Who are your three 2018-19 breakout candidates?

 middelton put uo over 20ppg and 5reb with 4apg last year while playiung damn good ball. If you think hes gonne "break out" then you must expect him to have an all-star/all nba caliber type season. Not sure i would call him getting 2 more points per game a break out. 

1) DeAaron Fox: He had kind of a ho-hum rookie year, but I think he’s going to make a big leap in Year 2 and show more flashes of what it takes to be an elite PG. He looked great in limited Summer League action, and with Bagley now on board to draw defenders in, I think Fox will have more room to create. 

2) Luke Kennard: In the last month of the regular season, he showed flashes of the kind of scorer I think he’ll be in the league for a long time. Maybe not an All-Star level improvement, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to predict he’ll finish next year in the 15-17 PPG range and solidify his spot in the Pistons starting 5.

3) Taurean Prince: Similar to Kennard, Prince really showed some great late-season flashes. With Schroder gone and Trae Young likely to struggle early, this team is going to need to get buckets from someone. I think Prince will look to carry them. You might call his production next year “empty stats,” but I think the league will still take notice.

1) Dejounte Murray – I think he gets a lot better in off-season and is without question the starting PG this season. I think he may achieve a triple double or 2 before the season is done, plenty of weapons in Deeozan and LaMarcus.

2) Malik Monk – I see so much Lou Williams in this guys game, but I think he could be a bit better defensively keeping him in starting line-up long-term. If Kemba stays around he will be a nice 2nd option scorer, if they trade Kemba I say just give him the keys and see what happens.

3) Myles Turner or Domantas Sabonis – Bit of a cop-out not picking one of them or both for that matter. I think one of these 2 breaks-out while that other will be relegated down the peaking order or even traded. I give it a small chance they play together. Given Julius Randle and Aaron Gordon’s 4th year break-out I’m leaning towards Turner in his 4th season.

I don’t know that it will lead to an increase in wins, but I see a bump in stats for:

1. Frank Kaminsky- Miles Bridges will take some of MKG’s minutes, allowing the Hornets to play five out.

2. Mario Hezonja- I might be one of the few still on Mario island, but I think KP misses over half of the year and someone has to soak up the shots.

3. Josh Hart- will get minutes backing up the 1 and the 2, could overtake KCP by year end.

4. John Collins- could easily see putting up 18 and 10, someone has to score on the Hawks.

5. Jonathan Isaac- will get forcefed minutes at all three frontcourt spots.

6. Bogdan Bogdanovic- should solidify his starting spot and get 30+ minutes between the 2 and 3

7. Caris LaVert- very versatile but that backcourt is crowded.

8. Justice Winslow- lots of competition for minutes but I think he showed some extra juice towards the end of last season.

If you are talking numbers, and with that perception, I think Taurean Prince might be in a position to be a 20 PPG player who by February will be subject to the debate over whether Atlanta should trade him. He is an interesting player. As a rookie, he hit his stride around the ASB. On a good, not great team, he showed the capability of being a contributor on both ends. He certainly had the body to project out as being an ideal wing defender. The Hawks chose to rebuild, and then he has the chance to do more. Obviously, numbers in bum ball can be deceiving, but he went from a reluctant shooter to a guy who made 38.5% from three on about 5 attempts per. In as much as there is anything to look forward to in Atlanta, I want to see if he takes another step forward with his game, because he certainly will get the opportunity to amass numbers.

Dunn was the reason for optimism with the Bulls rebuild. When he was in, and healthy, it looked like they had a vision that could work. Markkanen, Portis, et al were there in good times and bad, but when Dunn had a spread floor with threats all around and ball in his hands he looked like he could be like Donovan Mitchell. Landing face first on the court more or less ended his season, which means his month and a half spell of very good basketball can be read any number of ways. A lot of young guys have fantastic runs that they can never replicate, and the presence of Zach LaVine might take the ball out of his hands. 

The other guy who seems to check the boxes for a emerging statistical season is Tobias Harris. It is a contract year on a team where he will be one of the primary scorers. A 23-7-4 season would certainly elevate his standing in the 2019 free agent crop, especially if he repeats a 40-ish clip from three.

You guys mostly covered it but heres some names that come to mind not listed so far. 

Marshon Brooks

 – Averaged 20ppg, 3rpg and 3apg in under 30 mpg towards the end of the year while the Grizzlies were tanking. Could be in line for a decent amount of minutes if he can emerge as the Grizzlies starting SG (Dillon Brooks, Wayne Selden).

Trey Burke

 -Late in the season as Knicks were tanking he managed to take the starting PG position from Frank Ntilikina and Emmanuel Mudiay despite the Knicks attempting to forcefeed to the young gaurds minutes. He averaged 13ppg and 5apg in 22 mpg including some amazing 20 and 10 nights doing his best Allen Iverson impression. He will once again compete with Mudiay and Ntilikina and has a good chance of winning the battle as Coach Fizdale is a tough Coach to earn minutes from and will be patient developing Ntilikina.

