DeAndre Liggins

Liggins tends to sneak into the NBA at the back end of seasons as a defensive specialist role player picked up by teams for single-possession turns on the court. This happened again with the Pelicans last season, and so although they waived him this week, Liggins's chances of another NBA contract must be considered fairly high. After all, he stuck to the brief.

DeAndre Liggins
SG/SF, 6’6, 209lbs, 29 years old, 4 years of experience

Was the happy recipient of 752 minutes and 19 starts with Cleveland, a favourite of Tyronn Lue due to his defence, before being a surprising late-season cut for his elder equivalent in Dahntay Jones. Struggled mightily on offence, though - even in the company of three All-Stars and one of the greatest passers to ever play the game, Liggins could not find a role on offence, because there is no area of the court that could be called ‘his’. Very much a one-end player, then.

Player Plan: Has had a team option for the minimum salary declined, but even that would have only guaranteed a nominal amount. Bring him to camp to earn his spot, but hopefully, and with respect, his roster spot got used up on roster upgrades.

DeAndre Liggins - Another former Van Gundy player with the Magic, Liggins spent 10 days with the Heat last season, and spent the rest of the time in the D-League. Given the opportunity to make quite a lot of plays, Liggins managed only a 4.7/3.0 assist to turnover ratio and just isn't that effective or efficient of one. He can see over the defense, drive the ball and has improved his three point shot to mediocre levels (and now takes too many), yet he is not good enough to merit the ball at the NBA level, and is not much use without it.

DeAndre Liggins - Cut by the Thunder before camp after being charged with nine counts relating to domestic violence, Liggins returned to the D-League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Thus far on the season, he is averaging 13.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, splitting ball handling duties with Larry Drew II (5.3ppg, 5.8apg). However, Jones is no full time playmaker, and his offensive inefficiency and high turnover rates undermine his point forward potential.

Picks 53 and 54: Orlando takes DeAndre Liggins in the hope of landing the defensive wing specialist that they were hoping Stanley Robinson was going to be last season. The Van Gundy connection here gives Jeff a reason to start talking again; when Stu Scott asks him what he thinks his brother's team needs to acquire, Van Gundy (slightly paraphrased, and with a less than subtle nod to Gilbert Arenas) says "less clowns." Liggins does not appear to be a clown, so Stan should be pleased.

DeAndre Liggins - During the John Calipari era, Liggins has made a transition for big, talented, mistake-prone point guard to defensive wing specialist. He retains the passing vision and solid ball-handling from his point guard days, but he is now little utilised offensively, save for some transition, ball movement, and open jumpshots (at which he has improved).

Taking the ball out of his hands was the best thing to do, because despite his billing out of high school, he wasn't that good with it, with an uncanny knack for making the wrong decision. Instead, Liggins is now a defensive lynchpin, and a disruptive wing presence at that. With fine shooting guard size and good enough athleticism, Liggins (if he further improves his catch-and-shoot jumper) could perhaps have an NBA career similar to that of fellow ex-Kentucky player, Keith Bogans. Considering the incredibly different paths they took, this would be a very strange occurrence.

(Note: since few manage to emulate Keith's amazingly resilient career path, perhaps Quinton Ross is a better aim. This career path comes with the benefit of never needing to develop consistent three point range.)

To go with the three freshman stars are a five man rotation of role players. Florida transfer Eloy Vargas is often wild and inconsistent, missing defensive rotations and greatly irritating Calipari, with little offensive talent to speak of and all the poise of Bambi in a hurricane. Yet his size and athleticism combination proves occasionally useful on both ends, particularly on the glass. Pressed into full-time service at centre, Harrellson has had a great season, earning an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. He's a prolific rebounder and defensive post presence, who can make (if not create) shots around the basket, and he doesn't even take those bad straightaway threes any more. Incumbent shooting guard Jon Hood comes in and does absolutely nothing other than try to score, which occasionally he does. Liggins's evolution from a big, turnover prone point guard, in a vital, cohesive, little-things, do-it-all, rebounding, defending, smart passing, transition jumpshooting role playing small forward is almost complete. And Miller has developed into a shooter and defender, with good size, efficiency, and less mistakes than before. But despite the presence and decent production of these incumbents, Kentucky have had problems with cohesiveness and maturity. Maybe that's due to the lack of four year players.