It’s natural for a player to make a leap between their first and second seasons in the NBA — they’ve adjusted to the style and level of play, the travel, plus they are working hard on their games.
That can be a little less consistent with European players who played at a high level overseas — their game has already been pushed to a degree. There is often improvement, but not the leaps you see in a guy turning 20.
The Bulls Nikola Mirotic could be the exception and make a big leap in production his coming second season. The reason starts with new coach Fred Hoiberg, who will likely give him real run and responsibilities from Day 1. Mirotic told Hoopshype to expect him to be improved, in the context of a question where he was asked about if the timing was right last season for him to jump to the NBA.“So I felt the need to change. It was three years since Chicago drafted me and I waited for the right time to make the move. You can tell the timing was right by the kind of season I had. Some people may have been surprised with my performance, but those who know me know the best Mirotic is yet to come....
“Next year I guess I’m going to have more of a featured role with the team and that’s just another motivation to work extra hard so when the team needs me I’m ready to deliver.”
After the All-Star Game last season, Mirotic averaged 16 points a game with an above-average true shooting percentage of 56 percent, plus he grabbed 6.3 rebounds a game. In March, he averaged 20.8 points per game, and crawled into the Rookie of the Year conversation. Then in the playoffs Tom Thibodeau reduced Mirotic’s minutes, and he struggled shooting just 30 percent.
New coach Fred Hoiberg — with his more open, up-tempo, modern NBA offense — is going to lean on Mirotic more and more starting opening night. He’s going to count on Mirotic to space the floor (he needs to be more consistent from three) and move the ball. It should be a more comfortable setting for Mirotic.
He should improve. The Bulls are counting on little improvements and guys just staying healthy with a more reasonable minutes distribution to take them to the next level. We’ll see if that’s enough. But if it is, Mirotic is going to have a healthy sized role in all of it.