I like to think I live a pretty simple life. There are very few things that upset me. But there are certain moments where I am left to question what the future holds. Maybe you had a Lana Del Ray-inspired summer heartbreak that no amount of Drake‘s Take Care spins could fix. At this point you’re probably thinking, “Why is this on a basketball website?” or “Wait, did I accidentally hit 17 Magazine instead?” Don’t worry. I had a reason.
This past year we saw some amazing performances (Carmelo, LeBron, KD, Kyrie come to mind), but we also saw some who left their coaches and GMs wondering “What Happened?” The difference between us and them, however, is I can’t see Tom Thibodeau going home and blasting “Marvin’s Room” after Carlos Boozer submits a 3-for-15 shooting night.
So which players left us the most disappointed after last season? Let’s take a look at five and what they can do to get back in our good graces this year.
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DANNY GRANGER
Granger disappointed last year, injury or not. From 2008-2011, Granger averaged 25, 24 and 20 points per game. He continued his drop the following season (18.7 ppg) but most attributed that to the addition of David West and the improved play of Roy Hibbert and Paul George. But did anyone, outside of Lamar Odom (no jokes needed), gone through a bigger decline the past year? Granger went from semi All-Star to possible sixth man (or maybe even role player). The former All-Star and MIP averaged 5.4 points and shot 29 percent from the field (and 20 percent from deep) in the five games he attempted to play post-injury. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on those games, but will he return to his 2009 All-Star form? Or has patellar tendinosis (a degenerative knee condition) robbed him of all his athleticism? We’re about to find out.
WHAT CAN HE DO?
First of all, he needs to get back to 100 percent health. Secondly, if Granger is the same player he once was (I have serious doubts) then suddenly the Pacers somehow got even better. If he has become only league average, he can still play a role for them, but only if he’s willing to accept the changes. If he is unwilling to fully relinquish control of the “best player” role to Paul George, he’s going to find himself without a team.
KENDRICK PERKINS
He was brought in a few years ago to battle Dwight Howard. (He is one of the few to give Howard a hard time, outside of anyone who tweets something mean at him.) But in the changing NBA landscape, Perkins is the equivalent to a dinosaur: a dying breed, a ground-bound big man unable to score outside of the paint and too slow to keep up with the faster big men of today. Perkins minutes decreased again (down to 25.1 a game) and so did his scoring, rebounding and blocking numbers (4.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.1 bpg). If you live in a bubble and haven’t heard, most analysts have been calling for the Thunder to amnesty Perkins to open up cap space to add another scorer. So far, they haven’t pulled the trigger, but the clock is ticking on Perkins.
WHAT CAN HE DO?
Over the past few years, we have seen numerous players develop a respectable midrange game (Andy Varejao and Tim Duncan to name a few), which would allow the Thunder to play Perkins longer. He also can come into camp a few pounds lighter, allowing him to keep up with the changing style of play most teams are switching to (fast pace, lots of shots).
ANDREA BARGNANI
Bargnani has been one of the most overrated players since the Raptors drafted him first overall in 2006, hoping he would be the Italian Dirk. Simply put, last year was a disaster. With a Raptors team suddenly focused on winning and defense, Bargnani never fit in and injuries limited him to only 35 games during which he averaged only 12.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Seriously, when you’re seven-feet, you should grab at least five rebounds a game. Even Eddy Curry did that. He shot under 40 percent from the field and by the end of the year, it almost felt like Toronto management was offering Drake tickets to whichever team took him off their hands. (Two Drake references in one column? Yes NWTS is that good.)
WHAT CAN HE DO?
Well, like the next player on the list, Bargnani might improve simply due to a lesser role on his new team. Playing for the Knicks, he should come off the bench (or play next to Chandler, who can cover his considerable defensive woes) and should benefit from playing with better players. If Bargnani can come anywhere near the level of play he had in 2010 (when he averaged a career-high 21.6 points a night), the Knicks might have found a capable scorer to take the load off of ‘Melo.
