The Dunkyard continues its early look at each team’s surprise players – those playing above expectations as well as those who are struggling to make an impact. We continue with the Pacific Division*:

Golden State (15-5)

Champs: Picking champs on this team was easy. Steph Curry (26.0-5.2-6.3-1.8, 46.5% FG, 37.0% 3FG, 27.6 PER) and Kevin Durant (24.7-6.8-4.7, 2.1bpg, 52.9% FG, 43.2% 3FG, 24.4 PER) continue their reign as alpha-dogs 1A and 1B. Klay Thompson (20.2-4.4-2.5, 49.7% FG, 46.3% 3FG, 18.1 PER) continues his work as the best third-best player in the league and Draymond Green (9.8-7.4-6.7-1.3-1.4, 46.7% FG, 32.3% 3FG, 16.2 PER) is still the player most likely to record the NBA’s next quadruple-double.

The impressive thing about this team is the production they get from the rest of their roster who are fed the scraps of whatever minutes are left behind their star quartet. David West (6.5-3.1-1.5, 1.2bpg, 11.6mpg, 66.7% FG, 26.1 PER), Jordan Bell (3.2-2.6-1.1, 9.5mpg, 71.0% FG, 20.3 PER), JaVale McGee (3.7-2.2, 8.1mpg, 52.9% FG, 19.5 PER), Omri Casspi (5.8-3.8-1.0, 12.8mpg, 59.4% FG, 62.5% 3FG, 18.6 PER) and Kevon Looney (3.7-3.2, 1.1bpg, 12.2mpg, 60.6% FG, 14.0 PER) all contribute when called upon. Even Zaza Pachulia (4.9-4.8-1.4, 14.7mpg, 53.4% FG, 14.0 PER) and Nick Young (6.6-1.4, 13.4mpg, 38.7% 3FG, 14.0 PER) are valuable contributors to the Warriors juggernaut.

Chumps: Picking chumps on this team was certainly more challenging. In the end I have gone for the two most trusted reserves. I’m still not happy about picking them. Statistically speaking Andre Iguodala (6.3-3.5-2.8, 25.5mpg, 47.2% FG, 27.3% 3FG, 11.8 PER) and Shaun Livingstone (4.9-2.1-2.3, 15.8mpg, 47.6% FG, 11.4 PER) aren’t overly impressive, however Iguodala is still a lockdown defender and 5th cog in the Warriors “Death Lineup” while Livingstone is still one of the better backup PG’s in the league who causes matchup headaches for opposing coaches. Nope, that’s it – there are no chumps on this team.

LA Lakers (8-11)

Champs: Magic Johnson told us all that this years draft pick would lead the team back to its glory days. I mean, he wasn’t wrong, but I bet even Magic didn’t realise it would be No. 27 pick Kyle Kuzma (16.8-6.3-1.5, 49.8% FG, 36.6% 3FG, 15.2 PER) who looks best equipped to fulfil the prophecy. Kuzma is currently the teams leading scorer, is making a lot of teams seem foolish for overlooking him and attempts things like this.

LA is still hanging around the playoff mark thanks to the production of their role players. Jordan Clarkson (15.1-2.5-2.6, 21.8mpg, 35.5% 3FG, 19.2 PER), the currently injured Larry Nance (10.6-7.5, 1.4spg, 23.1mpg, 61.4% FG, 19.1 PER) and Julius Randle (12.2-6.9-1.7, 21.6mpg, 54.9% FG, 17.9 PER) are very effective, however the team is still looking for that next superstar.

Chumps: The last two players LA hoped would turn into that missing superstar seem a little bit overawed by the concept right now. Second year Brandon Ingram (14.7-5.4-3.0, 33.8mpg, 45.1% FG, 30.0% 3FG, 12.2 PER) still isn’t close to being able to lead a team into the playoffs let alone the NBA Finals. If you remove the horror show shooting rookie Lonzo Ball’s (9.0-7.4-7.1-1.4, 33.3mpg, 31.5% FG, 25.0% 3FG, 10.3 PER) numbers aren’t THAT bad, however he has looked like a fish out of water on court too many times – and the incessant hype from his dad isn’t helping things. Both players have just turned 20 so there is plenty of time for development and improvement and in Lonzo’s case some of the great PG’s in history had similar, if not worse, rookie seasons. Jason Kidd, John Stockton and Steve Nash can attest to that.

