Top 5 overachieving players and the Top 5 underacheiving players

Every NBA season brings us a new list of players who have a breakout season. With these breakout seasons also come players who don't live up to expectations. This is part 1 of 2 of the Top 5 overachieving players and the Top 5 underachieving players. Here is my list for the Top 5 overachievers.

1. Devin Harris: He might not be the best player to put at the top of this list just because New Jersey had high expectations of him. When the Jason Kidd trade went down that sent Harris to New Jersey, Harris was labeled by that vague term, 'prospect'. Usually players labeled by that term take a few years to develop, if ever. We all know that Harris was a college standout at Wisconsin and he won Big 10 player of the year honors, but his start in the NBA was a little rough. The expectation from Harris was always absurdly high being the 5th pick in the draft. His first season in 04-05 he averaged 5.7 ppg and 2.2 assists. He increased that average every year up until midway through the 07-08 season to 14.4 pts and 5.3 assists when he got traded. The second half of that season playing for the Nets, he saw a 1 point increase in his point total to 15.4 and increased his assists to 6.5.
This season, Harris is averaging an astonishing 24.8 points and 6.1 assists and is the 6th leading scorer in the league right now, and is shooting a solid 48% from the field. That is about an 11 ppg jump from his average in the 07-08 season. His play has elevated his team all around him, and the Nets are enjoying a 9-8 record and 2nd in the Atlantic division, only behind Boston, and 4th place in the Eastern Conference. I don't think anyone had New Jersey higher than 7th place this season, and that was even a stretch. They have been the surprise team, and it is all due to Devin Harris. We'll see if they can keep this up.

2. Danny Granger: Another player who broke onto the scene last season. Granger probably isn't known outside of Indiana and to the casual basketball fan. He was not highly regarded out of college because he played in a small conference for the up and down New Mexico program. Granger is the 7th leading scorer in the league who is also hitting 2.8 3's a game. He is a combo player who can play virtually anywhere on the floor, and has such a wide range of skills, he is a matchup nightmare for other teams. Granger's play has led the Pacers over the wins over the Lakers and the Celtics this season. The Pacers have been playing up to their competition this year, and have shown they can win. I expect that Granger will keep this level of play up for the rest of the season, but I don't expect the Pacers to do much more than they have been doing. I expect them not to make the playoffs and finish last in the Central Division. They do have great pieces in Granger, Daniels, and if Dunleavy can come back healthy, Larry Bird might have a strong squad up there.

OJ Mayo: He might be playing on one of the worst teams in the league (4-14), but Mayo is playing out of his mind. He has shown an incredibly maturity coming into the NBA and putting him alongside Rudy Gay has only helped him. The scary thing about Mayo is that he is only a rookie, and will only get better. From what I've heard, this guy is a work horse. He is a gym rat, and obsessed with his game. I've heard scouts say he has the 'it' factor that MJ, Kobe, and Lebron posess. Marc Gasol is still a little raw at this point, but when Marc Gasol gets better, we could be looking at a very respectable team with Gasol, Gay, and Mayo. Mayo has averaged 21.3ppg this season, 13th best in the league, and only .2 away from #12 Dwight Howard. The reason Mayo makes this list is due to the difficulty guards have adjusting to the NBA game. He gets a steal or two a game and dishes out a few assists every game and his one or two 3's every game. He can get to the basket, create his own shot, pass, and is a superior athlete. He has shown maturity in the game ahead of his years. We could be looking at the rise of one of the best guards in the league.

Nene: His emotional comeback from winning his battle with cancer might have inspired his play this year. He is a huge part of the Nuggets success and a clear third option for the team. Nene is averaging 15 pts, 7.3 rebs and 1.6 blocks, all of those are his best career averages. Oh yeah, he also has the highest field goal percentage in the league shooting a staggering 63.2%. When people talk about the elite Centers in the league, people seldom mention Nene. He has come onto the scene this year, and this is a pleasant surprise for George Karl because this could help the Nuggets get past the first round, and be exactly what they need to get further in the playoffs. The Nuggets are looking like a more mature team overall this year, and that is due, in part, to Nene's play.

