The NBA All-Star Weekend this year could have been easily called “The Kyrie Irving Breakout Party” and nobody would have blinked. He dominated the 3 point contest, played an incredible rookie-sophomore game, and proved that he belonged amongst the NBA’s elite in the All-Star game. He was also voted the awesomest guy in the league?
Anyone who had actually watched Irving the last year and half, knew that it wasn’t a question of if he was going to break out and become an All-Star, but when. The fact that he was going to become a household name was inevitable. However, for the majority of NBA players, especially those who aren’t franchise-altering caliber players like Kyrie, achieving this sort of name-recognition status is very difficult.
However, it shouldn’t devalue how important role players are to teams, simply because the casual fan doesn’t know their names. With all the great, young talent in the league right now, there are a few players who have shown the capability to make big impacts on their teams without ever becoming a household franchise name. That’s where this column comes in! Chances are, you haven’t heard the majority of these names unless if A. they play for your favorite team or B. you’re a giant basketball nerd like me and follow a bunch of bloggers on twitter. These seven players have all either shown flashes throughout the year or played well all season long and are proving themselves to be much more than the no-name they were before the season started.
Jimmy Butler, Shooting Guard/Small Forward, Chicago Bulls
Butler is a 6’7” forward in his second year out of Marquette University, where he started his final two years, averaging about 15 points per game. The Bulls drafted him with the final pick of the first round in last year’s draft, with the hopes of getting some decent production as a backup to Luol Deng. He’s done more than that, and when Deng’s contract runs up after the 2013-14 season, Jimmy is the likely replacement. He’s raised his offensive numbers, like the abysmal .408 shooting percentage his rookie year to an impressive .483 this season, as well as bumping his 12.5 PER (player efficiency rating, if you don’t know what this stat is, you’re missing out!) to slightly above the league average at 15.3. Deng was posting very similar numbers his sophomore season as well. But where Jimmy really makes his impact is through his relentless attitude and stingy defense. He’s posting a historically high offensive rebound rate for a player his position at 8.0%, and the Bulls give up fewer points per possession when Butler’s on the court, all per basketball-reference.com. And quite possibly the best part, his teammates love him. Joakim Noah spearheaded a campaign to get him in the rookie-sophomore game, just because he wanted him to get the recognition he deserves. Zach Lowe also recently wrote a blog post about him on one of the best sports sites on the net, Grantland (http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/tag/_/name/jimmy-butler). While Jimmy will never be a dynamic scorer or household name, he has carved out his niche in the NBA for years to come.
Jimmy Butler is playing at a really high level off of the Bulls bench.
Kosta Koufos, Center, Denver Nuggets
It may have taken him five years and three teams, but Kosta Koufos has finally found success in the NBA. Koufos left Ohio State after his impressive freshman year and was drafted by the Jazz with the 23rd pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, although he wasn’t prepared for the rigors the NBA offered. He played in just over half of the Jazz’s games for two years, before he was traded to Minnesota in the Al Jefferson deal. His stint with the T-Wolves lasted only 39 games, before he was apart of the Carmelo Anthony blockbuster and was shipped to Denver, where Koufos has since flourished. Kosta has started every game this year for the Nuggets and is averaging 8.1 points (60% FG), 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in his 22.7 minutes a game average. While he isn’t exactly a stretch player (16 of his 378 shot attempts have come from outside the paint) Koufos offers the Nuggets a true center and size, and while the smaller lineups are trending in the NBA, it’s still essential that every playoff contender has the ability to play big as well. Koufos is a solid defender with an above average PER of 17.4. If Denver makes a big run in this year’s playoffs, which with their current roster I believe they could, Kosta will have an important role. He almost assuredly will never be the main reason the Nuggets win a playoff series, but he certainly could be a vital facet to managing some of the West’s great big men, such as Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, Dwight Howard, and Al Jefferson.
