10 NBA Players with Huge Targets on Their Backs for the 2012-2013 Season

As we inch closer to the 2012-2013 NBA season—which won't be shortened by a tedious lockout—there are a few players who will be under more scrutiny than others.

Whether players are looking to honor big contracts, prove their worth to a new fanbase, bounce back from injuries, build upon past seasons to strengthen their career outlook or a achieve some combination of these factors, some players will surely notice a target on their back.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ addition of Dwight Howard this summer came with a package of championship expectations. Whether or not Howard can deliver following back surgery he underwent in April of this year will be one of the season’s biggest storylines.

Howard is one case, but there are plenty of other names who will be watched closely by fans and other players around the league this coming season.

Honorable Mention: Landry Fields

Landry Fields may not be a name you were expecting, but he deserves at least an honorable mention on this list for a few reasons.

First off, Fields was signed to a three-year, $18.75 million deal to play for the Toronto Raptors this summer.

Fields was believed to be a key player involved in a possible Steve Nash sign-and-trade deal between the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks earlier this offseason. As an effort to thwart the Knicks' chances at adding Nash, Toronto gave Fields a hefty deal that New York wouldn't match to help in their pursuit of the two-time MVP.

And, well, you know the rest.

Nash took his talents to Los Angeles and left Toronto high and dry. Fields now acts as a rude reminder for what the Raptors could have had.

Not only will Fields be gunning to justify his massive contract, but he'll also try to bounce back from a very lackluster season.

As a second-round draft pick out of Stanford, not much was expected of Fields. Despite that fact, Fields had a solid rookie campaign with the Knicks and appeared to be a draft steal.

During his sophomore year in the NBA, however, Fields regressed statistically in points per game, rebounds per game, free-throw percentage, three-point percentage and field-goal percentage.

Even the good side of Fields wasn't worth $18.75 million over three years, so he has a lot of work to do in order to prove himself to his new fanbase. It doesn't help that Terrence Ross, the eighth overall pick in this year's draft, will be looking to snag his minutes.

10. Goran Dragic

"The Dragon" is making his return to the Valley of the Sun.

Goran Dragic understands that all he needs to do back in a Phoenix Suns’ uniform next year is play his own game to the best of his ability to run the revamped offense. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Dragic has the unfortunate job of succeeding Steve Nash as the Suns’ floor general.

For the first time in his career, Dragic will be the unquestioned starting point guard from day one. Although Dragic showed at the end of last season that he’s more than capable of putting up big numbers with more minutes—18.9 points and 7.7 assists per game in the month of April—opposing coaches will now put a heavy emphasis on stopping Dragic as a part of their game plan.

Now that opposing teams will be planning to stop Dragic, he could have a tougher time putting up the numbers he did previously.

Nevertheless, Dragic has a come a long way since his younger years in a Suns uniform. The timid backup who became anxious any time he turned the ball over or made a mistake out on the court is long gone.

Expect Dragic to play with confidence in a situation familiar to him due to head coach Alvin Gentry’s presence. He appears poised for a breakout year this season with the Suns, but he’ll be under the microscope as the successor to Nash and the team’s new franchise player.

9. Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin was well on his way to having a stellar summer.

He signed a five-year, $95 million contract extension to stay with the Los Angeles Clippers and made the roster for Team USA basketball to play in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

However, a knee injury that required surgery prevented Griffin from playing in the Olympics and winning a gold medal. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Griffin is back to 100 percent, but given his past knee troubles, this second surgery has to be a concern.

In addition, although the Clippers were a vastly improved basketball team with Chris Paul added to the roster, Griffin notched fewer points, rebounds and assists per game last season when compared to the season before. Griffin also shot a pathetic 52.1 percent from the charity stripe last season, which was more than 12 percentage points lower than the season prior.

Griffin is a great basketball player who puts up huge numbers, but he still has some areas where he needs to improve if the Clips have any hopes at chasing a championship.

“The Blake Show” will be under the microscope next season yet again. If he can stay healthy, improve his putrid free-throw shooting and add consistency to his mid-range jump shot, he’d be able to silence a lot of critics and prove that he's worth the $95 million extension.

8. Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin’s streak of Linsanity was the feel-good story of the lockout-shortened NBA season.

Now Lin has a new city, a new team and a new contract. That new contract is a back-loaded $25.1 million deal that Lin’s former teammate, Carmelo Anthony, called “ridiculous” according to a Los Angeles Times article by Chuck Schilken.

Lin would love to prove to Anthony and the rest of the league that he’s not only worth that contract, but that his stint of Linsanity wasn’t a fluke.

J-Lin will have the responsibility of leading a very young Houston Rockets team moving forward. With that responsibility comes a target on his back.

Opposing teams will be out to lock down Lin on any given night, and we’ve already seen what can happen as a result. On February 23 last season, the Miami Heat held Lin to just eight points on 1-of-11 shooting from the floor to end his special run. Lin turned the ball over eight times in the loss.

Lin will need to play with consistency next season, not get ahead of himself out on the floor and limit his sometimes game-changing amounts of turnovers.

If he can do that, he will silence a lot of critics.

7. Eric Gordon

A season ago, Eric Gordon, who was the main piece coming back to the New Orleans Hornets in the Chris Paul trade, played in just nine total games due to injury.

He never seemed motivated to play in New Orleans, an assumption that got backed up this summer when Gordon said his heart was in Phoenix and that he wanted to play for the Suns.

Despite his publicly-explained desire to play in Phoenix, the Hornets decided to match the Suns’ max offer sheet (a good call given Gordon’s pedigree as an elite scorer).

Gordon will be the franchise star in New Orleans whether he likes it or not. On a young, upstart team like the Hornets, who will have two rookie starters in Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers, Gordon needs to assert himself as a veteran leader even though he’s just 23 years old.

He'll probably have some rust to knock loose seeing as he played in just nine games a season ago, but that shouldn't be a problem for a guy who has proven his ability to score 20 points per game on average.

The former Indiana Hoosier likely caused a lot of strife between himself and fans in New Orleans with his comments about the Suns’ organization, so playing well will go a long way toward winning over the fanbase.

6. Russell Westbrook

Honestly speaking, when isn’t Russell Westbrook under scrutiny?

As has been the case with Pau Gasol in Los Angeles, Westbrook is often made the scapegoat for Oklahoma City’s shortcomings.

The former UCLA Bruin has taken a lot of flak for shooting the ball too much, not deferring to Kevin Durant in the clutch and being overly aggressive at times.

With that said, Westbrook is arguably a top-five point guard in the NBA today. Although he has some negatives in his game, the good usually outweighs the bad.

Westbrook will likely never be similar to Steve Nash as far as distributing the basketball and not looking for his shot, so it’s unfair to expect that simply because of his point guard label.

Even so, a great deal of OKC’s success next season will rely upon the play of Westbrook. The San Antonio Spurs aren’t going anywhere, and the revamped Lakers have casual fans and even NBA experts predicting a new top dog in the Western Conference.

Can Westbrook continue to elevate his game and help lead the Thunder back to the NBA Finals? Only time will tell, but he’ll certainly be under the microscope all season long.

5. Roy Hibbert

This summer, Roy Hibbert received a maximum contract offer sheet from the Portland Trail Blazers that the Indiana Pacers decided to match. Although the center position has become somewhat diluted in the NBA of late—you pay a premium to keep the solid ones around—Hibbert still hasn’t proven to be deserving of a max contract.

Over the course of his four-year NBA career, Hibbert has never shot 50 percent from the field and has never averaged fewer than three personal fouls per game (which has prevented him from ever playing even 30 minutes per game in a season). His career highs in points and rebounds are 12.8 and 8.8, respectively.

His inability to stay out of foul trouble is a big red flag, and although his defense is rock-solid, he’s never truly asserted himself on the offensive end of the court.

Moving forward, Hibbert is a major cog in the Pacers’ future plans. If he can’t live up to his max contract, the Pacers will struggle to make noise in a tough Eastern Conference.

