NBA Playoffs: 10 Players Who Have Been Serious Disappointments

Great players deliver in the clutch. What better time for these players to deliver than the NBA playoffs?

This year's playoffs have provided their fair share of great performances, such as Kevin Durant in almost every game, and biggest disappointments, such as the entire Lakers team.

There have been great team performances and poor, effortless showings.  There have been a growing number of overtimes and Goliaths on the brink of elimination.  Young teams trying to prove themselves in the league and veteran teams trying to solidify a dynasty.  The 2012 NBA Playoffs have had it all.

Although the postseason has yet to disappoint anyone so far, some key players have underachieved.  I have compiled a list of the 10 most disappointing players in this year's playoffs.

O.J. Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies were a solid contender in the playoffs as a No. 4 seed and are one of the better up-and-coming teams in the whole league.

O.J. Mayo is one of those young players that was a huge contributor to the Grizzlies in the regular season, but faltered in the postseason.

Boy, did Mayo's numbers drop from the regular season to the postseason.  He saw a decline of about four points a game, and he turned the ball over more as well.  Mayo took less shots and, in turn, made less shots in his postseason games compared the the 2011-2012 regular season.

The shooting percentage was the biggest issue.  He shot a miserable 27.4 percent from the floor in the playoffs to go along with a sub-30 percent three-point shooting percentage.  He disappointed not only the Memphis fans, but his team as well when they needed him most.

Devin Harris, Utah Jazz

I know, I know, the Utah Jazz weren't expected to do much in the playoffs as a No. 8 seed facing the red-hot Spurs, but they had an opportunity to knock off the league's best team.  With a chance to do something great, all players must play with nothing to lose.

Devin Harris played like they had nothing to win.  He is one of the more solid, underrated point guards in the league and plays hard night in and night out.  You would think he would have put up the type of numbers that would impress during the most important time of the year.  He did not.

Harris, however, did improve his average in the postseason by almost two points, but it took him more shots to do so.  All of the other important statistical categories suffered.  His field-goal percentage dropped, and his assist numbers went down while turnovers became more of a problem.

Harris will always have next season, but Jazz fans have a sour taste in their mouths for now.

Vince Carter, Dallas Mavericks

This guy was a high flier back in the day.  Now Vince Carter is a shooter, just like most former dunk machines, like Jason Richardson, for example.  He has been one of the Mavericks' most dependable shooters since joining the Mavs at the start of the 2011 season.

He was dependable until it became playoff time.  Granted, his average only dipped a bit, but his dependable shooting seemingly disappeared.

Carter was a solid 36 percent three-point shooter during the regular season, that dropped to a mere 30 percent in the playoffs.  That was just a small portion of his horrid shooting.  He shot 29 percent from the floor in the Mavericks' only playoff series and that had a negative effect on the entire team.

I'm not going to say that Carter is one of the best scorers on the team, but he is supposed to be one of the most dependable, and dependable he was not.

Ray Allen, Boston Celtics

Watching Ray Allen shoot is a thing of beauty.  This postseason has been a different story for the veteran sharpshooter.

Allen is quite possibly the best three-point shooter in the history of the league and one of the best shooters of our time, but he has failed to find his touch recently. 

It's hard to say anyone from a team that is one game away from the NBA Finals has been a disappointment, but if he was playing like he usually does, this team would be in the Finals already.

Allen is one of Boston's "Big Three" and has not shown it in the playoffs thus far.  In Allen's defense, he has been dealing with injuries for most of the postseason, but that doesn't make his play any less disappointing.

Allen's average has dropped four points from the regular season to the playoffs and his 45 percent three-point shooting during the year hasn't translated in the postseason, shooting just 29 percent from deep.

Yes, this team may make it to the Finals, but it will not be because of Ray Allen.  If the aging Celtics want to win it all against a youthful Heat and an even more youthful Thunder, they need Allen to step up.

Pau Gasol, LA Lakers

Pau Gasol has received the brunt of most of the Lakers' criticism in the 2012 playoffs.  He has been stepped on, beat up and posterized by teams lately and the playoffs have been no different.

