Hollinger Article on Duncan [Archive]

StoneBuddha

01-10-2010, 11:50 AM

NBA regular-season games come pretty fast and furious, and in the tumult sometimes we miss a few details. While certain stories race to the forefront (I can think of a current one in D.C., for instance), others get left behind.

That applies to players' performances, as well. Some exploits have leapt to the fore -- many of you, for example, have already read and heard about Gerald Wallace's outsized rebounding exploits this season. But how many of you have noticed what his teammate, Raymond Felton, has been up to?

The same applies in Sacramento, where Tyreke Evans has deservedly become an attention sponge. However, that has soaked up any ink we might have spilled on equally compelling stories about the play of fellow rookie Omri Casspi or the renaissance of Beno Udrih.

That's where I come in. Today I'm presenting my all "under-the-radar" team. This isn't a list of players who are underrated, per se, but those whose performances this particular season aren't receiving nearly enough attention. To use an example from above, Wallace is underrated in the big-picture sense, but has gained plenty of notoriety for his work on the glass in this particular campaign. On the other hand, two perennial All-Stars are plenty famous in the big-picture sense, but strangely unheralded for what they've done this season. They're the first two players on this list, as you might have guessed, and here it is:

Steve Nash, Phoenix
I think most people realize Nash is having a pretty good season, mostly because the Suns are winning. However, very few people realize he's having the best statistical season of his career, even better than his two MVP seasons.

For a 35-year-old point guard, this is simply extraordinary. Nash's shooting percentage (54.3 percent), points and assists per 40 minutes (22.6 and 13.4, respectively) and player efficiency rating (24.64) are all on pace for new career highs. And his true shooting percentage leads all non-centers with at least 100 shot attempts.

Here's another example of how good he's been: You know the 50-40-90 club, for breaking 50 percent from the floor, 40 percent on 3s and 90 percent from the line? Nash is not only on pace for a third straight season in that esteemed group, but also has a chance to create a new one called "55-45-95" -- he's at 54.3-44.1-94.2 right now.

Tim Duncan, San Antonio
Defensively, I'm not sure he's back to being the monster he was. Offensively? He's crushing. Duncan ranks second only to LeBron James in PER -- with a 27.74 mark that exceeds what he did in his two MVP seasons.

Duncan's 55 percent mark from the floor would set a new career high; his 76.4 percent from the line is the best he's done in eight years. He isn't putting up gaudy per-game numbers because he's averaging only 31 minutes a game, but Duncan's renewed vigor is the primary reason behind San Antonio's quiet creep up to second in the Power Rankings.

Carl Landry, Houston
By all rights, Landry should be the runaway winner of this year's Sixth Man Award. He may, in fact, merit a spot on the All-Star team. He's been Houston's stealth go-to guy, averaging a staggering 25.1 points per 40 minutes off the bench and doing it with spectacular efficiency: Landry shoots 54.2 percent from the field and 86.5 percent from the line.

The only thing that might prevent Landry from winning the Sixth Man trophy is if he claims a spot in the starting lineup. The current arrangement limits him to only 26.9 minutes per game, which is a little odd considering he's been far and away the team's best player. One wonders if replacing Luis Scola or Chuck Hayes with Landry might give the Rockets an extra boost of offensive firepower.

Corey Maggette, Golden State
Everyone dumps on the Warriors for the six-year, $48 million deal they gave Maggette in the summer of 2008, but look a little closer: He's been fabulous this season. He's shooting 53.3 percent from the floor after landing in the low-to-mid 40s for most of his career. Combined with his supernatural skill at drawing fouls, the high mark from the floor gives him a 62.9 TS%, placing him among the league's most efficient scorers.

He scores a lot, too -- 26.1 points per 40 minutes -- while his rebound rate is on pace for a new career high. As a result, he quietly ranks fourth among small forwards in PER behind the holy trinity of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.

And for those of you who complain about the whistles LeBron James and Kobe Bryant get, eat your heart out. I swear to you, nobody gets more superstar calls than Maggette, even though he's nobody's idea of a superstar. It's unbelievable but undeniable once you watch enough Warriors games, and it further pads his astounding free throw totals.

