Daniel Waddleton
Oct 20, 2023
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In this exercise, I try to capture the 8-9 guys I'm most excited to tune into this season. I try to avoid rookies and superstars because who isn't excited to watch them. I try to find guys that are either young budding stars not enough people are talking about yet, players not yet labeled "superstars" but could be heading there this season, or maybe even a guy in/past his prime that could move the needle for his squad on the way to a title.
Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder
I broke my rule after 1 player, whoops.
The Thunder’s prized red shirt freshman can drastically change the course of their season. At Gonzaga, Chet played mostly power forward next to All-American center Drew Timme and was able to show off an impressive ability of skill on both the perimeter and in the paint for the zags. Now he will slide to center and become the versatile rim protector the Thunder so desperately needed last season.
Holmgren obviously didn’t play last season due to a Lisfranc injury to his right foot, but this might end up being a positive for Holmgren as he was able to build up his body in what basically became a “gap” year. Holmgren has supposedly put on 13 pounds of muscle since the thunder drafted him in 2022 and now they hope to see their 2nd overall pick be a problem for teams on both sides of the ball this season.
Throughout the preseason so far Holmgren has been impressive, and head coach Mark Daigneault had this to say after an impressive game vs the Spurs. “He’s a winning player. He’s tough, smart. Plays inside the team. He lets the game tell him what to do,” Daigneault said. “He looked like that was his 100th game.”
If Holmgren can even just be an elite rim protector on defense, the Thunder have more than enough offense between Giddy, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams where Chet wouldn’t have to be much more than a screener and floor spacer for this team to be a potential top 6 team in the West.
However, if Holmgren can excel early offensively, specifically grabbing boards and running the fast break, and off the dribble vs bigger and slower players, this thunder team is going to be that team nobody wants to see this Spring.
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Devin Vassell, San Antonio Spurs
One of the biggest guys I’ve bought stock in this offseason is Spurs guard Devin Vassell.
Vassell missed most of last season with a knee injury, but when he played, he was impressive.
He’s potentially the perfect kind of athletic 3 and D guard that would fit nicely in the new Victor Wembanyama Spurs model.
The Spurs themselves would probably agree, considering they just gave him a five-year contract extension that is guaranteed to pay him $135 million.
Vassell has shown impressive flashes last season of not just being a 3 and D guard either, as he showed an ability to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. He also ran the most pick and rolls per game of his career last year which is something that I only expect to increase again this season.
The one major knock on Vassell’s game is that he isn’t aggressive enough attacking the basket and can sometimes settle for tough mid-ranges instead. Vassell has been on the record this offseason saying he’s been working to improve that and wants to be more aggressive in that area this season.
If he adds that element to his game, Vassell can be the full package and potentially an important piece to San Antonio’s future contention plans.
While most people will be tuning into San Antonio games for the 7’5 alien, I think people will basically accidently find out how good Devin Vassell is. I had him 70 in my mid-season top 100 last year before his injury, so assuming he has only improved in all areas since last season, I am making sure to buy my stock early and watch it boom.
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Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
In the playoffs last season the Cavs were probably the league’s most disappointing team. A team many looked at as a dark horse finals candidate before the Knicks series, lost in just 5 quick games including 2 home losses. The glaring issue (besides a second straight suspect Donavan Mitchell playoff performance), was their big man tandems inability to be effective on offense.
While Jarrett Allen was abysmal in that series, he wasn’t expected to be a playoff elevator, Mobley on the other hand was. Mobley was absolutely punked on the glass all series by the knicks forwards and centers, and offensively he looked like a dear in the headlights. The once rookie of the year candidate now seems to have more questions than answers and will need to answer those questions this season for the Cavs to be taken seriously as contenders.
I don’t want to make it sound like I think Mobley sucks because I don’t. The Cavs ranked first in defense last season and Mobley was the biggest part of that, and at only 21 years old he’s beyond his years as a defensive player.
Mobley needs to become a better rebounder but that will come with age I’m sure as he gets stronger and his body continues to develop. What puts him on this list for me is a potential offensive leap.
If Evan Mobley can take one this season, the Cavs could potentially be competing at the top of the East with Milwaukee and Boston, if he doesn’t, I fear it could be another first round exit for these Cavs.
