August 6, 2025 • 30 mins
Jason breaks down Nos. 17-15 on his NBA player rankings list including Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam, Golden State Warriors wing Jimmy Butler, and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker. He discusses each of their individual skills as well as Pascal's perfect dynamic with Tyrese Haliburton, how Jimmy has helped rejuvenate Steph Curry, and why Devin Booker shouldn't be knocked down for the up and down Suns era with Kevin Durant.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, olgodon to Hoops tonight. You're at
the ballume heavy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of you
guys are having a great week so far. We are
(00:21):
continuing our player rankings today with number seventeen through number fifteen.
This is a fascinating group. We just finished a group
with three super talented young players, as you guys saw
with Jalen Williams and Palabancaro and Kate Cunningham, all guys
that are under the age of twenty five. This next
group of three are all veterans with good playoff resumes.
(00:43):
These guys are all more or less kind of at
their peaks or maybe on the back end of their careers,
but they have a wealth of experience that makes some
very dependable players, especially in the playoff context. Different kind
of group of guys that we're going to be looking
at today. You guys are the Jill Portget Sarty to
subscribe to Hoops and I YouTube channels. You don't miss
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(01:03):
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and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. In
the last minut least, if you disagree with any of
the rankings on this list, drop it in the mail
bag questions. Just put in there in your mail bag
what you disagree with an elevator pitch like a concise
(01:25):
version of why you disagree, And in our player rankings
mail bags, we will debate where you guys disagree with
me on these rankings. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Number seventeen Pascal Siakam. Last season in review for Pascal,
he played seventy eight games, average twenty point seven rebounds
and three assists one point four stocks per game, as
(01:46):
well made the All Star team for the third time
in his career. Pascal is putting together an underrated NBA resume.
He won Most Improved Player back in twenty nineteen. He's
now made three All Star teams. He made the All
NBA team twice, including second Team All NBA back in
twenty twenty. That was a YEARI also finished top ten
in MVP voting, and last year he was one of
the best players in the playoff field and got within
(02:08):
one win of his second championship as the secondary star
on a team. His efficiency numbers from last year in
the regular season fifty two percent from the field, thirty
nine percent from three, which was a career high for him,
and he actually expanded upon that in the playoffs, which
we'll talk about in a minute, seventy three percent from
the free throw line, fifty seven percent in effective field
(02:28):
goal percentage, and sixty percent in true shooting, which was
the third highest efficiency mark of Pascal's career. I really
want to start with the defensive end here for Pascal, because,
like Pascale, to me, has one of the highest floors
of any player on this list, because he's just a
rangy athlete with a seven to three wing span that
does a ton of damages with his activity in his
high motor. He posted one point nine stocks per game
(02:51):
in the playoffs, which was substantially ahead of where he
was in the regular season. It was the highest mark
he's ever posted in a playoff run. He was top
ten in both total blocks and total steals in the
playoff run. His length in athleticism was what makes him
so profoundly impactful in the setting. He had sixty four
deflections in the playoffs, that was the fifth most out
(03:13):
of any player. He contested one hundred and fifty seven shots,
which was the third most among any player in the
playoff field. He was near the top and loose balls
recovered as well. He's just a defensive Swiss Army knife.
He even did quality on ball defensive work at various
points in the playoff run, including some really nice reps
against Jalen Williams in the NBA Finals. This is all
(03:35):
uniquely valuable to an Indiana Pacers team, who, as we
all know, thrives on transition pushes off of missus and turnovers.
They love to get up and down the floor. They
do it the same thing on makes, but it's obviously
easier off of missus and off of turnovers, and Pascal
was one of the guys that was fueling the chaos
that led to those transition opportunities. Before we get to
(03:57):
anything having to do with Pascal's more refined off defensive traits,
He's just an absolute monster on the margins. We covered
all the defensive activity just a second ago. It's also
his rebounding. He had three games in the NBA Finals
where he grabbed four or more offensive rebounds. It's his
work as a floor runner in transition. How many times
did you guys see Pascal Siakam leak out in this
(04:18):
playoff run and get a layup or a dunkin transition?
He was literally the best transition scorer in the entire
NBA playoff field in made field goals. He made forty
eight shots in transition through four playoff rounds. That's more
than two makes per game. They played twenty three games,
forty eight makes in transition. He's so gifted running the floor.
(04:40):
He's also hyper efficient in transition. There were fifteen players
in the NBA last year in the playoff field that
logged at least fifty transition possessions. His one point three
to eight points per possession was far and away the best.
Anthony Edwards was second place on that list, and he
was below one point three, So a big gap between
Siakam in transition efficiency compared to the rest of the NBA.
(05:04):
Siakam's combination of athletic tools, motor and natural basketball instincts
make him one of the more reliable playoff players in
the league. Those are all things you can count on
regardless of what variance might occur for players, shots going
in or not going in, getting foul calls, not getting
foul calls. Pascal's seven to three wing span, high motor,
(05:28):
high defensive IQ, and activity overall athleticism that just brings
an extremely high floor, a variance proof version of Pascal
that you can count on to be there every single night.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And it's the addition of the.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
More refined set of offensive skills that he showed this
year that vaulted Siakam all the way up to this
point in the list. This is by far the highest
that Siakam has ever been on this list since I
started doing it. There's a reason why Pascal was a
career twenty seven percent three point shooter in the playoffs
before this year. Even two years ago when they made
(06:03):
it to the Eastern Conference Finals, he was a sub
thirty percent three point shooter. This year, he shot a
career high in the regular season at thirty nine percent,
and he followed it up with a forty three percent
three point shooting playoff run. On over eighty attempts. He
was a dead eye shooter for them when you left
him open. He was forty eight percent on unguarded catch
(06:26):
and shoot jump shots. In the playoffs, he was literally
hitting nearly half of his open threes. That is a
big ceiling razor for Pascal with this team. He was
also a very efficient one on one player for the Pacers.
In the regular season, he was off the charts good.
He ran five hundred and thirty seven post ups in ISOs,
including passes, and got six hundred and nineteen points out
(06:49):
of them. That's one point one five points per possession,
which is like super super good. He shot forty six
percent on pull up jump shots, fifty one percent on
Hook's reliable short range shot, and anybody who's watched Pascal
long enough knows he's one of the most gifted, like
tough contested layup makers that I've ever seen. He was
(07:11):
sixty six percent on layups in the regular season last year.
