NBA's Best and Worst Individual Performances of November
It's been a tale of two seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers' most recent superstar arrivals.
LeBron James has—for the most part—been himself. Aside from a couple of rough outings from the field and a few extra turnovers, he's doing the things we expect from a four-time MVP.
Kevin Love, however, is off to a rocky start. He may be a sidekick in his new role alongside James and point guard Kyrie Irving, but the Cavaliers need more from him. Given this club's potential and ambitions, the pressure is on in a way it never was with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With October's handful of games and November coming to a close, it's time to separate the hot starts from some of the more forgettable ones. To be clear, the worst performers on this list aren't the worst players in the league by any stretch. To the contrary, they're good players who had a bad month. They're the struggles we actually care about.
In no particular order, here's a look at the best and worst November's NBA stars had to offer.
Best: Anthony Davis
1 of 10
It's increasingly scary to think about just how good 21-year-old big man Anthony Davis could be. He carried the injury-plagued New Orleans Pelicans a season ago, and he now appears poised to lead the way to their first postseason appearance since 2011.
The third-year veteran is posting career-high numbers across the board, averaging 24.9 points, 11.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in 36.5 minutes through his first 15 appearances. He ranks first league-wide in average blocked shots, third in scoring per contest and sixth in rebounds per game.
Davis is also making a ridiculous 55.7 percent of his field-goal attempts, which is all the more impressive in light of his expanding mid-range game. He's leading the league with an absurd 33.3 player efficiency rating, according to Hollinger Stats.
The Kentucky product opened his season with a 26-point, 17-rebound and nine-block outing against the Orlando Magic. And the video-game numbers didn't stop there. He tallied 43 points and 14 rebounds against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 22 and has put up big numbers on several occasions—scoring at least 30 points four times.
Already perhaps the best two-way big man in the game, it seems to be only a matter of time before he walks away with the Maurice Podoloff Trophy. That's how reigning MVP Kevin Durant sees it.
"I know how good he's going to be," Durant told reporters after a Team USA practice in July. "I know how good he is now, but I know how good he's going to be. He's an MVP-caliber player. So he's next. He's next in line—a guy that has grown so much in just a year. I'm excited to see what he does from here."
Davis' MVP fortunes may largely depend on the Pelicans' success, as Bleacher Report's Thomas Duffy recently noted. Qualifying for the playoffs would help his case, but the more wins, the better.
However the award races shake out, Davis has already drawn widespread critical acclaim and has firmly established himself one of the league's 10 best players—perhaps a top-five or even top-three talent by some estimates. His ability to dominate games on both ends of the floor is virtually unmatched, especially when accounting for his penchant for rim protection.
As good as Davis' November has been, the rest of his season may be even better.
Worst: Lance Stephenson
2 of 10
To his credit, Lance Stephenson is still playing with the kind of energy and physicality that put him on the map, averaging career-best marks of 7.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists. The Charlotte Hornets needed someone who could make plays and play hard. They got that.
But the Hornets also need another scoring option to complement center Al Jefferson and point guard Kemba Walker, who are currently combining to score 34.0 of Charlotte's 93.6 points per game. At the moment, Stephenson is only adding 9.6 points to that team average and making a horrendous 36.7 percent of his field-goal attempts in the process.
He's already finished with just one made field goal on three occasions this season, struggling mightily to find his rhythm at the outset of his post-Indiana Pacers career.
Odds are Stephenson will get it together in time.
As ESPN.com's Michael Wallace recently noted, "A combination of preseason injuries and struggles since then to find his rhythm and a consistent role in Clifford's offense has made Stephenson's transition much more difficult than some anticipated."
Perhaps we should be patient. And perhaps we should have tempered our expectations in the first place.
"To be fair, one of the things that's made it more difficult for him is that he came here and people proclaimed him as the next superstar," head coach Steve Clifford told reporters this week. "He's not a star. He's a guy that has talent to become a star. To be a star in this league, you have to do it over years."
To that end, Stephenson has a ways to go. But at least he's put an apparent stop to those ear-blowing antics.
