2015-16 Breakouts

[ralph_i_el]

What players and teams do you think are primed for a breakout?

I think Brad Beal is going to take his playoff performances over the past two years and use that aggression all season long. He averaged 23.4ppg in the playoffs and he recently turned 22.


Team wise, The Bucks look absolutely nasty to me. 4 of their starters should be able to switch consistently like the Warriors on defense. Greg Monroe is going to be operating with a ton of space having Jabari Parker playing the 4. John Henson and Greivis Vasquez will be coming off the bench, and they can start for a lot of teams. Jason Kidd is the point guard whisperer, and MCW and Vasquez play a similar style, so the team will not have to change up it's style much when they sub lead guards. Plus they have my boy Jorge Gutierrez, the Mexican Missile. He was one of the meanest defenders I've ever seen when he played for Cal.

Also, this may be the season that casuals realize that Korver is a top 25 player in the league.

[Fallen Angel]

I'm not as sure of the Bucks being as good as they were last season. MCW is still a negative floor spacer and I question the PF spot for them. If Greg Monroe is their starting center, wouldn't it make sense to pair him with a defensive big like John Henson than a perimeter player. Monroe isn't a rim protector and for a defensive team like the Bucks to go with a negative rim protector anchoring the inside just doesn't seem correct.

[HurricaneKid]

What players and teams do you think are primed for a breakout?

I think Brad Beal is going to take his playoff performances over the past two years and use that aggression all season long. He averaged 23.4ppg in the playoffs and he recently turned 22.


Team wise, The Bucks look absolutely nasty to me. 4 of their starters should be able to switch consistently like the Warriors on defense. Greg Monroe is going to be operating with a ton of space having Jabari Parker playing the 4. John Henson and Greivis Vasquez will be coming off the bench, and they can start for a lot of teams. Jason Kidd is the point guard whisperer, and MCW and Vasquez play a similar style, so the team will not have to change up it's style much when they sub lead guards. Plus they have my boy Jorge Gutierrez, the Mexican Missile. He was one of the meanest defenders I've ever seen when he played for Cal.

Jorge has virtually no chance of making the Bucks. MCW, Ennis, Vazquez, Bayless are well ahead of him on the depth chart and the team has 15 guaranteed contracts that aren't him. Being a 5th string PG and the 16th guy on a team is a really bad thing. And Kendall Marshall (who was on the team last year until he had a knee injury) is still practicing at the facility with the team. So he is probably 6th string PG. And LOL at discussing the Bucks as an up and coming team, mentioning half the team and not bringing up the real answer to this question: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

[StephHamann]

Javelle McGee

i expect nothing less than Wilt numbers from him.

[raprap]

Still waiting on Valanciunas. Maybe Kawhi, he showed glimpses of that post game and im a big fan of that.

[HylianNightmare]

Maybe oladipo will break out finally

[noob cake]

One of these years, Donatas Motiejunas will become the #2 players on the Rockets.

[robby712]

I think Hayward will be an all star this year.
Also Lance to come back closer to his Indiana performance.

[ralph_i_el]

Jorge has virtually no chance of making the Bucks. MCW, Ennis, Vazquez, Bayless are well ahead of him on the depth chart and the team has 15 guaranteed contracts that aren't him. Being a 5th string PG and the 16th guy on a team is a really bad thing. And Kendall Marshall (who was on the team last year until he had a knee injury) is still practicing at the facility with the team. So he is probably 6th string PG. And LOL at discussing the Bucks as an up and coming team, mentioning half the team and not bringing up the real answer to this question: Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Jorge thing was a joke. I saw him play a few times in person for CAL, and he's undersized and not NBA skill level. He's just dirty on D.

Giannis has been discussed to death. He's an obvious future star. He can be Durant minus the epic J. I see some LeBron in him too.

Giannis+Middleton+Jabari+MCW+Vasquez are all long and quick enough to switch on the perimeter (like Klay+Dray+Iggy+Barnes+Livingston for the warriors). I think this is going to cover Monroe, and worst case scenario John Henson can play the 4 and cover tough assignments for Monroe. I love Kidd as a coach. He pioneered the idea of switching everything on the perimeter with long defenders when he coached the Nets, and the Warriors worked off that idea to great effect. The Bucks used that strategy last year and it worked great.