Rondae Hollis Jefferson

 -Every offseason he adds something to his game and comes back with more. Last year he increased his scoring output 5.2 ppg  (8.7to 13.9) while only increasing his minutes  by 5.6mpg (22.6 to 28.2). He is constantly working on his jumpshot and if this is the year it starts falling he will be a problem. 

Deangelo Russell

-This would make 3 Nets players on my watch list Allen, Russell and RHJ. D-Lo had an injury plagued season last year which made things tough for him to be productive. This is what allowed Dinwiddie to emerge as a breakout player which in return cut into Russell’s minutes. He only averaged 25 mpg but still scored 16-ppg and 5-apg. If he could stay healthy and earn minutes on a team that likes to use gaurds he could easily go for 22ppg and 7apg.

Detroit Pistons/Reggie Bullock

-With Dwayne Casey the new coach in town he will be looking to find his horses to ride. Its hard to say what he will do with his rotations. In Toronto he always limited Valanciunas minutes and didnt like playing big C’s. Oddly enough Jonas always had his biggest nights against C’s like Drummond including Drummond himself. I’ll be watching the entire Pistons roster to see who he ends up mtoivating the most and seeing if he can get guys like Johnson, Jackson to bounce back or guys like Ellenson or Kennard to make that step forward in their development.

-Im almost positive Casey will fall in love with Reggie Bullock and he will earn a ton of minutes as this teams starter at SF.

Also should be interesting to see how things develop in Chicago with Lavine, Parker and Markannen. Lavine and Parker are both injury prone but massively talented and either one could easily win the MIP award if healthy. Markannen is improving fast and could win the award as well if both those guys end up hurt he will get more shots.

Enes Kanter could go for 20-10 with Porzingis out for the season and noone to stop him taking possessions.

Can you breakout twice? I think Dwight was shedding the name he made for himself as a journeyman superstar. He played a great season in Charlotte last year so maybe he already broke out again last year. 

I think Wall wanting him there is a great sign. When Wall and Gortat were gelling they made a great PnR duo. I can see Dwight and Wall being better than the best Wall and Gortat season. 

Kieff is actually the perfect 4 next to dwight because he provides some toughness and shooting. The wings are a little higher volume shooters than youd like for a Center orientented offense but I think these guys will look for the big man. 

As far as first time breakout players, I really like Ingram to come out and shoot a lot more. Kuzma is not as good of a fit as Ingram next to Lebron. Ingram saw what Kuzma did last year by being ready and a willing shooter. He knows he was made untouchable in trade talks this season so he must feel pretty good about his status on the team.

Ingram actually posted good numbers last season but I can see LBJ pushing the kid to be great. 

 1. Justise Winslow- I think he will finally breakout following a great showing in the playoffs. He’ll ride that momentum and eventually be the guy the Heat have hoped to be when they drafted him at 10 plus he’s developing some PG skills in the offseason.

2. Jakob Poeltl- With Pau Gasol getting up there in age, I won’t be surprised if he gets the starting nod for most of the year for the Spurs.

3. Fred VanVleet- Already a 6th man candidate last year, I could see him potentially starting over Lowry as soon as this season. Could be wrong though.

 I think Jahil could lead his team in China in ppg 

1. Brandon Ingram- He showed steady improvement from year 1 to 2 and I think that trend continues this season. I expect him to be more confident shooting the ball and really emerge as the lakers number 2 option behind lebron. I think he could be a borderline all-star, even in a loaded western conference.

2. Myles turner- He kind of stagnated and even regressed in some areas last season. He has reportedly gotten himself in fantastic shape and I think you will see those results carry over to the court this season. 

3. Dante exum- He has had some tough injury luck so far in his career, but the tools that made him such a highly regarded player coming into the league are still there. He played well down the stretch and in the playoffs last year and I think he continues to build on that and become a valuable rotation piece this year, possibly pushing Rubio for mins. 

4. Josh Hart- I love his toughness and competitiveness and I think he will be too good to keep off the floor. If he shoots consistently I could see him starting by the end of the year. I think he’s more versatile than KCP.

5. DeAngelo Russell- this may be somewhat wishful thinking, but I feel like this will really be a make or break year for him. He’s going to have the ball in his hands s lot and I’m interested to see how he responds.

 Zach Lavine

 As a Jazz fan I’m hoping for 2 Jazz players to show great improvement:

Exum, needs to show he can produce offensively.

Royce O’Neal : Same thing , needs to show midrange J & imporoved 3.

If they show consistency on O they will be tremendous boost to Jazz, they both play great D already.

 Kyle Anderson

 Hezonja and Frank N at the Knicks should get good playing time so could have good years.

Dunn and Laevert are other easy guys to nominate too.

I’d hope for something positive from Thon Maker too.

Alec Len at Hawks could get a fair few shots in a young rotation so could put up nice numbers.

Fultz we would also hope to see a big improvement from.