NBA Surprise Players and Teams

• jpake1

  

  Best Surprise Team: Bucks
  Best Surprise Player: B. Jennings
  
  Most Disappointing Team: Hornets, 2nd Spurs because of injuries
  Most Disappointing Player: Any ideas?
• devil1197

  Hornets really aren't that surprising, I figured they would be bad. They are about to start a fire sale come Feb.
• Trueblue23

  

  Team- Hawks
  Player- Jennings
• Laley23

  

  Team - Hawks (thought theyd be good, but not this good)
  Player - Jennings (pretty easy pick)
  Player (Not Rookie) - Roy Hibbert. 11.5 points, 8.5 boards, 2 ast, 2 blocks. Has doubled his minutes and is over 70% from the line and 53% from the floor. Not earth shattering, but without doing a ton of research on other players, his play has really surprised me.
• devil1197

  Player: JJ Hickson
• burt07

  Surprising team: Milwaukee Bucks
  
  Even with the emergence of Jennings, the fact that they're doing as well as they're doing is pretty amazing, I thought they would be Nets-esque. The Hawks are not surprising to me at all, they did the same thing last year. One of their top players will get hurt here soon, and they'll fall back down to earth.
  
  Surprising player: Brandon Jennings
  
  Kind of the stock answer but you pretty much have to go with it at this point. Other considerations could be Chris Kaman and Steve Nash.
  
  Most disappointing team: Washington Wizards
  
  Could go a number of ways here. The Wizards could be considered a circumstance of injury with Jamison but I thought even with his injury that they would come out of the gate a little more lively than they have. Other considerations could be the Spurs, Raptors, Pistons, and Hornets.
  
  Most disappointing player: Andre Iguodala
  
  He's not really putting up disappointing numbers, but they're disappointing in the sense that for a couple of years now I've been waiting and waiting for him to make the leap. However, he just remains stagnant in that 18-5-5 range. He wanted superstar money, he got it, but he's not proving it.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  Iguodala isn't even the most disappointing player on his team IMO--Sir Elton Brand is a shadow of his former self.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  Surprising team: too early to pick (teams like the Bucks could fall off in a big way, who knows yet) but right now I'd have to say the Hawks. I thought they could be this good, but I can't say I really expected them to fill those expectations. But it won't matter, they don't have the post game to contend for the East come playoff time IMO.
  
  Surprising player: I'm not going to say Jennings, because he's the cliche answer (and the correct answer but lets give someone else some props)--I'll go with Aaron Brooks. I thought coming out of college he could be pretty good but he'd have to know his role, he's done well and the Rockets are off to a surprisingly decent start considering their problems.
  
  Disappointing team: It is not the Hornets--come on guys, you had to have seen this coming. I'm throwing in two teams. First, the Wizards. They're the most disappointing team of the last 5 years to me. And now Arenas has clearly lost a step, can't say I'm upset though. I truely hate the Wizards--never seen a bigger collection of punks (not even a Florida State football team). But team number two is the Nets. 0-13...come on. That's disappointing no matter how you look at it. They aren't one of the best teams in the East but they're better than 0-13. What's amazing is they're only 13 games in and their season is already over. They have things to play for, but for them to make the playoffs they'd have to pull off one of the greatest runs in professional sports history.
  
  Disappointing player: There are a lot of them right now IMO, but I'll tell you what--the guy I mentioned earlier (Elton Brand) is a tough one to beat right now. He's only had 1 20 point game and 2 double-doubles. And I also watched them play the Nets and saw him score 5 points--all from the FT line. 0-6 from the field I think...that's awful, the dude is making 14 million this year.
• hoops23

  

  I'm going to echo burts comments.. I feel the same exact way.
  
