When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for Peace Players, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for Peace Players, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for Peace Players, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for Peace Players, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for Peace Players, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for Peace Players, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
2021 Thunder Player Rankings⚡️ #6. Mike Muscala Moose had to be shut down midseason because a 7 footer hitting 4 or 5 3s off the bench every game isn&rsquo;t a wise way to end up with a Top 5 draft pick. Mike&rsquo;s love of OKC and the fans here has endeared him to the Thunder faithful. <a href="https://t.co/F0N6WDotxi">pic.twitter.com/F0N6WDotxi</a>
&mdash; Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonRahbar/status/1401684498409050113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for Peace Players, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
2021 Thunder Player Rankings⚡️ #6. Mike Muscala Moose had to be shut down midseason because a 7 footer hitting 4 or 5 3s off the bench every game isn&rsquo;t a wise way to end up with a Top 5 draft pick. Mike&rsquo;s love of OKC and the fans here has endeared him to the Thunder faithful. <a href="https://t.co/F0N6WDotxi">pic.twitter.com/F0N6WDotxi</a>
&mdash; Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonRahbar/status/1401684498409050113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them. help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for PeacePlayers, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
2021 Thunder Player Rankings⚡️ #6. Mike Muscala Moose had to be shut down midseason because a 7 footer hitting 4 or 5 3s off the bench every game isn&rsquo;t a wise way to end up with a Top 5 draft pick. Mike&rsquo;s love of OKC and the fans here has endeared him to the Thunder faithful. <a href="https://t.co/F0N6WDotxi">pic.twitter.com/F0N6WDotxi</a>
&mdash; Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonRahbar/status/1401684498409050113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them, [andhelp fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for PeacePlayers, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
2021 Thunder Player Rankings⚡️ #6. Mike Muscala Moose had to be shut down midseason because a 7 footer hitting 4 or 5 3s off the bench every game isn&rsquo;t a wise way to end up with a Top 5 draft pick. Mike&rsquo;s love of OKC and the fans here has endeared him to the Thunder faithful. <a href="https://t.co/F0N6WDotxi">pic.twitter.com/F0N6WDotxi</a>
&mdash; Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonRahbar/status/1401684498409050113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

When the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their season against the new-look Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, it will officially mark the start of Year 10 for veteran big man Mike Muscala.
And for the 31-year-old Muscala, this season is about a lot of things &ndash; improving as a player, OKC growing as a team, mentoring the young core, and, most importantly, uniting people through basketball.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Before the official start of his 2022-23 season, Basketball News had the chance to catch up with Muscala. We talked about his unique charity initiative with <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a> International, his role as a mentor on the youngest team in the league and the expectations he has for his teammates&rsquo; development this season.
While at the Orlando Bubble in 2020, you were involved with a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. Can you tell us a little bit about your involvement with them, particularly while you were there? 
Mike Muscala: &ldquo;In the Bubble, I donated $100 for each three we made. I first heard about them through a friend I went to college with at Bucknell. He told me about them probably eight [or] nine years ago.
&ldquo;I got to know one of their co-founders, Brendon [Tuohey]. I just feel like their mission was really cool &ndash; bringing people together through basketball all around the world. I felt like [the three-point pledge] was a cool way to be able to donate to them, [and] help fund some of their operations as they work in a lot of U.S. cities like Detroit, [Los Angeles], and Brooklyn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Note: Despite the Thunder only making 188 threes in 15 games during the Bubble (which would equate to $18,800 in donations), Muscala ended up contributing $23,000 to the PeacePlayers organization.) 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Mike Muscala. CLUTCH. <a href="https://t.co/vrecHtEqK4">pic.twitter.com/vrecHtEqK4</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1293736008077340674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

There are thousands of charities out there, why choose <a href="https://peaceplayers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PeacePlayers</a>?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it was just how specific it was to basketball. I&rsquo;ve been really fortunate to have met a lot of people through basketball that I probably would not have met otherwise. The fact that they are focused on bringing people together &mdash; especially in areas with a longstanding history of divide and conflict amongst people &mdash; I thought it was so cool that youth basketball [was being used] as a vehicle to help resolve some of those conflicts.&rdquo;
From your experience working with this organization, have you seen some positive change come out of this?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, just seeing some of the studies they have run on what they have done. Hearing interviews from girls being like, &lsquo;I would have never played or gotten to know this other girl had it not been for PeacePlayers, and now, we&rsquo;re friends.&rsquo; Just seeing stuff like that is so cool. Putting people together, to meet one another [and] to become friends is cool.&rdquo;
After all your success with the organization in the past, you are now trying to continue your work with PeacePlayers in 2022-23. What is your plan for donation this season?
Muscala: &ldquo;My plan is to donate $100 for every offensive rebound we get this year, which is kind of similar to the three-pointers made [pledge] that we did in the Bubble. Brendon said it was fun for them when we did that. And I just thought it&rsquo;s an area of focus for me, personally, and our team this year, so it was a good way to tie all that together.&rdquo;
Okay, why is offensive rebounding a focus for you and the Thunder?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think with an offensive rebound, [what it] signifies in terms of hard work and hustle, [is] starting anew, all that stuff. People love to see that in a game, and I just thought it could be something fun for us to do, something motivating throughout the season.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Last season, OKC finished 12th in offensive rebounds per game. That's already a solid mark, but there is still always room for improvement. Does the team have any plans for increasing that rate and, ultimately, the total of the donation?
Muscala: &ldquo;Yeah, we&rsquo;ve talked about it as a team. We have some tactics that we focused on [and] practiced. Specific times to crash [and] get on the boards, especially [cutting] from the corners. With more threes being taken every game, [there&rsquo;s] more of those long rebounds.
"If you just cut with a purpose, [even] if you don&rsquo;t get the ball, [have] the awareness to go up and try to rebound. Like Nicolas Batum last year, I feel like he did a great job of cutting and keeping possessions alive. That&rsquo;s so deflating for a defense. Find creative ways, but also putting in that work. A lot of times, it's just [about] hustle and kind of a mindset; it&rsquo;s something I used to be pretty good at early in my career and something I want to get back to [now].&rdquo;
Last season, you finished 19th in the NBA in <a href="https://dunksandthrees.com/epm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunks and Threes&rsquo; EPM metric</a>, and you were one of two players 6-foot-10 or taller to shoot over 40% from three (All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns was the other). You clearly can still contribute at a high level, so why re-sign with a rebuilding Thunder team instead of offering your services to a potential title contender?
Muscala: &ldquo;This will be my fourth year with [Oklahoma City]. I really do believe in this team and this organization. It&rsquo;s a young team, but I love all the players that I get to play with, the coaching staff, [and all] the people in the organization. What this team means to this city is special. Being around for this process has been fun for me. There are a lot of great teams in the NBA. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to play for a few other ones, but I love what [Oklahoma City] stands for, and I&rsquo;m just happy to be here.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
2021 Thunder Player Rankings⚡️ #6. Mike Muscala Moose had to be shut down midseason because a 7 footer hitting 4 or 5 3s off the bench every game isn&rsquo;t a wise way to end up with a Top 5 draft pick. Mike&rsquo;s love of OKC and the fans here has endeared him to the Thunder faithful. <a href="https://t.co/F0N6WDotxi">pic.twitter.com/F0N6WDotxi</a>
&mdash; Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonRahbar/status/1401684498409050113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 6, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

