82 Things to Watch For This NBA Season (Pt. 2)

Also see: Pt. 1

Last week, in part one of my five-part NBA season preview, I focused primarily on the biggest names and what to look for from some of the league's biggest stars in the coming months.

Today, in part two, I continue the countdown of the 82 things to watch for this NBA season by taking a look at the potential breakout players for the 2008-09 season.

71. Kevin Durant

Durant was pretty much a lock for the Rookie of the Year after Greg Oden blew out his knee before the start of last season. Even with all of the expectations hovering around him, Durant still easily took home Rookie of the Year honors. That, however, didn't stop some people (including me) from being critical of his overall game. In my NBA Oscars article, I even called him out for (at the time) having more games in which he scored in single digits than in the 30s.

At a second glance, however, Durant's rookie season may have been the first chapter in the career of an amazing NBA scorer.

Let me put it in perspective. For his rookie season, Durant averaged 20.3 points per game and shot 43% from the field. Compare that to the rookie seasons of the top five scorers in the league last year:

LeBron James: 20.9 points, 41%; Kobe Bryant: 7.6 points, 41%; Allen Iverson: 23.5 points, 41%; Carmelo Anthony: 21.0 points, 42%; Amare Stoudemire: 13.5 points, 47%.

Durant's rookie season, played at roughly the same age as the five players previously listed, is on par or better statistically than each of those players rookie campaigns. If he can continue his natural progression, which all indications say that he will, he could find himself in the conversation of elite NBA scorers sooner rather than later.

70. Greg Oden

Oden ranked in as the biggest disappointment of the 2007-08 season, simply because he didn't play a single game. His knee injury and ensuing micro-fracture surgery derailed the beginning of a potential Larry Bird/Magic Johnson or Carmelo/LeBron-type rivalry with Durant last season and opened the door for critics to say that Oden will spend his entire career hobbled by injuries.

Oden's bid to silence those critics became even tougher after rolling his ankle last week in practice. Though the injury was minor and won't force Oden to miss any significant time, it serves as a reminder that until he steps on to Staples Center floor on October 28th, he is just loads of unreached potential.

He's spent a year hearing criticisms, now he has an entire career to disprove them.

(Two quick notes on potential unforeseen bonuses to Oden missing all of last season: 1) Since he didn't play a single game last season, he is still eligible to win Rookie of the Year this year; 2) The Cowboys drafted running back Felix Jones before Oden officially became an NBA player, thus meaning that Greg Oden will never hold the title of "oldest looking rookie in the history of sports." The glass is half full, Blazers fans.)

69. Jeff Green
68. Al Horford
67. Luis Scola
66. Al Thorton

AKA the other four players on the NBA All-Rookie team besides Kevin Durant. These guys are important to watch for because, inevitably, each year there will be at least one second-year player who breaks out of the role of "serviceable NBA player" to "legitimate NBA star in the making."

In the 2004-05 season, we had Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. In 2005-06, it was it was Dwight Howard. The 2006-07 season saw the breakthrough of the next generation of NBA point guards in Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Last year, it was Rudy Gay, Brandon Roy, and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Each example listed above was a First Team All-Rookie member that took their game to new heights in their sophomore season. Will Durant be alone making the leap this year, or is his teammate Jeff Green or one of the Al's going join him on his quest to superstardom?

65. Rodney Stuckey

What I didn't mention previously is that you don't have to be a First-Team All-Rookie player to have a breakthrough second season. Sometimes rookies, for whatever reason (injuries, lack of playing time, ect.), stumble out of the block, only to turn a corner late in the year.

Rodney Stuckey is one of those rookies.

Stuckey missed the Pistons first 25 games last season after breaking his hand in their final exhibition game. He had to work his way back into favor with now former head coach Flip Saunders, as well as play his way back into game shape. His rookie growing pains came in January and February, not before the calendar changes like most rookies.

