A Star Is Born: NBA Players Who Broke Out in 2015-16
New stars are born in the NBA every year, and the 2015-16 crusade has proved to be no exception.
Since the "star" designation is bandied about haphazardly around the Association, we'll seek out only those players who have made measurable leaps.
Age and experience don't matter. The selected ascensions will focus solely on individual stats and a player's importance to his team.
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Every breakout must also be considered sustainable and, most importantly, result in each name eventually entering or remaining in future All-Star conversations.
Honorable Mention: Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons
A first-ever All-Star selection would seem to imply that Andre Drummond is a breakout stud. But his season has been less about immense improvement and more about being the best version of his pre-existing self.
Drummond is best known for his rebounding and shot blocking, and he's better than ever in each of those categories. His 66 double-doubles are the most of any player since Dwight Howard's 66 in 2010-11, and he's putting up historic per-game numbers.
Only one other player has averaged 16 points, 14 rebounds, one steal and one block before his 23rd birthday: Bob McAdoo. And aside from last season's version of DeAndre Jordan, no one has matched Drummond's 2015-16 rebounding and block rates.
It's fair, then, to consider him a star. But this breakout is far from disarming or unanticipated. It's Drummond doing more of what he's always done.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Giannis Antetokounmpo is as versatile as he is long, a distinction that has helped hasten his rise through the NBA ranks.
"We're seeing new players doing new things. Players like 6'11" Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks' newly anointed point guard," Adi Joseph wrote for Sporting News. "Or is it power forward? Or small forward? Center? Wait, how many positions does he play?"
Most of Antetokounmpo's minutes are coming at small forward, and he has officially logged time at all three frontcourt positions. But, despite what the play-by-play data says, this 21-year-old is a five-position superhero.
The Milwaukee Bucks started using him as their de facto point guard once Michael-Carter Williams was lost for the season to a torn labrum in his left hip. Antetokounmpo has responded in kind, adding star-level credentials to what was already a breakout campaign:
| 2015-16 Overall | 17.0 | 50.9 | 7.6 | 4.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
| Since MCW Injury | 19.8 | 52.3 | 8.0 | 7.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
Piloting Milwaukee's offense has rendered the aptly designated "Alphabet" a regular triple-double threat. He has five on the season, which is a lot for someone who is barely old enough to legally enjoy his own apple pie martini, according to ESPN Stats & Info:
Concerns are still attached to Antetokounmpo's jump shot. His erratic accuracy on the perimeter is one of the few tactical holdovers preventing him from being reflexively looped into perennial All-Star conversations. He is shooting less than 26 percent from beyond the arc, just over 34 percent from mid-range and worse than 34 percent from inside the paint.
But Antetokounmpo successfully mitigates those struggles with a two-prong approach. First, there's his surreal propensity for reaching the rim through traffic and at a distance:
And then there's his ability to impact the game everywhere else at a historically significant level.
Just two other players under the age of 25 have ever matched his assist, steal and block percentages while pumping in at least 1,200 total points: DeMarcus Cousins and Chris Webber—company that seals Antetokounmpo's place among today's stars.
C.J. McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers
C.J. McCollum's breakout playoff effort from last season has spilled onto the 2015-16 canvas in a big way.
After struggling to secure consistent playing time for a bulk of his first two years in the league, he now leads the upstart Portland Trail Blazers in total minutes. And those same Blazers wouldn't be postseason-bound without the offensive punch he provides, both as an on-ball playmaker and off-action scorer.
Striking that balance isn't easy. Nearly 64 percent of McCollum's made baskets go unassisted, and he has received almost as many touches in isolation as Stephen Curry has. But he remains effective alongside the equally ball-dominant Damian Lillard.
Lillard has assisted on almost twice as many of McCollum's buckets as any other Blazer, and the 24-year-old combo guard is shooting better than 47 percent from downtown when catching passes from Portland's primary point man.
Opponents generally do get the best of McCollum on the defensive end. He takes the scenic route around screens, forcing the Blazers' bigs into steep dropbacks and unfortunate mismatches, and rival shooters are torching him from long range, connecting on close to 38 percent of their outside looks.
Still, McCollum is the runaway favorite to earn Most Improved Player honors for a reason. His offense has been that good.
Portland's efficiency with him dips by more than two points per 100 possessions when he sits. His own offensive efficiency has also risen in the face of an expanded role, a transition not everyone can make:
| 2014-15 | 20.5 | 6.8 | 5.9 | 43.6 | 2.2 | 39.6 |
| 2015-16 | 27.1 | 20.9 | 18.0 | 44.8 | 5.9 | 42.0 |
Curry, Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson are the only other players who are averaging 20 points per game and shooting 40 percent or better from three. Curry and McCollum are the lone players from that small group who are posting a usage rate north of 27.
