:

43 points, on 17-27 shooting, with 28 rebounds, and an estimated 17 blocked shots.

Led a last place team into the EDF's, which included an "at-the-limit" first round game of 53 points and 22 rebounds, where he then hung a 30-26 .500 series on Russell, which included a "must-win" game of 50 points and 35 rebounds. And, had he not badly injured his hand in a melee at the end of game two, and was worthless in game three (35 minutes, 12 points, on 6-13 shooting, with 15 rebounds...in a 120-90 loss), his Warriors might have done better than losing a game six by two points.

ROY and MVP.



As for OP...if you include post-season play...

Wilt and Magic.

[pudman13]

Bill Russell too. Led the league in rebounds and blocks (I'm assuming the latter) and led his team to a championship.

[stanlove1111]

There have been 3 players that as rookies you could make a serious argument that they were already the best player in the world..

Wilt
Kareem
Bird

And that goes by the only thing that matters ( save the stats ) their impact to how much their team scores vs how much the other team scores.

[pudman13]

There have been 3 players that as rookies you could make a serious argument that they were already the best player in the world..

Wilt
Kareem
Bird

And that goes by the only thing that matters ( save the stats ) their impact to how much their team scores vs how much the other team scores.

I would say that Oscar and Russell also qualify.

[Bigsmoke]

Kareem

[DaRkJaWs]

Wilt definitely had the better rookie season than Kareem, but yes I would say Larry and MJ follow those guys in great rookie seasons, and there were others we are failing to mention like maybe Nate tiny archibald, maybe wes unseld, and from the Aba artis Gilmore had a great rookie season. If we include playoffs magic Johnson makes it up there as well.

[LAZERUSS]

Bill Russell too. Led the league in rebounds and blocks (I'm assuming the latter) and led his team to a championship.

Russell did indeed lead the Celts to their first ever title, but the problem was, during the regular season, he missed 24 of their 72 games (and Boston actually played better in the games that he missed.)