Hooray! Mason Plumlee ranked 5th in ESPN Rookie Rankings

Here's some good news.  Mason Plumlee, selected at No. 22 in the June draft, is ranked No. 5 in this week's ESPN ranking of rookies, ahead of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Ben McLemore and Victor Oladipo.

David Thorpe speaks highly of the 7-foot-1 (in sneakers) center.

Plumlee had a breakout game against the Clippers in L.A., showing the Nets' staff that he can do something none of their other bigs can do (save Brook Lopez on occasion): make play after play above the rim.

Plumlee got his first three buckets off dunks, including catching a lob with just his left hand before flushing it. He relentlessly ran to the rim after setting ball screens, or lived in the short corner awaiting the dish before exploding towards the rim, getting buckets or fouls (or both).

If you're looking for further evidence of the 2013 Draft class' weakness, try this: only two rookies are averaging better than 10 points a game. Plumlee's 6.9 per game ranks seventh. His rebounding numbers (3.9) ranks eighth and his PER (16.88) is second. aT 64.3 percent, Plumlee leads all rookies in true shooting percentage (despite his awful free throw shooting)and is 16th overall in the NBA.

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