| NBA's Most Disappointing Players |
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Diaw's subdued 2006-07 run seems to typify all that's wrong with the players on this list. Flush with a nice contract extension, Diaw came into camp out of shape and has battled injuries all season, indifference for parts of it. All this while struggling to fit in with a team that has (willingly, we're sure) had to adjust to the addition of Amare Stoudemire's 33 minutes, 21 points, and 10 rebounds per game. The most worrisome trait of Diaw's season is his obvious regression to the meek, wannabe point guard we saw for two seasons in Atlanta. The Suns aren't really hurting for easy buckets, but Diaw should be demanding that the ball run through his big mitts more often when Steve Nash isn't running things -- as his shot attempts, assists, points and rebounds per minute are all down significantly from last season. |
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Basketball, more than any other professional team sport, allows players in contract years a chance to significantly alter their financial outlook. Usually this isn't a perk for the team that currently employs the contract-year athlete. But for the New Jersey Nets, who were 22nd in offensive efficiency last season, a revved-up and gunning Vince Carter could do nothing but help the bottom lines for both franchise and player alike. Instead, VC has floated, showing signs of inspired play, but usually preferring to let the game come to him (especially in the fourth quarter, sadly), and let the game stay far, far away from him on defense. |
| 3 |
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Overall, Darko has played better this season than in 2005-06. He's outplayed the guy to whom he was needlessly losing minutes earlier in the year (Tony Battie), and he's still only 21. But these facts don't go far toward explaining away what should have been a breakout year for the Magic forward. Per 40 minutes, Milicic is averaging 13.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks -- solid numbers -- but a step back from the 14.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.9 blocks per 40 he gave the Magic for 30 games last season. Throw in the often listless play, and the idea that the 20-year-old Darko is currently outplaying the 21-year-old version, and you've got yourself a disappointing season. |
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We half-expected Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh to take a blowtorch to the Indiana Pacers last summer. Or, at least try to, anyway -- because trading some of those contracts would have been pretty tough. Instead, they kept nearly everyone, even adding a player (Al Harrington) who spent the first six years of his eight-year career in Indianapolis. And, after passing on Marcus Williams in the first round of last June's Draft, it became obvious that the Pacers' braintrust still thought of the 29-year-old Tinsley as the team's point guard of the future. Tinsley has repaid that support with sub-40 percent shooting, a pitiful (and aggressive, at 2.8 3-pointers per game) outside touch, bad defense -- and, worse, two incidents at local pubs that left observers wondering if Tinsley isn't really the best influence on young shooting guard Marquis Daniels, who tagged along on both nights out. |
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It's pretty obvious what's happened to AK47: he's playing more minutes at small forward, 50 percent of Utah's entire minute allotment at the position, in fact, and he's not that great on the wing. Or, more specifically, he's not as great on the wing when Carlos Boozer is at power forward. With Boozer scoring and rebounding down low, the Jazz are winning, but Kirilenko is struggling through a tough season. Kirilenko isn't seeing the ball as much, and when he does he's actually turning the ball over more (in 16 percent of the possessions he uses, as opposed to 14 percent last season) despite being less involved in the Jazz offense. His three-point shooting (31 percent career entering 2006-07, 19 percent this season) has fallen off the proverbial cliff, his rebounding is down (fewer rebounds to get with Boozer around), and he's well on his way to establishing a career-low in blocks per minute. Could all these back and knee injuries have finally caught up to the relatively young (turned 26 in February) Kirilenko? | |
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