25-under-25: Everything we got wrong on our 2024 ranking of the best young players in the NBA

I'd like to be able to say that The Step Back — the NBA team here at FanSided — has an infallible track record with preseason predictions. I'd also like to be able to say that Reggie Miller won multiple championships with the Indiana Pacers.

The truth is, we're just as prone to blindspots and overexcitement as any other NBA media outlet and our annual 25-under-25, ranking the best young players in the NBA, is as good an example as any. We absolutely made some mistakes with last year's list, as some of you were helpful enough to point out immediately.

Since this year's list is absolutely perfect, no notes, we're happy to take our lumps by breaking down everything we got wrong last year.

Scoot Henderson at No. 23

Our Scoot Henderson projections felt pretty safe and reasonable but the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft rode the struggle bus most of last season. Injuries were a big factor and limited him to 62 games, and he did average 14.0 points, 5.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game. But he looked completely lost on defense, shot 38.5 percent from the field, 32.5 percent from beyond the arc and posted a turnover rate just a hair under 20 percent.

Henderson was supposed to be a physically imposing guard prospect in the mold of Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose but his most noteworthy struggles were finishing in the paint, which was supposed to be an area of strength. He shot just 42.7 percent within eight feet of the basket and without any reliably efficient scoring tools it was hard to accomplish much.

We're not ready to give up on him yet but he dropped to No. 34 on our ranking this year and he's got a lot to prove this season.

We're done with Jordan Poole

Poole has, thankfully, aged off this list but we were overly optimistic even putting him at No. 25 last season. As "the guy" in Washington, he posted a usage rate of 26.4 with an effective field goal percentage under 50. For the first time since his rookie season, his offense was just as bad as his defense. All the signs were there, it's just our fault for giving him the benefit of the doubt.

We were way too low on Brandon Miller

Brandon Miller was the No. 3 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and there was a reasonable amount of discussion about whether he or Henderson deserved to follow Victor Wembanyama as the No. 2 pick. We, collectively, clearly favored Henderson but Miller was by far the better rookie.

We had him ranked at No. 48, behind players like Jarace Walker, Wendell Carter Jr., Josh Giddey, Jeremy Sochan and Jarred Vanderbilt. All Miller did was average 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from beyond the arc. There were some predraft concerns about his ability to get to the basket and create offense for himself but those were wildly overblown and he's already looking like a smooth scorer, the kind who can carry an offense.

Miller is ranked No. 16 on this year's list.

We missed on Jonathan Kuminga

The miss on Kuminga wasn't as aggregious as Miller but we clearly had to reconsider our position. Kuminga reportedly butted heads, again, with Steve Kerr about his role early in the season but grew by leaps and bounds, eventually starting 46 games and average 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. It was a leap we just didn't see coming.

There are still serious questions about his ability to manifest his defensive versatility, make good decisions with the basketball and hit from the outside. But Kuminga is as important as anyone on the Warriors besides Steph Curry and Draymond Green and he's ranked No. 20 on this year's list.