With Jarrett Allen expected to miss the start of the season, I wonder if the Cavs try out Mobley at the 5 and see what it looks like on offensive for him with more space and being used as more of a hub for the offensive. It's difficult to justify taking the ball out of star guards Darius Garland and Donavan Mitchell's hands for a project offensive player, but eventually he needs to grow with a higher usage rate.
At the end of the day, the most important part for Mobley on offense will be improving his outside jump shot, and that will be one of the first things I look for this NBA season as he shot just 21% from 3 last year.
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Bradley Beal, Phoenix Suns
Beal is by far the oldest player on this list, and in a much different situation than everybody else on this list. When writing this article, I leaned guys that are still growing as basketball players and can potentially hit a new level in the league.
In Beal’s case, we know who he is, we aren’t expecting anything new from him. The reason I have him on this list is because I truly believe he is on the small list of players who can potentially swing the title.
I’m interested in seeing how he fits in with this new look Suns team after being a good stats bad team guy for basically his whole career. I have no doubt he will fill it up in the opportunity’s he gets, but now playing with two top 10 guys how does he adapt his game to fit with them.
Can he do some of the little things he may not have originally bothered doing in Washington while having to carry such an offensive burden? Can he make the players around him better assuming he will be playing in lineups without Booker or Durant?
I originally was not a fan of the Beal trade but as the summer has gone on, I have become lukewarm on it. I'm excited to see what this team looks like opening night vs Golden State and beyond. I think they are on the short list of teams that can win the title and the best case scenario for this teams season might be holding up the Larry O'Brien.
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Franz Wagner, Orlando Magic
I’m not sure anybody’s stock is going to rise more this season than Mr. Wagner’s is about too.
I enjoyed watching team USA this summer (minus Jaren Jackson Jr) and tried to tune into any game I could. When I watched the semifinal game vs Germany, I was shocked how good Wagner looked. He was absolutely having his way with team USA, and we had no answer for him whatsoever.
Wagner is truly a “do it all” forward for the Magic at only 22 years old. The 6’8 forward averaged 18 a game last season on 54% effective field goal percentage as a 3-level scorer, has shown solid court vision and an ability to set up teammates, all while being a plus defender on the other end.
While all those things are great, maybe my favorite part about Franz Wagner is he has no ego and does all the little things to help the team win. If the team needs him to be a floor spacer, done. If the team needs him to set up other teammates, done. If the team needs him to guard the other teams best guy, done. If the team needs him to give the guy defending him buckets for 5 minutes, more than done.
Franz is also one of those guys that’s always on the floor going for loose balls and has that foreign toughness to him we have seen in recent years from these overseas guys.
I think Franz and Paolo have a chance to be the next Jaylen Brown Jayson Tatum type frontcourt duo, and that’s why Franz lands on this list. I’m very excited to see the next Franz jump this season and what he and Paolo look like together in year 2, because I’m anticipating it to be very exciting. I also fully expect the Magic to be in the playoffs this season which I know is bold, but I picked them to be there.
If Franz and Paolo are who I think they are, they will be playing in late April.
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Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
Maybe I'm bias because I've always been a Cade fan since his high school days at Montverde Academy, but I feel like the league has forgotten about Cade Cunningham.
A 21-year-old 6’8 point guard with almost all the tools to be a Luka like engine for an offensive seems like it should be talked about more around the league.
Yeah, could Cade Cunningham improve his 3-point shooting? Absolutely he could and I fully expect him too (everybody forgets he shot nearly 40 percent from 3 at Oklahoma St).
What else can you even knock the guy for? His combination of size, skill, and court vision will give him the opportunity to be an elite lead guard this season, and that same size allows him to guard multiple positions on the other end. He's a plus rebounder and plus defender for a guard which certainly isn't the case for every point guard around the league.
The pistons are a weirdly constructed roster, with probably too many guards, not enough wings, and definitely too many centers. It's been 3 months and I still don't fully understand why they didn't throw an offer sheet at forward Cameron Johnson. Nevertheless, I predict Cade Cunningham is going to mask a lot of the roster construction issues with his play this season.
I'm so excited to see Cade back on the floor this season and I'm so excited to watch Cunningham to Duren lobs like they are Trae Young and Clint Capela.
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Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets
If you’re trying to get a head start on finding the new Jokic, may I introduce you to Houston Rockets starting center Alperen Sengun. I’m kidding… kinda.