You and Chet Holmgren are both from Minnesota, and part of your responsibility on this team is helping him (and the other youngsters) grow. How do you think your desire to mentor this new generation correlates with your desire to be so active in charity work?
Muscala: &ldquo;I think it's just [about] giving back to the game. You know, I want to coach when I&rsquo;m done playing. I think that&rsquo;s just the way to pay it forward. When I was a younger player, I had older players that led by example, like Al Horford, Paul Millsap [and] Kyle Korver. Guys like that, showed me... what focus and consistency were all about.
&ldquo;I think as I&rsquo;ve gotten older, I&rsquo;ve been more grateful for basketball. I think everyone can relate to that, you know? As [we] get older, [we] appreciate the things that have gotten [us] to this point. As an older player now, it&rsquo;s fun to still play the game, but also [important to be] around for the young guys because soon, it will be them in my position, giving back to even younger players. The cycle just goes on and on.&rdquo;
It's a new year with new excitement and new hope. How excited are you to see the growth of guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and the rest of the young core?
Muscala: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited. Tre Mann also had a great summer. It was a really good preseason. (Mann averaged 16.0 PPG on 66.3% True Shooting). I&rsquo;m happy for them and excited to watch them continue to grow because they put the work in, always focus, are humble &mdash; and [they] want to get better.&rdquo;

Mat Issa goes 1-on-1 with Thunder veteran Mike Muscala to discuss his PeacePlayers initiative and how it ties into a young OKC team.

Mike Muscala Q&A: OKC Thunder's growth, PeacePlayers, focus in Year 10

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes how Chris Webber's decision-making unlocked the Kings' revolutionary offense.

Blazing the Trail: Chris Webber, the read-and-react king

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes Chauncey Billups' dual-threat nature and impact on the next generation of point guards.

Blazing the Trail: Chauncey Billups, the basketball cheat code

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes Penny Hardaway as a dual threat and how he stood out from other point guards.

Blazing the Trail: Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway, the floor giant

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes the offensive splendor of Dirk Nowitzki and the dramatic evolution of his career.

Blazing the Trail: Dirk Nowitzki, the unicorn that became world champion

In the latest installment of his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes the two-way brilliance of Shawn Kemp.

