[jbulls]

It seems like just about all of the 2004 rookies are having a pretty tough time this year. Dwight Howard is really the only high profile guy who's stepped up his level of play substantially, though I suppose Devin Harris has played at a higher level.

Deng and Iggy are playing right about at the level they played at last year and everyone else is struggling: Josh Childress (5.3 PPG), Josh Smith (.337 FG%), Al Jefferson (7.1 PPG), Ben Gordon (34% from the field), Emeka Okafor (.399 from the field, lower PTS and REBS), Shaun Livingston (injuries), Trevor Ariza (basically can't get on the court right now), Beno Udrih (5 MPG)...

All of these guys had really promising rookie campaigns, and all have regressed - I'm not taking into accounts busts obviously, that wouldn't be a regression. Any guesses on who's for real and who isn't out of this struggling group?

 

[johnston797]

Another slumping group is Bigs that were on the FA market last summer:
Curry
Chandler
Dalembart
Swift
J James
Radmonic

 

[rosenthall]

Josh Childress, I think, will stay pretty bad. He'll do better than he is right now, but I don't think he'll ever justify his draft position. He's always struck me as a pretty average player.

I'd say Emeka is a pretty good bet to shake out of his funk, as is Ben. I would say that Josh Smith, Ariza and Beno Udrih will too, but their situations don't seem favorable for them in the short term, be it because of their coach, or their team being too bad or too good.

Personally, I think Iggy could really bust out, but I wonder if he'll be able to do that playing with AI and Cwebb dominating the ball all the time. I don't think he really has the offensive game, or the mentality, to ever be a go-to guy on offense, but he's really useful as a finisher and a guy who doesn't need the ball too much on offense to get his points. Iggy on a team like the Nets or the Suns would be pretty sick, I think.