The complete list of teams for the rookie competition was announced today. Which team has the best chance to win the championship? The following will analyze the strength of each team.
Although it is not the most watched program during the All-Star Week, the rookie competition is the most active competition. The first rookie competition held in 1994 was to divide all rookies into two teams for confrontation; in 1996, it evolved into a rookie competition in the east and west regions, with the division of the team as the benchmark for each team; The rookie team played against the sophomore team; in 2012, the division between seniors and juniors was broken up, and two legendary stars played the role of honorary coaches to lead the trial; in 2015, it imitated the MLB Future Star All-Star Game, using nationality as the division, allowing the US team to compete with the world team In 2022, a revolutionary innovation will be ushered in again, all the contestants will be divided into four teams, and a small single-elimination cup will be held.
This year’s rookie competition continues last year’s competition system, and is also divided into four teams, which will be played in a small cup, and legendary stars will serve as honorary coaches. And instead of using the traditional timing system, the target scoring system is adopted instead. The first team to score 40 points will advance to the preliminary round, and the team to score 25 points first will win the final round.
What’s more special is that this year’s team rules are somewhat different. Last year, each of the four teams had a G-LEAGUE player join; this year, the G-LEAGUE players formed a team of their own, with the former Sixth Man of the Year and current Jazz assistant coach Jason Terry in charge. For the rest of the first- and second-year NBA players, three retired players, Pau Gasol, Deron Williams and Joakim Noah, will form their own teams through the draft.
The complete squad list was announced today, which team has the best chance to win the championship? The following will analyze the strength of each team.
Note: The following starters and benches are all forecasts in this article and are for reference only.
Team Paul
| Position | Starter | Bench |
| PG | Jaden Ivey (Pistons) | Jose Alvarado (Pelicans) |
| SG | Benedict Mathurin (Pacers) | Andrew Nembhard (Pacers) |
| SF | Scottie Barnes (Raptors) | |
| PF | Paolo Banchero (Magic) | |
| C | Keegan Murray (Kings) |
Although the team leader Gasol was an inside player, he did not select a regular long man in the draft, and replaced him with multi-functional strikers such as Banchero and Murray.
The biggest feature of the Gasol team is that everyone has the all-round offensive ability of shooting, cutting, and passing. A large number of cutting and passing motions should be expected. Of the top five rookies in the league in average cuts per game, Team Gasol has four of them; among the top seven rookies in total three-pointers, Team Gasol has four, of which Keegan Murray is the rookie with three-pointers The king of the ball (137 hits), his three-point shooting percentage is 41.5%, and he also ranks fifth among rookies (at least ten outside shots).
The Gasol team, where everyone can score three-pointers, shouldn’t need to worry about offense, but the defensive end is what they need to pay more attention to. The average height of the Gasol team should be the second shortest in this tournament, only better than the Terry team’s Development League coalition. That is to say, Team Gasol relies more on rotation to cover positions. Fortunately, Banchero, Barnes, and Murray can all defend multiple positions. With Alvarado as a stealthy thief, Team Gasol’s defense seems to be quite aggressive. However, the players come from different teams, and the tacit understanding and communication with the defense may be a big worry.
Team Deron
| Position | Starter | Bench |
| PG | Bones Hyland (Nuggets) | Ayo Dosunmu (Bulls) |
| SG | Franz Wagner (Magic) | Jalen Green (Rockets)* out due to injury |
| SF | Trey Murphy III (Pelicans) | AJ Griffin (Hawks) |
| PF | Alperen Sengun (Rockets) | |
| C | Walker Kessler (Jazz) |
If the book power of the lineup is used as the basis for judging, the D-Will team should be the biggest favorite for the championship of this year’s rookie competition. Although Green, the sophomore scoring leader (averaging 21.8 points per game), is missing, the D-Will team’s five-door lineup is still fully functional.