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Eddy Curry Photo Credit: Jeff Zalavansky/Icon SMI
Some guys just make you cringe when they’re on the court. Maybe they’re the kind of selfish, I’m-going-to-get-mine type of player who bogs down the offense and shoots the rock every time it’s passed to him. Or perhaps their lack of defensive presence gives new meaning to the term “swinging door.” Whatever the reason, the following 10 players have proven over the first quarter or so of the NBA season that their mostly ineffective performance does not warrant the 20+ minutes they’re getting most nights.
Sebastian Telfair, PG, Minnesota Timberwolves: Credit T’Wolves GM Kevin McHale for finding a capable backup at point guard for Randy Foye, who in his second NBA season is still facing significant questions about his durability and has yet to see the court. It’s not easy landing a PG who’s capable of stepping right into the rotation and averages 14.2 points (45% FG), 4.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in his first 20 starts. The only problem is that I’m talking about Beno Udrih, who was acquired in the offseason for a future second-round pick, promptly waived by McHale, and then quickly snapped up by the Sacto Kings, where he’s flourished filling in for the injured Mike Bibby.
With huge upside guys like Michael Doleac and Antoine Walker already on the roster, apparently there just wasn’t enough room for Udrih. Instead, the 4-26 Wolves have rolled with fourth-year underachiever Sebastian Telfair in the stead of Foye. Still only 22 years of age, Telfair is a walking blackhole on offense, often pushing it up the court when he should be slowing it down, committing turnovers at inoppurtune times, and shooting way more than a career 39% shooter should be. He’s also attempting about 1.5 three-pointers a game despite sinking them at just a 25% clip. On most any other team, Telfair is averaging a “DNP – Coach Decision,” not 32 minutes/per.
Eddy Curry, C, New York Knicks: No Knickerbocker is impervious to the Fog of Suck that has manifested Madison Square Garden this season, Isiah Thomas’ franchise center included. A year removed from his best statistical season in which he averaged nearly 20 points, 7 boards, and 57% from the field, Curry’s play thus far has been uninspiring, to say the least. Having seen him up close at a few Knicks games, I can say that he’s probably in the worst shape of his seven-year career, and his continued lack of commitment on the boards and on defense is troubling for a man gifted with such natural-born physical tools. There’s no reason for him to average less than 10 boards and 1 block/per. Sadly, he does lead his team in blocks with 0.5 despite recording just 3 blocks, total, in the month of December. Yessir, Matt Buser’s “Eddy Curry Line” (players qualify by averaging more turnovers than assists, steals, and blocks combined) is alive and well.
Curry’s minutes have dwindled over the past few weeks, and though there aren’t really many other options in the middle for the Knicks, that’s probably the way it should be. The word “accountability” is rarely applied around MSG these days, but scapegoats are always in short supply and Curry has, at least, earned the honor of becoming one in The Big Apple’s ongoing three-ring circus.
Shaquille O’Neal, C, Miami Heat: Long dubbed the “NBA’s Most Dominating Player,” O’Neal is in the midst of one of the worst seasons of his 16-year career. Currently out with a hip injury, the not-so-lovable lug is averaging less than 10 shot attempts through 29 games; if that trend were to continue, this would mark the first time he’s ever finished with less than 12. Some of that certainly has to do with his teammates’ failure to get him the ball (as he’s so fond of pointing out when faced with criticism or questions about his declining offensive game), but it’s also a product of his own inability to stay out of foul trouble. Over a one-week stretch late in December, O’Neal fouled out of six games straight.
It also looks like this will mark Shaquille’s third-straight season of averaging less than 10 rebounds and 2 blocks a night, and the 3 turnovers are the most since his rookie year with Orlando back in 1992/93. With Alonzo Mourning’s career over, the Heat don’t have many other options outside of Mark Blount and third-year undrafted free-agent Earl Barron, and O’Neal’s gargantuan ego would never accept a backup role when healthy. But facts are facts: the big man has made little positive impact for his team this season during the 28 minutes a night he’s played.
Earl Watson, G, Seattle SuperSonics: The Sonics are going nowhere this season, so Priority One should be focused on developing the players who could play a part in the team’s long-term plans. Watson doesn’t seem to fit that profile. Now in his seventh NBA season and in his second tour of duty in Seattle (the team drafted him in the second round of the ’01 draft), Watson is erratic from the field and a pushover on defense, but has spent most of the season in the team’s starting lineup. Granted, this likely has a lot to do with injuries to Luke Ridnour and Delonte West, but with both now getting close to returning to full strength, it’s time for Watson to take a back seat.