Ramon Sessions: I would expect that hardcore NBA fans have been following Sessions for a while. For those of you who don't know, he is a D-League call-up, and he has played sensational for the Bucks. He played about 17 games last season for the Bucks, and averaged a little over 11 assists per game in that time. He is going to stick around in the big leagues for a while. He is averaging 14.9 pts and 6 assists this season. He is coming up huge for the Bucks, and they have to like their investment. Sessions is also a great value for them because he is a solid backup for Luke Ridnour, I use the term 'backup' loosely here because he plays 32.9 minutes a game, and started when Ridnour was out. He is also great value for the Bucks in terms of salary. He is the lowest paid player on the Bucks at $722,517, and is the 3rd highest scorer on the team, and plays more minutes than the $70 million dollar Center, Andrew Bogut. He is worth much more than he gets paid, and the Bucks better use him to his full extent before he becomes a free agent because there will not be a shortage of potential teams looking to invest in Sessions.

Top 5 underachievers soon to come...

Izzy

What I'm thankful for

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I do have a lot to be thankful for in my life, but we won't go into that. We, as NBA fans, also have a lot to be thankful for in our basketball lives. Here is what I'm thankful for this NBA season.

The Knicks: Finally, one of the most storied franchises in sports is revived. It has been a tough few years for Knicks fans. As we all know, they have made some big moves in the past few years to compete this year and the next, and to set themselves up for the 2010 free agency period. This has to be encouraging for Knicks fans. Finally, some sense behind the moves of the Knicks front office. Good job Donnie Walsh.

The rookie class: This has been an amazing rookie class. Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, and Michael Beasley are living up to the hype. After that, they have also been pretty solid. Russell Westbrook isn't playing as bad as the Thunder's record would suggest. He has been a steady contributor, and the rookie dubbed as 'most likely to bust' by myself and Greg Johnson, is proving us wrong. Unexpected rookies making an impact right now are DJ Augustin and Jason Thompson. Augustin dropped 25 and 11 assists and 5 rebounds in Jason Richardson's absense. The Kings also have to be happy with Jason Thompson's surprising development by averaging 11.4 pts and 7 rebs. Virtually unknown coming out of Rider, Thompson has potential to be a great player in this league who can be a legitimate 2nd option for a lot of teams, and also to be a very good defender. Golden State also got two great players who were undrafted in DeMarcus Nelson and Anthony Morrow. As a Wake fan, I was obviously bias against Nelson, but he has been a surprise for not even being drafted. I was also bias against the Georgia Tech star, Morrow, but I have always respected his game. Morrow has a very bright future in this league, and the Warriors proved the 'huge upside' phrase that gets thrown around way too much. Rounding out the great rookie class surprises are Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and Mario Chalmers. All of which are making big impacts for their teams right now. Also, dont forget the Lopez twins who have been contributing some solid numbers recently.

The closing gap between East and West: For the last few years, the West has dominated the NBA landscape. It is great to finally see the gap closing in the league so we can stop the talk about re-doing the conferences and what not. It makes for great basketball, and it makes it fun to be a fan. It reinforces two levels of fanhood. The first is of your team, and the second, is of your conference. A fan can always stick to the side that "my conference has x,y,z teams" which always make for good NBA debates.

The Boston/LA rivalry: We got enough of this during the Finals, but it seems like we will be able to see this historic rivalry relived. As a Laker fan, I'm thankful for my teams success and I acknowledge that both Celtic and Laker fans are outrageously priviledged. Nonetheless, as a young basketball fan, it is great to be a part of such a historic rivlary revived. Many fans only get to read about the historic rivalries related to their franchises, and even fewer fans get to re-live the rivalry again. We could be on the fringes of that rivalry being re-started if both teams can keep this level of play for the next 5 or 6 years even if different players are apart of the rivalry.

The Donaghy scandal being left behind: When the scandal broke, it was a hit to everyone involved in the NBA, including the fans. It is now safe to say that the fallout from the scandal was less than expected. After the Pedowitz report and fast action from the league office, we have been lucky that it did not affect the sport more than it did. We can now rest and be reassured that it was just an isolated incident. We all know that it could have been much worse than it turned out to be. The basketball nation can now start a new chapter in the sport's history, and putting behind one of the darkest moments in sports history behind us.

Izzy

It's a little too early to...

