Each NBA roster has a player or maybe two of them that simply doesn’t do enough, whether it be because of injury, fit, or effort.
In the spirit of Christmas and basketball, we are going to talk about players that deserve a bad gift for the holidays, based on their on-court production. While we can’t be perfect, there is expectations that teams hold players to. Numbers can be an indicator of this, advanced stats, and many other metrics, but for the sake of fun we won’t dig to far into that.
Honorable Mentions
- Ricky Rubio- Rubio is an excellent passer. He is also great out of the pick and roll. That is where the praise just about ends. As a veteran in the league who is now surrounded with star talent, he still hasn’t helped elevate the Timberwolves to at least a .500 record. Rubio has continue to be a non-threat scoring the basketball, a non-shooter, and defensive liability for his team. He is a flashy player and very skilled at what he does, but until he expands his game the coal will be what he qualifies for every Christmas season.
- Roy Hibbert- Once upon a time, Roy Hibbert was an all-star. For some reason he has not found a good fit. As a 7 foot 1 center in a small ball NBA, he doesn’t rebound well for some reason. He isn’t good around the rim, and he is the last guy you would expect to see running the floor for easy looks. It seems as if the effort is not there and he has not earned rotation minutes for a while. Not even on a up and coming Charlotte team that he currently plays on. We surely hope he gets his mojo back at some point, because it pains me to put him on this Christmas walk of shame.