Also check out the Most Underrated Players Article

12.  Charlie Villanueva, Milwaukee Bucks
Charlie Villanueva was considered one of the worst picks in Toronto Raptors’ history almost immediately.  And this was a team that had already drafted Michael Bradley and Rafael Araujo.  And he was thought of this way until March 26th, 2006 when he dropped 48 points on the Milwaukee Bucks.  Ever since then, the experts have dubbed this guy one of the best young players in the league and even questioning why the Raptors would trade him for T.J. Ford. 

Let me tell you why: he’s not as good as people think and Bryan Colangelo knows it.  Charlie is a tweener that has decreasing focus as most games go on.  There’s a reason he wasn’t a star at the University of Connecticut.  He doesn’t have much determination to maximize his talents.  He missed all but 39 games last year with a shoulder injury and after seeing him last week in Milwaukee.  I don’t see him fitting in with this Bucks’ squad.  People will keep touting him as he continues to under produce. 

11.  Jamaal Magloire, New Jersey Nets
He seems to have peaked 4 years ago at the age of 25 years old, which is never a good thing.  He’s basically Lindsay Lohan, both on the decline of their careers.  Last season, he couldn’t even solidify himself as the full-time starter in Portland.  He dropped down to 6 points and 6 rebounds per game and couldn’t even block one shot per contest.  He’s unable to capitalize on his size and is too slow for the ever-quickening NBA of today. 

Now the only thing to pull him off of this list this year is the fact that he joined Jason Kidd’s team.  Jason Kidd was the guy that got Kenyon Martin a deal worth about $13 million per year and Mikki Moore a 3-year, $18 million deal.  He gets overrated big men large contracts. 

10.  Larry Hughes, Cleveland Cavaliers
Surprisingly, a lot of fans still hold out hope that Larry Hughes can be the Scottie Pippen to LeBron’s MJ.  The actual current Scottie Pippen would have a better chance at filling that role.  Larry is a nice player that has all of the talent in the world.  But he’s never had the mental toughness to put it together except for his contract year in Washington.  Larry has never played a full season and has only made it to 70 games twice in his career. 

When healthy and focused, he’s a great talent that can change the game on defense and offense.  But he’s never lived up to the hype and will never make it to that perennial All-Star level.  The real goal for him this year shouldn’t be to become the perfect compliment to LeBron James but it should be to play in a career high 75 games.  Like Dr. Leo Marvin in “What About Bob” said, “It’s all about baby steps.” 

9.  Nate Robinson, New York Knicks
I was discussing basketball with fellow Talkhoops.net writer, Phillip Barnett, and I came to the conclusion that Nate Robinson is a lot like comedian, Katt Williams.  He’s tiny and I’m not quite sure what he actually does.  Nate Robinson is one of those really frustrating players for true NBA fans; he isn’t really that good but his jumping ability and height limitations make him a well-known popular player.  He shot over 50% in 19 of the 64 games that he played in last season and only took more than 7 shots in 11 of those 19 games.  He isn’t by any means an effective scorer. 

So why is he so popular and highly regarded?  One reason is he plays in New York and that will almost overrate any player there (see: Stephon Marbury).  Another reason is that for some reason, players that win slam dunk contests are always assumed to be on the verge of breaking through (see: Harold Miner, Fred Jones, and Gerald Green).  Another reason is that he walks along like the chicken hawk from the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons.  In fact, I think I just found his new nickname…

8.  Jamaal Tinsley, Indiana Pacers
His best season came in his rookie year, which set very high expectations for the point guard out of Iowa State.  It’s also the only time in his 6 years career that he’s played in 80 games.  He’s never shot over 41.8% from the field or 37.2% from the arc.  He’s never shot higher than 74.4% from the free throw line.  He’s missed 122 games in the past 4 seasons. 

So why is he so highly regarded?  It’s the whole And 1, streetball phenomenon that swept the basketball world for the past 7 years.  Don’t get me wrong, I love what And 1 and EBC have done to bring the spotlight to basketball players that would have normally been just folklore in the future.  They’re very talented entertaining basketball players that deserve to get paid whatever they can for their talents just like NBA players.  But the style has partially ruined the perception of who should be an up and coming star and what players should try and do to be successful.  It’s glitz and glam instead of substance and production. 

7.  DeShawn Stevenson, Washington Wizards
The self-proclaimed “Mr. 50” (not because he scored 50, but because at some point last season, he was shooting 50% from the field) has never scored more than 11.4 points per game in a season.  He’s shot over 34% from the arc twice in his career and over 70% from the free-throw line also twice in his career.  He has a career 1.7:1.2 assists to turnover ratio and has never averaged one steal per game. 

