NBA All-Star Break Breakout Predictions

The NBA season is incredibly long, each team plays a grand total of 82 regular season games over the course of six months. The games also almost never stop, unlike in the NFL where you have a whole week to prep for your next opponent, NBA teams have a max of about three days in between games. All this means that it can be hard for players and coaches to find a moment to reflect on their season so far and see what they can do to improve. However, there is the NBA All-Star break.

The NBA All-Star Break is a six-day pause in the action that gives teams that moment they were looking for.  Once games start up again, we’re likely to see a few breakout teams and players who used the time off to their advantage. It could be a young team that’s ironing out all the kinks to the whole NBA thing, a recently traded player with a new opportunity to shine, or even a contender optimizing their team before the playoffs. These improvements likely won’t alter the playoff landscape too drastically, but they do offer signs of hope for next year.

Here are a couple players and teams that could breakout during the final stretch of the season.

Memphis Grizzlies

When the Memphis Grizzlies drafted Jaren Jackson Jr. in 2018, it was the beginning of a rebuild that would take at least a few years to come to fruition. Thanks to Ja Morant, the Grizzlies’ first round pick in the very next draft, the rebuild is years ahead of schedule. Morant has given the Grizzlies a bona fide floor general who ensures that the offense is putting up points even when he’s having a cold night. Morant leads all rookies with an average of 7.1 assists per game, a number that also ranks 12^th among all active NBA players. Ja’s passing chops are already on full display and he hasn’t even completed an entire NBA season.

Other young guns have also chipped into the Grizzlies’ ascension. The aforementioned Jaren Jackson Jr. is the second leading scorer on the team and has become a valuable offensive piece as a stretch big. Jackson is sinking 39% of his treys on 6.3 attempts per game, this kind three-point marksmanship pairs extremely well with Morant’s downhill style of play. Toss in highflyer, Brandon Clarke, and savvy 3-and-D wing, Dillon Brooks, and you’ve got a young nucleus on the rise.

The team has already gone on a bit of a run prior to the All-Star Break, winning eight of their last ten games and positioning themselves in the eight seed of a loaded Western Conference. That run should continue coming out of the break, especially if they start hitting from deep. Over that 10 game stretch Memphis only made 31% of their threes, imagine if they were making shots.

Victor Oladipo and the Indiana Pacers

On January 23^rd, 2019, Victor Oladipo suffered a horrific leg injury that kept him out of games for an entire year. He made his season debut only a few weeks ago on January 29^th. His rust has been noticeable. Prior to his injury, Oladipo averaged 18.8 points, 5.2 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game, while also being voted an All-Star. Through the seven games he’s played this year, his numbers have taken a nosedive, averaging 11.1 points, 2.9 assists and 2 rebounds. Even worse his effective field goal percentage is the lowest of his career at 38%. Oladipo’s style of play relies a lot on his athleticism, he’s at his best when he can attack the basket with fury. The rust he’s showing right now comes in the form of settling for mid-range and three-point shots due to lack of burst.

Oladipo can use the break to regain his confidence and a little of his athleticism. Typically, when a player comes back from an injury like Oladipo’s there can be a little bit of anxiety when it comes to pushing the injured area too hard. This anxiety usually goes away after a while, and the player gets used to playing again. After coming out of seven games unscathed, Oladipo can feel confidence in his leg again and really start pushing the pace like he used to.

If Oladipo can get right, the Pacers will have an All-Star level talent commanding their egalitarian offense once again. His attacking style will draw defenders away from the perimeter and allow Oladipo to kick out to teammates that are surprisingly adept at shooting threes despite the team being last in three-point attempts per game. The increase in attacks will hopefully generate more three-point attempts, which will in turn boost Indiana’s 21^st ranked offense. They say defense wins championships, but you win the game by scoring more points.

Philadelphia 76ers

Coming into the 2019-2020 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers were the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Currently, they own the fifth seed in the east and likely won’t catch the first seed Milwaukee Bucks, who have already amassed 46 wins. The idea was that the unmatched length of Philly’s starting five would overwhelm opponents defensively. The offseason acquisitions of Jason Richardson and Al Horford ensured that no member of the starting five would be shorter than 6’5”.

However, the 76ers defense hasn’t been as historic as expected, in fact their defense only ranks 4^th in the NBA. Meanwhile, their offense sits at 22^nd in the league and has noticeable issues with spacing, especially since their All-Star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are both better scorers in the paint. At times it can feel like the only thing keeping the 76ers competitive is their home court fans, their home record is a league best 25-2, which means their away record is an awful 9-19. Clearly something needs to change.

76ers coach Brett Brown realized his team needed a shakeup and in their last game prior to the All-Star break, he benched Al Horford in favor of three-point specialist Furkan Korkmaz. The team also acquired shooters who could come off the bench when they traded for Alec Burkes and Glenn Robinson. The moves have worked so far. In that last game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Philly got one of the best combined performances of the season from their All-Star duo, while also getting valuable bench minutes from Horford. The respect that the Clippers gave to Korkmaz on the perimeter helped open lanes for Simmons and Embiid to attack, which was likely what coach Brown had in mind.

Even if the lineup change doesn’t stick, this 76ers team is clearly motivated to win. They’re making a concerted effort to be better, and for a team that has been criticized for their lack of effort, that’s a huge positive. Expect Philly to show a little more heart down the stretch.

Juancho Hernangomez

The Minnesota Timberwolves were incredibly active during the week of the NBA trade deadline. They swapped out seven members of their old squad with seven newcomers. The headliner being All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell. However, there were other notable names like Malik Beasly and Juancho Hernangomez. Beasly was a valuable contributor off the bench for the Nuggets. Hernangomez on the other hand, never really got a chance to prove what he can do. In his four years in the NBA, Hernangomez has yet to average over 20 minutes per game over the course of a whole season. Since being traded to Minnesota, Hernangomez is playing 30 minutes per game as a starter, and is averaging 15 points, 6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. All these numbers are career highs for Hernangomez, and it might be because this has been his first real opportunity to show what he can do.

Hernangomez fits extremely well in what Minnesota already likes to do. They’ve embraced big man shooting by allowing Karl-Anthony Towns, their franchise centerpiece, to set himself up on the perimeter and rain down treys on opposing defenses. Towns is shooting a career high 7.9 threes per game. The Timberwolves as a team are also third in the league in three-point attempts per game. It’s already clear that Hernangomez has been given the green light, he’s shooting 42.9% from deep on 4.7 attempts per game, both also career highs.

Throw in the trade for Russell, a guard that can create open shots for his teammates by driving to the basket and kicking out, and you’ve got a recipe for offensive success. And for the first time in his career, Hernangomez will actually be given an opportunity to contribute to that success.