Baron, T-Mac lead disappointments (cont.)

Reserves

Guard DeShawn Stevenson struggled so badly earlier this season that he volunteered to give up his starting job. AP Paul Forrester's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Paul. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

G: DeShawn Stevenson, Wizards

When Sports Illustrated asked 190 players to name the player who thinks he's a lot better than he really is, Stevenson tied for first place with Boston's Kendrick Perkins. Stevenson hasn't had much to brag about this season, shooting 31.2 percent from the field and averaging 6.6 points in 32 games. (He averaged 11.2 points in each of the last two seasons.) To Stevenson's credit, in late December he volunteered to end his 275-game start streak and come off the bench in hopes of building some confidence against second-line players. That experiment lasted only a few games before Stevenson went down with a back injury.

G: Rashad McCants, Timberwolves

After getting regular minutes as a reserve in the first two months of the season, the 24-year-old former first-round pick helped spark the Timberwolves' resurgence ... when he was banished to the end of the bench. He played a total of 14 minutes over two games in January, a month in which Rodney Carney took McCants' playing time and the Timberwolves won 10 of 14 games. After averaging 14.9 points on 45.3 percent shooting last season, McCants is down to 9.2 points on 36.2 percent shooting this season. He is also averaging 0.9 assists in 19 minutes a game.

G: Larry Hughes, Bulls

Having arrived in Chicago last season claiming that he valued having fun more than winning, Hughes has gone about proving that this season. The 30-year-old shooting guard, playing largely off the bench, has averaged 12.0 points (on 41.2 percent shooting) and 2.0 assists, numbers quite similar to those that prompted Cleveland to deal him last season. Not surprisingly, the Bulls reportedly are attempting to do the same after Hughes backed up his mediocre production by complaining about his minutes and crossing coach Vinny Del Negro on everything from team rules prohibiting eating in the locker room to in-game requests to pass the ball. After Del Negro benched Hughes for 10 straight games, the team placed the 11-year veteran on the inactive list at his request.

G: Beno Udrih, Kings

Plucked from the waiver wire last season, Udrih enjoyed a breakthrough year in Sacramento for which he was rewarded with a five-year, $32 million contract. But Udrih's production as a starter has declined this season (10.8 points, 4.3 assists), and he is said to be one of several Kings players available in a trade. Though it's unfair to place all the blame on Udrih for the Kings' 11-43 record, Sacramento's nightmarish season isn't exactly a feather in the floor leader's cap, either.

F: Ricky Davis, Clippers

The Clippers sought to replace some of Corey Maggette's offense by signing Davis last offseason. But Davis, a career 14.3-point scorer, slumped badly early in the season, was suspended five games for violating the NBA's anti-drug program, missed a month with a knee injury and hasn't found his touch since returning in mid-January. Davis is averaging only 10.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per 36 minutes, and he's shooting 34.2 percent from the field overall.

F: Adam Morrison, Lakers

After he shot poorly while averaging 11.8 points as a rookie and missed all last season with a knee injury, expectations were modest this season for the No. 3 pick in the 2006 draft. Nevertheless, the Bobcats figured they would get more than this from Morrison, who averaged 4.5 points (on 36 percent shooting) and 1.6 rebounds in 15.1 minutes before being traded to the Lakers last week. "Coming off an injury last year, he seemed to have lost his confidence a little bit," Bobcats part-owner Michael Jordan told reporters Tuesday. "He didn't have the understanding of how Larry [Brown] expected him to play both offensively and defensively."

C: Tyson Chandler, Hornets

It isn't so much that Chandler's averages of 8.8 points (on 56.3 percent shooting) and 8.3 rebounds are abysmal. It's just that more was expected after he averaged 11.8 points (on 62.3 percent shooting) and 11.8 rebounds last season. Earlier this season, Hornets coach Byron Scott tried to capture what was missing in Chandler's game by relating a conversation he had with Jerry West. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Scott said West told him that "one difference about this year's team as opposed to last year is that Tyson Chandler is not playing with the energy he played last year." Perhaps Chandler will be raring to go following the All-Star break after missing the last 12 games with a sprained ankle.

Coach

P.J. Carlesimo, Thunder

Carlesimo, who guided the franchise to a 20-win season last year in Seattle, was fired after a 1-12 start in which the young Thunder were blown out repeatedly while playing uninspired basketball. The veteran coach was replaced by assistant Scott Brooks, who moved Kevin Durant from shooting guard to small forward and turned over the point guard duties to rookie Russell Westbrook. Within a month, Durant was performing at a level that placed him in the All-Star conversation, and Westbrook had emerged as a capable playmaker and scorer. The team eventually followed suit, rebounding from a 3-17 start under Brooks to go 7-7 in January, seemingly chipping away at Brooks' "interim" tag with each victory.