Post by Portland on Apr 11, 2015 9:04:13 GMT -6
The 2026 season is about 30% complete at this point and the player performance sample size has grown to the point where we can start to trust what we’re seeing. The players we expected to do well this season – the Hakeems, the Slavnics, the Jordans, the Englishes – are just as good as we expect them to be. What’s interesting to me at this point (and always the subject of not discussion on the Skype board) are the players who are outperforming their ratings, and the players who aren’t living up to their hype.
So here is my look at some of the unsung heroes of the 2026 season to date, the guys who doing much better than expected and giving their teams an unexpected boost. Having a couple of these guys on ones roster can be the difference between being a lottery team and a solid playoff contender, and I think we’re seeing that happening right now. Here, then, are the players I see as those having outperformed expectations, ranked roughly in the order of the impact I think they’ve had on their teams.
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#1 – Hot Rod Williams, center, Sydney Kings: The 26 year-old Williams – now in his fourth ABCA season – has been absolutely stellar so far this year and is giving Kings fans a lot to talk about. He’s stepped up his game substantially and is now getting the minutes needed to really put up some numbers. He’s posting 15 points on 1.27 pps, nine rebounds, three blocks, and three steals a game – all career bests. This was all on display against London on 11 November when he went 25/14 while dishing off five assists, and he’s had a number of games like that. Not bad for a player drafted 14th in the second round. Hot Rod got a nice payday this past season which had a few gms shaking their heads, but Hot Rod has responded well and looks like good value for that money. He appears to be heading into a nice, long prime period.
#2 – Arpad Losonczy, shooting guard, Seattle Supersonics: When the Sonics’ Jo Jo White went down with an early-season injury there was a lot of conjecture around the ABCA that the mighty Sonics were in trouble. They weren’t. Arpad left Indiana this off-season and after a brief stop in Sydney was snapped up as an insurance policy by Seattle where he’s made himself at home in the team’s Death Star offense. The Hungarian is averaging over 24 points a game – exactly doubling his previous career high at this point – and making an obscene 46% of his three-point attempts. He’s been tidy with the ball and contributing some nice perimeter defense, also. All this on a three-year, five million dollar per contract. On November 20th he punished his former team by going off for 40 points against the Pacers, with eight rebounds and seven assists. He topped that by posting 44 points against the Celtics recently. With Jo Jo only a week from returning we’re not sure what Losonczy’s role will become, but it seems clear that this guy won’t be happy returning to a bench role.
#3 – Mookie Blaylock, point guard, Tehran Mahram: The 23 year-old Blaylock is in his third season with the Mahram and has teamed with backcourt mate Drazen Petrovic to form one of the best guard tandems in the league, leading his team to a surprising early-season performance. Mookie isn’t shooting quite as well as he did last season but in all other facets of guard play has made great strides. He’s exhibited the progress you’d hope for in a young player but he’s also doing better – sooner – than his ratings suggest. He’s averaging a career-best 17.8 ppg to go with 9.3 assists and more than two steals per contest. As good as he’s been, no one was expecting the atrocities he committed in Mexico City last sim: 49 points on 21-of-35 shooting, along with 12 assists, all in Isiaha Thomas’s face. The athletic Texan is signed cheap through 2027 at which we can expect him to get paid handsomely.
#4 – Gus Williams, point guard, Buenos Aires Boca Juniors: Gus has been a star in the ABCA for quite a while – just one notch perhaps below the elite point guards of his era – and long-ago solidified his reputation around the league. He’s been a model of health and consistency having missed just one game in his career. Now at age 29 he’s having not just a sold season but one of his best ever, and in my opinion is outperforming his ratings. His 15.1 ppg is his best mark of the past five seasons, his 8.9 apg ties his career best set half a decade ago, and has topped three steals per game for the first time ever. He’s also never shot the three-ball nearly as well as he’s doing this year. The three-year, $39m contract extension he signed last year gives BA the knowledge their point guard situation is well-taken care of for the foreseeable future.
So here is my look at some of the unsung heroes of the 2026 season to date, the guys who doing much better than expected and giving their teams an unexpected boost. Having a couple of these guys on ones roster can be the difference between being a lottery team and a solid playoff contender, and I think we’re seeing that happening right now. Here, then, are the players I see as those having outperformed expectations, ranked roughly in the order of the impact I think they’ve had on their teams.
#2 – Arpad Losonczy, shooting guard, Seattle Supersonics: When the Sonics’ Jo Jo White went down with an early-season injury there was a lot of conjecture around the ABCA that the mighty Sonics were in trouble. They weren’t. Arpad left Indiana this off-season and after a brief stop in Sydney was snapped up as an insurance policy by Seattle where he’s made himself at home in the team’s Death Star offense. The Hungarian is averaging over 24 points a game – exactly doubling his previous career high at this point – and making an obscene 46% of his three-point attempts. He’s been tidy with the ball and contributing some nice perimeter defense, also. All this on a three-year, five million dollar per contract. On November 20th he punished his former team by going off for 40 points against the Pacers, with eight rebounds and seven assists. He topped that by posting 44 points against the Celtics recently. With Jo Jo only a week from returning we’re not sure what Losonczy’s role will become, but it seems clear that this guy won’t be happy returning to a bench role.
