Top 5 underachieving players

Fans and teams have huge expectations of certain players. Just like the surprise players every year, there are also disappointments. Here are the top 5 disappointments thus far.

Elton Brand: He left the Clippers hanging even though they made the move for Baron Davis, but the expectations for the Sixers were through the roof, and now they are back where they have always been. The Sixers are desperate for success. They gave up AI with the expectation that they could rebuild. The team has failed to perform up to par, and Elton Brand is not helping change that notion. The only reason I didn't put Iguodala on this list is because I have always thought he was overrated and not equipped to fill the role of Iverson. The acquisition of Brand was suppose to shoot the Sixers into Eastern Conference title contention. Instead, they are 9-11 behind the Celtics and Nets. Brand is averaging 16.7 ppg and 10 rebs. You may say that isn't so bad, but that is the lowest ppg he has had since he has been in the league. His 10 rebs are about his average. Remember, the Clippers were about to pay him around $100 million until he left to Philly for less money, but still due to make $13.7 million this season. One could also make the argument that Andre Miller and Andre Iguodala are taking away from his production, but Andre is only averaging 15.5 points (1.1 point higher than his career average), and Iguodala is averaging the lowest ppg since his sophomore season at 13.9 ppg. There is enough to go around, Brand just isn't getting it done. The Sixers record combined, expectation, salary and Brand's career low in points makes him the clear pick for the most underachieving player.

2. The Raptors: I can't pin point one player on the Raptors who is underachieving. Did we really expect Jermaine O'Neal not to get injured? They fired their coach Sam Mitchell which was a scapegoat move for their abysmal performance this season. Chris Bosh has done his part by scoring 26.1ppg and 10.3 rebs. The next highest scorer is Jose Calderon at 12.7 ppg and then Jermaine O'Neal at 12.6ppg. Having a 14 point difference between your #1 and #2 scorers is not going to get it done. The Raptors are also waiting on their project Andrea Bargnani to start producing. Currently Bargnani is averaging 11.16 ppg and 5.1 rebs which is solid, but they need more from him. The Raptors also have some pretty good role players in Jason Kapono, Anthony Parker, and Jamario Moon, but still not enough to get them to a winning level. On paper, this is a team that could be top 3 in the Eastern Conference. They have the pieces there, they might be a little undersized, but it is not looking good for them right now.

3. Brad Miller: This guy has been on the decline for a while. He is a two-time former All-Star, but has failed to live up to that standard since he made the All-Star team in 04. He got a huge paycheck when he left Indiana and joined the Kings. He is due to make $11.3 million this season. However, he is just averaging 11.9 ppg this season and 7.9 rebs. He averaged 13.4 ppg and 9.4 rebs last season. The reason Miller makes this list is due to how much he will constrain the Kings until the summer of 2010. Judging by Miller's play, he won't be getting paid anywhere close to the contract he has right now. What is frustrating is that he has proven he can compete at the 5 position, but has been inconsistent in producing that. Night after night Miller continues to get beat up by the Western Conference's size. He is also an injury prone player that has not been able to get the job done against the bigmen in the West, and I'm sure the Maloof brothers are regretting the decision to give him such a huge contract. The Kings will be stuck at the bottom of the Western Conference for a few more years.

Allen Iverson: It is tough to make the transition to a new team suddenly after you have been preparing to be with one team for the whole seasson, but Iverson is a superstar. He is not suppose to have decreases in production when he is traded. He averaged 26.4ppg and 7.1 assists last season for the Nuggets. For Detroit, Iverson is averaging 17.8 ppg and 5.5 assists. He is averaging about 10 points lower than his career average of 27.5 ppg. Dumars made the trade for AI with the expectation that AI was going to continue to produce at the level he needed to. Detroit managed to hand the Lakers their first loss of the season, but outside of that, they have been very inconsistent. Out of their 8 losses, 4 have come from Minnesota, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New York. Those 4 teams are all worse than Detroit. They should have been easy wins for the Pistons. Their struggles in their 8 losses can be attributed to AI's decline in play. The Pistons are 7-8 with Iverson so far. He makes $20 million, but is not playing like the superstar we have known him to be. AI better turn this around fast or he will find himself with less than impressive contract offers this summer that will take him to the last years of his career.

