GDHQNBA15_f-Starmakers 3

Phoenix Suns Gameday HQ

MIKE CONLEY MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES POINT GUARD While speaking with Conley in the preseason about the advancement of adjusted plus-minus statistics that now recognize his greatness as one of the game’s five best point guards, a question was posed: What gives you more pleasure this decade? That the Memphis Grizzlies are considered a top five team, based on playoff wins the past four postseasons, or that you are considered a top five point guard, based on plus-minus ratings? Conley replied, “Honestly, I think seeing the success of the whole organization and knowing I was a big part of that is more important than anything because I don’t think people understand how hard it is to turn a franchise around. For us, being in such a small market, for us to have gone from winning 20-24 games in a season to being a team that can win 50 games and be a No. 6, 7, 8 seed is hard to do. I’m blessed to have been in a position to be a part of this group that’s turned it around and made Memphis relevant.” That’s shine, baby! This is what Conley is all about, both on offense (+4.29 offensive Real Plus-Minus) and defense (+0.43 defensive Real Plus-Minus)— making teammates better—making him perhaps the NBA’s best guard never to make an All-Star team. Granted, the West is loaded with players worthy of star status (Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, among others), so it’s not so much a snub that the 27-year-old Grizzly has not appeared in an All-Star Game as the aforementioned four have. But there is no doubt Conley has focused his spotlight on others to succeed—see Zach Randolph in 2010 and 2013; Marc Gasol in 2012—while the 6-1, 175 pounder does the little things that allow the team to prosper as a whole (supreme 30.1 to 11.5 assist-to-turnover percentage, which shows teammates’ field goals assisted percentage compared to turnovers per 100 possessions). Seventeen-point and six-assist averages in 34 minutes per game may not overwhelm the general public. But ask Paul, Parker, Curry or Westbrook who they’d least like to face in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, and Conley’s name is surely one of the first to come up. KYLE KORVER ATLANTA HAWKS SHOOTING GUARD Stats LLC, the company behind the SportsVU 10-player cameras in every NBA arena, created “gravity score” to measure how often players guard a particular player away from the ball, and “distraction score” to measure how often a player’s defender leaves him to help on-ball defense. Korver had the highest distraction score in the entire NBA, meaning nobody ever leaves him. Kyle Korver also had the fourthhighest gravity score in the NBA, meaning only Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George bring more defenders to them than the Hawks’ 33-year-old shooting guard who averaged a modest 12 points in 34 minutes per game last season. It is hard to fathom why the 6-7, 212-pound sharpshooter commands that type of respect from NBA defenses, but it makes sense when you realize he makes a league-leading 47.2 percent of his threes, while also posting a league-leading 65.3 true shooting percentage on all of his shots. There just is not a more efficient shooter in the NBA today, which explains why he has an All-Star-caliber +3.28 Real Plus-Minus score. Will NBA coaches ever vote him in an All-Star Game with KD, Melo and PG-13? Never. But will they make him the focal point of their defensive game plan 82 nights a year? You bet they will. KAWHI LEONARD SAN ANTONIO SPURS SMALL FORWARD After winning the 2014 NBA Finals MVP, some would say Kawhi Leonard has already made the jump to stardom, going head-to-head with Kevin Durant, LeBron James and their championship-contending teams and coming out ahead. But don’t be so fast. It’s no sure thing Leonard will get the coaches’ vote to play in the 2015 NBA All-Star Game. Think about it: Blake Griffin and Kevin Durant will likely get the fans’ vote to start the game at both forward spots. The coaches then are likely to select three more forwards for the Layne Murdoch Jr.; Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images


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