NBA Players Who Deserve a Bigger Role During 2013-14 Season

With only 15 roster spots on 30 teams and just 48-minute windows for players to showcase their ability, the NBA—more than any other professional sports league in North America—is overflowing with talent.

Each year brings new opportunity and new roles for young players to accept and then thrive in. Here are five such players who deserve a serious increase in minutes and responsibility. 

They're ranked in order of how important they can be to their team next season. 

5. Evan Fournier

When Evan Fournier was selected by the Denver Nuggets with their first-round pick in 2012, most expected Masai Ujiri to stash the French talent overseas for a year. The roster was deep, and at just 19 years old, it looked like Fournier’s best route at further developing his game would be in the world’s second-best league.

Instead, Denver kept him on board for much of the season, and it paid off. In four starts (a small sample size, but one worth mentioning) he shot 52.6 percent from the floor and scored an average of 13.0 points in 28.2 minutes per game.

Three of those starts came after the All-Star break, when Fournier looked like more than a promising asset. He was productive and efficient.

Now that Corey Brewer has left for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Danilo Gallinari is still recuperating from a torn ACL, Fournier should be in position to grab minutes and opportunity under new coach Brian Shaw’s system.

As an organization, the Nuggets aren’t contending for a title. Their 2014 should be a season of self-realization, finding out who should and should not be a part of the team in the years ahead. Fournier is at the top of the list here, and if Denver can provide him with more time to grow, they won’t be disappointed with the result.

4. John Henson

In limited minutes through his rookie season, John Henson was a ferocious rebounder; when on the court, the Milwaukee Bucks grabbed 15.7 rebounds per 48 minutes—a higher figure than any other player on the team, according to NBA.com/Stats.

With the Bucks sporting an insane amount of big men on their roster, Henson's playing time last year was low, even for a rookie. He averaged just 13.1 minutes in only 63 games (with nine starts). But when he was given the opportunity, Henson shined bright.

In the six games where he saw the court for at least 27 minutes, Henson was a monster, grabbing 16.7 rebounds and scoring 15.8 points. Those averages are all but impossible to hit for an entire season, but Henson deserves the right to take a crack at it. Even if the Bucks continue to crowd their frontcourt. 

3. Anthony Davis

For all we know, five years from now Anthony Davis could be the best player in the world. It isn’t probable with LeBron James and Kevin Durant still combusting universes, but it’s possible.

In his rookie season, Davis was overshadowed by eventual Rookie of the Year winner Damian Lillard. He also suffered a concussion and badly injured an ankle while playing for one of the worst teams in the league.

With Davis, the New Orleans Pelicans have a two-way phenom capable of impacting just about every corner of the court with an all-enveloping style. But last season his usage percentage was just 0.2 percent higher than Brian Roberts, good for sixth on the team out of all who played at least 875 minutes, per Basketball-Reference.com.

That needs to change next year, and it will. No offense to Greivis Vasquez, who wracked up more assists than anyone last season, but incoming point guard Jrue Holiday is a definite upgrade at point guard, a fantastic offensive threat who puts defenses on their heels by combining an accurate three-point shot with a penchant to relentlessly attack the rim.

Holiday should open things up for Davis, especially in the pick-and-roll, where he already possesses the athleticism and timing needed to have an effect as a roll man and the touch on a jump shot that needs to be respected.

The Pelicans might not be ready for the playoffs, but they’d still be wise to put their chances in Davis’ hands.

2. Andre Drummond

He might be the one player NBA diehards are most excited to see in 2014. Given his height, strength, girth, athleticism and the abnormal way all those characteristics blend together into something promising, Andre Drummond’s ceiling can’t be seen yet, and that makes him fearsome.

Heading into the draft last year, critics wondered if Drummond liked the game enough to dominate it, if he could go 10 minutes without having his attention diverted. His rookie year—and to a lesser degree this past July’s summer league—smashed that negative perception into a million pieces.

Drummond attacks the glass like a larger Kenneth Faried; it’s terrifying. In his second season it'd be nice if we got closer to finding out where his ceiling is. 

1. Kawhi Leonard

Behind LeBron James, Tim Duncan and maybe Dwyane Wade, Kawhi Leonard was the most consistent two-way player in last year’s NBA Finals, which is an incredible thing to say about a rapidly-improving 22-year-old small forward.

An argument could be made that Leonard is already the best rebounder at his position in the league, (apologies to James) and is surely in the top five as both an individual and team defender.

He’s pretty great shooting from the corners, making 43 percent on an above-average 121 attempts (more accurate than known marksmen Carlos Delfino and Dorell Wright), according to NBA.com/Stats.

Leonard also has the ability to take defenders off the dribble, with a nice in-between game and explosive athleticism in the open floor. He shot 56.9 percent on two-pointers last season, and nearly half of them were unassisted. As the year went on he managed to elevate himself as San Antonio’s third-best player, usurping the position from Manu Ginobili.

If Gregg Popovich is willing to increase Leonard’s role within San Antonio’s offense next season (as Duncan and Tony Parker age another year), he has an outside shot at making the All-Star team.