It has already been an interesting week in Rookieland. We've seen Andrew Bogut come up huge (including the game winning shot) in a big Bucks win over the Spurs, we've seen career games from Marvin Williams, Danny Granger and Rashad McCants and we've seen Raymond Felton start to get some more playing time for the Bobcats.

There are certain rookies that seem to inspire a lot of people to voice their opinion (and that's a good thing). This week's hot topic is Andrew Bogut. Bogut fans think he should get more respect because he's playing on a winning team and doesn't get the touches that other rookies get. Bogut detractors call out his less-than-spectacular numbers and maybe think he was overhyped at draft time. We think he's terrific, but he has company when it comes to good rookie big men.

We weren't able to get to everything this week, so keep writing and we'll catch you next week. Remember that next week's rankings won't come until Tuesday. Have a great holiday.
This week's rankings

Let's get to this week's mail...

C + P + 3 = CP3 Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images

Um.... Chris Bosh already has the initials + number locked up CB4...CP3?? For Chris Paul come on think of something original.
Alastair - Kingston, Ont.

Rookie Report: Toronto fans have to chime in on everything remotely related to the Raptors, huh? We didn't come up with the nickname Alastair, so don't blame us.

I just caught the Hornets/Spurs game last night at the Ford Center. It was my first experience at a pro game. I'm an OSU alumni, and have watched OSU basketball since I was little. I didn't think this would be half as fun. Wrong guess. This was unbelievable.

Chris Paul is hands-down the ROY. His presence on the court was more impressive than anyone. Yes anyone. Tim Duncan had a bad game. Tony Parker didn't step up. Manu rode the bench. Michael Finley may have edged him out, but only on the offensive end, and Desmond Mason countered him. Chris Paul is the most explosive basketball player I've ever seen in person. He went for 17 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists, and 5 steals. Yes, he had the biggest impact on the game. Check out his stats vs. the rest of the team. He's their best player, and I'm very biased towards my OSU alum Desmond Mason. Paul should definitely be ROY.
Ol'DirtMcBert - Oklahoma City, Okla.

RR: Glad to hear you enjoyed the game, Dirt. As tragic as the Katrina situation was and is, it's great to see the fans of Oklahoma embracing the Hornets. We want to get out there for a game. It looks like a great atmosphere for basketball... and Paul is the real deal. You'll be telling your grandkids about him someday.

This one is for all the Bogut bashers out there. As the season wears on, you will see more games from Bogut like the one he played against the Spurs on 12-20-05. The most important factor about this game was that Bogut played crunch time in the 4th Qtr and all of the OT. Not only did he have 2 huge blocks on one possession, but drew an important foul on Duncan. Then he scored the last 4 points of OT to win the game, the winner at the buzzer with 0.7 sec left - which was a catch and shoot tip in over Nesterovic. Bogut had 7 offense boards in the game. Plus he ranks 2nd in assists per game for ALL centers in the NBA. So far, Chris Paul is having a better year, but don't count Bogut out for ROY just yet.
Steve - South Milwaukee, Wisc.

RR: It was quite a performance from Bogut Steve, and we're smelling a bump up in next week's rankings. Stay tuned...

Bogut hits the game-winner. Gary Dineen/NBAE/Getty Images

I just noticed you had Frye highlighted as the player with the best field goal percent when it was actually Bogut.
John - Green Bay, Wisc.

RR: We've answered this one before, but since we've received several e-mails about it since, we'll repeat it. In order to qualify for the leaderboard in field goal percentage, a player must be on pace to make 300 field goals for the season (so at least 3.66 FGM per game). At the time of last week's rankings, Bogut did not qualify (he had made 3.55 per game) and Frye was the leader in field goal percentage among qualified rookies.

Who do you think is going to make up the starting line-up for the rookie team in the All-Star weekend based on your observations so far?
Anthony - Toronto, Ont.

