🔦 Spotlight on Suggs, Embiid, and Keegan + Discover Your NBA Play Style Doppleganger

Welcome to the NBA Librarian Weekly, where we curate and summarize the best NBA content of the week.

In this Week's Edition:

1. Jalen Suggs Revival Has Elevated the Magic

2. Draymond slap of Nurkic in Lego Form

3. San Antonio Spurs — Gregg Popovich SLOB Zipper Bac …

4. Is Keegan Murray a Star in the Making

5. NBA Pickup Comparison Tool

6. Is Embiid having the best scoring season ever?

7. The Drive and “Redrive” Game

8. Best of NBA Rim Protection: December 24th

Get all the way to the bottom and find out how to have a chance to win a 2004-2005 Allen Iverson Topps basketball card for free!

Jalen Suggs Revival Has Elevated the Magic

I love the inside looks into how players' mindsets work. In an article, I expected to dig more deeply into Suggs' elite defensive play (which it still does). However, it also offers unique insight into Suggs' existential journey, decoupling his identity as a basketball player from who he is as a human. This has proven to essential for Suggs to rededicate himself to basketball after a frustrating, injury-riddled first two seasons in the league.

The article further covers the often underrated role of the point-of-attack or front-line defender, a role Suggs fills for the Magic. It’s working effectively. Suggs is fifth in the league in steals for a Magic team that ranks second in forcing turnovers. The article highlights his relentless energy and physicality with video clips, which are apparent to opponents and teammates alike.

It also spotlights his offensive improvement, citing his increased 3-point percentage (38.8% from three this season, including nearly 43% on spot-up three-pointers). This improvement is critical alongside Banchero and Wagner, as well as his enhanced performance around the rim as a cutter, finishing at 71% this season compared to 59% in his first two seasons.

All of this has made Suggs one of the most impactful players on the 16-9 Magic team this season. Definitely read more to get the full story.

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Draymond slap of Nurkic in Lego Form

Not much else needs to be said.

San Antonio Spurs — Gregg Popovich SLOB Zipper Backdoor

This is a fun one - it highlights a set that the Spurs run, the SLOB (Sideline Out of Bounds) Zipper Backdoor play. The breakdown explains how Tre Jones' finishing move, despite never touching the ball during the possession, is the main reason the Spurs got a wide-open dunk for Vassell. Jackson does a great job of breaking it down, making it easily understandable. This is part of a full series of play breakdowns, so definitely follow him for more content.

Is Keegan Murray a Star in the Making

This video primarily focuses on Keegan's DEFENSIVE impact. Most people are already starting to get aware of his offensive prowess - the 47 points, the nearly 20 ppg stat line since returning from injury - but many are not fully aware of the defensive impact he's been having on the Kings.

AlexHoops does an excellent job providing both statistical and video evidence to support this. What stood out to me?

1. His improvement in defensive EPM (Estimated Plus Minus Rating) from last season (https://dunksandthrees.com/epm). I agree with AlexHoops here in that I consider this one of the better measures of defense, especially when prioritizing results over the eye test and considering the context of other stats.

2. Another key point is how the Kings are 14 points better defensively with Keegan than when other Kings starters are playing without him. This illustrates that Keegan is the most impactful defender on the Kings.

3. The video also highlights his knack for disrupting plays: getting over screens, roaming as a help defender, and his ability to guard smaller and quicker players like Donovan Mitchell.

NBA Pickup Comparison Tool

This was the highlight of the week for me. @Sravan on Twitter developed a web application in collaboration with Automatic NBA. It's essentially a quiz that calculates your similarity score to an NBA player's style of play. While it doesn't take height or weight into account, remember, this isn't an exact science. The idea is to represent the style of play your pickup game most closely resembles.

My result was:

^This makes sense to me since I tend to focus more on defense and only attempt to shoot when I’m wide open.

You guys should try it too!

Is Embiid having the best scoring season ever?

This video does a great job of highlighting how Embiid has altered his game under Nick Nurse. It goes into details such as Embiid posting up more this season, reducing isolations, scoring more second-chance points, and finding increased opportunities in transition.

It also goes further into the stats, showing how much more the Sixers relied on isolation play last season. While they were good offensively then, this season they are ranked #1 in the league due to these changes.

Most importantly, the video emphasizes Embiid's unstoppable scoring prowess, showing his per minute scoring rate is comparable to Wilt’s best season this season. For me, this is a more refreshing take than what majority of fans tend to dwell on — which is his career scoring rate at the free throw line. Yes, he gets to the line frequently and is adept at drawing fouls, but his scoring rate is coming from all the over the court.

Check out this video to see more in-depth analysis.

The Drive and “Redrive” Game

I really enjoyed this graphic. It effectively demonstrates the differences in dribble penetration among various teams, highlighting the contrasting styles.

1. The Warriors and Pacers, for instance, couldn't be more different.

2. Teams like the Sixers, Nuggets, Celtics, Lakers, and 76ers — all seen as contenders this season — are on the complete opposite end of the spectrum in terms of drives per game compared to Indiana, even though Indiana is technically the #1 offense in the league.

3. Meanwhile, the Thunder applies more pressure on the defense with drive-and-kick plays than even the Pacers.

Best of NBA Rim Protection: December 24th

The lower a player is on this graph, the better their defensive differential. The further to the right they are, the more defensive opportunities they've had.

A few things stand out to me:

• Chet is already an All-NBA level defender.

• Zubac is underrated as an interior defender for the Clippers. While Kawhi and PG receive a lot of credit, Zubac's positioning has been crucial.

• Valanciunas appears quite unfavorably in this graphic.So the lower a player is, the better differential they have defensively.