JOE JOHNSON
Joe Johnson is one of my favorite players, and having to put him on this list breaks my heart. He’s been in decline ever since he signed back in Atlanta. (Six years, $119 million is too much for anyone outside of LeBron, KD and Kobe of old) He was brought to Brooklyn to be the number two option to Deron Williams, and he hasn’t performed anywhere close to justifying making over $21 million this year. He’s clearly a step slower, and his scoring dropped again, down to 16.3 points a night on 43 percent shooting.
WHAT CAN HE DO?
Well out of everyone on this list besides Michael Beasley, he has arguably the best team now. With Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce joining the team (among others), J.J. will be asked to do a lot less If he’s more efficient, pulls a “Kobe” (meaning, learn to mask your lack of athleticism by developing other areas of your game… namely the part where you post up every guard) and comes to camp motivated to prove he can still play, he should move off this list. Come on Joe, do it for me.
JEREMY LIN
Lin gets this spot as a product of the highly-publicized Linsanity craze that hit the NBA by storm these past few years. Lin is a solid player, but he is nowhere near the level of player his stretch with the Knicks first indicated (where he took over the starting job, put up crazy stats and went 7-0 in his first seven games). Lin eventually came down to earth and we saw the same things we are seeing now. He can only go one way. He’s turnover prone, and he doesn’t have elite athleticism and/or outstanding shooting ability. Who does Lin remind you of? Will he ever be a star? Probably not, but Lin can still carve a niche for himself in Houston as a volume shooter. (He may lose the starting job to Patrick Beverley.)
WHAT CAN HE DO?
For a number of reasons, he reminds me of Tim Tebow. They both are flawed players whose energy and heart brought them to near superhero status for a short period. Over the course of the season, their weaknesses begin to show more and more. They wouldn’t admit it, but the Rockets probably wish they didn’t offer Lin such a fat, backloaded contract now that Howard has arrived. Lin needs to turn the ball over less to stay in the rotation in Houston.
AUSTIN RIVERS
Rivers is more of a casualty of high expectations rather than simply being a disappointment. Actually, after submitting a rookie year with the following statistics — 6.2 ppg, 2.1 apg and some of the worst defense in the league — Rivers belongs at the end of this list. He did go into the season with unreasonably high expectations after getting drafted 10th by the Hornets. The son of former Celtics coach/new Clippers coach Doc Rivers, Austin has been in the public spotlight since his senior year in high school (when his cocky highlight reel appeared on YouTube). Rivers went through the typical rookie struggles adjusting to the speed and effort level the NBA game demanded. He had quite a few games where he scored less than 10 points, and was criticized for his low shooting percentage and high turnover rate.
WHAT CAN HE DO?
With all that being said, I expect to see a much better version of Rivers this season. He reportedly worked hard on his offhand and dribbling during the offseason, and looked like a real pro while playing in the summer league. Finally, towards the end of his rookie campaign, Rivers began to perform better-than-average defense which bodes well for him this upcoming season as a bench scorer for the Pelicans.
GERALD WALLACE
What exactly happened to him? Since breaking out as Charlotte’s only real NBA player during their expansion season, “Crash” had averaged high double-figures in scoring, provided some of the best on-ball defense in the NBA, and was one of the more exciting players to watch due to his energy and hustle.
Something happened last year, as his scoring dipped to only 7.7 ppg, and he shot less than 40 percent from the field and an astonishing low 28.2 percent from beyond the arc. He was in such a funk leading up to/during the playoffs that interim head coach P. J. Carlesimo debated sitting him. I remember watching some of those games live, and opposing teams were literally leaving him completely unguarded from beyond 15 feet. He was a shell of his former self.
WHAT CAN HE DO?
Well, now that he’s a member of the rebuilding Celtics, it’s hard to tell exactly what we are going to see from him. Will he be benched to allow the younger players to play? Or will he be a fixture for them going forward? Right now nobody knows (at least I don’t). What Wallace can really do is to find his shooting touch again (from inside the arc to start), regain some of his lost confidence, and finally get healthy. I have a feeling we are either going to see a bounce-back year from Wallace, or this might be the end of him as a useful NBA player.
