Special to Sports News Highlights

(SNH) — We’ve all heard the expression “diamond in the rough.” 

Well, I never used to think that applied to the NBA.  I thought a team needed a top-five pick to get an impact player.  After all, most of the greatest players in the history of the league were or are highly drafted.

But look at this year’s playoffs and the bigger names the league now markets.  They are NOT top-five choices. In fact, many are wonderful and surprising stories.

Nikola Jokic is a superstar.  He’s a two-time Most Valuable Player and five-time first team all-NBA selection who helped lead the Denver Nuggets to their first ever world championship. He led them in points, rebounds and assists in their five-game opening series’ win over the Lakers this year.  Jokic was drafted in the second round (41st overall) in 2014.

The New York Knicks don’t earn the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference without Jalen Brunson.  He was named an All-Star for the first time and set a Knicks playoff record with 47 points in Game Four in their playoff series against the Sixers.

The Knicks have played the fifth-most playoff games in league history and yet it’s Brunson who holds the franchise mark. He added 10 assists that night, making him the first Knicks player ever to put together a line like that.  He holds the single-season record by a Knicks point guard for 40-point games in a regular season (11).

And 35 times this year Brunson scored 30 points or more; he scored 50 or more twice and scored a career best 61 on March 29 against Sacramento.  Brunson was a second-round draft pick (33rd overall) in 2018.

Tyrese Maxey just tied Michael Jordan for most points scored by a visiting player at Madison Square Garden when he torched the Knicks for 46 in Game Five of their first-round playoff series to keep Philadelphia’s season afloat.

Earlier this year, Maxey joined Allen Iverson as the two Sixers to score 50 points in a game at the age of 23 or younger.  He joined Iverson, teammate Joel Embiid, Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer and Dana Barros as the only Sixers players to score 50 points, grab five or more rebounds and dish out five or more assists in a single game. He has been named the league’s Most Improved Player but watched 20 players picked ahead of him on draft night in 2020.

Derrick White was the 29th overall pick in the 2017 draft.  He isn’t an All-Star, but he was named to the league All-Defensive team last season.  White may not be a household name outside of Boston, but he’s averaged a steady 15 points per game, shot a consistent 46 percent from the floor and had a career best 39.6 percent from the three.  You know Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but players like Derrick White were just as vital to Boston’s run to the best record in the NBA this year.

We see highlights every night of the big guns who are considered the face of the league.  Fans and media remain infatuated with LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant. Those players are still worth promoting for sure but remember the stars who were almost forgotten on draft day. 

By many, they were considered longshots to make the team; by others they were tabbed role players at best. These guys and others like them are forgotten on the biggest day of their professional lives, but we all know their names now.

I’m sure you’ve also heard the saying, “you can do anything you set your mind to.”

Well, these players are the epitome of believing in oneself; a great example of blocking out the negative noise and staying true to your convictions.  It should be celebrated by not only the NBA, but by sports and all of us.

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