Tag: Rookie

Yves Missi rose high off of the Smoothie King Center floor, his giant left hand near the top of the square on the backboard. 

The result of the play Sunday was a blocked shot against perhaps the greatest basketball player on the planet. The rejection of the shot by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic will no doubt be on Missi’s rookie highlight reel.

But it won’t be his most notable one.

Missi’s rookie season probably will be remembered more for the way he swatted away all the naysaying draft analysts who said his development would take some time.

Here are just a few of the things the experts said about Missi leading up to the NBA draft before the New Orleans Pelicans selected him with the 21st overall pick.

“His skill set is limited. He is a typical non-shooting, non-playmaking, non-shot-creating big man.”

BLOCKED!!!

“Lacks great feel for the game and polish on both ends of the floor.”

GET THAT OUTTA HERE!

Just 30 games into his rookie season, Missi has shown it might not take as long as people thought.

“He’s well ahead of the curve,” teammate CJ McCollum said. “He’s probably surprised himself. The development has been great for him. From the first day he got here to now has been night and day.”

He’s used his elite 38.5-inch vertical to leap right to the top of the Rookie of the Year race.

This week, he became the favorite to win the award on online sportsbook FanDuel. If he actually wins it, he’d be just the second player in franchise history to win the honor, joining Chris Paul who won it in the 2005-06 season.

The center position was a big question mark coming into this season after the reliable Jonas Valanciunas signed with the Washington Wizards. Even when the Pels drafted Missi, the position was still considered something that needed to be addressed.

But Missi has learned on the fly and been perhaps the team’s most valuable player through 30 games. He’s no doubt been the most reliable Pelican. He’s played in 29 of 30 games, starting 23 of them. He’s recorded seven double-doubles and is averaging 9.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. Missi leads all rookies in rebounding and is tied for the lead among all players in offensive rebounds per game (4.0).

Over the last 10 games, he’s averaging 12.6 points and 10.6 rebounds. That number is even more impressive when you consider the gauntlet of centers he’s faced over the last five games.

“He’s had a crash course in the NBA,” McCollum said.

Before Jokic, Missi faced Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks), Alperen Sengun (Rockets), Pascal Siakam (Pacers), Damontas Sabonis (Kings) and second-year phenom Victor Wembanyama (Spurs).

“Yves is handling what we’ve thrown him onto probably better than anyone I can remember,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “And he does it with an extreme focus, an extreme confidence and keeps the game pretty simple for himself. His last four of five matchups were All-Stars. He’s battling these guys and holding his own.”

His stat line in Sunday’s overtime loss against three-time MVP Jokic and the Nuggets was 21 points, nine rebounds, two steals and three blocks.

Not bad for a 20-year-old rookie who was only 10 when Jokic arrived in the NBA. Jokic was even better Sunday with 27 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

“It was great having the experience going against a player like him,” Missi said. “It’s like a dream coming true, to be honest. It’s always good just having to go coast to coast against them and see what I saw on TV when I was younger.”

It’s a dream that has brought Missi from his native Cameroon to the other side of the world. Teammate Dejounte Murray offers some simple advice to Missi as he begins to make a name for himself in the NBA.

“Continue to enjoy each moment, the ups and downs,” Murray said. “Everybody can enjoy the moments when everything is going good. Obviously as a team, we aren’t winning. But as an individual, you see the growth.

“I want him to enjoy his journey. You don’t want him to rush his journey and for him to think he’s got to be great today. But just continue to get better.”

Missi already has come a long way in a short amount of time. But he knows there is still a long way to go. His has 29 NBA games under his belt, just five games less than he played all of last season at Baylor. Rookies often hit a wall around this time of the year.

“You’ve just got to keep playing with a motor,” Missi said.

Missi gets a rematch with Sengun on Thursday when the Pelicans host the Rockets. Then on Friday he’ll face Memphis Grizzlies rookie center Zach Edey, the No. 9 overall pick who is the third favorite to win Rookie of the Year, according to FanDuel.

Green believes the best is yet to come for Missi, who just may have been the biggest steal in this year’s draft. In just two months, Missi turned from a project to a foundation piece. 

“He’s just scratching the surface of where we think he can end up,” Green said. “I try not to put a ceiling on these young guys when they come in. They are extremely talented, high character individuals.

“When you have that combination of hard work and talent and come from a good foundation, I don’t know what the ceiling is. I don’t want to put one on him at all because I think the sky is the limit.”