On a Houston Rockets team that was a mess last year and looked more like a pickup basketball team night to night than an NBA team, Sengun was the one guy who looked like he was playing team basketball.
Obviously we may never see another Nikola Jokic, but this guy truly does look like him sometimes on a basketball court. His court vision and passing ability in extremely impressive for a 6’11 center. He has the feel for the game of a point guard and always seems to make the right play.
Sengun has also shown flashes of being a force in the post, with both bully ball vs smaller bigs, and finesse post moves vs the stockier and less athletic big men. He is also an excellent rebounder which seems to get lost in this age NBA sometimes, creating second chances for his team on offense while cleaning up on defense. He was 12th in offensive rebound percentage last year in the league.
Sengun shortcomings come on the defensive end, where he was ranked last in defensive rating from centers. While this is a giant concern, we have seen many bad defenders grow over the years to at least passable, and at only the age of 21 there is certainly time for improvement.
At the end of the day the Rockets are not going to be competing for an NBA Title this season, so instead of harping on the bad from the 21-year-old, can we just all appreciate the offensive wizardry we are about to experience from a center who now gets to play on a team with a great head coach who is going to make this team play NBA basketball again.
And that's exactly why Sengun is on this list. With the addition of hard nosed coach Ime Udoka, who in his last coaching stint seemed to turn boys into men over in Boston, the Rockets really should be much more disciplined and structured. That's a good sign for Sengun, and what makes how he looks this season one of the main things I'm excited for as we get started on Tuesday.
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Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
I don’t need to bore you with what Zion Williamson is good at thing like I’ve done with the young budding stars on this list. Zion is already a league superstar, and when healthy could maybe even be the best player on a championship team. If Zion would stay healthy this season, he could potentially single handily change the race in the west. The obvious issue? He hasn’t been able too.
Zion has not played more than 61 games since entering the league and has only played in 29 the past 2 seasons. With how deep the West is, the Pelicans could be in danger of missing the playoffs entirely this season if Zion can’t stay on the floor.
Especially because the guy who started in Zion’s absence last season, excellent role player Trey Murphy III, is expected to miss the first 2-3 months of the season with a torn meniscus.
Let me throw a couple stats at you. The only year Zion played 60+ games (age 20 season!), he averaged 27/7/4 on 61% shooting. He was 4th in PER (27.1) only behind Jokic, Embiid, and Giannis. He was 9th in VORP, and 11th in Win Shares.
That team was not good and missed the playoffs that season, but Zion still had a +5.8 in box plus minus (good for 9th in the league) and the team was 2-9 without him in the lineup.
Now imagine what he would look like here in his age 23 season if he was healthy with the roster of good players around him now. The Pelicans have a super versatile team where they can play big, small, and anything in between. They have another top 30 guy in Brandon Ingram, an elite bucket getter in CJ McCollum, and a roster full of role players who excel in what they do.
I’m praying that Zion really worked on his body this summer to be more durable because the league is better when he’s playing, and the Pelicans will be must watch TV if he’s out there
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Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Like your parents used to tell you so you’d stop asking if you could have ice cream before dinner, save the best for last.
Anthony Edwards in the playoffs last year vs the eventual champion Denver Nuggets showed flashes of legitimate super stardom on both ends of the floor. In 5 games vs Denver Edwards averaged 31/5/5 on 48/35/85 splits, and at times looked like an elite point of attack defender.
Edwards then followed it up this summer at the FIBA world cup by being the leader of that young team averaging 18 a game while once again showing an ability to really be an effective on ball defender, something I really didn’t even realize he had before the playoffs last season. While USA’s run didn’t end as they had hoped, it certainly wasn’t Edwards to blame as he had 26 on 58% shooting in their semi-final loss to Germany.
Now Edwards comes into this season with a chance to take the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander jump from last year and become a first or second team All-NBA guy. While this Timberwolves team is a little weird, you can’t argue the team is super talented.
The Towns and Gobert experiment is still a work in progress, but both players are still high-level NBA players. Jaden McDaniels is one of if not the best wing defender in basketball, and they have a multitude of other guys like Mike Conley, Naz Reid, and Kyle Anderson that any team would love to have on their roster.
There is something in this team, they just have to find it. Anthony Edwards becoming a top 10 player this season will be a good start.
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