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NBA: 6 Sophomore players primed for a breakout season in 2023-24

By Charlie Spungin

Dec 7, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans guard Dyson Daniels (11) during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 7, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (23) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans guard Dyson Daniels (11) during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports /
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Christian Koloko
NBA Christian Koloko (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) /

Atlantic Division (decent) breakout candidate: Christian Koloko (TOR) 

Honorable Mention: JD Davison, Trevor Keels

This division had a total of three drafted players in 2022. JD Davison of the Celtics and Trevor Keels of the Knicks are both restricted free agents currently but will likely be back with their respective teams. The only player to currently be on a roster from this division from the 2022 NBA Draft is Koloko, so this goes to him by default. For what it’s worth, he belongs in one tier below Max Christie, but I am going along with groupings of two.

Koloko only appeared in 58 games for the Raptors, and he only averaged 13.8 minutes per game in them. Still, he found himself in the starting lineup for 19 of those games. He averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds with an impressive 1 block per game in that time.

Koloko is a very good interior defender. At 7 feet tall with a 7-foot-5 wingspan and good athleticism, he can alter many shots at the rim. He blocks 2.6 shots per 75 possessions and forces opponents to shoot 9.9% worse at the rim while contesting. Advanced metrics, such as EPM and LEBRON, view him in high regard on the defensive end of the floor, placing him in the 97th percentile and 96th percentile, respectively.

Offensively, it’s kind of rough. Despite actually having a pretty solid touch on short push shots at times, he shoots a terrible 58% at the rim. That’s bad for guards, but for a 7-foot big, it’s just terrible, quite frankly. He’s one of if not the worst finishing big in the league, and if he wants to find a spot in the league, this absolutely has to change. In his final 10 games of the season (124 minutes), it improved slightly to 62%, but even then, that’s still bad.

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He may or may not find rotation minutes next season, as the centers in front of him are Jakob Poeltl and Precious Achiuwa. His defense may be good enough to warrant spot minutes in occasional matchups, but the offense is so disastrous for now that it’s hard to have high expectations for Koloko.