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When you look around the league, there are a few teams in what we might call "post-tank mode." They've stripped down a veteran roster and hit bottom, and are currently building back up with lottery picks gleaned from the process. A common trait of these teams is that they have young coaches, none of whom has proved much at the NBA level. It's ironic that player development on rebuilding teams so often gets left in the hands of the unproven, but pedigreed coaches understandably migrate toward more ready-to-win rosters.
How are these young coaches doing in terms of player development? While this is hard to quantify, what we can do is monitor the progress of young players. To do this, we've taken the difference in a player's actual performance this season and his expected performance, the latter represented by his SCHOENE forecast. Add in a playing-time factor, and we can see just how much extra value each team/coach has gained or lost from young players, defined here as anyone who will be 25 or younger at the start of next season. (See our recent rank of the top 25 players under age 25.)
We'll focus our commentary on post-tank teams, all of whom have positive returns, but we'll also provide the full league list. Spoiler alert: If you root for the Detroit Pistons, skip the chart unless you have your therapist on speed dial.
Boston Celtics
Coach: Brad Stevens
Players 25 or under (by next season): Marcus Smart, Jared Sullinger, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller, James Young, Dwight Powell, Phil Pressey, Avery Bradley
Value (in wins) produced over expectation from young players (VOE): plus-2.19 wins, No. 2 in NBA