Photo by Charley Lhasa on Flickr
James Herbert and I are working together again. And again, we’re digging into some bad players. Check out our first collaboration on HP here.
It’s been a summer of lists — or at least that’s how it has seemed. Over the past few weeks the NBA blogosphere has been inundated with them. Some see them as a pointless exercise in futility (you see what I did there), but no matter where you stand on the idea of ranking players, it makes for conversation. And this has been an offseason starved of honest-to-goodness basketball-related talking points.
Inspired by Top 100 lists created by Zach Lowe over at Sports Illustrated’s The Point Forward and the trio running CBSSports’ Eye-On-Basketball, we decided to run in the opposite direction. What if we ranked the worst players? We started out with 100 names, and yes, there are some terrible players in the NBA, but the list was extremely irrelevant.
So we set some guidelines and shortened the list down to 50. For one, all players had to have averaged 15 minutes of playing time last season. An arbitrary number, yes, but it kept things consistent.
This list was assembled using our varying degrees of knowledge of basic and advanced statistics, Synergy, and a steady flow of argumentation. We don’t claim this ranking to be definitive by any stretch, and there will be plenty of disagreements.
We’re not inherently mean people, and we may have developed a bit of Stockholm Syndrome while writing about some of these players. Somewhere in the process, we found ourselves defending players we never knew we cared about. Hopefully this will inspire a similar response for you.
And it’ll soon be evident (at least it was for us), that when ranking the worst, there really isn’t much of a formula. Arguments can be made for most of these players as the worst. We did our best to take context and potential into consideration, but this list is completely open-ended — that same open-endedness fuels the chaos, riles up emotion, and makes things fun.
EDIT: If it wasn’t clear, we’re going backwards, leading up to the No. 1 worst rotation player.Â
So let’s get started.
50. James Johnson
F, Toronto Raptors
I’m feeling a little guilty here. I’m an unabashed James Johnson fan. Have been since his Wake Forest days.
Sometime during his rookie season in Chicago, I began calling Johnson “LeBron James in a coma.†I’m not quite sure if I meant a food coma or an actual coma, but it’s easy to imagine Johnson playing a role similar to LeBron if LeBron’s entire body was numb from the head down. He’s capable of initiating a fast break by himself with solid rebounding ability, adept ball handling for his size, and good vision. And it all looks great when he’s not making the wrong decision. (He greatly overstates his abilities in this area.)
He’s a hardworking defender capable of chasing smaller guys around screens with his length, size, and leaping ability. But it’s against bigger power forwards and centers where he’s awful. Getting better/more familiar with his opponent’s hesitations, fakes, and spins will help, though it’s clear that playing the power positions isn’t quite in his element.
Johnson only played 25 games for the Raptors. It’s too small of a sample size to cash in on his promising talent right now. He does have glaring weaknesses in his game that need to be addressed (his jump shot, improving his post-up defense) but chances are, this ranking will look foolish in the near future. – DC
49. Brendan Haywood
C, Dallas MavericksÂ
With about a quarter of the season in the books, Brendan Haywood doesn’t seem to care. He sometimes defends like he gives a damn, but his total effort? Particularly on the boards? It’s outright distressing, if not depressing.
I’d add “infuriating†to those two adjectives. God, watching Brendan Haywood for most of last season made me crazy. When people spout off about NBA players only caring about money and taking it easy after getting paid, it bugs me. The few players who give them ammunition bug me even more.
Up until mid-February, Haywood was clearly a different player than the one the Mavs paid for. This player was rarely engaged defensively and couldn’t even hit 40% of his free throws. Maybe  he was secretly nursing an injury. Maybe he had some personal issues distracting him. Maybe he just didn’t adjust well to being a backup. Maybe it wasn’t just laziness… but it sure looked like laziness.
Still, Haywood performed admirably for the last couple of months of the regular season and his defense was a key part of their championship run before he was sidelined by a hip injury, making way for an unforgettable 11 minutes of Ian Mahinmi in Game 6 of the Finals. Based on the way he turned his awful season around, I think there’s a good chance he’s off this list a year from now. – JH
48. Andris Biedrins
C, Golden State Warriors
At age 22, Andris Biedrins averaged 11.9 points and 11.2 rebounds a game. He was too skinny to defend post-up players, but he did everything else big men had to do and had an excellent motor. If you watched him for a few possessions, battling against stronger players and finishing with ease, it was easy to overlook his grotesque free throw stroke.
Now, at 25, he is coming off a season where he registered a PER of 12.1 in 59 games. A season where his team performed significantly worse at both ends with him on the court. We hoped he would bounce back after his disappointing 33-game campaign the year before, but he didn’t. We hoped the departure of Don Nelson would end his confidence issues, but it didn’t.
