Five biggest breakout candidates for the 2016-17 NBA season
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Devin Booker might actually be my favorite teenager since McLovin. Though he’s still over a year away from being able to legally drink, the former Kentucky Wildcat possesses an offensive polish, a feel for the game, and an overall basketball acumen that’s well beyond his years. Already heralded as an elite shooting prospect coming out of college, what was most impressive for Booker in his rookie season was the amount of comfort he exhibited handling the ball out of pick-and-roll sets.
Just watch the masterful way Booker darts around this Tyson Chandler screen, taking the perfect angle, crossing back to the middle of the floor out of the way of Chandler’s roll, drawing Andrew Bogut away from the rim, and floating in a superb lob to Chandler over the smaller defender.
That sort of playmaking wizardry is ultra-rare for a first-year shooting guard, and the opportunity will only increase for Booker in his sophomore season now that the Suns appear to be committed to moving fellow BBN product Brandon Knight into a sixth man role.
And let’s not forget Booker’s upside as a pure 2-guard either. He averaged 13.8 points per game as a rookie, scoring with decent efficiency (42.3 percent from the field and 34.3 percent from deep) and in a smorgasbord of ways. He scores by scampering around picks for catch-and-shoot buckets, blowing by half-hearted hedges and getting into the teeth of the defense with frightening downhill speed, finishing creatively in transition, and slicing jugulars with his sweet stroke off-the-bounce.
Booker still lacks luster on the defensive end and doesn’t get to the line at a rate high enough for an off-guard (just 3.4 free throw attempts per game last year). But with a heavier workload awaiting him in his first full season under Suns head coach Earl Watson, expect Booker’s maturation to continue in a big way in 2016-17 (even though he probably still can’t grow facial hair).
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for graceful, versatile Euro bigs, and Jokic is the prime example. The 21-year-old Serbian is the man who made the City of Denver forget about Kenneth Faried’s very existence, and now that he’s poised to start next to fellow Balkan bruiser Jusuf Nurkic in 2016-17, the rest of us should be downright giddy.
Jokic combines ballerina feet with a pillow-soft touch in the post. In fact, I’m almost certain that watching him set up shop down low is what inspired the coinage of the term “sugar, spice, and everything nice.”
An All-Rookie First Teamer last year, Jokic also possesses a divine shooting touch for a big man (canning 33.8 percent of his three-point attempts from above the break as a rook). He was a darling for the advanced stats community too, finishing 25th amongst all players in player efficiency rating, 11th in box plus/minus, and tops amongst first-years by a wide margin in value over replacement player.
Perhaps I’m being a bit romantic about “The Joker’s” game. But wouldn’t you be too if you encountered a 6-foot-10 human being who was blessed with the flair to zip picturesque passes like this from the wing?
And fact of the matter is that Jokic did his damage last season (10.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game) in less than 22 minutes a night. If he can fit prove a regular viable fit next to Nurkic, that number could easily tiptoe into the 30-plus minute range. While that could be difficult defensively given Jokic’s lack of the foot speed needed to defend opposing 4s, especially in this era of perimeter-oriented playmakers at the power forward position, he makes up for it with active hands and strong situational instincts on that end.
Jokic won’t blow out 22 candles until next February. But with some luck and some further cultivation of his supernatural hardwood skill, he’ll become a household name well before then.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Detroit Pistons
Once upon a time, not so long ago ([Jon Bon Jovi voice] “Tommy used to work on the docks?”), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was a lottery selection. Now he and all 22 of those letters are ready to remind us why.
The Pistons are searching for answers in the backcourt with Reggie Jackson out for the first month of the regular season and perhaps longer. Could Caldwell-Pope be the one to fill the role of Radio Shack?
The fourth-year guard has already grown into a top-quality (if somewhat overlooked) one-on-one defender, earning 27 All-Defensive Second Team votes and three All-Defensive First Team votes last season, and it’s easy to see why. Have a look at Caldwell-Pope putting the clamps on the unanimous MVP, fighting through a sea of screens to stay attached to his hip for the duration of the possession, then hitting the deck to snatch the ball away.
Also a 14.5 point per game scorer on 1.5 threes a night in 2015-16, KCP is far from a one-trick pony. He’s a strong, agile athlete who can get into the paint with ease and who can function as a spot-up shooter to open up the lane for Andre Drummond’s forays to the rim after setting the pick. Also, you best pray that you have ankle insurance if you dare test the basketball gods and try to switch a big man onto Caldwell-Pope above the three-point line.
A dynamic talent who’s still just 23 years old, this is KCP’s year to make himself into something more than just a trivia answer. Let the white smoke billow from the chimney atop The Palace of Auburn Hills for this coming season shall deliver onto us a new Pope.
*Stats courtesy of ESPN, NBA.com, and Basketball Reference*
