Sportsline's grade on AG

[kevin lok <kevin.lok@lycosmail.com>]

<Our AG listed first breakout. Whoever in favour of trading for Wesley
Person (and his 40m/7year contract), please reconsider>

SportsLine's midseason breakouts and busts Feb. 12, 2000
By Simon Fishler
SportsLine wire reports
It never fails. Each season some players bloom … and others start to
wither. Here's a look at some of the players that have had breakout
years and some that have been busts.

Breakouts
Guard: Adrian Griffin, Boston Celtics
The Celtics invited Griffin to training camp last fall, but nobody
expected the swingman from the CBA to make the team. Not only did he
make the team, he cracked the starting lineup and has been one of the
most valuable players for Boston. All of this without so much of a sniff
from an NBA team during his three years toiling in the CBA. Last year
the NBA brought in more than 30 CBA players, but not Griffin -- the
league's MVP -- because he was considered undersized at 6-foot-5 to play
forward and not skilled enough offensively to play the shooting guard.
Griffin has proven them all wrong by averaging nine points, seven
rebounds and three assists, and he's been perhaps the best perimeter
defender for the Celtics, averaging close to two steals per game.
Guard: Malik Sealy, Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves were floundering around the .500 mark when they turned
to Malik Sealy to replace Anthony Peeler as the starting shooting guard.
Sealy, who languished on the bench for Minnesota last year, provided a
spark and the club ripped off its best stretch of basketball in
franchise history (12-3 in January) to jump into the playoff picture.
Sealy is the team's third-leading scorer and is shooting nearly 50
percent from the field -- unheard of marksmanship for a shooting guard
in this age.

Forward: Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks
OK, maybe Mavericks coach Don Nelson isn't completely daffy. Nellie's
recent fascination with foreign players has elicited chuckles around the
league. But in the case of Dirk Nowitzki, the coach appears to have
uncovered a German gem. In his second year in the league, the 7-foot
Nowitzki has busted onto the scene, averaging 17.6 points, 6.2 rebounds
and giving the Mavs an excellent 3-point shooting threat by hitting
nearly 40 percent on the long bombs … and the best part is that he's
only 21-years old. There's plenty of upside to this Maverick.

Forward: Antawn Jamison, Golden State Warriors
After Antawn Jamison's so-so rookie season, nobody could seem to forget
that Golden State traded the draft rights to Vince Carter to Toronto for
the forward. Carter, of course, won the Rookie of the Year award and
became embedded in the NBA fans' consciousness with his high-flying
dunks continually replayed on the highlight shows. Jamison had a decent,
yet unspectacular rookie season (9.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg). But this season,
Jamison has narrowed the gap, stepping up to become the best player on
the Warriors. He has become the foundation on which the team will build
around by posting the All Star-worthy numbers of 19.4 points a game and
8.6 rebounds.

Center: Raef LaFrentz, Denver Nuggets
He has bounced back from a gruesome knee injury in last year's rookie
season to give the Nuggets a surprisingly good shot-blocker and a
dangerous 3-point threat. He's tied for fifth in the league in blocked
shots (2.34) with David Robinson, and he's on pace to fire up nearly 250
3-point attempts -- not exactly the type of offense expected from a
center, but he is connecting on a decent 36 percent from 3-point range.
Also, LaFrentz is the team's third-leading scorer at about 14 points per
game and has been a big reason the Nuggets are near .500 and in the hunt
for the Western Conference's No. 8 playoff seed.

Sixth man: Ruben Patterson, Seattle SuperSonics
Ruben Patterson was best known last year as the guy that hounded Kobe
Bryant in Lakers' practice. He proclaimed himself the "Kobe Stopper"
when he came to the Sonics as a free agent in the past offseason. The
Sonics must have bit on that line because it wasn't because of
Patterson's glowing numbers (he logged all of 144 minutes and averaged
2.7 ppg in garbage time for the Lakers in his rookie year). Turns out
Patterson has been an outstanding find for the Sonics, becoming the
starting small forward and giving the team a sturdy 12 points per game
and 5.6 rebounds. He's second in the league in field-goal shooting at
55.2 percent.

Busts
Guard: Steve Nash, Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks might have been a playoff team this year if Steve Nash
would have stepped up. They have a decent frontline in Gary Trent,
Cedric Ceballos, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Bradley. And they have one of
the better shooting guards in the league in Michael Finley. But Nash has
disappointed big-time since coming to Dallas from Phoenix prior to the
'98-99 season, particularly this season. He hasn't been able to stay
healthy, dancing in and out of the lineup and playing in only about half
of the Mavericks games. He's averaging just 6.3 points and 3.5 assists.
Dallas has been forced to go with Erick Strickland at the point.

Guard: Nick Anderson, Sacramento Kings
He was supposed to bring some veteran substance to the flamboyant Kings
… a guy who calmly drills the clutch jumper and leads by example. But it
hasn't gone like that for Nick Anderson who spent his whole 10-year
career in Orlando before being dealt to Sacramento during the offseason.
Despite getting some open shots (defenses have sagged on post players
Chris Webber and Vlade Divac), Anderson has been horrific from the
field, shooting a career-worst .385 percent. He's scoring just 10.5
points per game, the worst of his career and the 33 percent 3-point
shooting and 49 percent free-throw shooting have been a nightmare as
well.

Forward: Lorenzen Wright, Atlanta Hawks
The 6-11 forward/center was the latest Clipper to leave for greener
pastures in a deal for two Atlanta first-round draft choices during the
past offseason. Wright was supposed to give the Hawks a strong post
presence behind Dikembe Mutombo. Hasn't happened. He's averaging just
5.2 points and 3.7 rebounds (each the lowest of his career by a
longshot). He's one of the reasons the Hawks got off to their worst
start in decades.

Forward: Chucky Brown, San Antonio Spurs
Chucky Brown was supposed to be a stop-gap for the Spurs while small
forward Sean Elliott recovered from his offseason kidney transplant.
Instead, he lost his starting position to Jaren Jackson, groused about
it, hurt his back and finally was waived by the Spurs last week. The
31-year old was signed as a free agent by the Spurs during the
offseason, but didn't give San Antonio much pop on the offensive end
(6.3 ppg) and his perimeter defense left something to be desired,
putting more pressure on Tim Duncan and David Robinson inside.

Center: Ike Austin, Washington Wizards
His soft play inside got him a ticket to the bench after 23 games,
replaced with 300-pound no-name Jahidi White. Austin is in the second
year of the big $15 million contract and appears to have mailed it in,
averaging about seven points (worst in three years) and a pathetic 5.1
rebounds. Stung by being benched in favor of White, Austin is whining
about wanting a trade. Is it any wonder he is playing for his sixth team
in six years?

Sixth man: Wesley Person, Cleveland Cavaliers
It started in training camp when Bobby Sura beat out Wesley Person for
the starting shooting guard position, and it escalated from there. It
got so bad last week that Cavaliers coach Randy Wittman publicly
criticized Person's nonchalant play. Since Person went from Phoenix to
Cleveland in a trade three years ago, the guard's numbers have
plummeted. He's down to eight points per game this season on rocky
40-percent field goal shooting, and Wittman has pared his minutes down
to 22 a game.