Some Great Players Are More Impactful Than Others

In the NBA, a wide variety of players exist (even though they all shoot threes nowadays ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

Many of these players have made a name for themselves by being incredibly skillful – think LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Wardell Stephen Curry – but despite all these players being great, they have all seen varying levels of success between them.

We’ve talked about teams, and why one shouldn’t use rings to grade players (since they don’t tell enough about the players, and because they are very circumstantial). While that is important, there are times where an individual player can elevate their team (and this elevation doesn’t always result in a ring, nor does it always have to). Their relative production can be higher than others. You can tell this by playstyle. Players that know how to pass and set the tempo are more impactful than players who can’t. Players that are great at making their own shots are more impactful and team-elevating than players who can’t. Players that know how to move off-ball are more impactful than players who can’t. For the purposes of this article (or website, really), we’ll call them “Impact Players”. We are using our own definition of “impact” to simply describe players that can carry teams.

And then there are what we dub as “Weapon Players”. Players who, on their own, are usually scoring machines. They may also be great on defense. They get the big numbers. May get MVP votes.

But these Weapon Players don’t do that great of a job at carrying teams to championships. They are exciting – they are fascinating – but you might not want them as your number 1 option. They lack those subtleties that “impact” players have.

Look at the Warriors when Stephen Curry is on and Durant is off vs when Durant is on and Curry is off. Yes, many would argue Kevin Durant is the better player – especially in the playoffs – but this isn’t arguing which player is better. It’s arguing playstyle and impact. And Steph has more of an impact on the Warriors and Durant. There’s a reason why when he drops 40, they rarely lose, as where when Durant drops 40, they sometimes do lose. You can’t argue that the Warriors system is built around Curry; it is, but having an ensemble of three-point shooters is how virtually every team plays nowadays, so Kevin Durant’s lack of success (compared to Curry) is telling of their playstyle.

Let’s break it down. Steph Curry can shoot the ball better than anyone has, and is great at finishing around the room. He is an underrated passer, and is great at moving off-ball and getting open. Arguably the best ever at that, in fact, and the impact it has on how the Warriors move the ball and score is incomprehensible.

Impact players are typically elite at one of the 3 central areas – defense, playmaking, scoring – in a way where it can buoy teammates, and force the other team to play left-handed.

Weapons can be impactful, but not as much, which is why they are better suited for 2nd option roles. Kevin Durant, for example, is a great weapon – he’s very difficult to guard, and creates a mismatch for the opposing team. His defense is good too. Durant can definitely be impactful, and can doubled, opening things up for his team.

But Durant does little things that prevent him from being more impactful. An obvious one is his passing – he can make passes to the open man, but his court vision, anticipation, and ability to make the 2nd or 3rd read isn’t as strong. The second one is his shot selection, oddly enough: despite KD’s size, and range, KD still settles for a lot of difficult mid-range shots.

Shoutout to Thinking Basketball – they produce a lot of great content. This video does a good job of explaining why the Suns had trouble exposing Nikola Jokic’s defense. KD (and Booker) weren’t adept at making more advanced passes, and they settled for a lot of mid-range jump shots, thus allowing Jokic to not have to move much out into the perimeter. The mid-range shot makes it hard to exploit mismatches, and poke holes in the defense.

Part of why Curry and LeBron are more impactful players than KD is because their games force a defense to play left-handed. Impact players force a defense to play left-handed, and completely change their strategy. LeBron’s ability to drive to the paint at will, along with his incredible passing/playmaking, means that you can’t really afford to play certain zone defenses that can protect weaker defenders. Curry’s 3pt shooting and off-ball movement and pace means that double-teaming him is basically conceding points to his teammates and hoping they miss shots.

Again, this isn’t meant to rip on KD and say he isn’t a great player. Again, he still does have impact. It’s meant to illustrate the difference.

Anthony Davis is a great weapon – he is versatile defensively, and can jump shoot as well as score in the paint with his size. But his impact comes and goes. Part of it is a consistency issue. But some of it is also his shot selection as well: AD doesn’t post-up enough as much as he should. This matters because posting-up is an easy way to draw defenders towards you – and create open looks for your teammates. By settling for too many face-up jumpers, you are not challenging and breaking down the other teams’ defense.

Weapon players are great, but they work better as a 1B than a true #1A player.