Top 5 Underrated players this season.....

1. Dirk Nowitzski - He is the next Detlef Schrempf, and it ain't because Dirk is German...Dropped 33 and 14 in a 1998 contest against the US Juniors, a performance that drove Larry Bird to gush "if you just went by that (game) tape alone, you'd think he was the greatest ever".

2. Bobby Sura -Looks like a Baldwin brother...A tough, versatile guard with great size and quickness, Sura left Florida State as it's all time leading scorer...Because of his underexposure in football-crazy Seminole country, Sura complained that he "wished (he) would have gone to a basketball school," drawing the ire of the fans...

3. Mike Bibby -Was the best rookie point man in 1999, making the All-Rookie team...His father, Henry Bibby, was another Pac-10 star and NBA superstar...We should pause in linking the two or in listing his father's accomplishments, as the father and son are estranged and don't speak...

4. Brevin knight - A little waterbug....Every prognosticator, armchair quarterback, general manager, and grandmother sipping her Metamucil declared Knight too small to make it in this league...

5. Brent Barry - Played well in his first year in Los Angeles, and won the 1996 Slam Dunk Contest with a free throw line slam..