NBA Former Rookies Who Will Breakout for the 2016-17 Season: Karl Anthony Towns and Devin Booker Among Top Players
With the 2016-17 NBA Season drawing near, last season's NBA rookies are expected to perform better in their sophomore season after having garnered first-hand experience about what it's like to be playing in the NBA.
Some rookies had a rough start, adjusting to the NBA game, while others adopted immediately, starting for their team and putting in significant minutes.
Let's look at the following 2015-16 NBA Rookies who are expected to explode in the 2016-17 NBA Season.
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1. Karl Anthony Towns
Karl Anthony Towns in this list is pretty obvious. He is the number one overall draft pick and proved to be no bust, winning Rookie of the Year.
Towns proved he is already one of the best players in the league, but despite all of his accomplishments, the young power forward is ready to breakout and perform even better.
Playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Towns averaged 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 blocks per game, impressive numbers for an NBA rookie season.
2. Bobby Portis
Towering 6'11" power forward Bobby Portis had a decent rookie year. It wasn't great because he had a hard time getting into the Chicago Bulls rotation in 2015 under head coach Fred Hoiberg. But his scoring ability, including a lethal three-point range, showed in potential spurts throughout the season.
Portis averaged 7.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.8 assist per game in his rookie year.
While Portis had a decent 2015-16 NBA season, he really shined in the Summer League, helping the Bulls win the 2016 NBA Summer League championship. In the Championship game, Portis scored 26 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 4 steals.
Portis' summer league averages are 14.5 points, 8.7 rebounds (highest in team), and 42 percent shooting per game.
3. Devin Booker
Booker is the 13th overall draft pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He is the youngest player drafted that year at 19 years old.
At a young age, Booker is getting praises from coaches and players alike. In fact, just recently, Booker impressed coach Tom Thibodeau, Gregg Popovich, and players DeMarcus Cousins and Klay Thompson as he helped prepare Team USA for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Booker has made a lot of believers from across the NBA, calling him the face of the future for the Suns franchise. Booker averaged 13.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game last season, but he broke out in the later stages, averaging 22 points per game in the last two months of the season.
4. Justise Winslow
Justise Winslow averaged 6.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in his rookie year.
The 20-year old small forward has expressed his desire to be a starter one day, and with the recent shifts in the Miami Heat roster due to the 2016 NBA Free Agency, Winslow's starting role will come sooner than he expected.
Winslow will be the starting small forward for the Miami Heat in the upcoming season. That's mainly because the Heat lost 3 key starters in the free agency: Johnson, Deng and Wade.
Winslow played 28 minutes per game with the Heat last season, the third highest minutes played per game among his batch of rookies. He earned these minutes because of his defensive ability.
Pat Riley said that Winslow "has been thrown out there last year and played significant minutes and significant time. I trust him."
5. Myles Turner
Myles Turner is a 6'11" center slash power forward who plays for the Indiana Pacers. He was the 11th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He made it to the all-rookie NBA 2nd team.
He averaged 10.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game in his rookie season.
The off season has been good for Myles Turner. He impressed during the Summer League, averaging 18.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game in 3 games.
He also impressed Indiana teammate Paul George and the USA Basketball team as he helped them prepare for the 2016 Rio Olympics. George said, "Myles looked really good. I think the whole talk around that camp was, 'Man, you got a good one.'"
