What if I told you that O.J. Mayo averaged more points in his rookie season than Dwyane Wade, Anthony Davis, and Stephen Curry?
Why does this matter? Because high draft picks, like Mayo, come into the league with an increased set of expectations that many player don’t face. Going third overall in the 2008 NBA Draft put Mayo in a situation where he was destined to face these expectations head on.
He did not disappoint. Putting up 18.5 ppg in your rookie season will garner much attention, and it appeared that Mayo could handle it with ease. The transition from college ball to the NBA did not appear too difficult for the budding talent.
When you are playing at a level most veterans aren’t playing at, as well as creating a name for yourself at such a young age, what is there to worry about? O.J. Mayo did not have to face adversity yet, and so he could continue to sustain a high level of play without external problems becoming a hindrance.
But this is where the veterans like Curry and Wade separate themselves from Mayo. Anthony Davis is still young, but he too has separated himself from Mayo. All these players were able to do what Mayo could not; improve their game.
See, after his rookie season, O.J. Mayo has never been able to replicate his offensive fire power. The most he has averaged per game since being a rookie was the year after, when he averaged 17.5 ppg with the Memphis Grizzlies.
His tenure with the Grizzlies came to an end with a stat line that had Mayo appearing in less games, playing less minutes, and hovering around 12 ppg. It was time for Mayo to move on and possibly revitalize his career playing for somebody else.
Along came the Dallas Mavericks and a new two-year contract. Mayo was able to show the world that he still had a glimpse of that talent that was so highly coveted. He averaged 15.3 ppg, 4.4 apg, and 3.5 rpg, which were all the most he had averaged since his second year in Memphis.
This is where the narrative changes, however. A naive Mavs squad used O.J. Mayo the most out of any player during the ’12-’13 season. They needed his production to be there night in and night out, but little did they know Mayo’s motivation would start to become a problem. After a game late in the season, coach Rick Carlisle had a few things to stay about O.J.
When asked about his disappointing effort, Carlisle said:
"I don’t know. You should probably ask him. I’m not sure. I just want to see him show up. I just want to see him show up and compete. He didn’t compete tonight. And I tell you, with all the time we’ve put into helping him develop and bringing him along, in the biggest game of the year – an opportunity to be a winning team – for him to show up like he did tonight, I was shocked."
The nail in O.J. Mayo’s coffin as a Dallas Maverick came with this quote from Carlisle: ““I’ve avoided the use of the word ‘frustration,’” Carlisle said. “I am all about enthusiasm this year, really, and I’ve been very consistent with that. But, you know, if you’re not going to compete, don’t show up at all.”
It was evident to everyone who followed the Mavericks that O.J. Mayo just wasn’t the right fit for the team, which is why he declined his option for a second year and found his new home with our Milwaukee Bucks.
If the Bucks thought that they were going to avoid any controversy with Mayo, boy, were they wrong.
Nov 9, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks center Larry Sanders (center) sits on the bench with guard O.J. Mayo (left) and forward Ersan Ilyasova (right) in the 2nd quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Sanders did not play after suffering a hand injury in an off-court incident. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
I chose the image above for two reasons. The first reason is because it was taken during Mayo’s first season with the bucks, which, for all intents and purposes, was a season to forget. He played in a career low 53 games. What’s even more embarrassing was that in the final 19 games of his first season, O.J. Mayo only suited up for two of them.
Head coach Larry Drew saw an out-of-shape Mayo that came into arguably his most important season with a commitment level of nothing. The two are directly correlated with each other. You can gauge a player’s level of commitment by how he conditions his body. A grueling 82 game season means that your body must be in the best shape possible. But O.J. Mayo was nowhere near a competitive level of conditioning. Nowhere.
In an interview last year, Coach Drew had this to say about Mayo:
"O.J. is a real pro. The one thing I tell him is just ‘You’ve got to stay ready.’ He missed a stretch of games due to illness. He got out of rhythm; he lost conditioning. We’ve been trying to work with him as far as getting it back."
To me, this sounds a heck of a lot like compensating for someone else’s problem. It’s not coach Drew’s fault Mayo didn’t want to compete. It’s not his fault that Mayo couldn’t play in games. A responsible NBA player takes his own faults into the off-season and betters himself. Not just for his own sake, but so he can keep himself in the market and keep on getting paid.
Now, O.J is in his second season with the Bucks. There has been marginal improvement from him. On the plus side, his two point field goal percentage is up, as well as his rebounds per game and assists per game. He is also on track to appear in more games than he appeared in last year, which is a testament to his improved physical shape.
But O.J Mayo is a shell of the player he used to be. Long gone are days where he was averaging 30-plus minutes a night, and long gone are the days where he was the focal point of an offense.
Now, don’t think I forgot about reason number two why I chose the above image. It shows two of Milwaukee’s most disappointing players, Larry Sanders and O.J. Mayo. They are similar in two ways; they both have been statistically disappointing, and both are under contract. In the case of Mayo, it would be best for the Bucks to play out the rest of his three year, $24 million contract, seeing that he has little to no trade value.
But my, how nice it would have been for Mayo to live up to his contract.