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Kwame Brown Photo Credit: Jeff Lewis/Icon SMI
Kwame Brown, C, Los Angeles Lakers: Oh, Phil Jackson, you are such a kidder. The Lakers coach recently intimated that he’d consider restoring Brown, who recently returned to the active lineup after missing a solid month due to injury, as his team’s starting center now that he’s (temporarily) healthy again. Since we’ve all seen Andrew Bynum establish himself as a shot-blocking, nightly double-double force in the paint, we’re assuming that’s just Phil being Phil and trying to keep his emerging big man grounded.
During his first 6 1/2 seasons in the NBA, Brown has failed to ever equal what Bynum has done in 07/08. He averaged double digits in points just once and has never pulled down more than 7.5 boards/per over the course of a full season. Brown is a decent rotation player off the bench, but he and Chris Mihm should be getting about an equal split of minutes behind Bynum (read: less than 20). Mihm is still struggling to find his game from ankle surgery last season, but all things equal there isn’t much difference between these two.
Darko Milicic, PF/C, Memphis Grizzlies: This was supposed to be the year Darko put it all together. A starting job lining up next to an All-Star caliber player in Pau Gasol was practically given to him in the offseason, and the early returns were positive. In his first seven games, Potty-Mouth Milicic hit double digits in rebounds three times and averaged over 2 blocks a night. The kid actually resembled the legitimate big-man prospect he was once touted as more than the Human Victory Cigar he morphed into during his time with the Pistons.
Then came an injury, which forced him out of action for seven games. Then those two characteristics–mediocrity and apathy–that have defined his early NBA career suddenly remanifested itself like Centi Eel in First Officer Chekov. Milicic lost his starting job (and shooting touch), lost his confidence, and since December 15 has averaged 4 points and just under 5 rebounds/per. The Grizzlies don’t have much choice but to try and let the seven-footer play through this rough patch, but we have our doubts about his ability to keep his head in it and turn it back around. Darko still seems to think he deserves minutes just because he’s Darko.
Kyle Korver, SF, Utah Jazz: Three-point shooting specialists certainly have a place in this league, but Korver has proven that not only is that the role he most excels at, it’s the only one he can handle. Traded to Utah last week for Gordon Giricek and a protected first-round pick, Korver was shooting a career-low (35%) from three-land in Philadelphia while averaging about 26 minutes a night. Outside of hitting a three here and there, we’re having trouble deducing what else, exactly, he was doing out there for all that time because he’s (almost) J.J. Reddick-bad on defense, doesn’t rebound, cannot consistently create his own shot or get to the hole, and isn’t a particularly great shooter from inside the arc.
His minutes figure to dip below 20 in Utah with guys like Ronnie Brewer and the improving C.J. Miles in the mix at shooting guard and AK-47 holding it down at the small forward spot. When the team is in a pinch and needs a spot-up shooter on the floor who’s capable of sinking the long ball, Korver can be that guy. Otherwise, he just doesn’t have much value.
Tim Thomas, F, Los Angeles Clippers: It really is time for the Clippers to unleash first-round pick Al Thornton and get him much more than the 17 minutes or so he’s been getting thus far in his rookie season… and it should come at the expense of Thomas. Currently out with a sprained knee–Thomas has never played a full season since entering the league in 1997–this guy is playing a whopping 32 minutes/per through 25 games despite flirting with the worst shooting percentage of his career (37.8%) and averaging less than 1 steal and block combined. We’re also having trouble figuring out why coach Mike Dunleavy has allowed this career 37% long-ball shooter to chuck up nearly 6 three-point attempts a night. Soon to be on the wrong side of 30, Thomas just doesn’t have much long-term value for a team that will likely miss the playoffs this year. When he returns to the active roster, he should do so from the bench.
Ricky Davis, G/F, Miami Heat: When this season officially becomes a total wash for the Heat–and it’s certainly on the verge of throw-in-the-towel time with their record now hovering at 8-23–then every effort should be made to find a new home for Davis. If that fails, then at the very least this free-agent-to-be should be relegated to a supporting role while youngsters Dorell Wright and Daequan Cook are given as many minutes as possible to develop and show the team they belong in the team’s rebuilding plans. It’s not that Davis is an awful player, it’s just that outside of scoring on a high volume of shots he doesn’t contribute much else. And the Heat already have a high-volume, much-more-effective scorer named Dwyane Wade. There’s something wrong if Miami’s struggles continue through January and Davis is still averaging over 36 minutes a night.
Sasha Pavlovic, G/F, Cleveland Cavaliers: Maybe the Cavs should have let Pavlovic walk to another team or play overseas after all. Through 28 games, the fourth-year swingman is averaging a career-low from the field (just 33.8%) and is enduring a particularly bad stretch over his last 9, putting up just 4.8 points on 24% shooting. There’s a bit of a logjam of mediocrity at the shooting guard spot in Cleveland with Larry Hughes, Devin Brown, and 2006 first-round pick Shannon Brown all available, a situation which figures to negatively affect the 26 minutes a night Pavlovic is currently seeing, especially if his struggles continue.
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