That's insanely good. I think he was up to sixty
seven percent in the postseason. He just kind of has
this like natural ability to slip through cracks, like these
tiny little windows of space where help defenders are collapsing,
and he just somehow like gets through many times falling
down and just somehow extends that long ass wingspan out
(07:32):
there and just feeds it softly off the glass. He's
a remarkably gifted layup maker in the NBA, So all
of that translates super well to the postseason. Yeah, one
point zero seven points per possession, one hundred and forty
one to one on one, so post ups and ISOs
in the postseason. Again, that's a little bit below where
he was in the regular season, but that's still very good.
(07:53):
He shot sixty seven percent on layups and once again
had like a dozen more of the most insane looking, slashing, falling,
slender man layups that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You'll ever see.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
He was already a super gifted two way player with
a ton of utility, but he added this other level
of refined offensive skill, especially from the three point line,
and then his work as a runner in transition fits
so wonderfully in Indiana's offense that he has vaulted up
(08:25):
to an entire different tier overall as an offensive player.
You know, he kind of reminds me of Clay Thompson.
And by the way, I'm not meaning this as like
a player archetype, because obviously.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
They're very, very different types of players.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
But when I look back on this era of basketball,
Pascalzimi falls into a tier like Clay in the sense
that he doesn't He obviously doesn't have the on ball
chops to be like the best player on a championship team.
He's not a guy that kind of has the star
power that some of the top guys in the league have.
Neither did Clay, but he was tailor made the system
(09:00):
he plays in. I think Pascal is literally a perfect
fit in Indiana, just like Clay was in Golden State.
They both have a ton of offensive utility as a
number two within that system. Again, very different types of players,
but within their respective systems immensely valuable number twos and
then a legitimately awesome defensive player that carried a heavy
(09:21):
load on that end of the floor. You guys, remember
Klay Thompson used to pick up Kyrie Irving for entire
NBA Finals runs. He was one of their best perimeter defenders.
So kind of what I mean in comparing him to Clay,
He's like a player that never is going to make
it super high on player rankings list, but a guy
that I'll remember very fondly from his era, like a
guy that I have a ton of respect for, just
(09:42):
as a winner, like I think Klay Thompson is one
of the best winners of his era. I think Pascal
Siakam is one of the best winners of this era.
Pascal is a winner. He makes your team better and
he falls in at number seventeen on this year's list,
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Last year in review In review for Jimmy fifty five
total games played, twenty five with Miami, thirty with Golden State.
He averaged eighteen points, five rebounds, and five assists per game,
one point seven stocks, one point four steals per game,
which is a really high mark in the NBA. His
efficiency numbers shot fifty percent from the field, actually the
second highest mark of his career, fueled by Jimmy being
(12:01):
fifty five percent on twos, which was the second highest
mark of his career. He was just thirty one percent
from three, which was a big drop from the previous
year when he went over forty percent for the first
time in his NBA career, but he attempted just one
point nine to threes per game, which was the fourth
lowest mark of his career. He did tick that up
to closer to two and a half. When he was
with Golden State, he was eighty four percent from the
(12:24):
line on seven attempts per game. Consistently finding ways to
get to the foul line was like the biggest thing
that I think has allowed him to extend this phase
of his career when he's lost a little bit of
his athletic pop. He's very good at taking these kind
of bizarre driving angles that veer into the defender's path
that essentially force defenders to fall him. I talk about
(12:46):
this a lot. Foul grifting is about understanding how the
game is officiating in finding ways to force refs to
blow the whistle. It's gamesmanship. Jimmy's really good at it,
and with the Warriors, we saw it consistently serve as
a means with both to generate scoring in the half court,
but also as a way for them to set up
their defense. Jimmy draws a foul, you go shoot a
(13:07):
free throw, gets set up to play defense, and get
back out in transition going the other way. It was
a huge boost to that Golden State offense. Jimmy was
a mediocre pick and roll player in the Golden State system,
but a very good one on one player. He generated
zero point nine to two points per pick and roll
one hundred and sixty five reps. That's way below average.
(13:27):
He just struggled to make shots. He went over on
pull up threes. He didn't make a single pull up
three the entire season with Golden State, shot just thirty
eight percent from two out of pick and rolls. That
was a big part of why his efficiency wasn't great there.
But again, he was a monster on ISOs and post
ups for Golden State one point one point nine points
per possession including passes on two hundred and six attempts.
We were just talking about Siakam being really really good
(13:50):
on one point one point five. Jimmy another level even
above that shot super well. He shot forty seven percent
on his own shot attempts in one on one situations
got to the foul line. It's son, this is I
was like legitimately blown away when I saw this stat today.
Jimmy got fouled more than one third of the time
(14:12):
when he took a shot in ISO or post up situations.
Think about how I'm saying that is Jimmy personally took
a shot in ISO or in the post one hundred
and three times with Golden State in the regular season.
He ended up shooting a free throw thirty six of
those one hundred and three times. It's unbelievable. That's a
(14:34):
foul rate over thirty five percent. So as a result,
his score percentage. Remember I used to talk about this
concept with Yoki. Score percentage is just like if I
throw you the ball down there, how likely are you
to score on that possession at all? Whether it's one point,
two point three point whatever it is. Generate a point
for your teammates. What is the score percentage on ISOs
and post ups. Jimmy was over fifty percent on both,
(14:57):
So it actually became one of the safest plays for
Olden State to call. Let Jimmy go one on one
and he's either gonna score or he's gonna draw foul,
and he's gonna generate points for you more than half
the time. And this doesn't even get into the fact
those are big picture regular season metrics. This doesn't even
get into the fact that Jimmy was consistently able to
(15:18):
scale up his offense to the superstar level when the
situation called for it while Steph Curry was on the team.
It got a little tricky when Steph went down with
his injury, but in the last three games of the
regular season when they were struggling for playoff position, averaged
twenty seven points per game. He had twenty three assists
with just two turnovers. He logged two stocks per game
(15:39):
in those games, got to the foul line in those
final three regular season games.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
This is crazy.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Thirty seven times in three games. He had three twenty
five plus point games in the Rocket series, including in
some pivotal moments like Game four where the series was
hanging in the balance. Jimmy had his lows, and he
had his struggles when Steph Curry went down with injury.