Blazing the Trail: Shawn Kemp, the aerial artist

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
<iframe src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=BNI2912655981" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/6n1fvd" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/te8fgm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o4oe70" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gcrihq" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/jeiv1u" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate can be observed across the entire NBA. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association features at least a part of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the ariel artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
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Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association features at least a part of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the ariel artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the ariel artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the ariel artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the ariel artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
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In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the ariel artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
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In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the ariel artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
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In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp &mdash; the arieal artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
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In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp, the aerial artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fifth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the most versatile defenders of all-time: Andrei Kirilenko. He explains what made him different from other off-ball rovers who came before him, with insights from his former coaches, teammates and more.
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No player in this series has garnered more anticipation than Andrei Kirilenko. A quick survey of the internet yields countless articles and <a href="https://youtu.be/XGkSph7VDrU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube videos</a> that are all centered around the same premise:
Kirilenko would be a perfect fit in today&rsquo;s era.
Did Kirilenko serve as the prototype for the modern-day defender? During his prime, was he a revolutionary and a superstar?&nbsp;
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE KIRILENKO SPECIAL?
In baseball, a "five-tool player" is bestowed this label if they display excellence in five categories: hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, speed and throwing.
Similarly, Kirilenko excelled in five different defensive disciplines.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/kirilenko-five-tool-defender.jpg" alt="Visual Created by Mark Cheung" width="487" height="520" />
Tool No. 1: Man Defense
&ldquo;His technique was fundamentally instinctive,&rdquo; said Gordon Chiesa, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former coach in Utah.
Kirilenko touted great length, reflexes and an active &lsquo;tap-dancing&rsquo; stance (see clips below) that enabled him to keep the ball in his line of sight at all times.&nbsp;
On top of that, he mastered the &lsquo;flick-hand technique,&rsquo; which aims to force ball-handlers to dribble East to West rather than North to South (since it's harder to get in the paint when you can&rsquo;t move forward).
"[Your] defensive hand is on the ball side, and [you're] flicking [your] hand up towards the ball &ndash; without losing [your] balance &ndash; to make their dribble lateral, so that it's more protective [rather than] more downhill," Chiesa explained to Basketball News.
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Tool No. 2: Versatility&nbsp;
While Kirilenko&rsquo;s primary assignments were forwards, he was capable of guarding shiftier speedsters and gargantuan bruisers as well.
&ldquo;You could literally put him on just about anyone,&rdquo; recalled Michael Ruffin, Kirilenko&rsquo;s former teammate who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. "[He] had the speed, quickness, length to keep up with guards&hellip; on the perimeter. That&rsquo;s who he would end up guarding a lot [of the time].&rdquo;
Kirilenko even developed antidotes to deploy when going up against the more powerful, low-post big men of the time.
&ldquo;Even on the post with a bigger, banging guy&hellip; he could make it difficult for them to get the ball deep by fronting them,&rdquo; said Charlotte Hornets assistant Tyrone Corbin, who coached Kirilenko in Utah. "What he would do is put the work in early [in the post] to make the catch a little further out, so they wouldn&rsquo;t catch it so deep in the paint.&rdquo;
And if the big man somehow managed to receive the entry pass?
&ldquo;He would go after the ball and keep them off balance that way,&rdquo; Corbin explained.
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Tool No. 3: Off-Ball Disruptor
&ldquo;The thing I remember about him most is that he [was] a defensive playmaker,&rdquo; Chiesa said.
Each season from 2001 to 2011, Kirilenko finished in the 96th percentile or higher in Cerebro Sports&rsquo; Defensive Statistical Impact metric (which measures defensive playmaking).&nbsp;
&ldquo;What made Kirilenko brilliant, I call it early eyes,&rdquo; Chiesa explained. &ldquo;He could read plays before [they] happened&hellip; and he was able to be cat-quick and jump in the passing lanes to steal the ball, block a shot or pickpocket somebody.&rdquo;
Among other things, Kirilenko was adept at doubling down from the perimeter &ndash; the concept of rotating over from the perimeter to double a player on the low block (which was particularly important during that era considering the high volume of post-ups).
&ldquo;People never understood how long he really was,&rdquo; Corbin said. &ldquo;He could be at the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/the-basketball-dictionary-5c3835e9fe58#:~:text=Nail%3A%20The%20spot%20in%20the,the%20middle%20at%20all%20costs." target="_blank" rel="noopener">nail</a>/elbow, and a guy could get the ball in the post and turn to dribble or make a move, and he&rsquo;s on top of them knocking the ball out.&rdquo;
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Tool No. 4: Motor
Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was known for stressing the importance of conditioning in all his practices.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one of the biggest sticklers with Coach Sloan: you had to be in great shape,&rdquo; Corbin emphasized. &ldquo;Most of the things that we did every day involved some kind of drill [with] conditioning as part of the drill.&rdquo;
Upon reflecting on his experiences, Ruffin agreed with Corbin&rsquo;s assessment.
&ldquo;The philosophy of the team&hellip; was that every time you stepped on the court, you go hard,&rdquo; Ruffin said.
Kirilenko did not deviate from this mission statement. During his iconic run in the 2003-04 NBA season (more on that in a bit), he finished in the 94th percentile in minutes played. And he spent every second of those nearly 2,900 minutes stalking the terrain at a frenetic pace.
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Tool No. 5: Shot-Blocking
Kirilenko was a human eraser of the highest order, and his acumen as a shot-blocker is what separated him from the likes of Shawn Marion &ndash; the other multi-faceted forward of that time.
During his career, Kirilenko posted a whopping seven seasons with a block percentage of 4% or higher. Marion, on the other hand, never surpassed 3%.&nbsp;
With his condor arms, impeccable timing and recovery speed, Kirilenko was terrific at swatting away attempts.
&ldquo;Super timing. Super, super timing," Corbin said. "And his ability to recover &ndash; to get from point A to point B &ndash; especially off the ball when he could be on the weakside. A guy could drive thinking he was open; [Kirilenko] would get from where he was to the ball quickly before the guy could alter his shot or see him coming.
&ldquo;As good as he was on the ball, he was better coming off the ball because guys couldn&rsquo;t see where he was coming from.&rdquo;
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Prior to the 2003-04 NBA season, ESPN writer Frank Hughes <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/5/19788279/little-expected-of-jazz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> that the Utah Jazz would lose more games than any team in NBA history.&nbsp;
Not only did Utah outperform these not-so-lofty expectations, they came within one game of the playoffs in the loaded Western Conference.&nbsp;
So, what happened?
&ldquo;When things like that usually happen, you look back, and you&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;Oh, we missed on three or four of those players. They were way better than we thought,'&rdquo; said David Locke, who has been the radio voice of the Jazz for 13 years.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that exists on [the Jazz&rsquo;s] roster. I think the only one we missed on was a 22-year-old Andrei Kirilenko [who] was just a way better player and more important than people realized.&rdquo;
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Advanced data helps us understand Kirilenko's impact that season. Basketball Reference&rsquo;s Box Plus-Minus paints Kirilenko as a <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2004_advanced.html#advanced_stats::bpm">top-three player</a> in the league that year, with the next-best Jazz player ranking 75th. While top-three may be unlikely, he was pretty darn close.
In 2003-04, Utah's defense was 2.2 points stingier per 100 possessions with their Swiss-army-knife defender on the floor (which ranked in the 72nd percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s more, AK-47's value extended beyond his defense. He also boasted a progressive offensive game &ndash; one that improved Utah&rsquo;s attack by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (ranking in the 97th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
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Along with being a revolutionary defender, Kirilenko had an incredibly modern (and underrated) offensive game. He was a decisive passer, an eager cutter, a fearless driver, and a FT drawing machine. He would have been the perfect player in today's read-and-react react game. <a href="https://t.co/dvEZTxxWDJ">pic.twitter.com/dvEZTxxWDJ</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1562527132013604865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Put those two outputs together, and the Jazz had a +11.8 efficiency differential per 100 possessions when Kirilenko was on the court. That year, the only other All-Stars to achieve that mark were Kevin Garnett (the 2003-04 MVP), Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Jason Kidd and Brad Miller.&nbsp;
(Note: On the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/260tNesWxrhH93RDQP06pS?si=79381e7876574e8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blazing the Trail podcast</a>, historian Cody Houdek and I broke down where Kirilenko ranked in the league that season, and we ultimately landed on him falling somewhere in the 8-12 range).
BLAZING THE TRAIL
Chiesa&rsquo;s Jazz spent the late 1990s being vanquished by a team that rostered a player in Kirilenko&rsquo;s likeness: Scottie Pippen.
&ldquo;Defensively, [Pippen] was a defensive playmaker who could guard all five positions, and that was Kirilenko,&rdquo; Chiesa compared.&nbsp;
Despite their similarities, Pippen&rsquo;s approach was more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9vFHYVXtRk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-ball orientated</a> (juxtaposed with Kirilenko&rsquo;s primarily off-ball style). A more perfect progenitor for this inspector-gadget model exists by way of 1970s stalwart Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; Chiesa exclaimed when asked about the two forwards' similarities.&nbsp;&ldquo;Just like Kirilenko &ndash; 6-foot-9, [220] pounds, gangly, high hips, [could] run the floor, defensive playmaker...&rdquo;&nbsp;
Like Kirilenko, the Secretary of Defense touted the illustrious <a href="https://streamable.com/3ynktv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">five defensive tools</a> and, as a result, left a significant mark on that end of the floor &ndash; quarterbacking five top-5 defenses during his 10-year tenure in the NBA.
Both defensive roamers by nature, Kirilenko was able to become arguably more impactful than his predecessor thanks to the abolition of illegal defense rules in 2001. Before this rule change, zone defense was banned, and if teams/players wanted to execute these exotic coverages, they had to do so covertly, which greatly mitigated the value of off-ball roamers such as Jones.
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IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In the era of pace and space, the logical defensive counter to this increased surface area is to obtain personnel who can cover this space efficiently.&nbsp;
As alluded to in the previous section, rule changes enabled Kirilenko to operate unrestricted in a manner his forefathers never could. And this confluence of events, combined with his unique physical tools and instincts, made him the prototype for the space-ball defender.
Today, the NBA landscape is littered with players who resemble Kirilenko's robust defensive palate. Nearly every prominent defender in the Association has shades of Kirilenko&rsquo;s design in their own game.&nbsp;
For instance, All-Defensive First Team forward Mikal Bridges shares Kirilenko&rsquo;s length and motor.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think that [Kirilenko] is actually a lot like Mikal,&rdquo; said Ruffin, who coaches Bridges on the Suns. &ldquo;They are both extremely long, they move really well [when] negotiating screens, both have good motors, and they both take pride in defending.&rdquo;
As for reigning Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, Ruffin said that he inherited Kirilenko&rsquo;s versatility. Like Kirilenko, Smart regularly faces off against defenders far larger than him in stature, and he holds them off using the same <a href="https://streamable.com/5x6n4y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fronting techniques</a> Corbin alluded to earlier.&nbsp;
Draymond Green, arguably the best defender of his generation, may share the most similarities with Kirilenko &mdash; possessing all five of his fancy utensils. And similar to how Kirilenko surpassed Jones, Green one-upped AK-47 by adding a rim-deterrence component to his game.&nbsp;
The best paint protectors deter opponents from taking shots in the restricted area entirely, and Green is no exception. This past season, opponent rim frequency decreased by 5.4% when he was on the court (which ranked in the 99th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Unfortunately, Kirilenko's presence didn&rsquo;t have the same effect, as the opponent's rim frequency <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/2029/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_freq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oftentimes</a> increased when he was on the floor.
Thanks to the movement initiated by Kirilenko (and capitalized on by Green), every team is looking for the next torchbearer to the space-ball-defender lineage.
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In fact, Utah may have just stumbled upon its second iteration of the archetype in recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt. When asked about their parallels, Chiesa pulled out his notes from when the Jazz and Timberwolves faced off on December 31, 2021, and read them aloud:
&ldquo;Lengthy frame, long arms, pretzel legs&hellip; wily defensive ball-retriever, glides in from perimeter to block shots, active back-tipper into transition, early-eyes anticipator, in and out of the passing lanes, steal maker&hellip; around the ball consistently.&rdquo;
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, in Toronto, the Raptors believe they hold the key to the next link in the five-tool chain in reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think Scottie is overall a better talent [than Kirilenko]," Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin told Basketball News. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not taking anything away from Kirilenko&hellip; but I think there is something special about Scottie.&rdquo;
Seeing the direction the league is going, it makes sense why people always ponder how Kirilenko would fare in today&rsquo;s game.&nbsp;
But don&rsquo;t let his status as a revolutionary fool you; he was a damn good player during his time too.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5197.jpg" alt="" width="562" height="562" />
Check back next week for Part VI of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shawn Kemp, the aerial artist.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-reggie-miller-the-moving-target-indiana-pacers-rik-smits-dan-burke-michael-jordan-joe-dumars-golden-state-warriors-chris-mullin-steph-curry-klay-thompson">Click here to read Part IV: Reggie Miller, the moving target</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint</a>

