"The Deepest in the Whole Network" Paul Scout Report

Chris Paul attended 82 games with the Spurs in 24-25, all of which were the starters. Paul played 34 wins and 48 losses.

In terms of attendance, Paul was undoubtedly the "model" among all veterans in the league last season. It was a miracle to have a full attendance at the age of 39. This is the second time Paul has played full attendance in his career since the 14-15 Clippers season. This also made Paul the only player in NBA history to play 82 games in his 20th season of his career.

Paul's full attendance performance last season is certainly commendable and recognized, but it should be noted that in the past two years, Paul's attendance rate was not very good (and there was still a certain decline). Paul's average attendance in the 23rd and 24th seasons was 58.5 games, with an attendance rate of 71%.

Average 28 minutes, 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.3 blocks, 1.6 turnovers, 42.7% shooting percentage, 37.7% from three-point shooting percentage, and 92.4% from free throw percentage. USG 13.7%, TS 58%.

EPM0.7, EPM contributed 5.9 in winning games. LEBRON 0.1. BPM 0.8.

Although the Spurs won a higher rotation position last season than they did during the Warriors, the scoring output did not rebound. As age increases, Paul's personal main attack has further declined. The round share fell further to 13.7%, the lowest in his career. Compared with the Clippers' horizontal comparison, the round share closest to Paul is Dunn (12.6%).

At the same time, 8.8 points per game is also the lowest in Paul's career. The good news is: after downgrading power and making more three-pointers, Paul has played the best efficiency in the past three years (real shooting percentage is 58%)

Last season, Paul played 82 games, showing excellent endurance and health, which is delightful. But looking at Paul's performance in every stage of the whole season, we can still find that as he grows, Paul still faces some problems in maintaining his condition over the long season.

Take "GmSc" ("match score" calculated by combining basic data and algorithms) as an example: It can be seen that the opening stage is Paul's best in the entire season. As the schedule deepens, with November and December as the two key nodes, Paul's competitive state has shown a significant decline. Overall, Paul's performance last season was still showing a trend of "opening high and closing low".

However, for Paul next season, he is likely not to get the rotational status of the Spurs last season (all starters + average 28 minutes per game), which will naturally be helpful for his performance in unit time and long season endurance and status continuation.

Positioning in the offensive system & Disassembly of offensive technical characteristics

Positioning in the Spurs offensive system: stadium brain, number one main controller, pick-and-roll developer

Disassembly of offensive technical characteristics

1. "God of Point Guard" Paul's passing and control, organizational ability comprehensive analysis

Looking at the Clippers' substitute point guards in recent years, Westbrook and Porter Jr. are obviously not "stable" ball handlers, and their own control errors are relatively poor. Dunn and Simmons' passes tend to support and deal cards, and Bogdan is never a real point guard.

Control errors were one of the most troublesome problems on the Clippers' offensive end last season. Although Leonard's comeback was a small node and the All-Stars were a big node, the Clippers' control errors had significantly improved. But throughout the season, the Clippers' control mistakes are still seventh from the bottom in the league, and in the playoffs, the Clippers' control mistakes are "spooked" again - especially when Harden is not on the court. Although the Clippers ranked third in the league in the playoffs last season, when Harden was not on the court, because of Bogdan's pass control and silence (and rarely played with Simmons)..., the Clippers' turnover rate soared to 16.7%. Compared with the 16 teams that entered the playoffs last year, it ranks fourth last. This is based on the Nuggets (under a large sample of last year's regular season) that they make mistakes and have the final result in the league.

Obviously, under the premise that Harden is one of the most important players of the Clippers, the Clippers' "dependence" on Harden is still increasing in playoff-level games.

Harden's total playing time last season ranked fifth in the league (up to 37.2 minutes after All-Star, fourth in the league during the same period). He played 79 games, close to full attendance. The number of games that were resting was mainly concentrated on "strategic abandonment" when facing strong teams. As one of the most important players of the Clippers last season, they did not dare to "take a break and take a breath" when facing bad teams.

After encountering sprained ankle against the Thunder, the spirit of returning to the team for a game of no rest and a live line is certainly worthy of respect, but there must be risks and hidden dangers behind this. In this era of "injury and illness are as fierce as tigers", the core load is an issue that must be paid attention to.

And, if the Clippers set the goal at the beginning of the season next season is to strive for the championship, then they must look forward to the long-term and formulate a "9-month plan" (from the beginning of the season to the finals) in the long season to think about how to spend the long season more reasonably and with a lower load on the core.

On the one hand, Paul's "meaning" to the Clippers is mainly divided into three levels:

- The Clippers have the "second brain" in the true sense and the point guard behind Harden who can "control the scene". This gives the Clippers' connection section better field control and organizational connection capabilities, pick-and-roll instigation and offensive dominance.

- Fill in the team's lineup shortcomings: further consolidate the improvement of control mistakes as the season progressed last season; improve the control ability behind Harden in high-intensity games.

