Which sophomores will make a major leap this year?

[bringinhinkie]

Tatum and Fultz

Ntilikina will improve as well, but not a "major leap".. Mitchell is already so polished

[TheGOATWill]

On my team, obviously Kuzma. The kid has everything on offense. But if I'm being objective, it's Markelle Fultz. I don't even necessarily think he's going to start for Philly but I do think he will finish them ahead of Covington. He's great in transition and I expect PHI to play fast especially when Embiid is off the floor. His shot problem to me looked mental not physical. Looking at him at summer league for a few seconds, he looks like he's been in the weight room. The dude is 6'5" and cat quick. Expecting to see a much better player this year.

[flow]

Luke Kennard

.

[Catchall]

Mitchell could average 24 or 25 ppg this year. He needs to get away from the camera for a while though and work on his game.

Jonathan Issac, Josh Hart and Derrick White showed well in Summer League.

[Zukkoyaki]

Jonathan Isaac was already a difference maker defensively before he got hurt early last season. Seeing him in summer league, he's worked on his body and offensive game while recovering. I think he has best player on the Magic potential as soon as this season.

Other guys like Tatum and Ball, who I imagine will improve, will probably see numbers drop as a result of players returning and signing.

[The Laker Kid]

Anyone that's not on the Lakers of course.

[cgf]

It won't be the biggest jump, but as a Knicks fan the young player I'm most interested in seeing the progress of this season is Ntilikina.

Knox is an 18 year old rookie who I just want to see get settled into playing significant NBA minutes & to figure things out as he goes along...and Robinson, though a year older than Ntilikina & 2 older than Knox, has even lower expectations than either of them since the only organized basketball he's played in the last 15 months was the 5 games he played in SL. If he can just figure out how to stay on the court for longer than 10-15 minutes before fouling out, while learning, that's a win.

But Frank got his feet wet last year and managed to flash his tools offensively on a few occasions...and his defense is already impressive. With Fizdale taking over and a year under his (still extremely young) belt, I'm really excited to see what he can do running this team for Kanter, Knox & THJr until KP gets back...as well as how his D grows with bigger minutes & the experience he's picked up already.


Amongst non-Knick-sophomore's I'm rooting for Markannen to take a big step. He & Clark just seem like they should do awesome together eventually, and it would be cool if they could click quickly should Dunn somehow make the offense flow well enough for Lavine & Parker to get theirs without stifling those two young bigs. I may not root for the team...and absolutely hated them in the Jordan & Ewing days of my youth...but this city is a little more fun when it's excited about its sports teams.

...plus it would be nice to beat those bastards in the playoffs should these next few years go well for both franchises.

[Ice Trae]

yall sleeping on john collins

[PierceFan4ever]

Surprised to see Tatum winning this after a great rookie season. So most of you guys think Tatum is an all star starter caliber player this upcoming season? Because that’s what I think needs to happen for him to take a “major” leap. Crazier things have happened before but when I think of this I think of guys who usually underperformed their rookie year or didn’t play as much and then took a big step forward the following season. Brown after playing a few minutes last year had multiple 30 point playoff games his 2nd year which I think falls into the major leap category. Guys like Jackson, Fultz, Smith Jr can all certainly get a lot better this upcoming season than what they’ve shown. The bar for guys like Tatum, Mitchell, Kuzma will have to be pretty high for a major leap imo.

[lakerz12]

Ball, Hart, and Kuzma. 0 bias.

And Tatum compared to his regular season last year.

[dakomish23]

I expect most to take a leap, especially considering how low the bar is set for some of them to take what would be considered a leap.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

I think Kuzma is going to take a huge leap since he's going to start at PF and get a lot of open looks from LeBron, and unlike any of the other stretch bigs LeBron has played with Kuzma can attack close outs with the dribble. I think he's going to have a big year, look at how decent Jeff Green looked with LeBron, now imagine all those shots going to Kuzma.

[NZB2323]

Fultz has to have a better year because he can't possibly be worse.

As a Bulls fan, I'd like to say the Finnisher will take a leap, but with Lavine, Parker, Dunn, and Wendell I'm not sure how many shots he'll get.

[cgf]

Frank Ntilikina will make a nice jump this year. He won't be buried on the bench by a coach playing vets to save his job, even when the season was over.

Those offseason workout videos have me believing... But it'll be interesting to see how the minutes are split amoungst him, Mudiay, and Burke. One of the three will inevitably find themselves buried on the bench or traded.

It sounds like Fizdale loves Frank's length & D so much that he'll use two PG lineups if Burke & Mudiay both earn PT and that's what it takes to ensure Frank gets his minutes. Although I've little expectation of Mudiay playing well enough to deserve much PT, especially as the season goes on, even if Fiz is the great teacher he's hyped up to be. I'm sort of expecting Allonzo Trier to be the one who's trying to push Frank & Burke for PT, by season's end, not Mudiay.

Plus with Kanter, THJr & an 18 yo Knox likely to be starting...Hezonja probably replacing him if Knox isn't ready...Fiz is going to have to squeeze some good defenders in around them. And Frank's the best we've got right now by far.

[Soupman]

Kuzma,Lonzo,DSJ.

[LakersSoul]

Tatum and Fultz

Ntilikina will improve as well, but not a "major leap".. Mitchell is already so polished

Tatum is good but I have to worry about his shots.
He got 30 minutes at SF and Hayward is returning.
He shot over 10 attempts/g and now Irving/Hayward returns.

We saw what he did during the playoffs, leading the Cs in ppg and getting one of the most minutes and shot attempts. This makes you think his numbers could take a huge leap this year but how will the Cs distribute the minutes and shots? Tatum's numbers could shot up from 13.9 ppg to 18+ like the playoffs but it will be hard to shoot 43% from 3s as his playoff number dropped down beyond 10% to 32.4%.

I cannot see Tatum getting 36mpg this year and not even 30 mpg but somewhere in the 25 range.
I cannot see Tatum hitting 43% from 3 point range especially since the scouts are on-him and will guard him tight from 3 range.
I would say 16 ppg range is a fair bump for Tatum and less efficient % this season. A nice bump up but a major one we will have to see.

As for Fultz, I have no idea how the new season will unfold for the talented kid from UWashington. He would make the biggest jump but if he only averages say 13.5 points per game, would you consider that a "major leap" for him in this draft class? I dont know how impressed I would be with that number. It would have to depend on his efficiency and overall play.

Lastly on Ntilikina, I like him on defense and as a backup but didnt show enough playmaking (3.2apg) or enough offensive prowess.
He barely shot better than Lonzo from 3 range this year and was shy about taking shots. He could make a big jump but I wonder if he has the ability to lead a team offensively to qualify for a "major leap" this year.

[gshrive]

It sounds like Fizdale loves Frank's length & D so much

pause

[VanWest82]

Clearly every rookie from last year is going to make a leap lol. I'll submit OG Anunoby. He started for a 59 win team then raised his game in the playoffs after coming back early from an ACL injury. One would think he'd regain more of his athleticism in year two in addition to whatever improvements he makes to his game.

[LakersSoul]

Clearly every rookie from last year is going to make a leap lol. I'll submit OG Anunoby. He started for a 59 win team then raised his game in the playoffs after coming back early from an ACL injury. One would think he'd regain more of his athleticism in year two in addition to whatever improvements he makes to his game.

I like OG and wanted to put him on the poll but it only gives you 10 options.
In fact, there are a ton of players that could surprise and make a huge leap this year, including:

OG
Isaac
Adebayo
John Collins
JAllen
Semi
Jordan Bell
Dorsey
Brook
Anigbogu

Ton of talent here.

[Feed Your Head]

Tatum and Fultz

Ntilikina will improve as well, but not a "major leap".. Mitchell is already so polished

Tatum is good but I have to worry about his shots.
He got 30 minutes at SF and Hayward is returning.
He shot over 10 attempts/g and now Irving/Hayward returns.

We saw what he did during the playoffs, leading the Cs in ppg and getting one of the most minutes and shot attempts. This makes you think his numbers could take a huge leap this year but how will the Cs distribute the minutes and shots? Tatum's numbers could shot up from 13.9 ppg to 18+ like the playoffs but it will be hard to shoot 43% from 3s as his playoff number dropped down beyond 10% to 32.4%.

I cannot see Tatum getting 36mpg this year and not even 30 mpg but somewhere in the 25 range.
I cannot see Tatum hitting 43% from 3 point range especially since the scouts are on-him and will guard him tight from 3 range.
I would say 16 ppg range is a fair bump for Tatum and less efficient % this season. A nice bump up but a major one we will have to see.

Tatum was their starting 4 opening night, and played the 4 in their second most used lineup. He will have zero issue playing 30+ mpg, no way he plays any less. And if defenders guard him tight then he will get to the rim at will like in the playoffs, especially with other 4s guarding him.

I'm expecting something like 17/6/3 on 48/38/90 type of splits. I don't think he will shoot 40% from 3 because it'll be higher volume. He is going to be a matchup nightmare for other teams, and i wouldn't be shocked if he is their 2nd option come playoff time while Hayward is more of a 15/6/6 type on great efficiency.