But I think the Jimmy Butler experiment with Steph Curry
(16:05):
has generally been a resounding success. His defensive playmaking alongside
Draymond was profoundly impactful their defense. The Warrior's defense was
five points better per one hundred possessions with Jimmy on
the floor versus off Like we talked about in the
j dub video the other day, He's not the perimeter
weapon that you can deploy on the other team's best
player for an entire series like the way he was
(16:27):
in the past. But he's still a super valuable like
help side guy who like anticipates actions and blows up plays.
I kind of you him as a defensive playmaker at
this point in his career, and on offense, I thought
he was the perfect counter to balance Steph. I'd love
to see them get some more reliable scoring from the
perimeter at the guard spot, but overall is a secondary star.
(16:47):
I think he was a great fit with Steph. Brought
strong bench play, reliable second side creation, he had the
ability to scale up his scoring in big moments when
his team needed too. Like we talked about, I thought
he was an excellent active playmaker in the Warriors offense.
When he would catch the ball in the middle of
the floor with an advantage off of something Steph was doing,
or running off of an off ball action, he would
(17:08):
be able to quickly process there and make the right
read and keep the engine flowing. And most importantly, this
is arguably the most important thing out of all of it.
Getting Jimmy Butler in the door reinvigorated Steph Curry. Steph
was clearly frustrated with the lack of a supporting star
on the roster over the previous years before the deal
(17:28):
was made, and it affect his play. Before Jimmy ever
played a game with the Warriors, they were below five hundred.
They were twenty five and twenty six. They were eighteenth
in offense, tenth in defense, sixteenth in net rating. Steph
was averaging below twenty three points per game, below forty
percent from three, and only forty three percent from the field.
(17:52):
After Jimmy Butler suited up, they went twenty three to eight.
The rest of the way, they were eighth in offense.
So they jumped up from eighteenth all the way to
eighth in offense, from tenth all the way to first,
and defense literally jumped up ten spots in both categories
third and net rating. And Steph Curry went from that
(18:12):
twenty three points per game on below forty percent from
three to twenty seven points per game on forty one
percent from three and forty seven percent from the field.
He reinvigorated. Steph Curry got him reinvested in the potential
to win a championship. Now, Jimmy's obviously in a different
phase of his career. Now, he's not the twenty three
(18:33):
point per game guy that was the best player on
multiple finals teams. He's been in the top ten on
this list before. He's more reliant on foul grifting than
he used to be, and just overall his savvy floor
game to carry him on offense more than supreme athletic gifts.
He's not going to go out there and give you
seventy regular season games. I mean, hell, he didn't do
that when he was younger either. He's done it twice
(18:54):
in his entire career. But he is still one of
the best playoff performers in the NBA. Because of his
versatility on both ends of the floor and his wealth
of experience, he immediately was able to step into Golden
State and fill several specific holes in that roster that
completely changed the dynamic of that basketball team, turning them
(19:17):
from a team that was destined for another year outside
of the playoffs looking in to a legit second tier
contender with a puncher's chance to win the title. And
who knows what would have happened if Steph Curry didn't
get hurt. Now, this is the lowest that I've had
Jimmy Butler on this list since I started doing it,
but he still comes in at number sixteen. This year,
(19:39):
Number fifteen Devin Booker. I think it's going to break
people's brains that I have Devin this high. Why because
how could two of the top fifteen players in the
NBA play for the Suns and they missed the playoffs.
I used to get the same argument with the Lakers
all the time, But this is a classic example of
how NBA basketball is way more complicated than it looks,
(20:00):
and roster balance is vitally important to succeeding in the NBA.
We've talked about it. The Suns had issues that extended
far beyond the star power. The issue was, is they
indexed more towards star power going after Bradley Beal instead
of indexing more towards supporting talent, which is what they
needed when they already had Devin Booker and Kevin Durant
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It was a poor.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Decision, a poor direction to take the franchise. First of all,
it's worth mentioning when Kevin Durant Devin Booker both played
on the same night for the Suns, they were thirty
two and twenty four. That's a forty seven win pace,
which would have put them right in that like seven
to eight range in the standings even with all of
the massive roster shortcomings that they had, and they had
(20:42):
a positive net rating with the two of them shared
the floor together. So it was a combination of the
poor roster construction that we were talking about, the complete
lack of high motor athletes and center play and all
the things that they needed to be a functional basketball team,
and the fact that they were just dealing with a
bunch of bang up injuries that kept their best players
from being on the floor together. So yes, the Phoenix
(21:04):
Suns missed the playoffs, and I still think Devin and
Kevin are two of the very best basketball players.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
In the world.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Let's look at Devin Bookers last season in review. Devin
played in seventy five games. He averaged twenty six points,
four rebounds, and seven assists, just one point one stocks.
He was one of three players in the entire NBA
last year to play at least sixty games and to
average at least twenty five points, four rebounds, and seven assists.
It was him, Kid Cunningham and Nicole Jokic were the
(21:36):
only guys that met that criteria. His efficiency, he was
forty six percent from the field. That was his lowest
mark since twenty eighteen. Thirty three percent from three the
second lowest mark of his career if you dig into
the numbers, and we're going to do it more in
more detail here in a minute. But Devin talked about
(21:57):
this in his postseason press conference. But he just didn't
foot the ball well, particularly from the three point line,
and that was the big thing that kind of prevented
him from reaching the same efficiency marks that he reached
at earlier points in his career. But he was thirty
three percent from three, that was the second lowest mark
of his career, eighty nine percent from the line, fifty
three percent in effective field goal percentage, and still because
(22:18):
he's got a super intelligent approach to offense with a
high like a quality shot profile, and with the ability
to take mid range shots and actually make more than
half of them, he still posted, even on a tough
shooting season, a true shooting percentage of fifty nine percent,
which is really good playtype data. Devin Booker, still, even
(22:41):
with poor shooting, was one of the best most efficient
shot creators in the NBA last year. I think that
Devin is one of the most underrated passers in the league.
He was fifteenth in assists per game last year. I'm
not sure people realize the type of high level playmaker
that Devin Booker has become over the years. I don't
think he's in that truly special tier of playmakers at
(23:04):
the top of the league where you have guys like
obviously Jokic and Luca and Trey Young and James Harden
and Lebron James. There's a group of guys Tyr's Halliburton.
