http://www.wagesofwins.com/TopSophsMid0708.html

Note that six of the top eight were available when we chose Oleksiy. In particular, Jordan Farmar would look very good on our team. He’s a real point guard, and he has a game similar to Antonio’s.

As to the rookies, it’s obvious in retrospect that Sean Williams was a steal; but, he had a reputation as possibly a bad citizen, and we don’t pick guys like that. Glen Davis, who dropped to round 2 inexplicably, would have been a good choice as well. I believe Paul Millsap, who is going to have a 10 year career was taken 1 pick before we got Vereeemeeenkkko, whoever he is.

Hindsight is 20-20 as they say. On the other hand, Millsap led the nation in rebounding, Glen Davis won a championship for his college team, and those things were pretty easy to see.

WASHINGTON — Gilbert Arenas was cleared to participate in light, non-contact drills by the Washington Wizards on Monday, a step forward in his return from left knee surgery.

Arenas has said he hopes to return to the Wizards in the coming weeks. The team has not said when he can return to full-contact practice.

Another injured Wizards player, center Etan Thomas, was cleared to practice for the first time since he had open-heart surgery in October. No timetable has been set for him to play in a game.

After a routine preseason physical, Thomas was told surgery would be a good idea because of a leaky aortic valve. The biggest impediment to his return to practice had been concern over how much pounding he could take on his sternum, which was broken during the 4½-hour operation.

Arenas, third in the NBA in scoring in 2006-07, injured his left knee late last season and needed surgery. He returned to action at the start of this season, but needed another operation in November.

The Wizards (25-27) return from the All-Star break Tuesday night at home against the New York Knicks.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

You will notice that Nick Young is the 2d worst rookie on the list. The worst at mid-point was Andre Thornton, but he has picked up his game in the last weeks, so Nick is probably at the bottom.

http://www.wagesofwins.com/TopRookiesMid0708.html

Note that for some reason Dave forgot to put Dominic’s numbers in there. They aren’t good, through 41 games, but like Andre he has picked it up a lot.

I might add, btw, that Petro, Gelabale and Wilkins are three of the worst players in the league. Francisco Elson is below average but not as bad as the other three. We have a competent backup center in Etan Thomas as soon as he returns — and as long as Eddie doesn’t coach him and Brendan into fighting w/ each other.

The nets are about to get much worse, while the Hawks just got a little better. The team that made out unbelievably, however, is Miami — they just acquired one of the best players in the league for Shaq who was great once (but no more).