NBA Hitters

Its almost the midpoint in the NBA season and its about time to start acknowledging some surprises as well as disappointments thus far.

The Goods

-Houston-You would be hard pressed to find a person who would say this team would be 22-18 without Yao Ming and an exiled Tracy McGrady. They are the anti-notion that you need star players to be moderately successful and it shows.They have alot of pieces that can shoot(Battier,Brooks,Budinger) mix it up defensively(Landry,Lowry,Ariza,Scola) and you aren't sure where the scoring will come from next. That's how they get you.

-Sacramento-They were widely considered the worst team in the league coming into this year for various reasons(I didn't buy it but would be in the bottom 5) but the emergence of Tyreke Evans even without Kevin Martin playing for any length of time has pleasantly surprised the league. Evans is going to be an elite talent and the pieces of Martin,Hawes,Thompson and Cassipi all complement him pretty well.They won't push for the playoffs in the deep west, but they are on a higher curve than people considered them earlier.

-Memphis-Another team that had some talent but not many thought that they would piece it all together for the better. The Allen Iverson experiment never got off the ground to "work" and so I think that helped the younger players(Conley/Mayo) not have to look over their shoulders for playing time. OJ Mayo,Marc Gasol and Rudy Gay have all taken a collective step forward and anytime that happens you will see the results quickly.Also another risk that has worked out quite well is the signing of Zach Randolph. He has always had the 20pts/10rebs, but it has been the bad plays and lack of defense that has killed him in many circles and thus far he has shook that stigma and turned it into a positive with a 20-18 record

The Bads

-New Jersey-I thought they would be bad..sure..3-36 bad?...never..that is so bad its almost painful to watch.They've been relatively competitive in their games so its not a lack of talent technically.Brook Lopez and Devin Harris are good young players but they are misused. Also the surrounding pieces aren't really working at all..Bobby Simmons,Trenton Hassell and Jarvis Hayes shouldn't be seeing the floor at all when you have Chris Douglas-Roberts,Terrence Williams and Courtney Lee..doesn't add up at all.

-Washington-Yeah...yeah...the Gilbert Arenas situation isn't helping but they weren't winning when he was playing.The team is poorly constructed and no one plays defense.Caron Butler is in love with taking bad shots and the funny thing about taking those are,more than likely you won't hit them.The only people who are producing and giving real effort are Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood and only Jamison is truly producing to his capabilities. This team needs to be blown up as soon as possible.

-Portland-Not for a underachieving standpoint..they are doing quite well in that aspect..just in terms of luck.This team is soooo unlucky in terms of injuries its almost funny...heres a list of injuries this year.

-Nicolas Batum-Torn Shoulder
-Rudy Fernandez-Leg/Back pain(returned)
-Greg Oden-Knee
-Joel Pryzbilla-Knee
-Steve Blake-Pneumonia(returned)
-Brandon Roy-Hamstring
-Travis Outlaw-Foot
-Nate McMillian(Coach)-ACL
-Paul Allen(Owner)-Cancer

Yeah..wild stuff..