Golden State Warriors: Jacob Evans primed for a breakout season

After a disappointing rookie season, Golden State Warriors guard Jacob Evans is primed for a breakout campaign in the 2019-20 season.

Golden State Warriors guard Jacob Evans didn’t quite have the rookie season he had hoped for. After being selected with the 28th pick in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft, Evans played in just 30 games during his rookie year.

Averaging just 6.8 minutes per game, Evans played almost exclusively in mop-up duty and didn’t make too much of an impression while he was on the floor. This coming from a player that the Warriors were reportedly pretty high on coming out of college.

Evans excelled while at Cincinnati establishing himself as one of the better three-point shooters in the NCAA while also proving his worth on the defensive side of the floor. But those traits that were once his calling card failed to show up last season.

Evans shot just 4-of-15 from three-point range throughout the season and failed to impress much during his time in the G-League as well. While he averaged a sizable 26.1 minutes per game, Evans shot just 43.7 percent from the field and a lowly 30.5 percent from long range.

Those shooting rates were ‘good’ for just 11.2 points per game, disappointing numbers given the level of competition in Santa Cruz. On top of that, Evans seemed slow to pick things up on defense while his perimeter defending seemingly took a step back from his college days.

All-around, it’s fair to say that the Warriors expected more from him and that Evans expected more from himself. But that could all be set to change this upcoming season.

Evans has clearly been working on his game and he has shown flashes of considerable improvement already this summer. In the three California Classic contests that the Warriors played, Evans averaged 11.7 points per game while shooting a much-improved 50 percent from the floor.

Moreover, Evans showed increased ball-handling skills — something that was nearly nonexistent in his rookie season. His defense also appeared notably improved as he was quicker when switching and he was able to guard the perimeter effectively, for the most part.

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Overall, Evans looks improved and ready to put his rookie campaign behind him. In an interview with the Bay Area News Group, Evans had the following to say about his rookie season.

"“A lot of people count you out, like the writers. Ya’ll are going to talk your stuff and get your stories, but I just stay with it. I’m not an underdog. But a lot of people have doubts and questions about me. I just keep that in mind.”"

He’s clearly playing with a chip on his shoulder and that’s something that could drive him to improve and motivate him to better his game.

And that’s a good thing too considering that the Warriors might need him more than ever this season.

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Star shooting guard Klay Thompson will be out rehabbing a torn ACL for the majority of the season and superstar Kevin Durant has departed via free agency to join the Brooklyn Nets. Golden State will need another three-point scorer to come off the bench and contribute and Evans could be just that guy.

And while the acquisition of D’Angelo Russell obviously fills the void in the starting rotation left by Thompson’s absence, the depth behind Russell and Stephen Curry remains very uncertain.

Veteran Shaun Livingston is unlikely to return with the team next season and the Warriors opted to rescind their qualifying offer to backup point guard Quinn Cook making him an unrestricted free agent.

Elsewhere there’s first-round rookie Jordan Poole, two-way player Damion Lee, and the recently signed Glenn Robinson III who could all play some backup guard but none are can’t-miss, locked-in reserves. Not to mention that Evans is the best true fit as a point guard — more so than any of the others.