In the Rotation: NBA Week 3

After three weeks of the NBA season, it's safe to say that we can put to rest one of the big questions that was hanging over the 2008-09 season: will there be any sort of hangover for the players who competed in the Olympics?

The answer is an emphatic "no."

Though we're only about 10 games into the season, it's already clear that an extra month of basketball at the highest level available during the offseason will have no lingering effects on the players who participated in the Beijing Games this August. In fact, of the players who made up the United States roster, there are more players averaging better than their career highs across the board than there are players who have seen a decline statistically.

I can't see why anyone would think that playing in the Olympics would be a hindrance for a player. Instead of spending the summer hitting the weights or working on his game in a gym by himself, a player has the chance to compete against the best talent the world has to offer in meaningful games playing for one of the top prizes in sports. How could anyone not benefit from that experience?

I know, there is the obvious concern that players will injure themselves playing for their country and cost their NBA team wins early in the season while they recover from injury, but the chances of that happening are very slim. In fact, of the 30 NBA players that participated in the Olympic Games, only Manu Ginobili suffered any kind of injury that has forced a player to miss any NBA games, and the Spurs hope to have him back within the next week or two.

Ginobili has never played more than 77 games in a season in his entire career, so it's reasonable to say that these missed games were an inevitability for the Spurs. What's the difference if the injury comes while training in the offseason at the highest level or if it comes playing the Bucks in mid-December?

Injuries are a part of the game, and if I were running an NBA team, I'd want my best players preparing in the offseason at the highest level possible, even if there is a 3% chance he hurts himself in the process.

It could be worse; your team's star player could spend his summer vacation riding mopeds.

For more proof that any "Olympic Hangover" is just a myth, this week's "starting five" is comprised of Olympians that have hit the ground running this NBA season.

Starting Five

1. Dwyane Wade

Perhaps no player benefited more from playing on the Olympic team than Dwyane Wade. Wade spent all of last season trying to regain his 2006 NBA finals MVP form, but had to shut it down after just 51 games played when it became clear that he just wasn't himself.

Wade spent that time off getting himself ready for the Olympics both mentally and physically. He then erased all doubt that he would ever make it back to form by having an outstanding Olympic Tournament, capping off his "comeback" with one of the five greatest halves of basketball I've ever seen with the display he put on in the first half of the gold medal game against Spain.

Wade has carried the same energy and effort that he brought to team USA over to the Miami Heat. Sure, you could point to Wade already averaging career highs in points, assists, and rebounds as an indication that he benefited greatly from his time with team USA, but it's on the defensive end that he has shown the most improvement in his game.

Wade finished just one steal shy of LeBron James for the team lead in Beijing, and has shown that his commitment to defense wasn't just a summer fling. Not only is Wade averaging career highs in both blocks and steals, but he has nearly doubled his career averages in both categories. His commitment on D has seen Miami shave its opponent's points per game average from 100 points a season ago to 94.5 points per game so far this season.

Not coincidentally, with Dwyane Wade leading the way, the Heat are on pace to win 26 more games than they did a season ago.

2. Chris Paul

It's hard to argue with gold medal results, but you'll never be able to convince me that starting Jason Kidd over Chris Paul in the Olympics made any sense. On any given day, Chris Paul can be the best basketball player in the world. Call me crazy, but I want that kind of player playing as many minutes as possible.

But that's in the past, and all's well that ends well.

Let's focus on the present. Chris Paul is having one of the best starts to a season that any NBA point guard has ever had. His streak of 20 point/10 assist games finally ended this week at 8, which in itself is reason enough to make this list.

What's more impressive, however, is that so far this season Paul is putting up career highs in assists, rebounds, steals, field goal percentage, and free throw percentage. His 20.8 points per game is a hair shy of the 21.1 points he averaged a season ago.

Anyone who watched Paul carry the Hornets to the second best record in the Western Conference last season knows that it'd be nearly impossible for him to play better than he did a season ago.

That's exactly what he's doing right now.

3. Tayshaun Prince

It's not just superstars that reap the benefits of being an Olympian, even the guys on the end of the bench can cash in on playing alongside the world's best. Only Carlos Boozer and Michael Redd played fewer minutes than Prince for team USA, but the improvement in Prince's game from a season ago is remarkable.

Prior to this season, Prince's career highs in points and rebounds were 14.7 and 5.3 respectively. So far this year, Tayshaun has averaged 17.7 points and 8.2 rebounds, while shooting career best 88% from the free throw line.

He's evolved from a defensive stopper and fourth option on previous Pistons teams into the most consistent offensive player night in and night out for a team still struggling to find its offensive identity after the Allen Iverson trade.

4. Dwight Howard

Like everyone else in the starting five, Howard is already playing above his career average pace offensively. And like everyone else on the list, it has been Howard's defense that has stood out so far this season.

