With the halfway point of the NBA regular season creeping up on us, there are a few things that we already know to be true: the Lakers, Celtics, and Cavs are the best teams in the league; LeBron James is the best player in the league. Really, other than those two things, there hasn't been much else around the league that has been settled.
We still don't know who the MVP is. We still don't know who'll round out the playoff picture in each conference. And, apparently, we don't know who the breakout starts of 2008-09 are. I say apparently, because based the early all-star voting, there are some great players having huge seasons that are going unnoticed around the NBA.
In today's starting five we take a look at the five biggest breakout stars of the season, and I'll even put the team they play for next to their name. You know, just in case you were unsure.
Starting Five
1. Devin Harris, New Jersey Nets
The Nets acquired Harris last season in the Jason Kidd deal and have been smiling ever since. Not only was Harris the best player in the trade, one that included a future first ballot Hall of Famer and a former NBA scoring champ, but he may just be the best point guard in the Eastern Conference.
Harris' 23.7 points per game is good for seventh best in the NBA and his 6.6 assists per contest has him 12th in the league. Only Harris, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Joe Johnson rank in the top 20 in both categories. Not bad company to keep.
After being somewhat handcuffed by Avery Johnson's system in Dallas last year, Harris has thrived under the free-wheeling dribble-handoff style of play of Lawrence Frank, averaging an amazing 9 points more per game than he did a season ago.
It's not just his offense that has made Devin Harris a star this year, either. He also ranks 15th in the league in steals per game, with a respectable 1.6 per game.
Still, despite his nearly unheard of increase in production, Harris isn't even the leading vote getting guard on his team. Vince Carter ranks third in the balloting at guard in the East, despite having worse numbers across the board and being less valuable to the team than Harris.
While I fully expect Harris to be named to the all-star team as a reserve, his lack of "big name" star power on the ballot will prevent him from being the starting point guard for the East, an honor he certainly deserves.
2. Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers
The 6'8" swingman has been a scoring machine for the Pacers this season. His 25.1 points per game has him at fifth in the league. Granger's ability to play both inside and outside, he ranks fifth in the league in three-pointers made and 14th in free throws made, makes him one of the most versatile scorers in the league and a matchup nightmare for opposing teams.
And while his scoring numbers have been remarkable, it's Granger's ability to stuff the stat sheet in other areas that has turned him into a borderline superstar through the first 30 games. His 5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1 steal per game quietly has him ranking in the top 10 in overall production ahead of superstars like Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett.
How quietly? Granger ranks just eighth in the all-star balloting among Eastern Conference forwards.
3. Paul Millsap
In my season preview, I wrote about the Utah Jazz:
"Now, unbelievably because their all-world point guard Deron Williams is all of 24-years-old, all of a sudden this could be Utah's last chance. If Carlos Boozer packs his things and bolts out of Utah after this season, the Jazz could be in real trouble. They may have another 10 years of greatness left from Williams, but this team could very well be the best chance he ever gets at winning a title. It's not easy to replace 21 points and 11 rebounds."
Apparently, it's not as hard as I once thought to replace 21 and 11.
After Carlos Boozer had to shut it down with a knee injury, Paul Millsap emerged as an elite-level power forward for the Jazz and has made it possible for this team to be just two games out of first place despite only getting a combined 33 games from Boozer and Deron Williams.
Though his 15 points and 9 rebounds per game is solid, it's far from earth-shattering. But it's his string of 15 consecutive double-doubles (snapped only when he had to leave the game with an injury after getting 11 points and 9 rebounds) starting in place of Boozer that has Jazz fans less and less worried about the possible departure of Boozer this offseason.
When you consider that Millsap, in just his third NBA season, will command about half as much money as Boozer this offseason when they are both free agents, it's not farfetched to believe that the Jazz will trade Boozer before the trade deadline and commit to Paul Millsap as their power forward of the future full-time by February.
4. Rodney Stuckey
I didn't get them all wrong in the NBA preview. Of Rodney Stuckey I said:
"Just how impressed is new Pistons head coach Michael Curry with Rodney Stuckey? He has vowed to cut the minutes of Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups, each of whom has played in the previous three all-star games, in order to ensure that Stuckey gets at least 30 minutes per game."
Well, I guess I was kind of wrong. I actually underestimated how high the Pistons were on Stuckey. Instead of just cutting Billups minutes, they shipped him out completely to allow Stuckey to be the full-time point guard.
Stuckey hasn't disappointed. Though the transition from Billups to Allen Iverson hasn't been seamless, Rodney Stuckey has been great recently and has helped Detroit regain its stride, leading them to seven consecutive wins despite injuries to several of their key players.
With their win over the Clippers on Sunday, the Pistons are now 13-3 in games that Rodney Stuckey starts. His 13.5 points and 5 assists per game aren't going to land him on an All-NBA team any time soon, but a 40-point game and a 38-point game in the last two weeks is an indication that the high level of play we've seen from Stuckey may just be the tip of the iceberg.
5. Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors
When the Raptors traded for away T.J. Ford this offseason, they were essentially handing the reigns to Calderon. His brilliant play filling in for the injured Ford last season was enough of a sample size to convince Bryan Colangelo that he has his point guard.
And, like everyone else on this list, Calderon has not disappointed. In his first full season as a starter, Calderon is averaging career highs in nearly every offensive category, including 8.7 assists per game, good for third best in the league behind only Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
Oh yeah, then there's the fact that Calderon hasn't missed a free throw since April 11th of 2008. He's made his first 72 free throws of the season, and has almost reached the point where it's become like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter. To be honest, I already regret bringing attention to it. Forget I even mentioned it, and we'll check back in a few months and see if he really can go the entire season without missing a free throw.
In the Rotation
Friday, Jan. 9th: Celtics @ Cavaliers
It's the second meeting of the season between these two teams, but the first since both teams established themselves as two of only three real contenders for the NBA title.
Boston enters the week just percentage points ahead of Cleveland in the standings, but have been reeling slightly as of late (more on that to come).
Cleveland, meanwhile, has been the best 26-5 team that no one talks about. The only thing that ever seems to get reported about this team is that their best player may or may not become a free agent in two years. Here's some non-LeBron-will-be-a-free-agent-one-day news on the Cavs: they're unbeaten at home.
Their 17-0 home record makes this Cavs team that much more of a threat come playoff time when you consider that with a win on Friday over Boston, the Cavs will be in position to have home court advantage all the way through the NBA Finals. For a team that never loses at home, I'd say that's pretty significant.
(Random NBA League Pass thought of the week: it's no secret that my favorite part of the NBA League Pass has become listening to the announcers. The potential for unintentional comedy is off the charts. While there are some unintentionally hilarious duos out there, the FSN Ohio team of Fred McCloud and Austin Carr easily takes the cake. Between McCloud's near seizure every time LeBron dunks and A.C. ending every sentence with "in the Q!", I simply cannot get enough of these guys.
It's almost a shame that the Celtics game is on ESPN. In a game of this magnitude, Carr is a lock to break Clyde Drexler's record for using the same phrase over and over in one broadcast (Drexler currently holds the record for calling Yao "The Great Wall" roughly 50 times per game). I guess I'll just have to tune in on Wednesday to see if Carr can break the record when the Cavaliers play the Bobcats, you guessed, in the Q!)
Out of the Rotation
Boston Celtics
Brace yourself for what I'm about to tell you: the Boston Celtics are not the greatest basketball team ever assembled. I'm having just as hard a time believing it as you are, but it's true. The honeymoon of the 27-2 start is over, and the Celtics look human again, losing four of their last six games.
It's not to say that that C's haven't been outstanding so far, after all they did get off to the best start in NBA history, but reality is setting in. This is an old team with nothing to play for again until April. The showdown on Christmas Day with the Lakers was a pretty good litmus test. If they won, they had the potential to have a record setting season. The momentum of that win could have elevated them to new heights.
Instead, they lost to the Lakers, realized that maybe it's not such a great idea to expend so much energy in the first 30 games, put it in cruise control, and lost some games to teams that have no business beating them.
They may want to put their foot back on the accelerator this week because while their Christmas Day matchup in Los Angeles may have been the sexiest game of the year, their matchup Friday against the Cavs (in the Q!) is far more important.
The Celtics themselves aren't actually out of the rotation this week, but the notion that they're invincible is.
Inactive List
LeBron James' New Commercials
If LeBron wants to be the next Michael Jordan (he would have picked one of the other 99 choices of jersey number if he didn't), he'd better stop phoning it in on his commercials.
While some of his peers, like Dwyane Wade, keep putting out good commercials (Eat the Head!), LeBron's two most popular commercials right now are maybe the worst two of his career.
The one for his new shoe wouldn't crack Michael's top 30.
First of all, the whole "chalk" thing isn't cool. It wasn't cool when K.G. started doing it about 10 years ago, and it's not cool now. It's unoriginal, obnoxious, and probably pretty annoying to the lowly stat guys who get covered in chalk dust before every game because LeBron wants attention.
Second of all, Jordan set the bar ridiculously high for good commercials. We're talking about Mars Blackmon, Old Michael vs. Young Michael, kids reenacting his greatest moves on the playground. Not to mention playing Larry Bird in H-O-R-S-E for the Big Mac. These are some of the greatest commercials of all-time.
LeBron's commercial career got off to such a great start with "The LeBrons," but has nosedived this year with his new shoe commercial and the State Farm commercial where he and his boys dance to Kid 'N Play songs.
He may be headed to his first MVP, his first NBA title, and so many other firsts in what will no doubt be an historic career, but put "filming commercials" alongside the laundry list of other categories where he will always rank second behind His Airness.
Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.
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