——Reduce the load on the core: the introduction of the "second brain" also increases the capital for the Clippers to try to reduce Harden's playing time and rest in games where he can choose to take a turn..

In summary, like the power forward and substitute center, the substitute point guard is one of the highest priority positions in the Clippers to sign up this offseason. An excellent organizer, field control player, and a substitute point guard who can truly play the "second brain" in the second lineup is obviously what the Clippers need.

And this is exactly what Paul is good at.

Paul, who was 39 years old last season, still performed outstanding pass and control performance and is still the top organization master in the league.

Focusing on his 20-year career to the last five years, it can be found that as an assist master who ranks second in the history assist list with 12,499 assists, Paul has played the league's top assist performance in the past years (2 on the left below). Last season, Paul was still able to deliver the fifth most assists in the league every 36 minutes, with the fourth highest assist in the league.

On this basis, what is very important for the Clippers is that Paul is still a very "stable" field control player. "Stability" is precisely the label that the Clippers' previous substitute point guards generally lack.

Paul has maintained excellent control mistakes (2nd right above). Although he has regressed last season, he can still surpass 69% of the players in the same position. In addition, as mentioned above: excellent organizational skills and superb passing techniques, this also makes Paul's true assists and losses always the top scorer in the league (first picture above left).

And, Paul has proved in the past few years that as long as he is present, he can help the team play better control mistakes (1st right above).

Authentic, the decline in personal offensive ability brought about by the increase in age will weaken Paul's ability to change his defensive formation. However, reading the scene, judging the situation and passing the ball will not only not diminish, but will instead "become the older you get."

Channing Fry once said about Paul in a show: "The most important thing is that as long as you appear in the right position, he (Paul) will definitely find you. He is really happy to pass the ball.

After Paul gave 14 assists in a single game during the Warriors, Cole said: "He connected the entire team, and this game is like Paul giving everyone a lesson about passing, which is very interesting."

Listing data is also mainly to help everyone establish a macro concept of Paul's organizational ability. And the most basic cognitive framework.

For Paul, who has excellent basketball IQ, excellent organizational skills, and a veteran who has been in the league for 20 years, the data obviously cannot fully reflect his profound skills in organizing offense and reading defense.

If you want to dismantle Paul's passing skills more deeply, micro-to-each round analysis is naturally an indispensable part.

I have a total of 605 against Paul in the 24-25 season. The assists were captured, refined and summarized, and they were divided into several categories to deeply analyze Paul's organizational ability and passing techniques:

- Pick-and-roll instigation attack, creating an ending opportunity for the cover. In the most popular terms, "Pick-and-roll feeding cakes".

The high pick-and-roll of Wenban helped Paul get rid of Cody, and Kessler chose the higher position to retreat.

Because Cody had lost his position, George, who was on the weak side, did not make the Wenban's successor. In fact, Clarkson at the bottom corner did not have the awareness of recovering the mattress defense class in advance. Therefore, Paul and the mattress entered the real advantage of two-on-one pick-and-roll marching.

Near the shot below, Paul looked at the mattress and also saw George at the weak side 45° recycling station swiping position. Therefore, he did not use his pocket pass to the mattress as soon as possible, but chose to continue to move.

For Paul now, if you want to create an ending opportunity for the Wenban who is going down, you must restrain Kessler's defensive attention to the greatest extent. Moving to the left pretends to be a mid-range shot that will block Wenban's downward route, and going to the right will be too close to the sideline. At the same time, connecting emergency stops and step-drawings will also be risked to be entangled by Cody back and forth.

So Paul chose to accelerate the breakthrough, jump to the basket, and pretend to end the throw.

But in fact, it is from the side Holding up the basketball, using a hook pass to throw the ball high towards Wenban, and after jumping, his eyes kept staring at the basket, successfully shaking Kessler. While playing with Kessler, he also successfully transformed the advantage of pick-and-roll marching into a score.

Clippers were wrongly defended, so Paul started the pick-and-roll, and dispatched the frame protector.

Mann took cover, and Zubac was forced to switch defense. At this time, the core of the assisted defense was already Paul was transferred from the frame protection position, and Wenban faced the wrong defense of his Jones, who had an absolute advantage in body shape, so Paul directly reached out to signal Wenban to cut into the basket. After Wenban did as he did, Paul directly hit him, Wenban made a dunk.

Wenban Paul initiated a high pick-and-roll, and Gobert delayed to the three-point line.

Paul kept looking at the basket, misleading Gobert, and waiting for Wenban to get off the Wenban After reaching the right position, he directly hit the earth with a single shot. Divine at the bottom corner of the weak side did not recover the pad defense in time. Wenban directly penetrated Gobert after receiving the pass from Paul.

