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Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter.Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes.
By almost every metric, Tyrese Haliburton is one of the best young players in the NBA. Certainly one of the league's premier point guards. He checks every box.
Since Haliburton's first full season in Indiana in 2022-23, the 25-year-old is averaging a double-double at 20 points and 10 assists per game. The only players with more total assists in that three-year span are Trae Young and Nikola Jokic. Along the way, Haliburton has continued to improve each year, posting a career high in win shares this season. In fact, the two-time all-star is top 10 in the NBA in win shares per 48 minutes, box plus/minus and value over replacement player. He has a strong case to make a second straight All-NBA team.
And yet, Haliburton's peers don't seem to respect his game much.
On Wednesday, an anonymous player poll by The Athletic revealed players think Haliburton is the league's most overrated player, with the Indiana Pacers star receiving 14.4% of the votes. The next-closest player was Rudy Gobert at 10%. It's worth noting the poll was conducted amongst 158 players -- over one-third of the league -- and only 90 responded to this particular question, which was the second-fewest for any question in the poll. Regardless, even in a small sample size, Haliburton being at the top probably speaks to how underappreciated his game is.
So, how did Haliburton respond? The best way he could. By continuing to play his game -- the same game that carried the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. On Tuesday, that game carried Indiana to a 2-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks. Haliburton had 21 points, 12 assists and five rebounds. That was better than anything he could say in response to the poll, though he did have some words too.
RIVALRY?The Bucks-Pacers hate is good for the game
"I must be doing something right if that's the case. ... Not too worried about that. I know who I am. I'm confident in my own skin. Not worried about what anybody thinks. My teammates trust me, my front office, my coaching staff," Haliburton said after the game.
Look, I get it. Haliburton is more of a throwback player compared to other elite point guards of his era. He isn't always hunting for his own shots, rather looking to set the table for his team. But he does that better than almost anyone, posting the NBA's best assist-to-turnover ratio this season. And though his shooting form isn't the prettiest, he's pretty damn good putting the ball in the hoop too. And the Pacers win! Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle knows exactly what Haliburton can do, which is why his response was a little more fiery.
Ultimately, though, the best thing Haliburton can do to shed the narrative of being overrated is to continue hooping and leading Indiana to wins, and that's exactly what he did Tuesday. With a little more of that, he'll be topping the list of the NBA's most underrated players in no time.
Game 3 of the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers series isn't until Thursday, as these teams are on a two-day rest before resuming play in LA, but they'll want to make sure they use these rest days wisely. As FTW's Robert Zeglinski writes, this series is shaping up to be a long one and that's bad news for whoever comes out on top:
"For every matchup problem the Nuggets can present with Nikola Jokic, it feels like the Clippers have an answer. For every matchup problem the Clippers can present with [Kawhi] Leonard, it feels like the Nuggets have an answer.
When you have that sort of mix, you have the perfect concoction of elite playoff basketball between two experienced teams ready to trade emotional haymaker after emotional haymaker.
The growing potential problem here for the Nuggets and Clippers is that the winner of this series will still have basketball to play beyond this round. And it sure feels like the 68-win juggernaut Oklahoma City Thunder will be waiting for them on the other side with an ample rest advantage. Gulp."
He's not wrong about the Thunder. They looked amazing again Tuesday in another blowout win over the Grizzlies. They'll be ready for whoever advances. Read more from Robert here.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Tyrese Haliburton, NBA's most overrated player, responds to vote
Continue reading...
By almost every metric, Tyrese Haliburton is one of the best young players in the NBA. Certainly one of the league's premier point guards. He checks every box.
Since Haliburton's first full season in Indiana in 2022-23, the 25-year-old is averaging a double-double at 20 points and 10 assists per game. The only players with more total assists in that three-year span are Trae Young and Nikola Jokic. Along the way, Haliburton has continued to improve each year, posting a career high in win shares this season. In fact, the two-time all-star is top 10 in the NBA in win shares per 48 minutes, box plus/minus and value over replacement player. He has a strong case to make a second straight All-NBA team.
And yet, Haliburton's peers don't seem to respect his game much.
On Wednesday, an anonymous player poll by The Athletic revealed players think Haliburton is the league's most overrated player, with the Indiana Pacers star receiving 14.4% of the votes. The next-closest player was Rudy Gobert at 10%. It's worth noting the poll was conducted amongst 158 players -- over one-third of the league -- and only 90 responded to this particular question, which was the second-fewest for any question in the poll. Regardless, even in a small sample size, Haliburton being at the top probably speaks to how underappreciated his game is.
So, how did Haliburton respond? The best way he could. By continuing to play his game -- the same game that carried the Pacers to the Eastern Conference Finals last season. On Tuesday, that game carried Indiana to a 2-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks. Haliburton had 21 points, 12 assists and five rebounds. That was better than anything he could say in response to the poll, though he did have some words too.
RIVALRY?The Bucks-Pacers hate is good for the game
"I must be doing something right if that's the case. ... Not too worried about that. I know who I am. I'm confident in my own skin. Not worried about what anybody thinks. My teammates trust me, my front office, my coaching staff," Haliburton said after the game.
Look, I get it. Haliburton is more of a throwback player compared to other elite point guards of his era. He isn't always hunting for his own shots, rather looking to set the table for his team. But he does that better than almost anyone, posting the NBA's best assist-to-turnover ratio this season. And though his shooting form isn't the prettiest, he's pretty damn good putting the ball in the hoop too. And the Pacers win! Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle knows exactly what Haliburton can do, which is why his response was a little more fiery.
Ultimately, though, the best thing Haliburton can do to shed the narrative of being overrated is to continue hooping and leading Indiana to wins, and that's exactly what he did Tuesday. With a little more of that, he'll be topping the list of the NBA's most underrated players in no time.
A long Nuggets-Clippers series is bad news for the winner
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Game 3 of the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers series isn't until Thursday, as these teams are on a two-day rest before resuming play in LA, but they'll want to make sure they use these rest days wisely. As FTW's Robert Zeglinski writes, this series is shaping up to be a long one and that's bad news for whoever comes out on top:
"For every matchup problem the Nuggets can present with Nikola Jokic, it feels like the Clippers have an answer. For every matchup problem the Clippers can present with [Kawhi] Leonard, it feels like the Nuggets have an answer.
When you have that sort of mix, you have the perfect concoction of elite playoff basketball between two experienced teams ready to trade emotional haymaker after emotional haymaker.
The growing potential problem here for the Nuggets and Clippers is that the winner of this series will still have basketball to play beyond this round. And it sure feels like the 68-win juggernaut Oklahoma City Thunder will be waiting for them on the other side with an ample rest advantage. Gulp."
He's not wrong about the Thunder. They looked amazing again Tuesday in another blowout win over the Grizzlies. They'll be ready for whoever advances. Read more from Robert here.
Shootaround
- Pacers fans trolled Giannis Antetokounmpo with a goofy free-throw clock
- Caitlin Clark couldn't resist jawing at a ref during a Pacers t-shirt toss
- Hot mics caught J.J. Redick's profanity-laced tirade at the Lakers
- LeBron James' response to Kevin Gates about Savannah was perfect
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Tyrese Haliburton, NBA's most overrated player, responds to vote
Continue reading...