Andrei Kirilenko was a five-tool defender who was ahead of his time. Mat Issa looks back on AK-47's career and impact on today's NBA.

Blazing the Trail: Andrei Kirilenko, the five-tool defender

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
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In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
Weaving the Thread
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II&rsquo; in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other (per Basketball Dictionary).
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: Gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors of today have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
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In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II&rsquo; in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other (per Basketball Dictionary).
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: Gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors of today have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8i33cm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II&rsquo; in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other (per Basketball Dictionary).
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: Gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors of today have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8i33cm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II&rsquo; in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other (per Basketball Dictionary).
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: Gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors of today have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8i33cm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace, spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II&rsquo; in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other (per Basketball Dictionary).
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: Gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors of today have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8i33cm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace, spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II" in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other (per Basketball Dictionary).
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: Gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
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Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors of today have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8i33cm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace, spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II" in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other, per Basketball Dictionary.
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: Gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors of today have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
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In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
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In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace, spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II" in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other, per Basketball Dictionary.
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big-men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8i33cm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip
Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace, spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II" in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other, per Basketball Dictionary.
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big-men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yoqsg3" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8i33cm" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip. Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller,] his was [still] set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/23MwtT1TW3hVWON0f3P6Te?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gqbq4g" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace, spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II" in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other, per Basketball Dictionary.
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big-men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
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Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
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In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip. Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller], his was set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_5152.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes all-time shooting great Reggie Miller and what separated him from the rest.

Blazing the Trail: Reggie Miller, the moving target

On the Blazing the Trail podcast, Mat Issa goes 1-on-1 with Jazz assistant GM and former NBA head coach David Fizdale.