Paul launched the pick-and-roll with Sohan on the strong side, Caruso retreated, and Mitchell on the weak side was preparing to recover and assist in defense. Paul first pretended to give KJ to the weak side 45° to reduce Caruso's vigilance, but in fact he accurately guided the basket Sohan, Sohan made a layup after receiving the ball.

The Rockets replaced defense, and Corinth quickly took the advantage of the defense. Paul directly hit the Earth with a single shot.

Joseph took cover, and Paul pretended to connect the mid-range shot while pick-and-roll, attracting Carter to lift and switch defense.

Being dislocated, he went to the penalty area and asked for the ball with his back. Paul immediately gave the ball.

Murphy took cover, and Missy was forced to switch defense. Paul caught Murphy and chased back. Missy did not return to defense and followed Biyongbo's defensive communication mistake, giving Biyongbo's upload ball.

and Wenban started to clear one side's hand hand, pretending to be a mid-range shot to attract the thick eyebrows to lift up and fly. Reddish and Kennett on the weak side did not recycle the frame protection. Paul directly sent a flight to Wenban who had the advantage of taking the lead and obvious body shape.

After attracting the opponent's center to take into account the pick-and-roll, he quickly returned to Wenban and Mamu who were dismantled outside. Next season, the Clippers are also surrounded by cover finishers like Daluo and Collins who also have the ability to dismantle.

Because the opponent will take wrong defenses against the Wenban, Paul will also have some pick-and-roll cooperation with non-center players. For example, excellent front cover finishers like Sohan include a small number of pick-and-roll cooperation with players like Castle.

This also further accumulates experience for Paul and Collins' pick-and-roll cooperation next season, and Jones Jr., who also has a certain cover to end the scene.

In addition to dominating the ball to the cover finisher during pick-and-roll travel, Paul will naturally observe the movements of the opponent's weak bottom corner defender. Once recovered and assisted defense, Paul will immediately give the ball and punish him.

My favorite, and one of Paul's most exquisite "passing performances" last season, is a set of "same works" shots from 12.16 vs. Timberwolves, 1.14 vs. Lakers, and 1.30 vs. Clippers:

Paul passes through the "three points and one line", making it difficult for players who defend the weak side bottom corner (even the Wenban himself) to judge whether Paul wants to pass directly or guide the players in the bottom corner, thereby interfering with the defender's backward speed and creating a better shooting environment for teammates in the bottom corner.

Paul Wenban launched a pick-and-roll on the side, and Christie replaced the defense and went around the front to catch the ball. The Bacun at the weak bottom corner recovered on a large scale, preparing to perform a bottom-line clamp attack after Wenban received the ball.

So Paul "takes the trick" and passes it directly to Castle, who accurately guides the vacant position in the bottom corner.

Mann recovered the assisted defense card swipe, so Paul directly found the empty Champany without looking at the back, and the latter hit a three-pointer and punished him.

Paul took the "Double Drag" (online double cover). Collins' fake block quick disassembly failed to gain the advantage of his origin, but Monk still chose to recover and assist in defense at all times, but he was punished by Paul's passer and Chan Pani.

Paul and Biyongbo launched a pick-and-roll on the wing. Najib directly stood in the penalty area regardless of the weak bottom corner of Barnes, and Westbrook, who was both defense and defense, did not rotate and save in time. Paul made a big cross across the game and Barnes' three-pointer.

In "Change the defensive formation to dominate the ball", in addition to pick-and-roll instigation, Paul can occasionally attract defensive attention and assist in defense through breakthroughs:

In addition to pick-and-roll instigating the ball and instigating the offense, Paul naturally has no problem with some passes that are more inclined to "support" and "dispatch".

Go to teammates who want to get the advantageous match:

Imagine the scene where Paul plays the ball to Leonard and Collins next season:

As the "brain" and "distributor" to play the ball to the tactical executor:

Imagine the scene where Paul plays the ball to Leonard, Bill, and Bogdan plays the ball to the ball next season:

Paul Naturally, he is also an excellent team player for serving the sideline and bottom line ball:

Convert the offensive first pass, hold the ball and advance to find the follow-up teammate:

Teammate who finds opportunities in a chaotic situation:

As a "transfer station", the ball is transmitted:

For example, in this round, the strong side will be connected to the pinched Wenban, and then transfer the ball to the weak side.

2. Analysis of ball-holding offense - (1) Comprehensive analysis of pick-and-roll offense

If a player has the pass-and-control attribute, lacks the authority to threaten the main attack and ball-holding development, and loses the "scene" that controls the offense during the game, then the "scene" that plays the pass-and-control attribute will naturally be mainly limited to card-handling, ball-mounted "supporting" and "assisted" assists. Dunn is a good example, so leaving the Jazz's unball pass-cut system is an important reason for his significant decline in passing and controlling performance.

