Every NBA Team's Most Inconsistent Player

In today's NBA there is one thing that seems to separate a mediocre player from a good player, or even a good player from a great player, and that is the ability for that player to produce night in and night out for his team.

For some guys in the league, their team depends on them more than others to take them on their backs every game and do exactly the same thing, if not more, each night in order to have hope for a win. That consistency that some players in this league display is one of the most valuable traits that someone can have.

However, when you get a guy who can score 30 points in a game, or even in some cases 50 points, but will also have nights where he ends up shooting 3-11 and scoring nine points often as his team stands by and watches him implode, that's when you have a player whose inconsistency has gotten a hold of him and he's developed a habit.

Many players in this league have a problem like that, which is why I think most of the guys in this league are far more complex to evaluate than just looking at them and calling them "good" or "bad" players, because on any given night some guys can set the court on fire or have it melt in a flaming ball around them.

Here is each team's most inconsistent player.

Atlanta Hawks, Willie Green

It seems to me that the guys on the Atlanta Hawks' bench take turns being the best player off the pine from game to game. One night Tracy McGrady will take the reins, another Willie Green will go for it, then Ivan Johnson or even (and this shocked me) Vladimir Radmanovic.

However, Willie Green seems to be the guy that will just be on it one night and have nothing to contribute the next.

Four times this season he's followed a 50 percent shooting night with a sub-40 percent shooting night while playing legitimate minutes in both games.

Boston Celtics, Ray Allen

It's come to this, finally. Ray Allen's age has finally caught up to him.

While it seems that he'll be able to stand on the corner and hit the three every night (his past two games were his first this season where he shot below 33 percent from downtown), the rest isn't coming as easily to him.

Allen is visibly slower off the dribble, he can't play as physically as he once did and his offensive versatility is starting to run thin.

He'll be a good three-point shooter in this league as long as someone wants to give him a contract, but the rest of his game is on a night-to-night basis at this point. 

Charlotte Bobcats, Kemba Walker

I can't bash the young fellow too much, as a rookie point guard is supposed to be inconsistent as all get out.

However, Walker is one of the few players the Bobcats have that plays really well on some nights, giving him higher peaks and, therefore, lower valleys in comparison.

He has his bad shooting nights and his nights where the ball just gets away from him more often, but those nights will start to happen less and less as he gets more experience.

Overall I've got to say that I still enjoy watching the guy.

Chicago Bulls, Ronnie Brewer

It seems that Ronnie Brewer, now that he's playing under a great defensive mind like Tom Thibodeau, has developed a great defensive game, but the other side of the floor isn't coming as easily to him.

He has had 11 games this year where he's scored more than eight points compared to 14 with fewer than eight. It seems like he alternates having poor shooting nights with good ones, which is troublesome at times.

The Bulls don't rely on him for scoring to a large extent, but they still don't know what they'll get from him on any given day.

Cleveland Cavaliers, Antawn Jamison

Initially I had picked someone else to give this dubious honor to on the Cavs, but then I realized what a fool I was being.

I watch this team night after night and there is one guy that stands above the rest in frustrating me more than any other, and that man is Antawn Jamison, for sure.

Jamison puts up points every night, but his real inconsistency comes in his effort. One night he will be active, moving and setting screens and taking the ball to the tin, and others he will be complacent and fine with standing in the corner waiting for the ball to rotate out to him or settle for an 18-foot jumper. 

In other news, does anybody out there want to trade for him?

Dallas Mavericks, Vince Carter

If Vince Carter consistently does anything it's looking like he doesn't give a damn every night of the week. Sure, some nights he'll light up the scoreboard and once shots start to fall he'll start walking with swagger, but at the beginning of each game he has that nonchalant "who cares?" look on his face.

Vince's inconsistency is so consistent that he's only strung together three games of double digit scoring once so far this season. Otherwise, it's been a bad game followed by a good one, followed by another bad and two good.

Denver Nuggets, Andre Miller

First of all, let me establish that the story of the season should be that Al Harrington is not the most inconsistent player on his team. That in itself warrants some kind of recognition.

