Let Spencer Dinwiddie, the Brooklyn Nets guard who went from expendable
to indispensable last season, explain the ingredients for a breakout
season: "Hard work, being ready and opportunity."To get more
basketball news articles, you can visit shine news official website.
Dinwiddie
put particular emphasis on the third part, which is largely beyond a
player's control. In 2017-18, he managed to completely change the
perception of what kind of player he can be, but he never lost sight of
the fact that it took injuries to guards Jeremy Lin and D'Angelo Russell
for him to get his chance.
"If a tree falls in the woods and
nobody's around the sound don't matter," Dinwiddie said. "No matter how
talented you are, no matter what you can do, if you're not out there and
having the opportunity to do it, it's nothing. At the end of the day,
credit the performance staff for working with me all summer. Credit
coach Kenny [Atkinson] and Adam [Harrington] for letting me develop and
also giving me the leash while I was out there, but with all that, if I
didn't play, if I never stepped foot on the court, if Jeremy, D-Lo, all
of them are healthy and I'm playing let's say 10 minutes a game, none of
that happens. That's the reality of the situation."
There you have
it. Talent and confidence is wasted without opportunity. Here are 10
players who have not only shown flashes of brilliance in the league, but
should be blessed with a platform to do more this coming season.
If
your first reaction is that he's too good for this list, fair.
Generally, averaging 24.9 points and scoring 70 points in an NBA game
disqualifies you from being seen as an up-and-comer. Booker, though, has
yet to gain the full respect of the basketball intelligentsia, and I
posit that this is the year it will happen. He needs to get his buckets
with more efficiency, dedicate himself to defense and use his offensive
skills to make his teammates better. Basketball nerds might pick on him
too much -- he's just 21! -- but their criticisms are valid: It's not
great when a team is outscored by 10 points per 100 possessions with its
franchise player is on the floor.
Some of this, obviously, comes
down to his environment. If you are optimistic about new Suns coach Igor
Kokoskov, believe Josh Jackson will be significantly better in Year Two
and are bullish on rookies DeAndre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, De'Anthony
Melton and Elie Okobo, then you should expect Booker's production to be
more meaningful. At the very least, veterans Trevor Ariza and Ryan
Anderson should provide more structure than Phoenix has had for a while,
and Booker himself said that 2018-19 will be a "special year" and a
"turning point."
He didn't make last year's list because he'd played
too well the season before, but a summer spent transforming his body
after a frustrating season has Pacers fans expecting a new-and-improved
Turner. Unlike a year ago, the 22-year-old is entering the season
healthy. He wants to play alongside Domantas Sabonis more often, which
would allow him to average more than the 28.2 minutes he averaged last
season. For that to work, his workouts and yoga sessions will have to
translate to him being in the right place at the right time on defense
much more often.
Turner has some "unicorn" characteristics, but he
looked too much like a traditional big man at times in last year's
first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He will likely
continue to increase his 3-point attempts, but the most important thing
to watch is how he moves. The ideal version of Turner is a dominant rim
protector who can also be trusted to defend the perimeter. A diversified
offensive game would be helpful, too -- his shooting makes him a
threat, but the Pacers would love for him to earn more touches and
finish better on the inside. It's all possible.
The Wall