NBA D-League Preview: Salt Lake City with talent on wings

Over the next couple of weeks, The Step Back will examine each of the 22 NBA D-League teams and bring bringing you an in-depth look at their roster as well as any potential storylines to watch for. Teams can retain up to 12 players, while only 10 will be active for games. This is your first look at the prospects to watch out for all season.

Roster Breakdown

Draft Rights: Tyrone Wallace
Affiliates: Marcus Paige, Quincy Ford and Eric Dawson
Returners: J.J. O’Brien, Jermaine Taylor, Henry Sims, Da’Shonte Riley and Jeremy Williams
Draftees: Jaylen Bland and Evrik Gary
Tryouts: Zane Knowles, Patrick Simon and Dakarai Tucker
Potential NBA Assignees: Raul Neto and Joel Bolomboy

Using SLC as a true minor league program

Only a handful of NBADL teams have a draft rights player on their roster and the Stars are one of those with Tyrone Wallace. The past couple years the domestic draft-and-stash has taken off. This option allows Wallace to play with SLC in the D-League, but he’s protected from the other NBA clubs perusing rosters for untapped talent. Wallace holds the distinction of being 2016’s Mr. Irrelevant as the final pick in the NBA draft.

After four years at California, Wallace now has to start from scratch and show he can contribute at the next level. The Jazz are one of the younger teams in the NBA, so spending a season in the NBADL while hopefully improving on some of his shortcomings, is a perfect transition of sorts. Wallace is a dynamic scoring option, who at 6-foot-6 can create his own offense either attacking the basket, or hitting a nice mid range shot. His downfall has been the 3-point shot and unless players have an elite skill — which he does not — then they have to be versatile.

The focus this year for coach Dean Cooper will assuredly be to increase Wallace’s range and consistency from outside. Over his NCAA career he shot a mere 29.2 percent on 404 attempts from distance. If he can improve some of his mechanics and get somewhere around 35 percent, it will be a vast step in the right direction. As of now Wallace will lean heavily on his defensive prowess and will be expected to disrupt opposing offenses with his 6-foot-10 wingspan.

Can O’Brien build off his increased confidence?

J.J. O’Brien had a sputtering start to his rookie campaign with the Idaho Stampede, but a January call up to the Jazz really kickstarted the rest of the season for him. Prior that call up he played 24 games and averaged less than 10 points a night, but once he returned to Idaho he was a monster scoring 17+ points a night on almost 50 percent shooting. The change in his overall confidence was evident and he rode that success the rest of the way.

Now, the second-year forward has to keep that momentum heading in an upward trend. He’s got NBA size at 6-foot-7, but really needs to enhance his playmaking and scoring as well. Last season he averaged a measly 2.5 free throw attempts per game (one of the few numbers that did not rise after his call up) and only shot 30 percent from distance to boot. He needs to improve his vision (12.56 assist percentage), attack the boards (8.20 total rebounding percentage) and help the Stars win games in more ways than simply putting the ball in the hoop.

This season the roster around him is much-improved, so his scoring may hover around 13-16 points a night, but efficiency should be the focus. Using less FGAs to score the same amount of points will show massive growth in terms of shot selection, added FTAs and a measured all-around game.

Marcus Paige slingin’ that shot

Here’s my bold prediction for the SLC Stars and Marcus Paige — he will averaged 20+ points per game and be in the top-10 in the league for scoring. Paige is a pure outside shooter, with a beautiful lefty stroke. He shot almost 38 percent on 798 3-point launches at UNC! As a point guard playing in a pick-and-roll, shot-happy, fast-paced league he stands to benefit greatly.

Paige will use his time in the D-League to truly develop his lead guard skills. He has tremendous basketball IQ and his playmaking abilities will be key for this team’s success. Last season at UNC he posted his lowest assist percentage of his four-year career at 18.5, however he also took care of the ball posting an assist/turnover ratio of 3.05 — the highest of his illustrious career.

Next: NAZ Suns will rely heavily on returning players

Learning how, and when, to change speeds off the dribble will prove to be vital for Paige because he doesn’t possess lightning quick speed. His ability to keep his dribble alive is uncanny and now he will be asked to look for teammates as a priority over his own scoring. Even with the focus being on distribution, Paige was made for this league and he will get buckets with the best of ’em. Hopefully he won’t be here too long, however.