The success stories: Canadians in the NBA, 2017-18

[Hair Canada]

14 Canadians played NBA basketball this year. Three of them – Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Chris Boucher, and Naz Mitrou-Long – played 5 games or less and didn’t really make an impact. This season summary therefore focuses on the other 11.

Overall, it’s been a good year for the Canadians in the league. Most have done better than expected, although some disappointed.

One way to know that this was a good season is by comparing the number of players who seemed to be in danger of losing their place in the league or as rotation players before the season began and today. Personally, before the season started, I had some doubts whether more than half of our players – Ennis, Lyles, Stauskas, Powell, Brooks and Birch – had a long-term future in this league. After this season, only Ennis and Stauskas seem like they don’t really belong while the others all seem very likely to stick around the league at least for the next few seasons. Together with some expected newcomers over the next few years, the future looks bright for Canada basketball.

Hopefully, the Raptors, the only Canadian team in the league, can start integrating more of this bounty into their team, but that’s for another post.

This summary is going to be long, so I’ll divide it into three: The big success stories (in this post), the rise of the bigs, and the disappointments.

The grades are based on both performance and pre-season expectations

The big success stories:

Arguably, Kelly Olynyk should be here as well, but I’ll keep him for the second post about the rise of the bigs. Here I’ll focus on two others who have made a case for themselves as future leaders of the Canadian national team backcourt.

Dillon Brooks

Notable stats: 82 games as a rookie (74 as a starter), 11 points, 3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1 steal per game. A spot on my top-10 rookie of the year list in one of the strongest rookie cohorts in recent memory (if he had come to the league last year, he would actually be in contention for ROY…)

Brooks is clearly the biggest surprise and greatest Canadian success story this year. Arguably, also the most surprising rookie of the year and the biggest steal of the 2017 draft. It’s true that he played in one of the worst teams in the league and got a lot of chances, but you have to take what you are given, and Brooks has done that in full. Hasn’t always shot the ball that well and I think he’s a better passer than what his numbers show, but he’s been the best thing that happened to Memphis and to Canadian basketball this year. Personally, I’m especially happy with his defense. That’s an area where many scouts thought he’ll be having problems, given that he’s only an okay athlete in NBA terms and has a relatively short wingspan. Well, he showed once again that defense is primarily determined by intensity, heart, defensive intelligence, and intangibles, not just by athleticism and size (take note Andrew Wiggins). He also finished the year on a very strong note, with 15ppg in March and 21ppg in April, also showing over the last few games good potential as a passer. Hopefully, Brooks can build on this season and continue to improve next year with the team. For me, he’s carved a place not only in the league but also on the Canadian dream team starting 5. What more can you ask for?

Season grade: A+


Jamal Murray

Notable stats: 81 games (started in 80), 32 minutes a game, 16.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 38% from 3, 90.5% from the line, 57.6% true shooting (very good for a guard), 113 offensive rating (top-10 in the league).

Jamal had a very good sophomore NBA season. To put things in perspective, before the beginning of the season it seemed like he was still fighting with Emmanuel Mudiay over Denver’s starting PG position. Well, despite a weak start from Murray (in the first 12 games of the season he scored only 11ppg, shooting a horrible 25% from 3), that battle was very short lived. Murray continued to receive the confidence from the Denver coaching staff and soon established himself as one of the future faces of the young Nuggets, together with Nicola Jokic and Gary Harris. There was even a period during the month of January where Murray seemed like he was making the next jump and playing at an all-star level earlier than expected. He cooled off a bit afterwards, showing that he still has much to improve. In fact, I would say that his relatively mediocre play toward the end of season probably had a big part in the Nuggets ending up missing the playoffs this year.

Murray still has many areas of his game where he can improve. Perhaps the most important of these is his defense. I think he has the potential to be a good or at least a decent defender, with enough athleticism, competitive spirit and understanding of the game. But he needs to decide that this is important enough for him and have the right mindset. Right now he’s clearly not there. The Nuggets’ defense with him and with Jokic is one of the worst in the league. Offensively, Murray demonstrated toward the end of the season that he can be a better passer than what he’s shown before. He will never be a Steve Nash kind of playmaker, but with Jokic the Nuggets don’t really need this from him. He can also continue to improve his offensive consistency (too many single digit scoring games for a player at his level) and his shooting, which remains somewhat stricky.

But let’s remember that Murray only turned 21 lately. Arguably, he’s already the best Canadian player, and I expect him to continue to hold this title for the next couple of years (with possible competition from RJ Barrett at some point).

Season grade: B+ (mainly because the Nuggets missed the playoff and because I think he can do more and expect him to do that in the next few years)

[mojo13]

Great stuff Hair - as always.

Looking forward to the next installment. Especially curious about your Wiggins take as there are always such differing opinions on him.