James Jones, Grant Hill: Top Five Unrestricted Small Forwards in the 2011 NBA Free Agency (Part 1)
The National Basketball Association is still going through the lockout. However, whenever the lockout will settle down a lot of skilful free agents will look to sign deals with new teams in order to lift their performance in the
season.
The list of free agents includes players, who had handled different positions from their previous teams and had done well in that capacity. However, today we are going to discuss only the top five unrestricted small forwards that
could be of great value for the NBA teams, especially the ones that also have some quality experience under their belt.
These players have the required skill and know how to move towards the season and what it’ll take to deliver a consistent performance in order to win games.
So, let’s see, who are these players?
Grant Hill
Grant Hill commenced his pro career back in 1994, when Detroit Pistons picked him up as the third overall from the NBA Draft and he proved his worth with his play. As he had often guided his team in points, assists and boards,
because of which Hill was considered as one of the top all-around players in the league at that time.
However, later Hill didn’t remain as effective as he used to be earlier because of career threatening injuries he had endured. After which his stats graph keep on declining, as earlier he maintained a career average of 20 plus
points per game. That number had now fall down to 17.5 points per game as he is about enter in his 17th season.
Despite all of this, the 6 foot 8 forward has somehow managed to perk up his career. Most importantly Hill possesses an experience of 16 seasons. In addition to that plays a brilliant defence and has the precision in shooting the
ball. As far as Hill’s fitness is concerned, he had put a leash on his bashers, by playing in 243 games out of 246 regular-season games from 2008-09 season.
So this makes him a valuable commodity in the free agents market, especially when a contender considers utilizing him for limited time period in the game.
James Jones
James Jones, who had last played with the Miami Heat, will enter in his 9th season in NBA, if the lockout didn’t scrap it. James has been in the league since 2003, when he was picked up as 49th overall second-round
pick by the Indiana Pacers from the draft.
After playing two seasons from the Pacers, the skilful forward found his way into Phoenix Suns roster in 2005. Then Jones went to Portland Trail Blazers in 2007 where he played one season and then moved to Miami in 2008.
Jones gained an instant fame right from his rookie season with the Pacers, after he shot well from beyond the arc. Later he boosted his three-point shot and increased his percentage from .250 to .402 now. It is because of this
ability, analysts termed Jones as one of the leading threat from the three-point range in NBA.
In the preceding season, Jones won the 2011 All-Star Three-Point Shootout. Besides his precision from the three-point range, Jones is usually underrated, but in actual the average sum of minutes James gets to play per game, he
holds a decent record.
As he improved his scoring average from 1.2 to 6.3 points per game after spending an average 18.9 minutes on the floor. Although he hadn’t touched his single season high 9.3 points in 2005-06 season with the Phoenix Suns, but still
he is a good utility player.
Especially for the teams that are looking to add a solid three-point shooter to their roster. He had also endured several injuries in his career, but managed to revive from them and now Jones is a hot article of trade in the forwards
free agent market.
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