An exciting exhibition of the NBA's best young players is harnessed in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge, which takes place on the first night of All-Star weekend -- February 12 in 2016. The rosters were released this morning, and feature the matchup of rookies Karl-Anthony Towns and Kristaps Porzingis.
The rosters surprised me, to be honest, when I saw them. They look a bit unfair overall, but why don't you be the judge?
U.S. Roster:
- - Elfrid Payton, Orlando Magic
- - Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
- - Zach Lavine, Minnesota Timberwolves
- - Jordan Clarkson, Los Angeles Lakers
- - D'Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers
- - Rodney Hood, Utah Jazz
- - Jabari Parker, Milwaukee Bucks
- - Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
- - Nerlens Noel, Philadelphia 76ers
- - Jahlil Okafor, Philadelphia 76ers
World Roster:
- - Emmanuel Mudiay, Denver Nuggets
- - Raul Neto, Utah Jazz
- - Bojan Bogdanovic, Brooklyn Nets
- - Mario Hezonja, Orlando Magic
- - Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves
- - Clint Capela, Houston Rockets
- - Nikola Mirotic, Chicago Bulls
- - Dwight Powell, Dallas Mavericks
- - Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
- - Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks
I really hate this design of putting the "World" players against just "America." Not only does it seem like an unnecessary separation of the Association's players and giving fans watching a reason to root for "America against the World," but the rosters just don't match up well.
Anything can happen -- obviously, it's an All-Star event and that means it'll just be a bunch of offense (which is fine, by the way; there's no reason to get anyone hurt in these events) -- but the U.S. roster just has so much firepower.
The only players capable of putting up a huge scoring night for the World appears to be Porzingis, Wiggins and Mirotic. For the U.S., however, pretty much every player other than Hood and Payton could potentially have a monster game if they catch fire. They simply have more proven scorers, and this event doesn't look like it'll be all that exciting.
If anything, the game's saving grace is the matchup of Towns-Okafor vs. Porzingis. I expect any or all of those three guys -- the top rookies of this class so far -- to have big nights.
We shall see.
