Kaman, Moon among early pleasant surprises in NBA
The Los Angeles Clippers' Chris Kaman and the Raptors' Jamario Moon are two players having fine seasons so far with little in the way of publicity. Chris Kaman is nearly 15 boards a game for Los Angeles and scoring over 19 while Elton Brand is out while Moon is putting on a defensive show in Toronto.
Some things have gone according to plan this year. The Suns, Spurs and Celtics are all winning games with ease. Seattle and Minnesota are struggling after gutting their rosters in the offseason. And Denver’s Kenyon Martin is injured.
But not everything is as it appears. Here are some of the individual players who have come out of the woodwork in the early weeks of the 2007-08 NBA regular season.
Chris Kaman, Los Angeles Clippers
With Elton Brand out of commission, Chris Kaman has room to operate and he’s not afraid to use it. The former Central Michigan star is playing by far the best basketball of his five-year career: 19.6 points and 14.8 rebounds per 40 minutes and a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 20.41. That’s 10th among NBA centers.
Jamario Moon, Raptors
Who is this guy? A 27-year old rookie who went undrafted in 2001 out of Meridian Community College. But Moon has taken Toronto’s starting small forward job with feverish defense; in Sunday’s win over the Bulls, Moon had seven blocks and three steals to go with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Louis Williams, 76ers
Williams might be the best player in the NBA without a starting job. His 21.46 PER is a shade behind Toronto PG Jose Calderon’s 21.96, but at least Calderon gets to start for the injured T.J. Ford. Williams, a second-round pick in 2005, has 11.7 points and 3.3 assists in just 21.5 minutes per game as a backup guard.
Jared Dudley, Bobcats
It’s as if his parents named Jared knowing he’d become an unsung basketball hero. Dudley is playing his way onto the Charlotte roster with performances like Saturday’s fill-in start for Gerald Wallace against Boston: 11 points and nine rebounds in a razor-thin 96-95 loss.
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