If we’re going by recent performance, Biedrins should be way, way higher on this list. He’s not scaring anyone on defense and, in addition to not having any offensive game away from the rim, he’s afraid of being sent to the foul line. He remains near the bottom of these rankings because it’s possible that his fall from grace has been more about injuries than anything else. According to Golden State GM Larry Riley, he’s excited about the game and healthy again. Perhaps this means next season he can play with the energy he used to. If Tyson Chandler can return to form at 28, Biedrins can at 25, right? …Right? — JH
47. Shawne Williams
F, New York Knicks
Shawne Williams was awesome in the first half of 2010-11. Really awesome. Shooting 47.5% for more than three months is nothing short of divine. Then Carmelo came, and a band of comrades went. And the spirit of Seven Seconds Or Less was lost. Williams wasn’t the same after. (And yet he still managed to finish the season shooting a tick above 40% from beyond the arc.)
Williams was offered a chance in New York, and tried his hardest not to disappoint. He was unwisely thrown into a gauntlet of defending players much bigger than himself, though surely more out of necessity than choice. As such, Williams was a horrid defender, though we give him credit for trying.
With SSOL MIA (LOL, WTF), Williams’ shooting numbers will fall even further down to earth next year. And that’s bad. Because outside of spot up situations and buckets in transition, Williams is a non-factor on offense.
The steep decline in production and effectiveness in the second half of the season is troubling. If it is indeed a result of the systemic changes in the Knicks offense due to Carmelo/Chauncey Billups’ arrival, then we could be looking at a miserable player come next season. – DC
46. Randy Foye
G, Los Angeles Clippers
Randy Foye is better than Willie Green for two reasons:
- He isn’t Willie Green.
- He shows a faint inkling of knowledge in team management.
Randy Foye is basically Willie Green, and this makes me horribly depressed because:
- They are both stout high-volume, low-efficiency gunners.
- And I hate players like that.
- …And it’s not like Foye has that much brighter of a future than Green. He’s only two years younger.
- Think about that for a second. Two years separate these guys. It feels like Willie Green has been torturing us for ages.
Foye has really great scoring instincts. But the execution is always half-hearted and flat. Still, he can get buckets when given (ample) opportunities. And sadly, that fills a need for a lot of teams. – DC
45. Gilbert Arenas
G, Orlando Magic
J: So, we’d rather have Randy Foye than Gilbert Arenas.
D: 2007 me is crying right now. Also, 2007 me barely knows who Randy Foye is.
J: Hell, 2011 me is about to start crying. But, I mean, look at Gil’s stats. He was crap. He had to be on this list somewhere.
D: And here he is. Somehow, he isn’t higher on the list (where he probably should be). What is it about Gil that compels us to hang on?
J: Nostalgia, mostly. But you know how he said he scored 20+ pretty much every time J-Rich sat out last season? He wasn’t lying. And he did average 17 points for the Wizards before the trade, even though it was inefficient as hell. Perhaps SVG is holding him back… or something.
D: Well, Gil was never an efficient scorer. The best thing he had going for him was that people considered him a threat. Now, that’s gone. And if he can’t put points on the board and pressure a defense, what exactly are we expecting of him?
J: I just don’t want to believe that he isn’t a threat. I’m probably delusional, but every single time I watch him I hope for a throwback performance. The vast majority of the time, it doesn’t happen. But then he’ll get on a hot streak in a playoff game and I’ll be sucked back in. I just wish it happened often enough to have real hope.
D: I pine for those performances too, but there’s this awkward line that we have to walk as Gilbert fans. On one side, it’s hoping that he returns to 2007 form, which won’t happen. The other side is hoping that he assimilates into a system and becomes a serviceable role player, which…to be honest is less than majestic. It’s less than Gilbert.
J: Is it less than Gilbert? It’s less than Agent Zero, I guess, but our expectations for Gilbert have sunk so low that I could be okay with “serviceable role player,†provided that his role is to basically do what used to do in shorter spurts. Say he ends up somewhere between a J.J. Barea and a Jason Terry… I can live with that if he can live with that.
D: I can’t. All or nothing for me. My memory of Gilbert has to be pristine. I don’t have it in me to tell my future children about some…â€serviceable role player.â€
J: My memory of Gilbert has already been tarnished. I have nightmares about that stupid beard multiple times a week.
D: Alright. Final question: Can Gilbert Arenas be effective ever again?
J: You should probably ask his doctors. But you asked me. So, yes.
D: And your guess is as good as mine.
44. Spencer Hawes
C, Philadelphia 76ers
If safety helmets were allowed in regulation NBA games, Spencer Hawes would be the first in line to order. Every. Single. Time.
He’s played at least 71 games in all four seasons. He’s also averaged less than one free throw made a game his entire career. Kudos to Spencer for staying healthy, but at what cost are we talking here?
Theoretically, Philadelphia is a place where Spencer can flourish. Pairing up with Elton Brand in the starting lineup should have accentuated his strengths while at least somewhat masking his glaring weaknesses. Brand may not be what he used to be, but at his core, he is still a hardnosed player. Hawes, for all of his flaws, is a talented player somehow. He has great touch, he’s not the biggest stiff in the world, and he can kind of rebound, pass, and block shots. But his inconsistency and lack of any tenacity is nauseating.
