Late Bloomers?

[dballislife]

maybe nash

[Canomad]

billups

[MJ23b4_Rose2day]

John Salmons?

[Kyrama]

It has to be Rondo. He hasn't even gotten facial hair yet.

[Reks]

I immediately thought of Chauncey Billups and Steve Nash.

[pr0wler]

Having Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson ahead of him in the Phoenix Depth Charts were the main reasons why Nash didn't enjoy early success. Even then, people already knew he was a very talented player who simply hasn't had the chance to shine. Remember the Mavericks basically traded 2 first round draft picks for Steve Nash, including a lottery pick (Shawn Marion). That's how highly they thought of him.

In his 3rd season he averaged only 7.9 PPG in 31.7 MPG, and the following season 8.6 PPG in 27.4 MPG. While he didn't get a great opportunity in Phoenix, he certainly got a good chance in Dallas but was very mediocre at first.

Then his 4th year in the league he finally started to pick it up. He was a borderline all-star in Dallas for the next 4 years but when he started playing for Phoenix again he became a superstar. It's rare for someone to make a marketable improvement when they've just hit 30. And for those arguing that it's because he was in the run and gun system, that might be true, but also look at his shooting percentages. He's shot over .500 FG and .400 from 3-point land every year since 2004-2005. That's incredible for a guy who's recently turned 36 years old. You compare that to his earlier days and it's two different people.

[bluestang302]

Dale Ellis jumped from scoring 7.1 on a 41.1% clip in his 3rd year, to scoring 24.9 off 51.6% the following year.

Detlef Schrempf comes to mind as well. Though it had something to do with playing time, he went from a bench player in Dallas to one of the better rounded players in the league in Indiana (put up 19-9.5-6.0 in 92/93!)

Jalen Rose had a similar path as Billups, being a disappointing mediocre player for 5 years before finding himself as a shooter (but not a PG) in his 6th year. (Jumped from 11 to 18 ppg and .403 to .471).

Kevin Willis suddenly got really good when he was almost 30. (He averaged 15.5 boards a game the same year Rodman averaged 18 for the first time).

[Bobbcats]

David West misses just barely. he only had 2 years where he didn't look very promising and 2 all star years

[Carmelo22]

Billups?