Thomsen: Derrick Rose. The reigning Rookie of the Year will emerge as an annual All-Star by supplying leadership to the Bulls while helping to offset the loss of Ben Gordon's scoring.

Ballard: Rose. You'll be sick of hearing about him by the end of the year, but he's easily one of the handful of NBA guys it's worth going out of your way to see play.

Mannix: Russell Westbrook. One of the best players at the USA Basketball minicamp this summer, Westbrook added an improved jump shot to his powerful penetrating skills and bulldog defense. He'll help Kevin Durant keep Oklahoma City in the playoff race into March.

McCallum: Rodney Stuckey. This is always a tough category because determining who's already a star is sometimes difficult. Is Portland's Brandon Roy a star, for example? (I'm going to say yes.) What you're looking for is a player who made a Danny Granger-like jump, and that often comes from someone on a mediocre or bad team. So I'm going with Detroit's Stuckey, who goes into this season without a Chauncey Billups or an Iverson in front of him.

Markazi: Durant. Entering his third year, Durant will become an All-Star and a bona-fide superstar. He was sixth in the NBA in scoring last year and should make a push for the scoring title this year with the likes of Kobe and LeBron taking fewer shots and facilitating for their talented teammates.

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For the season, hard to say, I'd say Rose may already be a star.... I think Courtney Lee will be a very solid to borderline star in NJ. I think he and Harris could be lethal. I think, if he heals properly, BGriff could be a star THIS season!

As for our team... no one. We don't have any budding stars. We have some solid guys, but NONE exude any sort of Quasi-Star Level!