Bulls' Young Star Shining Brightest in Rookie Class

It was the draft class that was supposed to rival that of 2003 and 1984. Headlined by young phenoms such as Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Julius Randle, this year's draft was by far the strongest in recent years. Everything went as planned on draft night, with Wiggins and Parker going first and second overall and many teams looking toward the future with their more-than-capable rookies. Yet here we are about thirty games into this young season and the rookie class is dealing with the worst possible luck. Injuries have derailed and/or hindered the seasons of multiple rookies which has led to justifiable disappointment in how this class has turned out so far. Parker, Randle, and Joel Embiid have all lost their seasons while Marcus Smart, Aaron Gordon, Noah Vonleh, and Doug McDermott have been sidelined for substantial amounts of time with injuries of their own.

Mirotic's rise has contributed nicely to the Bulls success

With the big names that came into the draft, expectations were that the Rookie of the Year award would be a hard-fought battle between these collegiate standouts. Yet even in spite of all the injuries, there is one rookie that is emerging as one of the best in this year's class. In 2011, the Chicago Bulls acquired Nikola Mirotic via a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves. With little cap space to work with however, the Bulls were not able to bring their newest rookie to the States immediately. But after ridding themselves of Carlos Boozer's contract and with the departure of veteran Luol Deng, John Paxson and Gar Forman were able to work Mirotic into the fold. And now, with injuries nagging the Bulls once again, Mirotic's arrival and performance could not have come at a better time.

As odd as it sounds, the Bulls' injuries in the front court have been a blessing in disguise for not only Mirotic, but the Bulls as a whole. Veterans Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson, and Joakim Noah have all been sidelined with injuries at one point or another, which has only benefited the young star from Montenegro. It took time to adjust to the NBA game, and the minutes of playing time were not exactly abundant, but now head coach Tom Thibodeau has a wonderful problem to deal with. He now has to find a way to work Mirotic into the rotation even when everyone is healthy which is a testament to just how quickly Mirotic has managed to make an impact.

Through 26 games this season, "Niko" has played double-digit minutes 19 times. In twelve of those games he scored ten points or more, with his most impressive performance coming this past Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Bulls were without Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson but, behind 27 points (6-6 shooting from three point range) from Mirotic, the Bulls walked away with a 103-97 victory over the then-second seeded team in the West. The win was huge, but the fact that Mirotic was lights out against one of the league's most stifling defenses shows just how far he's come in such a short amount of time.

Niko has shown no fear in his transition to the NBA

He's had his solid performances so far with three double-doubles off the bench. He is currently averaging eight points and five rebounds which, in comparison to Andrew Wiggins, is four points less than the number one overall pick but Mirotic does average one more rebound per game. Mirotic's three double-doubles is also two more than Wiggins who averages 31 minutes per game as opposed to Niko's 19. With all the injuries that have hindered this year's class, it's looking like it will come down to these two young stars at season's end.

Nikola Mirotic has been a pleasant surprise for Chicago. He has played hard and he makes a conscientious to better his teammates when he's on the floor. His constant improvement day in and day out has left members of the league anxiously waiting to see just how high his ceiling is. We're just over a quarter way of the way through the season but Mirotic has showed that he belongs in the rotation of one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. It's unfortunate that this year's rookie class has been plagued with injuries, but even if the entire class was healthy Mirotic has proved that he is a star that's shining brightest among the rest.

End of an Era: Boston Embraces Rebuilding Phase

They're all gone. There is not a single player left on the Boston Celtics roster that was with the team for their championship run in 2008. The last man standing was Rajon Rondo, the multifaceted point guard who rewrote the record books in Boston throughout his eight year stint with the Celtics. As of last night, Rondo is now a member of the Dallas Mavericks, an organization who has enjoyed their own title run in recent years. Rondo will join future Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki for what is now one of the best starting lineups in the league. The hype in Dallas is real and the Mavs look to prove that they can now be championship contenders, yet the city that Rondo left behind is now forced to accept the fact that it will be a while before the Celtics are ready to compete for a championship much less an Eastern Conference title.

Rondo leaves Boston as one of its greatest point guards

Boston is currently on the outside looking in as far as the Eastern Conference standings are concerned. With a 9-14 record, they sit in tenth place in the conference behind the Brooklyn Nets. However, the Celtics now have to embrace life without their only All-Star, their only player with any championship experience as a Celtic. With Rondo's departure comes the arrival of Branden Wright, Jameer Nelson, Jae Crowder, and two draft picks. Aside from Nelson and Gerald Wallace, the Celtics don't have anyone that is over the age of 30, and eight of their players are below the age of 25. While they do have guys like Wallace and Jeff Green who are veterans in the league and have careers of some longevity to their name, it's no secret that the Celtics' roster is young and still developing.

While the trade will certainly take away the Celtics' most skilled player, it also takes away the face of that organization. Don't get me wrong, Rondo was no Larry Bird or Paul Pierce in terms of leadership. He had his fair share of moments in which his attitude was questioned and many wondered if he could truly gel with Brad Stevens when he came to Boston. Yet, at the end of the day, Rondo was "the guy". He was the one with a ring. He was the one that will go down as one of the best point guards to ever put on that green uniform. You can't immediately replace a presence like that which now leaves the Celtics in search of a new face, a new leader.