For some reason, the Wizards panicked this off-season and gave him a deal for 4 years and $16 million.  He’s going to start this year and ruin the growth of rookie SG, Nick Young.  He can’t shoot and is an average defender on his best day. 

6.  Earl Boykins, Free Agent
A lot of NBA fans try to talk about how good Earl Boykins is but I just don’t get it.  He has had a nice scoring average the last 4 years, but he also puts up a lot of shots (over the last 4 years, he’s averaged 10.5 field goal attempts per game) and plays a lot of minutes for a bench player.  And the worse part of all that is that he isn’t a very good shooter (41.5% over the last 4 seasons from the field).  I think that it’s remarkable that a 5’5” guy can play and play surprisingly well in the NBA but he should get any sympathy points.  He’s overrated and that’s all that matters. If he was THAT good, he'd be signed right now.

5.  Samuel Dalembert, Philadelphia 76ers
Ever since I started writing for basketball websites (4 years ago), I’ve always stated that Samuel Dalembert is the dumbest, good defender I’ve ever seen.  3 years ago, would you have called Elton Brand a better shot blocker than Sam Dalembert? Sam did block 121 compared to Elton’s 118.  Well, Sam may have blocked 120, but he goal-tended 24 shots.  Elton Brand didn’t goal-tend any shots. 

Simply put, Samuel Dalembert is a decent shot blocker that would be much better if he didn’t goal-tend so much.  He has a ton of athleticism and is very active on defense, but he’s almost too active because he can’t control himself when it comes to judging where and when to go for the block.  If he can garner some self-control, perhaps he’ll get off of this list. 

4.  Eddy Curry, New York Knicks
THIS GUY DOESN’T REBOUND!!!  He’s 6’11”, 285 pounds and he can’t grab more than 7 rebounds per game.  Has he been watching too many Erick Dampier highlights?  Even Shawn Bradley broke the 8 rebounds per game mark 4 times by the time he had been in the league 6 years.  In Curry’s 6th season (last season), he finally got to 7 rebounds per game. 

He also doesn’t play any defense.  Dwyane Wade, Mickael Pietrus, Jason Richardson, and Shaun Livingston all had more blocks per game last year than Eddy Curry.  What was the mark that these guys had to beat to average more than Curry?  0.5 blocks per game.  No, that isn’t a typo.  He averaged a half of a block per contest.  I defy Knicks’ fans to tell me how valuable this guy is. 

3.  Daniel Gibson, Cleveland Cavaliers
Austin Croshere earned a contract for 6 years and $49.6 million after a playoff run in which he averaged 9.4 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 42%(fg), 41%(3p) and 84%(ft).  Tony Delk earned a contract for 5 years and $16.2 million after a playoff run in which he averaged 11.2 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 44% (fg), 60% (3p), and 74% (ft).  Both of these guys were in their second years in the league and went on to have disappointing careers in which they didn’t live up to the hype generated by their lucrative playoff runs. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: Daniel Gibson.  He averaged 8.3 points per game while shooting 41% from the three-point line.  He was key in the Cavs overcoming the Detroit Pistons on their way to getting blown out by the Spurs in the Finals.  And this year, he’ll have great expectations that he will not meet.  He’s going to sign a big contract next year that Cleveland shouldn’t offer him and disappoint Cavs’ fans for the next 5 years.  He’s this year’s winner of the Croshere/Delk award. 

2.  Kenyon Martin, Denver Nuggets
Here’s how little Kenyon Martin has done for the Denver Nuggets; When I first typed this list, I put Kenyon’s team as the New Jersey Nets because I can’t remember a f***ing thing that he’s done for the Nuggets.  He missed 80 games last season.  He missed 26 the previous year.  He’s coming back after micro-fracture surgery.  He’s had one good season since leaving Jason Kidd and that was because of Andre Miller at the point.  He can’t create his own shot.  He’s averaged just 6.9 rebounds since getting his monster contract from Denver.  He has yet to earn it.  If Nuggets’ fans are expecting a healthy Kenyon Martin to help push them into title contention this year, don’t hold your breath. 

1.  Chauncey Billups, Detroit Pistons
How could the immortal Chauncey Billups be the number 1 most overrated player in the league?  Because people still refer to him as Mr. Big Shot.  He shot 40.5% from the field last year in clutch situations.  From 2003 to 2006, he was 5 for 26 (19%) on game winning shots.  He hasn’t shown up in a big game since the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.  He’s a career 41% shooter.  Somebody explain to me why he just signed a 5 years, $60 million contract and that Pistons’ fans are happy about this.