We have reached the portion of the NBA playoffs where there are (finally) only four teams remaining. With Cleveland, Atlanta, Golden State, and Houston being the sole survivors of an 82-game season and a grueling playoffs, fully expect hyperbole to be in maximum overdrive.
Most of the talk going forward will be about each of the team’s stars. Guys like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Al Horford, James Harden and the rest of the superstars, will be the players getting the most run from the media and fans — deservedly so, might I add.
But we know the deal. Some player not named LeBron or Curry will have an incredible impact on all things conference finals. This is the entity known as a non-superstar, also called an “impact player” or “x-factor.”
Let’s take a gander at one player from each team — who isn’t a super stud — who might be overlooked now, but will need to have huge series if his team wants to go to the NBA Finals.
Dennis Schröder – Atlanta Hawks – Magician
The Hawks probably have the least “known” roster remaining, despite owning the best record in the Eastern Conference and having produced their best season this side of Bob Pettit, also the best season in the Atlanta portion of the Hawks’ history. (Their 1958 championship came in St. Louis.)
Nevertheless, people are — rightfully — going to be talking about Kyle Korver fixing his shot, Al Horford being a matchup issue, and other things of that nature while blindly ignoring the awesomeness that is Dennis Schröder.
Schröder is as good as he is slight. Weighing, supposedly, 168 pounds, the Braunschweig, Germany, product is an incredible watch. His build likens him to an undersized two-guard in college, but one who can alter games in many different ways.
After a stint in the D-League, as well as a so-so rookie season, Schröder has really come into his own this season. He’s averaged 10 points and four assists in just 19 minutes per game (18-5 per 36 minutes, all career-highs).
These playoffs haven’t been too kind to the former 17th overall NBA draft pick, however. His efficiency numbers have been down. Not that Schröder has ever been considered a world-renown sharpshooter, but his 40-percent field goal shooting and sub-30-percent shooting from three won’t cut it if he wants to help Atlanta topple the Cavs.
All that said, he does have this feel about him. Numbers can’t really quantify it, but that’s mostly because there are none to back it up. More or less — and Atlanta desperately needs it to be more — Dennis Schröder is a magician. The Hawks just need him to be more of a Las Vegas performer than a street magician going forward.
Matthew Dellavedova – Cleveland Cavaliers — “That Guy”
While not politically correct, but you don’t honestly care, every playoffs has one — a foreign-born player of note. While you probably thought I was going with “white guy” rhetoric, the Australian is one of those players who people felt was more a detriment than a help to their team going into the season.
For good reason, too. Delly wasn’t projected to be anything other than not an NBA player. He went undrafted, after attending the Australian Institute of Sport and four years with the St. Mary’s Gaels, and his rookie season went as ho-hum as you would have expected. Dellavedova managed to score a measly 4.7 points in just 17 minutes of action a night. None of these details could have been predictors of anything special to come.
His sophomore season, statistically, was even worse. While his minutes per game went up (20.6), Dellavedova shot an abominable .362 from the floor. Yes, his other stats (three-point percentage, ppg, and apg) all went marginally up, but it again seemed like he was more a non-factor than a guy who could end up being vital to Cleveland’s success.
Yet here we are, in the 2015 NBA Playoffs, and Delly will be the trendy pick as a non-superstar player of consequence.
Here is what he needs to do for the Cavaliers to advance to the NBA Finals, at least from a realistic standpoint:
Not turn the ball over; bring the ball up the court to alleviate pressure from LeBron James and Kyrie Irving; hit a three-pointer once every 13 minutes of game action; be a player who isn’t a detriment to his team by imploding; play within his means.
That doesn’t sound incredibly hard. Truth be told, it isn’t. Still, players who aren’t world-beaters have roles which need to be fulfilled. Delly needs to be himself, but not even slightly worse, and he could help the Cavaliers reach the NBA Finals by simply playing to his means. I know… none of this screams excitement, but role players don’t have to be exciting to be valuable.
Trevor Ariza – Houston Rockets – A Good Journeyman
Trevor Ariza is a good basketball player. He can spread the floor on offense with his ability to hit threes; is athletic enough to not only get to the basket but dunk on top of opponents’ craniums; and he also happens to be an extremely effective defensive player.
All good things, right? Except, for whatever reason, Ariza is a weird NBA journeyman. A former second round draft pick, whose best attribute for a long time was his “potential,” Ariza has played for five teams in 13 years (Houston twice).
Ariza will need to do what he has become known for — three-point shooting — if he wants to impact Houston’s series against Golden State. Yet, that won’t be his biggest task. Without any other perimeter defensive players worth noting, Ariza will likely be assigned one of the two Splash Brothers and, at times, Draymond Green. Basically, Trevor Ariza will be in charge of all of the perimeter defense — ALL OF IT.
If he plays anything that remotely resembles his performance in Game 7 in the Clippers series, the Rockets will have a legitimate chance to upset the Warriors.
Andrew Bogut – Golden State – A Frozen Villain
I wrote on Andrew Bogut recently in a more in-depth fashion than what you’ll see here. No matter, you just keep reading (but click that link, so my kids can continue to eat food and have shelter).
All of the attention is on Steph, Klay, Draymond, Iggy, Barnes… pretty much everyone but Bogut. That has as much to do with the other guys being the more attractive players to watch as it does with Bogut being a guy who is hard to talk about without bringing up all the negatives.
Nevertheless, Bogut needs to have a good series against the Rockets, if for no other reason but to offset one of Houston’s two superstars, Dwight Howard. Trust me, this is not beyond the realm of possibility.
The best aspect of Bogut’s game is that he fits what Golden States needs him to be. He plays tough defense, can score in the post when needed, is the kind of sneaky-dirty player which doesn’t result in him costing his team games… and he’s annoying.
About that last part: He is annoying in a good way, in the way you find your children to be bothersome when they want to watch Frozen for the 100th straight time. Yeah, you’re really sick of it and you could do without the hypocrisy of the “good guys” being two girls who are so selfish that it almost costs the entire planet summers forever, but you know the good outweighs the bad here.
Yup. Andrew Bogut is Frozen. His, at times, dirty style of play will wear on opponents, possibly getting some of them to react and get themselves in trouble. This probably even gets tiresome to some of his teammates or Steve Kerr, but you have to take the good with the bad.
If you’ve seen Frozen 100 straight times with your kids, you can relate to this:
Let it go Bogut, let it go Bogut!
Can’t hold my elbows back any more.
Let it Bogut, let it Bogut!
Turn away and do a pivot move on the floor.
I don’t care what Kerr’s going to say.
Let the ‘bows rage on.
The technical fouls never bothered me anyway.