According to the Total Points Added metric (TPA) developed by Bleacher Report's Adam Fromal—which measures how much better the average team is per 100 possessions with a certain player on the floor—McCollum's offensive value has improved by the third largest margin of anyone else:
In the years to come, the Blazers backcourt will contend for top-two status, just behind Curry and Thompson. And that just doesn't happen without McCollum's quantum offensive leap into stardom.
Isaiah Thomas, Boston Celtics
Don't tell Isaiah Thomas, or his stat lines, that the Boston Celtics don't have a legitimate superstar.
Thomas is one of just five players who are averaging at least 20 points and six assists per game while putting down 35 percent of their three-balls. He joins Curry, James Harden, Lillard and Kyle Lowry, each of whom is identified as a patented superstar.
Except those numbers have yet to shift majority perception. Thomas' first career All-Star appearance hasn't done the trick, either. The Celtics, as a result, have taken matters into their own hands, doing their darnedest to ensure Thomas snags an All-NBA nod, per ESPN.com's Chris Forsberg:
"As you look at the All-NBA, you're looking for the 15 guys who most impact their teams," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said, per Forsberg. "Hard to argue."
Support of Thomas is best tailored to this directive—the impact he has on those around him.
Boston scores like a top-seven offense with him on the court and a bottom-two attack when he takes a breather. That difference stands up against all of the league's best point guards:
Dependence doesn't automatically equate to stardom, but...come on. Curry, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook are the only floor generals who, statistically, mean more to their team's offense, and they're the three best point guards in the game.
Seldom, if ever, is the 5'9" Thomas recognized as a franchise cornerstone. But everything he has done this season demands that finally change.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Rookies aren't ordinarily considered breakout candidates.
Karl-Anthony Towns, however, is no ordinary rookie.
It is impossible to watch the Minnesota Timberwolves newbie and not come away amazed. Towns is so polished, so soon, that Jason Concepcion of the Ringer can tweet things like this without seeming hyperbolic:
Towns has showcased a well-rounded post game. He has three-point range and is shooting a ridiculous 49-plus percent between 16 feet and the arc. He is an accomplished rim protector, challenging more attempts at the iron than anyone not named Pau Gasol, Brook Lopez or Hassan Whiteside.
Oh, and he can also finish plays off the bounce like a guard or wing, even though he's a 7-footer:
The absence of professional experience, quite simply, has not prevented Towns from becoming a star. He is already placing himself among the league's biggest names—establishing himself as one of the Association's best bigs.
Here's a look at the centers who have combined to collect the most points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, with Towns checking in as the third-most productive tower:
Anthony Davis no doubt surpasses Towns if he doesn't lose one-quarter of the season to injury. But we're talking about a rookie, all of 20 years old, as a top-five center and being dead serious. That doesn't happen.
There is no overrating him at this point. He is the definitive Rookie of the Year, separating himself in a way that only the most esteemed beginners can, per CBS Sports' Matt Moore:
Town is also just the seventh rookie to average 18 points, 10 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 50 percent from the field. Tim Duncan was the last NBA freshman to do it. And Towns, unlike any of his Hall of Fame company, shoots threes. He is very much the future of centers.
Board his bandwagon before it gets too crowded. It's going places.
Kemba Walker, Charlotte Hornets
Kemba Walker always had the numbers. But now he has more of the numbers.
For a winning basketball team.
Walker leads the Charlotte Hornets, who are contending for a top-three playoff seed, in win shares (9.8) and box plus-minus (4.1). His player efficiency rating (21) has never been higher.
Before this season, Charlotte's best offense with Walker as its point guard ranked 24th in efficiency (2013-14). He is now in charge of a top-10 attack that improves by leaps and bounds when he's on the floor. And while his sub-45 percent shooting won't earn any Curry comparisons, he has drastically improved his jump shot.
Of the 76 players to jack at least 250 threes last season, Walker's 30.4 percent success rate ranked 73rd. He is now shooting almost 38 percent from deep overall and almost 44 percent on catch-and-shoot triples.
Two other players currently join Walker in clearing 20 points, five assists and 1.5 steals per game on 37 percent shooting from long distance: Curry and Lowry. That's it.
Where Walker was once deemed an inefficient chucker, he is now the face of a mid-end Eastern Conference contender. The Hornets, in turn, have started backing him for the Most Improved Player award:
This voting process won't favor him. McCollum has this honor sewn up.
But Walker doesn't need that formal recognition. He has something equally important: the knowledge that 2015-16 has made him a star.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com and accurate leading into games on April 9, unless otherwise noted.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @danfavale.
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