Manu Ginobili?
Don’t say we didn’t warn you. All through his playoff run, all through the offseason, we warned you. A super-hot playoff run doesn’t mean that those stats are going to carry over to the following season. But that said, I don’t think anyone expected a statistical drop like this. His shooting is a disaster (under 30%), and other than a few hot streaks he’s really been almost nonexistent in the Spurs offense.
Still, he’s showing signs of improvement. His 13 boards and three steals last night were encouraging, as were his 37 minutes. But the fact is, the Spurs added some serious depth last year, and that’s only a bad thing for Ginobili. Despite the hot playoff run, I don’t think you can expect him to be much better than he was last year, and maybe some of those 3rd-round picks that were spent on him could have been spent better elsewhere.
Larry Hughes?
Last year, Hughes was the 1A to Gilbert Arenas’ 1 in the Washington offense. He was given free reign a lot of the time in the offensive system, chucking 20-footers and driving the lane with regularity. He also had the ball in his hands plenty, leading to a career-high 4.7 assists. Meanwhile, his defensive abilities meant he was put up against the other team’s best perimeter player, so as the on-the-ball defender he managed to come up with a ton of steals. Oh yeah – and on top of all that, it was a contract year.
Now, he’s a clear second-banana to LeBron James. He is much more of a spot-up shooter on the Cavs, as LeBron and Eric Snow/Damon Jones both control the ball more on offense. He won’t approach the 18 shots per game or 4.7 assists of last year, and in fact maybe he shouldn’t have been picked in the 3rd or 4th rounds either.
Jamal Crawford?
One day, twenty years from now, Jamal Crawford and Darko Milicic will sit down and have a nice meal and reminisce about the time the were stuck in Larry Brown’s doghouse. But until then, Crawford is going to have to fight his own battles in New York. His minutes have gone from 37 in the opener to 24 to 17. His points, from 11 to 4 to 2. He’s clearly the odd man out right now in New York, and its tough to get out of that position when Larry Brown is your coach.
Jamal Crawford might be the highest-drafted player to land on the waiver wires this year without being injured. Brown has no patience for players like Crawford – high-turnover, low-FG% types who needs the ball in his hands. It’s much to soon to actually drop him, but there is no reason he should be in the starting lineup for anyone.
Kurt Thomas?
You know, I could have just as easily picked Jim Jackson for this spot, or even Raja Bell or James Jones, but I’ll stick with Thomas as the biggest disappointment so far. Despite Amare Stoudamire being out of the lineup, Thomas is seeing only about 23 mpg, and even worse, he’s only grabbing 4.3 boards.
So what’s the problem? Well, the problem is, the Suns have found that they can go with an incredibly small lineup and still win. But so far they’ve played only Dallas and Sacramento, two teams who love to run just as much as the Suns, and the Lakers and the Jazz, two teams who, really, aren’t very good. Once the Suns are forced to play a big man in the middle, that man will be Thomas, and hopefully his stats will turn around a little in the coming weeks.