Shawn Marion: It is tough to put Marion on this list because of the major turnaround the Heat have had this year. They are 11-9, and showing no signs of slowing down. Wade leads the league in scoring, but Marion has seen a major decline in production. Marion only averages 12.6 ppg behind Beasley's 14.1 ppg. Marion's is also averaging 9.4 rebs and 1.5 blocks which are in the ballpark of his career averages. The drastic drop in points is surprising. Marion is constantly around the basket and is known to get a lot of hustle points. That has seemed to take a hit this season as Beasley is grabbing a lot of rebounds and Chalmers is another credible scorer the Heat have this year. Imagine if Marion came up to the levels that he has played his whole career. The Heat would be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Marion is also the highest paid player on the team, and wants a big extension from the Heat or a new team. Marion has not helped his case thus far.

Izzy

Off season to-do list: Clippers

UPDATE: Baron Davis signs a 5 year deal worth $65 million. I wrote this post before the news came out, so I changed some things, but disregard anything that does not take the Baron Davis signing into account.

We apologize for getting this post up late. Been swamped by the end of summer session and what not. There will be constant regular posts by the end of the week.
The forgotten LA team, the Clippers, will be very active this offseason. The notoriously stingy Donald Sterling will have to make the decision to re-sign his franchise player Elton Brand and starter Corey Maggettte. Elton Brand is asking for a $120 million. That sounds reasonable for a player of Brand's calibur, however, he played only 8 games last season because of an Achilles rupture and is reportedly waiting it out to see what the Clippers do to bring in free-agents. Look Brand, you are not going to free up that much cap space by opting out, asking for $120 million, but still trying to be the good guy by waiting for free-agents to sign with the Clippers. He should have kept the last end of his deal and not opted out if he was truly sincere about wanting to bring in free-agents. The best idea probably would have been to stay with his deal and finish out the last year and produce, and then become more active in the market next year. Although there will be no shortage of free agents next year, Brand still could have gotten the money he deserved if he played well this next season. I'm not surprised if Elgin Baylor is hesitant to knock on Sterling's office and ask him to cut a few checks worth $120 million dollars. Nevertheless, the Clippers will probably keep him on a long term deal, but this trade from a TrueHoop reader is intriguing. No one expected him to do this, but maybe he is unsure of how he will come back after the injury and wants to lock up as much guaranteed money as he can.

Corey Maggette is the next player the Clippers have to deal with. He made $7 million this past season and there have been rumors of him going back to play with the team he played for his rookie year, the Orlando Magic. Maggette is an extremely frustrating player. He is ridiculously athletic, but does not use it to his advantage consistently. He was the highest scoring Clipper this season with a 22.1 ppg average. He also logged 5.6 rebs and 2.7 assists. Those numbers are not bad and Maggette is right to be asking for money. Maybe it is frustrating to watch Maggette play because he has not been in the right system that allows him to use his athleticism to his full advantage. When he first came into the league he had flashes of greatness, but it seems that Maggette has spent his entire NBA career in mediocrity that it has become a habit for him now. A change would suit Maggette, and his talents and size would be great assets for most NBA teams. Expect the 6ers to make hard runs at Brand and Maggette. Maggette is probably more of a possibility for a Philadelphia considering how much money they have (around $11.5 million) to throw at Maggette as well. It doesn't make much sense for Philly to acquire Maggette since he plays the same position as Andre Iguodala which would give Philly two super-athletic players at the 3 who underachieve. There will be a lot of other teams interested in Maggette's services including the Suns who reportedly have the most interest in him and will probably explore a sign-and-trade involving Leandro Barbosa. Other teams only have the MLE to give Maggette which means about $2 million dollars less in pay.

This does not necessarily speak to Maggette's athleticism, but it shows how quick his reaction time adds up to 1 light year faster than the average joe, and more generally, how an NBA player's reaction time is compared to the average joe. It seems appropriate after a discussion of Maggette.



That takes care of the two big pieces for the Clippers. Looking at their lineup there is a player by the name of Cutino Mobley on the books that got paid $8.3 million this last season and due to make $9.1 million this coming season. It seems like Mobley's bad play can go under the radar because he is playing for a bad team, but a closer looks shows that, he only averages 12.8 ppg, 3.6 rebs, and 2.6 assts. To put that in perspective, he averaged the exact same number of points as Same Cassell did before he went to Boston. The other two categories of rebs and assts are pretty close also. You may say, "well, Cassell overachieved and he handled the ball more than Mobley." Well, Mobley averaged a full 10 minutes more than Cassell, as well as averaged 11.3 field-goal attempts compared to Cassel's 10.6 field-goal attempts, and shot 47.2% from the field which is almost exactly the same as Cassell's 47.3% avg from the field. Mobley is a heavy contract on the team's payroll and is not getting any younger as he will turn 33 on September 1st.

