1. Andrew Wiggins – SF – Minnesota Timberwolves (15.4 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.9 APG) – Wiggins continues to see his minutes increase each week as he becomes more and more comfortable with an elevated role on the team. His production has dipped just a little since the return of Kevin Martin, who is averaging 21.4 PPG in his last five games, and he is just starting to grow comfortable with Ricky Rubio since his return as well. It will be interesting to see how a Minnesota team does going forward at full strength with an emerging Wiggins, who was still getting a feel for things when his two fellow starters were still out. Wiggins was shut down in a tough matchup on Wednesday night against Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson in a 94-91 loss to the Warriors, scoring just six points on 3-of-7 shooting. His play has been solid enough otherwise to keep him at No. 1 for the foreseeable future, and he’s sure to come back strong after a much-needed All-Star break.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3RoKNwxYTo
2. Nerlens Noel – C – Philadelphia 76ers (8.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.7 BPG) – Noel is still managing to fill stat lines in every category, compensating for his inconsistent field goal shooting, like he did on Friday against the Celtics. Noel was just 1-of-5 from the field, but still finished with eight total points after hitting six of his eight free-throws, which is actually impressive on his end when considering his 56 percent mark on the year from the stripe. He also contributed his usual seven rebounds while chipping in a steal and a block. Noel continues to hover around the top-10 in the league for blocks, and is leading the league in steals among centers with 1.6 per game. If he can raise his shooting percentage even a little, he’ll be very close to averaging a double-double to go along with nearly two steals and two blocks per game by season’s end.
3. Elfrid Payton – PG – Orlando Magic (7.8 PPG, 5.7 APG, 3.7 RPG) – Payton had a rough start under interim coach James Borrego during Friday’s game against the Lakers, going just 2-of-5 from the field and finishing with four points and six assists. He has recovered well since then, reaching double-digits in points during the Magic’s last three games, and averaging 6.3 rebounds to boot. Payton’s shooting woes have been well documented, but he has managed to raise his field goal percentage little by little each week, and he’s actually shooting 47 percent in February (55 percent if you take away his dreadful 0-of-6 game against the Thunder on Feb. 2.) The Magic’s season has been over for awhile now, and things got more awkward the rest of the way with the firing of Jacque Vaughn last week, but management will no doubt push Borrego to give Payton plenty of playing time for his development for the rest of 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZpQIYQ_Wjs
4. Jusuf Nurkic – C – (7.0 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.3 BPG) – Nurkic’s production has steadily increased since his breakout month in January, and he remains one of the only bright spots on a Denver Nuggets team that has essentially given up on themselves and their coach at this point in the season. He has responded well to an increase in minutes in the month of February, and has averaged 9.3 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks in his last three games, highlighted by his Monday night home performance against the Thunder, when he put up 16 points and 14 rebounds against Kendrick Perkins and fellow rookie Mitch McGary. Nurkic continues to display the finesse and fundamentals of Euroleague play, while being extremely powerful and physical down low, making for a potent and unique combination that has him as one of the league’s many emerging big men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaeQAuX9bOs
5. K.J. McDaniels – SG – (9.2 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.3 APG) – McDaniels’ minutes continue to decline in correspondence with his offensive output. His 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting were a welcome throwback to his offensive production earlier in the season, but McDaniels was benched in the following game in favor of Tim Frazier, and he’s gone on to post totals of eight and five points on 4-of-10 shooting in the two games since. His defense and all-around effort have stayed relatively the same, but it’s obvious that head coach Brett Brown wants to see more out of him on the offensive end before allotting him more minutes. McDaniels remains on this list in spite of the demotion, if simply because of his defensive abilities and potential to still go off on the offensive end at any given moment.
