When the Utah Jazz drafted Kyle Filipowski last year, they had nothing to lose and everything to gain. It took little time for Filipowski to show that teams made a mistake passing on him last season, and he took no time this summer to prove that he's in line for a breakout next season. His impending explosion is not only on the horizon, but it's something everyone should have seen coming.
Filipowski proved from even before he went to college that he had the potential to be special. Chris Vernon harped on this on "The Ringer's NBA Show" on July 23 when talking about the Jazz's youth movement.
"You had Kyle Filipowski, who was always awesome throughout high school, and then he was good at Duke, and then he had a pretty good rookie year last year, so he's going to be playing," Vernon said (10:33 mark).
Filipowski was quite dominant in high school and college
Nothing that Vernon said here was false. In his senior year, he averaged 19.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, two steals, and 1.4 blocks a game his senior year at Wilbraham & Monson Academy. The good times only continued at Duke. His freshman year, he averaged 20.7 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals, and one block a game while shooting 44.1% from the field and 28.2% from three.
It only got better his sophomore year, as he averaged 21.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, two blocks, and 1.5 steals while shooting 50.5% from the field and 34.8% from three. These numbers led to various accolades, including multiple All-ACC teams, ACC Rookie of the Year, and even second team All-American.
The only reason why he fell was because of some concerns about his personal life, which was stupid then and seems even stupider now. But you know who benefits from this major oversight from the entire NBA? The Utah Jazz.
If his Summer League performance wasn't enough proof of what's to come, Filipowski's not making an All-Rookie team, in what was considered a weak class, no less, was also a travesty bad enough to motivate him. So to see him light it up in the Summer League only further demonstrates that he's got a chip on his shoulder to prove any doubt about his abilities should be put to rest.
While a breakout sophomore year feels very much inevitable on Filipowski's end, the question will be how high his ceiling is. He's an NBA player without a doubt, but when his sophomore year ends, the Jazz will get to see if he's another rotation big, or potentially the heir apparent to Lauri Markkanen.