GDHQNBA15_f-Backcourts 3

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are just beginning to understand how to handle high expectations and are big reasons the Wizards are considered one of the East’s rising franchises. As far as potential goes, the Wall/Beal combination can certainly be the best at a future point. For now, they’re still working to fill that tag. 6. San Antonio Spurs: Tony Parker and Danny Green The announcement was typically low key, just like the Spurs. During the offseason, Parker signed a three-year extension with San Antonio that will keep him with the team until he’s 35. “So happy,” he told the San Antonio Express-News. “Spurs for life.” Now in his 13th season, Parker may not end his career in south Texas, but it’s quite possible. And since he has earned All-Star berths in each of the last three seasons—after making it just three times in the previous 10—it makes sense for the team to keep him around as long as he wants. Even though it didn’t quite start out that way, nobody has become more perfect for Gregg Popovich’s offense than Parker, who is a selfless and underrated passer, an accurate shooter and a great decision maker. He’s not going to score 20 a game, because he doesn’t have to. Netting 10 assists on the regular is not something the Spurs equal-opportunity offense generates. You know the Spurs; they are an egalitarian bunch: points and dimes will be something that is cooperatively divvied up. But if he had to get more, Parker would—and could. Give Green credit for selfless play, too. On other teams, he could be more. In San Antonio, he hits the long ball and is capable of some ridiculous shooting runs. He’s quick, versatile and will play some tough D. Sounds like some other previous championship-character guys who manned the shooting guard spot for San Antonio: Mario Elie and Bruce Bowen. As a duo, they are supremely overrated, much of it stemming from Green’s lack of name recognition and somewhat one-dimensional game. But if you went strictly by championship rings, this backcourt is in a class all by themselves. 5. Los Angeles Clippers: Chris Paul and J.J. Redick You see what happens when you put someone like Redick next to Chris Paul? He scores a career-high 15.2 ppg and becomes more than just a perimeter weapon. That’s the magic of Paul, who led the NBA in assists for the third time last year and also picked up his sixth steals title—and fourth in a row. It’s impossible to underestimate Paul’s importance to the Clippers. He is their QB and leader. He keys their defense. He runs the pickand roll, does the drive-and-dish and pretty much makes everybody better and fans happier. Were Paul to become a little more accurate from three-point range, a petition may begin to circulate among rivals to ban him from the game. We all know about Redick. Came to the NBA after standing around and drilling treys at Duke. Pretty much did that for the first several years of his career. But his arrival in L.A. and spot next to Paul opened up his game and made him more complete. Not bad for two guys who were once bitter North Carolina and ACC rivals in college (Paul played in Wake Forest) that even boiled over with a skirmish at a scrimmage when they were both camp counselors at an offseason Jordan Brand camp. The competitive Paul and Redick has since buried the hatchet and now wield it jointly against opposing backcourts. While the duo doesn’t score as much as some of its counterparts, but it’s extremely effective on a very good team. 4. Phoenix Suns: Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas The Suns staged a near-miss run at the postseason last year, confounding experts who expected them to wallow among the NBA’s biggest Lottery contenders. Not satisfied with moral victories, Phoenix’s front office decided to take a good backcourt of Dragic and Bledsoe and make it ridiculous by turning it into a unique threeheaded one with the addition of Thomas. “Thomas will be a great fit for our uptempo attack, and he will help solidify what we believe is the best backcourt in the league,” Suns GM Ryan McDonough said when the sign-and-trade deal with Sacramento was completed. McDonough isn’t out of line here. Dragic emerged as a big-time scorer and Steve Nash clone last year, putting up 20.3 ppg and shooting 54.2 percent on two-point attempts. Now happy with his new extension, Bledsoe should continue his emergence as one of the League’s fastest guards, and his assist total should soar, thanks to Dragic and the arrival of Thomas, who was one of just six players in the NBA last year to score at least 20 ppg (20.3) and hand out six assists (6.3) and is a tremendous playmaker for himself and teammates. The scary part for opponents is that there will be little-to-no dropoff when one of the three sit for a breather. Even scarier: When the Suns go small and roll out all three at once. 3. Toronto Raptors: Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan These two don’t make declarations of their greatness; they just go out and tear up the opposition every night. After spending most of their careers on the periphery of greatness, the two meshed last season and became the trigger for Toronto’s division title and playoff run. Both ended up in the top six at their positions in P.E.R. and enter this season as prolific as any backcourt in the League. DeRozan is practically impossible to stop in the open court and off the dribble, and he made his first-ever All-Star game because of the 22.7 ppg he hung up last year, a fat increase from his 2012-13 production (18.1). Lowry had career highs in points (17.8), too, and his Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images


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