NBA Castaways: Top 15 Players Stuck on Bad Teams
Kevin Martin (photo. Kelly Turso)
These have not been good times for sports in my hometown. The Seahawks, probably the most inconsistent team in the NFL, could win the league’s worst division with a sub-.500 record. The Mariners are coming off another 100-loss season. U of Washington football has to run the table to make a bowl game (any bowl game). And the Sonics … oh yeah.
So the fact that Felix Hernandez won the AL Cy Young this week was kind of a big deal back home. Having watched as many M’s games as I could — especially Hernandez’s starts — I felt King Felix was/is the best pitcher in the game. But a mini-controversy has sprung up because Felix’s win-loss record (13-12) isn’t that of your usual Cy Young winner. You don’t even have to be a new-age stat geek to look at all the other relevant pitching categories and see how good Felix was this year and realize that his record was simply a result of playing for a terrible offensive team, but some think he shouldn’t be rewarded for playing on a bad team that played in so many no-pressure games. Fortunately the voters were able to look past the M’s offensive struggles, which Felix can’t do anything about, and give the right guy the award.
NBA players rarely get such recognition. With the exception of Rookie of the Year, players on losing teams don’t win awards, have a tough time making All-Star teams, and rarely get national TV games. Who are the MVP’s of the LVT’s in the League? Here are 15 guys from teams currently under .500 in the standings.
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1. AMAR’E STOUDEMIRE, Knicks — He did ask for this. Well, not exactly this, a 4-8 record and the fourth-worst defense in the League, but Amar’e (21.6 ppg, 8.1 rpg) wanted to come to New York and save the Knicks. It’s still early, though. Rome wasn’t built in a season.
2. RUDY GAY, Grizzlies — He has really embraced his role as the face of the franchise after Memphis signed him to an $80 million-plus deal over the summer. Gay (23.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.7 spg) is looking to take cover in crunch time, and has come through on multiple occasions this year already, but he can’t guard everybody on the opposing team.
3. GERALD WALLACE, Bobcats — You already know how he gets garbage buckets (18.5 ppg), boards (8.3 rpg) and makes game-changing plays on defense and with his hustle. But did you know he’s knocking down 45 percent of his threes this year?
4. TYREKE EVANS, Kings — How many second-year players have averaged 20-5-5? Right now ‘Reke is at 19.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg and 5.0 apg.
5. ZACH RANDOLPH, Grizzlies — All he does is score and rebound (16.4 ppg, 11.2 rpg), and his current numbers will go up as he gets healthy from a tailbone injury suffered on Opening NIght. Like I always ask, who couldn’t use a 20-and-10 guy on their roster?
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November 19th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
nola says:
there is no reason the rockets are as bad as they are.
November 19th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
CTP says:
Let’s not forget
Lebron james
Dwayne Wade
November 19th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
yoda says:
dont think AI2 is top 15 among players on bad team. if jennings is on the list, then bogut should be to, he’s better than AI2 (and most of players on this list tbh)
and amar’e got what he deserved!
November 19th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
High Release says:
Bucks aren’t a bad team! They’ve just lost to the top teams, aside from Timberwolves.
New Orleans (2)
at Boston
Lakers
Blazers
Timberwolves
That’s 5-6. Let the schedule even out.
And interesting how several of these guys play on the same teams. Are they really that good then?
November 19th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Taj says:
Danny “Senor Buckets” Granger…
BTW Austin… Have you heard of a fella named Roy Halladay? That guy is/was the best pitcher in baseball, bar none!
November 19th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Ekstor says:
If Gay is really #2 and Randolph #5, should Grizz really be a bad team?
November 19th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
rainman says:
Tyreke Evans has not improved at ALL from last season, he’s still the same player.
and i wouldnt be surprised if he doesnt have much of a high ceiling.
November 19th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Seven Duece says:
Gotta agree with High Release; how are 5 different sets teammates on the list and it’s a bad team? Maybe their stats (oh hi Zach) are painting a different picture than their actual play? I give JWall & Professor Griff the benefit of the doubt since their learning their way through the league. But everyone else has had ample time to adjust.
November 19th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
atticusmitch says:
@Austin
I dunno if you know this, but wall is a rookie too.
November 19th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Hucklebuck says:
Danny Granger! I agree!
November 19th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
cvelaSF says:
Monta Ellis??
November 19th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
TIP says:
Agree with @High Release
yeah…getting my twitter swag going with the “@”…#umad?
lol
November 19th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
Austin Burton says:
#10 and #11 — The Pacers and Warriors are at/above the .500 mark.
#9 — John Wall is a rookie? I did not know that. I thought he played for Kentucky and the Wizards last year.
November 19th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Ian says:
austin
felix easily deserved the award remember the season zito won one over pedro because of the wins after pedro lead the league in everything else the voters arent gonna pull the same shit twice. if felix played for the yanks he wins 27 games and cc wins 4 with the mariners. best pitcher in the majors ??? nah maybe the al (between he and lee) but overall wainwright , lincecum , carpenter , halladay have something to say about it.
heres why u dont get recognition like in baseball if you play for a losing team. in baseball you can lose 125 games every season and you could be the best player because you dont have control of when you at bat is coming up or if you pitch every 5 days that leaves the door open for other scrubs to ruin shit for you. in basketball you can have the ball for 48mns in your hands and decide the fate of your team everytime. dont you think that if pujols told the dude batting 8th move over ima takin this one the cardinals would have more than one series win the pujols era? or if the lakers players had to take turns taking shots would they have won back to back?
November 19th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
don p says:
@high release
how can you call the bucks a good team when they lose to good teams? If they can’t compete with the “good” teams they are a “bad” team. Therefore, unless Bucks’ team record improves, the bucks are a “bad” team
November 19th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Diego says:
Yeah, I agree with several above. Something is wrong when there are several teammate pairs on the list above. Somehow those guys’ stat stuffing likely are contributing to poor overall team results, via lack of overall team chemistry. I am not buying the sob story where a pair of teammates is on the list.
November 19th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
nizzio says:
David Lee would have topped this list last season
November 19th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
The Judge says:
I don’t see why there’s so much confusion. The article says it’s the best players from teams that are under 500. You guys think it’s impossible for a bad team to have two good players? It takes 10 other players and a coach and a front office to make a team good or bad, so it’s obviously possible for two good players to be on a bad team, for example Scola and K-Mart are both good but obviously the Rockets are not.
November 19th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Seven Duece says:
^It’s possible to have 2 good players on a losing team, yes. But I expect anyone on this list to be able to make some sort of consistent positive impact (besides rookies & 2nd year players) on their teams.
November 20th, 2010 at 1:39 am
KB8toSG8 says:
No Danny Granger?
November 20th, 2010 at 2:48 am
smoove chips says:
@ Austin
not that you sit around waitinf for my approval n shyt but this was as good a list as I’ve seen.
ps: I woulda cussed the fuck outta you if you hadn’t mentioned blake lol !
November 21st, 2010 at 2:54 am
A.R. says:
So because the Warriors are off to a fairly good start your gonna leave there stars off? Maybe take off some of those other teammates up there and put up Curry nd Ellis. Both fantastic players whose team will undoubtedly be in the lottery again this year.