Best: LeBron James
3 of 10
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been nothing short of disappointing so far. And LeBron James is making just 47.4 percent of his field-goal attempts, a low he hasn't reached since his first go-round with the Cavs during the 2004-05 campaign. He made a gaudy 56.7 percent of his attempts a season ago.
Still, James has been the best thing this club has going for it, and there's no question he's still playing at a ridiculously elite level. He's putting up 24.9 points, 7.2 assists and 5.8 rebounds through 15 games and is either scoring or assisting on 15.9 of Cleveland's 37.3 buckets per game.
Even with stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving at his side, James seems to be as necessary as ever. Cleveland's ability to turn things around and vie for a title may depend as much on his leadership as his production.
Assuming the Cavaliers do figure things out, James could be well on his way to a fifth MVP award.
Worst: Kevin Love
4 of 10
Kevin Love's transition to the Cleveland Cavaliers hasn't gone as smoothly as it has for James.
He's averaging just 17.3 points per contest, down nearly nine full points from the 26.1 he averaged a season ago. He's also making 43.9 percent of his field-goal attempts, below his career mark of 45.1 percent. And somehow he's only collecting 9.5 rebounds per contest despite averaging 35.2 minutes.
To put that in perspective, he averaged 15.2 rebounds per contest in 2010-11 when given similar playing time.
You have to believe a player this good will sort things out, as his 28-point explosion against the Indiana Pacers on Nov. 29 would suggest. However, the 26-year-old scored fewer than 15 points in six games this month, including an eight-point outing in a 91-78 loss to the Washington Wizards.
Two days before that, he only posted 10 points in a 92-90 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
"It's come to a point where I'm just trying to find myself in this offense," Love told reporters after the Spurs game. "It's almost related to when you come into the league; usually the guys that dominate the ball so much tend to learn a lot quicker than a guy like myself, a big man. So I'm just trying to find different spots in the offense.
"I'll just say we're 10 games in, we're looking at different stuff. I need to find myself. I think everybody knew coming in that we'd have to sacrifice, but at some point we're going to need some low-post scoring and some outside shooting."
Indeed, Love's production is bound to suffer now that he's surrounded by credible scoring options.
As CBSSports.com's James Herbert put it this month, "It was obvious he'd get fewer touches and shots given the players surrounding him, but it's important to keep him feeling involved and engaged. He's arguably a top-five player in the league, but he's not playing like one."
Striking that usage balance will be a collective endeavor, but Love will have to do his part. At the moment, he's still adjusting.
Best: DeMarcus Cousins
5 of 10
If there's a rival to Anthony Davis' status as the game's next great big man, it's almost certainly Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins.
Through his first 15 games, the 24-year-old is averaging 23.5 points and a league-leading 12.6 rebounds per contest. He's also posting a career-best 51.2 field-goal percentage, doing a whole lot of damage in a relatively modest 32 minutes per game.
More importantly, the Kings have gotten off to a solid 9-7 start, thrusting themselves into a race with the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans to leave the rebuilding ranks and join the playoff conversation. The Suns almost did just that with 48 wins a season ago, highlighting just how narrow the margin of error is for Western Conference postseason hopefuls like Sacramento.
Cousins' emergence as a legitimate franchise player gives the Kings a fighting chance.
Worst: Josh Smith
6 of 10
Josh Smith's November has more or less been a continuation of his 2013-14 campaign, and that's not a good thing.
He's making what would be a career-worst 38 percent of his field-goal attempts through his first 16 games, a decline from the already painful 41.9 percent mark he set a season ago. All this from a guy who actually made over 50 percent of his attempts with the Atlanta Hawks back in 2009-10.
Smith's 12.9 points per contest would also be his lowest output since 2005-06, just his second season in the league. Keep in mind that he's still just 28 years old. It's way too soon to even think about his decline.
For what it's worth, Smith is averaging a career-best 4.6 assists per game, and that's encouraging. If he can make some plays on both ends of the floor, the Detroit Pistons will take it. But they probably won't go far without Smith establishing himself as a more consistent scoring option.