RR: At this point, our lineup would be:

G: Chris Paul and Deron Williams
F: Channing Frye and Charlie Villanueva
C: Andrew Bogut
Bench: Sarunas Jasikevicius, José Calderón, Luther Head, Joey Graham and Sean May

The rooks are a little guard-heavy, so we can't exactly just name our Top 10. And you didn't ask, but we'll give you our sophomore lineup too:

G: T.J. Ford and Ben Gordon
F: Luol Deng and Dwight Howard
C: Emeka Okafor
Bench: Devin Harris, J.R. Smith, Andre Iguodala, Nick Collison and Nenad Krstic

Of course, our opinion is always subject to change and we don't make the decisions anyway.

I have noticed a lot of Bogut bashing here. Let's look at the most important number of all, wins. Bogut is helping his team WIN games not just padding stats on lesser quality rosters. He will be the best player in this draft because he does a little bit of everything and has no fear. To compare Charlie V to Bogut is just silly. How many points do you think Bogut would score if the Bucks had a roster as pathetic as the Raptors?
Santo - Milwaukee, Wisc.

RR: Bogut vs. Villanueva is a very interesting debate and I think it will be with us for the whole season. While Bogut has been a very solid component of a very good team, you can't deny that Villanueva is still getting it done in Toronto, no matter what their record is. He's making the most of his situation (the same can be said for Bogut) and you can't fault him for what team he's on.

Williams has impressed defensively. Victor Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images

Being a gigantic Knicks fan its hard to not have a bias input on the rookies this year and who should get ROY considering that the Knicks got the best combination of players in the draft. Channing Frye has been playing amazing, at times he looks like the best jump shooter on the team and I think he would definitely be a strong candidate for ROY. I won't say he should win it (even though I would love to see that) with the way Chris Paul has been playing I don't think anyone has a shot at getting it over him. He's averaging more points than Frye and the same amount of rebounds...chances look slim for Frye if Paul's stats stay consistent. Do you think Frye has a chance to come up with the ROY? I guess the Knicks losing like crazy isn't gonna help his cause. Thanks I think your ranking are very fair and accurate... P.S. I hope they invite Nate Robinson to the Dunk Contest.
Joey - New York, N.Y.

RR: It seems like Frye is the only rookie on the Knicks who is immune to Larry Brown's rotation changes. Robinson is certainly fun to watch (and we'd love to see him in the Dunk Contest as well), but he needs to stay in control. We like David Lee a lot too and it seems like he's been getting a little bit more burn of late.

Who do you think is the best rookie defender out there right now?
Fareed - Toronto, Ont.

RR: Great question, Fareed. From what we've seen, we really like Joey Graham and Daniel Ewing on the defensive end of the floor. Marvin Williams has also been a pretty solid defender. We would need to see a little bit more of each to give you a more definitive answer.

I was just wondering who decides the Rookie of the Year? Do they focus on statistics alone or do they constitute for other aspects such as team record, etc.? I feel that if you went by numbers alone, then Chris Paul is the Rookie of the Year to this point. But if we look at the players each rookie has to share time/the ball with, then Bogut is your guy.
Jake - South Jordan, Utah

RR: The media votes for the award, Jake. Last year there were 126 voters. At this point, I think Chris Paul is the winner either way. The Hornets are a much better team than they were last season and he is the one leading the way.

Good that nba.com has such a feature as rookie rankings during the season...anyway, good to see that fellow countryman Jasikevicius is having ok season with Pacers so far (could get a lot better, I believe) but one thing I question a lot is why Jasikevicius is playing out of his position? A superstar PG in Europe (from the childhood when he was playing for Lithuanian Junior teams - winning as usual and always a PG) he is playing mostly SG in NBA just like he did at Maryland years ago...and he did regret the time he spent in Maryland lots of times giving interviews in Europe, saying that he could have been even better basketball player if not 4 years wasted in college in USA playing out of position...I understand that after Miller is gone and Jackson moved to SF pacers need a SG and tinsley is too good to bench...but the sarunas best talent is going wasted...he is still contributing a lot, but not as much as could...can you make any comments on this? Or what do you think of possibility of including either him or tinsley in a package together with artest whose trade should take place soon?
Andrius - Vilnius, Lith.

RR: You make a very good point, Andrius. Saras is a good playmaker and it does seem that his play is suffering a bit since Tinsley came back from injury and Artest has been out. Donnie Walsh and Rick Carlisle know what they're doing though, and we imagine that they will try to address the issue if they make a trade.