Breakout Ballers: Top five young players to watch next season

Kemba Walker (Charlotte Bobcats)

Kemba Walker is a winner. He was in the number one ranked High School team in the nation and won a spot on the McDonald’s All American Team. He played three seasons of college ball for Connecticut and took them to a national championship victory against the odds in 2011. But when he joined the NBA’s most depressing franchise in Charlotte, Walker’s world changed, and he went from being an underdog success story to facing humiliating losses on a regular level. A year after being part of the NBA’s least successful season of All Time with the Bobcats, Walker responded in his sophomore season by upping his scoring average to 17.7 ppg (from 12.1 the year before) and dishing out 5.7 assists a game. Expect the stages of development to continue next season. Now with Al Jefferson in Charlotte, the Bobcats have a decent – if unspectacular – inside-outside combo. This still isn’t a playoff squad, but Walker still has that winner’s mentality, and as he continues to take strides towards individual improvement, his work will reflect on the improvement of the team as a whole.