Former NBA head coach David Fizdale on Shane Battier's unique impact

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
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"One of these players doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
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With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Ish Smith also came to Houston in the deal. The Memphis Grizzlies received DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2013 first-round draft pick that turned into Andre Roberson.)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
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On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. He also suited up for Houston, Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process over results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Durant in the 2021 playoffs).
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting 1-to-1 comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of us all.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these players doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Ish Smith also came to Houston in the deal. The Memphis Grizzlies received DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2013 first-round draft pick that turned into Andre Roberson.)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Both played for Houston, Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process over results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Durant in the 2021 playoffs).
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting 1-to-1 comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of us all.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these players doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Ish Smith also came to Houston in the deal. The Memphis Grizzlies received DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2013 first-round draft pick that turned into Andre Roberson.)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Like Battier, Tucker played for Houston for Houston, Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process over results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Durant in the 2021 playoffs).
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting 1-to-1 comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of us all.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these players doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Ish Smith also came to Houston in the deal. The Memphis Grizzlies received DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2013 first-round draft pick that turned into Andre Roberson.)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process over results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Durant in the 2021 playoffs).
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting 1-to-1 comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of us all.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these players doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Ish Smith also came to Houston in the deal. The Memphis Grizzlies received DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2013 first-round draft pick that turned into Andre Roberson.)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process-over-results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Kevin Durant in the 2021 playoffs). Both players donned the Rockets' red-and-white jerseys.
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting 1-to-1 comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of us all.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these players doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Ish Smith also came to Houston in the deal. The Memphis Grizzlies received DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2013 first-round draft pick that turned into Andre Roberson.)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process-over-results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Kevin Durant in the 2021 playoffs). Both players suited up for the Rockets.
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting 1-to-1 comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of us all.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these pieces doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Ish Smith also came to Houston in the deal. The Memphis Grizzlies received DeMarre Carroll, Hasheem Thabeet and a 2013 first-round draft pick that turned into Andre Roberson.)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process-over-results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Kevin Durant in the 2021 playoffs). Also, both players suited up for the Rockets and Heat.
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting one-to-one comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of most modern NBA players.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular season and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
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"One of these pieces doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(Battier was traded )
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process-over-results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Kevin Durant in the 2021 playoffs). Also, both players suited up for the Rockets and Heat.
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting one-to-one comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of most modern NBA players.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular season and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these pieces doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(The Memphis Grizzlies received )
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kndgmp" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process-over-results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Kevin Durant in the 2021 playoffs). Also, both players suited up for the Rockets and Heat.
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting one-to-one comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of most modern NBA players.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular season and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this third installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection Shane Battier and his role as a next-generation defender on the "Moreyball" Houston Rockets. It features insights from his former coach in Miami, David Fizdale, his high school coach, Kurt Keener, and Battier himself.&nbsp;
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/1UxHtLuiL63XIkKyw0W49H?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
"One of these pieces doesn&rsquo;t fit."
A statement commonly elicited from viewing the <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1546891748433084420?s=20&amp;t=Adu5q3cY1tX3H88KopKNig" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list of players</a> featured in our "Blazing the Trail" series.&nbsp;
"Shane Battier was a fine defender. But revolutionary? I&rsquo;m not sure someone who only made two All-Defensive Teams can be considered revolutionary."
Even after New York Times writer Michael Lewis famously dubbed him the "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No-Stats All-Star</a>" in Feb. 2009, outside observers have failed to accurately appraise Battier's unique value.
But what if Lewis' moniker for Battier wasn&rsquo;t just a clever name? What if the captain of data impacted the game in a way we couldn&rsquo;t measure at the time? And what if, through his courtship with Daryl Morey, Battier became the most groundbreaking trailblazer of them all?
Let's find out.
What Made Battier Special&nbsp;
On offense, Battier was the quintessential role player. He could shoot, maintain spacing and make quick decisions, and he hardly ever committed turnovers &mdash; the perfect piece to pair with elite scorers and creators. But that&rsquo;s not why we&rsquo;re discussing him.
Battier made his bones on the defensive end.&nbsp;
There, he possessed an unorthodox toolkit for a player of his archetype. He was a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; wing without picking players' pockets too often. From 2006 to 2011, his steal rate never eclipsed the 50th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass.
However, Battier did create positive events through his weak-side shot-blocking and timely charge-drawing. And he also refrained from causing negative sequences by avoiding fouls (remember, preventing free throws &mdash; the most efficient shot in the game &mdash; is an immensely valuable skill).
&ldquo;He was always on time when the <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/low-man-f3db4d20f4ea">low-man</a> was required,&rdquo; said David Fizdale, Battier&rsquo;s former coach in Miami and now-associate general manager for the Utah Jazz.
&ldquo;Whether it was to take a charge, steal/deflect a pass, discourage [a driver], trap the box &mdash; he was going to be there every single time. He was the king of the charge.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Battier's game was basketball minutiae, predicated on the intricate subtleties that make or break a possession. He fronted goliaths in the post, swiped at the ball when it was still low to bypass challenging shots vertically and utilized the hand-in-the-face contest to hinder his adversaries' efficiency even further.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/n7mp96" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
With that said, he didn&rsquo;t reach his full innovator form until he crossed paths with a data wizard in July 2006 &mdash; then-Houston Rockets assistant general manager Daryl Morey, who assumed full-GM duties the following season in May 2007.
&ldquo;The Rockets were the first team in basketball to adopt a data-centric philosophy,&rdquo; Battier explained to Basketball News. &ldquo;Daryl had a thesis that [he] wanted to run his entire organization based on what the data says.
&ldquo;I was their first major acquisition when Daryl became the general manager because the algorithms they used identified me as a player that provided outsourced value at a very reasonable price,&rdquo; recalled Battier, who was acquired by the Rockets just months after Morey's hiring.
(In exchange for Battier, the Memphis Grizzlies received Stromile Swift and Rudy Gay)
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Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Nash</a>, Battier&rsquo;s approach made him the perfect test subject for his mentor&rsquo;s dissertation.
&ldquo;He was just curious about how everything worked,&rdquo; said Kurt Keener, Battier's high-school coach at Detroit Country Day in Oakland County, Michigan. &ldquo;In basketball, he was curious about, 'If I do X, Y, and Z, can I improve in ways that make a big difference?'"
&ldquo;When I got there, I was very curious about how they thought about data,&rdquo; Battier said of the Rockets. &ldquo;And I really became enamored with it. This is like having the answers to the test before taking the test.&rdquo;
In Houston, Battier &mdash; a player accustomed to surface-level scouting reports that were commonplace at the time &mdash; was exposed to more nuanced, data-driven preparatory materials.
