Atlanta Hawks: Paul Millsap, The Unnoticed Superstar
By Aaron Mah
A new era has befallen upon us.
Never before has the importance of versatility been put on such an unfiltered pedestal. Small ball has always been in existence, but now — in 2015 — it has become an irrepressible epidemic.
More and more teams can be seen trotting out three- and four-guard lineups, housing an army of 3-and-D wings, and of course, deploying the expertise of stretch 4s and stretch 5s to optimize their spacing on offense, while subduing the misdirection spread pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs that modern NBA attacks lean so heavily on.
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A big man who can not only spread the floor with his shooting, but also put the ball on the deck and create for others are valued at an unprecedented premium.
We are continuously reminded of this by the success and historical start of the defending champions, Golden State Warriors, and the unparalleled impact their do-it-all forward, Draymond Green, has both on both ends of the floor.
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But while players like Green and Blake Griffin are often cited as the crème de le crème amongst the league’s legion of modern day “playmaking 4s,” Paul Millsap‘s name is usually swept under the rug, barely mentioned as if he were some hush-toned secret, when discussing the best the power forward position has to offer.
Playing for the Atlanta Hawks — a team that, en route to winning 60-plus games last season, earned the moniker of “Spurs East” — constitutionally consign Millsap the label as a system player, especially given his past reputation as a rugged, rebounding specialist, before his transformation into a 2-time All-Star after signing with Atlanta during the summer of 2013.
Perceived as an energetic, undersized third big during his embryonic days in the association, Millsap has grown tremendously since entering the league in 2006.
Nicknamed the Paper Boy — an omage paid to “the Mailman” Karl Malone; a fellow graduate of his alma mater, Louisiana Tech University — Paul has quietly diverged from his predraft ceiling cap and developed into one of the most well-rounded big men in the NBA.
More specifically, Millsap has undergone a startling stylistic overhaul over the last handful years — embarking on an unforeseen journey in evolving into an elite do-it-all power forward under coach Mike Budenholzer’s pace and space system.
The improvements the Monroe, La., native has made as a spot-up shooter, and more notably, as a ballhandler, have completely changed the trajectory of Millsap’s career.
In a league that functions off of misdirections, pick-and-roll play, and dribble handoffs, Millsap possesses the prototypical skill set to effectively capitalize on the 4-on-3 opportunities created by those basic actions.
Explicitly, he is a good enough shooter from beyond the arc — especially from the corners — where the opposition has to aggressively close out on him, and his refined handle allows him to penetrate the teeth of the defense and spawn forth a plethora of scoring opportunities for either himself or his teammates.
Such an array of skills is what Draymond Green excels at for the invincible Warriors; however, Millsap does not enjoy the luxury of playing alongside perhaps the most stress-inducing player in NBA history in Stephen Curry.
Thankfully for Hawks fans, Millsap is a much more effective ball-in-hand creator than Green.
He is fully capable of facing opposing bigs up and attacking off of a live dribble. Although he is not the most explosive of leapers, Millsap has an extensive repertoire of push shots and floaters when finishing around the basket.
Above all, defending out on the perimeter is still a foreign proposition for most bigs; as such, an intrepid penetrating 4 like Millsap innately draws a ton of fouls. It’s not a coincidence that his free throw rate has experienced a progressive rise as his ballhandling skills has gradually tightened up over the years.
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The Hawks last year — for the regular season, at least — made true of the old idiom as their whole was/is greater than the sum of its parts. Make no mistake, though, Millsap is the most important piece to Atlanta’s interdependent puzzle.
While mind you, we have yet to reach the quarter mark of the 2015-16 campaign, Millsap currently ranks sixth in ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus (RPM) stat. Ahead of him are the likes of Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kyle Lowry, LeBron James and Draymond Green.
Moreover, the 6’8″ human cinderblock is putting up career highs, and leading the team, in PER, True Shooting Percentage (TS%), Win Shares Per 48 Minutes, as well as individual Offensive Rating and Defensive Rating.
SportVU Data gives us empirical evidence that matches his analytical impact as well as the good ole eye test. To be more specific, Millsap is the most efficient roll man and post player on the team, posting 1.12 PPP and 1.20 PPP, respectively in the said situations, which ranks among the league’s top 73- and 99(!!!)-percentile.
To encapsulate Millsap’s all-encompassing offensive impact, he is the only player in the league this season to average more than 18 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block per game.
What’s most impressive about Millsap is he’s just as rousing of a defensive player as he is as an offensive hub.
Millsap seemingly excels at every aspect on D; whether he’s defending the post, closing out on shooters, protecting the rim, or containing the pick-and-roll, Paul has a penchant for fully maximizing his physical profile by utilizing his amazing lateral quickness for a man his of size, abnormal wingspan (7’2″), and surprising reach (8’10”) to serve as an omnipresent help terror.
In particular, Millsap is a special pick-and-roll defender. With the revival of the 21 series — an attempt to misdirect the defense with dribble-handoffs on the wings — Paul can blow-up such actions by either blitzing or hard-hedging the play and using his incredibly active hands to cause an avalanche of deflections and steals.
His unconventional defensive approach shocks most opposing ballhandlers as most teams opt to ice side pick-and-rolls by forcing such actions towards the sideline, while sinking their bigs back and encouraging the long mid-range shot — a strategy the Hawks employ with Al Horford.
Millsap, alternatively, has the ability to depress the comfort level of primary playmakers by giving them a distinctly different look.
He not only successfully ravage most wing screen-and-roll and dribble handoff forays, he can also comfortably switch onto opposing perimeter players in spread pick-and-roll situations; thereby, alleviating the anxiety the drive-and-kick game is intended to inspire.
Likewise, Paul is just as devastating when serving as a help defender. He is extremely attentive and cautiously quick when collapsing against penetration. Sure enough, despite his middling athleticism and being a tad bit undersized, his savvy knowledge of help concepts enables Millsap to protect the rim at an above-average rate.
In fact, Millsap ranks ninth among all players who challenge eight or more shot attempts at the rim per game in rim protection, relenting only 45.5 percent of all field goals from in close when he’s patrolling the paint.
The bottom line is, Paul Millsap’s refurbished game is custom-made for today’s NBA landscape. His concoction of skills and on-court awareness makes him the most cogent player nobody ever talks about.
This is not a guy putting up “empty” stats like a Shareef Abdur-Rahim of eras past; his panoptic impact is felt on both ends of the floor and his numbers directly translate to the monumental success the Atlanta Hawks have savored over the last 18 months.
At age 30, though, Millsap’s peak may be short-lived, but he should continue to be a borderline All-Star for the remainder of his discounted contract.
The lingering question surrounding the Hawks remain if their assemble of talent can overcome their achilles heel in defensive rebounding and the lack of a crunch time alpha male.
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As dynamic as Millsap has become as a ballhandler, his slow release on his jumpshot hinders his potency as a crunch time creator. One the other hand, Jeff Teague‘s inability to consistently pose as an outside threat limits his clout as a pick-and-roll ballhandler during the waning minutes of close games.
But if tracking the progression of Paul Millsap has taught us anything, it is that the Paper Boy is as hard of a worker as his inherited moniker insuates, and as the G.O.A.T., Michael Jordan, once said, limits, like fear, is often an illusion.