Although Paul's personal main attack has declined, he still has a certain value in instigating offense, not just a "distributor" - it can also be seen from the organizational sector: Paul's many assists last season came from pick-and-roll instigation and dominating the ball - which means that Paul can provide the Clippers with a certain continuation of "pick-and-roll instigation" behind Harden. At the end of last season (regular season), Bogdan mainly presented some of the content of this competition in the connection.

So it is obvious that players like Paul and Harden have a "value of initiating offense and holding the ball to develop" when launching pick-and-rolls, which are significantly higher than those players whose pick-and-roll values ​​are mainly limited to "end value" (such as Powell).

still has the value of instigating offensive development and the role of pick-and-roll development. It also shows that Paul still has the means to maintain the minimum "offensive threat" to support him in launching the pick-and-roll. "Personal main attack during pick-and-roll marching" will also be the key content of this section (Paul's dominance and assist performance during pick-and-roll marching has been detailed in the pass and control analysis section, so this section will not be repeated).

Paul has always been the standard ball-holding method for his 20-year career, and this has not changed by the end of his career - Paul still accounts for 58% of the offense last season.

Among them, pick-and-roll ball holding has always been Paul's most important offensive method: in most seasons of his career, pick-and-roll has always been Paul's offensive method of launching the highest frequency of offense. In the 16 Clippers season with the most pick-and-roll scenes, Paul has to launch 11.1 pick-and-rolls every 36 minutes, ranking fourth in the league.

The pick-and-roll first naturally continued to the end of Paul's career. Even though the team's environment, playing style and its aging have caused the pick-and-roll frequency to decline sharply in the past two years, Paul's pick-and-roll offense still accounts for 38.9%.

As age increases and personal main attack declines, some opponents will use more conservative strategies to defend Paul (such as sinking and retreating, changing defense) to reduce Paul's ability to change formation, thereby relatively curbing Paul's organizational connection and testing Paul's personal main attack more.

For example, Paul's recent playoff journey, when facing the Clippers and the Nuggets in the first round in 23 years and the second round against the Nuggets, Zubac, Plumley and Jokic used a lot of pick-and-roll to defend Paul, which tested his main offensive ability more and relatively curbing the ball after the pick-and-roll changed its formation.

so as to avoid being penetrated behind the body like the picture below because of more defensive attention.

On this basis, Paul before the 25th season was facing a very serious problem: his ability to hold the ball and shoot from a long shot is slowly declining. Paul's three-point efficiency has already fluctuated greatly between the seasons. In the three consecutive years before the 25th season, Paul's three-point efficiency has "collapsed" to only 30%. On this basis, in the 23rd and 24th seasons, Paul's long-term efficiency was getting worse every year, and there was a very obvious "landslide" decline.

This is a very dangerous sign for Paul. If this momentum continues to develop, Paul will become increasingly trapped in a "vicious cycle": the opponent uses a more conservative defensive strategy - Paul's own ability to change his defensive formation declines - affects offensive instigation and pass control performance - due to the decline in long shot ability, the means of punishing the opponent's conservative strategy becomes weaker.

So in the 20th year of his career (last season), Paul decided to significantly adjust his playing style (more precisely, to be significantly modified to shoot distribution) - more changes to the three-point line, and the output of three-pointers also increased. Of course, the output of 5.8 shots every 36 minutes after the addition is not too high.

The good news is that Paul also achieved increased production last season while also completing efficiency (the three-point shooting percentage of the ball reached 37%, with the highest gap in 21 years).

Paul's shooting number was the lowest in his career last season, so the additional three-point output was naturally not "produced out of thin air", but more of the shooting in the middle area was adjusted beyond the three-point line. On the premise that it is difficult to hit the box, optimize the "cost-performance ratio and return" by shooting more three-pointers. This also made Paul's three-point percentage reach more than 60%. This is based on Paul's main focus on keeping the ball. Among the players who held the ball more than 5 attacks every 36 minutes last season, Paul was the player with the highest proportion of three-pointers.

The pick-and-roll three-pointer increase and increase efficiency, coupled with the remaining middle-range operation skills (can still use good efficiency and precision to take action, 51.8% in the near box and 46.4% in two-pointers) also maintains Paul's minimum offensive threat during pick-and-roll marching, as well as the means to attack the opponent's big center and punish the opponent's conservative defensive strategies (such as sinking and retreating) in some scenarios.

For example, in the Spurs' match against the Bucks on January 9, Paul used three-pointers through pick-and-roll to hit his teammate Daluo in the new season.

In the fourth quarter of the 4th quarter against the Nuggets, two consecutive pick-and-roll balls and three-pointers hit Jordan Jr.:

Nuggets young player Alexander went off the line to defend, Jordan Jr. retreated, and Paul did not hesitate to directly shoot the pick-and-roll ball and shot it with punishment.

pretended to go to the right side of the screening wall, and then Biyongbo changed the screening direction and firmly hung up Alexander. Jordan Jr. still retreated, and Paul held the ball and made a steadily three-pointer.

and Sohan and Wenban launched the "Double Drag" (double cover online), Adams retreated, and Green chose to go off the line to defend when passing the first Sohan cover. Paul did not hesitate to directly take the ball and hold the ball and punish him.