Tobias Harris, Forward, Orlando Magic
Probably the most intriguing of these seven players has to be Tobias Harris, in his second year in the NBA out of the University of Tennessee. Harris was an elite prospect coming out of high school, but was lost amongst a rough year for Tennessee basketball and slipped to 19th in the 2011 NBA Draft, where the Bucks picked him up via a trade with Charlotte. He never really got into the rotation in Milwaukee, which is confusing because he plays the same position as studs Mike Dunleavy and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, but his Per 36 Minutes numbers were impressive his rookie year- 15.6 points and 7.6 rebounds on .467 percent shooting. When Orlando fan favorite J.J. Redick was shipped to Milwaukee, Magic GM Rob Hennigan really wanted Harris in return, and since the Bucks already had that mighty Dunleavy/Mbah a Moute combo I mentioned earlier, they parted ways with young Tobias. This has proved to definitely be a mistake so far. In Harris’s 10 games as a member of the Magic, he’s averaged 15.6 points (with a high of 27 coming in a loss to Houston) and 7.4 rebounds, similar to his rookie year’s Per 36 Minutes numbers, but in only 2 of the 10 games did he cross that 36 minute mark, or even come close to it. Tobias Harris could very well blossoming into the player pundits thought he could be in high school- a scoring point forward player, similar to Lamar Odom or a more ball-dominant version of Shane Battier. Harris stretches the floor (shooting .414 from 3 with the Magic, that number will regress, but still very good), rebounds very well for his size, and shows up in big games (played 40 minutes and put up 17 points and 15 rebounds on the Lakers on 3/12). Tobias still has a good amount of potential to tap into, which will hopefully come as he continues to adjust to the speed of the NBA, however he still lacks the elite athleticism to become a true franchise player. This doesn’t mean he can’t be great, however! Harris’s shooting, shot creation, passing, and strong defense and youth (still only 20) are all the marks of a very important player for a franchise to have, especially one like the Magic that are rebuilding.
Tobias Harris is an incredibly underrated play for the Orlando Magic.
Earl Clark, Power Forward, Los Angeles Lakers
Clark has risen from obscurity in his career to a prominent role on the team with not only the biggest spotlight, but also the largest target on their backs this year. This is Earl’s fourth year in the league and first with LA. He was drafted in the first round by the Phoenix Suns in the 2009 NBA Draft, but rarely played, and was traded to Orlando after two seasons. Clark saw a little more time with the struggling Magic, appearing in 88 games over his two years there while averaging about 12 minutes a night and not doing much else. Then, in the midst of Dwight-steria (that’s Dwight combined with hysteria, if my humor is too high-brow for some of you) Clark was sent along with Howard to the Lakers, where, surprisingly, his playing time has nearly doubled to 23.8 minutes a night. While this is mainly due to LA being ravaged by injuries after already being thin in the frontcourt, Earl has definitely stepped his game up. Nearly all of his statistics are clear career highs, especially his PER, field goal percentage, and win shares. But more than the numerical side, Earl brings two particular elements to a Laker team that is severely lacking in them- youth and fun. Seven players on their roster are 30 or over, and Clark and Jordan Hill are the only players 25 or younger than see significant playing time. The clashing egos of Dwight, Kobe, and Pau have caused tons of tension in the locker room, reminiscent of Kobe’s feud with Shaq, or Kobe’s feud with Phil Jackson, or Kobe’s feud with… anyone, really. But one of the few lights in LA has been Clark, who simply loves playing basketball, and plays hard all the time, which is something that every Laker can’t claim. While Kobe may have one of if not the biggest egos in the league, something that he will always value are those who are relentless workers, like himself. Clark may not be at the same level as Bryant when it comes to that, but it’s still at a strong enough point where Kobe has begun to respect the former Louisville star in a way that he does with few of his other teammates.
Donatas Motiejunas, Power Forward, Houston Rockets
Possibly my favorite player in this column is Motiejunas, playing in his first season in the NBA after he was stashed overseas for another year of grooming following his selection with the 20th pick of the 2011 NBA Draft. That draft class had quite a few intruiging foreign products that were picked, including Enes Kanter (showing promise), Jan Vesely (best known for his hot amazonian girlfriend and his terrible play in Washington), Bismack Biyombo (too early to call), Jonas Valanciunas (not bad), and Nikola Vucevic (we’ll get to him later). Donatas fell behind all of these players because of his slight frame and apparent work ethic, but proved his critics wrong his last year in Europe, dominating the Polish League and leading his team to the title. He was acquired by the Rockets in a draft-day trade that also sent Jonny Flynn to Houston from the T-Wolves, who was cut soon after. Motiejunas didn’t see the floor very often at first, as he had to adjust to the strength of the NBA, but there are few better teams for him to fall into than the Rockets. Thanks to, as Bill Simmons lovingly calls him, Dork Elvis (aka