  Philly has tried to make Andre Iguodola something he's not, and that's a franchise player. He'd be a great sidekick, but he can not and will not ever carry a team. His basketball IQ isn't very high and neither is his apparent lack of work ethic. He's been in the league for a few years and has still yet to develop an outside shot.
• burt07

  Brand's a good one, the only reason I would maybe not consider him is because it was kind of expected for him to not live up to his salary with last year being pretty much wiped out for him. He's definitely on the downturn of his career which is why I wouldn't consider him to be a disappointment in general, but most definitely is to Philly fans.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  I can't see Hickson as most surprising either. Not this year, maybe coming out of the draft but you could see his potential. He just had to get his head straightened around and get on the court--thank God he's done it because he could have a really nice career. Can't be showing up late to practices and not working hard in the NBA.
• Midstate01

  

  My biggest surprise is that it took this long in the season before mullens got sent to the d-league. Who knows if he will ever make it back up now.
• tiger1990

  I'm going to throw Purdue's Carl Landry out there. The guy is so consistent for Houston right now, but still not getting big minutes. Always in that 15-20 pt. range, shooting 60+ %. Solid as a rock...
• SQ_Crazies

  

  Midstate01 wrote: My biggest surprise is that it took this long in the season before mullens got sent to the d-league. Who knows if he will ever make it back up now.

  LOL, yeah. I wish I still had the thread where I argued with people about whether he'd be a good pro or not--silly OSU fans.
• devil1197

  SQ_Crazies wrote:

  Midstate01 wrote: My biggest surprise is that it took this long in the season before mullens got sent to the d-league. Who knows if he will ever make it back up now.

  LOL, yeah. I wish I still had the thread where I argued with people about whether he'd be a good pro or not--silly OSU fans.

  I believe I was with you saying Mullens would be worthless in the Pros.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  Probably...there were like 3 of us. Then about 100 OSU fans that tried to tell us he'd be good. LOL, good call guys. Sometimes I've just baffled by the way people can't see it. I once had an argument with a friend that said Brandon Roy would be a bust for as high as he was picked! Really?! That's too easy an argument, if you watched him play once in college you knew he had it.
• jpake1

  

  The reason I say the Horents is this-- 1. Did anybody see them as the first team to axe their coach so early into the season? 2. Most of you guys that talked about the NBA at the old huddle had the Hornets as a playoff team in predictions, but they aren't in the running right now, but yet most of you saw this coming? 3. They started off slow and have started playing better basketball with a decent GM coaching them and Chris Paul out.
  
  I don't see it as the Wizards because I didn't think they would be that good. A possible playoff team, but only because the east is weak after the top 4 teams. I don't see Brand as that player either because this same thing just happened last year. I think most people had already written him off a bit. I hope he picks it up for fantasy reasons.
• jpake1

  

  I was definitely in there with you saying Mullens was pretty much a turd. But hey, it's very early. Maybe we'll be the ones people are laughing at in a couple years.
• devil1197

  I'd really like for him to come back and produce, but maybe this will help OSU retain some of their guys that left early.
  
  I mean Conley hasn't set the world on fire, Cook has been alright but mainly just 3's, and Mullens is now in the D-Leagues. The only OSU guy producing that has left early has been Oden which is understandable because he was clearly the best of the 4.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  Haha to be fair to everyone else, I think I'm the only one that said they saw this coming. I didn't expect them to can the coach this early, didn't see that coming. But I didn't think they were a playoff team. Paul is a G, West is good but not great and outside of that they don't have a lot--not enough to compete in the West anyways.
  
  Could be, you never know, but I don't see Mullens doing anything in the NBA--either way he'll be a bust, he was a 1st round pick and he'll never live up to that. Should have stayed in school, he was a 4 year player who thought he was a one and done player. I mean, I don't know about you, but you could see that when he was at OSU. I thought it was pretty clear he wasn't ready...just fun to pick on OSU fans sometimes. Hell, jpake, you know I'm a big OSU football fan and I still love to pick on some of our fanbase sometimes. OSU fans are blind sometimes.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  I thought Conley should have stayed at least one more year too, but he ran for the money. Can't say I blame him, plus he got stuck in a bad situation on a team with a cluster of guards. You're right, he hasn't set the world on fire but he isn't too bad--if he can find a different team I think he could be pretty good.
• jpake1

  

  It's too easy to get most OSU fans rowdy. We still love them though.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  Way too easy haha. Go Bucks! Unless we are talking basketball!
• jpake1

  

  I think I might go over to the CFB forum and get them rowdy. A lot of people seem to think OSU should have had most of their team 1st all B10. Time to bust balls.
• SQ_Crazies

  

  LOL, just wait until they play MSU, if they still feel the same after that they're nuts. MSU is going to beat your Tarheels by the way.
  
  I'm just a quiet basketball fan for now, rooting for the Flashes and waiting for my Hoosiers to come back--they'll be back, mark my words.