There's a group of guys that has like that kind
of like organic, natural excellent passing ability that that is
something you're born with, and Devin Booker was not born
with that per se.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
He's more of a natural scorer.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
But there's a handful of guys over the years in
the NBA, at least in my time watching, that were
natural scorers, but who became really high level passers, at
least relative.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
To their peers over the course of their careers. A
couple of examples.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
DeMar de Rosen, especially in the years in San Antonio,
became a really high level passer for a guy who
was a score first guy. Brandon Ingram He's a guy that,
when he's healthy and in rhythm, is one of the
better passing forwards in the league. Jalen Brunson is a
guy who's become a very good passer despite being more
of a score first guy.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
In his career.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Damian Lillard became a higher level passer Jannison Tenna Kumpo
in the last year or so. I think Devin Booker
is in that tier as well. A guys who were,
like I'd called him, like second tier passers, like really
good passers that obviously aren't the organic natural like like
from birth. They just just saw the floor differently than
everyone else did.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Type of guy.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So all of that combines to make what I believe
Devin Booker to be a legit second tier offensive engine
in this league. By that, I mean he's not good
enough to take mediocre players and make them an elite offense.
But if you put him on a legit championship caliber roster,
I absolutely think Devin Booker can be the best offensive
player on your team, which, by the way, he nearly
(24:36):
did in twenty twenty one when he came two wins
away from getting the job done. Despite the poor shooting,
Devin's playtype data was still excellent last year. Yeah, one
point zero four points per pick and roll including passes
on over twelve hundred reps. That's right there with where
Kay Cunningham was, with where James Harden was, and again
it could have been better. It was his pull up
jumper that just wasn't there. Devin Booker last year shot
(24:59):
twenty nine p on pull up threes in pick and roll.
That really hurt his efficiency. We know Devin can hit
those shots at a higher clip. He was off the
charts on ISOs and post ups still because a lot
of that mid range scoring. Right, he was the very
best ISO player in the entire league. Last year, Devin Booker.
(25:19):
Among the twenty three players to log at least two
hundred and fifty ISOs, Devin Booker came in at number
one with one point twenty seven points per possession including passes.
He shot fifty four percent on twos out of ISO.
He had a high free throw rate. He got to
the free throw line fourteen percent of the time on
ISOs and he passed well out of them. Good post
(25:40):
up player two lower volume seventy four post ups generated
eighty seven points about once a game. Right got one
point one to eight points per possession. That's very very good,
thirty three percent free throw rate, kind of Jimmy Butler esque.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
More pump fake base.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
He used a lot of pump fakes, but Devin Booker
was a very very high free throw rate guy. On
post ed he gave the ball to Devin on the
block and he was gonna get to the foul in
half the time. Really, he just needs to get that
pull up three back. If you look at all his data,
it's pretty good. He shot fifty four percent on pull
up twos that's excellent. He shot forty six percent on
unguarded catch and shoot threes, which is excellent. He shot
(26:18):
sixty percent at the rim, which is excellent for a
guard like him. Like for guards, anything over sixty percent
is great. He just couldn't get his guarded catch and
shoots so like contested catch and shoots and his pull
up threes, those are the two ones that just weren't
going for him. If he can get those things back
this summer, his game should get back to where it was.
And by the way, like I expect that to be
(26:38):
the case for Devin, I expect him to shoot the
ball better this year. He also turned himself over the
years into a very dependable defensive player. He doesn't have
the tools physically to be like a downright disruptive defender,
but he competes hard and he has good attention to detail,
both on the ball and off the ball. He's very competitive.
(27:00):
He's got that fire in that willingness to do the work,
especially in big moments. I think he's a legit point
of attack option preferably is your second best. You don't
want your best offensive player to be the primary point
of attack guy. But if he's guarded the second best
perimeter player. That's a really, really good role for him defensively,
and he actually filled the primary point of attack role
(27:21):
for Team USA and their Gold Metal run if you
guys remember correctly, and like when we zoom in on
the playoffs, this guy is flat out one of the
very best playoff scorers of our generation. In forty seven
career playoff games, Devin Booker is averaging twenty eight points
per game on sixty percent through shooting. That's insane, and
(27:42):
he's super dependable, even in the last two disappointing playoff
runs where they got sent home in the first and
second rounds by Denver and Minnesota. In those playoff runs,
he was at thirty two points per game on sixty
eight percent true shooting sixty eight percent. I think Devon's
(28:02):
become one of the more underrated players in the league,
mainly just because of that flawed roster construct in Phoenix
and people's inability to see through that. I think if
Devin gets picked up at some point elsewhere where he
can be the second best player again on a team
while having a quality group of role players, I think
he's going to hoist the trophy. I know It seems
(28:24):
hopeless right now because of the leadership in Phoenix, but
I still think Devon has a very good chance to
win a champion, to win a championship in his career.
He's like a super easy plug and play guy too,
Like you could talk him into any spot anywhere in.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
The league and he would fit beautifully.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
He can play off the ball, he can drive closeouts,
he can run action and pick a role. He can
play one on one. He's a versatile defender that can
play on and off the ball. He's just a very good,
very well rounded basketball player. I genuinely believe he's gonna
put somebody over the top someday. I have a feeling
that twenty years from now I'm looking back and talking
about this era, I'll be talking about Devin Booker as
an NBA champion. He's a super efficient, efficient, high volume
(29:07):
score He's one of the top fifteen passers in the NBA.
He's a solid point of attack defender, a freakish competitor,
and one of the most reliably great playoff scorers in
our era. And so he will lead off the top
fifteen for US this year. In this year's rankings at
number fifteen, all right, guys, It's all I have for
today is always sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us
(29:28):
and supporting the show. We will be back, I believe,
on Friday with our next mail bag. Remember this mailbag
is one that I pre recorded because I'm in Alaska.
So if you guys disagree with any of our rankings
on this video, drop him in the comments and we'll
get to it next Friday when I get back from Alaska.