Sohan launched a pick-and-roll with Paul, helping him take away Jaden, who was leading the defense, and dispatched the frame protector. After Paul reached the three-point line, he directly hit Gobert with a three-pointer.

Faced with Towns' retreat and Hart's backwards, he directly took the ball and held the ball and scored a three-pointer.

In addition to pick-and-roll three-pointers, the mid-range shot and emergency stop mid-range shot after taking the "Z-shaped/snake" while the pick-and-roll are naturally not a problem.

The clever thing about "Z-shaped/serpentine" during pick-and-roll marching is:

One, in some rounds, you can use the help of your own cover to follow the route to form a natural second cover, and delay the leader's pursuit;

{shoulder be accustomed to stopping the ball in the free throw line, which is just near the center of the half, with a wide field of view, and you can see everything..

In the early season, Kessler/Eubanks used a lot of pick-and-roll to defend Paul from using heavy lifts. Paul repeatedly used Z-shaped/serpentine mid-range shots or pick-and-roll emergency stops during pick-and-roll. This was also Paul's best performance last season. After the feel of

As mentioned above, the three-pointer with increased production and efficiency were held.

Boat hits during pick-and-roll.

21 playoffs against Lakers G3: "Crossover" refused to cover and then stopped the mid-range shot and hit Zhuang Shen.

21 Western Conference Finals against the Clippers G3: After getting rid of Mann with a super high pick-and-roll, the pick-and-roll went to Z-shaped connection and hit Zubac.

23 first round against the Clippers G1: After being entangled by Powell during the pick-and-roll, he fought and moved forward and stepped forward to create a shooting space, and then made a backward jump shot.

and Biyongbo launched a pick-and-roll near the wing, marched into the center of the half, and then made a quick stop to punish Towns for retreating.

Sohan's cover completely caught Jaden. After the crotch turned to his right hand, he immediately connected to the mid-range shot after the right hand was combined, punishing Gobert's retreat.

Of course, there is also the "return" after entering the basket while pick-and-roll.

As the weakest player in the league in the box, Paul basically no longer has a "deep threat" and needs to cover his partner to help him make up for the shortcomings in this regard during the pick-and-roll.

Lack of "deep threat" and difficulty in developing a basket shot also means that individual offensive threats also rely heavily on the feel of the jumper. On nights when the feel is not online, the means of pick-and-roll attacking opponents' defensive strategies and offensive threats will naturally be greatly reduced.

At the same time, although Paul can still use three-pointers with increased production and efficiency and a considerable mid-range shot forward to perform long-range shots during pick-and-roll, as the personal main attack declines brought about by the increase in age, it is inevitable that he will face more conservative defensive strategies. The ability of pick-and-roll to change the formation and tear the defense will naturally decline. But for the Clippers: their cover finishers are not "Gobert-style" centers who can only eat "simple cakes", and the "demand" for the ball holders to change their defensive formation ability will be relatively lower: Zubac is a very comprehensive pick-and-roll partner, and he also has the ability to directly take a throw and adjust the ball when receiving the ball far away from the basket;

Combined with the case of Paul's Suns period: Zubac defends Paul's "Stack" (Spanish pick-and-roll) to retreat with depth, and the Clippers' outside line did not recover significantly. Paul did not effectively change the defensive formation in this round, but Ayton can shoot in the area far away from the basket, avoiding and punishing Zubac who is guarding the basket.

Collins is quite skilled in pick-and-roll offense, and his athletic ability and downward explosive power can fill the deep threat that Paul lacks in the pick-and-roll offense; Daluo has the ability to bounce outside the pick-and-roll.

Looking at the entire career, although Paul's efficiency in personal finishing of pick-and-rolls is not bad, it is not very efficient (of course, it is obviously unfair to only talk about "final efficiency" when evaluating the "pick-and-roll effect and value" of players like Paul, because Paul's pick-and-roll has a high value of instigating offense and dominating the ball during marching).

And, Paul's pick-and-roll last season had an obvious problem: he, known for his stability, had a very average ability to control mistakes during pick-and-roll marching last season (especially compared to his past self). Paul's pick-and-roll turnover rate soared to 19.4% last season, even doubled in the 24th season, and his turnover rate last season was the 26th highest (of players with more than 100 total initiation times). This also largely dragged down his pick-and-roll scores per round.

2. Analysis of offense with the ball - (2) Analysis of singles ability

After joining the Rockets, Paul has made obvious additions in singles, which is also the period when Paul played the most singles in his career. After leaving the Rockets, Paul's singles frequency showed a significant downward trend year by year. For example, joining the Thunder in the 20th season and joining the Suns in the 22nd season are two relatively large nodes.

