#rookie-development

#rookie-development

Right now, he's not good to go. We'll see what the next step is. It's important that we manage them. As rookies, they come in, and usually when they do a lot of draft workouts their summer is not perfect because they go through a lot. It's almost like they're missing a summer. They do play summer league, but it's not a real summer. Then you get into training camp, and it feels like you go into playing right away.

Jacob Chychrun has looked even better than he did last year when he signed his $9M extension. Well, Chychrun hasn't regressed at all, already surpassing his goals and points totals from last year; and he looks more comfortable defensively this season. Any fears people had that the Caps were buying high on an unproven player should be allayed by now.

Roki Sasaki threw 23 pitches in the first inning before being pulled from the game after he gave up four runs, with three walks and two hits. His command was awful, throwing only eight strikes. He used four fastballs, seven cutters, and five splitters, showing his new third pitch, but he could not find the strike zone.

Things started a bit slow for Trapilo. The 6-foot-8-inch, 312-pound tackle struggled to adjust to the left side during training camp and the preseason while in competition for the starting job with Braxton Jones (who was coming off an injury) and (eventually) Theo Benedet.

Cleveland offered the benchmark Thursday night, and the Nets quickly saw the difference. Brooklyn fell 112-84 to the Cavaliers at Rocket Arena, dropping to 15-38 and snapping the brief momentum created by back-to-back wins before the All-Star break. The Nets never led, and what unfolded felt less like a competitive game and more like a snapshot of where a young roster stands against a veteran group that knows exactly who it is.

Egor Dëmin was named to the Castrol Rising Stars roster as part of NBA All-Star 2026, becoming the first member of the Nets to earn the honor since Jarrett Allen and Rodions Kurucs did it back in 2019. For a rookie class that arrived with more questions than certainty, his selection stands out as a clear signal that Brooklyn's developmental push is starting to get noticed beyond its own walls.

The Rangers won a game. And they deserved to win the game. It's so nice to see wins every now and then, even if we do want the best odds possible at a top pick. The young guns played extremely well as Jonathan Quick rebounded after a rough 5 games. The icing on the cake was Matthew Robertson's game winner, showcasing a new trick as he drove the net in overtime and slid the puck between Joonas Korpisalo's legs for the win.

"Obviously, I didn't pitch a shutout," Campbell said Wednesday. "I had two or three plays that I wish I could have back. But that's $300 million in defensive ends and I've got a ton of respect for those dudes. It's going to be like that every week in the playoffs. "Like Coach [Mike] Vrabel said, you've gotta be willing to spill a little blood and violence. You've just gotta hope you don't spill more than they do. That's the name of the game."

[I learned to use] those reps to get better, not just feeling sorry or using them to get by [and] get through the day, but using them to actually get better,

I think I just learned a lot about my everyday routine. You know, watching the veteran guys we have, the way that they go about their business, and the guys who have stuck around and made such an impact on this game. I think that was the biggest part, to take care of myself on a day-to-day basis with the schedule and the travel.

Nicolas Roy, Bobby McMann, Dakota Joshua, and Nick Robertson all broke out of lengthy goal slumps, helping lead the Leafs to a 7-2 blowout. The effort was there, they executed on grade-A chances, and they chased Penguins starter Arturs Silovs. However, there's still plenty to clean up on the defensive end as the structure in the D-zone continues to be a work in progress, but let's focus on some positives as the convincing victory was one of the Leafs best games of the season.

Drake Powell didn't arrive in Brooklyn with an offensive reputation. At North Carolina last season, the 6-5 wing was known almost exclusively for his defense, a high-motor stopper whose freshman minutes were tied to effort, not scoring. He knocked down the occasional mid-range jumper, hit 38.1% of his 3s on limited attempts, made simple reads and showed plenty of athletic juice as a cutter and transition finisher.

It didn't take long for the rookies to make their mark in Atlanta. On Sunday night in a daunting environment in Minnesota, all four rookies who are either starting or playing significant snaps made a notable impact. Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. earned their first sacks. Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman Jr. produced their first interceptions. It was a gratifying night for a front office that has endured its share of misses and losses.

The Patriots' decision to have multiple rookie starters on their offensive line drew mixed reviews at the start of the season, especially when facing a defense as skilled as the Browns on Sunday. It meant a player like Will Campbell would be tested-and tested often -as he lined up against Myles Garrett, and that has been the case for the entirety of the game. As a future Hall of Fame defensive end,

"He has versatility, toughness on both ends of the floor," Brown said. "He can [make plays] for himself and others. Gets us organized. "He had a really good game defensively [Friday] night for the most part, and then during the first stretch, he was really good offensively. In the second half, he wasn't as good. But he's a young guy and he's going to learn and grow from any minutes that he gets."

Coming into the regular season, expectations were high for second-round pick Donovan Ezeiruaku. After the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons away a little over a week before their first game, many believed Ezeiruaku would step into a more significant role in Dallas' defense. The Boston College product totaled 16.5 sacks during his senior year at BC, the most in college football, so the hope was that he could replicate some of that production in a Parsons-less Cowboys defense.