In our next player rankings mail bag, we will have
on Monday fourteen and thirteen. On Tuesday twelve and eleven,
(29:49):
we'll have that mail bag, and then erxers me on
Wednesday twelve and eleven. Then we'll have that first mail
bag that I'm talking about, and then we'll go back
to the top ten and we're taking each player on
that list one out of time from that point forward
through the rest.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Of the postseason.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I will see you guys on Friday, m
The volume. All right, olgodon to Hoops tonight. You're at
the ballume heavy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of you
guys are having a great week so far. We are
(00:21):
continuing our player rankings today with number seventeen through number fifteen.
This is a fascinating group. We just finished a group
with three super talented young players, as you guys saw
with Jalen Williams and Palabancaro and Kate Cunningham, all guys
that are under the age of twenty five. This next
group of three are all veterans with good playoff resumes.
(00:43):
These guys are all more or less kind of at
their peaks or maybe on the back end of their careers,
but they have a wealth of experience that makes some
very dependable players, especially in the playoff context. Different kind
of group of guys that we're going to be looking
at today. You guys are the Jill Portget Sarty to
subscribe to Hoops and I YouTube channels. You don't miss
any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and
underscore jsnlts. You guys, don't miss show announcements. Don't forget
(01:03):
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hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a
rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great
work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. In
the last minut least, if you disagree with any of
the rankings on this list, drop it in the mail
bag questions. Just put in there in your mail bag
what you disagree with an elevator pitch like a concise
(01:25):
version of why you disagree, And in our player rankings
mail bags, we will debate where you guys disagree with
me on these rankings. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Number seventeen Pascal Siakam. Last season in review for Pascal,
he played seventy eight games, average twenty point seven rebounds
and three assists one point four stocks per game, as
(01:46):
well made the All Star team for the third time
in his career. Pascal is putting together an underrated NBA resume.
He won Most Improved Player back in twenty nineteen. He's
now made three All Star teams. He made the All
NBA team twice, including second Team All NBA back in
twenty twenty. That was a YEARI also finished top ten
in MVP voting, and last year he was one of
the best players in the playoff field and got within
(02:08):
one win of his second championship as the secondary star
on a team. His efficiency numbers from last year in
the regular season fifty two percent from the field, thirty
nine percent from three, which was a career high for him,
and he actually expanded upon that in the playoffs, which
we'll talk about in a minute, seventy three percent from
the free throw line, fifty seven percent in effective field
(02:28):
goal percentage, and sixty percent in true shooting, which was
the third highest efficiency mark of Pascal's career. I really
want to start with the defensive end here for Pascal, because,
like Pascale, to me, has one of the highest floors
of any player on this list, because he's just a
rangy athlete with a seven to three wing span that
does a ton of damages with his activity in his
high motor. He posted one point nine stocks per game
(02:51):
in the playoffs, which was substantially ahead of where he
was in the regular season. It was the highest mark
he's ever posted in a playoff run. He was top
ten in both total blocks and total steals in the
playoff run. His length in athleticism was what makes him
so profoundly impactful in the setting. He had sixty four
deflections in the playoffs, that was the fifth most out
(03:13):
of any player. He contested one hundred and fifty seven shots,
which was the third most among any player in the
playoff field. He was near the top and loose balls
recovered as well. He's just a defensive Swiss Army knife.
He even did quality on ball defensive work at various
points in the playoff run, including some really nice reps
against Jalen Williams in the NBA Finals. This is all
(03:35):
uniquely valuable to an Indiana Pacers team, who, as we
all know, thrives on transition pushes off of missus and turnovers.
They love to get up and down the floor. They
do it the same thing on makes, but it's obviously
easier off of missus and off of turnovers, and Pascal
was one of the guys that was fueling the chaos
that led to those transition opportunities. Before we get to
(03:57):
anything having to do with Pascal's more refined off defensive traits,
He's just an absolute monster on the margins. We covered
all the defensive activity just a second ago. It's also
his rebounding. He had three games in the NBA Finals
where he grabbed four or more offensive rebounds. It's his
work as a floor runner in transition. How many times
did you guys see Pascal Siakam leak out in this
(04:18):
playoff run and get a layup or a dunkin transition?
He was literally the best transition scorer in the entire
NBA playoff field in made field goals. He made forty
eight shots in transition through four playoff rounds. That's more
than two makes per game. They played twenty three games,
forty eight makes in transition. He's so gifted running the floor.
(04:40):
He's also hyper efficient in transition. There were fifteen players
in the NBA last year in the playoff field that
logged at least fifty transition possessions. His one point three
to eight points per possession was far and away the best.
Anthony Edwards was second place on that list, and he
was below one point three, So a big gap between
Siakam in transition efficiency compared to the rest of the NBA.
(05:04):
Siakam's combination of athletic tools, motor and natural basketball instincts
make him one of the more reliable playoff players in
the league. Those are all things you can count on
regardless of what variance might occur for players, shots going
in or not going in, getting foul calls, not getting
foul calls. Pascal's seven to three wing span, high motor,
(05:28):
high defensive IQ, and activity overall athleticism that just brings
an extremely high floor, a variance proof version of Pascal
that you can count on to be there every single night.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
And it's the addition of the.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
More refined set of offensive skills that he showed this
year that vaulted Siakam all the way up to this
point in the list. This is by far the highest
that Siakam has ever been on this list since I
started doing it. There's a reason why Pascal was a
career twenty seven percent three point shooter in the playoffs
before this year. Even two years ago when they made
(06:03):
it to the Eastern Conference Finals, he was a sub
thirty percent three point shooter. This year, he shot a
career high in the regular season at thirty nine percent,
and he followed it up with a forty three percent
three point shooting playoff run. On over eighty attempts. He
was a dead eye shooter for them when you left
him open. He was forty eight percent on unguarded catch
(06:26):
and shoot jump shots. In the playoffs, he was literally
hitting nearly half of his open threes. That is a
big ceiling razor for Pascal with this team. He was
also a very efficient one on one player for the Pacers.
In the regular season, he was off the charts good.
He ran five hundred and thirty seven post ups in ISOs,
including passes, and got six hundred and nineteen points out
(06:49):
of them. That's one point one five points per possession,
which is like super super good. He shot forty six
percent on pull up jump shots, fifty one percent on
Hook's reliable short range shot, and anybody who's watched Pascal
long enough knows he's one of the most gifted, like
tough contested layup makers that I've ever seen. He was
(07:11):
sixty six percent on layups in the regular season last year.