Pau saw his average drop a drastic five points per game in the playoffs and that led to a Lakers' demise.

The Lakers won their opening series against the Nuggets in seven games and all seemed to be well with the team.  That is, until they faced the surging Thunder.  The Lakers ended up losing the series in five games and that may have been the last playoff series the Lakers played with Gasol as their power forward.

Gasol has been called "weak" by many experts and could see a trade in his near future.  He is the epitome of a playoff disappointment.

Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks

I could really put any of the New York Knicks in this list.  Carmelo did average almost 28 points per game in the playoffs, but that did nothing for the Knicks.

The Knicks were the No. 7 seed in the playoffs and had the tough task of facing the Miami Heat in the first round.  They lost in five games and the Heat had seemingly no problem with the dysfunctional Knicks.

Although they were without point guard sensation Jeremy Lin, the Knicks still had two superstars at the helm, and both disappointed.  Anthony took an average of 25 shots per game in the first round and made an average of 10, making for a measly 42 percent shooting percentage.  A percentage like that for a star player would bury any team in the first round.

His three-point percentage wasn't any better, shooting just over 22 percent against the Heat. 

We may not be seeing Carmelo and Amar'e playing together for much longer.  Huge disappointment.

Andre Iguodala, Philadelphia 76ers

Andre Iguodala is one of the young stars of the league and could be the best player on the 76ers.  Iguodala doesn't necessarily need to score a lot of points to be effective; he is an athlete.

He is an all-around player.  He can shoot, he can pass and he can finish above the rim consistently.  In the 2012 NBA Playoffs he couldn't shoot, had a hard time passing and did not seem as explosive as he normally is.

His postseason average and three-point percentage remained relatively unchanged, but his shooting percentage and assists dropped considerably.

Although this was not one of Iguodala's best season's scoring-wise, he will most likely rebound and come back next year with better play that the usually-consistent Iguodala is used to.

Carlos Boozer, Chicago Bulls

Carlos Boozer's salary for the 2011-2012 season was $13.5 million, but maybe the Bulls didn't tell him that he had to participate in the playoffs as well.

The veteran power forward usually plays around the rim, which is why his regular season field-goal percentage was so high at 53 percent.  You would think that would translate to the postseason, but it didn't.

Boozer shot a lackluster 42 percent in the first round and turned the ball over with regularity, averaging almost four a game.

It's true, the Bulls had to play without their star, Derrick Rose, but one player does not make a team, just ask LeBron James.  The Bulls were the top seed in the Eastern Conference and should have breezed by the Philadelphia 76ers, but they looked lost without Rose.

Boozer tried to do too much without their star player and ended up not doing enough.  The Bulls will be back, though.

Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks had their chance.  They could have beaten the almost-elderly Boston Celtics, but their star players didn't produce at crucial times.  Rajon Rondo got suspended and it seemed as if the Celtics lost all momentum in the series, but the Hawks failed to take advantage of his absence.

The Hawks ended up losing the series in six games and Josh Smith seemed to fizzle out just as the Hawks did at the end of the series.  Smith had a hard time hitting shots and being a dominant force that the league has come to know.

Smith and teammate Joe Johnson both struggled to keep Atlanta afloat.  Smith did grab an insane 13 boards per game in the series but failed on the offensive end to shoot the ball effectively.  Although Smith did not have a terrible series, the Hawks disappointed as a whole and you can put that blame on the leaders.

Smith may have played his last game as an Atlanta Hawk, but he will be back next season playing for a playoff contender again and making the most of his opportunities.

Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks

The Knicks may be the NBA's biggest disappointment of 2012.  Yes, they did make the playoffs, but no, they did not look or play like a playoff team.

Amar'e Stoudemire was a major disappointment for the team in the first round against the Heat.  He had a temporary mind-lapse after a Game 2 loss when he smashed a glass fire extinguisher case out of anger.  The superstar was forced to sit out Game 3 after injuring his hand and appeared to have given up on the series.

Yes, he did come back with a sense of urgency in Game 4 and 5, but he failed to send the Knicks to the second round and disappoint New York fans everywhere.

He will need to prove he belongs in New York, because right now, nobody is too sure.