Ten stealth breakout stars of 2013-14

You know the players who have been the big breakout stories of this season, many of whom will be celebrated this coming All-Star weekend--LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul George, Kyle Lowry Joe Johnson--the guys who took the step this year from starter to star, from star to superstar. But how well do you know the year's stealth breakout stars? The dudes who went from rotation player to starter, from bench-warmer to legitimate contributor? They might not be on the best teams, they might be overshadowed by more prominent stories on their squad, or even both, but they're putting their imprint on 2013-14 just the same, and their best ball might still be yet to come.

Here are 10 of those guys whose breakout years are flying under the radar. Peep them on a League Pass game near you before season's end. 

Brandon Knight, Milwaukee Bucks. It's pretty easy for any kind of positive development to get lost when it originates from the world-swallowing vortex of suck that is the '13-'14 Milwaukee Bucks, but amidst all the losing, injuries, and hangdog Larry Drew facial expressions, third-year point guard Brandon Knight is finally having a make-good season. His 16.7 points and 4.9 assists a game are easily career highs--and in fewer minutes than his rookie season--while keeping his turnover rate manageable, and posting a 15.9 PER that's nearly four points higher than his sophomore season. The Bucks didn't make a lot of good decisions this off-season, but buying low on Knight--still just 22, with a season left on his rookie deal after this one--might've been one, at least.

DeMarre Carroll, Atlanta Hawks. After playing for four teams in his first three seasons as a pro, the Hawks bet good money that DeMarre Carroll could make the jump from fringe rotation guy to starter on their squad, and they've been rewarded for it. DeMarre has been a rock for the Hawks, averaging 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds a game, while providing enough consistent shooting (37% from three, nearly tripling his previous career-high in makes) to be a floor-stretcher, and also serving as the Hawks' best wing defender (1.5 steals a game, a 8.0 difference in on/off court defensive rating). He's also managed to play in 46 of Atlanta's 50 games, no small feat for a team decimated this season by injury. 

Timofey Mozgov, Denver Nuggets. And so the long arduous process is underway for Timofey Mozgov to be remembered as more than That Guy Who Got Mozgoved by Blake Griffin. He's making legitimate ground this season, posting career highs in just about everything, including points, rebounds, field goal percentage, PER, offensive rating and total Win Shares. He's both taken and made more free throws than he had in the first three seasons of his career combined, and the team's defensive rating is about six points better with him on the court than off. His improvement has greatly softened the blow of the Nuggets losing JaVale McGee to injury, and he might have a real case moving forward for taking over the starter's role from the offensively productive but defensively deficient J.J. Hickson.

Jon Leuer, Memphis Grizzlies. Getting increased minutes in the prolonged absence of Marc Gasol, Jon Leuer proved he was more than capable of holding the fort--offensively, at least--as the center off the bench for the Grizz. Leuer posted seven straight double-digit scoring nights over a stretch in December, after only posting 11 such games over the course of his first two seasons. and his 18.1 PER is the highest of any of the Grizzlies' bigs. He's mostly fallen out of the rotation since Gasol's return, with Kosta Koufos and Ed Davis absorbing most of the backup big man minutes, but he could make for an intriguing trade chip at the deadline if any team should need another rotation big who can put ball in basket, and stretch the floor a little too (18-38 from three). 

Mario Chalmers & Norris Cole, Miami Heat. Nobody's talking about the Heat's upcoming point guard dilemma, because it's hard to care about losing Mario Chalmers when you might also have to worry about losing LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and/or Chris Bosh. But Chalmers might be pricing himself out of the Heat's limited financial room with his play this season, averaging about 10 and 5 on career-high PER (14.8) and TS% (58.8), while ranking in the league's top ten with 1.7 steals a game as well. Rio's basically turned himself into a league-average point guard--not bad for a second-round pick, and possibly more than the Heat can afford to pay for in the off-season. 