LA Clippers (7-11)

Champs: Can you believe there were Clippers fans who thought they would be better off without Chris Paul? That will never stop being funny. LA’s best player is Blake Griffin (23.4-7.7-5.0-1.0, 42.5% FG, 20.8 PER) who needs to play with someone better than him for a team to be successful. Their second best player is Lou Williams (17.3-2.6-4.1-1.1, 37.9% 3FG, 19.0 PER). Having your 6th man as your second best player is not good. They’re at least getting great production in the middle with DeAndre Jordan (10.1-13.9, 1.2bpg, 32.4mpg, 65.8% FG, 18.7 PER) and Willie Reed (6.2-3.4, 11.2mpg, 70.5% FG, 23.1 PER) forming an imposing tandem.

Chumps: Let’s at least cut the Clippers a little slack here. New PG darling Milos Teodosic has appeared in only 2 games due to injury, Patrick Beverley is done for the season with a knee injury and Danilo Gallinari has missed the last three weeks with injury.

Unfortunately Gallinari (12.8-4.6-3.0, 35.5% FG, 26.0% 3FG, 11.3 PER) was awful in the 9 games he did appear in and Austin Rivers (12.9-1.8-3.1-1.7, 33.2mpg, 37.7% FG, 10.0 PER) is given entirely too much court time and responsibility by daddy dearest. The Clippers actually have young(ish) talent on the team that Coach Doc seems to have no interest in developing. Montrezl Harrell, Brice Johnson and Sam Dekker deserve better…. and so do Clippers fans.

Phoenix (7-13)

Champs: Thankfully the Suns have turned things around somewhat after an 0-3 start that included brutal losses of 124-76 and 130-88 that saw head coach Earl Watson fired and Eric Bledsoe traded. This team relies on the exploits of rising star Devin Booker (22.5-4.2-4.2, 35.7% 3FG, 17.5 PER) supported by T.J. Warren (18.7-6.0-1.3, 49.8% FG 19.6 PER). In other good news, Alex Len (9.0-9.3, 22.9mpg, 48.5% FG, 18.2 PER) finally looks capable of relieving 35-year old Tyson Chandler as starting centre.

Chumps: Phoenix have been attempting a Philadelphia-like tanking job of their own the last couple of seasons. Unfortunately results aren’t proving as fruitful. Marquese Chriss (6.2-4.7-1.2, 1.3bpg, 19.8mpg, 38.8% FG, 32.6% 3FG, 9.6 PER) is trending backwards, Dragan Bender (5.8-4.0-1.0, 21.6mpg, 38.5% FG, 35.9% 3FG, 7.4 PER) looks like the second coming of Nikoloz Tskitishvili and rookie Josh Jackson (9.4-3.7-1.1-1.3, 21.6mpg, 39.8% FG, 25.0% 3FG, 8.4 PER) is discovering you need more than athleticism to succeed in the NBA.

Sacramento (5-14)

Champs: The fact that 36-year old Zach Randolph (13.2-6.0-2.1, 24.5mpg, 47.4% FG, 18.1 PER) leads the team in scoring (and PER) says everything you need to know about Sacramento. I couldn’t find the NBA record for lowest team-leading points per game for a season, but I imagine if this holds up we will have a new winner.

Unlike Phoenix the Kings are seeing flashes of potential from their young brigade with rookie De’Aaron Fox (10.7-3.1-4.5, 26.6mpg, 40.2% FG, 11.3 PER) a potential star and Skal Labissiere (7.8-4.1, 17.6mpg, 43.0% FG, 13.6 PER) finally showing signs of life.

Chumps: Sacramento brought in some seasoned veterans in the off-season to assist their young core however, with the exception of Randolph, the moves have failed. Vince Carter (2.5-1.1, 11.7mpg, 24.2% FG, 1.3 PER) has been non-existent while George Hill (9.1-3.1-2.5, 26.1mpg, 43.5% FG, 11.8 PER) and Garrett Temple (7.3-2.2-1.6-1.2, 25.0mpg, 36.2% FG, 8.2 PER) are only impeding the development of others. The sooner this team is turned over to their youth full-time the better.

*All statistics current as at November 26.