5 NBA Players Who Will Make 2015 Their Career Year
The appeal of a new year is mostly wrapped up in the sense of hope it brings—the belief, reasoned or not, that this year will be the best one yet.
For a handful of NBA players, 2015 will be the best arbitrarily delineated 365-day span of their careers. That distinction comes with equal parts optimism and pessimism. If a player makes this list, it means we're saying 2015 will be fantastic for him—from now through the end of the regular season, playoffs, summertime and first part of the 2015-16 campaign.
Wonders are in store. Career bests will be achieved. Fat contracts will be signed. Peaks will be summited. Hoorays (or some variation thereof) will be shouted—a lot.
However, making this list also means NBA life won't ever get better. That's how career years work; they simultaneously mark the best a player's been to that point while, at the same time, acknowledging things will never get any better.
These guys will all hit the zenith of their professional lives in 2015.
Notable Exclusion: Anthony Davis, PF, New Orleans Pelicans
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I'll tell you who won't have the best year of his career in 2015: Anthony Davis.
This is an absurd thing to say because Davis is in the midst of a season we've never seen before. If he finishes the year with his current averages of 23.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.9 blocks and a player efficiency rating of 31.4, he'll be the first since Wilt Chamberlain to ever do it.
And he'll do it at 22 years old, which puts him in a class all his own.
The only thing more amazing than Davis' stats this season are the signs beating us over the head that this is just the beginning. The New Orleans Pelicans still have no idea how to use him, how to leverage his dominance in late-game situations or how to get him the ball in his favorite spots. Perhaps that's because his game is already so well-rounded, he has no favorite spots.
Still, it's hard to justify Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday averaging more fourth-quarter field-goal attempts than Davis this year—especially with AD hitting 64 percent of his shots in the final period, per NBA.com.
As Davis grows his vocal leadership chops, expect him to demand the touches he deserves. And look for his role to expand.
Here's what Sports Illustrated's Jeremy Woo had to say about Davis' 2014 efforts: "Considering Davis has radically shifted the best-player-in-the-league discourse in only a few months, it still feels premature (and almost unfair to the Brow) to call his 2014 body of work a full-fledged arrival, especially when he can still get so much better."
Just 21 now, Davis might be starting a five-year upward trajectory that ends at heights nobody ever dreamed of. His ascent is practically starting from uncharted territory.
2015 will be great for AD. But we'll see him become greater.
Which is, you know, ridiculous.
Stephen Curry, PG, Golden State Warriors
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Stephen Curry is on pace to flirt with a 50-40-90 season while posting career highs in PER (26.8) and true shooting percentage (62.7 percent). That's only half the reason 2015 will be a career pinnacle for the Golden State Warriors guard.
Curry's also the key figure on the best Warriors team in franchise history, spearheading a squad crushing the league in net rating, dominating defensively and playing top-five offense, per NBA.com. He's maybe the biggest part of something special going on in Oakland: a wholesale elevation of expectations and a reasonable belief in the team's title-worthiness.
The Warriors have never, ever been better than this. And they've never looked half as good trying.
The upshot: Curry is on the very short list of MVP candidates. If Golden State finishes atop one of the toughest conferences in history, it'll be hard to deny him the honor. Plus, good health through the postseason has to make the Dubs a championship threat—perhaps even the favorite.
Curry is only 26, which means he has plenty of good years left. But expecting this magic-in-a-bottle campaign to happen again, in which he goes statistically bonkers for the best team in the league and deserves an MVP, is crazy.
This is peak Steph we're watching right now. Enjoy it as it continues into 2015.
Russell Westbrook, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder
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We've never seen Russell Westbrook do the things he's done this season.
His PER, 31.7, is the league's highest, per Basketball-Reference.com. He's somehow more terrifyingly explosive than ever. He's getting to the foul line at a career-best rate.
He's fighting out there, raging against opponents and critics who doubted he could function as the Oklahoma City Thunder's leader without Kevin Durant around.
But he's waging war intelligently, cutting three-point attempts to three-year lows because, as he put it, per Royce Young of ESPN.com: "My advantage is attacking, regardless of who’s in front of me. That’s my advantage. And I’ve got to use my advantage to help my team and help myself."
