Just as every yin has its yang, every up has its down and every Stephenson has its Pittman, so must every good deed by one team be offset by an equal and opposite negative deed from another.
Similarly, Tuesday's column on the players who raised their stock in the postseason raises the inevitable question: Which players saw their stock drop? Indeed, an equal number of players disappointed us heading into an offseason when their free-agent or trade value is likely to become a major topic.
To repeat Tuesday's mantra, I'm focusing only on players who gave us new information to consider in the postseason. I've also chosen to ignore obvious injury situations (Caron Butler, Al Harrington, every Celtic) that aren't as likely to play into a team's offseason decision-making, and I'm opting not to discuss players we already knew were terrible but redoubled their efforts in the playoffs. (Take a bow, Chris Duhon.)
With that in mind, here are 11 players who have left us deflated of late:
Ryan Anderson, Magic: The league's most improved player immediately launched a most regressed player campaign in the postseason, shooting bricks and proving unable to defend Indiana's post players.
Sure, that first-round series was only five games, but it's going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of GMs who might have pondered a big offer sheet for Anderson. He shot 15-of-44 and made only three 2-point baskets the entire series, but that wasn't even the worst part. Defensively he was toast on a stick, a major reason the Pacers' starters demolished Orlando's at the start of every third quarter. In five games he committed a staggering 22 fouls; somehow he managed to play at least 30 minutes in each of them.
All this, of course, provides grist for the school of thought that Anderson's success depends on Dwight Howard. The regular-season numbers showed this wasn't true at the offensive end, but his defensive shortcomings seemed much more problematic without Howard having his back.
Ramon Sessions, Lakers: Sessions had an opt-out clause on his last season at $4.5 million and seemed primed to exercise it. Then the playoffs happened. Sessions' output cratered across the board, especially against Oklahoma City. In particular, he struggled to make 3s, then lost confidence in the shot; Sessions made 44.3 percent this season, albeit on only 97 attempts, but in the playoffs he was 4-for-25 -- the breakdown of which was 4-for-21 against Denver, followed by three scared games without an attempt against the Thunder.
Sessions' passing skill evaded him, too; after averaging nearly six dimes a game as a Laker, he didn't have more than six assists in any playoff game. Defensively, his inability to stop dribble penetration was repeatedly exposed by Ty Lawson and Russell Westbrook. All told, the playoff showcased all his weaknesses: He's great with the ball and rebounds bigger than his size, but he can't space the floor or defend, and that's usually what elite teams are looking for to round out their rosters. He may opt out of his deal and test free agency anyway, but this was a bad way to waltz into free agency.
DeAndre Jordan, Clippers: Sure, he sits in the fourth quarter behind two guys they picked up off the street at midseason. But they're paying him only $10 million a year, so it's cool.
Jordan's first playoff experience was rough; the Clippers were hoping he'd be their Tyson Chandler, but in the playoffs they got the Chandler from his year in Charlotte. In honor of Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro, I will now read Jordan's box score: His 10-point outing in Game 4 against San Antonio was the only time he cleared seven points all postseason. His rebound rate cratered, and he shot 8-for-24 from the line.
But the real disappointment was off the books, on defense. He was supposed to be the team's rim protector, but his shot-blocking was more than offset by his being in the wrong place on defense more often than not. That's why retreads like Kenyon Martin and Reggie Evans were always on the court at the end. The Clippers owe him $32 million over the next three years and will need him to be a much more reliable performer if they're to progress beyond a one-and-done outfit in the cutthroat West.
O.J. Mayo, Grizzlies: Good news, Grizzlies fans: You might be able to keep him now. Mayo went into the postseason as a likely coveted sixth man in free agency, but his struggles were a major factor in the first-round loss to the Clippers. Granted, some of this was from having to play out of position at point guard, where he struggled to advance the ball against pressure. But he probably didn't help matters by indicating he wanted to play point next season.
Mayo shot a ghastly 10-for-38 on 2-pointers for the series against L.A. and wasn't much better on 3s (7-of-24). The Clips hounded him into 18 turnovers, with Mayo's final five games being particularly brutal. About the best that can be said is that his defense again proved useful against an elite point guard (just as it did against Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook a year earlier), but offensively he's still basically a volume midrange jump shooter, and it's hard to slot a piece like that into a prominent role.
Paul George, Pacers: I'm a huge George fan and thought he'd be the breakout star of the playoffs. Well, maybe some other year. Granted, going up against Dwyane Wade and LeBron James this round is tough. On the other hand, half his playoff games were against the mighty Richardson clan of Orlando, and he has a postseason playoff efficiency rating of 13.12. In the pantheon of Indiana playoff Georges, he's been more McCloud than McGinnis.
George hasn't been bad, mind you, but his performance is a negative from a big-picture perspective. Indiana's only chance of getting a superstar with this group is if George turns into one himself or gets good enough to be the main piece in a trade for one. His playoff performance to date makes both those scenarios seem less likely.
Carlos Boozer, Bulls: Chicago had to be hoping Derrick Rose's injury would at least boost Boozer's trade value when he became their go-to guy. Instead, that value only diminished further thanks to a Game 6 stink bomb in Philly in which he shot 1-for-11 with three turnovers and was yanked early in the second half. It was the third time in six playoff games Boozer landed in single figures, and he drew seven free throw attempts the entire series.
Boozer at least rebounded well, as always, but his defense was as porous as ever -- a rare weak link in the airtight Chicago scheme. The Bulls gain nothing by using their amnesty clause on Boozer, but look for them to explore any and all trade scenarios to try to get Rose some more reliable help. Unfortunately, Boozer's tailspin didn't help matters.
Evan Turner, Sixers: The casual inference is that because Philly moved Turner into the starting lineup and made a deep playoff run, Turner must be making a strong impact.
Er, not so much.
Turner is shooting 35.6 percent and has not made a 3-pointer the entire playoffs. Combine that with his low rate of free throw attempts, and he has the third-worst true shooting percentage of any player with at least 150 playoff minutes. (The other two are coming up in a second here.) Although Turner provides his usual phenomenal rebounding from the wing, his defense has been shaky and his offensive role far too prominent for his production.
Turner had the worst adjusted plus/minus on the Sixers in the regular season and does again in the playoffs, according to basketballvalue.com. One wonders whether and when the Sixers will consider a move back to Game 4 catalyst Jodie Meeks to put a higher-percentage shooting option on the floor.
Matt Barnes, Lakers: In the regular season, Barnes was L.A.'s only reliable bench player and actually posted a career-high PER. In the playoffs, he was unspeakably awful, as both the Nuggets and Thunder presented him with innumerable wide-open jumpers that he failed to convert. Barnes shot 27.1 percent for the playoffs, with the pathetic total of four free throw attempts in 11 games, to take home the prestigious title of the worst playoff TS% at 32.1.
I don't want that TS% to distract attention from his scintillating postseason PER of 4.37 -- this, too, is the worst of any player with 100 postseason minutes, although Ryan Hollins still could make a run at the crown. Barnes' play fell off so sharply that he was DNP-CD'd in the final game against Oklahoma City so the Lakers could give his minutes to Devin Ebanks.
Barnes worked on a cheap one-year deal this season in hopes of making bigger money this summer, but 11 bad games in May might have eroded all his efforts from December through April.
Leandro Barbosa, Pacers: Brought in as their instant-offense guy, Barbosa has been more like instant quicksand. He's yet to score more than 10 points in a game; he's drawn 12 free throw attempts in 10 games; he's shooting 3-of-19 on 3s. The only parts where he's lived up to expectations is that he still doesn't pass and he's still getting torched on defense.
Barbosa's 6.56 PER is the second-worst of any player with 200 playoff minutes, just 0.05 behind a one-handed Caron Butler. His timing couldn't be worse, as his five-year, $33 million deal expires after the season, and he'll be angling for free-agent nibbles. After spending most of the year hiding north of the border in Toronto, he needed a big postseason to remind people of his scoring potency. Instead he's reminding them that it's a bad, bad idea to ask him to guard Dwyane Wade.
Lou Williams, Sixers: It seemed it might be difficult for the Sixers to keep their two prominent unrestricted free agents this summer (Spencer Hawes and Williams, who can opt out and almost certainly will), but their playoff performances may be diminishing their market value.
Williams, in particular, may have hurt himself by failing to carry over a very strong campaign into the postseason. He has seen his offense go AWOL in the playoffs after leading the Sixers in scoring and PER in the regular season. While 3-point shooting has been the main culprit (8-of-42), he's also taking fewer shots, and the shot selection has been shaky at best. Of particular note was an awful jumper he took in the final minutes of a one-point loss in Game 1, a possession that might have turned the game in Philly's favor had it been used more fruitfully.
Tyson Chandler, Knicks: It was only five games and likely doesn't change anybody's long-term view of him, but I can't let this one slide: Holy moly was Chandler bad in that Miami series. His zero-point, seven-turnover, one-flagrant performance in the opener was a playoff egg for the ages, and he built on that by fouling out with one point in Game 4.
Chandler contracted the flu before Game 1, and that might have excused his poor play to start the series, but his play stayed awful the whole way through. And it applies just as much on defense -- in particular, his unwillingness to challenge a Wade drive down Main Street for a dunk in Game 5, and that was a giant surrender flag from the Knicks. The final tally: 18 fouls, 15 turnovers, 11 made baskets and a 10.10 PER from the league's defensive player of the year.