Building the All-NBA Disappointment Team Entering 2015
The 2014-15 NBA season wasn't supposed to play out like this. Not for the following 12 players and one head coach.
For one reason or another, their performance has lagged far enough behind preseason expectations that they have "earned" a spot on the All-NBA Disappointment Team.
None has taken the same route to get here. Nagging injuries have dragged some of their stat sheets down. Others have struggled to repeat past successes while adapting to new coaches and teammates. Some have dealt with a combination of both, while a select few have no obvious excuses for their disappointment.
Statistics were heavily relied on to compile this group, specifically the way these numbers compare to projections and past production. These aren't just mini-slumps or the result of a few rough shooting nights. A lot of these players are struggling in ways they haven't in years—some like they never have before.
The league's marathon-style schedule leaves the door open for a possible turnaround, but no one needs a rapid recovery more than this disappointing baker's dozen.
Starting PG: Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 15.0 PTS, 39.9 FG%, 6.6 AST, 2.5 TOV, 16.4 PER
It's getting harder to remember that Deron Williams once put up a valiant fight for Chris Paul's point-god throne. Paul is still fending off challengers for his prominent perch, while Williams has been forced out of his starting spot by 31-year-old journeyman Jarrett Jack.
"Imagine that a couple years ago: Williams, the $100 million man, getting benched to clear up time for Jarrett Jack," wrote Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
For the first time in his 10-year career, Williams' field-goal percentage has dipped below 40. His player efficiency rating, which sits just slightly ahead of the league-average 15.0 mark, is as low as it's been since his rookie season.
The Brooklyn Nets first resorted to letting teams know that Williams is available via trade, sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Ohm Youngmisuk. Now, Brooklyn has parked Williams and his $19.7 million salary on the bench behind a player who has started only 40 percent of his career games.
At some point, Williams may move far enough away from his All-Star past that this type of production won't be considered disappointing anymore. It could just become his new reality.
Starting SG: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 24.1 PTS, 37.2 FG%, 27.5 3P%, 5.0 AST, 3.6 TOV, 17.4 PER
Kobe Bryant is trying.
The 36-year-old, who missed all but six games last season while dealing first with a torn Achilles and then a fracture in his left knee, is waging war on several fronts. The five-time champion has battled the reality that his Los Angeles Lakers (9-22) are worlds removed from the postseason stage. The 19-year veteran has tried to act as if there aren't nearly two decades of NBA mileage on his knees.
Doing his best one-man army impression, Bryant has tried willing the Lakers to the win column. His stat sheet has paid the price. His field-goal percentage is more than four points lower than his previous career worst. It's the second lowest of any player who averaged at least 24 points.
"No one in NBA history has faced so little accountability," Grantland's Zach Lowe wrote after an 8-of-30 shooting effort by Bryant. "It is absurd on its face."
There are other, bigger problems in L.A. than Bryant. His second-best scoring teammate is volume contributor Nick Young, who is connecting on only 40.4 percent of his field-goal attempts. There is only so much Bryant can accomplish with a supporting cast like this.
Still, Bryant's possible penultimate season has largely been painful to watch. The sheer quantity at his age should be impressive, but the absence of quality is impossible to overlook.
Starting SF: Danilo Gallinari, Denver Nuggets
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 7.8 PTS, 36.0 FG%, 31.4 3P%, 1.1 AST, 13.3 PER
Danilo Gallinari figured to carry a certain amount of rust into this season. After all, he hadn't suited up since tearing his left ACL in April 2013.
That said, these struggles have seemed greater than a few coats of rust. Before suffering a meniscus tear in his right knee, Gallinari had assembled personal worsts in field-goal and three-point percentages, points per 36 minutes (14.8), offensive rating (112) and PER.
His difficulties might have been the easiest to foresee. Not only was he returning after more than a full year away from the game, but he was also suiting up for the first time under Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw. Gallinari lost his starting spot after only two games. His usage percentage (18.2) is his lowest since 2008-09.
"I think he'd be the first one to say it's tough for him because he's used to playing the role that he's always played," Shaw said, per Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. "So before me being disappointed in him, he's disappointed in himself."
