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. Tuesday, we looked at the Atlantic Divsion, Wednesday the Central, and yesterday the Southeast. After the jump, we leave the East Coast and travel to the Southwest.
Dallas Mavericks:
Shawn Marion, SF
2009-10 Stats: 31.8 MPG, 12.0 PPG, .508 FG%, .755 FT%, 6.4 RPG, 1.4 APG, .9 SPG, .8 BLK, 1.3 TO, 1.9 PF
Salary: 4 years left at $32.2 million (Has an Early Termination Option to opt out of his last year)
Age and injuries have slowed down the Matrix from his stellar Phoenix days, but he's still a player that can have a big impact on the court. He's a stellar rebounder for his position (career 21.2 DRB%, although only 15.2% last year), and a good defender too. Last year when he was on the court, Dallas performed 3.3 pp100 better on offense, and 3.5 pp100 better on defense. His very good FG% comes from his great shot selection, as he tends to take the majority of his shots around the rim or from less than 10 feet. He's very good at taking care of the ball (10.6 TOV%), and playing defense without fouling. His career has been going on a bit of a downward spiral as of late, but we'll see if his mini-revival in Dallas was a fluke or not.
San Antonio Spurs:
Matt Bonner, PF
2009-10 Stats: 17.9 MPG, 7.0 PPG, .446 FG%, .390 3P%, .729 FT%, 3.3 RPG, 1.0 APG, .6 TO, 1.7 PF
Salary: 4 years left at $13.9 million (Last year is only $1 million guaranteed)
When you think of the San Antonio Spurs, the first guys you probably think about are Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. But Matt Bonner, the "Red Rocket", has been playing a key reserve role for the Spurs over the last 4 years. Bonner isn't very intimidating physically to other NBA big men, but he's not a complete slouch on the defensive end either (the Spurs were 1.6 pp100 better defensively with him on the court.) Bonner's true value comes on the offensive end, where he provides a sparkplug off the bench, and spreads the floor for the team. He's 2nd on the team in TS% at .581 (2nd to Manu's .584), thanks in part to his almost 40% from behind the arc, and also 2nd on the team in Offensive Rating (117). Matt takes most of his shots from behind the arc (63.1%), and 98.9% of those threes were assisted. He's a low usage, low turnover guy (only 9.0% TOV rate) who knows his role and sticks to it.
Houston Rockets:
Kyle Lowry, PG
2009-10 Stats: 24.3 MPG, 9.1 PPG, .397 FG%, .827 FT%, 3.6 RPG, 4.5 APG, .9 SPG, 1.7 TO, 2.5 PF
Salary: 4 years left at $23.5 million (Final Year is only $1 million guaranteed)
Daryl Morey is extremely adept at finding diamonds in the rough, and Kyle Lowry might be his prime example. Although he's not a really good shooter, Lowry finds other ways to be effective, mainly by driving to the rim and getting to the line (he had a Free Throw Rate of .56 last year, good for 9th in the league of players that played more than 20 MPG). Another thing Lowry is exceptionally good at is drawing charges. He drew 51 charges last year, good for 2nd in the league (tied with Andrew Bogut). He also led the Rockets in Assist Rate (27.7%). Houston's offense was 2.6 pp100 better with him in, and the defense was 3.3 pp100 better. Lowry might just be one of the better, if not the best, back up point guards in the NBA.
Memphis Grizzlies:
Marc Gasol, C
2009-10 Stats: 35.8 MPG, 14.6 PPG, .581 FG%, .670 FT%, 9.3 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.6 BLK, 2.0 TO, 3.7 PF
Salary: 1 year left at $3.6 million (after which he can become a RFA)
What perplexed me the most about Memphis taking project Hasheem Thabeet at #2 was mainly the fact that they already had a damn good Center prospect in Marc Gasol. Gasol had a huge impact for Memphis on both ends of the floor, with the offense being 6.1 pp100 better and the defense 3.9 pp100 better. He was 2nd on the Grizzlies (behind Zach Randolph) in Offensive and Defensive Win Shares, PER, and 1st on the team in TS% (.617). Like another underrated Center I talked about yesterday (Al Horford), Gasol suffers from being on a team laden with ball dominant players (Mayo, Gay, Randolph), and as such doesn't get nearly the amount of touches he should (he only has a 16.9 USG%). He's also not a bad passer for a big man (10.2 AST%) and an above average shot blocker (3.4 BLK%). Marc also is adept at drawing charges, taking 44 of them last year. I would not be surprised to see Marc join his brother at the All-Star game this year.
New Orleans Hornets:
Marcus Thornton, SG
2009-10 Stats: 25.6 MPG, 14.5 PPG, .451 FG%, .374 3P%, .814 FT%, 2.9 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.0 TO, 1.7 PF
Salary: 1 year left at $762,195 (After which he can become a RFA)
It's safe to say New Orleans struck gold with both their draft picks last year in getting Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. Thornton especially, provides the Hornets with a scoring punch off the bench in the Jason Terry mold. He's a very efficient shooter, with a TS% of .550, with most of his shots coming either at the rim or from three point territory. Thornton bloomed the most during a time when Chris Paul was unavailable, so he had a pretty high Usage rate (25.3%), but with CP3 back in the fold and finding him open looks, Thornton should become more efficient. His weakness is his defense, mainly due to his size, but he can score in bunches on almost any given night.
***
Monday, we'll move on to the Northwest Division.
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