this is the important part, quite possibly the worst defender in the NBA.
Nah, nah. Not anymore. Think about guys like Al Harrington, Eddy Curry, Mike Miller, Gerald Green.
Hollinger's underrated identifiers:
-Shoots a high percentage
-Rarely dunks or make spectacular plays
-Converts a lot of three pointers
-Gets to the line more than average
-Passes well
-Committs very few turnovers
-Rebounds well for his position
-Plays good defense
-Doesn't block many shots
-Plays fewer minutes than average due to a crowd at his position
-Was never a high draft pick or attention-getting free agent
-Likely plays in a small market
-Team is likely a non-contender
-Possibly multiple pro-teams in he city
Overrated identifiers:
-High scoring average
-Low rebound rate
-Poor passer
-Turnover prone
-Poor defender, but gets blocks and steals
-Plays in a big market/popular team
-In the news fairly often
-Low percentage shooter
-Dunks and makes other spectacular plays
-Doesn't get to the line very often
-Doesn't make many three pointers
-Plays quite a few minutes, padding his per game stats
In 2003, he was of course finding Michael Redd and Latrell Sprewell to have most of the identifiers in the respective categories.
A lot of "overrated" guys are probably players like say Ben Wallace, who no longer deserve some of accolades they're still getting. But they're still good players, or at least useful ones, just not stars.
Some underrated: David Lee, Chuck Hayes, Brent Barry, Jose Calderon, Josh Childress, (two years ago: Sam Cassell)
Some overrated: Eddy Curry, Al Harrington, Josh Smith, Raymond Felton, Eric Snow, (two years ago: Marko Jaric)