League’s sophomore class full of rising stars
first year that it takes a lot of work to be good, so their work ethic goes up that summer,” Williams said. “You see more consistent work from guys and a different mentality in the weight room. They take coaching a lot better because they know more stuff.”
A look at some of the top second-year players in the NBA:
DONCIC, MAVERICKS The 6-foot-7 Doncic wowed the NBA with his combination of shooting, passing and knack for producing in clutch moments. And he’s just 20 years old.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle expects improvement from Doncic in year two, but it might look a little different than others are expecting.
“He’s playing with more players and more better players,” Carlisle said. “And he’s playing with another star-caliber player with (Kristaps) Porzingis. The dynamics of the stats are going to be way different. I don’t know what the whole thing’s going to look like.”
YOUNG, HAWKS
The 6-2 guard got off to a slow start as a rookie, which led to plenty of talk that the draft day Doncic-for-young swap was going to end up heavily in favor of the Mavericks.
But Young bounced back with an encouraging second half. He averaged more than 23 points and nine assists over his final 31 games.
“I know it’s going to be even tougher this year, but that’s something you work on during the summer and something I knew I needed to be even more prepared for,” Young said.
MARVIN BAGLEY III, KINGS
The 6-11 Bagley was much like Young in that he pushed through an up-and-down first half of the season before finishing with an impressive second half.
The No. 2 pick averaged about 18 points and nine rebounds over the season’s final two months despite coming off the bench in most games. He made the All-rookie team along with Doncic, Ayton, Young and Memphis’ Jaren Jackson.
The Kings showed some promise last season with a young core that includes Bagley and De’aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.
“Not making the playoffs was something I thought about all summer,” Bagley said. “I just had that in the back of my mind that we still gotta get to the playoffs and show everybody what we can do.”
JAREN JACKSON JR., GRIZZLIES
Last year’s No. 4 pick showed plenty of potential, averaging 13.8 points and 4.7 rebounds over 58 games despite missing time with a quadriceps injury. The 6-11 forward just turned 20 years old.
He’ll team with this year’s No. 2 overall pick, Ja Morant, on a remade Memphis roster.
“You can’t be predictable, you’ve got to grow and find other ways to get to the basket,” Jackson said. “I know a lot of the ways I scored before aren’t always going to work just because people get better and scout better.”
COLLIN SEXTON, CAVALIERS
Sexton was a bright spot on a bad Cavaliers team. The 6-2 guard, the No. 8 pick, averaged 16.7 points and three assists per game.
He said he spent the offseason watching hours of film and getting stronger in the weight room.
“I felt like I needed to be stronger to finish at the rim a lot better,” Sexton said. “And I want to be able to fight over screens, instead of getting hit on them.”