It’s great to make a list of the 10 best rookies or All-Stars or trade candidates, but it’s difficult to describe an entire league that way. Sometimes, you just want to write about some dudes who are kind of good and kind of notable but are neither on the trade market nor in the MVP conversation.
And those dudes don’t all belong to a specific category. Some are breakout guys, some are young guys, some are guys who have been around a while and now are seeing the light. And they’re certainly not guys who star in fake trade proposals (sorry, dear readers).
In a 30-team NBA, we inevitably end up missing some pretty interesting developments once we get into the dog days of the season. Like, have you been watching Daniel Gafford and Deni Avdija lately? You’re missing out if you haven’t been.
In that spirit, let me tell you about Some Dudes who have caught my eye over the last month: 10 guys who are playing significantly better basketball than most people expected, have played their best in the last five weeks or so and warrant further attention in the second half of the season. (Stats that follow are through Thursday’s action.)
Deni Avdija, Blazers
I know everybody tapped out on the Portland Trail Blazers before the season started, and they play in the wrong time zone, and they were pretty tanky for the season’s first two months. But is anyone watching this lately? Portland has won six of seven to pull within hailing distance of the 12th-place San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference standings, and Deni Avdija has been the Blazers’ best player.
Quibble if you must with the impact of this recent spasm of W’s on Portland’s draft lottery hopes, or with the significant draft capital Portland spent to acquire him, but don’t knock the player. Avdija’s coast-to-coast drives, often ending in rhino-charge drives to the rim with defenders flying off him, have been Portland’s best source of offense. This clip from the Blazers’ recent win over the Chicago Bulls offers a great example of the patented Deni Discard. Avdija is a master of moving defenders with a subtle shoulder- or arm-wrestle without going far enough to draw an offensive foul call:
Avdija also is arguably the Blazers’ best defensive player, and he’s even shooting 3s at a respectable clip (34.4 percent). He’s also gaining steam as the year goes on: After a pedestrian first month, he’s boasting 63.0 percent true shooting since Dec. 1 and averaged 18.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists in January. Further proof of his value came in his only absence: Portland had three straight blowout losses in the three games Avdija missed in January.
Daniel Gafford, Mavericks
Daniel Gafford has been good all year, but if you haven’t been paying attention to the Luka Dončić-less Mavs lately, he’s been monstrous since mid-January. In the last two weeks, he’s had multiple video-game stat lines: 9-of-9 with 22 points and 12 rebounds; 12-of-15 with 31 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks; and 12-of-13 with 27 points and 12 rebounds, for example.
The tape backs up the quality of play: Gafford is an athletic, physical force who combines it with strength, toughness, Velcro hands and a great motor. He might be the league’s most underrated player. Look at him destroy New Orleans’ poor Yves Missi here for an offensive board and putback:
Gafford has 91 dunks on the season, just under two per game, and that’s with Dončić, his primary lob supplier missing most of the season. Defensively, it’s a similar story. Gafford’s rim protection has been an underrated factor, especially as the Mavs weather injuries to other big men.
Watch here as he defends an odd-man break by hanging back to take away the lob to Zion Williamson then flying out late on Brandon Boston Jr. to swat away his layup attempt:
For the season, Gafford’s 25.7 PER ranks sixth in the entire league — yes, really — because of his dominance inside. He’s fourth in offensive rebound rate and third in block rate, and his shooting percentage isn’t just feasting on dunks: He’s shown surprising touch around the lane and has made 62.4 percent even from 3 to 10 feet.
Gui Santos, Warriors
In one of the league’s most improbable stories, the Golden State Warriors looked high and low for frontcourt shooting all season, and then finally somebody said, “Hey, what about this guy we kept in the 14th roster spot to minimize our luxury-tax bill?”
It’s small-sample theater, so we’ll see if it can continue, but Gui Santos’ ability to play as a low-usage stretch four has helped the creaky Warriors offense hum in the last few weeks. Here’s a “South American Step” finish from their crucial win recently over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Warriors’ on-off stats with Santos are eye-catching for a role player: plus-7.6 per 100 possessions with a 116.4 offensive rating when he plays, outscored when he sits. That’s happened despite playing 122 of his 293 minutes with the Warriors’ needle-mover, Stephen Curry. Besides, Curry-Santos units have been outscored! It’s the other minutes, with the Golden State second unit, that have been where Santos has made an impact. He’s shooting 41.3 percent from 3 and averaging two assists for every turnover, making up for his limited shot creation and meh defensive impact.
Can he keep it up? Well, he’s likely to get more chances. Santos has played at least 19 minutes in six straight games and nine of the past 11; until January, he had not played more than 20 minutes in any Warriors game in his first two seasons aside from a meaningless Game 82 last year. With Jonathan Kuminga still injured and Golden State desperate for spacing, expect to see more of Santos in the season’s second half.
Jamal Murray, Nuggets
On Jan. 14, after a morning shootaround in Dallas and two days after Denver coach Michael Malone said he was considering pulling Jamal Murray at halftime because he looked so bad on his sore knee, Murray admitted to assembled reporters that his knee was impacting him on some nights, and it was at least partly a pain tolerance issue.
“If you watched the game, I’m sure you’d be able to tell,” he said at the time. “Hopefully it will just feel better and I’ll have a better showing.”
I’ll say. He was shooting 43.5 percent at the time and had one game over 30 points the entire season, and questions were bubbling up about the max extension he signed in the offseason.
Murray then went out and scored 32 points on 15 shots in the first half of an unexpectedly easy Nuggets rout in Dallas. Since then, he’s had games of 25, 30 and 33, and is shooting 52.4 percent from the floor and 37.7 percent from 3, and a once-scuffling Nuggets squad has re-established itself as a factor in the West race.
Murray seemed to hit another level, actually, even before that Dallas game — ever since skipping a mid-December back-to-back gave him a full week off and Denver won 16 of 22 immediately following his mini-break. His full-season stats still don’t look great because of a brick-filled first six weeks, but in January, he averaged 20.7 points and 5.3 assists with a 57.8 true shooting percentage — a trend line consistent with his previous two seasons in Denver.
Remember, Murray’s struggles with those sore knees were a major factor in the Nuggets’ faltering against the Minnesota Timberwolves a year ago. If Murray can maintain his current level in May — likely after a few more well-timed mini-breaks in the second half — then Denver becomes a much more credible contender.
Amen Thompson, Rockets
How many times a day do you think Jabari Smith Jr. Googles “Wally Pipp”? Since Smith went out with a wrist injury and Amen Thompson replaced him as the Houston Rockets’ starting power forward, his meter has gone straight north. In a dozen January games, Thompson averaged 18.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists; included in those stats are a game-winner in overtime in Boston and a 23-14-10 triple-double in a road win at mighty Cleveland.
I’m not sure who will move to the bench for Houston once Smith returns; I just know it won’t be Thompson. That ship has sailed. He’s already one of the Rockets’ three best players, especially once you factor in his defensive awesomeness, and he might be the first option before long.
In particular, one shot has become very important for Thompson: a little midrange pull-up/floater that he’s been able to knock down fairly consistently. He still can’t make a 3 to save his life, but the fact that he no longer has to get all the way to the rim has opened up a lot more scoring opportunities. His game-winner against Boston was a perfect example:
AMEN THOMPSON WINS IT FOR THE ROCKETS IN THE FINAL SECONDS 🚨🚨
ROCKETS MOVE TO 12-3 WITH AMEN IN THE STARTING LINEUP THIS SEASON! pic.twitter.com/v77x2RHkV2
— NBA (@NBA) January 28, 2025
Thompson is shooting a respectable 47.5 percent between the rim and 16 feet this season, taking nearly as many shots from that range as he does at the rim. While you’d still prefer he get all the way to the basket, where he shoots a phenomenal 75.3 percent, having a respectable Plan B for when the rim is cut off and the shot clock is counting down makes it much easier to put the ball in his hands consistently.
Ty Jerome, Cavaliers
The 39-9, East-leading Cavaliers had three players named to the All-Star team. They rank second, third and fourth on the team in BPM.
In first? None other than Ty Jerome. Thought to be too slow to succeed in the NBA through the first five seasons of his career, and mostly forgotten after an ankle injury cost him all but two games of the 2023-24 campaign, Jerome has emerged as a massive bench force and should be getting strong consideration for Sixth Man of the Year.
As the saying goes, Jerome wasn’t built in a day. And of late, he’s only gained steam. I was part of a shocked crowd Jan. 24 in Philly that saw him post a career-high 33 points, including going 8-of-8 from 3, nearly dragging the Cavs to victory on a night their stars didn’t have it. He came back this week with back-to-back 20-point games off the bench.
In 13 January games, Jerome averaged 14.4 points in just 21.9 minutes, posted a 69.2 true shooting percentage and made 472 floaters like this one:
(In a fitting tribute to Jerome’s anonymity, the camera operator then zoomed in on Dean Wade.) Jerome is shooting 62.1 percent from floater range while taking nearly a quarter of his shots from that distance! He’s also at 58.8 percent overall on 2s.
More amazingly, a player alleged to be a defensive liability has turned into an absolute pest on that end. Do you realize Jerome has the eighth-highest steal rate in the entire league? It’s one of the league’s most amazing out-of-the-blue success stories, and it’s still getting better.
Trey Murphy, Pelicans
I swear I’m not being a #wahoowa fanboy doing Jerome and Trey Murphy back-to-back. While the New Orleans Pelicans struggle through a miserable season, Murphy has been a revelation since coming back from an early-season injury, averaging 21.5 points per game with an 18.1 PER while playing solid defense at both forward spots.
