One month into the NBA season and it already looks like a long year for my Husky Hoops Fantasy Dream Team. Unfortunately, some of the veteran big dogs are off to bad starts. Instead of carrying the team, they are weighing it down.

Ray ‘He Got Game’ Allen is living the life on the resurgent Boston Celtics, but his stats are suffering now that he is on a well-rounded deep team. Allen’s sharp-shooting ways have been missing, and his twenty-fivepoints- a-game average from last year has dropped to nineteen this season. It is not surprising that he would not be scoring as much now that he is not the go-to guy, but his shooting percentage has dropped which has been disappointing.

Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton has had an inconsistent start, missing some games early, and seemingly being out of sync. ‘Rip’ has raised his assist total while seeing his points per game drop. He did have a nice three-game stretch to finish the month, so maybe that is a sign of good things to come.

Ben ‘Big Game’ Gordon has reverted to being a ‘Baby Bull’ while Chicago has struggled out of the gate. Gordon had a career year last season, and seemed poised to break through as an All- Star. Even though he averaged twenty-one a game last season, he still was prone to having bad outings. This season, he has had more bad then good, and his scoring average has dropped to seventeen a game while shooting a horrendous thirty-seven percent from the floor.

Emeka Okafor is still a double- double guy every night, but his point totals have been down. Okafor is in the top five in rebounding, but has fallen to the tenth spot in blocks after finishing fourth last season. Okafor and the Bobcats have said they will be getting the big fella the ball more to try and break out of their slump. Here’s hoping he produces.

Not all the former Huskies have started slowly. Caron ‘the’ Butler has recovered nicely from his second half injury last season. Butler made his first ever All-Star game last season, and then missed the remainder of the year. He is back and healthy and has been dominating. Butler has been carrying the load for the injury-riddled Wizards, raising his points per-game to a career high twentythree while shooting over fiftytwo percent. The well-rounded Butler has also been pulling down rebounds and dishing out assists, filling the stat sheet nightly.

Rudy ‘it’s good to be’ Gay is enjoying a breakout second season in Memphis. Gay is scoring over eighteen a night, and pulling down close to six rebounds. He has gone for over thirty points three times so far this season.

Charlie ‘can’ Villanueva has bounced back from an injuryplagued first season in Milwaukee, but has yet to deliver consistent point production. Jake ‘the Snake’ Voskuhl has joined Villanueva in a Bucks uniform, and has been fighting for minutes. Voskuhl has been getting more time lately as he proves his worth to his new team as a role player.

Hilton ‘Towers’ Armstrong has shown signs of improvement in his second season in New Orleans. Armstrong has been getting more minutes this year, but his numbers have not gone up that much.

Josh Boone has been nothing short of a major disappointment in New Jersey. Boone is used inconsistently by the Nets, and rarely takes advantage of the minutes he gets. With that being said, he played solidly in twentyfour minutes of action in his last outing. Teammate Marcus Williams has missed the first month of the year with a foot injury, but has begun to practice.

Donyell Marshall has also been out to start the year in Cleveland, and might be at the end of his career. Kevin Ollie is not injured, but rarely plays in Philly where he is nothing more then an afterthought.

The start of the year has been frustrating, but if the big dogs get back to playing up to their ability, maybe things will get better soon for the Husky Dream Team.

Scott D. Lewis is the co-host of USA TV Talk Sports Live which airs on Comcast Cable Channel 23. The sports talk show airs one Tuesday night a month for the next three months.