A handful of NBA teams already are celebrating the arrival of an unexpected gift this holiday season: players on the roster who've performed far above all reasonable expectations in the early going.
Some are guys who've finally "made the leap" from good to great. Others are in the midst of an unexpectedly strong comeback. And then there are the (formerly) bad players now finding ways to make surprisingly positive contributions.
Let's look at the particularly pleasant surprises so far this season.
Good to great
Rolling in Detroit: Drummond and Jackson
Stan Van Gundy has the Pistons rolling toward their first winning season in eight years, and at times, it looks as if 22-year-old Andre Drummond is channeling a young Dwight Howard.
For starters, Drummond leads the league in total rebounds (458), and it's not even close: DeAndre Jordan is second with "only" 371. No player since Kevin Love in 2010-11 has come anywhere near Drummond's Wilt-like 16.4 rebounds-per-game average.
Drummond is no one-dimensional beast, either. He boasts a ridiculous two steals per game, easily the most among all NBA centers. And he has turned into a surprisingly adept finisher in the pick-and-roll, converting an impressive 65.4 percent of his attempts as the roll man this season.
Drummond has even catapulted into elite real plus-minus (RPM) territory this season. His 4.2 RPM now places him in the NBA's top 20, and it represents a dramatic improvement over last year's solid 1.3.
Another Piston -- Drummond's pick-and-roll partner, Reggie Jackson -- has joined James Harden as members of an exclusive (but growing) club: players who've left OKC to blossom into prolific scorers. Jackson's 20.5 points per game this season are by far the most of his career.
But Jackson's not simply taking more shots. He's also posting the best true shooting percentage of his career (53.7). And while his assist numbers (6.5 per game) are a bit down from the end of last season in Detroit, they still surpass his dime rate in OKC on a per-possession basis.
Thanks to the improved play of Drummond and Jackson, the otherwise mediocre Pistons have become genuine playoff contenders this year. In fact, they outscore their opponents by 7.0 points per 100 possessions when those two are together on the court.
Golden opportunity for Ezeli
Festus Ezeli logged just 504 minutes over the past two seasons combined. But upon stepping in last month for the Warriors' Andrew Bogut, Ezeli emerged as a starting-caliber center.
Actually, he has been better than that. His stellar RPM of 3.66 ranks 22nd on the NBA leaderboard.
Much of Ezeli's impact comes as a rim protector, where he's holding opponents to a paltry 43.4 percent on shots near the basket (per NBA.com), the eighth-best mark among NBA bigs. He also blocks more than three shots per 48 minutes on the court.
The real surprise, though, has been Ezeli's positive impact on the other end, as shown by his 1.05 offensive RPM. Ezeli has played well with the Warriors' talented crew, putting up a lofty 57.3 true shooting percentage and an impressive 15.3 percent offensive rebound rate that ranks third in the league.
Isaiah living up to his namesake
Isaiah Thomas, Boston's 5-foot-9 point guard dynamo, has long been regarded as a mere role player -- a pint-sized sparkplug off the bench.
This season, Thomas has proven he's actually a quality starter, and an absolute steal for Boston in last season's trade-deadline swap with Phoenix.
Not only does the diminutive guard boast the seventh-best offensive RPM (5.46) in the league, but he now ranks among the NBA's top scorers at 21.0 PPG. And despite Thomas' high usage rate (28.7), he has posted a sterling 55.8 true shooting percentage while compiling one of the lowest turnover rates (9.1) among the league's ball handlers.
Lowry leading the charge in Toronto
The Raptors are tied for second in the Eastern Conference standings, and that's in large part due to the improved play of Kyle Lowry, who is posting career bests all over. Compared to last season, he increased his averages in scoring (by more than three point per game), steals (with almost a full steal per game more) and blocks (tripling his blocks per game). Oh, and he's also taking and making 3s at a rate never seen before in his career.
His production is so good (9.4 RPM, 4.2 last season) that he would be a major MVP candidate if not for the Warriors' historic start and the otherworldly Stephen Curry.
Replacing DeAndre in Dallas
"He's a lot better than I thought," were Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle's recent words on his new center, Zaza Pachulia.
Pachulia's citation on this list comes a year too late, truth be told. His performance isn't a surprise among those who saw his unexpected rise in RPM last season, up to 4.80, which was 16th-best in the league. Pachulia played an enormous role in Milwaukee's playoff season, only to see the Bucks trade him to Dallas in July for a future second-round pick and subsequently hit the skids back into lottery land.
After the Mavs failed to reel in DeAndre Jordan, they needed a replacement. Pachulia fills the void, but in vastly different ways: by setting great screens and doing all the little things, leading to a decreased but still good RPM impact of 2.8. It also helps that he has turned into the seventh-best rebounder in the league.
