Chris McCullough
Chris McCullough was selected with the 29th pick (from the Atlanta Hawks) in the 2015 NBA draft. McCullough was considered a lottery talent at Syracuse before he injured his torn ACL 16 games into his freshman season. It was viewed as a risky pick because of his inexperience, his injury, and his strength.
McCullough has not seen too much time in the NBA as he has been assigned largely to the D-League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. In the NBA, McCullough is scoring 2.5 points per game. That is not a bad number considering he has seen less than five minutes per game he appears in on average.
McCullough has shown flashes in the NBA of what he could become. It is clear he has enormous talent and heart, but he needs to mature as a player and gain some weight as he will likely get beat down in the paint by large power forwards and centers in the league.
MUST READ: Nets Offense Vanished During Losing Streak
With Long Island, though, McCullough has been an absolute beast and was named to the D-League All-Star game. McCullough is averaging an impressive 18.1 points per game, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game.
Brooklyn is clearly taking their time with McCullough and letting him continue to develop his game. But, at nine wins, Brooklyn may want to get him some late-season experience to help his development.
Fans love McCullough and are curious to see if he can turn out to be the talent scouts and the Nets envisioned him being on draft day. Also, Brooklyn has limited picks so the ones they use need to pan out in order for the rebuild to be successful.
There is little harm to letting McCullough gain some NBA experience as the season goes on. He has shown what he is capable of against respectable talent in the D-League.