Call Greg Oden a bust: Hold on everyone. What is all this Sam Bowie and Bill Walton talk? The Blazers are cursed? Stop it. Yes, the guy had to have arthroscopic knee surgery before he played a single NBA game, and he rolled his ankle. Calm down. I'm not saying he isn't injury prone because he clearly is, but to start these comparisons and shoot him down before he has even really got up? That isn't fair. Let him come back healthy, and then we can talk about what he can do. An injury is one of the most frustrating things for a player to go through. When expectations are high, there is almost no doubt that the player won't meet those expectations. If he comes back and drops 20 and 10 a night, people will just ignore the Bowie and Walton comparisons and pretend like they never happened. Those people who lobbied for Kevin Durant back before the 2007 draft will become silent. There is no better remedy for criticism and negativity around a sports team than success. I'm not saying that Oden doesn't bust, and I'm also not saying that he will be the franchise center Kevin Pritchard thought he would be when he drafted him. All I'm saying is we need to reserve judgment, and get a better perspective on his play. If he continues to get injured for the next year or so, then we can talk.

Call Derrick Rose the Rookie of the Year: He has played fantastic. Incredibly underrated jump shot. The prototype NBA point guard. He has the complete package. With about a week and a half into the season he has put up 17.8 ppg, 4.2 assts, 3.6 rebs, a steal a game, and shooting 45% from the field. Incredible numbers for a point guard. There is no doubt that he is the future of the Bulls, but he only has 5 games under his belt. With those ROY-worthy numbers he still has 3 TOs a game and we haven't seen the full potential of other contenders like Beasley, Jason Thompson, Mario Chalmers, and OJ Mayo. Rose has gotten the most press because he is on a big market team on a historic franchise, but we can't forget about the other big name rookies coming into the draft. Mayo is competing with Rose in virtually every category except for assits. Mayo averages 16.8ppg, 1.6 steals a game, and 4 rebs. Mayo just dropped 28 against Sacramento last night, and had 6 3pointers. Didn't hear about it? Makes sense, it was Sacramento and Memphis. Beasley is averaging 17 ppg, 6.5 rebs, and 1 block a game. You can't count the other 2 top 3 picks out of the ROY race. Thompson was a shock in the draft out of Rider. Thompson is an amazing defender and has averaged 13.6 ppg and 6.8 rebs a game. He also does a lot of stuff that won't show up in the box score. Mario Chalmers has also been another shock, and could be a dark horse candidate for ROY. Miami thought they had no point guard, but Chalmers' solid play has earned him the starting job. Chalmers is averaging 8ppg, 6 assts, and 3.8 steals. He had 9 steals last night against Sacramento! The point is, don't assume anything at this point.
Rose had an incredible opportunity to play against the Redeem Team this summer, and tested his NBA talent. He was NBA ready long ago. He is clearly an amazing player, and will be one of the best point guards in the league in a couple of seasons, but we have to give credit to guys like Beasley, Mayo, and Thompson who have also had much bigger seasons than they were projected to have. Don't forget the other rookies who are having big impacts for their team. We'll talk again in two months.

Talk about a Lakers championship: Anyone who knows me, knows that my heart is Purple and Gold. Even the most prideful fan of the Lakers knows that we have to keep composed. The Lakers are 4-0. Not that impressive yet. Some of the Lakers have told confidants that the Lakers are trying to shoot for 70 wins according to ESPN. You have to love to see your team shoot high, but we have to be real here. The West is incredibly strong this year, and the East has closed that gap significantly. The league is filled with talent, and the level of play is higher than it has been in the past few seasons. Shooting for 70 is a great goal, but not going to happen, especially in the West. Furthermore, to talk championship right now? No chance. Laker fans more than anyone know how dangerous it is to talk championship before anything has even happened (As 2004 told us). The Lakers might be considered to be favorites, but if you ask any of the players, they are focused on home court advantage right now. The words 'championship' and 'Lakers' in the same sentence is a taboo subject in LA. For the rest of the basketball world, they may talk about a Lakers championship, but it will not be an easy road by any means.

Say the Spurs not contenders: Sure they started the season 0-3. They had to struggle last night to beat the Wolves in 2OT, and Tony Parker had to drop 55 and 10 assists to make it happen. We have seen this from the Spurs before. They take the regular season off for a bit, but turn it on when they need to. They are an aging team, and like to conserve energy. I'm not saying that is what they are doing right now, because they are undoubtedly playing with a sense of urgency. At this point, the Spurs are trying to stay around .500 until Ginobli comes back, and that is fine. They will still make the playoffs, and they will still make noise in the playoffs just like every other year. We don't count out a veteran team with that much championship experience 4 games into it, and without one of their Big 3.

Izzy

Sports Illustrated put up a full copy of the Pedowitz Report. It is the investigation released by the private investigation the NBA hired to look into the Donaghy scandal. It exonerates former friend of Donaghy, Scott Foster, among other things. It is 133 pages, but worth a browse.