Feature Presentation: 2015-16 BDL All-Potential Team

We at Ball Don’t Lie enjoy healthy debate about basketball and its strange cast of characters, from Oscar Robertson’s “get off my lawn” diatribe on Stephen Curry to D’Angelo Russell’s sting operation on a self-dubbed dude named Swaggy P and his Australian hip hop artist fiancé. (Yup, those things happened.) It’s NBA with a twist here at the BDL, so we wanted to stir the pot and shake up the league’s annual awards.

BDL ALL-POTENTIAL TEAM

You know how many rookies played even half the season in 2015-16? All of 31. So, the NBA asks voters to select 10 players from that group for two All-Rookie squads. Yup, one in three rookies will be honored. Might as well hand out participation trophies to the rest of ’em. Am I right, hockey dads everywhere?

We opened that pool up to the entire next generation of potential stars. Inspired by our preseason Three-Man Weave — “Which young player will make the biggest leap to stardom?” — we selected the 10 guys ages 24 and under who we believe have the best shot at making the jump from good to great in 2016-17.

(P.S. We know not all of them are “Straight Outta College,” but c’mon, that movie poster is rad, right?)

AND THE WINNERS ARE …

FIRST TEAM

Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves (unanimous): Heck, he’s one of the 25 best players in the NBA right now, and yet at age 20 there’s still so much potential for more. Simply based on his effort as a rookie, it sure seems his floor is somewhere around perennial All-Star and his ceiling is all-time greatness.

Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns: At least there was one bright spot at the center of the implosion that was the Suns this season, and that was Booker’s emergence as a potential Ray Allen-level scoring threat. 

Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks: In a matter of moments, the Latvian went from being customarily booed by Knicks fans at the draft to PorzinGod, and not just because he sported cornrows as a kid. OK, partly because he sported cornrows as a kid … and was called “a unicorn in this league” by Kevin Durant … and was the subject of a Latvian rap song bearing his name that you cannot get out of your head.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks: The Greek Freak’s been All-Potential for three straight seasons, and he shows so many flashes he could live on here in perpetuity, or at least until he turns 25, which is still somehow four years away. By then he could be the best 7-foot-9 point guard in the NBA.

D’Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers: Russell better have potential to survive comparing himself to Jesus and that whole taped conversation controversy. Besides, he paid his dues in a rather painful way:

SECOND TEAM

Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves

Jabari Parker, Milwaukee Bucks

Zach LaVine, Minnesota Timberwolves

Aaron Gordon, Orlando Magic

Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers

AND THE NOMINEES WERE …

AND NOW A WORD FROM THE ACADEMY …

We understand some of the fun comes with picking apart the voting panel and publicly shaming their misfires, so we’ll do our best to explain ourselves before you folks let us have it in the comment section.

Actually, you know what? Screw it. These teams are totally subjective, so if you’ve got a problem with them, maybe your therapist or cat or imaginary friend will be willing to hear you out about how we couldn’t have “AT LEAST GIVE JAHLIL OKAFOR ONE VOTE?!?! Maybe we don’t see as much potential in him or others as you do. Relax. It’s cool. We like lots of young players, and we’d be excited by the first of them to prove us wrong — if only for the story — but these are the future stars we’re rolling with.

CUE THE AUDIENCE REACTION …

2015-16 BDL AWARDS

IN THEATERS NOW: Bench of the Year • Coach(ing Change) of the Year • Defensive Unit of the Year • (Non-Lottery) Rookie of the Year • Executive (Decision) of the Year • (2nd) Most Valuable Player • Most (Random) Improved Player • Comeback Player of the Year • All-Potential Team

COMING SOON: All-Defensive* Team • All-BDL Team

WE REALLY, REALLY LIKE YOU

First and foremost, we’d like to thank Yahoo Sports Photos and Multimedia Manager Amber Matsumoto for her tireless work on graphics. None of this would’ve been possible without her. And special thanks to Basketball Reference and NBA.com/stats for statistics, Graphiq for the stat box, Latvian rap duo Transleiteris for their YouTube video, Gfycat for the gif and ProProfs Poll Maker for the poll.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach