One of the most memorable possessions for me in last year's playoffs was this late clock ISO, where Kyle Lowry had no option but to try his luck against Aaron Gordon and got absolutely annihilated. It underscored just how overmatched Lowry was physically at this point in his career, but he nonetheless remains an effective, impactful contributor. His BPM in the playoffs was 1.8, which is actually pretty solid.

Even though Lowry was slow and small, he just kept finding little ways to help his team with craftiness and intelligence. It drove home for me the value of players who get all the little details right. Think about Chris Paul attacking shot blockers on their weak side so they use the wrong hand to contest, or Kevin Garnett being the first player to goaltend shots after a whistle so the opponent can't get into a rhythm.

I feel like there's a category of "little thing kings" in the NBA who are obsessive enough about basketball to try and eke out any advantage they can find on the margins of a game. I'm a Celtics fan, and the first player I thought of on my team that fits this description is Al Horford. His post defense in the Philly series was impressively polished, and he's probably the best screener on the team because he always pushes the limit of how much he can move without being called.

Jimmy Butler is probably the most prominent example today. He's one of the best offensive players in the game, but he's not a great shooter, he doesn't have a super quick first step, his handle isn't super flashy, and in general there isn't a particular skill you can point to to explain his effectiveness. Rather, he uses poise and polish to carve out scoring opportunities, and he's surgical at exploiting any flaws in the opposing defense.

Most of the players I thought of were over thirty, any they tended to play at their best later in their careers than usual. Some, like Steve Nash and (arguably) Butler even peaked in their thirties. We know that some traits like size and shooting age well, whereas motor and explosiveness age poorly. Attention to detail seems like one of the few areas where players improve significantly as they enter the later stages of their career. It could explain why players like Lowry, Paul, and Horford have remained so good even after 35, while stars like Nash and Lebron can even improve their offensive output while their peers age out of the league.

The players I thought of seem to share a few characteristics: a high motor, a high basketball IQ, and a genuine love of the game. You can usually tell they're not just in the NBA for fame and money. I've been thinking about what younger players might extend their primes into their mid to late thirties as one of these little thing kings, and a name that jumps out to me is Tyrese Haliburton. Barring injuries it's easy to imagine him playing like an older Chris Paul, creating offense purely with skill, craft, and guile even after he loses his quick first step and high motor.

I'm interested in how you guys feel about this type of player. How much can attention to detail offset deficiencies in other areas of a player's game, and who do you think will make up the next generation of little thing kings in the NBA?