The biggest adjustment in the NBA for young players is learning how to play with teammates and off teammates. Every college player that heads to the NBA is used to have an offense predicated around them and creating for them. Now they enter the NBA and they aren’t in the same role and they don’t touch the ball on every possession.
In the San Antonio game the final 5 minutes Gordon Hayward didn’t get a touch. Alec Burks goes down the floor and doesn’t touch for consecutive possessions something that never happened at Colorado.
I asked Tyrone Corbin today about this adjustment for young players. “It is learning process, when to cut, when to space the floor, when to come to the ball. It is a huge adjustment for guys who are used to having the ball and making the plays to have other guys set them up it takes them a while to understand when to cut and when to move. It is difficult to get a rhythm, you can’t get it from just having the ball in your hand. It takes a while to figure out how to get a feel for it”
Jeff Hornacek had similar thoughts – “It is an adjustment, guys have to put themselves back to when they first played ever when they got fewer opportunities. You have to be ready to make a play. It is a mental thing to not take yourself out of the game.”
This is why we see such inconsistency out of these players. The rookies who have the ball in their hand every play, Knight, Irving and Walker are having an easier adjustment.