Mobley does not seem to be the Clipper's biggest problem. Mobley will squeeze out every penny of that $42 million dollar 5 year contract with the Clippers, but he still has potential to produce at numbers like 15ppgs with a few dishes and a couple more boards IF he gets the right point guard. That seems to be the biggest hole for the Clippers. The injury to Shaun Livingston was tragic, but I think that every basketball fan is pulling for him to make a full recovery. His status is still up in the air and it seems unlikely that he will be able to produce like the emerging star pre-injury, and probably will not get signed by a team during this free-agent period. Their starting guard, the Stanford legend, Brevin Knight, has had to carry the load. Unfortunately, putting the weight of the playoffs on the aging guard's shoulders is asking a little too much. Knight has always only been a backup point guard at best in the league and has never been able live up to a starter role. The next mistake of the Clippers was signing Smush Parker. You would think that being arena roommates with the Lakers would allow them to see just how bad Smush Parker is. Even if that didn't help, the fact that Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, two of the best "personality handlers" in the history of the league couldn't deal with him, what would make any Clipper official think Mike Dunleavy could? His whopping 6.4 ppg and 3.4 assts in his 19 games in Clipper colors was probably enough to show the Clippers just how bad signing him was, but Clipper fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing he is gone now. There was always Dan Dickau though right? The drafting of Eric Gordon should help the Clipper's problems in the backcourt a little bit, but Gordon is more of a combo guard and it is a little much to expect him to be the franchise point guard. I think Gordon will be a solid NBA player, but not in the next year or two.

The two bright spots for the Clippers are their center, Chris Kaman, and their young prospect Al Thornton. There is no real backup for Kaman unless you think Tim Thomas is a credible center, the Clippers need to address that gap. With the right players, Kaman can be one of the top 5 centers in the league. He is an incredible asset that logs the most minutes on the team at 37.2 minutes per game with 15.7 ppg and 12.7 rebs a game. Thornton is a very good player that will find a spot on an NBA roster for many years to come. He still has a lot of work to do, and needs to increase his 4.5 rebs per game and overall defense in order for him to be an all-around solid player.

The work for the Clippers in the front court is basically done if they can resign Brand and Maggette, but the backcourt problem for the A guy like Baron Davis changes the whole complexity of the Clipper's back court. They are now a serious threat in the Western Conference, and the arms race in the Western Conference continues, and it seems like the Lakers have some big competition now. This offseason just got very interesting. It seems like there is spillover from all the big name movement during the season into the offseason.

Links:

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this, but when you win the championship blowing those bonuses in Vegas while hanging out with the boxer of the hour, doesn't seem so bad.



Chris Douglas-Roberts could have been a first-rounder but he didn't go to some workouts. He even didn't workout out for his home town team, the Pistons! Obviously a player can't make every workout he is invited to, but at least go to one or two below where you are projected to be drafted. It is time that the NBA move to an NFL combine type system.

Fellow blogspot site, Basketbawful, has some great stuff on their site. They posted an amazing NBA fact yesterday about a really shady triple-double by the Magic's Anthony Bowie. Of course, Shaq backed the decision up too.

Speaking of Shaq, this is a great freestyle SLAM's Russ Bengtson put up of a possible Kobe freestyle response to Shaq's antics last week. It is...looong.

The "Everytime-Jay-Bilas-says-'long'-and-'upside'-we-take-a-drink" game was brought to Jay Bilas' attention and he promptly stopped using those words and started using some other interesting synonyms.

China hates Yi Jianlin at nightclubs because it puts their Olympic gold medal in basketball at stake. Someone should inform them that they have a -100 to 0 chance at winning the medal this year. I'd put their shots of medaling at about -30 to 0.

Picture Sources: sportingnews.com (first), ballhype.com (second), sportsillustrated.com (third), nba.com (fourth), realgm.com (fifth), clippers.topbuzz.com, slamdunkcentral.com (seventh)

Izzy