However, the inconsistency in Andre Miller makes it seem as if age is catching up to him. He has his very good nights and then he has his nights where he can't do much of anything at all, with and without the ball.

The interesting thing, though, is that when he realizes he's having a bad shooting night, he takes fewer shots and usually ends up with higher assist totals, which is probably why he has higher shooting percentages than a year ago.

Detroit Pistons, Jonas Jerebko

As much as I've grown to like the Swedish Meatball up in Detroit, I have to say that he's been horribly inconsistent.

He's had some great games, and when he's on it seem like he can do no wrong, but there are also games where he looks like the Jonas Jerebko of early last year.

Jerebko's games come in a series of peaks and valleys where he'll put up good numbers and shoot over 50 percent for a number of games followed by a few mediocre games and then three or four bad games.

Golden State Warriors, Monta Ellis

It can't make a fan base or a head coach very excited when the guy who is supposed to be the leader of the team is also coming out and being as inconsistent as Monta Ellis is.

When it comes to the Warriors, there are players who get in funks and peaks more often than Monta, but none have the violent changes from night to night in output.

The last five games that the Warriors have played speak for themselves. Ellis put up scoring numbers of 12, 33, 18, 48 and 18 points with each of the high numbers accompanied by a 60 percent shooting night or higher and the low numbers coming with a 43 percent shooting night or lower.

You can't have a winning team when your star player is that inconsistent.

Houston Rockets, Courtney Lee

It seems like the inconsistency with which Courntey Lee plays has come to haunt his career, keeping him from reaching that next level to become a starter, or even have an argument to become a starter.

Lee always seems to give a decent effort on defense, which allows him to stay consistent on defense, but on the offensive end of the floor it's a grab bag of what you'll see on any given night.

He could come out of the night shooting 7-12 with 17 points or he could start missing shots early in the game which makes him timid throughout the rest, leaving him with a stat line something along the lines of 2-6 with four points.

Indiana Pacers, Darren Collison

It seems like Darren Collison has the tools to become a pretty good scoring point guard, but he can't seem to bring the same tools to the job every night.

He's become a very streaky scorer, shooting around 50 percent or so for three nights in a row and then dipping down into the 20s for a few games.

Aside from the scoring deficiencies, his ability to get the offense involved also goes on streaks more than you would expect. In fact, in mid-January he had a streak of games in which he played at least 30 minutes in each where he put up assist totals of three, nine, seven, zero, eight, four, 10 and three. That trend has continued into February as well.

Los Angeles Clippers, DeAndre Jordan

DeAndre Jordan is capable of being both the most ferocious and the most timid player on the court on any given night, which is really mind-boggling considering his size.

Obviously, he's been playing better than he was last season, but the inconsistency is still hanging around like a foul odor.

Jordan has the body and the skill to average a double-double, but those stretches of games where he shoots twice and ends up with two points and four rebounds are really troubling. Perhaps some better coaching would rid him of these troubles.

Los Angeles Lakers, Matt Barnes

It seems that while Matt Barnes has put up similar numbers to last season, he's done so with much more variation in production from night to night. Last season the Lakers pretty much knew that they'd be getting six points from him if they gave him 20 minutes. Now, who knows?

He's had streaks where he just shoots the lights out, shooting over 50 percent for games at a time and putting up double-digit numbers and helping the team win (it's crazy what the Lakers can do with some bench production). However, the games that have him shooting poorly and scoring a few points are occurring even more often than the others.

Memphis Grizzlies, Tony Allen

Tony Allen doesn't quite seem like the player that he was a season ago for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Sure, he's always been wishy-washy offensively, but even his bread and butter, his perimeter defense, has been a bit suspect every now and then for the Grizzlies.

His inconsistency on offense is a given every night, and the Grizzlies don't depend on him for much of that these days, but with some shaky play earlier in the season he was starting to look like the Tony Allen that the Boston Celtics knew, not the one the Grizzlies know.

