On second thought, maybe he should stick with the mask.

Without a LeBron or a Yao—and with a Pavel Podkolzine—this year's rookie class really didn't get a lot of hype coming into the season. But faster than you can say reverse racism, Andrew Bogut went first amidst a sea of criticism, followed by a slew of other youngsters who are already leaving a mark on the league the size of Rick Mahorn's customized Swash. Let's look at the rookies who are having no trouble adapting to the speed, size, and groupies of the NBA.

Channing Frye, C, New York Sucks
The good: An outside touch has led to a lot of points, a few wins, and exactly zero compliments from coach Larry Brown.
The bad: The streaky shooting means less time in the paint, where real centers make their money. (Unless we're talking about Shaq—he makes his money in Nestle Crunch commercials.)
The ugly: The Knicks' rotation has undergone more shake-ups than Joumana Kidd, meaning sporadic minutes for all of their youngsters.

Luther Head, G, Houston Rockets
The good: His three-point percentage leads all rookies, and he's already made a number of clutch shots for the Rockets, proving that graduating from college can mean good things in the NBA. Unless you're Vince Carter.
The bad: He plays a smart game, but right now, all that's showing up in the stat sheet is scoring.
The ugly: This one goes to the man's coach, Jeff Van Gundy.

Chris Paul, G, New Oklahomaleans
The good: Everything. Forget rookie rankings, the tiny point guard is third in the league in steals per game and ninth in assists per game. Throw in 17 points per game, and you've got the early favorite for Rookie of the Year.
The bad: A .260 three-point percentage suggests that he needs to work on his range, but a .450 field-goal percentage suggest it's only a matter of time. (While we're at it, my mom suggests I stop spending so much time on WNBA trading cards and get some friends.)
The ugly: Have you seen downtown Oklahoma City?

Charlie Villanueva, F, Toronto Raptors
The good: He can pick up points and boards by hustling, unlike some other guys who have to shoot a bunch of jumpers just to score 62 points in three quarters.
The bad: He plays behind the team's franchise player, which means he's way behind the rest of the rookie class in minutes played. And just ahead of Darko.
The ugly: I'm pretty sure he waxes his eyebrows, and we all know that only works for women, drag queens, and Jeff Foster. (See comments below for all of the ill will this inappropriate statement generated.)

Andrew Bogut, C, Milwaukee Bucks
The good: The Aussie is blending in nicely with a veteran team that doesn't need him to do too much as they continue to rack up wins. Grabbing seven boards a game and shooting over 50 percent from the field is apparently the kind of stuff most people didn't expect a white guy to do when he was drafted No. 1 overall.
The bad: While he shouldn't start forcing shots, it wouldn't hurt for him to be more agressive on the offensive end of the court. It also wouldn't hurt for him to work on that accent: he sounds like a can of Fosters, for crissakes.
The ugly: Take your pick, there's the hair, the mask, the nose…

Deron Williams, G, Utah Jazz
The good: He's got a good handle and plays tough defense. If he could get the hard-nosed Jerry Sloan to trust him with the offense as a rookie, I wonder what he could finagle out of a Mormon with eight wives.
The bad: His jumper can be less predictable than Tara Reid at an open bar.
The ugly: He recently got caught giving a fake name to a police officer following a bar fight. (Sadly, the name was not Deron Mexico.)

Honorable mentions: Danny Granger, Indiana (too many veterans in front of him); Ike Diogu, Golden State (just getting back from pre-season injury); Salim Stoudamire, Atlanta (too much shooting, not enough anything else)

(Note: For any regular readers, if you notice that my blog doesn't update for a week and a half, I promise it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm taking time off for the holidays. You see, it's really because I'm in Europe scouting international jump shooters. And they don't have the Internet in Europe. See ya in 2006, suckers!)