It has been a while since I was so excited about Lithuanians playing in the NBA. To be honest, all Lithuania expected a lot from Jonas Valanciunas when he joined the league but he failed to become an all-star in his first 5 years (he is great, though). I wouldn't blame Jonas Valnciunas for that as well because he wasn't playing in an organization which would know how to use him. However, things are now slowly changing and JV is getting better. That said, Domantas Sabonis is doing all that much fast. In my eyes, if the season ended tonight, Sabonis would become the sixth man of the year. He is that good. The guy can do it all.
Nate McMillan still prefers to let Myles Turner start the game and that makes Domantas Sabonis a super substitution. If things were not working out for the Pacers, I am sure that Sabonis would become a starter. However, as long as the Pacers are winning, they will stick to the plan. Sabonis should not be sad at all as well. The fact that is a bench player might be even better for him. I mean, it's very hard to win any personal awards in the NBA and Sabonis has a chance to do that by being a bench player. He is the best sixth man in the league at the beginning of the season. I am not even saying that as a Lithuanian. It is very objective.
The new player importance index ranks Sabonis in the 4th place in the league this season which is incredible. Only Embid, Giannis and Jokic rank higher. I am sure that Sabonis doesn't mind to be in one line with these players. Also, Sabonis is the third in the league by field goal percentage, and that shows how reliable he is in the paint. Of course, Oladipo is the true leader of the Indiana Pacers and that won't change for a while but in my eyes, Sabonis is the second most important player in the Pacers team. Most of McMillan's plays involve Sabonis one way or another and it seems that Sabonis knows perfectly what he has to do on both ends of the floor. That is a dream of every coach.
Also, Domantas Sabonis' basketball IQ is one of the highest compared to any other big guy in the NBA. That mainly comes from his father, Arvydas Sabonis, who was a true genius on the court and could dish and assist even better than the best PGs. Anyone who wants to tell me that genes don't impact anything, please, explain me Sabonis' situation. Is it a coincidence? I don't think so.
I would love to see Domantas Sabonis shooting from distance a little bit more but I guess that Nate McMillan doesn't need Sabonis to do that right now. We could see that Sabonis has decent shooting skills when he played in the NCAA. Also, Sabonis was shooting a lot of threes during his first season with the Thunders as well so I am pretty sure that a time will come when Domantas will start making shots from distance again. However, it is not his shooting that impresses me the most.
Domantas Sabonis is the master of screens. He knows exactly where/when/how to set screens and that allows his teammates to create open looks or pass the ball back to Sabonis who is also great at pick'n'roll and pick'n'pop. Those abilities like setting a good screen are often overlooked by the majority of the fans but I tell you, many teams are looking at him right now and will be eager to steal him from the Pacers when the opportunity arises. However, judging from what I've heard, the Pacers are probably the happiest team, where every guy stands for all, in the league. Oh my God, if at first, it looked like the Thunders won from the trade with the Pacers, now it's obvious that Oladipo and Sabonis were the best two things which happened for the Pacers in a long time.
Oh, and on top of all that, Domantas Sabonis is not a shy guy - he occasionally posterizes guys like Joel Embid (future DPOY of the NBA). Yup, he is a beast in a making:
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