Miami Heat, Mario Chalmers

Mario Chalmers has his nights where he looks like he could shoot from midcourt with every shot and it would still go in, but those nights come with the ones where he looks utterly helpless.

The funny thing is that he also does this on defense. Sometimes he looks like he could hang with Deron Williams or Chris Paul and on others it looks like he'd get burned by some random backup in the league.

His wild inconsistency leaves me at a loss when it comes to deciding whether or not I actually like his game or not. The jury's still out on that one.

Milwaukee Bucks, Stephen Jackson

It seems pretty obvious as of late that the Milwaukee Bucks are running a much more efficient team without Stephen Jackson. Milwaukee is 4-2, with three double-digit wins when Jackson plays fewer than 10 minutes this year.

His staggering inconsistency has hit them hard, as he'll account for 20-30 points in their offense for six straight games and then disappear entirely for four or five. 

It seems like it would be better if they put him up on the trade block and just readied their team for a day-to-day operation without the "will he or won't he?" dance that surrounds Jackson.

Minnesota Timberwolves, Michael Beasley

Even though he's only played in 15 games for the Timberwolves this season, Michael Beasley still takes the cake for inconsistency in Minny.

He's always taking enough shots to get his points, that much is for sure, but his shooting percentages are so violently wild that it's hard to tell if he's worth keeping around or not at this point.

Since coming back from an injury, Beasley has had shooting percentages that started in the 20s, went up to the 40s, up to the 70s, down back into the 20s, up again into the 50s, down again into the 30s and up again into the 50s.

New Jersey Nets, Anthony Morrow

I have nothing to support this claim, but I think Anthony Morrow has the biggest disparity in highest scoring night and lowest scoring night this season in games in which he plays at least 20 minutes.

Last week in a game against the Timberwolves he finished with 42 points on 13-20 shooting, but he also had a game earlier in the year against the Magic shooting 2-10 and scoring just four points. That's a 38 point difference right there.

It's that type of inconsistency that pretty much sums the Nets up.

New Orleans Hornets, Emeka Okafor

I've always been a fan of Emeka Okafor. I think he plays a delightfully physical game without going over the top and getting too chippy like some big men can do at times in the league, but most aspects of his game are wildly inconsistent.

On multiple occasions this year Okafor has followed up a double-double with a game where he fails to reach double figures in either category. Plus, he's had games this season where he'll shoot the ball just two or three times followed by games where he'll shoot 13 or 14 times.

Of course, the young team that he's playing for isn't exactly conducive to similar results nightly.

New York Knicks, Toney Douglas

The New York Knicks have had quite a few inconsistent players so far this season. Bill Walker is an up-and-down fellow, Iman Shumpert has to be evaluated on a night-to-night basis and who knows what they're going to get from Carmelo at this point.

As he's slowly falling out of favor in D'Antoni's lineup, Douglas is starting to see fewer minutes, but he's played in every game this season for the Knicks besides last night's. However, he has scored fewer than four points seven times already but more than 11 eight times. That's more than half the games they've played right there.

Oklahoma City Thunder, Serge Ibaka

On the one hand, the big man from Zaire is playing consistent defense as usual this season, but on the other hand he seems to have taken a step back offensively.

There's no doubt that the Thunder run an offense in which Ibaka can score, as he's put up double-digit numbers eight times this season, but his game has gone dormant for long stretches at a time as well.

Aside from the scoring aspect, Ibaka's rebounding numbers are fluctuating pretty violently from night-to-night as well, which makes me wonder whether he's not trying as hard at times or if he's just not a natural rebounder as I once thought.

Orlando Magic, Jason Richardson

Old Man Richardson has no athleticism to rely on at this point in his career, which has led to him needing to trust in his jumper a lot more, which has turned him into a streaky scorer.

Richardson today is the reason I've always thought it risky to invest too much in a purely athletic offensive player at or just before the mid-point of his career, as he's likely got high averages and will demand big money at that point, but his decline is usually much more rapid and rocky than a guy who knows how to shoot.

He still has his games where he'll put up 20 or 22 points, but he also has those games where he'll go out and shoot 1-6 from the field and just let his team down altogether.

