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Considering where they left off last season, who do you think makes the biggest leap this up coming season?

not talking about who's the best youngster next season, im talking about who makes the most improvement.

my rankings:

1. Josh Hart - he probably might still be considered less important than Ingram/ball/kuzma by the end of the year, but based on where he left off, i think he's ready to make the biggest leap. feels like by the end of last season, he had started to unlock and expand parts of his game he'd never before displayed. summer league was a small preview.

2. Brandon Ingram - based on the leap he made last year from one of the worst in the league to an average player last year, i think he'll make another leap towards very good. expecting some of that heavy ball stopping iso tendency to get phased out and he becomes a lot more deliberate.

3. Lonzo Ball - not expecting a huge leap in performance next year (moreso til year 3), but expecting a huge leap in durability and availability, which itself skyrockets his value.

4. Kyle Kuzma - think he'll have a tough time adjusting to the new players on the team, knowing when to attack and when to keep the ball moving. afraid he might get lost on his role on the team, might be an unfounded concern.

5. Ivika Zubac - i honestly thought he might not make the roster over Bryant, and i really don't expect him to be on the roster next season. some people have much higher expectations, so i included him on the list.

I agree with your rankings with Ball and Ingram being interchangeable. I could see Hart breaking out and don’t see how much Kuzma can improve considering he had such a solid rookie season. Zubac I feel will be out of the league in a year

Lonzo needs to make the biggest step. Alot going for him.....but he better start draining shots, and staying on the floor. There is no pressure on Hart.

I think Ingram and Kuz will both take a little time adjusting to life with Lebron.

LBJ is a ball dominate unselfish player that historically makes shooters better... Assuming that premise & if you take into consideration last years stats, who makes the biggest jump with LBJ, my list is as follows:

1. Hart (Dude closed year out hard & blew up in summer league & plays defense, LBJ loves the dude).
2. Kuzz (He can stretch the floor, hit shots plus can play some 5 plus has heart, LBJ will love him).
3. Lonzo (LBJ will take pressure off the kid).
4. Ingram (He plays with the ball, he may be better than Kuzz & Hart now but doesn’t fit as well with LBJ, will be better when LBJ is on bench. He will be the trade bait if a marquee player becomes available such as Butler, Leonard or Davis)
5. Zub (Last season in NBA).

Lakeshow Baby...

I like Ingram personally. Kuzma started out the gates faster I think relative to draft position but I think Ingram will be an all-star in a few years.

If he gets anywhere near 15-20 minutes, Zu is going to get 5-6 lobs/putbacks per game thanks to Bron, Rondo, Ball.

I'm predicting he goes for 14 and 8 this year which means his points will have increased by 10, and rebounds by 5. Biggest improvement of any of the young guys year over year statwise.

1) Lonzo - just needs to up his shooting% from worst ever to below avg and thats already a HUGE impact
2) Ingram - we need him to grow, if only to become a 3rd star (after Kawhi/Butler joins) or to drastically increase his trade value
3) Kuzma - gonna be open alot, should help his efficiency, but he REALLY needs to work on that D to become a cornerstone
3a) Hart - if his progression from last year to Summer League is legit, having a SG version of Mo Williams who can shoot would be amazing
4) Zubac - now is playing with a true PnR maestro, make or break year for him to stay in the league

1) Ingram. Just really believe he'll take it to another level this season.
2) Hart. Biggest jump considering his minutes and roll last season will be dramatically increased.
3) Kuzma, works so hard, has so much hunger
4) Lonzo, with health and more experience attacking the basket he'll have more confidence. However, I put him 4th since I just think Lonzo's injury set him back and will prevent him from working on that shot much this year. Gonna be something has to work on next off season.

Marionettetc wrote:I like Ingram personally. Kuzma started out the gates faster I think relative to draft position but I think Ingram will be an all-star in a few years.

I agree with you.. of all the kids I think Ingram is the one to watch... I'd love to see him work out with Kobe... I think he has the talent to build a full bag of tricks.

Quite frankly it better be Lonzo. I wasn't overly impressed with his overall game. Defense was great and open court game was very good too, but a true PG leader doesn't shoot below 50% on FT's and he can't be counted on to finish in the paint which limits his offensive sets. Where we picked him has a lot to do with my ranking on this.

Hart is interesting. He played good defense on larger/slower guards yet got blasted regularly by the quicker ones. His shot came along nicely and he seemed more comfortable later in the year. I think his ceiling is the lowest of the youngsters. He could be Derek Fisher 2.0 impact wise given a couple years.

Kuzma will either show he wasn't a fluke or that he's a scoring change of pace guy this year. I'm leaning toward the former with him. He showed just about everything a player can do.... just not all at the same time. If he can put it all together consistently he could be the best of the young guys. If not he will still be a good scoring change of pace guy off the bench.

Ingram is a guy who I've always thought we've put in a position that isn't conducive to his make up or his game. He's not an alpha/finisher/leader type. He's a fill in the blanks guy who's been pushed into the leader role basically for no other reason than his draft position. A good jump for him would be to fill in the gaps in his overall game which I think he can do easily now that Bron is here to take the heat/glory/credit for the good and bad. He can be the "everything else" guy.

Zubac is a guy about 15 years late to the party. He's got an innate feel for the game for a youngster, good hands, a soft touch and has the make up to play some decent team defense. How Luke weaves him in will be more important to his "jump" than anything else. For the life of me I don't know what Luke was doing last year playing Bogut and Lopez so much and letting this guy play in the G-league. Why not figure out what you have in a "development year" over playing a has been like Bogut? Better yet.... why sign Bogut in the first place? I think he could be a 10-10 guy if the situation is right.

Lonzo - believe he's the best of the bunch anyway
Hart - All around solid player
Ingram/Kuzma

Hart - He was bench player so his improvement will be the most obvious
Kuzma - I expect him to benefits the most from playing with Lebron
Lonzo - If he stays healthy he will be very good bc is good defender, tall for his position , good passer and most importantly can play of the ball
Ingram - It's going to be a big pressure on him to improve again and his game isn't good fit with Lebron ball so he will have hard way to overcome that but if he does he is going to be All Star
Zubak - I don't think he will have important role, Mcgee and Wagner would take significient minutes and he will play in garbage time