Surprise of the Year: Alec Burks
Alec Burks should benefit this year for a couple of reasons. (1) He finally looks to be healthy again. If you don’t believe me just watch the video below…
(2) The Dante Exum Injury, much like the effect on Donovan Mitchell, will give Burks the opportunity to step up. Burks has always shown that he can get to the rim almost at will. Despite his quickness, he tends to play out of control and has had an extremely difficult time finishing at the rim.
This year, Burks looks to be a much-improved passer and is also consistently knocking down his 3-point attempts. Burks is 8-of-10 from downtown this preseason. I believe that the Jazz will be conservative with rolling out Mitchell into a large role so soon. Expect Alec Burks to have a comeback year and help remind people why he was nicknamed Houdini in the first place.
Runner-up: Ricky Rubio
Ricky Rubio has already claimed his place among the league’s elite passers. Rubio has shown that he is one of a dying breed of “true” point guards. His occasional ability to score in bunches leaves us wondering if there still is hope for him to develop that part of his game. Not many people seem down on Rubio, however, there doesn’t seem to be much buzz surrounding him having much more than an average year by his standards.
While a nearly 10 points and nine assists per night clip (Rubio’s career averages) would be great, I expect Rubio to be one of the pleasant surprises this season. I predict Rubio increases his points per game to 15 per night.