That's insanely good. I think he was up to sixty
seven percent in the postseason. He just kind of has
this like natural ability to slip through cracks, like these
tiny little windows of space where help defenders are collapsing,
and he just somehow like gets through many times falling
down and just somehow extends that long ass wingspan out
(07:32):
there and just feeds it softly off the glass. He's
a remarkably gifted layup maker in the NBA, So all
of that translates super well to the postseason. Yeah, one
point zero seven points per possession, one hundred and forty
one to one on one, so post ups and ISOs
in the postseason. Again, that's a little bit below where
he was in the regular season, but that's still very good.
(07:53):
He shot sixty seven percent on layups and once again
had like a dozen more of the most insane looking, slashing, falling,
slender man layups that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You'll ever see.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
He was already a super gifted two way player with
a ton of utility, but he added this other level
of refined offensive skill, especially from the three point line,
and then his work as a runner in transition fits
so wonderfully in Indiana's offense that he has vaulted up
(08:25):
to an entire different tier overall as an offensive player.
You know, he kind of reminds me of Clay Thompson.
And by the way, I'm not meaning this as like
a player archetype, because obviously.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
They're very, very different types of players.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
But when I look back on this era of basketball,
Pascalzimi falls into a tier like Clay in the sense
that he doesn't He obviously doesn't have the on ball
chops to be like the best player on a championship team.
He's not a guy that kind of has the star
power that some of the top guys in the league have.
Neither did Clay, but he was tailor made the system
(09:00):
he plays in. I think Pascal is literally a perfect
fit in Indiana, just like Clay was in Golden State.
They both have a ton of offensive utility as a
number two within that system. Again, very different types of players,
but within their respective systems immensely valuable number twos and
then a legitimately awesome defensive player that carried a heavy
(09:21):
load on that end of the floor. You guys, remember
Klay Thompson used to pick up Kyrie Irving for entire
NBA Finals runs. He was one of their best perimeter defenders.
So kind of what I mean in comparing him to Clay,
He's like a player that never is going to make
it super high on player rankings list, but a guy
that I'll remember very fondly from his era, like a
guy that I have a ton of respect for, just
(09:42):
as a winner, like I think Klay Thompson is one
of the best winners of his era. I think Pascal
Siakam is one of the best winners of this era.
Pascal is a winner. He makes your team better and
he falls in at number seventeen on this year's list,
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Last year in review In review for Jimmy fifty five
total games played, twenty five with Miami, thirty with Golden State.
He averaged eighteen points, five rebounds, and five assists per game,
one point seven stocks, one point four steals per game,
which is a really high mark in the NBA. His
efficiency numbers shot fifty percent from the field, actually the
second highest mark of his career, fueled by Jimmy being
(12:01):
fifty five percent on twos, which was the second highest
mark of his career. He was just thirty one percent
from three, which was a big drop from the previous
year when he went over forty percent for the first
time in his NBA career, but he attempted just one
point nine to threes per game, which was the fourth
lowest mark of his career. He did tick that up
to closer to two and a half. When he was
with Golden State, he was eighty four percent from the
(12:24):
line on seven attempts per game. Consistently finding ways to
get to the foul line was like the biggest thing
that I think has allowed him to extend this phase
of his career when he's lost a little bit of
his athletic pop. He's very good at taking these kind
of bizarre driving angles that veer into the defender's path
that essentially force defenders to fall him. I talk about
(12:46):
this a lot. Foul grifting is about understanding how the
game is officiating in finding ways to force refs to
blow the whistle. It's gamesmanship. Jimmy's really good at it,
and with the Warriors, we saw it consistently serve as
a means with both to generate scoring in the half court,
but also as a way for them to set up
their defense. Jimmy draws a foul, you go shoot a
(13:07):
free throw, gets set up to play defense, and get
back out in transition going the other way. It was
a huge boost to that Golden State offense. Jimmy was
a mediocre pick and roll player in the Golden State system,
but a very good one on one player. He generated
zero point nine to two points per pick and roll
one hundred and sixty five reps. That's way below average.
(13:27):
He just struggled to make shots. He went over on
pull up threes. He didn't make a single pull up
three the entire season with Golden State, shot just thirty
eight percent from two out of pick and rolls. That
was a big part of why his efficiency wasn't great there.
But again, he was a monster on ISOs and post
ups for Golden State one point one point nine points
per possession including passes on two hundred and six attempts.
We were just talking about Siakam being really really good
(13:50):
on one point one point five. Jimmy another level even
above that shot super well. He shot forty seven percent
on his own shot attempts in one on one situations
got to the foul line. It's son, this is I
was like legitimately blown away when I saw this stat today.
Jimmy got fouled more than one third of the time
(14:12):
when he took a shot in ISO or post up situations.
Think about how I'm saying that is Jimmy personally took
a shot in ISO or in the post one hundred
and three times with Golden State in the regular season.
He ended up shooting a free throw thirty six of
those one hundred and three times. It's unbelievable. That's a
(14:34):
foul rate over thirty five percent. So as a result,
his score percentage. Remember I used to talk about this
concept with Yoki. Score percentage is just like if I
throw you the ball down there, how likely are you
to score on that possession at all? Whether it's one point,
two point three point whatever it is. Generate a point
for your teammates. What is the score percentage on ISOs
and post ups. Jimmy was over fifty percent on both,
(14:57):
So it actually became one of the safest plays for
Olden State to call. Let Jimmy go one on one
and he's either gonna score or he's gonna draw foul,
and he's gonna generate points for you more than half
the time. And this doesn't even get into the fact
those are big picture regular season metrics. This doesn't even
get into the fact that Jimmy was consistently able to
(15:18):
scale up his offense to the superstar level when the
situation called for it while Steph Curry was on the team.
It got a little tricky when Steph went down with
his injury, but in the last three games of the
regular season when they were struggling for playoff position, averaged
twenty seven points per game. He had twenty three assists
with just two turnovers. He logged two stocks per game
(15:39):
in those games, got to the foul line in those
final three regular season games.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
This is crazy.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Thirty seven times in three games. He had three twenty
five plus point games in the Rocket series, including in
some pivotal moments like Game four where the series was
hanging in the balance. Jimmy had his lows, and he
had his struggles when Steph Curry went down with injury.
