Should Keyonte George be in the conversation for First-Team All Rookie
By Chad Porto
Keyonte George is a mixed bag this season. At times a brilliant scorer and an explosive finisher that forces teams to adjust to him, and at other times he's streaky and unreliable. That's just on offense, on defense he's been bad. Combined, he's not a winning basketball player (yet) but the good news is that the Utah Jazz aren't a winning basketball team. So George struggling isn't a big deal right now.
And it's not like he's garbage by any means. He's actually putting together a strong season against all of the other rookies. While the top three rookies are not being unseated, there is a conversation about who the fourth guy is behind Chet Holmgren, Victor Wembanyama, and Brandon Miller.
He's outperforming "can't miss prospect" Scoot Henderson, and George is fifth in scoring among all rookies, but is he a "lock" for First-Team All-Rookie?
No, he's far from a lock for First Team. It'd be wild if he didn't make one of the two squads, but seeing what we see, right now I'd have George seventh among all rookies. When you weigh impact, importance, and team performance, it's fair to say that Wembanyama, Holmgren, Miller, Derek Lively, G.G. Jackson II, and Jamie Jaquez are all performing better than George.
In fact, my First Team would be Wembanyama, Holmgren, Miller, Lively, and Jaquez. They're either playing much better than George (Wembanyama/Miller) or are playing a bit better and are making meaningful contributions to a playoff run. That would obviously include Holmgren (Oklahoma City Thunder), Lively (Dallas Mavericks), and Jaquez (Miami Heat).
George is a bit too inconsistent and isn't making as much of an impact as the others to warrant a first-team spot. Though he's absolutely a Second-Team All-Rookie player, and that's a pretty impressive thing to keep in mind. After all, he started off quite badly this season and none of his fellow rookie teammates, Brice Sensabaugh or Taylor Hendricks, are even going to sniff such a distinction.