Until the last three years, Paul's singles frequency has basically stabilized at about 1.3 times per 36 minutes.

Now Paul's explosive power and action speed are not as good as before, and his one-on-one escape ability has declined significantly. Singles have basically relied entirely on rhythm, operation control technology, and long-range pitching feel. The ending depends heavily on shooting.

For example, two shots of Caruso single in the fourth quarter of the NBA Cup:

fell into the half-court position and first used a change of direction to switch the ball to the left hand, then quickly connected to the "Hardaway Change of Direction" twice in a row, then started a breakthrough on the left, and after half-turned, he fought against Caruso, and then connected to the mid-range shot after a small horizontal retreat, making a steady hit.

Turn the hip and accelerate to pretend to break through on the right side, but in fact, pull it back under the crotch, then connect to the right hand and hit a high-difficulty three-pointer. In the fourth quarter, Caruso hit a single shot and stabilized his morale.

Pick-and-roll faced Ethan to switch defense, pretended to break through from the right, and forced Ethan to retreat, then immediately connected the ball with his right hand and held the ball with three points, scoring 2 plus 1.

singled George at a critical moment against Philadelphia, and almost dropped the ball and hit the key mid-range shot.

Single start-up style uses Leonard's signature "continuous crotch". After finding the rhythm, he connects a fast crotch dribble and holds the ball with a three-pointer. He hits.

Although Paul is now declining due to his personal main attack, even if he changes defense against the center, he does not pursue "every goal", as a defender who was known for his "small and big play" ability, he can still punish the opponent's center for the switch in some rounds:

faces Nans at the last moment of overtime against the Hawks, hitting a key three-pointer to secure the victory.

After dragging the crotch, he quickly connected to the crotch and walked on the right side again, attacking Zubac's front foot, and then immediately completed the ball and shot backward.

The continuous dribble under his crotch sways with the center of gravity, mobilizing Klingen's center of gravity, and immediately launching a breakthrough when he stepped forward slightly. In order to avoid being blocked by Klingen back, Paul also "shut" his back against Klingen on the way to break through, and felt Klingen's position more clearly and stuck him behind him. Then he immediately started a second breakthrough to complete the starting layup.

The spy step was connected to the crotch, and then pretended to connect and hold the ball and three-pointer, attracting Connet to come forward and back, and immediately started a breakthrough and got rid of it. Tatum at the weak bottom corner did not retract the frame protection, and Paul made a layup.

The personal main attack decline due to the increase in age, and the ability to get rid of one-on-one under the condition of a disadvantage in body shape is limited to the end of jump shots... This also made Paul fail to maintain excellent singles efficiency last season even after the production cut.

Paul's advantage in singles last season was that he had few mistakes, so the reason for his poor efficiency was naturally the "avacantrum" of shooting efficiency caused by the above reasons: Paul's singles shooting percentage was only a pitiful 37.2% last season. The singles scored only 0.86 points per round, the fourth lowest in his career, only better than the rookies in the previous two years and 22 seasons. Judging from the production efficiency, singles were no longer Paul’s trustworthy offensive method last season.

3. No-ball offense analysis - (1) Fixed-point offense & receiving three-point performance analysis

Paul's round share has declined significantly year by year in the past two seasons, with only 13.7% of the round share last season. As a representative figure of "point guard", as the name suggests, he naturally needs to control the ball in his hands. Therefore, for Paul, who has been focusing on holding the ball throughout his career and essentially needs more holding the ball to maximize the offensive power, the reduction in the round-the-round share naturally means that he has difficulty getting it and has assumed the ball-holding authority in the past.

At the end of the Suns' career, Paul showed a downward trend in both "ball possession and development authority" and "ball possession", which has become more obvious in the past two seasons.

After leaving the Warriors and going to the Spurs, Paul did not regain more positions in possession of the ball, but instead reduced production. He took the ball and attacked 6.1 times every 36 minutes, the lowest in recent years, so the proportion of off-ball offenses has also reached 26.6%.

As age increases, including Castle and Fox, they have to eat some possession (Fox played for the Spurs in February and March, which happened to be Paul's lowest possession time)... Reason, Paul's possession time last season was also the lowest in his career.

Throughout his career, Paul has been mainly concentrated on the offense on the offense without the ball and is limited to fixed-point offense.

Therefore, after the ball is downgraded and more in an "empty-handed state", it does not mean that Paul can come up with more diverse offensive content, but is mainly reflected in the increase in the frequency of fixed-point offensive (1st on the left below). At the same time, Paul's fixed-point scoring rate has always been excellent. Last season, he was able to score 1.15 points per round (1st on the right below below).

But even though the fixed-point frequency is improved compared to yourself, the horizontal comparison is still relatively low with the same position. And Paul's "unball restraint" was not very good when he was stationed without a ball.