&ldquo;Before analytics, [the scouting report] would read, &lsquo;Kobe Bryant: Great first step, capable three-point shooter, will attack the rim, fadeaway shot in the post and a great competitor.' It&rsquo;s like, yeah, thanks. I don&rsquo;t need a scouting report to know that Kobe is a great competitor,&rdquo; Battier laughed. &ldquo;It was completely qualitative. With the quantitative report that the Rockets produced for me, I knew who exactly a player was down to the percentile.
&ldquo;Instead of saying, 'Kobe Bryant has a great right hand,' I knew that Bryant drives right 65% of the time, and when he does, it&rsquo;s basically a 62% shot. When he goes left, he only goes there 35% of the time, and it&rsquo;s a 42% shot.&rdquo;
Here are a couple of illustrations of that data in practice:
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On-Court Production
These insightful scouting-report nuggets became dangerous weapons in the capable hands of Battier. Similar to "Revis Island" &mdash; a desolate wasteland that star wide receivers were banished to <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/379511-where-is-revis-island" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they faced the New York Jets in the late-2000s</a> &mdash; Battier&rsquo;s stomping grounds became a torturous venue for the superstars who occupied his position.
From 2006 to 2009, every All-Star small forward/shooting guard who played primarily on-ball saw a sizable dip in efficiency when matched up against Battier (with the lone exception being Josh Howard):
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battier-chart.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="520" />
Visual Created by Daniel Bratulić
&ldquo;The secret for all these volume scorers: the places those guys absolutely crushed you were at the rim and the free throw line,&rdquo; Battier revealed.
&ldquo;As long as I did two things &mdash; kept them out of transition and didn&rsquo;t foul them &mdash; I could live with any other shot those guys would take. Where a lot of people go wrong is they get caught up in the results. I don&rsquo;t care about results. I just care about the process.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
With Volume 3 of Blazing the Trail coming out tomorrow over <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a>, I figured I'd do a thread of some of my favorite Battier plays from some of the games I watched. These clips are mostly from his 07-08 matchups against DEN, ATL, CLE, and NJN. <a href="https://t.co/HTDCmeEVEH">pic.twitter.com/HTDCmeEVEH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554950928184365057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Battier&rsquo;s process consisted of seducing his opponents into a high volume of mid-range shots. From 2006 to 2008, the Rockets surrendered the highest frequency of mid-range jumpers in the league (per Cleaning the Glass).
&ldquo;The mid-range jump shot is actually a really hard shot to hit,&rdquo; Battier said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like a sub-50% shot; a good mid-range jump shooter, like 45%. That&rsquo;s not great. You&rsquo;re not going to win a ball game by making that shot a ton.&rdquo;
And although he didn&rsquo;t emphasize the results, the ones his methods yielded were fruitful. Going back to the &ldquo;No-Stats All-Star&rdquo; designation we alluded to earlier, it felt like an All-Star-caliber performer was occupying the court whenever Battier graced the hardwood.
From 2004 to 2009, Battier's teams finished top-five in Defensive Rating (both in Memphis and Houston). And there&rsquo;s reason to believe he was the driving force behind those machines, despite being a non-big man (centers typically have the largest footprint on defense because of their ability to protect the paint).
In 2005-06, the Grizzlies finished second in the league in DRTG. When Battier was traded to Houston the following season, they plummeted to dead-last, despite returning all their coaches and best defenders (except Lorenzen Wright).
Meanwhile, after finishing nearly three points below the league average on defense in 2005-06, the Rockets improved to almost six points below the league average in 2006-07 when Battier arrived.
(Note: The more points below average the better when it comes to defense. For context, the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors were only five points below the league average this season, per Basketball-Reference.)
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What&rsquo;s more, in 2007-08 &mdash; when the Rockets&rsquo; primary rim protector Yao Ming missed the final 26 games of the season with a foot injury &mdash; Houston's DRTG remained the same, so you can&rsquo;t chalk up Battier's success to great backline help.
Fizdale agreed with the sentiment that Battier&rsquo;s data-driven style made him his team&rsquo;s most important defender, and enabled him to contribute at an All-Star level.
&ldquo;Back then, when you&rsquo;re looking at All-Stars, [people] just looked at Shane as a pest. But for the guys that were on his team, he was an All-Star," Fizdale said. "For us, we saw him as an All-Star."
Weaving the Thread
Keener speculates that Battier's selflessness may have developed from hearing tales of the great egalitarian himself, Magic Johnson.
During practice, Battier's high-school coach would tell fables of Magic from his days in East Lansing at Michigan State University. They were stories about how, during scrimmages, Johnson would intentionally select his least talented teammates to prove that great teamwork could usurp deficiencies in other areas. These narratives had a substantial effect on Battier.
&ldquo;With Shane, he didn&rsquo;t have the flair of Magic, but he understood the importance of getting your teammates involved,&rdquo; Keener reminisced. &ldquo;[Like Magic,] Shane was tremendous at making sure the other guys on his team were successful.&rdquo;
A Michigan native, Battier also credits his precious Detroit Pistons for playing a role in his formative years.
&ldquo;For me, the Pistons were the ultimate team. My dad grew up in a blue-collar job. If you live in Michigan, you understand the importance of the assembly line and teamwork,&rdquo; Battier reminisced.&nbsp;&ldquo;For me, it wasn&rsquo;t about what I did. It was about what did we do. Being from Detroit impacted how I thought about sports and basketball, and was the hallmark of my entire career.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Coincidentally, the Pistons team he&rsquo;s referencing once famously concocted their own <a href="https://youtu.be/NLv2F33snCE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carefully curated</a> strategy for <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1554554706483101696?s=20&amp;t=ghbmH8N4W0CTQAwSSSfovg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decreasing the potency</a> of a prolific superstar. That set of instructions is known as "The Jordan Rules.&rdquo;
Due to in-depth game plans he leaned on with regularity, Battier had a leg up on his idols. But while teams like the Pistons only resorted to these tactics in dire situations, Battier prepared for every game like it was the postseason.
&ldquo;The cool part about Shane is he gets into those layers in the regular season,&rdquo; Fizdale explained. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to play teams on a one-day prep&hellip; but when you have a guy like Shane Battier, he prepares every game like it's a playoff game.&rdquo;
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
&ldquo;Draymond [Green] is probably the ultimate example of modern-day Shane Battier,&rdquo; Fizdale said.&nbsp;"They both could guard everyone, could switch on everyone, could guard post-ups, could guard guards. They were [both] most likely the smartest person on the court most nights.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I love watching Draymond. Draymond is great," Battier agreed. "He sees the defense and plays two or three passes ahead, which I always thought I could do.&rdquo;
Battier will be the first to point to Green&rsquo;s superior passing and paint protection as major distinctions between their games. However, the two bear a resemblance to one another in that they are both <a href="https://www.landofbasketball.com/player_comparison/shane_battier_vs_draymond_green.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">career 8-point-per-game scorers</a> whose impact often can't be quantified by traditional box scores.
PJ Tucker is another obvious descendant. Tucker is an elite man defender who shares Battier&rsquo;s process-over-results philosophy (see: Tucker's defense on Kevin Durant in the 2021 playoffs). Also, both players suited up for the Rockets and Heat.
Battier even sees a bit of himself in the human defensive vortex that is Matisse Thybulle: &ldquo;Defensively, his instincts are amazing, and when he figures out his shot, he&rsquo;s going to be a handful.&rdquo;
Putting one-to-one comparisons aside, Battier&rsquo;s true legacy is that there&rsquo;s a little bit of him buried inside of most modern NBA players.
&ldquo;Today, every team has an analytics department. Every team is looking for a player who jumps off the charts analytically,&rdquo; Fizdale said.
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The "Moreyball" movement that Battier helped pioneer in Houston has become common practice in today&rsquo;s ever-changing NBA landscape. Hell, even the 2022 NBA Finals were determined by a quantitatively-informed decision on the part of the Warriors.&nbsp;
After the Celtics scored <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/06/nba-finals-golden-state-warriors-boston-celtics-points-in-the-paint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52 points in the paint</a> in Game 3, Golden State regained control of the series in part by borrowing one of Battier&rsquo;s old tricks for defending Bryant.
As Battier did with Bryant, the Warriors realized that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were less effective when driving to their left, so they <a href="https://streamable.com/qpu89i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced the tandem to do just that</a>.&nbsp;
For reference, here are Tatum&rsquo;s numbers for the regular season and postseason driving from his left and his right (and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/13Ig3U3hGeeXcdJSrYSs4_pIzIjMQPSN95p8R0M9yYs0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here are Brown&rsquo;s</a>):
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-right.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tatum-left.gif" alt="" width="550" height="349" />
Data Provided by InStat
Even this level of tendency awareness was mincemeat for Battier. He knew not only which direction to push you, but how many dribbles to make you take in the process.&nbsp;
Regardless, the point remains the same: Battier influenced not only the way the game is played, but also its preparation &mdash; a feat that few players in NBA history have ever attained.
It looks like the piece fits, after all.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/battiertree_720.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Tune in for Part IV of Blazing the Trail on Aug. 17, which focuses on Reggie Miller &mdash; the moving target.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa focuses on two-time All-NBA defender Shane Battier and his role as a next-gen defender.

