This article has been submitted by Alex Snyder, who I dunk on constantly.
Here are the five most underrated NBA players, according to me, the most reliable source you know.
1) Jose Calderon – Those who follow the Raptors, like myself, know just how good this guy is. The U.S. public? Not so much. He should have been an all-star this year for sure. There was a part of the season when Ford was out that Calderon was playing like a top-5 PG in the game. He’s cooled off a bit but that’s mostly because of TJ getting more minutes. I pray that the Raps sign him to a nice little extension in the off-season because right now they’re one rebounding, defensive big man away from being a legitimate championship threat with that core.
2) David West – This guy might actually be #1. He’s a big part of his team’s great success this year with his 20-and-9 average. No one in their right mind would have taken the Hornets to finish in the top half of the Western Conference at the start of the season. Chris Paul has just a tiny bit to do with it too, as he’s blossomed into, in my opinion, the best PG on the planet.
3) Rudy Gay – This one is for Rudy’s #1 man-fan and admirer, Dave Power. Rudy is one amazing young talent and gets better it seems every game. Now would I say he’s one of the top-3 athletes in the NBA? No, but he’s definitely top-10. One thing I would like to see Rudy improve on is his blocks, as he’s only averaging 0.9 a game and with his long arms and hops he should be getting at least 1.5 a game.
4) Brad Miller – This white-boy has been very underrated his whole career. He’s not your typical center with an arsenal of post moves, but he has a very good jump shot and is very good at distributing the ball. For a big man, he sure shoots it well from the line, as well, at an 85% clip.
5) Mike Dunleavy – I don’t like this guy, but he is a very underrated player who’s starting a reach to stardom. He’s had a great year for a very bad team. He takes a boat load of deep jumpers and threes but still shoots at a 48% clip. On a side note, is there a bigger whiner than Jermaine O’Neal? All that guy does is cry about everything and he spends more time on the DL than Eric Gagne.
Note: I’d have Hedo Turkoglu on the list but I think this has been a breakout season for him.
This article has been submitted by Alex Snyder, who I dunk on constantly.
#1 by Stu P S on April 5th, 2008
If Mike Dunleavy started hanging out with Chris Andersen he’d have a shot at being The Next Stephen Jackson.
#2 by snydes on April 5th, 2008
If Dunleavy hung out with Chris Anderson it would look like he was eating those white powdered donuts before every game (under his nose)
#3 by Blake Murphy on April 5th, 2008
Hey now, do we know it was cocaine? They just said it was that class of drug…could be anything. Let’s not make rash assumptions about which drug are favorite NBA player was using…that’s just unfair. But…even if it was…cocaine’s a hell of a drug.
#4 by khandor on April 5th, 2008
Leon Powe … is going to be a star in the NBA, in the not-too-distant future.
#5 by Ian on April 7th, 2008
Nice list. I’d definitely have Leandro Barbosa in here though. A couple others that come to mind are Monta Ellis and Danny Granger.
#6 by Blake Murphy on April 7th, 2008
Monta Ellis is dangerously close to Josh Howard territory in the ’so hyped for being underrated that he’s overrated’ category. The $10M/season he’s going to get this offseason will further that. Kid can play and is an ODC favorite, but he’s getting too much hype to be underrated.
Agree 100% on Granger and The Captain though.
#7 by khandor on April 7th, 2008
Blake,
In general, Monta Ellis is vastly … over-rated, by those who think that he’s an under-the-radar force.
Monta is a good offensive player … but, at the 2-spot where he plays … is the type of player with glaring defensive inadequacies which will forever doom his team from ever becoming a serious threat to win an NBA championship one day.
Just watch & see.
Teams that
#8 by Shane Chapman on July 15th, 2008
Definately agree with the jose comment. Impressive how u basically predicted what the raptors did with JO in april. But Jose is definately the most underrated player in the league. Lead the league in assist turnover ratio and played solid minutes with a killer jump shot and the ability to turn the corner.
#9 by khandor on July 17th, 2008
Shane,
If you think that Jermaine O’Neal is the ‘one rebounding defensive big man’ the Raptors needed to add in order to make their team a legitimate ‘contenda’ in the Eastern Conference next year then you’re seriously mistaken.
I would like to see the Raptors climb to the top of the NBA but making moves like this is not the way for them to accomplish this goal … see instead what Portland is doing to build around Greg Oden.
Bryan Colangelo has the Raptors on a treadmill going nowhere fast.
#10 by EthanB on June 24th, 2009
if we’re talking strait up underrated you can’t leave Gerald Wallace out of the mix. The dude goes out there every night and is playing like an all star. The man plays every position it seems, and a few seasons ago averaged better than two blocks and two steals a game, something only few other players have in the history of the NBA. The man is overlooked because he’s on a crappy team.