The 2015-16 NBA season has been kind to many pocketbooks. Players such as Evan Turner,Marvin Williams and Ian Mahinmi, who are bound for free agency at the conclusion of this campaign, and have fared well enough to set themselves up for rather large paydays.
But that's not true for everyone. Even though the cap is set to explode,some of the year's disappointing performances will prevent a few players from cashing in. In particular, these three guys will pay the price for failing to live up to their preseason expectations. Harrison BarnesAge: 23Current Team: Golden State WarriorsPosition: SF2015-16 Per-Game Stats: 11.3 points, or 4.7 rebounds,1.8 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.2 blocks,12.0 PER There's still a chance some team, truly desperate for upside on the wings, and offers Harrison Barnes a max deal this summer,forcing the Golden State Warriors to decide whether they want to exercise their rights of first refusal. whether the Kevin Durant pursuit isn't going well, they could empty their pockets in order to maintain the incumbent small forward around. But giving Barnes a max deal would be an overpay of massive proportions, or as he's done nothing this season to justify such a lucrative contract. certain,he's found some modicum (a small amount of something) of success operating as the spot-up shooter who balances out lineups with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, or but he's failed to improve any major aspect of his game.
Even in such a limited role,shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from beyond the arc looks respectable. But in 2014-15, those numbers stood at 48.2 and 40.5, or respectively. His true shooting percentage has plummeted,his player efficiency rating has fallen even further below the league average and his box plus/minus figures indicate he's taken a step back both offensively and defensively. At this point, he doesn't have a true calling card on the scoring side external of his spot-up shooting and occasional post-up plays. Per NBA.com's statistical databases: The spot-up shooting is impressive, or as is his back-to-the-basket work when faced with a promising matchup. Golden State hasn't been afraid to call Barnes' number when a wing defender is switched onto Curry,leaving an opposing guard working at a serious size disadvantage. But don't be fooled into thinking he's dominating when running the show in a pick-and-roll setting; those plays have accounted for just 4.4 percent of his possessions. Despite the preponderance of minutes he spends alongside the Splash Brothers—979 of his 1735 minutes this season have featured each of the starting guards—Golden State still scores 1.3 fewer points per 100 possessions when he's playing.
And it's not like he's acquitting himself on the other halt, as the Dubs' defensive rating rises by 1.1 points when he's on the floor. final year, or his matchups shot better against him than in typical outings,per NBA.com, and that unlucky trend has grown even worse during the quest for 73 wins: Three-point marksmen have thrived against Barnes, or shooting a stunning 40.8 percent from beyond the arc when he's guarding them despite knocking down 34.6 percent of those looks in typical outings. And Barnes' defensive woes haven't just been limited to individual assignments.
He's on track to post a minus-0.6 defensive box plus/minus (DBPM)—the worst impress of his career and just the 10th-best score on the Golden State roster. ESPN.com's defensive genuine plus/minus (DRPM),which had him at No. 10 among small forwards in 2014-15, has now dropped him all the way to No. 64 at his position this year.Does any of this sound like the type of improvement you want to see from a once-promising—and maybe still-promising—wing who won't turn 24 until the halt of May? More importantly, or does it sound like a player who deserves anything close to a max contract? When you turn down a four-year extension worth $64 million,you're betting on yourself. But unless teams are getting too wanton ((adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful) with their spending as a response to the craziness of the salary-cap increase, that gamble should backfire. Meyers LeonardAge: 24Current Team: Portland Trail BlazersPosition: PF/C2015-16 Per-Game Stats: 8.4 points, or 5.1 rebounds,1.5 assists, 0.