[LeroyJenkinsParticipant]

“It’s been a pretty competitive season so far in the NBA. It’s assumed that Cleveland and Los Angeles will play in the Finals, but there will be some stiff competition from Denver, Orlando, San Antonio, Dallas, and maybe even Atlanta.

Leaving out established players like Dirk, Manu, and Nash, international players continue to find success in the league (we should probably leave out Bogut, Scola, and Horford too). Unfortunately, for every successful international player, there is another one who finds disappointment.”

Successes

Carlos Arroyo – It was only a matter of time before Arroyo returned to an NBA starting line up

Andrea Bargnani – After being declared a “bust” his rookie year, Bargnani broke out last year and continues to show fantastic athleticism

Rodrigue Beaubois – He wasn’t supposed to play this year, but his 7 points in 10 minutes per game shows incredible promise

Andrew Bogut – Bogut has Milwaukee playing enjoyable, tough basketball and is averaging career highs in points and rebounds

Omri Casspi – the NBA has been waiting for an Israeli player for many years; the first has been great, scoring 11 points and 5 rebounds per game

Goran Dragic – When Steve Nash eventually leaves Phoenix, the Suns will be smart to keep this scoring PG

Danilo Gallinari – a poor rookie season last year has turned into a great sophomore season under Mike D’Antoni

Marc Gasol – with Gay and Zach Randolph, Gasol has helped Memphis gain some respect in the NBA. He’s a half rebound away from averaging a double-double

Hamed Haddadi – in recent games, Haddadi has gotten some minutes and shown that he’s pretty good

Al Horford – He’s got Atlanta in a good play-off position and is half a rebound away from averaging a double-double

Ersan İlyasova – His triumphant return as a solid role-player after leaving Milwaukee for Barcelona has been great to watch

Yi Jianlian – His team is terrible and he’s missed a lot of games, but Yi’s scoring is up

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute – He’s from UCLA, but I still like him. Great defense and solid offense, plus his team is a strong play-off team

Luis Scola – Scola anchors Houston’s front court with 16 points and 9 rebounds per game. Somewhere, a GM in San Antonio is crying

Thabo Sefolosha – His scoring is down this year, but OKC is in the play-offs with some thanks to his defense

Anderson Varejão – Cleveland is playing great and Varejão’s hustle has become a huge factor for the team

Disappointments

Andris Biedriņš – Injuries have hampered him all year and he’s only had one double-double. That’s a far cry from the kid who signed a $54 million contract last year

Marco Belinelli – He teases Raptors fans with beautiful shooting but he’s too hot and cold

Jose Calderon – He’s lost about 3 assists per game since last year and his team is not playing well

Kyrylo Fesenko – Perhaps too much was expected of Fesenko, but he hasn’t shown very much in his third season with Utah

Dan Gadzuric – Hes seen better years. His minutes are down significantly from past years and his 42% shooting has made him a non-factor for Milwaukee

Marcin Gortat – Orlando didn’t let him go to another team this summer, knowing that he was a great player who won’t get many minutes behind Dwight Howard

Darko Miličić – He’s finally on a team that actually wants him to play and he’s put up good numbers, but still nowhere close to what he’s capable of

Andrés Nocioni – Instead of playing for a play-off contender, Nocioni is stuck on a team that’s rebuilding

Zaza Pachulia – After rocking Atlanta into their recent success in 2005/06, his minutes are way down this year

Sergio Rodríguez – It might not be his fault, but a lot of people expected a lot more from Spanish Chocolate when he got to New York

Peja Stojakovic – Once an MVP candidate when he was with Sacramento, Peja’s career has dropped precipitously

Hedo Türkoğlu – It’s hard to say that Türkoğlu has improved. He’s down in all statistical categories and can’t seem to do a thing to help Toronto. Absolutely disappointing after a great few years in Orlando

Either/Or

Rudy Fernández – He still has jaw-dropping plays, but he missed a month, hurting Porland and his chances at the starting line-up

Nenad Krstić – his team is successful, but his statistics are down from his days as New Jersey’s play-off center

Andre Kirilenko – everyone wants him to repeat his 2005/06 season when he was an MVP candidate and triple double machine…he’s doing OK but has never gotten back to that level

Žydrūnas Ilgauskas – if he goes back to Cleveland, he’ll be a wild success as his career winds down
Hasheem Thabeet – he’s still a rookie and it shows

Beno Udrih – Udrih is still playing well for an awful team, but a lot of his fans expected more. Rookie Tyreke Evans is taking a little away from Udrih’s game

[Anton123Participant]

Agree with most of it, though I don’t remember a single jaw-dropping play from Rudy, I was really high on him, but the depth of Portland must be killing him.

Fesenko had some sparks but he did dissapoint me.

All the Toronto signed guys turned out to be dissapointments accept Jack, thats funny.

Biedrins makes me sad

[Bobby_ZParticipant]

Tony Parker : Bad season for him with injuries.

[rtbtParticipant]

GatHator, although I disagree with a few of your assessments, overall you did an excellent job. Here are some of the areas where we disagree.

Sergio Rodriguez: He’s only been in NY for a couple of weeks so it’s too early to label him a disappointment. I watch all of the Knick games and Rodgriguez brings a new dimension to the NY offense. He constantly breaks down the defense by driving to the basket, something Chris Duhon rarely did. Unfortunately his teammates usually fail to take advantage of that opportunity.

Beno Udrih: I think he’s proven beyond any doubt that he’s a legitimate NBA PG with his excellent play on a consistent basis. That’s satisfying to me because I defended him against so much abuse on this website.

Jose Calderon: I only watched Toronto play about 4 games this season, but in each one, Calderon looked as good as he did last year. I think part of his problem early on was that pulled muscle injury.

Rudy Fernandez: Because so much was expected of him, he should be labeled a disappointment. On the other hand, I don’t think Portland is a good fit. If Fernandez moved to another team, such as NY, I believe he would flourish.

I think the biggest surprise this season has been the outstanding play of Ersan İlyasova, who wasn’t ready for the NBA his first time in the league.

[Author]

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