Beno Udrih, Sacramento
Udrih was disastrously bad last season but has been one of the league's most improved players this season. Like a lot of the other players on this list, he's shot the ball much better, hitting 51 percent from the floor and 41.1 percent on 3s. But an equal partner in Udrih's rise has been reducing turnovers. Despite his being mostly a midrange shooter, he had a stubbornly high turnover rate his whole career, losing the trust of coaches in San Antonio and Sacramento.

This season, however, his turnover rate is in single digits for the first time in his career. He's barely there at 9.9, but that number puts him in the top third of point guards and makes it much easier to keep him on the floor for his scoring.

Luke Ridnour, Milwaukee
Brandon Jennings has been only the second-best point guard in Milwaukee this season. Ridnour is having a career season off the bench -- a well-timed one, I might add, since he's a free agent this summer -- and of all the players on this list, he's the one who has exceeded his career norms the most.

Ridnour had never shot better than 41.8 percent from the floor; this season he's at 51.6 percent. He'd made one-third of his career 3-pointers; this season he's at 38.2 percent. He'd barely averaged a point every three minutes for his career; this season it's better than one every two, for a stunning 20.2 per 40 minutes.

Overall, Ridnour's 19.26 PER (sixth among point guards) and pesky perimeter D make him a strong candidate for the Most Improved Player award ... provided anybody notices given all the attention on Jennings' play thus far.

Kevin Love, Minnesota
Love missed the start of the season with a broken bone in his hand, but he's been ridiculously efficient since returning 18 games ago. For starters, he leads all power forwards in rebound rate -- and only Dwight Howard and Greg Oden outrank him leaguewide. Additionally, he's shown himself to be a capable scorer. Love's 19.5 points per 40 minutes make him a solid third option in Minny, especially since he's nearly doubled his assist ratio from last season.

Sum it all up, and his 23.37 PER ranks fourth among power forwards and is just 0.21 from being second. He won't make the All-Star team because his team is bad and his D remains suspect, but at age 21 Love already is an All-Star caliber player.

Andrei Kirilenko, Utah
When focusing on Utah's disappointing results the past two seasons, Kirilenko makes for an easy target. He earns $16.5 million this season and hasn't delivered on his six-year, $86 million deal, operating more as a role player than as a centerpiece. Plus, his lack of fire can be a little disconcerting at times.

That said, he's been the only Utah wing player to do anything of consequence this season. While Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles struggle to play decently at either end, Kirilenko is putting together a second straight solid season off the bench. Unlike the other players on this list, Kirilenko's play hasn't been wildly out of line with his career norms. But his minutes have made an impact -- the Jazz are 6.8 points per 100 possessions better with AK-47 on the floor this season, with the entire difference coming at the defensive end.

Raymond Felton, Charlotte
After four years of making virtually no improvement, I had given up on Felton. But out of the blue he's taken a big step forward in Year 5, mostly because he's finally making shots. Felton had been one of the worst finishers in basketball year after year, but this season he's making better decisions at the rim and converting 47.1 percent from the floor.

As a result, his TS% is above 50 for the first time in his career and his PER is above the league average for the first time, as well. Those two firsts may be joined by another come spring -- a first-ever playoff appearance for both Felton and the Bobcats. As with Ridnour, his timing is impeccable since it's a contract year.

Omri Casspi, Sacramento
David Thorpe stole my thunder on this one, but Casspi has been magnificent as a late first-round steal by the Kings. Mainly, the cause has been his unexpectedly spectacular shooting. He's making 47.1 percent of his 3s despite an odd under-the-chin motion, and he's been solid inside the arc as well (49.8 percent from the floor overall), averaging nearly a point every two minutes.

Additionally, he's been gaining steam of late. Casspi has four straight 20-point games and seven in the last month; he's also yanking down nearly eight boards a game in his past seven contests. Thanks to Evans' exploits, Casspi has little chance of winning Rookie of the Year, even if the vote were held in his own locker room. But it's rare to see an import light it up like this in his first year stateside. As with the other players on this list, it's an accomplishment worthy of more attention than it's received.