MICHAEL BEASLEY
One of my favorite players lands on here. (I honestly don’t have a reason for liking him as much as I do. But come on, everyone has that ONE player you just like for one reason or another. Leave the ganja behind and come back Beasley, do it for me!) In the 2010-2011 season, Beasley looked like he finally had figured out his role for the Timberwolves, where he averaged just under 20 points for them. The following season he played mostly off the bench but seemed like he had a role as their sixth man, in a J.R. Smith-type role averaging 11.5 ppg. (The J.R. sixth man prototype consists of an above average player who can either be the reason you win or lose a game. To qualify you must shoot at least one shot a game that nobody watching live or on TV thinks is going in, and/or must have one boneheaded turnover or foul.) Then, he signed a ludicrous contract with the Suns ($18 million, three years reportedly) where he fell out of the rotation early on, saw a career-low in minutes, and shot a woeful 40 percent from the field when he did play. He also said the following “I just stopped listening to people… My friends, my family, my teammates, the coaches.” That could only have led to coach Lindsey Hunter shaking his head in disbelief. (This happened more often than you would think…)
WHAT CAN HE DO?
Is there really an answer for this one? Beasley has a lot of talent. There aren’t that many 6-9 athletic forwards with 3-point range and tremendous rebounding ability. That being said, Beasley makes every other knucklehead look like a choirboy. Beasley has signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with his original team, the Miami Heat. He could become quite useful for them as a needed scorer for their second unit.
DWIGHT HOWARD and ANDREW BYNUM
I am lumping these two together because they both disappointed in the same way, one more than the other. I’m sure many people would argue that D12 deserves the top spot, but my argument for those people is: at least he played a game. Both went into the season with incredibly high expectations with new teams (Dwight with the Lakers, Bynum with the 76ers), both were expected to lead their respective teams to the playoffs (or in Dwight’s case, the championship), and finally both spent most of the season injured (Howard with back problems, and Bynum with his achy knees). Howard finished the season with averages of 17.1 ppg, 12.4 rpg and 2.4 bpg. With Vino Bryant injured, Howard looked like he might finally be the answer in L.A. as he helped get the Lakers into the playoffs.
Bynum, on the other hand, collected the full $17 million on his contract without appearing in one game. His best statistics are the number of different hairstyles he sported. (Spend five minutes looking these up. You won’t regret it. My favorite is the half braid, half frizz look. I thought about trying that one out on my own.) He changed the 76ers fortunes over one season, as they went from possible contender in the making to a complete rebuild from the ground up that we see today (great move by their new GM, by the way).
WHAT CAN THEY DO?
Let’s start with Howard on this one. First of all, he needs to get healthy. Whether or not Lakers fans want to admit it, the man was playing on a surgically repaired back and an injured shoulder. Secondly, he’s officially out of excuses. It sounds more and more like he really never wanted to be Kobe’s sidekick, and he finally got his way. He is in Houston now, and should make a scary combo with the Bearded Star, James Harden. Howard essentially just needs to “shut up and play” this year.
Bynum could go one of two ways to me. I love the signing by the Cavaliers (two-year contract, second year not guaranteed), which essentially means he has to come to play this year, or he’s gone before LeBron comes home. (My thoughts in one line: This is the only thing left he has to do to get back to being the most loved player again, and anybody who thinks Cleveland won’t accept him back with open arms like a whipped boyfriend is crazy.) He either is healthy this year, and helps form a tremendous core in Cleveland with Irving, Bennett, Thompson and Waiters, or he could be on his way to playing for the veteran minimum. Someone will always be willing to sign a seven-footer (look at Oden), but they won’t be willing to pay him $10 million if he does not come back strong this year.
At this moment, it’s not looking too bright: Bynum is likely to miss all of Cleveland’s preseason.
Which players will have bounceback years this season?
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