Unsung Heroes: Central Division

Players are often described as being "overrated" or "underrated".  In the NBA, this often translates to overrated players being players that are good, but vastly overpaid for their abilities, or who get more media exposure than some other players, while underrated often means a player who is making a pittance for his current production (funnily enough, underrated players tend to become labeled overrated when they get new, bigger contracts).

I do think there are some underrated players though, players that aren't as widely known for their roles on their team, who don't often get mentioned for their contributions but are indeed integral parts of their team.

Over the next week or so, I'll be looking at each team to find one "underrated" player for each team in the league.  Yesterday, we looked at the Atlantic Divsion.  After the jump, we travel to the Central.

Cleveland Cavaliers: 

Anderson Varejao, F/C

2009-10 Stats: 28.5 MPG, 8.6 PPG, .572 FG%, .663 FT%, 7.6 RPG, 1.1 APG, .9 SPG, .9 BLK, .9 TO, 2.9 PF

Salary: 5 years left at $43.1 million (Final Year is only $4,000,000 guaranteed)

Its arguable that besides LeBron James, Anderson Varejao has been Cleveland's best player for the past couple years.  He had by far the biggest positive impact for the team on both ends of the court (again besides James) last year, with Cleveland's offense about 7 points per 100 possessions (from now on will be called pp100) better, and their defense also noticeably better, (about 5.5 pp100 better, with a lower eFG%).  He does tend to flop a bit, but the NBA is catching on (His Charges drawn totals have slipped from 98 in 2007 to only 28 last year), but he's still playing a high quality of defense.  Even though he's undersized for the position, he actually does a better job guarding opposing Centers than he does opposing Power Forwards.  Varejao almost never looks for his offense (very low usage rate and almost 76% of his FGs are assisted), but he's efficient when he does.  With no better options this year in Cleveland, Anderson likely will be the starting Center.  Without James on the roster, he could be the Cavs most well rounded player.  It remains to be seen how LBJ's departure affects the dynamics of this team.

Milwaukee Bucks:

Ersan Ilyasova, F

2009-10 Stats: 23.4 MPG, 10.4 PPG, .443 FG%, .336 3P%, .715 FT%, 6.4 RPG, 1.0 APG, .7 SPG, .9 TO, 3.1 PF

Salary: 2 years left at $4.9 million (2nd year only $400k guaranteed)

Ilyasova is one of my favorite young players in this league.  He can play either the 3 or the 4, and is a great rebounder for his size (similar rebound rates to Pau Gasol for instance).  He has range all the way to the 3 point line, and the athleticism/quickness to get by the slower PFs.  On defense, he's a very tough-minded, scrappy kind of guy, who will sacrifice his body for the good of the team.  He had 47 total drawn charges last year (good for 6th in the league. Teammate Andrew Bogut was 2nd with 51).  Charges are one of the more underrated and valuable defensive plays, as they give your team possession and give a foul to the opposing player.  Ilyasova also made a positive impact on both ends of the court for the Bucks while he played.  Ilyasova to me is the Turkish version of Lamar Odom.  I hope he ends up starting full time for the Bucks this year, but he'll make an impact for the team regardless.

Chicago Bulls:

Luol Deng, SF

2009-10 Stats: 37.9 MPG, 17.6 PPG, .466 FG%, .386 3P%, .764 FT%, 7.3 RPG, 2.0 APG, .9 SPG, .9 BLK, 1.9 TO, 1.8 PF

Salary: 4 years left at $51.3 million 

This is another case to me where a guy is overlooked for what he does on the court because of how much he gets paid.  But who had the greatest impact on both ends of the floor for Chicago last season?  Not Derrick Rose, not Joakim Noah, but Luol Deng.  Chicago's offense was 5 pp100 better with him in, and the defense was 3.4 pp100 better.  When Deng does look to create his own shot, he tends to drive to the basket, and when he takes an outside shot, its usually off a pass after playing off the ball (an astounding 96.9% of his 3s were assisted, and almost 73% of his jumpers from 16-23 feet).  Deng is also an above average rebounder for his size, and also plays very good man-to-man defense, utilizing his length and athleticism.  He's still young and not yet in his prime too, so its possible we could see Deng continuing playing high quality ball for the Bulls throughout his contract.

Indiana Pacers:

Troy Murphy, PF

2009-10 Stats: 32.6 MPG, 14.6 PPG, .472 FG%, .384 3P%, .798 FT%, 10.2 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.4 TO, 2.4 PF

Salary: 1 year left at $12 million

Danny Granger is another one of my favorite players in the league, but Batman wasn't even the best player on his own team according to the stats.  That honor goes to Troy Murphy, who led the team in TS% (.585), DRB% (ridiculous 28.5%), ORtg (115), DRtg (103) and Win Shares (7.8).    He's a better rebounder and shooter than the much heralded David Lee (although not nearly the passer, and he doesn't get as many touches) and he plays within the offense (75% of his shots were assisted including a perfect 100% of his threes, which were nearly half his shots).  I truly believe that the Cavs last year should have gone after Murphy instead of Jamison (I believe the impact would have been greater, as well as the fact that if James left, they were only stuck with Murphy's contract for a year, and not 2 at a higher price and age for Jamison).  Murph's defense is pretty bad, but he doesn't get nearly enough credit for his role on the Pacers squad.

Detroit Pistons:

Jonas Jerebko, F

2009-10 Stats: 27.9 MPG, 9.3 PPG, .481 FG%, .313 3P%, .710 FT%, 6.0 RPG, .7 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.0 TO, 2.9 PF

Salary: 1 year left at $762,195 (after which he can become a Restricted Free Agent if Detroit gives him the Qualifying Offer)

Omri Casspi got a lot of attention last year for being the first player drafted from Israel, but Jonas Jerebko, the first player drafted from Sweden, had a very nice impact for the Pistons.  Exhibiting a much more NBA-ready game than Detroit's lottery pick Austin Daye (who I have completely unreasonable and unfathomable hatred for, probably because I think he got picked way too high), Jonas ended up being Detroit's starting PF for much of the season, and for good reason.  He's very scrappy, can knock down his shots, rebounds pretty well for his size, and is  good for a hard foul or two.  If there were any player from today's Pistons team that could play on the famed "Bad Boys" championship squads, Jerebko would be a likely pick.  Jerebko was 2nd on the team in total Win Shares, and 1st in Offensive Win shares.  The Pistons also played offense 3.0 pp100 better and defense 4.7 pp100 better with him on the floor.  Most of Jonas's shots come close to the rim, and when he does take a longer shot, its likely after a pass from a teammate (100% assisted from 3, 95.5% from 16-23 feet, 80% from 10-15 feet).  Look for the Swede to have an even bigger role on the team this year.

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Tomorrow, we'll take a look at the Southeast Division.