In order to better adapt to the role of being demoted, Paul has significantly improved the production of three-pointers in recent years (2nd left in the figure above). Unlike the efficiency of holding the ball in each year, Paul's three-pointers without the ball has been very good (2nd right in the figure above), and has reached more than 40% of the majority of seasons of his career, and 38.1% last season. And it can also be seen from the following game cases that Paul is not afraid of the non-empty shots from the rotation man.

teammates attacked at low posts, and Paul responded strongly.

and 1 and 5 pick-and-roll logic are similar: under the premise of TJ defending Paul, Paul sets off a ball cover for Wenban to pursue the greatest "battery size".

Wenban borrowed Paul's pocket to the middle distance area and attracted two people to attack him, returning to Paul on the outside.

and then swayed the TJ after receiving the ball, and made a three-pointer in one step.

In addition to fixed-point attacks, Paul has always had a small number of hand-handed scenes in his career. However, in the 2300 minutes of last season, they only started 30 times. But last season, Paul still grasped these hand-to-hand attack opportunities with little effort, and scored an excellent 1.37 points per round.

4. Paul's offensive end decline and shortcomings

- The personal main attack decline is obvious

From the above, it can also be clearly seen in each section that although he has achieved the best efficiency in the past three years after downgrading and making more three-pointers (the real shooting rate is 58%), Paul is now in possession of the ball and developing positions, possession of the ball, and scoring output, and has experienced a comprehensive decline in all aspects, and his comprehensive personal main attack ability has declined significantly. Moreover, as he grows older, Paul's competitive state trend during the season has also shown a trend of "opening low and closing high".

At the same time, there is also a potential paradox: the Clippers need Paul to control the game during Harden's rest period in the playoff level intensity game, but Paul's personal performance in his last playoff journey was quite average.

- After more declining, more unball plays, they are mainly limited to fixed-point offenses

After more declining and playing without ball, Paul's offensive methods are also mainly limited to fixed-point offenses. Even though the fixed-point frequency has improved compared to yourself, it is still relatively low in horizontal comparison with the same position..

- It is almost impossible to develop the action at the basket. The personal main attacker completely relies on the feel of shooting. The ups and downs of the state and continue the hidden dangers

Although he can use an amazing efficiency of 82.4% to grasp almost all the opportunities at the basket, Paul is now almost completely unable to develop the action at the basket. The aggressiveness of free throws also declined significantly.

This also means that Paul's personal offensive threat will rely entirely on the shooting feel, and it is difficult to help himself "maintain his feel" by winning a large number of free throws.

The personal main attack relies entirely on the shooting feel, and the problems brought about naturally have ups and downs: Paul had about 44% of the games last season and shot a shooting percentage of less than or equal to 40%.

At the same time, for the 40-year-old veteran, it is unknown what kind of decline in competitive state and physical functions will be in next season.

——A field that is not good at will further deteriorate with the deterioration of physical functions.

For example, fight for the front board and switch off attacks.

Positioning of the defensive end & Analysis of technical characteristics of the defensive end

1. Overview of Paul's defensive end positioning last season

Today, Paul is already a protected player with single defense. The average difficulty of the match in the past five years is only 41.8, and it can be seen from the figure below: he was protected by the Spurs last season. Paul's difficulty in matchmaking last season ranked 11th in the Clippers' sideways comparison last season, down from Powell's 48 among the backcourt players and slightly higher than Bogdan's 26.

The following figure is the top 5 players in Paul's total match-up time last season. It is not difficult to see that they are basically the weakest points in the starting points of these teams' comprehensive offensive level and offensive role.

2. Analysis of technical characteristics of the defensive end - "Team-type defender"

Under the premise that single defense is protected, the performance of the assisted defense end is crucial, because this often determines the player's "total contribution" on the defensive end, and whether it is a "team-type defender" or a "pure weak ring".

Obviously, Paul belongs to the former. The same principle as "time cannot take away his passing technique" is: for Paul, who has 9 defense lines, 6 steal kings, and 8 DPOY nominations, the passage of time may make him move sideways and steps slow, but he will not take away his cutting techniques, defensive awareness, judgment and experience. This also allows Paul to still make certain contributions to the assistance of defense and become a "team defender".

Combined with the sample of the past five years, although it is impossible to significantly increase the opponent's turnover rate when on the court, and the number of steals and steals rates are also the lowest in his career, Paul's interception performance last season is still at the mid-to-highest level in the same position. If compared with the Clippers horizontally (just in terms of interception performance), in combination with the two events, Paul's 2% steal rate and 3.1 interfering live balls every 36 minutes are ranked third in the team, second only to Dunn and Leonard, and even better than Jones Jr.

I captured and counted Paul's 103 steals last season and summarized them. It can be seen that Paul's most steals last season came from interceptions and passes, followed by assisted defense steals and floor balls, with the proportions of the three being close.

