HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Marc Narducci

One of the most disappointing teams in the early NBA season has been the Washington Wizards. With the addition of new coach Flip Saunders, along with Randy Foye and Mike Miller from Minnesota, the Wizards were expected to seriously contend for a playoff berth after a 19-63 nightmare last season.

This hasn’t exactly gone according to plan for Washington, who began the season winning just four of their first 13 games.

The Wizards have nine players who have the capability of being either restricted or unrestricted free agents after the season. Seen as key pieces in the offseason, Foye will be a restricted free agent and Miller an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2010. The question is whether Washington has gotten off to such a poor start because of so many players with either expiring deals or uncertain futures with the team.

In Washington’s case, the struggles could be pinned more on injuries, although one never knows how much the uncertainty of next year affects this season.

As for the injuries, Antawn Jamison missed the first nine games with a shoulder injury and the Wizards were 2-7 during that span. Jamison’s injury had the biggest negative impact on the team. Plus Miller is out with a calf injury and Gilbert Arenas, after playing a total of just 15 games the previous two seasons, has struggled to get into rhythm with a 1.54 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Usually when NBA teams don’t play up to par, injuries play a much bigger role than uncertain salary status.

Yet, having players approaching free agency is often difficult to deal with. Look at the saga that the Cleveland Cavaliers have experienced with LeBron James, wondering if he will go or stay.

Again, it may or may not have a big impact on a team, but it also can definitely be awfully annoying. With James, the Cavs are expected to contend for the Eastern Conference title and without him, they would appear to be a potential lottery team. So even if James has vowed not to talk about it, the subject will still be discussed frequently and his teammates will be asked constantly about it and it just creates a negative atmosphere. The same situation exits in places such as Toronto (Chris Bosh) and Miami (Dwyane Wade), just to name a few.

Last year, Andre Miller was asked almost on a daily basis about his impending free agency and all the trade rumors that accompanied him while he was with the Philadelphia 76ers. Miller’s teammates were also constantly asked about it and there was no denying that it made for an uneasy situation.

Then when Miller wasn’t dealt by the February trading deadline, the questioning turned as to whether he would be coming back with the team. Miller eventually signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Two of the most pleasant early-season surprises in the NBA this season have been Atlanta and Phoenix, who both won 11 of their first 14 games. One wonders it the Hawks will be worn down by questioning of Joe Johnson, an unrestricted free agent in 2010, or the Suns in addressing questions about whether Amare Stoudemire will exercise an early termination option.

Some would say that having so many potential free agents is good for a team since the players are performing for new contracts. However, sometimes a player may look to pad statistics instead of playing a team game. And NBA talent evaluators should be shrewd enough to see whether a player is competing to win or for a new contract.

In the NBA, talent obviously earns the big payday, but so does winning. A classic example is James Posey.

After coming off the bench and averaging 7.4 points for the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics, Posey was a hot commodity. He was looked on as a winner, especially after averaging 7.2 points for the 2006 NBA champion Miami Heat. Posey signed a four-year $25 million contract with the New Orleans Hornets, and now in his second season is only averaging about 5 points per game.

If one goes down the line, just about every top NBA team will have to deal with the questions accompanying potential free agents.

Good teams can’t use distractions about contract issues as an excuse but that doesn’t mean that it’s an easy situation to deal with.

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With approximately 30 games played the early frontrunner for the MVP award clearly is Cleveland’s LeBron James. This is no shocking statement.

It doesn’t mean that the award should be suddenly shipped to Cleveland, because there is too much time left, but James has zoomed into the favorite’s role for a number of reasons.

In James’ case, the numbers don’t lie. He is playing like an MVP for a team that began the week having won 26 of its first 30 games. James was averaging 27.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.4 steals, 2.0 steals and 1.13 blocked shots while shooting 50.9 percent from the field.

With James, the numbers don’t begin to tell the entire story of his dominance. He has shown the ability to make his teammates better while accumulating those eye-popping statistics.

James of course can’t afford to relax because of the competition he will face in maintaining his frontrunner status.

Oddly, Kobe Bryant isn’t getting anywhere near the mention that he did last season when he won his first-ever MVP award.

James actually may benefit from not having won it in the past. For some reason that seems to be a big deal to voters, but it shouldn’t factor in the equation.

And what might have helped Bryant last year, is possibly hurting him this season. Make no mistake about it, last year wasn’t a lifetime achievement award for Bryant. He clearly deserved the award. This year he should also earn serious consideration.

Bryant was averaging more than 26 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for a Lakers team that won 25 of its first 30 games.

The difference this year is that Bryant is playing with a better supporting cast for the entire season. His scoring is down two points a game from his average last year, but Bryant doesn’t need to provide as much offense, especially with Pau Gasol on board the entire season.

Any team that has Lamar Odom coming off the bench, has the type of depth that James certainly doesn’t enjoy in Cleveland.

Usually teams that are battling for the best record in the conference boost most of the major MVP candidates, but how can anybody dismiss Miami’s Dwyane Wade?

He was leading the NBA in scoring, averaging nearly 29 points. Wade was also averaging nearly seven assists, while already helping the Heat surpass last season’s meager victory total of 15.

After missing 31 games in each of the previous two seasons, Wade showed he was back during an outstanding performance in the Olympics, leading the gold-medal U.S. team in scoring (16 ppg.).

Wade has taken his game to a new level during the NBA season.

And that brings us to some other players who are enjoying truly outstanding seasons, but are overshadowed statistically by the dominance of James and to a lesser extent Bryant and Wade.

Few players have made a greater impact than Denver’s Chauncey Billups since his trade from Detroit.

The Nuggets improved to 19-8 since acquiring Billups after a 117-110 win at New York on Dec. 28.

With Denver, Billups was averaging more than 18 points and nearly seven assists per game. He has brought stability and direction to the Nuggets and has been a major upgrade over Allen Iverson, who was traded for Billups to Detroit.

One player who is receiving almost no mention for the MVP award is Boston’s Kevin Garnett, simply because he doesn’t have glowing statistics, except in one category – wins.

The Celtics won 28 of their first 32 games and what Garnett brings to the defensive end is as important as his offensive contributions.

Unselfish to a fault, he has averaged 16.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocked shots and was shooting 53.9 percent from the field.

He is the reigning defensive player of the year and could win the award again this season. Because Garnett isn’t averaging 25 points per game, his contributions tend to be overlooked, except by those who know that he’s the most important player on the defending NBA champions.

Last season Chris Paul finished second to Bryant in the MVP race and the New Orleans Hornets point guard is again a viable candidate.

Paul was averaging more than 20 points and 11 assists along with three steals per game for a Hornets team that began the week with the second best winning percentage in the Western Conference.

Two other candidates, both from the Eastern Conference are Orlando center Dwight Howard and Atlanta guard Joe Johnson, one of the most underrated great players in the NBA.

Howard is leading the NBA in rebounding and blocked shots and more importantly, the Magic had won 24 of their first 30 games.

Johnson was averaging more than 23 points and five assists for an Atlanta team that was nine games over .500. He is also averaging 40 minutes per game and has yet to show any sign of fatigue.

The competition is so stiff, that we haven’t even mentioned two-time MVPs Tim Duncan of San Antonio and Phoenix’s Steve Nash or 2006-2007 MVP Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas. It also leaves out players such as Houston’s Yao Ming and Toronto’s Chris Bosh, who were both averaging more than 20 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game.

There is no shortage of worthy candidates, but right now, none is more deserving than James.

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