Five point guards to watch for the 2016-17 NBA season

With the NBA season set to start in just a few weeks, we're breaking down the most interesting players to watch at every position. Here, we take a look at the point guards who will move the needle during the 2016-17 season. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo, 16.9 PPG | 7.7 RPG | 4.3 APG | .520 eFG% | 7.1 WS | 18.8 PER

There might not be a more fascinating player to follow next season than Giannis Antetokounmpo next season. What makes the NBA so much fun is when you have a generational player with a skill set that we’ve never seen before – and Giannis is precisely that with his 6-foot-11 build, ball handling ability, court vision and borderline unstoppable Euro step. After spending the better part of his first three years playing off the ball as a point-forward, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd finally unleashed point-Giannis, and the results were an explosion of the box score. 

After the all-star break, Antetokounmpo averaged 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists on 51 percent shooting with his only major flaw being three-point shooting, where he shot a pedestrian .286. While the positional move didn’t turn into wins (Milwaukee was 11-17 down the stretch), it set the table for a full year of Antetokounmpo setting up the offense. With a full offseason and training camp, Kidd should be able to find new ways to exploit defenses with the mismatches created by having a near 7-footer handling the ball. Opposing bigs aren’t just going to struggle keeping up with the Greek Freak, they’ll be pulled out of the paint, leaving the defense with one fewer rim protector on the floor, and, well, Giannis is already one of the most prolific finishers at the rim because of his length. Prepare for life-altering experiences this season. 

Russell Westbrook, 23.5 PPG | 7.8 RPG | 10.4 APG | .489 eFG% | 14 WS | 27.6 PER

We’ve already gotten a sample of what this season could potentially look like. During the 2014-15 season, Kevin Durant went down for the rest of the season, leasing out the Thunder to Russell Westbrook, who decided that he was going to rage in Durant’s home for 26 games, shattering all of the good China, punching holes in the drywall, and leaving empty bottles of Kentucky bourbon all over the wood floors. Russ averaged 31 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds during those 26 games and almost single-handedly led the Thunder to the postseason without his running mate and former MVP. 

With Durant back last season, Westbrook’s complete assault on everything and everyone who stood in his way continued as he averaged 24, eight and 10 over 80 games. With no Durant for a full season, Russ could literally obliterate every living being not in a Thunder jersey this season, or work so hard trying to do so that he obliterates himself. There isn’t a player in the NBA who is as consistently aggressive over the course of 48 minutes than Westbrook, and because of this head coach Billy Donovan might want to monitor his minutes and give him occasional rest nights. But on the nights that he’s on the floor, there might not be a more entertaining player for the 2016-17 season. 

Mike Conley, 15.3 PPG | 2.9 RPG | 6.1 APG | .478 eFG% | 5.3 WS | 19.4 PER

Outside of Kevin Durant signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Mike Conley contract – five years, $153 million, the richest five-year deal in NBA history – was the biggest surprise of the offseason. Conley was easily the best point guard on the market in free-agency and meant way more to the Grizzlies that he would have anywhere else. But with a deal that huge comes enormous responsibility – and he already started making good on his promise to improve the team back in July when he talked Chandler Parsons into signing with the Grizzlies (another max deal the team offered up this summer). 

With Marc Gasol back in the fold after missing all of the second half of the season with a foot injury, the Grizzlies can get back to their gritty style, and Conley has worked to become the perfect orchestrator if it all. Never flashy, but always playing the way his team needs him to at any given moment. In an era where point guards can, and sometimes are expected to, score at a clip usually regarded for wing players, Conley’s mentality on the floor is more Chris Paul than Stephen Curry. He has a throwback disposition, yet crafty as hell like most southpaw floor generals are wont to be. Seeing how Conley responds to his new wealth will be as fascinating as his shifty crossover and guile around the rim. 

Isaiah Thomas, 22.2 PPG | 3.0 RPG | 6.2 APG | .488 eFG% | 9.7 WS | 21.5 PER

In theory, Isaiah Thomas shouldn’t exist. He isn’t the quickest guy in the league, his crossover could be a little more controlled, and lord knows he’s never the biggest guy on the floor, but he continues to inspire awe despite his physical limitations. Thomas is excellent at reading defenses and taking advantage of opportunities that allow him to get to the rim. While he’s not as quick moving side-to-side as some of his peers, he’s as good as they come at creating space by knocking his defender off balance. He can knock down open jumpers, or use the space created as a passing lane to hit open teammates. 

What’s most fun about Thomas is that he becomes the best version of himself when the game is on the line. Last season, Thomas was the only player who finished in the top-10 in points, assists, shooting percentage and 3-point shooting percentage in what the NBA considers clutch time (during the 4th quarter or overtime, with less than five minutes remaining, and neither team ahead by more than five points). In three of those categories, Thomas finished in the top five. Now with Al Horford joining what was already a very solid Celtics team, Thomas has another weapon he can work within P&R sets, which will only make him a more dangerous cover when the game is on the line. 

D’Angelo Russell, 13.2 PPG | 3.4 RPG | 3.3 APG | .478 eFG% | 0.0 WS | 13.2 PER

We just don’t know what kind of point guard D’Angelo Russell is yet. He showed flashes of a guy who can dazzle with his passing ability or a guy who can light it up from outside if he’s feeling it. But because he wasn’t given the opportunity to fully unleash his arsenal playing under Byron Scott, who played the young point guard off the bench for a considerable number of games last season. With Luke Walton taking over as the Lakers head coach, he’s bringing in a more free-flowing offensive system that has principles of Mike D’Antoni’s 7-seconds or less ethos mixed in with some of the spacing and options within sets borrowed from Phil Jackson’s Triangle. 

There’s going to be a steep learning curve for the Lakers to pick up the complicated offense that the Warriors run, but they have the pieces to run a shaken down version, and it’s all going to start with Russell managing his opportunities while setting up the rest of this young team. Julius Randle could see a lot more time playing at the pinch while playing alongside Timofey Mozgov while Luol Deng, Jordan Clarkson and Brandon Ingram will all play varying roles on the perimeter. The offense is going to be as open or as tight as Russell wants it – but this year the decision is going to be his, and for that potential alone, his growth is either going to be really fun or slightly disappointing depending on how he handles his new-found responsibilities – especially considering this is exactly what he wanted.