The 2024-25 NBA season is almost over, which means it’s time to size up this year’s rookies and see how well they performed.
If last summer’s draft were held again today, would players be selected in the same order?
That’s the question that Bill Simmons asked, via The Ringer, and he said he would choose Stephon Castle of the San Antonio Spurs for the top spot.
Speaking with Ryen Russillo, he discussed the skills of Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks but stood by his decision to select Castle over him.
Does Risacher still go #1 in 2024 NBA Re-Draft? @BillSimmons and @ryenarussillo disagree. pic.twitter.com/I55H0UaMSf
— The Ringer (@ringer) March 24, 2025
In the draft, Risacher was the No. 1 overall pick, followed by Alex Sarr of the Washington Wizards and Reed Sheppard of the Houston Rockets.
Castle was the fourth pick in the draft but he is currently a frontrunner for Rookie of the Year.
This season, he has averaged 14.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists.
As for Risacher, he has averaged 12.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.
Some people say that Castle has a much lower ceiling than Risacher does.
Because of his size (6-foot-6), there are some basketball experts who claim that Castle isn’t able to do as much as Risacher, who is two inches taller.
Despite his size, Risacher is very versatile and capable of doing a lot of things from multiple parts of the court.
There were many questions about the draft last summer and it wasn’t entirely clear who the best young player in the batch was.
In the end, it turns out that multiple rookie from 2024 had a lot to bring to the league and their teams are all better because of them.
Is Castle or Risacher the better rookie?
The NBA will be deciding the answer to that soon.
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