We are in the dog days of summer here and with the lockout looking like it is far from being resolved, we are starting to see more and more player rankings pop up at various web sites.  I thought I would try my hand at these rankings, but instead of ranking by position or anything like that, I thought it would be interesting to look at a specific skill and rank players that way using a combination of numbers, game tape, and my own opinion.

When run properly, the pick and roll might be one of the hardest plays in the game to defend, and with so many teams using the pick and roll in their offense, having a ball handler who can run the pick and roll and be both a scoring threat and a threat to get the ball to a teammate is vital.  Here is my list of top five pick and roll ball handlers:

1. Steve Nash

I feel like Steve Nash being at the top of the pick and roll ball handler rankings should be the least surprising ranking I’ll do throughout the entire summer.  When you think about active players running the pick and roll, you think of Steve Nash first and foremost.  What makes Nash so dangerous in the pick and roll situations is that he does just about everything at an extremely high level, making him near impossible to defend.  When Steve Nash uses the ball screen (which happens 89.3% of the time), he posts a PPP of 1.031, placing him in the top 10% of all NBA players.

Nash is an elite shooter, especially off of the dribble, so he is always a threat to come off of the screen and knock down a jumper if given a little bit of space (posts a PPP of 1.099 when taking a jumper off of a ball screen – good for top 8% in the NBA).  If you want to take that shooting threat away from Nash, then he can come off of the screen and attack the rim, using his fantastic ball handling ability and his ability to finish at the rim over defenders (when attacking the basket, Nash posts a PPP of 1.050 on 57% shooting).  In addition to the physical skills, Nash knows how to use screens properly.  According to Synergy, Nash runs his man into the ball screen 19.2% of the time (the next highest is Derrick Rose, who does this 16% of the time).  With Nash getting his defender stuck on the ball screen, he puts the defense in such a tough position, usually resulting in a big switching onto him (the result is usually an open jumper as the big backs off of Nash to take away the dribble penetration).

Oh yeah, and if you are able to keep Nash from finding any space to get his own offense (usually by focusing most of the defensive attention on him), he’s one of the best passers in the NBA and will simply hit an open teammate.  Nash does a fantastic job of not always focusing on hitting the roll man, he does a great job of looking for the roll man and looking for teammates spotting up outside the pick and roll (47.5%/43.4% split):

2. Chris Paul

I have Chris Paul ranked as the second best pick and roll ball handler in as close of a gap you can have between first and second place.  Paul is almost the same exact player as Nash when coming off of ball screens (a very good shooter who prefers to take a jumper when coming off of screens – 1.052 PPP on 48% shooting – but if you overplay that he can put his head down and finish at the rim – 1.254 PPP on 57.7% shooting), Paul is quicker than Nash, meaning he is slightly better than Nash when it comes to taking the ball to the rim, but because both Nash and Paul are guys who spend a lot of time taking dribble jumpers off of screens and Nash is the better shooter, I have to give the advantage to Nash.

Also like Nash, Paul has a very good split when it comes to hitting his teammates (hits the roll man 42.2% of the time and hits teammates spotting up 49.6% of the time).  Again, this is important because the defense can’t just focus on defending the man rolling to the rim (or popping out in the pick and pop, which is the Hornets’ bread and butter), and that puts the defense on it’s heels making it hard to decide where to send the help from.

3. Tony Parker

Despite an iffy jumper that has gotten better (but still isn’t great) Tony Parker has gotten himself on this list because of his knack to finish at the rim, draw defenders, and execute San Antonio’s game plan to perfection (at least during the regular season).  Unlike the point guards ahead of him on this list, Tony Parker isn’t a huge threat when shooting a jumper off of a ball screen, but Parker is aware of this and he rarely ends up settling for these shots.  When coming off of ball screens, Parker takes it to the rim 46% of the time, which is a high number for point guards (Nash and Paul take it to the basket around 20% of the time) and he does a great job of finishing, shooting 59% on these shots, specifically the floater.

When it comes to hitting teammates, Parker has a tendency to hit the spot up man outside of the pick and roll more often than not, doing so 56.3% of the time.  However, this is San Antonio’s game plan, and the success they were having executing (when Parker hit a spot up shooter, the Spurs shot 42.9% and posted an eFG% of 56.5%) throughout the regular season is a credit to Parker and his ability to draw the defense in.

4. Dwyane Wade

The first non point guard on this list Dwyane Wade makes it because he does the best job of any NBA player using the ball screen in a number of different ways, keeping the defense on their heels and taking advantage of how they play him.  Wade dribbles off of the screen 61% of the time, went away from the screen 25.4% of the time (most in the NBA), and he splits the defense 10.3% of the time, and excels in every single aspect (top 25% in PPP among NBA players in all three categories/top 10% in PPP among NBA players when using the screen and splitting defenders).

If you are hesitant defending Wade on the ball screen, he’ll use it and attack the rim.  If you try to jump the screen and get over it taking it away from him, Wade will simply go away from the screen and create an opening.  If the defense shows a switch too early, Wade will split the defenders and get in position to score.  Wade’s very good at reading the defense and countering what they are doing.  With all the attention Wade draws, he is able to also put his teammates in situation to score as well, especially when we are talking about those spotting up, who shoot 45.5% from the field.

5. Hedo Turkoglu

At first glimpse Hedo Turkoglu on this list sounds a little bit crazy, but once you look at the numbers and watch the game tape, you realize that during his time with the Orlando Magic (with a coach who probably knows how to use Turkoglu the best), Turkoglu is a very good pick and roll player, especially when working with Dwight Howard.  The one number that shows you how well Turkoglu does in the pick and roll is Points Per Possession Including Passes.  Essentially what this number does is take all pick and roll possessions where the ball handler looks for their own offense and adds the possessions where the ball handler makes a pass, and calculate the points per possession of all those possessions.  When doing that, guess who comes out on top (out of all players with at least 70 PNR ball handler possessions)?  It’s Hedo Turkoglu, who posted a PPP of 1.0950.

Turkoglu’s height is what allows him to be so successful in pick and roll situations.  He is so tall that he can come off of screens and easily rise up and shoot over defenders if given the space (44.1% shooter when coming off of ball screens).  In addition, when hitting the roll man, Turkoglu is also one of the best players in the NBA.  When working with Dwight Howard, someone who he works very well with, Turkoglu just knows how to get him the basketball and put him in position to score.  The rol man (mostly Dwight Howard) when catching a pass from Turkoglu posts a PPP of 1.538, the highest in the NBA:

Honorable Mention:  Deron Williams and Derrick Rose

If we were doing top 5 pick and roll point guards, both of these guys would be on this list, but I think at this stage, both Wade and Turkoglu are more effective when coming off of pick and rolls when taking into consideration both individual offense and creating for others.  In Williams’ case, he just doesn’t do anything great.  He’s a good passer, a good shooter, and a good finisher, but he’s one peg lower than Nash and Paul.  He’s in the same mold as both of these guys, but just doesn’t shoot well enough to be considered at their level in my opinion.

Finally, we have Derrick Rose.  When creating his own offense, Derrick Rose is probably at the top or second (behind Dwyane Wade) among all pick and roll players, however you saw in the playoffs, once he starts getting trapped, he can’t create for his teammates.  That lack of ability (which I think he will develop in the next two years) has him off of this list right now.