After finishing tied for seventh in the voting for the Defensive Player of the Year award last season, Howard said this preseason that his goal was to win the award this year. So far, Superman has been good on his word.

Howard leads the NBA at 4.1 blocks per game, over a block per game better than the next best player, Andrew Bynum, who's getting 3 blocks per contest.

Combine his defensive dominance with his career year offensively and the Magic's 50+ win pace, and Dwight Howard's name will be coming up a whole lot more this season when the MVP race heats up.

5. LeBron James

Speaking of early MVP candidates, LeBron James has been just that in Cleveland. LeBron has nearly matched or exceeded his career highs in all the major statistical categories, but has been able to do so while still averaging a career-low 37.5 minutes per game.

Led by James, the Cavs have gotten off to one of the best starts in the league. It's still way too early to tell what we might Witness from this team in the playoffs, but it's fun to enjoy watching LeBron develop a new fascination with the number 41.

In the Rotation

Chauncey Billups

Enough love for the Olympians, there are plenty of other players around the league off to great starts, as well.

Allen Iverson dominated the headlines in the trade that sent him to Detroit, but Denver didn't exactly give him away. Billups has, after all, played in the past six Eastern Conference finals, three straight all-star games, and has a Finals MVP award to his credit.

The numbers on Billups are never going to be overwhelming, with averages of 14.8 points and 5.5 assists per game for his career. But Billups is continuing a trend that he started over six seasons ago with the Pistons: winning. So far this year Billups' team is 6-1 with Chauncey starting at point guard.

Think about this, over the past five seasons, only Tony Parker can say that he's led his team to more success than Billups.

The Nuggets may not be a major contender in the West just yet, but with Chauncey keeping things under control down the stretch, Carmello Anthony's scoring ability, and the surprisingly effective defense down low by Nene, Denver might just have a puncher's chance out West.

Out of the rotation

Home Team Announcing Crews

One of my absolute favorite things about the NBA League Pass is turning on a game and trying to figure out which team's broadcast we're getting. The average estimated time it takes to figure it out: four seconds.

It's not difficult. Either the announcer will be calling the player with the ball by his last name, or he will be calling the player with the ball by his first name or some sort of nickname his teammates have given him, only it sounds about 30% less cool each time the announcer says it.

If the play-by-play guy uses the last name, it's opposing teams feed. If it's a nickname, it's the team with the ball's feed. It's usually that simple.

If that doesn't work, just wait for the first whistle. Apparently, it has been mandated by the league that each team's announcers must complain after every call that goes against their team. This new mandate led to Wednesday's performance by Boston color commentator Tom Heinsohn in which he shattered the record for "most times openly criticizing the officials in one quarter" during the Celtics' last-second victory over the Hawks.

It is a trend that started a few years ago, but has gotten out of control this season. There have been plenty of cases of hometown announcers openly rooting for their teams in the past, but so far this season, we have seen new levels of homerism as objectivity has been thrown out the window for most broadcasts.

Let's hope that things settle back down very soon, and people from other markets that may be watching can enjoy the game for what it is and not have to listen to fans with stat sheets call the game.

Inactive List

Shaquille O'Neal

Let me start out by stating the obvious here: I love a good basketball brawl. Who doesn't? Carmello Anthony's haymaker/80-foot retreat combo on Mardy Collins a few years back serves as one of my favorite random NBA moments of all-time. That being said, when it's all said and done, you can expect disappointment in the aftermath of a good brawl as surely all participants will receive hefty suspensions.

Shaq makes the inactive list this week not just for his role in Wednesday night's shoving match between the Rockets, in which he basically moved the entire pile a good 10 to 15 feet, towards the crowd no less, yet somehow avoided suspension.

No, it's Shaq's entire week's worth of thuggery that lands him on the inactive list. He followed his moshpit-like performance Wednesday night with the definition of a flagrant foul with this hit on Detroit's Rodney Stuckey.

What the second video doesn't show is that the foul happened the possession after Shaq was complaining hard about a no call on the other end. His foul on Stuckey was just as much frustration as it was to prevent an easy basket.

I'm not sure exactly when Shaq decided to go from "top five all-time center" to "Steve Nash's enforcer," but I think I speak for everyone when I say it's far more entertaining to watch Shaq when he's being the Big Aristotle than when he's just being the ornery old guy on the floor.

Hopefully the accumulation of this week's fines will open Shaq's eyes to the fact that no one views him as the Big Aristotle, Big Cactus, Big Diesel, or whatever he's calling himself these days, and that around the league now, he's just a Big Bully.

Be sure to check back at Sports Central every Monday to see who cracks Scott Shepherd's rotation as he breaks down what is going on around the NBA.