With #9 gone, Jeff Green will need to lead

They have guys like Jeff Green, Brandon Bass, and Gerald Wallace who are the team's veterans, but whose team is it now? There was never any doubt that the Celtics followed the lead of great players like Bill Russell, Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce. Sure those Hall of Famers all had tremendous teammates and they played alongside countless fellow Hall of Famers, but there was never any doubt that the team belonged to those three aforementioned stars. While Rondo is not on that same level of greatness, he was the leader of this current Celtics team. It was his leadership role to lose, no matter how often his legacy would be questioned. Yet he's no longer there to lead, there are no All-Stars left.

By no means are the Celtics now in shambles. They're not a last-place team nor is the season lost. They can still be a playoff team especially in the lowly Eastern Conference. And while the Celtics will certainly miss Rondo, Danny Ainge's decision to trade him is one that will benefit the organization in the long run. They have good pieces and, in time, they will have the potential to compete. But for now, Celtics fans will have to be patient. The makeover of the NBA's greatest ball club has begun, yet that doesn't mean Boston should be forgotten. They're a first-class organization with a championship pedigree; they'll be back.

Johnny Victim: Manziel's Performance Drawing Far Too Much Criticism

By now the less-than-impressive performance that Johnny Manziel put on this past Sunday is playing second fiddle to the Chicago Bears' decision to bench Jay Cutler against Detroit this week. Yet amidst the news of Jimmy Clausen getting the start for the Bears this Sunday there has still been plenty of talk about Manziel's future both in the coming week and the seasons ahead. Sure the Browns took a ruthless beating from the Cincinnati Bengals, but is it really worth all of the emotion and analysis?

Hoyer's performance quickly fell off after week 10

Going back to Manziel's days at Texas A&M, I found it hard to be a fan of him. I loved his game, but his antics off the field really dissuaded me from supporting him. He was exciting to watch and gave the college football world a very special and unique talent, but the constant media attention to every little thing he did while at A&M got annoying real quick.

When he was finally drafted late in the first round this past April, the quarterback competition began immediately in Cleveland. It was believed by some that Manziel would be named the starter to begin the season yet Mike Pettine chose to go with Brian Hoyer as the first-string quarterback. Though Manziel still managed to find his way into headlines throughout the first half of the season, he had begun to fade into the background as Hoyer had the Browns in playoff position. Through the first nine games, Hoyer led Cleveland to a 6-3 record while completing ten touchdown passes in comparison to just four interceptions.

However, it was in week 11 when Hoyer's season started unraveling. After the 6-3 start, the Browns dropped three of their next four behind very poor performances from their starting quarterback. In those four games, Hoyer threw for only one touchdown while tossing eight interceptions. With the Browns playoff hopes dwindling, Pettine decided to go with Johnny Manziel in week 15, which brings us now to this past week of embarrassing commotion.

Most everybody knows how Johnny Football's debut went. No touchdowns, two interceptions, 10-18 passing, and 13 yards rushing on 5 attempts. Not exactly your Hall of Fame statistics by any means. However, the debut of Johnny Manziel was so hyped, so over-analyzed, and so highly-anticipated that the only way Manziel could have lived up to it all was to have a Manning or Brady-like performance. Instead, the AFC North-leading Cincinnati Bengals chewed Manziel up and spit him out. They taunted him. They crushed him. They flat-out embarrassed him. Yet I find it incredibly unfair and wrong that the news networks, specifically ESPN, have gone to the extent of questioning whether or not Johnny Manziel belongs in the league.

The Bengals smothered Manziel this past Sunday

You'll be very hard pressed to win games if your quarterback doesn't perform well. That's the nature of the sport. But at the end of the day it was Manziel's first career start. You don't think that playing a playoff team in front of your home crowd with the playoffs on the line would cause a hint of nerves? It was obvious Manziel wasn't used to the speed of the NFL game. Passing windows close up much quicker, your decision-making has to be quicker, etc. It's not a situation most quarterbacks can just walk into and immediately succeed in, especially a game as pivotal as this one. Why are "analysts" now questioning whether or not Manziel has what it takes to play in the NFL?

It was almost comical to watch some of the guys on ESPN talk about Manziel's performance. Merril Hoge had the quote of the week when he said that Johnny Manziel "has first-round hype with sixth round talent." You're going to say that after ONE GAME? Take a look at the quarterbacks in the past who had poor debuts: Joe Montana was 5-12 passing for 53 yards and no touchdowns, John Elway was 1-8 passing for 14 yards and an interception, and Peyton Manning threw one touchdown, three interceptions, and was sacked four times. In no way is Johnny Manziel comparable to these three Hall of Famers, but if you want to base a young player's forthcoming career off of his professional debut then you don't belong in the business. That quote from Hoge had more immature emotion in it than a 13 year old girl that didn't get asked to a junior high dance. Give me a break. There's no reason to be that extreme.

I'm still not Manziel's biggest fan. However, I can't help but feel bad for the guy for all the skepticism he's currently experiencing. Did he bring some of the expectations on himself? Absolutely. He's got a bit of an ego and at the end of the day he's a Heisman Trophy winner. His personality alone has brought on these sky-high expectations but to expect him to live up to them in his first game? That's the society we live in; there's no patience whatsoever and there is constant criticism whether it's warranted or not. It's not a mistake that Johnny Manziel is in this position. He's going to adjust to the NFL game and he's got the talent to excel professionally. It takes time. Everybody needs to stop freaking out and allow Manziel's career to unfold. He'll have another chance to prove himself this Sunday against Carolina.