NBA Free Agents 2011: Best Playmakers for Teams To Pursue on the Market
The playmaker is one of the most sought-after commodities in basketball. In essence, you need two things to win: You need a big man and you need a playmaker. When you look through the annals of champions past, you'll see that virtually everyone had one of each.
This begs the question: Who are the playmakers available this year in the open market?
This year is not the best year for players who can develop their own shots and score from inside or out. There are a few players who are worth taking a look at, though.
Jamal Crawford is one player who comes to mind. The former Sixth Man of the Year created 56 percent of his own scoring opportunities, which is a nice number. He also shot a respectable .341 from deep.
There are a lot of warning signs with Crawford, though. He is showing a decline, as he saw his scoring drop from 18.0 in 2010 to 14.2 last year. He should be available for less than the MLE though, unless someone drives the price up.
Rodney Stuckey is a player that I'm thinking might be a surprise breakout player next year. He created 62 percent of his own shots and averaged .93 points in isolation plays, which is a hefty number. At 6'5", he has tremendous size for a point guard and could make for a very economical signing.
Jose Barea showed what he was worth last year in the playoffs. "Playmaker" is the very definition of what he was doing. He scored a colossal 1.01 points per play in isolation last season. He created 77 percent of his own scoring opportunities.
He's listed as 6'0" but I think that's a "stretch"—as in, if you put him on a stretching rack and gave him platform shoes, he'd maybe be 5'11". In spite of this, he's a surprisingly good defender giving up just a 12.6 OPER.
Tracy McGrady showed he still had some playmaking ability last season with the Detroit Pistons. He scored 58 percent of his points unassisted with 23 percent of his points coming inside the paint. He also showed he has the ability to create shot opportunities for his teammates, posting his highest assist per 36 minutes in four years with 5.4
Wilson Chandler and J.R. Smith are a couple of other outstanding shot-creators who have done themselves a tremendous favor by signing in China and assuring the world they won't be in the NBA again until March.
Either could come home and join a potential postseason team for the stretch run, though.
