Less than three minutes into the Mavs/Knicks game on Dec. 17, Jameer Nelson took a Dirk Nowitzki screen on the right side of the floor. He then swung it to Monta Ellis on the left wing, who immediately tossed it to Chandler Parsons in the left corner. Parsons drove past his defender, Carmelo Anthony, glided into the lane, and threw a pass to an open Nelson for three.
It was a simple play with a simple result, and normally it’d be a forgettable moment in a game otherwise full of highlight reel plays. The Mavs won by 20, after all. It probably wasn’t even Parsons’s best play of the night. But the normalcy of that moment — just how unimpressive it was — is a microcosm of the young small forward’s game. He’s scoring 16.1 points per game this season, adding 5.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists, modest numbers even on the surface.
On a team full of valuable players, Parsons has already asserted himself as one of the most valuable. He has a rare combination of size, speed, skill, and smarts, and his contribution from the “weak” side of the floor have played a major role in the Mavs’ vaunted, league-leading offense this season.
When the Mavs signed Parsons this summer, he was billed as a playmaker, the type of guy who can make decisions on the fly and create either for himself or for others. The small forward isn’t quite to the point where he can run an offense — that’s up to Ellis, Nelson, Devin Harris, and JJ Barea, anyway — but he shreds defenses once the opponent has broken down. This assist against the Knicks, is a perfect example. Follow below, step-by-step, as the Mavs swing it around the horn to Parsons, who immediately slices and dices the Knicks before making a pass to an open shooter.
1. THE INITIATION
Nelson takes the Nowitzki screen and is already looking to swing it to Ellis. Nowitzki’s defender, Quincy Acy, wants nothing to do with leaving Dirk open, and he has a good reason: Nowitzki is really good. Meanwhile, Amar’e Stoudemire is planted firmly in the middle of the lane, playing sort of a free safety position in case Nelson is able to turn the corner and attack the rim. That means that Carmelo Anthony, responsible for Parsons in the corner, must slide over to Tyson Chandler. Tim Hardaway Jr., meanwhile, is about to have to close out against Ellis.
2. THE SECOND SWING
Ellis is pre-programmed to swing it to Parsons in the corner unless Hardaway closes out poorly. But because of the way the Knicks’ defense is positioned — with three forwards in the lane — it’s not worth even trying to drive from that angle. Monta would be cut off too quickly even if Hardaway was in a bad defensive position, so he swings it again to Parsons, who has about 10 feet of breathing space because his defender, Carmelo, is too busy worrying about Chandler closer to the rim. Normally, when teams reverse the ball, they’re looking for a numbers advantage. The Mavs have a 3-on-2 if they want it, as Stoudemire is still planted under the rim. But Parsons and the Mavs are too patient for that.
3. THE DRIVE
As Ellis is swinging the ball, Tyson Chandler moves up to the elbow to clear out space for Parsons should he choose to drive. Doing so also forces Anthony into closing out against Parsons at an awkward angle, leaving all sorts of space along the baseline. The small forward is entirely capable of putting the ball on the floor, something that hasn’t always been the case with Mavs wing men throughout Dirk’s career. Just look at all of that space Parsons has. He could literally walk down Broadway and lay it in, so that’s what he does.
4. THE DISH
It would be an easy layup, that is, but the Knicks know Parsons can drive it. The entire defense immediately collapses into the lane, and all five sets of eyes are on Parsons. Meanwhile, Nelson and Dirk are spotted up on the weakside, and because Acy has already committed himself to Parsons, Jose Calderon is the only defender on that side of the floor. He must choose, then, between jumping into the passing lane leading to Dirk, one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA, or Jameer Nelson, who’s shooting better than 37 percent on threes this season. Either way, the Knicks have already lost. One of those guys is going to be open and Parsons has the vision to read that it will be Nelson.
5. THE SHOT
Calderon (rightly) tries cutting off any pass to Nowitzki, which leaves Nelson in his own area code atop the arc. In a matter of three seconds, Parsons has driven around his defender and into the lane, where he sucked in the rest of the defense before leaving his feet, making a read, and delivering a pass to a wide-open three-point shooter. Not bad from a 6′ 10″ small forward. There aren’t many teams in the NBA with a 3 who can create offense like that. Parsons wasn’t the “point guard” of this play, but he still made everything happen. That’s why Dallas wanted him so badly this offseason. Here’s the play at full speed.
That’s just an impossible play to defend. The only way to stop it would be for Anthony to have an absolutely perfect closeout, but even then Parsons still would have had the time and space to let off a jump shot, even if it were contested.
He’s just a dangerous threat off the bounce in general. Here’s a drive from last night against Kyle Singler.
He makes the catch five seconds into the shot clock, or well before Andre Drummond is in any type of defensive position to help. Parsons is 1-on-1 then against Singler, and that matchup goes to the Mavs every time. Parsons scored a season-high 32 points last night and, as a team, the Mavs score 7.8 points off of 5.8 Parsons drives per game. The first number ranks 31st in the league.
And now that Parsons is hitting his long-range attempts, he’s become even more difficult to guard. Much like Anthony did in the first example, defenders are starting to close out more aggressively in order to eliminate the open look from three. But the Dallas youngster has such a lethal pump fake that it’s darn near impossible to tell when he’s going to shoot, pass, or drive.
If you listen carefully, you can hear Parsons shout “get some!” as he pump-fakes his defender into his coach. (Not really, but it’s still a really nice pump fake.)
When Parsons isn’t on the floor, Dallas lacks one more player who can act as a threat immediately off the catch and then the bounce. Even if he were a dead-eye corner three shooter, teams could still stick an average defender on him and just close out. But because he can shoot and drive it off a swing pass, it makes defending him a nightmare. Add to that his crafty pump fake and his patience as he’s driving the lane, waiting until the last possible moment to reveal his decision, and he’s one of the more dangerous players in the league.
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