Associate defense steals:

For example, in this round, the Lakers launched their common tactic "Horns Rip". Castle was blocked by James' off-ball screen. Reeves stole the advantage of his origin and cut out of the basket. At this time, Paul recovered the ball on the weak side and directly stole the ball, avoiding the ball being caught by Reeves and directly attacked the box after being caught.

For the Clippers, this kind of shot of "outing from the slant" directly stealing the opponent's pass should be no stranger. Many of Dunn's steals last season came from this, such as the opponent's pass by the ball holder to the center while the pick-and-roll was directly marching.

Kesler took the ball in the elbow area and prepared to serve. Paul directly broke out from his blind spot, took out the ball, and launched a conversion attack.

Mann hit the ball to Zubac in the low post and ran to the weak side. Paul did not follow Mann honestly, but instead ambushed behind him. When Zubac was about to start a low-post attack, Paul broke out directly from behind and cut the ball away.

The Pole God's free throw line was about to be misaligned to KJ and was preparing for punishment. Paul sneaked behind the Pole God in the blind spot of his vision, and cut the ball off immediately without hesitation when he exposed the ball in front of him.

Bill and Booker launched the pick-and-roll online, and Wassel delayed and missed the Bill who was going out. Paul had already let go of Allen for a long time. The moment Bill received Booker's pass, Paul directly stabbed out and took out the ball.

Paul saw Chet staggeringly dribbling, so he cut the ball off and launched a conversion attack.

Intercepted the pass:

First recovered the delayed obstacle, and when Jones read this point, he was sure to return to Murphy who was empty on the weak side, Paul directly cut off the ball.

works the same as the previous round. The card swipe position induces Huazi to throw the ball to Jaden on the weak side, and directly steals the ball the moment Huazi passes the ball.

As shown in the above steal distribution chart, in addition to assisting in the defense of one end, Paul also has about 20% of the steals from the single defense of the one end. Paul was able to directly steal the opponent in some rounds with his experience and judgment, to improve his "single defense resistance" to a certain extent.

The top defender Olynik from the low position, and the moment he turned to the bottom line, he directly "removed the stool". Since Olynik had not fought before, he did not lose his center of gravity, so Paul took the ball directly behind him.

After Beasley passed the cover wall, he took the ball off directly behind him.

Closely attached to Mitchell, and found the rhythm of dribbling. At the moment when Mitchell changed direction, he directly took the ball off..

In addition to interception, Paul can also provide some rebound protection, and sometimes provide some contributions to the protection of the frame with his defensive consciousness:

Paul's defensive rebounding rate last season was above the average level at the same position. Although Paul's defensive rebounding influence in the past five years is not positive, when Paul was on the court last season, his defensive rebounding rate was 2% higher than that of the Spurs who were not present.

Last season, Paul's frame protection frequency and blocking rate were above the average level at the same position.

Participating in 5 frame protection every 36 minutes is the highest value in the past six years. Although it cannot provide excellent frame protection, the opponent's efficiency will still be slightly reduced under the interference of Paul's frame protection (-0.9%).

Note: Because of Paul's shortcomings on the defensive end (such as the single defense end needs to be protected), the above section has been analyzed in a very detailed manner, so the "disadvantages and shortcomings of the defensive end" will no longer be repeated.

Conclusion

The value of the "second brain" that Paul can provide, the stable control of the field behind Harden, the still top-notch organizational connection, and the pick-and-roll instigation of the connection section are all the game contents needed by the Clippers. Paul is still the first to play with the ball. In order to improve the threat of long-range shots with an increasingly declining trend, enhance "anti-aging ability" and "return to shots" significantly changed the shooting distribution to outside the three-point line last season, and made a three-pointer year with the ball.

However, Paul's personal main attack has shown a significant decline, and he is almost completely unable to develop the basket shots, and the offensive threats are completely dependent on the long-range pitching feel. After downgrading, it does not mean that more diverse unball content can be produced, which is mainly reflected in the addition of fixed-point offenses.

Paul is already a point that needs protection, but he can still become a "team defender" with his skills, defensive IQ, awareness and judgment, and make certain contributions to the team in assisting defense.

Not to mention that Paul also has the "on-field coach" and the "intangible value" of teaching experience and skills to players younger than him. After Paul left the team in the offseason in 2017, the Clippers permanently sealed the No. 3 jersey. After eight years of storms, after the end of the "Air Connection City Era", the Clippers have experienced three periods: Civilian Clippers, Kajiao and Dengka. Now, in the second year of the "Card-Registering Era", the owner of No. 3 will return and will wear the jersey with the words "Clippers" printed on the chest again.

At the press conference where the former "captain" belonged alone, when the fans shouted "CP3" in unison to welcome him back, Paul could no longer hide his excitement. Thousands of memories of the past surged into his heart, and tears that could not stop soaked his eyes. When the No. 3 jersey is hung over the "Intuitive Dome" and becomes the first retired jersey in the Clippers' history, there will definitely be a thunderous cry again on the scene, just like it once was.