It seems like every year, teams draft or sign super young guys with obvious physical upside, only to stash them in the G-League with the idea of developing their basketball skills.
But, like, how many of these guys ever actually develop?
Are there examples of guys who were drafted young, and were nowhere near NBA-ready in year one, but thrived in an NBA or G-League development environment to reach their ceiling?
It seems like even the classic names who seemingly come out of nowhere at least start out as playable NBA players in year one.
I don’t know if they were two years away from being two years away, but Jermaine O’Neal and TMac had somewhat tough starts to their respective careers before becoming All-NBA level guys.