We've scanned the league! A Ball? A Spur? A Knick?! These five players are the biggest X factors in basketball this season.
It's time for an annual preseason tradition: our five most intriguing players for the upcoming NBA season. We avoid superstars, rookies and second-year players; everyone is intrigued by them! The goal is to find X factors whose development could swing how their teams perform today, and how those organizations approach key team-building decisions."I don't care about that stuff," Ball tells ESPN."I just want to lock in for the team. We are trying to make the playoffs.
Player and coach insist they are adaptable."Your job is to understand your team and play in a way that gives you the best chance," Clifford tells ESPN. Charlotte played at the league's ninth-fastest pace last season."This team was put together to run," Clifford says. Ball is a voracious grab-and-go rebounder.
The low free throws reflect Ball's reluctant, scattershot paint game. His attempts from the restricted area have decreased every season. He is one of the worst guard finishers in the league -- 54% at the rim, a stunning number given his size. He's also very good, already having mastered dozens of tiny tricks designed to pry open driving lanes that shouldn't be there with defenses sagging so far from him.
He can plow through backpedaling defenders and smaller guards for floaters. The height and power are essential; with defenders laying back, Giddey blew by the defense on only 14.8% of his drives -- 12th-lowest among 277 players who recorded at least 100 drives, per Second Spectrum. Giddey attempts about 3.5 3s per game, so he's not allergic to them. He hit 32.5% last season. Giddey could easily grow into at least an average spot-up shooter. That player is a potential All-Star.
He tripled his pick-and-roll volume -- from about 7 per 100 possessions to nearly 23, per Second Spectrum -- and managed well on a rebuilding team. He defaults to his pet midrange shot, though that's not a major problem; Vassell hit a tidy 47% on long 2s, and that's an important tool for him and Spurs late in the shot clock.
In fairness, the Spurs' spacing last season was cramped. Passing lanes were tight, and closed fast. Vassell did not have a rolling threat anything like what Wembanyama could be."Having a screener like that -- it's gonna change everything," Vassell said. Ayton entered the league as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none type on offense -- in a good way. He could do a little of everything; which skill set would Ayton and the Suns lean into most? The mystery was exciting.ended up answering the question: Ayton would become a rumbling screen-setter, subsuming any ambition of hoisting jumpers at high volume, posting up over and over, or acting as a passing hub from the elbows. For a while, it worked. Ayton bought in. The Suns made the 2021 Finals.
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