Point guard may be the most important and deepest position in the NBA. This free agency, a few quality PGs hit free agency. Kyle Lowry was retained by the Raptors for a reasonable price, while Isaiah Thomas switched teams to join Phoenix, also for a reasonable price. Finally, Eric Bledsoe remains unsigned, his fate uncertain. Let's break down the game of all three of these players.
Kyle Lowry:
Catch and Shoot 3s: 1.244 PAA
Pull up 3s: 0.403 PAA
Passing: 1.083 PAA
Kyle Lowry is great at three point shooting - not only is he lethal at catch and shoot threes but he is pretty good at pull up threes two - adding 0.403 PAA on those. Only three other players (Jose Calderon, Carmelo Anthony, and Gerald Green) are better than him in both of those categories. Add in the fact that is in top 25 in terms of passing, add you've got a lethal playmaking. In fact, he is the only player besides Stephen Curry to add above 1 PAA in both catch and shoot threes and passing. Bringing him back was a no brainer for the Raptors, and they did so at a reasonable price. He was their second best scorer besides DeMar DeRozan, and by far their best playmaker. Overall he contributed 181 PAA, making him the 34th most productive player in the league last season.
Isaiah Thomas:
Drives: 1.131 PAA
Passing: 1.06 PAA
Pull up 2s: 0.871 PAA
Isaiah Thomas is one of the best scorers in the league; in fact he contributed the 9th most PAA by scoring in the league. He was above average in every single category, joining twenty other players. However, he was also above 1 PAA in passing, join an elite club consisting of LeBron, Durant, and Westbrook who are above average in all types of scoring and above 1 PAA in passing. Pretty elite group. Most of his scoring besides drives comes in the form of pull up shots. He is in the 25 in both pull up 2s and pull up 3s, only one of eight players to do so. Sacramento let him go though, figuring they could replace his output with Rudy Gay, Cousins, McLemore and new rookie Nick Staukus. Gay did in fact step up since getting traded to Sacramento, but the rest (including Cousins) weren't so far above average. Furthermore, they will miss his passing and playmaking as no one else on the team was even close to his caliber. As for what he brings to Phoenix, I'll talk about that after I break down Bledsoe.
Eric Bledsoe:
Drives: 1.252 PAA
Rim Defense: 0.799 PAA
Passing: 0.940 PAA
Assuming Phoenix resigns Bledsoe, they will have a fearsome backcourt trio with him, Thomas, and Dragic. They are all top point guards, and bring different things to the table. I'll examine Bledsoe's contributions while comparing him in every category not only to Isaiah Thomas and Goran Dragic. All three contribute basically nothing with close shots, and same for catch and shoot twos. For catch and shoot threes, Bledsoe still contributes basically nothing while Thomas and Dragic contribute 0.57 PAA and 0.73 PAA respectively. At pull up twos, Thomas is clearly the best with 0.87 PAA, while Dragic is mediocre (0.45 PAA) and Bledsoe is only a little about average. At pull up threes, Thomas and Bledsoe both hover around 0.5 PAA while is a bit higher (0.74 PAA). And at drives, both Thomas and Bledsoe are very, very good (ranking in the top ten), while Dragic is little behind them, contributing roughly half of what they do. All three are below average at rebounding, as is to be expected, and while Dragic and Thomas are not that great defenders, Bledsoe, is actually rather good, contributing nearly 0.8 PAA, top among guards. Assumingly facing mostly other guards driving at the rim, he allows only 40% of shots at the rim against him, while Thomas and Dragic both allow slightly over 50%, about league average. Finally, all three guards are good at passing, all being above 0.9 PAA. Overall, Thomas and Dragic were top 25 players last year, while Bledsoe was on pace to actually be above Dragic before injuries derailed him. All three have various strengths like three point shooting (Dragic), creating off the dribble with pull ups (Thomas), and being more physical and capable of guarding the opponent’s best guard (Bledsoe). If Phoenix could bring back all three, that would be a backcourt to be feared.
Catch and Shoot 3s: 1.244 PAA
Pull up 3s: 0.403 PAA
Passing: 1.083 PAA
Kyle Lowry is great at three point shooting - not only is he lethal at catch and shoot threes but he is pretty good at pull up threes two - adding 0.403 PAA on those. Only three other players (Jose Calderon, Carmelo Anthony, and Gerald Green) are better than him in both of those categories. Add in the fact that is in top 25 in terms of passing, add you've got a lethal playmaking. In fact, he is the only player besides Stephen Curry to add above 1 PAA in both catch and shoot threes and passing. Bringing him back was a no brainer for the Raptors, and they did so at a reasonable price. He was their second best scorer besides DeMar DeRozan, and by far their best playmaker. Overall he contributed 181 PAA, making him the 34th most productive player in the league last season.
Isaiah Thomas:
Drives: 1.131 PAA
Passing: 1.06 PAA
Pull up 2s: 0.871 PAA
Isaiah Thomas is one of the best scorers in the league; in fact he contributed the 9th most PAA by scoring in the league. He was above average in every single category, joining twenty other players. However, he was also above 1 PAA in passing, join an elite club consisting of LeBron, Durant, and Westbrook who are above average in all types of scoring and above 1 PAA in passing. Pretty elite group. Most of his scoring besides drives comes in the form of pull up shots. He is in the 25 in both pull up 2s and pull up 3s, only one of eight players to do so. Sacramento let him go though, figuring they could replace his output with Rudy Gay, Cousins, McLemore and new rookie Nick Staukus. Gay did in fact step up since getting traded to Sacramento, but the rest (including Cousins) weren't so far above average. Furthermore, they will miss his passing and playmaking as no one else on the team was even close to his caliber. As for what he brings to Phoenix, I'll talk about that after I break down Bledsoe.
Eric Bledsoe:
Drives: 1.252 PAA
Rim Defense: 0.799 PAA
Passing: 0.940 PAA
Assuming Phoenix resigns Bledsoe, they will have a fearsome backcourt trio with him, Thomas, and Dragic. They are all top point guards, and bring different things to the table. I'll examine Bledsoe's contributions while comparing him in every category not only to Isaiah Thomas and Goran Dragic. All three contribute basically nothing with close shots, and same for catch and shoot twos. For catch and shoot threes, Bledsoe still contributes basically nothing while Thomas and Dragic contribute 0.57 PAA and 0.73 PAA respectively. At pull up twos, Thomas is clearly the best with 0.87 PAA, while Dragic is mediocre (0.45 PAA) and Bledsoe is only a little about average. At pull up threes, Thomas and Bledsoe both hover around 0.5 PAA while is a bit higher (0.74 PAA). And at drives, both Thomas and Bledsoe are very, very good (ranking in the top ten), while Dragic is little behind them, contributing roughly half of what they do. All three are below average at rebounding, as is to be expected, and while Dragic and Thomas are not that great defenders, Bledsoe, is actually rather good, contributing nearly 0.8 PAA, top among guards. Assumingly facing mostly other guards driving at the rim, he allows only 40% of shots at the rim against him, while Thomas and Dragic both allow slightly over 50%, about league average. Finally, all three guards are good at passing, all being above 0.9 PAA. Overall, Thomas and Dragic were top 25 players last year, while Bledsoe was on pace to actually be above Dragic before injuries derailed him. All three have various strengths like three point shooting (Dragic), creating off the dribble with pull ups (Thomas), and being more physical and capable of guarding the opponent’s best guard (Bledsoe). If Phoenix could bring back all three, that would be a backcourt to be feared.