Best: Stephen Curry
7 of 10
As exceptional as Klay Thompson's month has been, Stephen Curry's has been even better. The Golden State Warriors are firing on (almost) all cylinders, and head coach Steve Kerr's hot start is heavily indebted to his starting backcourt.
Curry scored a season-high 40 points on Nov. 25 in a 114-97 victory over the Miami Heat, replacing Ray Allen as the all-time leader in games with at least five three-pointers and five assists.
"That's the fastest release I've ever seen," Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game. "You try to do as much as you can [defensively]."
It was an achievement that speaks to the 26-year-old's well-roundedness at the point. He may be the best shooter in the game, but he's an exceptional facilitator as well—as evidenced by his 30 points and 15 assists in a 136-115 win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 16.
Through 15 games, the sixth-year veteran is averaging 24.3 points (fifth league-wide) and 7.6 assists (also fifth league-wide) per contest. He's also recording a career-high 5.4 rebounds and two steals per game.
If the Warriors build upon their scorching 13-2 start, it will be increasingly difficult to exclude Curry from the MVP conversation. He may be replacing—or at least rivaling—Chris Paul as the game's model floor general.
Worst: Chandler Parsons
8 of 10
Having signed a three-year deal worth at least $45 million this summer, Chandler Parsons will henceforth be subjected to the kind of scrutiny typically applied to guys making the big bucks. He may be on the verge of stardom, but his first month with the Dallas Mavericks left something to be desired.
He's scored eight or less points on four different occasions and is averaging just 14.4 points through 18 games. The former second-round draft pick is only making 41.2 percent of his field-goal attempts and 32.4 percent of his attempts from beyond the three-point arc—both down markedly from his career averages.
The Mavs are still playing great basketball, and it's hard to imagine Parsons' slump lasting all season.
This is no time to panic, but there's still plenty for Parsons to prove.
Best: Jimmy Butler
9 of 10
After making 18 of his 20 free-throw attempts en route to 32 points in a 114-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Jimmy Butler drew some serious praise from Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau.
"He's been incredible," Thibodeau told reporters of Butler after the game. "He's a star, and he does it on both ends of the floor. He's just an amazing player. We've had him play the point, we've had him play the 2, the 3, and tonight he played the 4.
"And he hasn't had any opportunity to practice the 4. So he just got out there, he's smart, he's tough, he does whatever the team needs, and he found a way to help lead us into coming back and having a shot at the end."
Butler was unsurprisingly modest in comparison.
"I'm not a star," he said. "I'm a good role player on a really, really good team. A really, really deep team. I like role players. 'Star' has never been next to Jimmy Butler's name, it never will be. I'll always be just an under-the-radar dog."
The 25-year-old has become a constant for a team that's dealt with various injuries to Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah. Through 14 appearances, he's averaging 21.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and three assists per contest while making 49.2 percent of his shots. Should he maintain those numbers, they would all be career bests.
Worst: Kobe Bryant
10 of 10
Now for the controversial pick.
Kobe Bryant leads the league in scoring with 26.4 points per contest, and he's almost single-handedly carrying a Los Angeles Lakers team that's off to a painful 3-13 start. And it goes without saying that he's one of the all-time greats who's still playing incredibly well at age 36.
But here are the cold, hard facts about the outset to Bryant's season.
He's only making 38.8 percent of his 23.1 field-goal attempts per game. Even in his career-worst rookie season, Kobe made 41.7 percent of his attempts. His 28.3 percent mark from behind the three-point line is particularly alarming given that he's averaging 5.8 three-point attempts per game.
Apologists will rightly note that Kobe bails the Lakers out of bad possessions. He's the scorer of last resort on a club that doesn't have many options. That will take its toll on a player's efficiency, even when that player is an icon.
Bryant surpassed John Havlicek as the NBA's all-time leader in missed field goals this month, an appropriate accomplishment at a time when the Lakers are hitting rock bottom.
It's worth remembering that Kobe only played six games last season, so he may still be in the process of shaking off some residual rust. Maybe he'll find the range. Maybe Los Angeles will find some answers.
But they found neither in November.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current through Saturday, Nov. 29.