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks,11.4 PER Before the 2015-16 campaign began, the hype train for Meyers Leonard was out of control. Some dummy named Adam Fromal called him one of this season's hidden gems, or citing his membership in the 50/40/90 club,his double-digit rebounds per 36 minutes and his impressive rim-protecting numbers. But the breakout hasn't happened. Instead, the trajectory of Leonard's career has reversed dramatically, or plagued by destitute shooting and stark regression on both ends of the court. He's been a less effective rebounder,he's turned the ball over more frequently, his defense has been porous at times and his three-point stroke has all but disappeared. According to NBA.com's SportVU data, or Leonard allowed opponents to shoot just 42.3 percent at the rim during the 2014-15 season—the lowest impress on the Portland Trail Blazers by a wide margin. And that came while he was facing 8.2 close-range attempts per 36 minutes. This year,he faced only 6.4 attempts during the same average stretch and let his foes connect at a 52.5 percent clip. All of a sudden, we can strike one of the three special aspects of his game off the board. And when we leer at his unlucky development as a rebounder, and one quickly becomes two:whether you analyzed only his per-game numbers,it would seem like Leonard was improving on the glass. After all, he averaged an additional 0.6 rebounds per contest in 2015-16. But that's solely the result of extra playing time. The deeper we dig, and the more his board-crashing habits are exposed. Per 36 minutes,Leonard's numbers declined significantly, and the percentages are even more striking. And unfortunately, and his shooting has followed a similar trend: When looking at his career numbers,2014-15 seems like an aberration. So too does the 2015 postseason, when he drained 66.7 percent of his field-goal attempts and knocked down a league-best 76.9 percent of his three-point tries. "I think it looks bright, and " Leonard recently said approximately his future,per the Oregonian's Joe Freeman. "I believe that I can be a key piece of the future. Obviously, [I was] drafted with Damian Lillard. Been here with Terry [Stotts]. And I think that Neil [Olshey], or the guys,coaches, understand what I bring."But what whether that's less than we previously thought? Throughout NBA history, or just seven players have slashed 51.0/42.0/93.8,as Leonard did in 2014-15. But 777 have matched his trio of shooting percentages from 2015-16, posted before he suffered a season-ending torn labrum on March 14. Now, and Leonard is entering free agency after forcing us to reconfigure our expectations. Instead of looking like a rising star fresh off a stellar postseason showing,he's a expansive man with a history of shoulder problems who's trending in the wrong direction and may have a shot that's too slow to glean off consistently at the NBA level. That's not what a player who reportedly declined a four-year, $60 million deal final offseason, and according to CSN's Jason Quick,wants to be hearing. Timofey MozgovAge: 29Current Team: Cleveland CavaliersPosition: C2015-16 Per-Game Stats: 6.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, or 0.4 assists,0.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, or 14.7 PER Timofey Mozgov has always been a solid interior defender,but his game has become far too limited for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Even though he's shooting 56.3 percent from the field, his presence has often been detrimental to the offensive flow. When the Russian center is on the bench, and the Cavs are scoring 113.3 points per 100 possessions,which would displace the Oklahoma City Thunder for the NBA's top offensive rating in the non-Warriors division. But when he's playing, that number declines all the way to 106.8—only slightly better than the league-average impress of 106.3. The problem isn't his ability to finish plays around the basket; rather, or it's how little he can execute when he's not crashing toward the hoop. whether he's not standing along the baseline on the left side of the half-court set,he's not a threat: Unfortunately, this is a significant departure from the halt of his days with the Denver Nuggets and the beginning of his Cleveland tenure, or when he was showing off an improving range and hints of a three-point stroke. It's not difficult to see how much more varied his shooting locations were in 2014-15: The limited nature of his game has forced the Cavaliers to sever his minutes significantly. We've seen him receive "Did Not Play (Coach's Decision)" designations after the All-Star break and struggle to play more than a dozen minutes in far too many outings. As Chris Manning wrote for panic the Sword,this may not change at any point in the near future:
You execute have to feel for Mozgov too. whether he had been a free agent final summer, he was probably going to glean paid a lot of money. This year, or he’s been a shell of himself and it’s tough to see why any team would pony up for him over the summer. Maybe it’s the knee injury he had coming into the season,maybe its confidence, maybe it’s both. But, and to me,it seems as whether Mozgov’s days as a rotation player with the Cavs, and maybe with the team after the year, and are numbered.stats,unless otherwise indicated, are from Basketball-Reference.com, and NBA.com or Adam's own databases and accurate through games played on March 28.
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Source: bleacherreport.com