After shaking off the rust, however, Stuckey made his presence felt as one of the most promising young guards in the league. He averaged 9 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists per game after the All-Star Break in just 21 minutes of action. He then elevated his game to become a go-to scorer in the playoffs for a Pistons team chalk full of proven veterans.

Just how impressed is new Pistons head coach Michael Curry with Rodney Stuckey? He has vowed to cut the minutes of Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups, each of whom has played in the previous three All-Star Games, in order to ensure that Stuckey gets at least 30 minutes per game.

64. Derrick Rose
63. Michael Beasley
62. O.J. Mayo
61. Russell Westbrook
60. Kevin Love

These five players were the first five players selected in the draft back in June. They aren't just young players with tons of potential that can give hope to otherwise hopeless NBA cities. They are, in all likelihood, future stars in the NBA. Well, some of them will be.

Since the lottery began in 1985, excluding the previous two draft classes because their sampling doesn't date back long enough, there has been a player drafted in the top five that has gone on to become an all-star multiple times in every draft except the 2001 class. That's 20 out of 21 years that there has been a borderline superstar available at the top of every draft board.

The flip side to that coin is that no draft class in the lottery era has had all of its top five picks go on to be all-stars at some point in their career. There is always at least one player who never reaches his potential.

This year's class comes in with no shortage of potential and/or hype. Some of these players may be great, some may be flops, but all of them will be given a chance to prove himself at the NBA level. Are any of these players ready to step up and represent class of '08, or will we see a repeat of the Kwame Brown-led dud draft class of 2001?

59. The Unknown Rookie

Your guess is as good as mine is as to who this player will be, but just know this: from 1998 to 2005, there was an all-star drafted with the 15th pick or later in every draft. And of the players selected in the '05, '06, and '07 drafts, there are a handful of players in each class that you could make a case for them being an all-star at some point in their career.

No one knows who the 2008 version of Gilbert Arenas or Carlos Boozer will be, but there is one out there. Only time will tell us who it is.

58. The Top New Import

Recently, there have been fewer and fewer European players coming over and making an immediate impact on the league. Since 2004, there have only been five foreign-born players on the All-Rookie team.

This year, Danilo Gallinari of the Knicks was the only foreign-born lottery pick. Still, as Louis Scola proved last year, there is always an international player than can come over and be a difference-maker for his team.

57. Jermaine O'Neal

Obviously, Jermaine O'Neal had his breakout season many years and many knee injuries ago. If he can just stay healthy and bounce back from last season where he played only played in 42 games, he has a chance to be a real impact player for the Toronto Raptors playing alongside Chris Bosh.

O'Neal hasn't played 70 games in a season since 2004, but the Raptors took a flier on him knowing that if he can return to form he could be the upgrade the Raptors need to factor in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The trade to bring in Jermaine O'Neal not only solidifies the Raptors' front court, but clears space in the backcourt to allow Jose Calderon to be the full-time point guard.

There are too many best-case-scenarios that need to work out for this trade to be a big enough deal that the Raptors become a real threat to win the Atlantic, but at least the Raptors are trying something to keep pace with the ever-expanding, tough Eastern Conference.

56. Ramon Sessions

When talking about Rodney Stuckey, I listed some of the reasons that rookies don't breakout until the end of the year, but I forget to mention this one: they aren't even in the league yet.

Ramon Sessions of the Milwaukee Bucks was a D League star point guard until Mo Williams went down late last year and the Bucks added him to the roster. All he did after making his debut on March 9th was set the Bucks' record for assists in a game (24) and put up the only "20 and 20" game in this history of the franchise.

Despite being on the team for just a little over a month last year, the Bucks had enough confidence in Sessions to trade away Mo Williams and make Sessions their starting point guard in just his second NBA season.

If what we saw last year was more than just a mirage, fans in the beer city may have the next Scott Skiles on their hands, only without the bald spot and overall smugness.

Only three more weeks until we know for sure.