These Two Lottery Picks Are Reminding NBA Fans To Stay Patient With Young Players

After quiet starts to their NBA careers, Shaedon Sharpe and Johnny Davis are thriving to finish their rookie seasons and reminding hoop fans to stay patient with young players.

Across the NBA, fans are commonly too quick to write off rookies. Murmurs of players being busts often begin as early in the summer league. In reality, developmental paths look different for every player, and patience is always a necessity. This is a lesson that is taught and re-taught every year via young players' improvements. Once again, we're seeing some lottery picks who got off to slow starts finish the season extremely strong and flash star potential:

Shaedon Sharpe (7th Overall Pick)

Stats Last 10 Games: 24.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.1 APG, 58.2 TS%

One could easily make the argument that Shaedon Sharpe has been the league's best rookie over the last eight games or so, and it would be a convincing one. He leads all first-year players in scoring over this stretch, and has maintained efficiency while doing so. With his dazzling shot-making and nuclear slashing, he's gotten to 20 points in seven of these outings. Prior to this period, Portland's dynamic wing notched 20 points just once in his first 70 games. Sharpe has excelled as the Blazers' primary scorer with Damian Lillard sitting. Through his string of recent play, he's already solidified himself as the primary building block of the team's young core.

Johnny Davis (10th Overall Pick)

Stats Last 6 Games: 14.7 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.0 BPG, 52.3 TS%

Earlier in this article, when I alluded to rookies being labeled as busts as early as summer league, I'm sure some of your minds immediately raced to Johnny Davis. His first NBA outings were difficult. He looked like a 20-year-old who had never played at the professional level - which is exactly what he was. After some time in the G League to get up to league speed, he's taken the league by storm as of late. In his last six games, the Wizards’ 6-foot-4 guard has set his career high in points three(!) times, and matched this mark of 20 points again last night. Take this, he’s scored 88 points during this run, twice as many as he tallied in the other 20 games of his career. Additionally, the former Wisconsin superstar has been electric defensively. He’s a pest at the point of attack, and adds legitimate value as a help defender. Davis is well on his way to becoming one of the league’s best guard defenders and is an integral part of Washington’s future.

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