Houston GM Daryl Morey), the Rockets have established an exciting team of 3-point shooters focused around two shot creators (Harden and Lin) and a reliable rebounder/big man defender Omer Asik. With Lin, Harden, Parsons, and Asik they have a very strong core to build around, but they’ve been lacking the right personnel at the power forward spot. It appears that Royce White won’t work out, Patrick Patterson was average but not the right fit, and Terrance Jones has shown promise but is probably too undersized to play a consistent 4. Following Morey’s hijacking of Thomas Robinson from Sacramento, it appeared that he would be the power forward of the future, however his low-post heavy game and lack of outside shooting don’t quite fit with what Houston wants to do. They can’t have two big men clogging the lane at the same time if they want to make James Harden and Jeremy Lin as effective as possible, which is where Donatas comes in! In his 18th game of the year, he finally went over the 10 minute mark, when he scored 13 points in 15 minutes in a loss to the Clippers on February 13th. In his previous 8 games, he’s crossed the 20 minute mark 5 times, and Rockets’ coach Kevin McHale is finding it harder and harder to have him leave the court, even supplanting him in the starting lineup recently. His Per 36 Minute numbers are very impressive, coming in at 19.9 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting .523 percent from the field and .341 from behind the arc. Donatas has steadily been improving his post work against much stronger players while still providing his primary asset- the ability to stretch the floor from the 4 position and knock down long range jumpers. While he hasn’t exactly been a lockdown defender on defense, he hustles hard and puts forth strong effort, which relieves some worry that he could be the next Andrea Barfnani. That was a real typo, and I was going to change it, but it seems fitting. Keep in mind that this is a small sample size we’re working with here, this is contingent on Donatas working hard on keeping his jumper consistent, developing some moves to get his shot off, and progressing on defense if he wants to be a truly productive started in the league. For every Dirk there’s tons of Darko’s and Nikoloz’s.
Mr. Donuts has been producing in his limited minutes for the Rockets.
Larry Sanders, Center, Milwaukee Bucks
Excuse me, I spelled his name wrong. It’s actually LARRY SANDERS! If you follow any NBA writers on twitter, you’ve likely seen that pop up on your feed multiple times. It was originally started because Larry has made so many “oh my GOD did that just happen?!?!?!” plays this year that you can’t just type out his name normally, you need to be yelling and pounding your keyboard to get the full effect of Sanders. In his three years in the league, that’s something he’s always been able to do. Even as a rookie, Larry averaged 3.0 blocks per 36 minutes,an astounding number. This season, in 26.6 minutes a game, he’s leading the entire league with 3.2 blocks per game, and has an off-the-charts 8.7 block percentage. As a comparison, Dwight Howard’s highest block percentage ever was 6%, and that was the year he won his second of three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2010. He is also 4th in the NBA in defensive rating at 97.3. Basically, YOU CAN’T SCORE ON LARRY SANDERS!!! The 15th overall pick in the 2010 Draft from Virginia Commonwealth University is also coming along on offense, where he’s learned to limit his bad shots and play to his strengths. His PER, which mainly takes into account a player’s offensive ability and not defense, has jumped from 13.3 last year to 18.5 this year. Sanders is 24 years old, so he likely won’t develop a lot more to his offensive repertoire, but when you play defense like he does, being raw offensively can slide.
Nikola Vucevic, Center, Orlando Magic
Another Rob Hennigan acquisition and teammate of Tobias Harris, Nikola Vucevic was acquired from the Sixers in the Dwight Howard trade. Like Harris, he’s come on very strong with his new team. In three years, it’s quite possible that the team that received what looked like one of the worst returns for a superstar ever will actually be the team that wins the Howard megatrade. Vucevic was born in Switzerland but immigrated to the US and went to high school in the LA area, where he stuck around to go to college at USC. He was then picked with the 16th pick in the 2011 Draft, and had a fairly productive first season in Philly, but has flourished with playing time in Orlando. Nikola is playing 32.6 minutes a night while scoring 13.5 points and nabbing 12.6 rebounds, good for top in the NBA. He’s been one of the few consistencies for the Magic this season, posting 37 double-doubles in 65 games so far this season, and has also played huge in big games. In Orlando’s first matchup against Miami this season, he had 20 points and 29 rebounds, and when they played again on March 6th, Nikola had another 20-20 night, this time 25 points and 21 boards. His PER has risen to 17.1, up from 14 a year ago, and he has an incredibly high defensive rebound rate (obviously) of 27.1%. Both Vucevic and Tobias Harris are only going to get better, and they offer the Magic a potentially very exciting young core that could lead to success down the road, even if it may be a long ways to go still.
Full-time University of Nebraska-Omaha student, hotel front desk worker, speech and music nerd, overall swell guy. Add me on facebook or follow me on twitter @KidCutskey