Jabari could not have found a better situation. Middleton and Giannis are going to help him to not get exploited by quick swingmen. He's going to get to play the 4 on offense where he'll have a huge quickness advantage. His shooting will give Monroe a ton of space compared to what he had in Detroit.

[HurricaneKid]

I'm not as sure of the Bucks being as good as they were last season. MCW is still a negative floor spacer and I question the PF spot for them. If Greg Monroe is their starting center, wouldn't it make sense to pair him with a defensive big like John Henson than a perimeter player. Monroe isn't a rim protector and for a defensive team like the Bucks to go with a negative rim protector anchoring the inside just doesn't seem correct.

I don't get why people are on about this. They were the #3 defense in the NBA last year and had Zaza Pachulia as their starting C most of the year. Monroe's defensive liabilities were almost entirely because he played the bulk of his minutes out of position next to Drummond. He is a perfectly fine defender at the 5.

Pairing him with Henson who was 1/13 from outside 3 ft last year, is a horrific idea as that leaves them with 1, maybe 2 shooters on the floor. Henson is strictly a backup 5. He clogs EVERYTHING. Those two should literally never be on the floor together.

[ralph_i_el]

I don't get why people are on about this. They were the #3 defense in the NBA last year and had Zaza Pachulia as their starting C most of the year. Monroe's defensive liabilities were almost entirely because he played the bulk of his minutes out of position next to Drummond. He is a perfectly fine defender at the 5.

Pairing him with Henson who was 1/13 from outside 3 ft last year, is a horrific idea as that leaves them with 1, maybe 2 shooters on the floor. Henson is strictly a backup 5. He clogs EVERYTHING. Those two should literally never be on the floor together.

lol I thought Henson could shoot the midrange J from his time at UNC. I guess I was wrong.

Jabari+Giannis+Middleton+Mayo should give a decent amount of perimeter shooting. MCW and Vasquez aren't good 3 point shooters, but they should CREATE a lot of 3's for others. Monroe has paint gravity, attracting doubles and freeing up shooters outside.

[HurricaneKid]

Giannis has been discussed to death. He's an obvious future star. He can be Durant minus the epic J. I see some LeBron in him too.

Giannis+Middleton+Jabari+MCW+Vasquez are all long and quick enough to switch on the perimeter (like Klay+Dray+Iggy+Barnes+Livingston for the warriors). I think this is going to cover Monroe, and worst case scenario John Henson can play the 4 and cover tough assignments for Monroe.

I'm glad you think so. A lot of people seem to disagree. But mostly the fools so...

Jabari is still a work in progress. Heck, the whole team is really. Their window doesn't even start for 2-3 years. Then they will be nasty.

Henson is overrated as a defender. He has value as a rim protector but he is constantly getting out of position in his attempts to block shots, gets bullied underneath the hoop, etc. He is a good backup 5 but has limited value elsewhere.

[ralph_i_el]

I'm glad you think so. A lot of people seem to disagree. But mostly the fools so...

Jabari is still a work in progress. Heck, the whole team is really. Their window doesn't even start for 2-3 years. Then they will be nasty.

Henson is overrated as a defender. He has value as a rim protector but he is constantly getting out of position in his attempts to block shots, gets bullied underneath the hoop, etc. He is a good backup 5 but has limited value elsewhere.

Giannis just needs to be able to shoot the 3 and his game will blow up.
His form looks fine to me.

I predict Jabari will score 20ppg on 55 TS%

[HurricaneKid]

lol I thought Henson could shoot the midrange J from his time at UNC. I guess I was wrong.

Jabari+Giannis+Middleton+Mayo should give a decent amount of perimeter shooting. MCW and Vasquez aren't good 3 point shooters, but they should CREATE a lot of 3's for others. Monroe has paint gravity, attracting doubles and freeing up shooters outside.

Vasquez shot 38% from three each of the last 2 years. He is a fine shooter. Jabari and Giannis are unproven from NBA range. Giannis looks like he has more confidence in his shot but it still doesn't look ready for the big time just yet. Jabari shot 25% last year and it was clearly a pretty big jump in distance for him but eventually he should become a good shooter.

Midz and Mayo don't play much together. They might have to this year and until the other guys get their shots right.