The Nuggets are light on star power, so they need their players performing at or near their peak levels. Gallinari was nowhere close to his before the injury bug attacked him again.
Starting PF: Kevin Love, Cleveland Cavaliers
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 17.1 PTS, 10.2 REB, 2.4 AST, 43.4 FG%, 33.8 3P%, 18.0 PER
First things first: This is not about Kevin Love's loss of production. That was bound to happen once he upgraded his supporting cast from Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic to Kyrie Irving and LeBron James.
Love has disappointed in ways that didn't even seem imaginable when he first landed with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In one transaction, he went from being the focal point of an offense nearly devoid of other scoring threats to being either the second or third option (roles he is overqualified for) on an offense that had the chance to be historically proficient.
Somehow, the move wound up costing Love a scary amount of his efficiency. He's shooting less often yet converting a lower percentage of those looks. His three-point shooting is down nearly five full percentage points. His PER has tumbled from last year's 26.9 mark.
And the problems he has always encountered at the defensive end have been compounded by the loss of Anderson Varejao to a torn Achilles. Love didn't see a second of fourth-quarter action during Cleveland's 98-89 win over the lowly Orlando Magic on Friday.
"The way that Orlando was playing, they didn't make a particular substitution and we were just matched up so well defensively, we decided to not to go with it," Cavs coach David Blatt explained, per Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group.
This transition figured to include its fair share of turbulence, but it has disappointed against even tempered expectations.
Starting C: Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 12.7 PTS, 49.8 FG%, 12.5 REB, 1.8 BLK, 19.4 PER
Andre Drummond is another guy with the potential to play his way off the list rather quickly. Since the Detroit Pistons cut ties with Josh Smith, Drummond has posted 18.0 points on 70.8 percent shooting and 11.5 boards over his last two games.
Truth be told, the 6'11" mountain in the middle started showing signs of life even prior to Smith's departure.
"For the month of December, Drummond is averaging 15.5 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game as he's growing more and more comfortable with Stan Van Gundy's system," noted Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.
Why, then, does Drummond still a have spot on this team? Because he hasn't dug himself out of the massive hole he created earlier this season.
His field-goal percentage is 11 points lower than his previous worst. His offensive rating, which had never dipped below 114 his first two seasons, has plummeted to 102. Prior to this season, he had provided .179 win shares per 48 minutes. Now, that number has nosedived to .113.
Drummond has an intriguing collection of natural gifts, and Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy's track record suggests he is capable of tapping into that massive potential. But Drummond's disappointing start to the year highlights how far he is away from his ceiling.
6th Man: J.R. Smith, New York Knicks
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 10.3 PTS, 41.0 FG%, 32.4 3P%, 3.3 AST, 11.5 PER
At his best, New York Knicks gunner J.R. Smith is a give-and-take contributor. The hope is that he brings more good than bad to the table, that he has enough electric-scoring outbursts to justify his quick offensive trigger.
In 2012-13, he only converted 42.2 percent of his field-goal attempts. But his 18.1 points per game and the Knicks' 54 wins helped him capture Sixth Man of the Year honors.
Smith is still a water-faucet player, but his hot streaks are no longer as torrid nor as frequent. While he averaged 18-plus points two seasons ago, he has only hit that number three times in 21 outings.
He isn't seeing the same playing time (25.1 minutes) he did then (33.5), but he also isn't doing nearly as much with the minutes he is getting. Unable to find his three-point touch, his true shooting percentage has plunged to 49.1—easily the worst since his rookie year.
A certain level of volatility should be expected with Smith. But his lows are getting lower, and his highs haven't been the same. He is currently working his way back from a tear of his plantar fascia, which has only added to the frustration surrounding his forgettable start.
Reserve: Lance Stephenson, Charlotte Hornets
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 10.2 PTS, 6.8 REB, 4.8 AST, .386/.151/.635 slash, 10.3 PER
No team has disappointed more than the Charlotte Hornets. And no Hornet has disappointed quite like offseason acquisition Lance Stephenson.
He barely resembles the player who starred for the Indiana Pacers last season. His field-goal percentage has fallen more than 10 points. His three-point percentage isn't even half of what it was. His defense hasn't looked the same since he left the Circle City.