But that's probably OK, because they still have a year left on the rookie deal for Norris Cole, who's been nearly as improved. After hovering around 40% shooting for most of his first two seasons, Cole is up to nearly 45% shooting from the field and 38% from three, with career highs in scoring and assisting, and a steal per game of his own. His efficiency (10.8) is still well below Chalmers', partly because he barely ever gets to the line (a trip a game), but he's shown that he can at least provide a reasonable facsimile of Rio's production, and that might be good enough for the Heat to let some other team pay Chalmers for his career year next summer. 

Alec Burks, Utah Jazz. After two seasons of being one of those intriguing-but-frustrating combo guard talents every rebuilding team seems to have at least one of, Alec Burks has turned his potential into legitimate production this season. As Utah's first guard off the bench, he's looked like a future Sixth Man of the Year candidate, averaging 13, 3 and 3 on 45% shooting and an above-average 15.6 PER, up over four points from last season. Burks' production spike can largely be traced to an increased free-throw rate, getting to the line nearly six times per 36 minutes and converting at a career-best 75% rate. He could stand to shoot a little better from three (34.8%), but he's a player in this league now, for sure, and the potential for a Burke/Burks backcourt of the future for Utah is pretty delightful. 

Jeremy Tyler, New York Knicks. More than a little small sample size theater going on here, but after two seasons of barely sniffing garbage-time minutes for the Warriors and Hawks, the formerly mega-hyped Tyler finally got a chance to be a rotation player for the big-depleted Knicks, and he's responded in a big way, averaging 16 and 12 per 36 minutes on 56% shooting, good for a PER over 20. Of course, that's in just ten minutes a game over 17 games, so the potential for regression is still enormous, but the Knicks will certainly take what they can get--especially for a scrap-heap big who looked like he might be out of the league before he was old enough to rent a car, and now might be a player they can actually develop into being part of their perpetually bleak future. 

Patty Mills, San Antonio Spurs. Did you know that Patty Mills actually posted a PER of 21.5 in his first season in San Antonio? Of course, that was just over 260 minutes in 16 games--mostly garbage time--but it did include two games at season's end against the Warriors and Suns in which Patty combined for 61 points, 17 assists and two totally meaningless wins. Point is, perhaps we should have seen it coming that this season he would emerge as a legitimate second-unit scoring and playmaking anchor for the Spurs, playing in all 53 of San Antonio's games, averaging nine points and two assists on a career-best 60.7% True Shooting and a 19.1 PER. Patty actually ranks fourth in Win Shares on the Spurs, and first (!!) in Win Shares per 48. Pretty impressive for the one-time 55th overall pick. 

Brandan Wright, Dallas Mavericks. Another efficiency machine, Brandan Wright's PER of 24.2 would be good for top ten in the league--higher than Stephen Curry and LaMarcus Aldridge--if he had played enough minutes to be eligible, and his True Shooting % of 70.2 would not only be tops in the league, it'd be over five points higher than the second-best, currently held by LeBron James. Brandan just doesn't miss from the field, averaging nearly 10 points a game on unthinkable 67.8% shooting in just 18 minutes a game, and unlike most of his high-FG% big-man brethren, he can actually convert from the line as well, shooting 73% on over two attempts a game. Defense is still an issue, but he's proving to be such an elite offensive force--Dallas has an Offensive Rating of nearly 120 when he's on the court, ferchrissake--that eventually somebody, somewhere is gonna have to give him starters' minutes. 

Jimmer Fredette, Sacramento Kings. Maybe a little strange to call someone averaging 6.0 points and 1.5 assists in 11.5 minutes a game a "breakout star," but efficiency-wise, it's night and day from Jimmer's first few seasons. As a rookie, Jimmer averaged 7.6 points, but did so in 18.6 minutes, on lousy 39% shooting and 36% from deep. This season, he's shooting nearly 48% from the field, and leading the league in three-point percentage with his 49.3%--on just 73 total attempts, but apparently that's enough to qualify. He's turned into a guy who can legitimately lead a second-unit offense for two six-minute stretches a game--not exactly the kind of guy you usually want to draft with a top-ten pick, but a true contributor just the same--and occasionally explode for a game-changing scoring outburst, as he did in last night's 24-point outing against the Knicks. It was probably Jimmer's NBA destiny all along, and it's good to see him starting to grow into it.