Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard have given new meaning to the term “3-and-D player” by evolving from role players to superstars all while maintaining unselfish instincts. Young wings entering the league ought to look up to them.
You can’t execute a well spread-out, efficient offense in the modern NBA without 3-and-D specialists.
These low usage-rate wings are unsung heroes. Their primary tasks include moving without the ball, spotting up, sprinting back in transition to play defense and guarding the opposition’s best perimeter scorer.
Former San Antonio Spurs wing Bruce Bowen is the archetype of the 3-and-D player.
But the 3-and-D athlete has evolved from just a role player who rarely gets his name called on the offensive end to the focal point of opposing team’s defensive strategy.
Even though an offense runs through a quarterback, a point forward or point guard, who penetrates and breaks down defenses, it’s the 3-and-D player who more often than not converts a bad possession into three points.
Teams with playbooks that thrive off multiple playmakers, a la the Golden State Warriors, go hand-and-glove with such players, who are unselfish and play every possession to its merit.
Despite their hustle on defense and ability to sink a barrage of threes, 3-and-D players are rarely placed on the same pedestal, at least by MVP voters, as stat-sheet stuffers or volume scorers like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook or James Harden.
The 3-and-D revolution
Over the last few seasons, however, analytics are starting to underline the importance of 3-and-D players.
This is why Kawhi Leonard finished second in the MVP ballot and earned his first All-NBA First Team honor after averaging 21.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game last season.
During the same time frame, James Harden stuffed the stat-sheet with 29.0 points, 7.5 assists and 6.1 rebounds per game. But Harden didn’t make any of the All-NBA teams.
You’d say: “Oh, that’s because the Houston Rockets were the eighth seed.”
Wrong. DeMarcus Cousins made the All-NBA Second Team but his team didn’t even make the playoffs.
Voters simply cannot ignore Harden’s 29 points and 7.5 assists per game over the course of 82 games (Harden didn’t miss a solitary game and led the league in minutes per game – 38.1).
But they did. Because analytics don’t like Harden for his lackadaisical defense (ranked 125th in Defensive Rating) and low percentage of baskets made off assists (which might mean Harden’s playing style isn’t conducive for ball movement).
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Just like Leonard, Klay Thompson averaged 22.1 points and 2.1 assists per game but did enough to make the All-NBA Third Team.
Again, this is because voters saw the value of Thompson on both ends of the floor.
If not for Thompson and Leonard, the likes of Stephen Curry and Tony Parker would be under a lot more pressure to play defense. Even though Parker is an above-average defender, Leonard often takes up the most difficult perimeter assignments just the way Thompson rescues Curry on defense.
You stop and wonder why an unproven wing such as Allen Crabbe, who averaged 10.3 points last season, received a four-year, $75 million contract this summer. It’s simply because Crabbe is the quintessential three-and-D player, who are atop the wish list for every coach and general manager.
To rank the top-five 3-and-D players, we’ve used advanced metrics including points per shot clip, contested shots, points allowed per screen and many other variables.
On the brink of the 2016-17 season, we rank the top-five 3-and-D players in the league: