This past week officially marked the half-way point of the regular season. It’s all downhill from here until the playoffs. Get used to hearing the phrase, “If the playoffs started today, here would be the eight teams in.” Milwaukee Bucks’ star Michael Redd tore his ACL over the weekend and is out for the season as his team holds onto the #8 spot. With Redd out, the door has been opened for the New Jersey Nets and the New York Knicks (both with losing records) to possibly slip in. In the jam-packed Western Conference, The Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and Portland Trailblazers are all battling for a spot in the final four. This week’s grades go solely out to players based on their performance the first half of the season. There are so many grades to give out, but we’ll just spotlight one player for each grade.

Danny Granger is becoming more and more of a household name with his play this year.

A - Danny Granger – Sure he plays for a bad team, but lots of good players get lost while playing for poor teams. Danny Granger was an unknown coming into the NBA, playing his college ball at the University of New Mexico. Granger has stepped up for the Indiana Pacers and has far exceeded expectations. Granger is most comparable to Tracy McGrady in his pre-injured every other game days while playing in Toronto and Orlando. For now we’ll call him a “poor man’s T-Mac.” In his third year, Granger is averaging 26 points per game and doing damage in the paint and on the perimeter with his outside shot. Once Granger lands with a good team, look for him to rise as a  recognized star in this league the next few years.

B – Paul Millsap - The Jazz took a chance on a guy from Louisiana Tech over 20 years ago and it paid off. I think it would be safe to say that Karl Malone had a pretty good career. Three years ago the Jazz tapped another power forward from Louisianna Tech with their second round draft pick and he’s paying huge dividends. With Carlos Boozer once again riding the pine injured for the Jazz (he’s spent over a third of his NBA career injured), Paul Millsap has emerged as a star on an injury-riddled Jazz team this year and has helped them stay in the Playoff chase. At one point in the season, Millsap tied the NBA record for most consecutive double-doubles. Don’t be surprised if the Jazz offer Millsap a bigger contract than Boozer in the off-season. On a side note, can someone please explain to me why Louisiana Tech is in the Western Athletic Conference?

C – Derrick Rose – Before the ’08 Draft, the buzz was on whether the Chicago Bulls would take Michael Beasley or Derrick Rose, they took Rose and I doubt there are many people in Chicago that would complain. While the Bulls do have a losing record, it could be much worse without Rose. Much like Chris Paul and Brandon Roy in their rookie seasons, Rose has been able to emerge as a leader for his team and has been the person trusted with the ball when the game is close. As soon as the Bulls unload a few shooting guards off their team and get some height, they will improve vastly.   

D – Tracy McGrady - Tracy McGrady had been in the MVP race the past few years, but this season he has never been so far from looking like an MVP. The Houston Rockets picked up Ron Artest in the off-season to add to the several solid players the Rockets already have. Much like the Jazz, the Rockets have hardly played a game with a full roster. McGrady has been one of the oft-injured players and when he does play he is only averaging 15 points per game. The Rockets have survived with McGrady out, but as soon as McGrady steps up and shakes off his injuries, the Rockets may finally play like the championship-caliber team that many thought they would be in the pre-season.

F – Elton Brand - Elton Brand signed with the Philadelphia 76ers over the summer and was supposed to be the missing piece for a team that made a surprising run in last year’s Playoffs. The 76ers started sluggish but have been streaking lately and are back to .500. That doesn’t seem that great for a team with such high expectations, but Brand was part of the team that dug the hole so deep and was injured while the team dug themselves back out. Surprisingly, the 76ers are a better team without him (when you consider wins and losses only). For being the highest paid player on Philly’s roster, Brand has not proven to people why he deserved such a huge contract when he was coming off an injury plagued season with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Tags: NBA

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