[HurricaneKid]

Giannis just needs to be able to shoot the 3 and his game will blow up.
His form looks fine to me.

I predict Jabari will score 20ppg on 55 TS%

Yeah everyone was giving him a ton of space last year and his coach would yank him anytime he shot from the outside. Its a tough predicament.

No one on Milw will be a 20ppg scorer. They have a lot of guys that can contribute and it will be more of a balanced attack. Also, they are still a defensive team and play at a slower pace.

[Sakkreth]

One of these years, Donatas Motiejunas will become the #2 players on the Rockets.

Hopefully so, he definetly have the tools.

[FreezingTsmoove]

Oladipo and Isaiah Thomas have all star potential this year

[Naero]

Last season already established itself as a predictor for Anthony Davis' eventual rise to all-time Legendary status and the BITW status (he already is, IMO, but the media will take a little while more to espouse it), but I expect a dramatic furtherance of that breakthrough for The Brow this upcoming season.

Anthony Davis was still a bit too marginalized under Monty Williams' offense, whereas Alvin Gentry has already emphasized maximizing his role in the faster-paced offense that the newly hired Pelicans coach wants to systematize.

Sadly, his team's record may hamper his MVP chances

[AirFederer]

Tim Duncan

[ralph_i_el]

Tim Duncan

I said "break out" not "comes out"

[qrich]

Austin Rivers #MoaM #MIP

[sammichoffate]

Julius Randle, Oladipo, and Andrew Wiggins

[Leroy Jetson]

I think Ray McCallum could have a big year for the Spurs, especially if Tony Parker has injuries. The Spurs system will maximize his talents and they need a younger slasher type.

[Xiao Yao You]

I think Hayward will be an all star this year.
Also Lance to come back closer to his Indiana performance.

Not unless the Jazz get 2. Gobert is the man.

Alec Burks could be ready to break out with a healthy shoulder for the first time in many years.

[Jameerthefear]

this man dipo

[DoctorP]

The Greek freak.
Chandler Parsons
H. Whiteside
Oladipo

[outbreak]

Orlandos starting line up.

I see Oladipo and Gordon breaking out while Harris and Vuc keep up last seasons production but get more attention. Payton will ride those guys highs and look better because of it too.

More people will talk about Orlando and we'll contend for the 8th seed and have some impressive wins but lack consistency.

[chips93]

Jabari could not have found a better situation. Middleton and Giannis are going to help him to not get exploited by quick swingmen. He's going to get to play the 4 on offense where he'll have a huge quickness advantage. His shooting will give Monroe a ton of space compared to what he had in Detroit.

jabari's shooting will have a huge impact on the bucks. he obviously has touch and is a natural scorer, but he needs to be a consistent 3pt shooter to space the floor. if he cant, they'll have 4 bad shooters in their starting 5, and i dont care how good their defense is, with 4 bad shooters, their offense isnt going to be good enough for them to matter.

[G-train]

It's pretty hard to predict a surprise breakout these days, with everything over-analysed.

I will go with:

Noah Vonleh
Kent Bazemore
Lavoy Allen
Nic Stauskas
Doug McDermott

[RidonKs]

teletovic will have a good year in phoenix

ricky rubio will finally prove himself worthy of a starting pg spot

josh smith will have his 6th breakout season

nurkic and gallo have tons of room to maneuver in denver, hopefully they can make that team competitive

josh mcroberts will hopefully make his name heard again, and speaking of lanky white boys with long hair, how about luke babbitt?

BRANDON MFING BASS

oladipo is a great bet, he looked awesome at that white/blue exhibition game. he was also going hard at michael carter williams who also looked good but is on a superior team.

patrick patterson will probably take a bigger leap than jv

oh yeah and otto porter jr took big strides in last years playoffs and now he's finally got the starting spot. he's the guy to look for in washington, not beal. i'm in the minority on this but i don't think beal has much more room for improvement. already close to his ceiling once he puts on a bit more weight. his ball handling and finishing probably won't improve too much tho, he just doesn't seem to have super quick instincts.

edit 1: i hope lance the pants comes back with a vengeance after the change of scenery

edit 2: i really want to see marcus smart, avery bradley, isiah thomas start a game together