Unsung Heroes: Pacific 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.

Today is the last day of this series, and after the jump, we finish off on the West Coast with the Pacific Division.

Los Angeles Lakers: 

Pau Gasol, PF

2009-10 Stats: 37.0 MPG, 18.3 PPG, .536 FG%, .790 FT%, 11.3RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.7 BLK, 2.2 TO, 2.3 PF

Salary: 4 years left at $74.8 million 

Its no coincidence that the Lakers have been to the NBA Finals during all 3 of Gasol's years with the team, and won two of them.  Kobe might be the franchise player, but without Gasol, the success wouldn't have come as easily.  In fact in all 3 years that he's been with the team, he's led the team in Win Shares per 48 minutes, and Total Win Shares the last two years (The first year he arrived at the trade deadline, but he set a pace that would've led the team), and last year he led the team in PER.  His offensive rating of 120 also led the team last year , and the team played 6.3 pp100 better on offense with him playing.  He's a very efficient player on offense, with a .593 TS% last year, and he also excels at hitting the offensive glass, with an 11.4% Offensive Rebound Rate.  His passing is probably the most underrated thing about him though, very good for a big man with an Assist Rate of 15.0% (His career Assist Rate of 16.0% matches another great passing big man's career rate, Vlade Divac).  Right now Gasol might just be the best Power Forward in basketball, and the best player on his own team, but as long as Kobe is on the team, its his.  Fortunately for Kobe, Pau's locked up for quite a bit and shouldn't be going anywhere any time soon.

Phoenix Suns:

Jared Dudley, G/F

2009-10 Stats: 24.3 MPG, 8.2 PPG, .459 FG%, .458 3P%, .754 FT%, 3.4 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.0 SPG, .8 TO, 2.0 PF

Salary: 1 year left at $2.2 million (after which he becomes a RFA)

People started to take notice of Dudley a bit last year as he went on an absolute shooting tear, finishing with a ridiculous 3 point percentage of 45.9% (speaking of which it was an amazing year for 3 point shooters, 5 players over 45%, and Kyle Korver with an NBA record 53%).  Dudley also led the Suns with an Offensive Rating of 124, and led the team in Steal Rate (2.0%).  His efficient shooting was a great contribution to this very efficient team (4 players with above 60% True Shooting: Lopez, Nash, Stoudemire, Dudley) and he didn't need the ball in his hands to score either, being assisted 84% of the time, and almost exclusively from downtown (99.2%).  In fact, his Usage was only 13.7%, which would be last on the team if Jarron Collins' corpse wasn't still playing spot minutes in the NBA.  Unfortunately for Dudley, the Suns have acquired two players at his position (Childress and Turkoglu) that will likely see more minutes than him this year.  He could be a valuable get for a contender come trade deadline or when he becomes a Free Agent though.

Los Angeles Clippers:

Eric Gordon, SG

2009-10 Stats: 36.0 MPG, 16.9 PPG, .449 FG%, .371 3P%, .742 FT%, 2.6 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.1 SPG, 2.3 TO, 1.5 PF

Salary: 2 years left at $6.85 million (after which he becomes a RFA)

The Clippers have been the butt of jokes in the NBA for years, but they're quietly assembling a nice young group of guys that could possibly become something if Donald Sterling doesn't screw it up (unlikely).  Eric Gordon is possibly the most important of these young pieces (could change my mind if Blake Griffin makes a healthy return to the NBA).  He is athletic and explosive, and can take it to the rim easily, and he can also shoot the ball very well (TS% of .571 last year).  His play off the ball is very good for a young player, but he can also create his own offense if he chooses too.  He was a little bit hampered by injuries last year, but he should be poised to have a big year for the Clippers with Griffin and Kaman drawing attention down low.

Golden State Warriors:

Reggie Williams, G/F

2009-10 Stats: 32.6 MPG, 15.2 PPG, .495 FG%, .359 3P%, .839 FT%, 4.6 RPG, .9 SPG, 1.2 TO, 2.0 PF

Salary: 1 year left at $762,195 (after which he becomes an RFA)

Injuries absolutely devastated the Warriors roster last year, and as such they had to resort to a lot of D-League call-ups.  Luckily for them, they struck gold in Reggie Williams, an offensive sparkplug that fits perfectly into Don Nelson's run-and-gun offense.  He had a TS% of .588 last year, and the Warriors performed 5.5 pp100 better with him on the floor.  His defense is pretty atrocious, but then on the Warriors, whose isn't?  Williams will be with the team for the full season this year, and looks to have a bigger role with the losses of Anthony Morrow and Corey Maggette.  The new ownership has hinted at a coaching change as well, but any new coach would be stupid to slow down these Warriors too much, for now at least, as this team is built to run.  And Williams excels in this type of system, and in Summer League showed last year wasn't just a fluke, finishing 2nd in scoring at 22.6 points in 5 games.  

Sacramento Kings:

Beno Udrih, G

2009-10 Stats: 31.4 MPG, 12.9 PPG, .493 FG%, .377 3P%, .837 FT%, 2.8 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.1 SPG, 1.7 TO, 2.1 PF

Salary: 3 years left at $20.8 million (Third Year is a Player Option)

Beno Udrih had a bit of a resurgence in the minds of Kings fans last year, after being a pariah the year before during the Kings franchise worst 17 win season.  But he proved to be a very good fit paired with Tyreke Evans and he posted career highs in several areas.  Most importantly was his shot, as Beno hit almost 50% of his field goals, and that's not all layups, as about 78% of his shots were Jump Shots.  He also led the team in Total Win Shares at 5.5 (.1 more than Tyreke Evans).  He's a good ball handler (only 13.1% Turnover rate last year) and a decent passer (24.1% Assist Rate).  As of this moment he looks to be a starter again, so we'll see if he can maintain this positive effort for the team and not revert to the Beno of 2009.

This is it for Unsung Heroes, I hope you enjoyed reading this series (all 3 of you) as much as I enjoyed writing it.