Jalen Suggs has battled through the typical ups and downs that any rookie player faces transitioning to the NBA but the Orlando Magic guard is making noticeable improvement through it all on the court.
Suggs, in 44 games this season, is averaging 12.3 points, 4.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals. He missed 20 games due to a fractured thumb and a few other games due to various injuries, including two recently for a sprained right ankle.
The time away from the court allowed Suggs to continue to develop his game. In fact, Suggs and the team even thought he came back better than before after spending time working on various areas of his game with the training staff.
Jamahl Mosley explained how Suggs has improved throughout the year.
His pace and reading of the game. Obviously, him being hurt and coming back allowed him to slow down the game a little bit in his mind as well as the way his body has adjusted to things, knowing when to pick up the pace, knowing when to slow it down. I think that has been the biggest area of improvement. Then, the other side of it is his conditioning of what our performance staff and coaches did while he was out. I thought they’ve done a fantastic job with him.
Suggs credited teammate Markelle Fultz for seeing the game in a different way. They have talked about playing at a fast pace to catch defenses off guard, and “stealing easy points” on that end of the floor. Paying attention to situational moments has also been a point of emphasis.
The fifth pick knew coming into the season that adjusting to the pace of the NBA would be critical. He called that a work in progress but is fully accepting the challenge.
There have been good days and there have been bad days but that is all part of the process and those are things you have to embrace or else you won’t be great. You let those things stop you and hinder you from moving forward and that’s how you stay average. I’m really just trying to roll with the game, continue to learn, continue to be myself and add to my bag but I’m definitely feeling comfortable as the season has gone on.
Suggs has emerged as one of the top rookie players this season and has often drawn praise from opposing players and coaches. He is only in the beginning stages of his development, but the early display by the 20-year-old has those around him excited for his potential.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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