But I think the Jimmy Butler experiment with Steph Curry
(16:05):
has generally been a resounding success. His defensive playmaking alongside
Draymond was profoundly impactful their defense. The Warrior's defense was
five points better per one hundred possessions with Jimmy on
the floor versus off Like we talked about in the
j dub video the other day, He's not the perimeter
weapon that you can deploy on the other team's best
player for an entire series like the way he was
(16:27):
in the past. But he's still a super valuable like
help side guy who like anticipates actions and blows up plays.
I kind of you him as a defensive playmaker at
this point in his career, and on offense, I thought
he was the perfect counter to balance Steph. I'd love
to see them get some more reliable scoring from the
perimeter at the guard spot, but overall is a secondary star.
(16:47):
I think he was a great fit with Steph. Brought
strong bench play, reliable second side creation, he had the
ability to scale up his scoring in big moments when
his team needed too. Like we talked about, I thought
he was an excellent active playmaker in the Warriors offense.
When he would catch the ball in the middle of
the floor with an advantage off of something Steph was doing,
or running off of an off ball action, he would
(17:08):
be able to quickly process there and make the right
read and keep the engine flowing. And most importantly, this
is arguably the most important thing out of all of it.
Getting Jimmy Butler in the door reinvigorated Steph Curry. Steph
was clearly frustrated with the lack of a supporting star
on the roster over the previous years before the deal
(17:28):
was made, and it affect his play. Before Jimmy ever
played a game with the Warriors, they were below five hundred.
They were twenty five and twenty six. They were eighteenth
in offense, tenth in defense, sixteenth in net rating. Steph
was averaging below twenty three points per game, below forty
percent from three, and only forty three percent from the field.
(17:52):
After Jimmy Butler suited up, they went twenty three to eight.
The rest of the way, they were eighth in offense.
So they jumped up from eighteenth all the way to
eighth in offense, from tenth all the way to first,
and defense literally jumped up ten spots in both categories
third and net rating. And Steph Curry went from that
(18:12):
twenty three points per game on below forty percent from
three to twenty seven points per game on forty one
percent from three and forty seven percent from the field.
He reinvigorated. Steph Curry got him reinvested in the potential
to win a championship. Now, Jimmy's obviously in a different
phase of his career. Now, he's not the twenty three
(18:33):
point per game guy that was the best player on
multiple finals teams. He's been in the top ten on
this list before. He's more reliant on foul grifting than
he used to be, and just overall his savvy floor
game to carry him on offense more than supreme athletic gifts.
He's not going to go out there and give you
seventy regular season games. I mean, hell, he didn't do
that when he was younger either. He's done it twice
(18:54):
in his entire career. But he is still one of
the best playoff performers in the NBA. Because of his
versatility on both ends of the floor and his wealth
of experience, he immediately was able to step into Golden
State and fill several specific holes in that roster that
completely changed the dynamic of that basketball team, turning them
(19:17):
from a team that was destined for another year outside
of the playoffs looking in to a legit second tier
contender with a puncher's chance to win the title. And
who knows what would have happened if Steph Curry didn't
get hurt. Now, this is the lowest that I've had
Jimmy Butler on this list since I started doing it,
but he still comes in at number sixteen. This year,
(19:39):
Number fifteen Devin Booker. I think it's going to break
people's brains that I have Devin this high. Why because
how could two of the top fifteen players in the
NBA play for the Suns and they missed the playoffs.
I used to get the same argument with the Lakers
all the time, But this is a classic example of
how NBA basketball is way more complicated than it looks,
(20:00):
and roster balance is vitally important to succeeding in the NBA.
We've talked about it. The Suns had issues that extended
far beyond the star power. The issue was, is they
indexed more towards star power going after Bradley Beal instead
of indexing more towards supporting talent, which is what they
needed when they already had Devin Booker and Kevin Durant
on the roster.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It was a poor.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
Decision, a poor direction to take the franchise. First of all,
it's worth mentioning when Kevin Durant Devin Booker both played
on the same night for the Suns, they were thirty
two and twenty four. That's a forty seven win pace,
which would have put them right in that like seven
to eight range in the standings even with all of
the massive roster shortcomings that they had, and they had
(20:42):
a positive net rating with the two of them shared
the floor together. So it was a combination of the
poor roster construction that we were talking about, the complete
lack of high motor athletes and center play and all
the things that they needed to be a functional basketball team,
and the fact that they were just dealing with a
bunch of bang up injuries that kept their best players
from being on the floor together. So yes, the Phoenix
(21:04):
Suns missed the playoffs, and I still think Devin and
Kevin are two of the very best basketball players.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
In the world.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Let's look at Devin Bookers last season in review. Devin
played in seventy five games. He averaged twenty six points,
four rebounds, and seven assists, just one point one stocks.
He was one of three players in the entire NBA
last year to play at least sixty games and to
average at least twenty five points, four rebounds, and seven assists.
It was him, Kid Cunningham and Nicole Jokic were the
(21:36):
only guys that met that criteria. His efficiency, he was
forty six percent from the field. That was his lowest
mark since twenty eighteen. Thirty three percent from three the
second lowest mark of his career if you dig into
the numbers, and we're going to do it more in
more detail here in a minute. But Devin talked about
(21:57):
this in his postseason press conference. But he just didn't
foot the ball well, particularly from the three point line,
and that was the big thing that kind of prevented
him from reaching the same efficiency marks that he reached
at earlier points in his career. But he was thirty
three percent from three, that was the second lowest mark
of his career, eighty nine percent from the line, fifty
three percent in effective field goal percentage, and still because
(22:18):
he's got a super intelligent approach to offense with a
high like a quality shot profile, and with the ability
to take mid range shots and actually make more than
half of them, he still posted, even on a tough
shooting season, a true shooting percentage of fifty nine percent,
which is really good playtype data. Devin Booker, still, even
(22:41):
with poor shooting, was one of the best most efficient
shot creators in the NBA last year. I think that
Devin is one of the most underrated passers in the league.
He was fifteenth in assists per game last year. I'm
not sure people realize the type of high level playmaker
that Devin Booker has become over the years. I don't
think he's in that truly special tier of playmakers at
(23:04):
the top of the league where you have guys like
obviously Jokic and Luca and Trey Young and James Harden
and Lebron James. There's a group of guys Tyr's Halliburton.
