I kinda figure anyone under the age of ~23 has a bunch of low-hanging fruit associated with some of the improvements they’re going to be able to make (if they’re motivated)… It makes sense that it gets tougher for pros who’ve already spent a few years in the league after that… Coaching staffs start focusing developmental resources on other players who are on the steeper slopes of their learning curves, and usually the older guys have already identified their most glaring weaknesses and made at least a few attempts to correct them.

I suspect the ‘second year leap’ that lots of sports writers talk about is real, but I don’t have any statistics to back that up.

One of the guys that I suspect is going to be making a leap this year (that will probably get him closer to his potential) is JDub… He’s looked way more assertive and stronger in his preseason games for the Thunder.