Hibbert may just be a late bloomer like Andrew Bynum, but if he’s already maxed out his potential, the Pacers may regret matching Portland's offer.

4. Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis has had a fantastic athletic year.

He was named 2012 Freshman of the Year, 2012 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player and 2012 National Player of the Year, won a national championship with Kentucky and was drafted No. 1 overall by the New Orleans Hornets. He capped it all off by winning a gold medal at the Summer Olympics.

Needless to say, a lot of hype accompanies those lofty accomplishments.

Davis, for good reason, is the early favorite to continue his award-winning trend by winning the 2012-2013 NBA Rookie of the Year.

However, not only will other rookies be trying to knock Davis off the pedestal, but NBA veterans will look to assert their dominance over Davis as he gets acclimated to the pro level.

Even a player with as many pre-NBA accomplishments as Davis has his fair share of critics. He may not live up to the Kevin Garnett/Tim Duncan comparisons, but he should have an extremely solid rookie campaign regardless.

Davis should put up respectable numbers as a rookie and help the Hornets win more games than a year ago, but he’ll have a huge target on his back throughout his first professional year.

3. Deron Williams

Deron Williams will be under a ton of pressure next season.

Not only will he have to justify his massive new contract, but he’ll be responsible for ushering in professional basketball in Brooklyn and making sure this Nets team lives up to the hype.

Williams put up solid stats a season ago for the Nets, but he shot just 40.7 percent from the field and notched a career-high four turnovers per game.

He has an improved supporting cast that should be healthy to start the season, but even though the Nets had injury troubles a season ago, Williams was only able to lead the team to 22 wins. On the flip side, Williams’ former team, the Utah Jazz, made the playoffs in a tougher Western Conference as a No. 8 seed without their former floor general.

Williams will be out to prove that he can still lead a playoff-caliber squad next season.

At least on paper, the Nets appear to be the real deal. Other teams around the NBA will take notice and look to beat this team at every opportunity.

Williams will have to lead his team and weather that coming storm.

2. Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard clearly wasn’t happy with his situation in Orlando, and he made this summer a living nightmare for the organization as a result.

Although Howard wasn’t traded to the Brooklyn Nets (his destination of choice), he was shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers to join forces with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash.

With a star-studded starting five and improved bench, anything short of a championship this season will be viewed as a failure in Lakerland.

Howard doesn’t need to have a career season statistically for the Lakers to be successful, but he does have to recover from back surgery and return to his dominant defensive form.

In addition, Howard will need to embrace a team role completely alien to him. For the first time in Howard’s career, he won’t be viewed as the team’s No. 1 scoring option. In fact, Bryant, Gasol and Nash may end up with the ball in their hands more often than Howard will next season.

Howard will still get his offensive looks, but he needs to be aware that anchoring the defense is his primary objective.

Every team in the league will be out to “Beat L.A.” next season. The Lakers have a huge target stamped on their backs. Following an offseason that rivals LeBron James’ “Decision,” Howard will have to endure the jeers of most crowds and play like we all know he can.

1. LeBron James

“King” James was finally crowned as an NBA champion after enduring nine professional seasons chasing the Larry O’Brien trophy.

The 27-year-old three-time NBA MVP now understands what it takes to win on the highest stage. In other words, everyone else around the league is in trouble.

LeBron and the Miami Heat appear poised to rattle off championships for years to come, but it won’t be an easy task.

James is the best player in the NBA right now by a wide margin, and with that designation comes a great deal of scrutiny and pressure. Every team in the league will be gunning to stop James’ reign over the NBA, but planning to slow down the best player in the league and actually doing so are completely different tasks.

The James-led Heat are the favorites to win the 2013 NBA championship until proven otherwise. The Heat will often see 110 percent effort from opposing teams attempting to beat them every time they take the floor. Can the Heat win it all again during a regular 82-game stretch plus playoffs?

Repeating as champs won’t be simple with the target on their backs, but with James leading the way, the Heat have to feel as if they are the best team in the league once again.