I set out with this idea thinking I’d pick one player, and that would be challenging enough. When I started to dig into draft classes, impact and overall vibe, the veritable youth movement of the NBA had other plans.
The qualifications here aren’t just for an athlete primed to make a leap. Given the pace of the league, roster recalibration, and the league’s old guard beginning to phase out (it’s weird to see Chris Paul not bossily in charge, I’m not ready to talk about it) developmental jobs are a prerequisite to stay in the NBA. This is about determining who seems primed to take on leadership duties, in optics and on the floor, about who is set to become undeniable.
After one season of injury and two of front office inflicted purgatory, Cade Cunningham is very much ready to take the giant jump he frankly feels owed. Even under the shifting focus of Monty Williams, Cunningham put up career-best numbers last season. In Cleveland, J.B. Bickerstaff turned a team of young outliers into playoff contenders, utilizing the strengths and play-style of a unique group of athletes instead of trying to force them into a mold of best-fit to his coaching style. Cunningham’s foundational skills of stutter-stepping ball handling and eerily stealthy offensive rushes make the in-game growth assured, it’s the way he’s going to thrive through Bickerstaff’s direction and encouragement that makes the jump even more exciting.
Though he didn’t get as many minutes as he should have last season, with the Warriors current roster construction a big leap from Jonathan Kuminga would be as timely as it’s going to be necessary. To some degree, I think it’s always been the assumption in Golden State, given their feints at development for James Wiseman and Moses Moody, in tandem with Kuminga, didn’t take.
Kuminga is a watchful player (even if he’s done more than his fair share of watching from the bench) and knows where he fits alongside Steph Curry and Draymond Green as well as he does his juniors in Brandin Podziemski. With Andrew Wiggins potentially making a slow return (grief should get a lot of breathing room, in my opinion), there’s plenty of space for Kuminga to take on that offensive responsibility. He’s athletic, unbalancing, and just frenetic enough, in other words, the shot in the arm the Warriors need.
It may seem a little premature, but under Gregg Popovich’s experience and in the big and bright lights Victor Wembanyama has brought to San Antonio, Jeremy Sochan is thriving. He’s fun, fast but measured enough to know when he’s getting ahead of himself, makes good decisions and doesn’t get flustered. The young Spurs, last season, were not a winning team but watching them, it never seemed to matter. The most lasting growth comes in conditions where the learning is near constant, and Sochan’s been like a sponge, soaking it all up.
Part of the reason I’m so excited for this season is because while the big stars may not be changing just yet, the real drivers of the league, its young and pace-pushing athletes, are the ones with their feet on the gas.
