The 3 Most Underrated Players Heading Into The 2022 Season
Every single year a few NBA players do great things but go unnoticed for one reason or another. These players certainly deserve more recognition than they are currently getting, but for one reason or another they are out of the lime light. So today, I am going on a task to find the 3 most underrated players heading in 2022.
These players might have had a great 2021 and nobody is talking about it or these players are going to be great in 2022 and nobody is talking about it. Also, this is not in any order. They’re all pretty equally underrated and yes there are more than 3 underrated NBA players. But these were 3 of the biggest, in my opinion.
Richuan Holmes
Richuan Holmes burst onto the NBA scene over the past few seasons. The center wasn’t a heralded draft pick or anything like that, but he has slowly worked himself into being a quality starting center. Don’t believe me? Just ask his new 4yr/$55 million dollar contract to stay in Sacramento. I think that speaks for itself.
But just how good is Richuan Holmes? Let’s find out.
Holmes is a really good offensive player and that’s where most of his value as a player comes from. He is very efficient, good at scoring at the rim and in the pick and roll. He has a patented little flip shot in the key that almost always goes in. Holmes is a very fundamentally sound offensive center.
14.2 ppg – 8.3 rpg – 1.6 bpg – 67% TS (+10 RTS%)
Holmes was really, really good in 2021. He was a whole 10 true shooting percentage points better than the average NBA player in 2021. He had 21 double-doubles, which was a career high. He also had a career best 6.1 win shares, with 4.7 of those being OWS (offensive win shares).
On top of that, Holmes was excellent in the pick and roll. Here are his pick and roll rankings from 2021;
5.5 PPG From P&R (4th in NBA)
64% FG In P&R (3rd in NBA)*
66.1% Score Frequency (3rd in NBA)*
(A * means out of only qualified players. These players are players with 2.5 pick and roll possessions per game)
Holmes was also incredibly important to the Kings offense in 2021, as you can clearly see;
Kings Offense With Richuan Holmes On The Floor: 116.7 ORtg (1782 Min)
Kings Offense W/O Richuan Holmes On The Floor: 110.9 ORtg (1681 Min)
Oh, and here are some more efficiency stats, just for fun;
FG% From 0-3 Feet: 75%
FG% From 10-16 Feet: 62%
The Kings were much better with Holmes on the floor offensively and he made the Kings really dangerous. The combo of him and Fox/Haliburton should be really good for the future. Holmes got a big contract and I think he’ll easily live up to it. He’s the Kings franchise center and he’s very underrated.
One of the better pick and roll bigs in the league and he’s very, very efficient, even for a center.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed a $172 million dollar contract extension to stay in OKC and that number could rise to over $200 million if Alexander makes an All-NBA team, something that is pretty likely to happen. Shai was drafted in 2018 and in his 3rd season with the Thunder, he was an All-Star caliber player.
The only problem is that the Thunder aren’t very good, don’t get national attention anymore, and SGA didn’t play a game after March 22nd. But while the Thunder don’t get much attention anymore, SGA certainly deserves it for the offensive display he put on in 2021. A display that has gone large unnoticed my the NBA Media. Well today, it’s time to shed some light on the subject.
Shai offensively was on a different level. Even if OKC was bad, there was a reason they were 16-19 in the 35 games SGA played. He was a difference maker;
23.7 ppg – 5.9 apg – 51% FG – 42% 3-PT – 81% FT
Those are really impressive numbers for anybody, especially a 22-year old. SGA was scoring and passing very well and doing it efficiently. He had a nearly 2 turnover to assist ratio. That’s great and stuff, but the underlying numbers will tell you more about just how good SGA was in 2021.
Let’s start with his percent of field goals assisted. This just means, how many of his made shots came off the pass. A higher number might mean a more team oriented system. A lower numbers would mean that said player plays more in isolation. Here are other superstars percent of field goals assisted;
-Kawhi Leonard (2021): 29% 2-PT FG & 71% 3-PT FG
-Damian Lillard (2021): 18% 2-PT FG & 39% 3-PT FG
-Lebron James (2021): 33% 2-PT FG & 52% 3-PT FG
-Nikola Jokic (2021): 48% 2-PT FG & 97% 3-PT FG
-Kevin Durant (2021): 48% 2-PT FG & 65% 3-PT
-Giannis Antetokounmpo (2021): 43% 2-PT FG & 30% 3-PT
For the most part, superstars in todays NBA are isolation players who can make stuff happen out of nowhere. Even Giannis, a non-shooter, has most of his buckets come in isolation, which is a little bit surprising considering how often he goes to the rim.
Now those are all pretty normal numbers. But SGA’s numbers? They are anything but normal. You just don’t see this type of stuff anymore, maybe even ever. Just take a look at SGA’s percent of field goals assisted in 2021;
Percent Of 2-PT Field Goals Assisted In 2021: 7.4%
Percent of 3-PT Field Goals Assisted In 2021: 30%
That is just insane. SGA made 216 2-PT shots in 2021 on 55% shooting. That means that just 16/216 2-PT field goals from SGA were assisted, which is even more crazy. He was scoring very efficiently and just breaking down defenders one-on-one.