You might have missed this because Murphy missed the first 10 games and didn’t really get cooking until mid-December, by which time the Pels’ season was already more or less over. Murphy has five 30-point games since Christmas and averaged 23.8 points, 6.1 boards and 3.8 assists on 60.0 percent true shooting in January.
They key is that he’s not just a 3-and-D guy; he’s more like a “3-and-dunks” guy. Murphy has thrown down 48 jams in 32 games and is shooting 74.6 percent in the basket area. He’s tremendous adjusting in midair to throw down alley-oops, and some of his dunks off the dribble have been vicious:
This dunk from Trey Murphy III 😳 pic.twitter.com/D9lzv99mio
— NBA (@NBA) December 27, 2024
It’s to the point that Murphy’s four-year, $112 million extension that kicks in for 2025-26 already looks like a bargain; he’s 24, and those should be the best seasons of his career. He’s also likely made soon-to-be free agent Brandon Ingram more expendable.
Ryan Rollins, Bucks
Time for a deep cut. … Is this anything? Since the Milwaukee Bucks put two-way Ryan Rollins into their rotation, he’s offered a pretty dramatic upgrade on what has previously passed for the back end of their rotation, especially at the defensive end.
Rollins is averaging 4.3 “stocks” (steals + blocks) per 100 possessions — more than Brook Lopez or Giannis Antetokounmpo and the fifth-highest figure in the league among non-centers if he played enough minutes to qualify for the leaderboard. (The four guys ahead of him are all certified killers on defense, too: Dyson Daniels, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaren Jackson Jr. and the first cut off my “Some Dudes” list, Sacramento’s Keon Ellis.)
Watch in the clip below as Rollins makes a stand against the Orlando Magic’s Paolo Banchero on a peel switch, gets his shot on the way up (this was scored as a block) and wins possession for the Bucks:
It’s been a bumpy road to this point for Rollins, who is on his third team in three years after dominating the mid-major Mid-American Conference as a sophomore and being selected in the second round of the 2022 draft by Golden State, and it’s a small sample so far. He still needs to show he can shoot constantly enough and keep the turnovers low enough to warrant an offensive role. But for a Milwaukee team that is desperate to find inexpensive rotation pieces and has virtually no draft capital, coming up with guys like Rollins (and the undrafted AJ Green) is a potential godsend.
Walker Kessler, Jazz
The Jazz have been their own punchline this year, but Kessler isn’t in on the joke. He’s had a strong response to a disappointing sophomore season, leading the NBA in offensive rebound rate and rejecting his usual 3.9 shots per 100 possessions — a rate that would also lead the league if it weren’t for that Victor Wembanyama guy.
What does lead the league is Kessler’s 72.8-percent shooting on 2s, and it’s not just dunks; he’s taken nearly a third of his shots from beyond the charge circle and made 59.2 percent of them.
All this is interesting as the Feb. 6 trade deadline approaches, because Kessler is 23, still on his rookie contract and very clearly in a class of centers who could help virtually every team. That might make it tempting for Utah to part with him if the Jazz receive a Godfather offer, but on a rebuilding team, isn’t this exactly the type of long-term piece they should be trying to keep?
Santi Aldama, Grizzlies
Welcome to perhaps the most interesting free-agent situation that nobody is talking about.
Aldama and Jake LaRavia are both forwards who threatened to get lost in the Grizzlies’ surfeit of depth at this position, and neither has a contract beyond this season: Aldama because he and the Grizzlies failed to reach an agreement on an extension, and LaRavia because Memphis declined his fourth-year option.
The thing that made this waaaay more interesting is that both Aldama and LaRavia have played far better this season than in the rest of their careers. Aldama, in particular, has broken out, something that hasn’t been widely noticed because he’s still buried behind Jaren Jackson Jr. on the Memphis depth chart. Some nights, he only gets 15 minutes of run; the Grizzlies even have him play small forward on occasion, at 6-foot-11, just to squeeze him into the lineup.
Despite that, he’s thriving. A succinct summary of Aldama’s season would be to say that he’s been better at everything, with career highs in disparate areas such as 3-point percentage, rebound rate, assist rate and at-rim shooting. He’s toned down some of the hot sauce on his most ambitious passes and seems to have added some lower-body strength that allows him to hold his spot better on drives and on the glass.
As a 24-year-old restricted free agent on a team that faces luxury-tax constraints in coming seasons, he’s also an interesting evaluation for rival teams. Is Aldama worth paying as a starter? If so, what’s the dollar level where Memphis wouldn’t match? Keep an eye on this, especially if Aldama keeps up his play through spring and into the playoffs.
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: Michael Reaves, Alex Slitz, Steph Chambers / Getty Images; Fernando Medina/ NBAE via Getty Images)