Blazing the Trail: Shane Battier, the data-ball defender

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
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Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for three seasons between 2009 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
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Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
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&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
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However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
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Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
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While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player that Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But, I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally enough, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for three seasons between 2009 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cuutuh" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o16um6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nkrmg1" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally enough, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for three seasons between 2009 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cuutuh" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o16um6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nkrmg1" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally enough, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for three seasons between 2009 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cuutuh" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o16um6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nkrmg1" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for three seasons between 2009 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cuutuh" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o16um6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nkrmg1" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for five seasons between 2007 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cuutuh" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o16um6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nkrmg1" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for five seasons between 2007 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cuutuh" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o16um6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nkrmg1" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for five seasons between 2007 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cuutuh" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/o16um6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nkrmg1" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender. 
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills. 
In this second installment, Mat goes in-depth on two-time All-Star power forward Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4 with insight from Bob Beyer and Ahmad Ajami, two former Orlando Magic assistants who worked closely with Lewis. 
<iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4cMxR2JYxx0VA65gftVi26?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="152" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Like many things in basketball, the concept of the "stretch 4" was not invented in the 2000s.&nbsp;
However, before the turn of the century, the archetype was almost exclusively viewed as a matchup-based tool. Using a baseball analogy, it was like having a lefty reliever in the bullpen reserved for specific circumstances rather than an ace at the head of your rotation.
But that all changed when a combination of untimely injuries and coaching ingenuity led to Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy starting Rashard Lewis at the power forward position. Lewis became a true All-Star while playing the stretch 4 and helped influence this revolution.
What Made Lewis Special&nbsp;
Like his stretch-4 predecessors, Lewis was lethal from the perimeter. In the 2008-09 season, he shot nearly 40% from downtown while leading the NBA in total three-point makes and attempts.
Despite his prowess, Lewis was far more than just a stationary sniper. During his formative years, he underwent what I call "the Anthony Davis growth trajectory" &mdash; a phenomenon where a basketball player grows up playing as a guard, hits an unforeseen massive growth spurt and then matures into a big with guard skills. And, because that happened, Lewis was able to combine a 6-foot-10 stature with his bucket-getting chops, which earned him the moniker: &ldquo;Sweet Lew.&rdquo;
Sweet Lew quickly became a defense's worst nightmare.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At that time, length and athleticism at the 4 wasn&rsquo;t as prevalent as it is now,&rdquo; said Ahmad Ajami, a former Magic assistant coach under Van Gundy for five seasons between 2007 and 2012.
&ldquo;He could play both inside and out,&rdquo; Van Gundy&rsquo;s longtime right-hand man Bob Beyer stated about Lewis.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Too big for smalls, too fast for bigs. This was a recurring storyline throughout Lewis&rsquo; career.&nbsp;
That narrative reached its climax during Orlando&rsquo;s iconic 2009 Eastern Conference Finals bout with the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers. During that series, Lewis burned slow-footed big men Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Anderson Varej&atilde;o with his superior quickness, and alpha'd the smaller Delonte West by elegantly lofting jumpers over top of him.
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&ldquo;The guy who probably [doesn&rsquo;t get] the credit that he deserves is Rashard... It [all] goes back to Rashard,&rdquo; Beyer recalled when describing Orlando&rsquo;s success against Cleveland. &ldquo;Rashard could exploit their two bigs out there.&rdquo;
In the six-game series, Lewis eviscerated Cleveland, averaging 18.3 points on 64.0% True Shooting, all while hitting some <a href="https://youtu.be/KXy51IiFwlU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">critical</a> shots en route to Orlando&rsquo;s only title appearance of the aughts.
On-Court Production&nbsp;
Throughout his career, Lewis&rsquo; impact derived primarily from his value as a scorer and spacer. During his All-Star campaign in 2008-09, he was second on the Magic in both scoring volume and efficiency (among players who played at least 50 games). He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in spacing league-wide, according to BackPicks.com.
The impact metrics available at the time seem to agree with his nomination, painting Lewis as a <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1552312398425505799?s=20&amp;t=NTXuTyPlBNy_vSgSTYRC4Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fringe All-Star contributor</a>.
However, what he accomplished by working in unison with Magic frontcourt mates Dwight Howard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu was much more important than his individual success. In isolation, each member of the trio was a solid offensive player. But in the aggregate, the three coalesced to form a multi-faceted machine.&nbsp;
On the surface, this particular Magic team greatly resembled the infrastructure of the two-time world-champion Houston Rockets from the 1990s. Under the guidance of Rudy Tomjanovich, those Rockets deployed a progressive 4-out, 1-in offensive scheme with the legendary Hakeem Olajuwon flanked by four shooters on the perimeter.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
However, those Houston teams were founded on Olajuwon&rsquo;s reputation in the post that allowed him to regularly commandeer the attention of a second defender (<a href="https://streamable.com/g76o6v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like this</a>). Meanwhile, Howard was more of a play-finisher than a pure isolationist on the low block.
&ldquo;Dwight could really excel when he was on the move. He was a good runner in transition. He was a good roller in pick-and-rolls,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;Runner, roller and the other thing &mdash; we would get a lot of spin-out lobs.&rdquo;
Pair Howard's finishing with T&uuml;rkoğlu&rsquo;s size, ball-handling and pull-up shooting, and add Lewis&rsquo; expansive scoring repertoire, and you had a recipe for offensive brilliance.
The Magic (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">like the D&rsquo;Antoni-led Suns</a>) were a pick-and-roll-centric team, with their pet play being a three-man action involving their frontcourt triumvirate.
Beyer said that Orlando called it a &ldquo;Thumb Down Spread,&rdquo; basically a middle pick-and-roll featuring T&uuml;rkoğlu as the ball-handler and Howard as the screener, with Lewis lurking one pass away.
Here&rsquo;s a demonstration of the play in theory and in practice (with a <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/roll-replace-a8ff659fb5d9#:~:text=Definition%3A%20A%20pick%2Dand%2D,the%20paint%20to%20the%20perimeter." target="_blank" rel="noopener">roll-and-replace</a> wrinkle from Lewis):
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Visual diagram presented by Luceo Sports