SGA was marvelous scoring one-on-one in 2021. He didn’t need somebody else, he was the guy for the first time in his career and he looked awesome. One of the best and most underrated scorers in the league, SGA should be a great scorer for the rest of his career.
But not only is SGA great in isolation, he’s very good in the pick and roll as well;
SGA Pick & Roll Stats In 2021;
1.12 Points Per Possession (T-5th In NBA)*
11 Points Per Game In P&R (4th In NBA)*
54% FG (6th In NBA)*
(* indicates of players with 3+ pick and roll possessions per game).
So, SGA is here to stay as one of the best scorers in the NBA. He is great at scoring on his own, not really needing his teammates to score and do it very efficiently in the process. He’s very good in the pick and roll and has improved greatly as a shooter and playmaker.
SGA is going to be well worth the big extension OKC gave him and he’s likely going to be the face of their massive rebuild project that should put them in position to win in the future. I think SGA will get more respect as OKC becomes better, but for now, he’s one of the most underrated players in the game today.
TJ McConnell
TJ McConnell is one of my favorite role players in the NBA. He isn’t some sort of super talented guy who should be starting, he’s just good at what he does. He’s small and shifty, but plays a larger than life role for the Pacers. He is a tenacious defender who is a pest, constantly annoying opposing ball-handlers. He is a great playmaker and one of the finest backup guards in the NBA.
He’s the guy you want on your team but you really hate to play him. McConnell signed a 4yr/$33.6 million dollar deal to stay in Indiana, a pretty good deal if you ask me. Here is all that TJ McConnell brings to the Indiana Pacers.
Let’s start with his basic stats. These will likely not jump out at you, but the underlying numbers show TJ McConnell is a great player;
8.6 ppg – 6.6 apg – 1.9 spg – 26 mpg
Those are decent numbers, but it’s much more impressive when you consider that McConnell is a bench player. McConnell scored, passed, and stole the ball pretty prolifically in those 26 minutes per game. The underlying numbers will tell you more about how TJ McConnell is the god of maximizing.
Let’s start with hustle stats. These are things that don’t get counted in the box score, but there are a few stats in this category that are telling. Let’s just say that TJ McConnell is a hustle stat king.
In 2021, here’s what TJ McConnell did in the hustle stats department;
3.6 deflections per game (T-2nd In the NBA)
245 total deflections (#2 In The NBA)
79 total loose balls recovered (#1 In The NBA)
McConnell is a defensive menace. While he doesn’t play volume minutes, he still wreaks chaos with his quick hands and great instincts. Not to mention he’s certainly not afraid to dive for a loose ball to save a possession. He steals inbound passes better than anybody and is just such a gritty, tough defender overall.
Not to mention that McConnell was easily the best stealer of basketballs in the NBA this season. He lead the league in steals with 128 and also led the league in steal percentage at 3.4%. McConnell was easily the best pick pocket in the NBA in 2021, as 2nd place in the total steals category (Jimmy Butler) had just 108.
So we know that TJ McConnell is a very good pest. He has great defensive instincts and is a game wrecker on that side of the ball. McConnell had a game against the Cavaliers where he had 10 steals. In that game, he had the first triple-double with steals since 1998. So he’s a problem, to say the least.
While McConnell is known for being the pesky defender who steals your inbound passes, he is also one of the best passers and playmakers in the NBA. Even though he’s a backup, the underlying numbers tell you that TJ is great at delivering the basketball to his teammates.
In the NBA, an assist is a pass from one player to another that leads to a made shot. So of course, the guys with the most assists generate the most points off of assists. That just makes sense. But most of the guys near the top of the “Assist Points Created” leaderboard are high volume, high minute guys who have the ball in their hands constantly.
Well TJ McConnell is the outlier in this stat. In 2021, there were 32 players who created 15+ points per game with their assists. TJ McConnell was on this list, but he did something quite impressive. Of the 32 players on this list, TJ McConnell ranked dead last in minutes played per game at 26.
So TJ McConnell was generating 17.5 points per game with his assists and yet, he was doing it in the least amount of time. Ladies and gentlemen, your king of maximizing.
McConnell doesn’t play a lot, but he’s so good in the minutes he plays in. He was the league’s best pick pocket in 2021 and one of the best hustle defenders in the NBA. Not to mention, he’s one of the best and more underrated playmakers in the league who does a lot in not that much time.
Not to mention that 90% of McConnell’s shot attempts were two-pointers but yet he still shot 59% from 2-point range overall and 65% from 0-3 feet. That 65% is likely this high because of that baseline fadeaway that he shoots, with both hands, even though he’s right next to the basket.
As you can see, that right block area is where McConnell gets a lot of his shots. Most of his shots in general come from the key, but he’s still a solid scorer, even though that is almost never his goal.
TJ McConnell is one of my favorite role players in the league. He is a great defender with his gritty, hustle-centric approach. He is one of the best playmakers in the league and he does all of this off the bench. He’s not your hyper-athletic forward, he’s the scrappy, skinny, pesky defender who is a diamond in the rough nowadays.
McConnell does it all and whenever he is on the court, get ready for some chaos.
Who Are Your Most Underrated Players In The NBA? Leave A Comment Down Below!
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