Ranking the top 50 NBA players of next season: 40-31

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39. Zach LaVine

While his coach was more worried about punch clocks and wasting the talent of his young team Zach LaVine took an unprecedented leap as a number one option on offense. This season he finished 11th in the league in scoring (25.5 points per game) while chipping in 4.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

LaVine angled to be an All-Star, representing the host city in the headlining event and he had a real case. With a reputation as a gunner, good-stats on a bad team style LaVine was hyper efficient, boasting shoot splits of .450/.380/.802. The 3-point shooting is the most impressive, given that he upped his attempts from 5.1 to 8.1 per game and shot better.

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Much statistical uptick comes from a sky high usage rate (31.2 percent, good for 11th in the league), ranking him above the likes of LeBron James and Damian Lillard to name a couple. Even if his overall numbers dip the efficiency shows he is ready to be more effective in a team setting should his teammates take the next step.

Imagining in LaVine in a Billy Donovan system is promising. Donovan continues to get more and more out of his guards, as seen by the impressive numbers put up by his three-guard system last year with the Oklahoma City Thunder. If LaVine continues to improve similarly then he will be an All-Star in no time.