2012 NBA Free Agents: Low Profile Targets with Huge Impact Potential
The 2012 NBA free-agent class is extremely loaded and I can guarantee there will be some solid players who fall through the cracks and are signed for cheap.
In case you weren't sure, there's more to the 2012 NBA free agency class than Deron Williams and Steve Nash. Heck, there is even more to it than Jeremy Lin, Goran Dragić, and Kevin Garnett.
With that being said, let's dive a little deeper into the class of potential available players in 2012 (via Hoopsworld), and see who look like a steal once the summer of '13 rolls around.
Terrence Williams, Sacramento Kings
My goodness, can someone just give Terrence Williams some minutes?
If you extend his 2011-12 numbers to 30 minutes per game, T-Will would have averaged 13.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 0.5 blocks, and 1.4 steals per game. And his numbers throughout his career are very similar.
Yet, teams continue to send him to the D-league. Teams continue to play Donte Greene and Francisco Garcia over him. Teams continue to under-use him.
His 20 minutes per game this year in Sacramento was a nice step in the right direction, but you had to pull Keith Smart's arm to get the 24-year-old in the game. There's no question he'll come cheap this summer, and there's no question he'll continue to play a solid, all-around, stat-stuffing game.
The only question is if some team will actually play him.
James Singleton, Washington Wizards
The journeyman from Murray State is likely someone you haven't heard of, but that just means he's going to cost somewhere under $1 million.
And at that price, he's a steal.
After spending a majority of this season in the D-league, the Wizards called up Singleton due to frontcourt injuries and Andray Blatche syndrome.
Singleton responded by putting up 8.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 0.7 blocks, and 0.8 steals per game in just 21.8 minutes.
He's a strong (6'8", 230 pounds), hard-nosed player who has a knack for playing solid defense and crashing the boards with a reckless abandon.
He won't provide much offense and he's a little short for a small forward, but I don't understand why teams continue to under-value hard-working players like this.
At the very least, Singleton can make for a solid role player off the bench. But he's going to get paid like he's the team ball-boy.
Ersan Ilyasova, Milwaukee Bucks
Is Ersan Ilyasova the best rebounder in the league you haven't heard about?
Probably.
The Turkish James Franco (here's a picture of Ilyasova, here's one of Franco) is 6'10", he's not overly-athletic, but somehow he pulls down boards at a monster rate (17.6 percent, if you were wondering).
Of all qualified players, he was eighth in the NBA in rebounds per 48 minutes, ahead of guys like Kris Humphries, Marcin Gortat, Tyson Chandler, Blake Griffin, Pau Gasol, and so on.
In just 27.6 minutes per game, Ilyasova grabbed 8.8 rebounds, with an insane 3.3 of those coming on the offensive end. I'm not exactly sure how he does it, but he simply gets it done.
Throw in his ability to knock down the long ball (1.0 3PM per game on 45 percent shooting from deep), and you've got an extremely underrated player.
Ilyasova will cost more than other guys on this list, but he will still far out-play his contract.
