Who do you want your offense to run through with the game on the line? Counting down from 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…

MONTA ELLIS, Golden State Warriors Underrated as they are, Monta Ellis’ skills on the basketball court aren’t as glossed-over as the path he took to get the opportunity to display those skills.

The same blueprint by which Sebastian Telfair faltered, Monta has succeeded — the undersized guard coming straight out of high school with a child’s build and eye-popping, possibly misleading stats in tow. Read More »

Who do you want your offense to run through with the game on the line? Counting down from 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…

DANNY GRANGER, Indiana Pacers As much as fantasy owners love Granger, basketball sabermetricians hate him. Why such a divide between the two most stat-obsessed hoop fans on the landscape? Because Granger is living, breathing, buckets-getting proof that numbers don’t tell the entire story. Read More »

Who do you want your offense to run through with the game on the line? Counting down from 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…

JOHN SALMONS, Milwaukee Bucks

For the most part, NBA teams will do one of two things when it’s high-pressure time to get a bucket: (1) High screen-and-roll with their best playmaker and their best big man, (2) Iso for their best 1-on-1 scorer. Or, if you’re the Spurs, you might run an actual play that requires more than two guys to move. But it’s those first two options that make the Bucks so tough to figure out when it came to identifying a go-to guy. Read More »

Who do you want your offense to run through with the game on the line? Counting down from 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…

RUDY GAY, Memphis Grizzlies

Follow the money. If you’re looking at the Grizzlies roster and seeing at least three, maybe four players who could rightfully claim the title “go-to guy,” all you have to do to solve the puzzle is figure out the financials. Read More »

Who do you want your offense to run through with the game on the line? Counting down from 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…

STEPHEN JACKSON, Charlotte Bobcats

Kellen Winslow II‘s favorite basketball player has to be Stephen Jackson. The NFL Pro Bowl tight end once famously spouted off in a post-game college press conference: Read More »

Who do you want your offense to run through with the game on the line? Counting down 30th to 1st (one per team), I’ve ranked the League’s go-to guys…

BARON DAVIS, Los Angeles Clippers

When you follow up one uncharacteristically bad season with another — and then kick off the third year with an ominous start — you can’t blame anyone for suggesting that you’ve probably lost a step and aren’t getting it back. Read More »

In basketball, being a go-to guy isn’t always about who takes the last-second shot. It’s the guy who regularly gets the basketball when things are getting tense in the fourth quarter; the guy expected to calm things down when teammates are getting antsy; the guy called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally or spark a rally of his own; the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? Read More »

In basketball, being a go-to guy isn’t always about who takes the last-second shot. It’s the guy who regularly gets the basketball when things are getting tense in the fourth quarter; the guy expected to calm things down when teammates are getting antsy; the guy called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally or spark a rally of his own; the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? Read More »

In basketball, being a go-to guy isn’t always about who takes the last-second shot. It’s the guy who regularly gets the basketball when things are getting tense in the fourth quarter; the guy expected to calm things down when teammates are getting antsy; the guy called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally or spark a rally of his own; the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line?

Last year, in the weeks leading up to the NBA season, I ranked the League’s go-to guys. Using the rationale that even the most balanced team has one identifiable if-all-else-fails leader that they look to in crunch time, I picked one player per squad for a final list of 30. Again, ONE PLAYER PER TEAM. Here is the list going into this season: Read More »

In basketball, being a go-to guy isn’t always about who takes the last-second shot. It’s the guy who regularly gets the basketball when things are getting tense in the fourth quarter; the guy expected to calm things down when teammates are getting antsy; the guy called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally or spark a rally of his own; the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? Read More »