There's a group of guys that has like that kind
of like organic, natural excellent passing ability that that is
something you're born with, and Devin Booker was not born
with that per se.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
He's more of a natural scorer.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
But there's a handful of guys over the years in
the NBA, at least in my time watching, that were
natural scorers, but who became really high level passers, at
least relative.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
To their peers over the course of their careers. A
couple of examples.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
DeMar de Rosen, especially in the years in San Antonio,
became a really high level passer for a guy who
was a score first guy. Brandon Ingram He's a guy that,
when he's healthy and in rhythm, is one of the
better passing forwards in the league. Jalen Brunson is a
guy who's become a very good passer despite being more
of a score first guy.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
In his career.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Damian Lillard became a higher level passer Jannison Tenna Kumpo
in the last year or so. I think Devin Booker
is in that tier as well. A guys who were,
like I'd called him, like second tier passers, like really
good passers that obviously aren't the organic natural like like
from birth. They just just saw the floor differently than
everyone else did.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Type of guy.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
So all of that combines to make what I believe
Devin Booker to be a legit second tier offensive engine
in this league. By that, I mean he's not good
enough to take mediocre players and make them an elite offense.
But if you put him on a legit championship caliber roster,
I absolutely think Devin Booker can be the best offensive
player on your team, which, by the way, he nearly
(24:36):
did in twenty twenty one when he came two wins
away from getting the job done. Despite the poor shooting,
Devin's playtype data was still excellent last year. Yeah, one
point zero four points per pick and roll including passes
on over twelve hundred reps. That's right there with where
Kay Cunningham was, with where James Harden was, and again
it could have been better. It was his pull up
jumper that just wasn't there. Devin Booker last year shot
(24:59):
twenty nine p on pull up threes in pick and roll.
That really hurt his efficiency. We know Devin can hit
those shots at a higher clip. He was off the
charts on ISOs and post ups still because a lot
of that mid range scoring. Right, he was the very
best ISO player in the entire league. Last year, Devin Booker.
(25:19):
Among the twenty three players to log at least two
hundred and fifty ISOs, Devin Booker came in at number
one with one point twenty seven points per possession including passes.
He shot fifty four percent on twos out of ISO.
He had a high free throw rate. He got to
the free throw line fourteen percent of the time on
ISOs and he passed well out of them. Good post
(25:40):
up player two lower volume seventy four post ups generated
eighty seven points about once a game. Right got one
point one to eight points per possession. That's very very good,
thirty three percent free throw rate, kind of Jimmy Butler esque.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
More pump fake base.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
He used a lot of pump fakes, but Devin Booker
was a very very high free throw rate guy. On
post ed he gave the ball to Devin on the
block and he was gonna get to the foul in
half the time. Really, he just needs to get that
pull up three back. If you look at all his data,
it's pretty good. He shot fifty four percent on pull
up twos that's excellent. He shot forty six percent on
unguarded catch and shoot threes, which is excellent. He shot
(26:18):
sixty percent at the rim, which is excellent for a
guard like him. Like for guards, anything over sixty percent
is great. He just couldn't get his guarded catch and
shoots so like contested catch and shoots and his pull
up threes, those are the two ones that just weren't
going for him. If he can get those things back
this summer, his game should get back to where it was.
And by the way, like I expect that to be
(26:38):
the case for Devin, I expect him to shoot the
ball better this year. He also turned himself over the
years into a very dependable defensive player. He doesn't have
the tools physically to be like a downright disruptive defender,
but he competes hard and he has good attention to detail,
both on the ball and off the ball. He's very competitive.
(27:00):
He's got that fire in that willingness to do the work,
especially in big moments. I think he's a legit point
of attack option preferably is your second best. You don't
want your best offensive player to be the primary point
of attack guy. But if he's guarded the second best
perimeter player. That's a really, really good role for him defensively,
and he actually filled the primary point of attack role
(27:21):
for Team USA and their Gold Metal run if you
guys remember correctly, and like when we zoom in on
the playoffs, this guy is flat out one of the
very best playoff scorers of our generation. In forty seven
career playoff games, Devin Booker is averaging twenty eight points
per game on sixty percent through shooting. That's insane, and
(27:42):
he's super dependable, even in the last two disappointing playoff
runs where they got sent home in the first and
second rounds by Denver and Minnesota. In those playoff runs,
he was at thirty two points per game on sixty
eight percent true shooting sixty eight percent. I think Devon's
(28:02):
become one of the more underrated players in the league,
mainly just because of that flawed roster construct in Phoenix
and people's inability to see through that. I think if
Devin gets picked up at some point elsewhere where he
can be the second best player again on a team
while having a quality group of role players, I think
he's going to hoist the trophy. I know It seems
(28:24):
hopeless right now because of the leadership in Phoenix, but
I still think Devon has a very good chance to
win a champion, to win a championship in his career.
He's like a super easy plug and play guy too,
Like you could talk him into any spot anywhere in.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
The league and he would fit beautifully.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
He can play off the ball, he can drive closeouts,
he can run action and pick a role. He can
play one on one. He's a versatile defender that can
play on and off the ball. He's just a very good,
very well rounded basketball player. I genuinely believe he's gonna
put somebody over the top someday. I have a feeling
that twenty years from now I'm looking back and talking
about this era, I'll be talking about Devin Booker as
an NBA champion. He's a super efficient, efficient, high volume
(29:07):
score He's one of the top fifteen passers in the NBA.
He's a solid point of attack defender, a freakish competitor,
and one of the most reliably great playoff scorers in
our era. And so he will lead off the top
fifteen for US this year. In this year's rankings at
number fifteen, all right, guys, It's all I have for
today is always sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us
(29:28):
and supporting the show. We will be back, I believe,
on Friday with our next mail bag. Remember this mailbag
is one that I pre recorded because I'm in Alaska.
So if you guys disagree with any of our rankings
on this video, drop him in the comments and we'll
get to it next Friday when I get back from Alaska.
In our next player rankings mail bag, we will have
on Monday fourteen and thirteen. On Tuesday twelve and eleven,
(29:49):
we'll have that mail bag, and then erxers me on
Wednesday twelve and eleven. Then we'll have that first mail
bag that I'm talking about, and then we'll go back
to the top ten and we're taking each player on
that list one out of time from that point forward
through the rest.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Of the postseason.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
I will see you guys on Friday, m
Host
Jason Timpf
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