It's the rest of the West that needs help now. OKC has both stars healthy and is frighteningly close to overtaking the Phoenix Suns for the No. 8 seed.
This all sets up perfectly for a motivated, defiant Westbrook to co-lead his team back to the NBA Finals, cutting a swath through the conference as a bottom-half seed. The stars are aligned.
Not a moment too soon. Westbrook's game is built entirely on raw aggression and physical dominance. There isn't anything refined about what he does, no indicators he'll age well. At 26, this is Russ' athletic prime, and we should expect him to slow down marginally in the years to come.
Not in 2015, though. He'll use this calendar year to show everyone his best.
Jimmy Butler, SG, Chicago Bulls
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To hear Jimmy Butler tell it, he doesn't even want the alpha status brought on by his incredible growth.
"I'm not a star," Butler told reporters earlier this week, via Sekou Smith of NBA.com. "I'm a good role player on a really, really good team. A really, really deep team. I like role players. 'Star' has never been next to Jimmy Butler's name, it never will be. I'll always be just an under-the-radar dog."
Butler's druthers won't matter in 2015. He's a star—even if he doesn't want to be—thanks to one of the biggest season-over-season leaps in the league. And with the increasingly healthy Chicago Bulls making their climb up the East standings, Butler is in a position he probably doesn't like and may never find himself in again: He's the best player on a legitimate title contender.
If you're an optimist, you could argue Bulls veterans such as Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson will stay healthy and effective for another few years, which could mean Butler's 2015 might only be the beginning. If you're a realist, you'll acknowledge miles accumulated under Tom Thibodeau are not conventional miles, and Chicago's vets could break down sooner than expected.
That's a concern for Butler, who's logged more Thibodeau miles than anyone over the past two years. He's just 25, but Butler finished tied for first in the league in minutes per game last year, and he's first in 2014-15.
A fat new contract offer (probably of the max variety) awaits Butler this summer, which should ease the strain of all those minutes and contribute to his banner year.
DeAndre Jordan, C, Los Angeles Clippers
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Strictly from an individual production standpoint, 2015 is it for DeAndre Jordan: the mountaintop. The statistical summit of his NBA career.
Though he may someday enjoy greater team success, this year represents the personal peak for D.J.
The reasons are mostly contextual. The Los Angeles Clippers have no viable two-way bigs in reserve, which will lead to increased playing time as the 2014-15 campaign wears on and head coach Doc Rivers decides he's seen enough of Spencer Hawes scoring and giving it all back on the other end.
Jordan's role will get bigger as the season continues. So far, he's leading the league in rebounding (for the second straight year) and field-goal percentage (for the third).
Chris Paul is clinging to the end of his prime, feeding Jordan as much as ever. And Blake Griffin's new-found perimeter game is creating more space for D.J. in the lane, hence his career-best field-goal shooting of 70.5 percent.
Normally, you'd expect Jordan's amazing efficiency to decline as his minutes rise. But there's something else to consider, and it's another huge reason we should expect 2015 to be the "Year of DeAndre": He's in a contract year.
Free-agent suitors might want to consider that when they come calling, but for now, Jordan's impending freedom will continue to feed his career year.
Kyle Lowry, PG, Toronto Raptors
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It's a rare thing for a player to go supernova in year nine, but Kyle Lowry doesn't seem to care about precedent.
There were signs of this a year ago, when Lowry responded to an All-Star snub by crashing the point guard pantheon. Now, he's making a viable case for MVP, has the Raptors easily on pace for their most successful season ever and is posting insane numbers with DeMar DeRozan sidelined.
Lowry's 20.7 points, 7.7 assist and 4.8 rebounds per game are all career highs. His 24.4 PER comically crushes his previous best of 20.1 (set last year). The guy is riding an unprecedented mid-career wave.
And that's where reality has to factor in.
Great as Lowry is and will be through 2015, we can't reasonably expect him to get better in his 10th season next year, can we?
If regular aging doesn't bring him back to earth, DeRozan's healthy return and the physical toll of his bowling-ball style will surely cause at least a modest decline in 2016, won't it?
It's impossible to be down on Lowry in the year ahead. He's simply got too good of a roll going. After that, though, a decline is inevitable.
Stats via Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise indicated.
