Five veteran players who are enjoying career seasons

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of candidates for the NBA's Most Improved Player award this season.

SI.com colleague Kelly Dwyer made an excellent point about the award often going to players who simply got a chance to play more minutes and increase their statistics based on this factor.

Most of the players he profiles in his list of this season's most improved are youngsters who are coming into their own, moving up the ladder as they hit the prime of their careers. But what about those solid but unspectacular players who have been around the NBA for a while and who have performed this season at a level that nobody thought possible?

Here is a look at some players who have had a surprising impact this season after being in the league for several years.

Maurice Williams, Milwaukee Bucks

Williams was just 20 when he entered the NBA as a second-round pick of the Utah Jazz in 2003. By the conclusion of 2004-05, his second NBA season and first in Milwaukee, Williams had proved himself a capable point guard. He averaged a career-high 12.1 points per game last season.

Now 24, Williams has exploded this season for the injury-riddled Bucks. Called on to provide more offense to lessen the blow of playing without Bobby Simmons, Charlie Villanueva and (for 22 games) Michael Redd, Williams is averaging 17.9 points while still leading the Bucks in assists (6.4). His career year couldn't have come at a better time: Williams will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Jason Kapono, Miami Heat

Kapono played for three different teams in his first three seasons since being drafted in the second round by Cleveland in 2003 out of UCLA. In his best season, with the expansion Charlotte Bobcats in 2004-05, Kapono averaged 8.5 points in a reserve role.

This season, before suffering a high ankle sprain that has sidelined him since March 6, Kapono was averaging a career-high 11.1 points and shooting an NBA-best 51.3 percent from three-point range. He has started 34 games after entering the season with 19 career starts.

The Heat obviously need Dwyane Wade to return in order to have a legitimate chance to defend their championship. But Miami needs Kapono back and firing three-pointers, too.

Mikki Moore, New Jersey Nets

The ninth-year veteran entered this season having never averaged more than 5.4 points over a full season. He was one of those peripatetic big men who always seemed to have an NBA job, but rarely took off the warmups unless the game had already been decided.

This season, playing with Jason Kidd and starting since a season-ending knee injury to Nenad Krstic, Moore is averaging career bests of 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds. A 50 percent shooter for his career, Moore has literally taken it to another level this season, connecting on 61.5 percent.

Moore is just shy of a pace that would net him 300 made baskets this season, the minimum needed to qualify for the league's field goal percentage title. If he qualified, Moore would currently rank second in the NBA to Tyson Chandler of New Orleans.

Matt Carroll, Charlotte Bobcats

Despite a senior season in which he averaged 19.5 points at Notre Dame, Carroll was passed over in the 2003 NBA Draft and split his first 1½ seasons as a professional shuttling between the NBA Development League and temporary jobs in the NBA. He was signed by Charlotte in February 2005, finally finding a believer in Bernie Bickerstaff and a permanent place in the NBA.

Carroll had started only six NBA games prior to this season, and he carried a career scoring average of seven points into this season. His consistent perimeter shooting earned him a place in the starting lineup, and he's averaging a career-best 12.1 points and shooting 42.1 percent from three-point range. Carroll will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, but this time he won't lack for interested suitors.

Devin Brown, New Orleans Hornets

Brown was looking for work after being cut by the Golden State Warriors in training camp. Despite a couple of productive seasons as an energy guy off the bench in San Antonio and one so-so campaign in Utah, Brown was a man without a team for a few months before New Orleans threw him a lifeline after its roster was decimated by injuries.

In 40 games with the Hornets, Brown has nearly doubled his career scoring average of 6.3 points (to 11.8) and is averaging career-best numbers in rebounds (4.5) and assists (2.8). He has started 31 times, showed his versatility by playing both guard spots and become a dependable perimeter threat. If the Hornets make the playoffs, they'll owe a debt of gratitude to Brown, who was a steady performer and helped them win games when they were running out a lineup that resembled a summer league squad.