https://youtu.be/Td8CdXM85kg
As of this writing, Tyrese Haliburton is third among all rookies in raw win shares, at 3.1. That means that his actions on the basketball court have directly led to three wins for the Kings that they otherwise wouldn’t have. At least, that’s what I think it means. The concept of a “Win Share” is nebulous to me, and I only like the stat because it usually confirms to me that the players I think are good are actually good, and the players that I think are soulless shot-chuckers are, in fact, detriments to their teams.
The two rookies ahead of Haliburton in this particular stat are Jae’Sean Tate and Isaiah Stewart. Not the names you expected, huh? Given how bad the Rockets are and how Tate is an undrafted 25-year-old rookie, his presence at the top of the rookie win shares is a surprise. But it just goes to show that you shouldn’t buy into the hype. You should evaluate players on your own terms and then decide for yourself where your hype should be apportioned. In this case, skip the hype for LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman, and instead direct your hype towards Jae’Sean Tate, Isaiah Stewart, and Tyrese Haliburton.
It must be nice for Kings fans to finally have a rookie who is a pleasant surprise rather than an unpleasant disappointment. The Kings organization is known for destroying rookie’s careers, so the fact that they haven’t yet destroyed Haliburtons career is a cause for celebration. Now they just need to go out and give Nik Stauskas a four year, 32 million dollar contract as an apology for ruining his career so thoroughly that he never even got one big NBA payday.