Paul George. 5x NBA All-Star. 3x All-NBA Third Team. 2014 NBA All-Defensive First Team. 2x NBA All-Defensive Second Team. 2013’s Most Improved Player. Olympic Gold Medalist (2016 Rio Olympics). PG13, despite playing primarily as the second option for the Thunder, finished 17th in the league in scoring (21.9 points per game), falling just behind like Lou Williams, Kemba Walker, and Bradley Beal, and ahead of the Blake Griffin, CJ McCollum, and Karl-Anthony Towns. He also finished second in steals per game (2.0 spg), and while that’s often not a good gauge of defensive prowess, I think we all know George just IS a dynamic defender (versus gambling for steals). He was the runner up to Victor Oladipo, but better than Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, Robert Covington, Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, and Ricky Rubio. Finally, he ranked in the Top 10 in Defensive Win Shares, tied with the Dwight Howard and Rudy Gobert, but ahead of Joel Embiid and Al Horford. Point being that Paul is pretty much prodigious in almost every aspect of the game.
The way that PG powers to the basket is a little underrated. To say that he’s wiry strong, like KD and KG before him, is to undervalue him; Paul is legitimately strong, and you’ll see that strength exhibited in how easily a slight bump from him discards/dislodges defenders. Couple that with his hellacious handle and his ability to be on balance as he shifts, twists, and turns to create space to shoot and you’ve got the makings of a man who can just get buckets. He’s brilliant at that quick change of pace AND change of direction that will get a defender leaning one way, and he’ll either rise up right then and there, or power pack to the rack. The man manufactures space much like his idols did: from Kobe to TMac to Penny, he’s got the size, the skill, and the ability to kill from anywhere and everywhere on the floor.
It seems almost effortless how efficient his shot motion is, and the foundation for everything he does is based on his almost flawless footwork. No matter where he ends up next season, he’s still just hitting his prime, and that should be a frightening prospect for the league for years to come.