It's not technically midseason, but with this being the all-star break, we could think of no better time than to issue midseason report cards. In this edition: Trevor Booker, who has been MIA for the better part of the year.
STATS: 4.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 44.4 FG%, 0.0 3PT%, 11.2 PER, 45.4 TS%, 15.5 TO%, 15.8 USG%
THE BACKGROUND
Trevor Booker had so much promise. An undersized power forward out of Clemson, Booker was an unspectacular if dependable player who could come off the bench and give you a couple of rebounds and dunks through sheer hustle. He wasn't a future star, but Booker was already a solid second big man off the bench who seemed like he could carve out a nice career for himself as sort of Dejuan Blair Lite.
And then injuries hit.
Booker's last game of the 2012 season was March 30. Since then, he's played only 330 minutes, in part due playing behind players such as Kevin Seraphin who offer more upside, but largely due to continued injuries. A player who less than a year ago seemed like a key role player going forward as become almost an afterthought.
THE GOOD
There aren't a lot of good things that you can say about someone who hasn't been healthy and rarely played. If there's one good thing Booker has continued to do this year, it's rebound at a good rate, especially on the offensive glass. Booker ranks second among players on the current roster in both offensive and total rebounding percentage, indicating that he's at least still getting after boards. He also has accepted a reduced role on the team without complaint, something that had been an issue for the team in the past.
THE BAD
He only played 336 minutes over 19 games. Oh, other than that? Booker, largely due to being miscast as an occasional scorer early in the season, has seen his once stellar shooting percentage plummet to 44 percent. That's fine if you're taking a lot of threes, getting to the line at a high rate or able to create shots at will, less so when all you should be doing is catching lobs and flipping in putbacks. If there's a silver lining here, it's that he's continued to make more than 70 percent of his shots at the rim and the dip in his field goal percentage can be almost entirely attributed to an increase in the number of shots he's had to take outside of the paint.
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SECOND HALF
Get healthy, get back in the rotation and get back in the paint. None of Booker's injuries have been career-threatening and he doesn't appear to have lost his athleticism, so there's a good chance he'll be OK once he gets his timing and rhythm back.
THE VERDICT
There's no denying that Booker has had a bad year, but that's not to say he'll continue to struggle. Nonetheless, this is a mid-season report card, and based solely on what he's contributed, his grades aren't good.
How would you rate Booker's season on a scale of 1-10, and what would you like to see from him in the second half of the season?