Surprising comebacks
Rondo returning to form for Kings
When the Kings threw $9.5 million at Rajon Rondo last summer, we scoffed.
After all, the mercurial point guard had just logged his third straight season with an abysmal RPM value, and he'd never come close to registering a positive impact since his devastating ACL injury during the 2012-13 season.
But Rondo has proven the critics (us) wrong this season -- so far, at least. Not only does he lead the NBA in assists (11.2/game), but he has also now surged into the top half of starting PGs in RPM. And his 35.7 minutes per game rank him ninth in playing time league-wide.
A perennially woeful shooter, Rondo has emerged this year as a credible 3-point threat, converting a career-high 36.1 percent from downtown on a surprising 3.2 attempts per game. While no one is ever going to confuse him with a Splash Brother, if Rondo can continue making such contributions, the Kings will have received far more than their money's worth.
Remaking the Pacers into a powerhouse
On Aug. 1, 2014, Paul George suffered a gruesome leg injury in an exhibition game that left his Team USA teammates stunned. Already an elite player, he seemed unlikely to ever capture 100 percent of his peak form given the severity of the injury, a compound fracture of his right leg.
Just 17 months later, George is having the best season of his career. He's fifth in the league in points per game while also posting strong numbers in rebounds (7.8 per game), assists (4.0) and steals (1.6), with a combination of stats rarely seen by players other than LeBron James.
George always has been an outside threat, but now he's one of just 12 players who have taken more than 100 3s this season and made more than 40 percent -- 41.1 percent in his case.
RPM has cast George in a favorable light for his entire career, but now he's posting a 5.8 RPM, by far the best of his career.
And when it comes to pleasant surprises this NBA season, a star coming back from a devastating leg injury to reach new heights is as good as it gets.
Stepping up
Mahinmi keeping pace in the middle
With the Pacers' (intentional) offseason loss of Roy Hibbert to the Lakers, it has been up to Ian Mahinmi to help Indiana hold down the middle. Formerly just a backup, Mahinmi has quietly become a legitimate NBA starting center.
He might not score a lot, but he's above average for centers in most other categories. For example, he's sixth among centers in steals per 36 minutes and seventh-best in turnovers per 36. That has been enough to help him post a strong RPM of 2.86.
Capela a cause for optimism in Houston
Few things in Houston are going as planned, but at least Clint Capela has taken the next step. The second-year player -- one of just seven in the league shooting better than 60 percent from the field -- has raised his RPM from minus-1.8 to 2.3 while ranking in the top 15 in rebounding on a per-minute basis. He's posting a high steal rate as well.
In fact, when we compare his production to that of teammate Dwight Howard, Capela is close to the former superman in scoring, rebounds and assists per 36 minutes while holding a sizable lead in steals and turnover rate. Oh, he's also blocking more shots more frequently than the three-time defensive player of the year.
LaVine turning the corner quickly
Last season as a rookie, Minnesota guard Zach LaVine posted some of the most disastrous plus-minus numbers of any player in the league. The Timberwolves were outscored by 15 points per 100 possessions when he played, but only by five when he sat, leading to an RPM of minus-6.5, the third-worst mark in the league.
This season, his plus-minus has vastly improved. He is making shots at a slightly better clip (53 true shooting percentage) while taking more shots and he's turning the ball over less, leading to a much improved RPM of minus-1.9.
Perhaps it's a stretch to say that LaVine is now "good," but in terms of "RPM Wins" (a measure of a player's total contribution to winning), he's now a positive contributor playing about 25 minutes a night. Given how abysmal his rookie season was, that qualifies as a surprise.
Hornets creating buzz in the East: Batum and Williams
When Charlotte forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went down with a season-ending injury in October, few expected the Hornets to go anywhere.
But Nicolas Batum's arrival from Portland has been a godsend a season after he scored just 9.4 PPG and shot 32.4 percent on 3-pointers. With those numbers surging to a career-best 16.1 PPG and 37.5 percent on six 3-point attempts per game, Batum is posting a 2.4 RPM, well above last season's 0.6.
Meanwhile, Marvin Williams actually is the most surprising Hornet. The former No. 2 pick has improved his RPM from 1.0 to 3.1. Like Batum, he embodies Charlotte's major shift in offensive philosophy from being a team that eschewed the 3-point line to one of the league's most prolific bomb squads.
Williams is taking the most 3-pointers of his career and making them at a good clip (36.1 percent) while also rebounding more than ever, doubling his blocks from last season and posting the 10th-best turnover rate in the league.
Behind Batum, Williams, Kemba Walker and other contributors, Charlotte has the league's sixth-best offense so far after finishing 28th in offensive efficiency last season.