Philadelphia 76ers, Evan Turner

While Evan Turner is noticeably better than he was a season ago at this point, he's still got a bit of an inconsistency problem to deal with. Lucky for him, the Sixers have plenty of other players to do the scoring for the team.

He's having problems getting open looks for himself, leading to widely varying point and shooting percentage totals from game to game, but unlike last season, he's passing on bad shots much more often, which is a good thing in the long run.

Phoenix Suns, Jared Dudley

People seem to love Jared Dudley, from his goofy expressions (I tend to think that he looks a bit like a much more emotive Tim Duncan) to his just overall good natured way of playing, but his inconsistency this season seems representative of what this Suns team would be without Steve Nash.

While he's putting up better scoring numbers this year, his shooting percentage has gone down from his career average, which tells me he's just taking more bad shots than he used to, which has led to these peaks and valleys in his game-to-game numbers.

Portland Trail Blazers, Jamal Crawford

Look at this face. This is the face of inconsistency in the NBA.

Sure, there are players who have more inconsistent seasons from year to year, and he strung together many more good games than bad when he won the Sixth Man of the Year Award for the Hawks a few years back, but for the majority of his career, Jamal Crawford has been an inconsistent player.

Why else would a guy who's still only 31 have been coming off the bench for the past three seasons despite the fact that he's scored 50 points on three different teams?

The interesting thing about Crawford playing for the Blazers, however, is that they can usually gauge how he's going to perform for the day in the first five minutes that he's in. If he looks good they keep him in and let him heat up, but if he looks bad, they give someone else a shot. 

Sacramento Kings, Tyreke Evans

I don't think it's ever a good sign that the guy who is (arguably) the best player on your team is also so inconsistent. 

This year, however, Tyreke Evans has taken a step back from his previous improvements as he has a tendency to slump pretty hard at times.

In a 10-game span in the middle of January, Evans had five games where he scored in the single digits, one where he put up 15 and four where he scored 20 or more points. Aside from that, he saw his shooting percentage go from the mid-30s up to about 63 percent, back down to 32 percent, up again to 52 percent and down again for a stretch of three games where he shot in the sub-30s. Not once in that stretch did he play fewer than 23 minutes and only twice was he limited to fewer than 30 minutes.

Yikes.

San Antonio Spurs, Daniel Green

I remember watching Danny Green as a young player and I've got to say that when he was back on the Cavs early in his career he was much more down than up, so San Antonio should be happy with what they have in him today.

Still, with how much San Antonio relies on their bench this season, his inconsistency could be a factor in their demise, should it happen.

He's strung together multiple double-digit scoring nights just once this season and he has yet to shoot over 50 percent form the field in successive games so far this season.

Toronto Raptors, Jose Calderon

It seems to me that besides his obvious defensive deficiencies, the biggest knock on Jose Calderon throughout his career has been his inability to perform on a nightly basis.

Calderon can score and he can certainly rack up the assists, but it's become more difficult these days for him to do it every night, and those downturns in output have come more often this season than they ever have.

Utah Jazz, Devin Harris

How Devin Harris was ever able to play as well as he did for the Nets back in 2009 is beyond me at this point. It seems like he wouldn't be able to string together enough games where he played well enough to average over 20 points in a season, even if he was given the keys to the car back then.

He's still capable of scoring 20 points in this day and age, but he's just as capable of going 0-7 and scoring one point in a game, something he did in a span of just three games near the end of December.

Washington Wizards, JaVale McGee

The group of guys on the Wizards showcase bad basketball at its finest, even more so than the Charlotte Bobcats. At least the Bobcats have an excuse (lack of talent). Washington just has a lack of concentration, discipline and just basketball smarts to point to for their failures.

One of the things you can see in Washington's bad basketball repertoire is their utter inconsistency, personified by none other than JaVale McGee.

McGee is a long, athletic big man and he can both score and rebound, but he's one of the only guys out there with that much talent that you'll see have a game of six points and four rebounds sandwiched between double-doubles.