Draft Digest Rookies of the Week: Dyson Daniels Continues to Emerge, Bryce McGowens Shines in Loss
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Each week, the Draft Digest team picks an NBA rookie from each conference as the best player of the week.
As the season goes on, more rookies continue to get the opportunity to showcase their skills on the court at the NBA level. Over the past week, we’ve seen two rookies in particular that have produced a career-best type of game on their respective teams that hadn’t necessarily made their first big splash before that.
As such, this rookie class continues to look spectacular early in the 2022-23 campaign.
Who brought home the hardware this week?
Eastern Conference
Bryce McGowens (Charlotte Hornets)
Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Stats Since Last Week: 1 GP | 10.0 PPG| 6.0 APG | 1.0 BPG | 60% FG
While he only played in one game this week, it was a fantastic outing. Entering the NBA, many knew McGowens could score the ball at a high level, but he showed much more than that offensively against the Boston Celtics this week.
Entering that contest, he had only played in 30 minutes over five games on the season. In fact, it had been almost a month since he last touched an NBA court.
Given the opportunity in a blowout loss in Boston, McGowens played as good as anyone could have hoped. He scored in double figures for the second time this season, shooting 60% from the floor and knocking down one of his two attempts from deep.
The most impressive part of his performance was the passing. The 6-foot-7 rookie dished out six assists in under 25 minutes while turning the ball over just once.
A jumbo guard that can also play on the wing, McGowens has the offensive upside to be a real piece in Charlotte down the road. It’s performances like this that show the upside of the potential second round steal.
Western Conference
Dyson Daniels (New Orleans Pelicans)
Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Stats Since Last Week: 3 GP | 10.3 PPG| 6.0 RPG | 5.7 APG | 66.7% 3PT
As his role continues to expand as the season goes on, Daniels has proven to be well worth a lottery pick. Especially with key players out of the Pelicans’ rotation of late, the rookie has stepped up and was a huge part of New Orleans going 2-1 over the past week.
The No. 8 overall pick has yet to start a game this season, but has seen action in 13 contests. Since the middle of November, his minutes have gradually increased, which included a 31 minute outing in his most recent game.
What’s been most impressive about Daniels over the past week has been the 3-point shooting, which was a weakness of his entering the draft. Over the past three games, he shot 4-of-6 from deep and has looked very comfortable.
Furthermore, he’s becoming a more natural playmaker for this team and even notched a nine assist game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. This was part of a performance that was nearly a triple-double, as he produced 14 points and eight rebounds in that same contest.
It’s just a matter of time, but Daniels should be notching triple-doubles somewhat regularly in no time.
On the other end of the court, Daniels is still the high upside defensive prospect that we expected entering the season. He’s posted a 74 DSI according to Cerebro Sports this season, which is one of the best in this entire rookie class.
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