&ldquo;That was our go-to play,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;It forced the defense to protect the basket... because Dwight [was] such a dynamic roller. If you consistently dropped your big back to take the roll away, Hedo was more than capable of making that three-point shot or pull-up two. We would run the roll-and-replace action where we would come and lift Rashard up, and then, there&rsquo;s another deadly three-point shooter.
&ldquo;You&rsquo;re talking about scoring options at all three of those positions on the floor."
(Beyer also mentioned another variation of the play that utilized Lewis as the screener called the &ldquo;Thumb Up Spread,&rdquo; <a href="https://streamable.com/vqacfu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literally signaled by a thumb up</a>.)
Typically, the major drawback that comes with playing these offensively-slanted lineups comes at the defensive end, as more offense usually means less defense. But this iteration of the Magic defied the laws of statistics, touting the No. 1 defense in the NBA in 2009.
The keystone to this formidable front was, of course, Howard.
&ldquo;[You&rsquo;d] be hard-pressed to find a rim-protector and [overall] defender &mdash; on-ball and off-ball &mdash; like Dwight,&rdquo; Ajami stated.
And despite his slender frame causing some issues against "classical" power forwards (see: 2009 Finals), Lewis compensated for his deficiencies by leveraging his great length and sound hands (87th percentile steal rate in 2009, per Cleaning the Glass) to create chaos on and off the ball.
&ldquo;Both Rashard and Hedo T&uuml;rkoğlu were so long,&rdquo; Beyer said. &ldquo;They were very intelligent [and used] their length to defend guys. They were active with their hands. Their closeouts were appropriate &mdash; based on who they were guarding. And, if they were to get beat, they still had confidence that the next play could be made by Dwight to clean it up.&rdquo;
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While some view their magical run as an anomaly, the threesome operated at the level of a true contender. According to PBP stats, in the 1,268 minutes Lewis, Howard and T&uuml;rkoğlu shared in 2008-09, the Magic posted a Net Rating of plus-12.68 (the equivalent of a 71-win pace in an 82-game season).&nbsp;
For reference, that is a higher <a href="http://www.pbpstats.com/lineup-subunits/nba?LineupId=200782-201572-201950-203114-203507&amp;TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;SubUnitSize=3">NET</a> number than what the trio of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo posted during their championship season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
&ldquo;Nobody would have ever guessed that we would have been as successful as we were,&rdquo; Ajami smiled. &ldquo;But we were right there.
&ldquo;That group of guys was extremely special.&rdquo;
Weaving the Thread &nbsp; In a <a href="https://theathletic.com/1504385/2020/01/07/orlando-magic-forgotten-3-point-innovators/">feature article</a> from 2020, The Athletic's Josh Robbins credited two factors for Van Gundy&rsquo;s decision to start Lewis at the 4: &ldquo;Necessity and smart thinking.&rdquo;&nbsp;
For some context, the Magic initially planned to start traditional power forward Tony Battie. But when he was ruled out for the entirety of the 2007-08 campaign, Van Gundy decided to experiment with Lewis playing the stretch 4 full-time.
However, dig into the weeds a little further, and one could posit that this innovation was more than happenstance, and that Van Gundy and Lewis had seen this before.
In 2008-09, Orlando&rsquo;s three-point attempt rate (3PAr) had a frequency 11.1% higher than the league average. Let&rsquo;s look at teams that posted a similar relative 3PAr that came before them:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/original-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="449" />
An interesting cast of characters indeed (man, Pitino's teams loved to let it fly).
Now, let&rsquo;s narrow our focus to three specific instances:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/focus-chart.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="438" />
First are the 1996-97 Miami Heat, led by "The Godfather" Pat Riley. Who was his lead assistant during that time? None other than Stanley Alan Van Gundy.
Secondly, the 2003-04 Seattle SuperSonics. Before he landed in Orlando, Lewis had some practice slotting in at power forward under Sonics head coach Nate McMillan &mdash; spending 20% of his minutes that season at the 4 spot, per Basketball-Reference. Although, it is worth noting that Vladimir Radmanović was Seattle's primary stretch 4 (playing 80% of his minutes at power forward).
And lastly, the 2006-07 Houston Rockets. It was the last pit stop for the legendary Jeff Van Gundy, Stan&rsquo;s younger brother. Also featured on that team was Tracy McGrady &mdash; a player whom Lewis has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1snSMtaSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly acknowledged he studied and modeled his game after</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I would specify it that cleanly," Beyer said with a chuckle. "But I do know this: I know how much Stan values shooting, and I know how much Stan is always trying to come up with lineups where the best players are on the floor together. So, your theory makes a lot of sense to me.&rdquo;
The point is that, whether it was an intentional decision, a freak coincidence, or a case of cryptomnesia, you can see that past experiences in Lewis and Van Gundy&rsquo;s professional lives had them trending in this direction the entire time. And together, they made sweet music.
Impact on Today&rsquo;s Game
Unlike Steve Nash, finding direct descendants for Lewis is more of an arduous endeavor because, nowadays, seemingly everyone employs a stretch 4 to some degree. In this past season alone, 15 players listed as power forwards on Basketball-Reference surpassed 4.4 three-point attempts per game (Lewis&rsquo; career average).
Ajami stated that, because of the absence of positional constructs in modern-day basketball, he only thinks about positions as who you guard on defense.
&ldquo;Basketball has almost become positionless,&rdquo; Ajami said. &ldquo;To me, you playing the 4 or 5 really just means who on the other team you're defending because, for us, our 4 and our 5... have got to be able to do the same things we ask our 2 and our 3 to do.&rdquo;
With that said, more direct comparisons still exist.
In 2020-21, the Utah Jazz led the league with a relative 3PAr of plus-9.6. One could find a lot of parallels between their frontcourt of Joe Ingles, Bojan Bogdanović and Rudy Gobert and the one the Magic rode to the NBA Finals. (Bogdanović plays the role of Lewis in this analogy.)
Coming into the 2018 NBA Draft, <a href="https://theathletic.com/266715/2018/03/09/potential-knicks-lottery-pick-profile-michael-porter-jr/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some scouts</a> viewed Michael Porter Jr. as a new-age version of Lewis. And when his back was right, Michael Malone would frequently run jumbo frontcourt lineups featuring MPJ, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic. (Coincidentally, Malone&rsquo;s father Brendan was an assistant coach on those Magic teams).
You can even see some influence from the Magic on this current iteration of the Cavaliers &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three seven-footers in the frontcourt</a> with Lauri Markkanen operating as their de facto Lewis.
Ironically enough, Lewis&rsquo; legacy has made his offensive archetype less unique than it was when he was playing (something we will see a lot in this series). None of the heirs to Lewis we listed have achieved All-Star status because the stretch 4 has become a staple feature on every team.
Nonetheless, Lewis and those Magic teams pushed the limits of what was once thought possible for the position &mdash; the hallmark feature of any basketball pioneer.
And for his overarching impact on the game, Lewis deserves his respect, his All-Star nominations and, most of all, his own chapter in the history of the NBA.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lewis-genealogy-chart.jpg" alt="" width="495" height="495" />
Tune in next week for Part III of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Shane Battier &mdash; the data-ball defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa focuses on two-time All-Star Rashard Lewis and his lasting impact as a stretch 4.

Blazing the Trail: Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4

On the Blazing the Trail podcast, Mat Issa goes 1-on-1 with former 12-year NBA veteran and sharpshooter Raja Bell.

Raja Bell discusses '7 Seconds or Less' Suns, Steve Nash’s greatness

Mat Issa is based in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Yes, he spells his name with one "t." He's obsessed with NBA history, so much so that he dedicated eight-plus months of his life toward creating the podcast series "<a href="https://the-quest-for-the-best.captivate.fm/listen" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://the-quest-for-the-best.captivate.fm/listen&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1638461259457000&amp;usg=AOvVaw18s4bGkhR1X-d4zgND9_j2">The Quest for the Best</a>." Right now, Mat goes to school and writes about the NBA for BasketballNews.com and ONE37pm. His work has also been featured in Raptors Republic, The Bird Writes and Rise Network. Also, he's a lifelong Spartans fan. Go Green!