Cal Basketball

NBA Pro Bears and What to Expect From Them This Year

By David Eplin

October 16, 2018

2,114

With the NBA starting up today, I thought it was a good idea to see what former Bears were doing around the league and how their teams expect to do this year.

Ryan Anderson has played on the New Jersey Nets, Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans, Houston Rockets, and now for the Phoenix Suns. He has averaged 11.8 PPG while knocking down 39.9% of his threes in his career. Anderson has made upwards of 112 million dollars in his career. The Suns will finish the season close to the bottom of the Pacific conference, but he will enjoy a lot of shots.

Jaylen Brown, recently drafted by the Boston Celtics 3rd overall in 2016, has enjoyed a solid start to his NBA career. He is one of the best two-way players in the NBA and is getting better and better every season. He has averaged 14.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.6 assists last year and those numbers got better as the season went on. Look for the Celtics and Brown to take a leap and push for being eastern conference champs.

Allen Crabbe was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 31st pick in the 2013 draft and was later traded to the Portland Trail Blazers on draft night. In 2016 Crabbe signed a four year 75 million offer sheet to stay in Portland but then was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2017. He averaged 9.9 PPG and sported an elite 3-point percentage of 39.7%. He is the go-to scorer for the Nets and will look to have another career year this year.

Ivan Rabb was drafted in the 2017 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic who later traded his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies. In 36 games last year, Rabb started five of them and averaged 5.6 PPG and 4.4 RPG. Rabb bounced around in the G-League and in the NBA all year last year, but because of the lack of youth and athleticism on their current roster, he has found a home for now. Look for his minutes to keep going up because of the unknown with the circumstance surrounding Mark Gasol.

Tyrone Wallace was taken by the Utah Jazz with the last pick in the 2016 NBA draft and bounced around the G-league for two years until finally catching on with the Clippers in 2018. Over the offseason, he signed an offer sheet with the Pelicans, and the Clippers matched, meaning he remains on the Clippers. He is a tough two-way player who finished the year averaging 9.7 PPG to go along with 2.4 APG. He still struggles from distance shooting 25% from three, but once he gets consistent, he will be around the league for a while. The Clippers will be battling out for last place with the Suns, Kings, and Clippers.