He hasn’t improved a bit since he stepped foot in the NBA. What he has done is raise his three point attempts since his rookie season, which I can only assume is an inefficient way for him to stay out of harm’s way. He was the permanent starter on a playoff team, which maybe counts for something. And he’s still young — that’s an excuse we can ride until it’s dead and gone.
Never change, Spencer. (PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE CHANGE, SPENCER.) – DC
43. Linas Kleiza
F, Toronto Raptors
Linas is one of the tougher guys to rate in this list. Few of the other names went through such an injury plagued season. Kleiza played on and off from the beginning of the season until the end of February, showing flashes of offensive potency that made him such an intriguing signing to begin with.
Kleiza sat out in February and missed the rest of the season to undergo microfracture surgery on his right knee. As Kleiza’s game doesn’t necessarily rely on his athleticism, it shouldn’t debilitate him, though there is always a worry when it comes to that kind of surgery.
With a full recovery, he should be back into the Raptors’ starting lineup. He’s a versatile scorer who operates well in post-up situations, taking advantage of his beefiness to bully smaller opponents. He’s regressed quite a bit as a three-point shooter, but he has legitimate range from deep, which is more than you can say for almost the entire roster, save for Andrea Bargnani.
But there was a lot of uncertainty in his performances last season. And they will carry on into the next. – DC
42. Kwame Brown
C, Charlotte Bobcats
I just don’t understand how a guy with such little offensive ability could ever have been picked first overall. His hands and instincts are awful and it’s weird even picturing him hitting a jumper. His free throw shooting is dreadful, too, but at least he upped it from 33.7% (!!!) to 58.9% last season.
Brown retains some value because of his defense and rebounding. He’s a solid one-on-one defender and can be trusted in pick-and-roll situations. This is just about all he is asked to do at this point in his career. Thankfully, he’s proven solid enough in those areas to still have a career — a year ago, we could not have been sure of that. – JH
41. Donte Greene
F, Sacramento Kings
The good: Donte Greene is 6’11, 23 years old, and can guard three positions. He made 85.3% of his free throws in his rookie season. He made 37.7% of his threes in his second season. He has the cutest son ever.
The bad: last season, he shot 29.2% on threes and 66.2% on free throws. He came into the league as a 3-4 tweener, and after three years we still aren’t sure where to put him because he can’t dribble or rebound.
If nothing else, Greene surely has a place in the league as a defender. He’s frustrating, though, as he’s shown flashes of being much more than that. He just hasn’t been able to produce with any regularity. If we’re still talking about his “potential†a year from now, there’s a problem. – JH
Honorable mentions:
Trevor Ariza
SF, New Orleans Hornets
The 2009 playoffs version of Trevor Ariza is hard to forget. He used his length and quickness to play the excellent perimeter defense we were accustomed to seeing and, for two months, made defenses pay when they left him open behind the three-point line. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen this version of Ariza since.
Unhappy with the terms of the contract his hometown team offered, in free agency he left the squad with multiple All-Stars and landed up on a Houston team where he was asked to be a creator. The Rockets/Hornets version of Ariza is still a very good defender and slasher, but his atrocious shot selection makes him downright harmful when the opponent doesn’t have a dangerous wing scorer. Nonetheless, Monty Williams had the Hornets playing the league’s 10th-best defense and he was a large part of it. For that and the memory of April-June 2009, he escapes the bottom 50. – JH
Jeff Green
F, Boston Celtics
This feels wrong, doesn’t it? Yeah, this definitely feels wrong.
Jeff Green is not a bad player, but he might not be as good as we once thought. Fans and detractors have held a nagging suspicion that Green was simply a glorified role player, and frankly, it’s more truth than fiction. If we split last year’s season into two – one with the Thunder, one with the Celtics – and throw them in a comparison with his 09-10 season, the Per-36 minute numbers of all “three†seasons are virtually identical. This isn’t to say his stats are terrible, but they show a frightening consistency that might to indicate a peak (and a plateau) in his development.
His breakout season in 08-09 was notable because, seemingly out of nowhere, Green shot the three ball beautifully at 38.9% on 3.2 attempts a game. His shot has since abandoned him. Without that accuracy from beyond the arc, he has even less to mitigate the inherent downsides of tweenerdom.
He’s not one of the worst, and that’s why he isn’t on the actual list. But for a player who was once thought to be Kevin Durant’s sidekick in Oklahoma City, the lack of progress and lackluster production is a bit saddening. Jeff Green isn’t a game-changer. Though, as we’ve learned from the Thunder’s success, getting rid of him is. – DC
Nate Robinson
G, Oklahoma City Thunder
via Twitter:
#Word2BigBird shout out to @ZachLowe_SI Lol its time 2get 2009 Nate back http://bit.ly/qeWKHt #WorDaApPÂ –JH
(That isn’t a real tweet.)Â
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