10 young NBA players who took a leap, and 10 who didn't

It’s hard to imagine what Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to look like three years from now when he enters his prime, but he’s developed from a kid who looked like he could take over the world into a man on the verge of doing just that. Giannis has learned to not just play with his length, but to use that against opposing defenses. It’s wild to think about, but he’s a three-point shot away from entering the conversation of the best player alive. We knew this was his potential, and more than any other player 23 and younger, Giannis has shown that he’s eventually going to reach and possibly exceed it. 

It was a little difficult placing Justise Winslow considering how completely different he’s been since the All-Star break. Miami has been having a fantastic season, but Winslow left so much to be desired to start the year. He seemed a bit lethargic and uninterested on multiple occasions. He’s said that this has been the most difficult year of his career, and some off-the-court things may have added to the frustration with his injury struggles, leading to such a disappointing start to the year. However, since the All-Star break, Winslow has been a new man, shooting over 41 percent from three and 56 percent at the rim. He’s been making winning plays, making his start to the season even more disappointing considering he could have been this guy for Miami all season long. 

It seems like Julius Randle spent the entire offseason in the gym cutting fat and building muscle. He didn’t exactly come back gaunt, but he cut his body fat down from nearly 14 percent to just over six — and he’s been destroying everyone on the court because of it. After coming off the bench in the first couple months of the season, Randle averaged 19 and nine from January through March and 21 and 10 since the All-Star break. Randle was the driving force in the Lakers' season turnaround after a December in which they only won two of 11 games. They aren’t a playoff team, but there are almost no nights in which they fail to be competitive, which is what you want from a young, developing team. 

Many thought Marquese Chriss could be one of those cornerstone players who could grow and develop to turn Phoenix around with Devin Booker. Instead, Chriss showed up to training camp out of shape and has had a pretty disappointing second year. The potential for him to become a solid wing is there, but it’s inconsistent. Chriss allows his emotion instead of his talent to dictate how well he plays on a given night, and it hurts him more than it hurts the Suns — and it definitely hurts the Suns. With age should come maturity, and there is plenty of time for Chriss to turn things around. However, we expected much more from the young forward this season. 

The only thing keeping Joel Embiid from being considered among the game’s elite was his inability to stay healthy, and up until the freak accident that led to facial reconstruction surgery, Embiid had been just that. With a full year of Embiid, the 76ers have a shot at adding 30 wins over what they finished with just a season ago. The Sixers are 11.6 points per 100 possessions better with Embiid on the floor than when he’s sitting — that’s the kind of impact reserved for superstars. 

From First-Team All-Rookie to trade bait in less than a year: That's the Willy Hernangomez story . Hernangomez didn’t take being benched to start the season well and allowed that frustration to keep him benched until the NBA’s trade deadline, when he was sent to the Charlotte Hornets. In Charlotte, things haven’t been much better. He’s only playing 10 minutes per game, and his numbers are worse now than what they were in New York. He showed a lot of promise as a playmaker but couldn’t quite figure out how to set aside disappointment to stay focused on improving. 

Devin Booker’s growth in areas that don’t include scoring has been the most fun to watch this season. He’s a much better playmaker for himself and his teammates than he was when he first entered the league, and he’s only going to get better. But no doubt about it, Booker still gets buckets. His 24.9 points per game sit him right between Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving for eighth in the NBA, making him the youngest player who will finish in the top 10 in scoring this season at 21 years old (Giannis comes in second at 23). Phoenix didn’t grow as a team, but Booker is going to explode for big nights for a long time. 

The Timberwolves' owner demanded that Andrew Wiggins become a more complete player this season after agreeing to a monster of an extension. Instead of across-the-board growth, Wiggins has seen his scoring, shooting and PER decline. Don’t blame it on the addition of Jimmy Butler, either. His attempts and usage have come down, but the shot selection and willingness to adjust his game resemble the same ol’ Wiggins. He still remains a liability on the defensive end and really lacks the effort you’d like to see from a guy with star potential. 

Few players who have come into their own this year are getting as little fanfare as Dejounte Murray. Much of it may have to do with San Antonio traditionally not getting much love in the media, and the rest of it lies somewhere in the Kawhi Leonard saga. However, Murray wrested the starting point guard job from Tony Parker and has been filling up the stat sheet all season. Murray is averaging 13, nine and five per 36 and has emerged as, possibly, the best defensive point guard in the NBA right now. Only Chris Paul (when motivated) and rookie Lonzo Ball are playing at his level on that end, which will go a long way once Leonard finally makes his return. 

Everyone who didn’t have to play against Milwaukee wanted Thon Maker to pan out. The team was built on nothing but length and potential. For the most part, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Malcolm Brogdon and Jabari Parker have done their parts when healthy, but Maker finds himself buried in the center rotation because he just can’t figure the NBA out. At full strength (which they very well could be at the start of the playoffs), the Bucks can be just as scary as any team in the East, and to have a guy with Maker’s size and length protecting the rim would make them an awfully tough out. Instead, they’ll rely on John Henson and Tyler Zeller to handle things down low. 

