NBA Canadian Player Power Rankings: Week #3

1. Jamal Murray

The Canadian point guard has reclaimed the spot of being the #1 Canadian player in the NBA. Murray's responded well to worries about the Nugget's sluggish start to the season and he's one of the reasons the Nuggets are riding a 4 game win streak (obviously aside from Jokic's ridiculous back-to-back game winners). In three games this week, Murray's scored 21, 22 and 15 points respectively and even had an 11 assist game as well. He's been scorching this week from the field and the only reason he went 6-19 against the Wolves Sunday night was he tweaked his right ankle in the third quarter (he had scored all 15 of his points in the first half and just never looked right the remainder of the game). 

Murray's averaging a career high in PER this season at 18.93 as well as  in WS/48 at 0.146. The biggest thing that jumps out at me for Murray this year is his defense and passing. While he still makes some mistakes with rotations and falls asleep when he's off ball at times, Murray's defensive effort is at an all time high. Although it's a small sample size, this season is the first year Murray has a positive DBPM (he's at 0.3). 

This play really epitomizes Murray's growth as a defender. He navigates perfectly through the soft Embiid off-ball screen. When Richardson gets past him, he doesn't give up on the play.Murray continues to slide his feet and the perfectly times his jump to get the block. It's just good stuff to see from Murray.

In terms of passing, Murray has definitely developed and matured. The turnovers are still a little high and I don't think he ever will be a primary facilitator on an NBA team, but he's making the right reads and hitting his teammates in stride. His improvements as a player have not gone unnoticed as well. Draymond Green tweeted after the Sixers-Nuggets game Friday night: 

Jamaal Murray has grown... didn’t settle for the 3 with Embiid guarding him. Took the easy 2.... and absolute nobody will say Milsap saved this game... basketball geniuses of the world

— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) November 9, 2019

It looks like Murray's yearly slow start is behind them and it great it's ended in just the 3rd week of the season. Hopefully his ankle injury is not serious and Murray continues his hot shooting and improved defence into next week.

2. Tristan Thompson

Tristan Thompson has been the biggest surprise for me this season. After all of his off-court drama, it looked like Thompson's basketball career was only going down from here. To everyone's surprise, Thompson has been putting up fringe all-star numbers to start the year. It seems like Thompson is at his best during contract years and as a Canadian basketball fan, this could bode well for a potential Olympic run (Thompson has been an active member of Team Canada in the past and if he's playing like this, he would definitely be starting). 

This week, Thompson put up 3 double-doubles and very nearly had 4 (finished with 9 pts and 9 rebs in a win against the Knicks). He's become a double-double machine and is taking on a much larger role on offence this season. Coach Beilein has a lot of trust in Thompson and he's been rewarding him with big game after big game.

And it's not like Thompson is putting up empty stats on a horrible team. While the Cavs are in the middle of a rebuild, they have started the season 4-5 and many of the wins have been thanks to great play from their vets (which includes Thompson). 

Thompson's advanced numbers are off the charts. He's averaging a PER of 25.68, good for 15th in the league and an absurd 6.3 BPM. He's currently at 0.227 WS/48 and his ORB% has matched his career high of 15.4%.

While I don't think this kind of production is sustainable, it's great to see Thompson playing well this season.

3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

I know, I know. Shai put in a another great week and yet he still slid two spots in your player rankings. I think this just speaks volumes for the growth of Canadian basketball in the NBA. I mean Shai put up three more 20 + point outings this week.  

For Shai, the efficiency has come down a little bit (as expected). Nobody was expecting Shai to continue to score the ball at such a high clip. However, what still is amazing is Shai has been able to become a more efficient scorer (career high TS%, eFG%) while seeing a huge increase in USG% (he's jumped from 18.3 to 25.3!). 

An underrated part of Shai's game this season has been his rebounding. While he didn't do as well on the boards this week, Shai has been snatching rebounds using his insane length and reach.

This play was really eye-opening for me. Shai uses his length to beat a 7 footer in Brook Lopez and another long-armed wing in Khris Middleton to tap the ball back to his teammate. I'm not sure if this was counted as a rebound for Shai but it's this type of effort on the boards that has really impressed me.

Despite falling in this week's power rankings, Shai's start to the season has been spectacular. I wouldn't be surprised to see him become the first Canadian to win MIP.