Only a few months ago, Stephenson seemed like the remedy to Charlotte's biggest ills. His playmaking ability was supposed to ease the pressure on scoring guard Kemba Walker. Stephenson's competence from beyond the arc should have given Al Jefferson room to breathe on the low block.
Only, Stephenson's inability to shoot from distance has thrown even more defensive attention at Jefferson. And Walker hasn't had much use for his ball-dominant backcourt mate.
It should be too early to suggest Charlotte might be feeling buyer's remorse, but there are multiple reports suggesting it's not. Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe heard Stephenson has already clashed with teammates. ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported the Hornets have already gauged Stephenson's value on the trade market.
The Hornets are a disappointing 10-21 on the season. Even worse, they are 6-19 with Stephenson in the lineup and 4-2 when their prized offseason pull sits.
Reserve: Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 11.2 PTS, 44.4 FG%, 6.7 REB, 2.1 BLK, 15.3 PER
It sounded like a theory worth subscribing to: With Paul George sidelined and Lance Stephenson out of Indy, Roy Hibbert was primed for a return to his All-Star form.
Hibbert has never been a big numbers guy, but his stats needed to soar if he was going to make another All-Star run for an Indiana Pacers team facing the potential of major regression. Considering the offensive weaponry Indiana lost, he had ample opportunity for production.
But the numbers haven't changed. He is scoring, rebounding and shooting at almost the same exact rates as last season—only now he's doing it for a team with a .355 winning percentage. He's still a pest at the rim, but otherwise he looks like a complementary player on a bad team.
"I'm going to change my luck somehow," Hibbert vowed recently, per Candace Buckner of The Indianapolis Star, "if it's not on the offensive end, I've got to be more of an elite player on the defensive end."
In other words, things could get better, and Hibbert could be a specialist. A $14.8 million specialist on a team that might be lucky to win 30 games.
Reserve: Kenneth Faried, Denver Nuggets
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 11.8 PTS, 8.2 REB, 51.4 FG%, 0.5 BLK, 17.5 PER
If the last three games are any indication, Kenneth Faried could make this selection look foolish pretty quickly. The 25-year-old has blitzed Denver's past three opponents for 21.0 points on 60.0 percent shooting and 19.3 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per game.
But it's going to take more than a three-game spurt to erase the stench left by a start the Manimal described himself as being "awful," per Dempsey. "I just haven't been playing my game," Faried said. "I know it. My teammates know it. My coaches know it."
In Faried's case, the numbers don't lie. Even after this trio of terrific performances, he's still looking at some of the worst statistics of his career. His offensive rating has never been lower (109), and his defensive rating has never been higher (107). His rebounding percentage is down for the third straight season (16.8), while his turnover percentage has climbed to a personal high (14.1).
Until very recently, the Manimal hadn't been doing many Manimal-type things. He grabbed double-digit boards in only four of his first 25 outings. His energy seemed to waver, when it had previously appeared to fuel every second of his floor time.
Faried might be getting back to what first punched his NBA ticket. But he'll need to maintain this standard for a while in order to erase the damage done over the season's first quarter.
Reserve: Ryan Anderson, New Orleans Pelicans
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 15.3 PTS, 5.2 REB, 41.6 FG%, 33.2 3P%, 17.3 PER
The New Orleans Pelicans were ravaged by injury last season, so they may not have known what to expect entering this season. But sharpshooting forward Ryan Anderson was supposed to be one of the exceptions, thanks to his rich history of consistent sniping.
Over the previous four seasons, Anderson had averaged better than two made triples a night on 39.1 percent shooting. While he is still as active from beyond the arc (6.7 attempts per game), he's nowhere nearly as accurate. Considering more than 41 percent of his field-goal attempts originate from the outside, he really cannot afford a prolonged shooting slump.
But his shooting numbers have significantly tailed off, and that hasn't been the only area his statistics have suffered. His 10.1 rebounding percentage is the lowest of his career, while his PER is the worst he has put up since his rookie season.
Once a steady source of production, he's much more of a roller coaster now. He has cracked the 20-point barrier nine different times, but he has failed to reach a dozen points in 10 different games.
The Pelicans have a shallow bench, so they need Anderson to provide instant offense on a nightly basis. But that won't happen until he starts cashing in long-range looks with regularity, something he seemed to do so effortlessly in the very recent past.
Reserve: Dion Waiters, Cleveland Cavaliers
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 10.4 PTS, 2.1 AST, 41.1 FG%, 28.8 3P%, 12.4 PER
Cleveland's dream-like offseason should have had a trickle-down effect that made life significantly easier for spark-plug scoring guard Dion Waiters.
Once the second name to appear on opponents' scouting reports, Waiters was now free to unleash his high-powered offensive attack on defenses preoccupied with the likes of James, Love and Irving. As a spot-up shooter and explosive finisher, Waiters could thrive alongside the Big Three. And with the capability to create his own shot, he could keep the offense humming while the big guns caught a breather.
At least, that's how it was supposed to go.
But a change in circumstance doesn't necessarily bring about one in a player. That's why Waiters still looks like the ball-dominant black hole who had trouble making his talents mesh with Irving's. Waiters' offense should come with relative ease on this team, but that means moving away from the style he has grown so comfortable with.
"We know Dion’s capable of playing some really good isolation basketball," James said, per Scott Cacciola of The New York Times. "But at the same time, we have to do what’s best for the team."
The Cavs need Waiters, either as a complementary scorer and wing defender or a valuable trade chip to cover their void on the interior. Waiters must figure out that he needs them too.
Reserve: Jeremy Lin, Los Angeles Lakers
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2014-15 Notable Numbers: 10.5 PTS, 4.7 AST, 43.1 FG%, 34.9 3P%, 13.8 PER
When Jeremy Lin and the Los Angeles Lakers joined forces over the summer, it seemed like a match made in basketball heaven. Not only was Linsanity headed to Hollywood, but the point guard with nine lives was joining a roster largely built with reclamation projects.
After losing his starting gig with the Houston Rockets, Lin needed a second chance. The Lakers could offer him that plus all the shots not gobbled up by Kobe Bryant and Nick Young.
But Lin's once-promising past has yet to yield consistent returns in the present. In terms of per-36-minute production, he is scoring at a lower rate than he has since his rookie year (14.0 points). And his assists are the second-fewest he has dished out since his debut season (6.3).
This hasn't completely stripped him of his hype—he ranks ninth among Western Conference guards in All-Star voting—but his reality looks so much bleaker than his buzz.
"If he got a lot more to give, then give it to us then," Lakers coach Byron Scott said, per Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
If Lin doesn't find another gear soon, he could have a hard time finding another opportunity like this when his contract expires at season's end.
Coach: David Blatt, Cleveland Cavaliers
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Of the three teams with multiple players on this roster, only one entered the campaign with realistic championship dreams: David Blatt's Cavaliers. That fact is one of many that put the Princeton grad in this unenviable position.
On the court, Cleveland has yet to resemble the dominant force it appears as on paper. As good as this offense has been, it has been nowhere near productive enough to mask its severe defensive deficiencies. The Cavs rank 25th in field-goal defense (46.9 percent) and 29th in rim protection (63.2 percent shooting allowed within five feet).
Blatt may have inherited a flawed roster, but it's his job to work around those inadequacies. That hasn't happened. A team that should be great has been nothing better than good in a pillow-soft Eastern Conference.
More troubling, though, is a recent report from ESPN.com's Marc Stein and Brian Windhorst suggesting Blatt may be losing control of his troops:
"There is a growing level of worry within the Cleveland Cavaliers organization about first-year coach David Blatt and his ability to reach the team, according to league sources.
Sources told ESPN.com that there is rising concern in team circles about the level of response that Blatt is getting on the floor, with Blatt himself acknowledging that the Cavaliers 'lost our energy and we lost our competitiveness' in Sunday night's embarrassing home loss to Detroit.
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If this seems too early to panic, remember that the Sacramento Kings have already sent a coach to the unemployment line (Michael Malone). Blatt isn't guaranteed to receive the same fate, but the combination of supersized expectations and a sluggish start to the season could be a disastrous recipe.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com. Salary information obtained via HoopsHype.