The second-year swingman out of Duke had an incredibly rough preseason, and his sophomore season was looking a little bleak until he started turning everything around. With Lonzo Ball injured, Ingram took over a lot of the ball-handling responsibilities and began to thrive as a playmaker, which only opened up his own offensive game. Ingram is shooting better from nearly everywhere on the floor and has seen his assist percentage jump from about 10 to 17 in his second year. Ingram has also taken turns closing out games with Julius Randle, and his willingness to take on that responsibility has been huge for a Lakers team that has struggled mightily in the fourth quarter during his time in L.A. 

Jabari Parker’s place here is undoubtedly because of his injury history, but a healthy Parker could be the difference between Milwaukee competing for one of the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference instead of sliding into one of the bottom three seeds. What remains clear is that, as great as he’s going to be, Giannis Antetokounmpo cannot do everything alone. Parker is a restricted free agent this summer, and his time out could help Milwaukee bring him back on less than a max contract. We were able to see flashes of who he can be in the Bucks’ loss to the Nuggets (Parker scored 35), and the NBA will get a bigger glimpse in the postseason. But you can’t help but wonder where the team would be if Parker were here for the full season. 

The Denver point guard has quietly become one of the most fun young players to watch in the NBA. He has a penchant for getting under the skin of his opponents and, when hot, can score with the best of them. Murray was a backup off-guard last season and has made a relatively seamless transition to becoming the primary ball handler for one of the league’s best offenses. He plays with the confidence of an eight-year veteran and gives his team something to rally around — because every team needs a rallying point. The Nuggets, once again, have found themselves on the cusp of a playoff berth, and Murray is one of the biggest reasons why. 

Emmanuel Mudiay just never turned into the guy many thought he’d be when coming out of Southern Methodist. Before being traded to the Knicks, the Nuggets were 12 points per 100 possessions better when Mudiay was off the floor, and his poor preseason led to Jamal Murray taking away what should have been an easy starting point guard job for Mudiay to take. Mudiay may turn things around offensively, but he’s second to last in defensive real plus-minus among all point guards, only ahead of the 5-9 Isaiah Thomas — and not by much. 

Your 2018 Most Improved Player could be Houston’s Clint Capela. There is nothing but soft hands and rim protection around these parts. The addition of Chris Paul tangentially helped Capela become the guy who would make things easier for the rest of the team. These Rockets boast what may finish as the most efficient offense in NBA history due in large part to the attention Capela draws in pick-and-roll sets with either Paul or James Harden. Mike D’Antoni has done a brilliant job of putting Capela in a position to succeed, but it was always up to Capela to turn the corner and take advantage of it all — and he’s done just that. 

I'm not sure if it’s the new team or the nagging injuries, but D’Angelo Russell was supposed to be better than this. Toward the end of last season, Russell looked like he was turning the corner into a guy who can create his own shot and create great looks for others. The latter still remains true, but Russell is scoring at the same clip on more shots with a considerable dip in three-point shooting. 

One of the biggest reasons the Indiana Pacers didn’t completely crash and burn this year after trading away Paul George is the addition of Domantas Sabonis, who made a huge jump from year one to year two. Sabonis is doing a lot of the things many expected him to grow into during his rookie year. He’s averaging nearly 17 and 11 per 36 minutes and has improved his three-point shooting by four percentage points. Victor Oladipo is another contender for the NBA’s MIP Award for what he’s brought to Indiana this year, but Sabonis’ contributions were an unexpected bonus and have the team fighting for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. 

At the beginning of the season, Jahlil Okafor asked for a trade just so he could have a second opportunity to show his worth on the court. The 76ers eventually obliged, and now, at the end of the season, Okafor is struggling to find playing time for yet another bad basketball team. The young center has only played in three of Brooklyn’s 18 games since the All-Star break. He’s a restricted free agent this summer, and he’s been so bad that Brooklyn might not want him back, even on a good deal. Brooklyn can only offer Okafor a $6.2 million qualifying offer this summer, but he’s unlikely to even get that much in an offer considering his inability to find playing time during the entirety of his career. 

There may not be a better case study in how to grow into a modern big man than what we’ve seen from Aaron Gordon over his first four years. As a rookie, only 23 percent of his attempts were beyond the three-point line, and he only hit them at a 27 percent clip. In year four, almost 40 percent of his attempts are from deep, and he’s hitting 35 percent of them. You can see the year-over-year improvements from deep and how it’s helped his game near the rim. As one of the NBA’s premier high-flyers, the ability to shoot it is going to make him an extremely sought-out free agent this summer, potentially landing in a place where he can bring his talent to a winning culture. 

It’s not that Karl-Anthony Towns has been bad this season; he just seems to have plateaued. Don't get us wrong, 21 and 12 is a fantastic peak, but for the Timberwolves to make that jump to one of the elite teams in the Western Conference, it’s Towns, not Jimmy Butler or Andrew Wiggins, who is going to have to take them there. There has been some growth and maturity on the defensive end of the floor, but the wall-to-wall, season-long dominance that we’ve seen from some of the best modern big men (Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins immediately come to mind) just hasn’t been there. KAT isn’t in a bad place; he just hasn’t made a huge jump from last season.