4. Andrew Wiggins

On Nov 6th, 2019 Wiggins and Brooks became the first two Canadians to score 30 or more points in a single game. 

I would just like to get this out there, but I have been on Wiggins island for a long time. Don't believe me. Check out this post I made before the season where I pegged Wiggins as my pick to win Most Improved Player. And boy have I not been disappointed.

This is really the first year of Andrew's career where he's scoring (more) efficiently and contributing in other areas of the game. Last week he scored at least 25 points in all 4 of his games and did on 49% shooting from the field. While the FG% may not jump off the page, it's great to see Wiggins scoring more on better efficiency. Wiggins is finally using his athleticism this year and attacking the basket. And it's opened up his game so much. While he is still susceptible to a turn around mid-range jumper, Coach Saunders has really got Wiggins playing an aggressive style of basketball. He's continuing to be the Wolves go to player this year in the clutch as seen with his huge triple to seal the game against the Warriors.

The KAT-Wiggins pick and roll has become a deadly play in crunch time and Wiggins has been hitting big shot after big shot.

The most impressive thing that I noticed from Wiggins was his improvement as a playmaker. His past three games he's recorded, 6, 7 and 5 assists and his Ast% has jumped to 15.9%. He's no longer driving to the basket with tunnel vision and actually making the right pass, rather than force up a contested shot like years in the past. His improved passing combined with his new found aggressiveness really makes me excited. I mean the pass he makes here is just beautiful to watch.

5. Brandon Clarke

Brandon Clarke has made his first appearance in the top 5 rankings this season. Although Clarke was the third Canadian to be drafted, he has been the most impactful Canadian rookie thus far. He's averaging a 21.4 PER to go along with a 1.9 BPM and 0.153 WS/48. He's also been one of the most effective players on the whole Grizzlies roster, a team that comprises of Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. 

His defense and agility has been as good as advertised. Although undersized and not blessed with insane length, Clarke is already an excellent rim protector. His timing and vertical leap are elite, even for NBA standards. His agility allows him to be a switchable defender. 

This play perfectly encapsulates Clarke's impact on defense. Stays on the weak side and perfectly times his rotation and jump to block the shot. Then uses his agility and quickness to track down the loose ball and keep it inbounds. With Clarke and Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies have a dynamic young front court that is already excellent on the defensive end.

What has caught my eye is Clarke's free throw shooting. Although he's only taken 12 free throws thus far, he's shooting 91.7%! Just a couple years ago Clarke's shooting form was clunky and ugly.

Got about a half into watching Clarke for the first time and liked a lot of what he showed (athleticism, D rotations etc). Then I finally saw the shooting form and oh boy pic.twitter.com/b6s4uAtSXt

— Cole Zwicker (@colezwicker) September 4, 2018

Fast forward to now and Clarke's shot is much more fluid and I can really seem him developing into a respectable catch and shoot option.

Honourable Mention: Dwight Powell

He's still recovering from his injury, but his play this week was decent. He continues to be shooting great from the field with his 60.3 eFG%. His Drb % has also jumped to 19.3%. Carlisle has a lot of trust in Powell and he may reclaim his starting role when he is fully healthy. As he gets himself into game shape, look for Powell to put up some monster games of efficiency. 

Story to Watch: RJ Barrett and Brandon Clarke vs. Load Management

With load management all in the news recently I thought it would be interesting to examine the issue from a Canadian perspective. In this case it's the different approaches that the Knicks and Grizzlies are taking with their rookies.

With RJ Barrett, Coach Fizdale has played him heavy minutes from the start. He's tied for 10th in the league in minutes played and the only reason he's not higher is the Knicks have been blown out in 3 of the last 4 games. In fact, Barrett has played so much that it appears he may have already started to hit the rookie wall (although I think it's just a bad week for Barrett, some concerns that plagued him in College are starting to rear their ugly head again). Fizdale ranted, "We gotta get off this load management crap. Latrell Sprewell averaged 42 minutes for a season. This kid's 19 years old. Drop it."

Meanwhile the Grizzlies have taken a much more progressive approach with Brandon Clarke. They cautiously rested Clarke on Saturday night due to "injury maintenance" (he's been dealing with a sore back) and have joined the rest of the league in this load management movement. 

With the load management debate raging on, I thought it was notable how two future cornerstones of Canada basketball were experiencing it in two very different ways.