West: The Best Breakout Candidates of Each Team
Every team are waiting and hoping that at least one of their players will breakout in this upcoming season. A breakout season of one of the players will always be a bright spot regardless of situation. So, here are the best candidates for each team.
DALLAS MAVERICKS - Seth Curry
- I heard a lot of positive comments about the performance of Curry in preseason and in their practices and a lot are optimistic that coach Carlisle will give him the minutes to rain down threes.
DENVER NUGGETS - Jusuf Nurkic
Nurkic missed a lot of games last season due to injury. I think, his competitiveness will kick in and he will be driven to show-off and give Jokic a run for his money for the center position of Denver.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS - Kevin Durant
Last season, Kevin Durant attempted the most contested shots in the league but now that he is playing with two other elite threats, who can play off the ball and create with the ball, KD could up god-like numbers this season.
HOUSTON ROCKETS - Patrick Beverley
A lot will choose Clint Capela for the Rockets but I was pretty impressed with the sustained improvement that Patrick exhibited in the last few seasons.He shot 40% from beyond the arc last season, what if he kept working on it and reach the 42% level?
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS - Blake Griffin
Even with his impressive 21.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 52.1% FG career averages, Griffin was underappreciated because he was under the shadow Chris Paul. There are some news recently that Paul will give more playmaking responsibility to Blake which could result to a breakout.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS - D'Angelo Russell
Like him or not, Coach Luke Walton is all in with him as their main man.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES - James Ennis
Ennis owned the preseason so far and if the Grizzlies pushed for more small-ball, expect Ennis and Parsons to play the forward position.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES - Karl-Anthony Towns
I am buying the hype.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS - Solomon Hill
New Orleans will surely give him the starting SF spot and I think he will play well. He works hard in improving his game and if he can further improve his efficiency and defense, Pelicans will be very happy.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDERS - Steven Adams
Adams looks like a beast this preseason. Even with his size, Steven is really agile and fast that match him well with small-ball. If he can develop more post moves and sustain his physicality on both ends of the court, this will be a very good season for Adams.
PHOENIX SUNS - Devin Booker
Coach Earl Watson has given him the key to the future of the Suns and even with his awful defense, he will get 30+ minutes a game.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS - Moe Harkless
Out of nowhere, Harkless has put his name on the starting small forward discussion. He posted higher numbers across his statline in 2016 season which means we can expect further improvement.
SACRAMENTO KINGS - Willie Cauley-Stein
I am pretty interested about Willie this season and I think he will have a breakout season on the defensive end. I am hoping averaging more than 1.8 steals and blocks will create good buzz for him.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS - Kyle Anderson
I really believe that one of the reason why San Antonio let go of Boris Diaw is there confidence of Kyle finding his groove for this season. Kyle may not post a super impressive number on any category but I expect him to fill the stat sheets.
UTAH JAZZ - Dante Exum
We all saw how great was the defense that featured Exum and Gobert two seasons ago. We will see that again this season and I am hoping Dante will bring new weapons on the offensive end.