Dime Magazine

NO73 2013

Dime is the premier basketball magazine, covering the NBA, NCAA, High School, Playground and International basketball - as well as sneakers, fashion and music.

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4 JRUE HOLIDAY Holiday was easy to miss when he arrived in Philadelphia after just one season at UCLA, the kind of anonymity young, athletic guards get in the NBA simply because there are so many of them. There isn't any confusion anymore about Holiday's game. Just 22 years old, Holiday's 18.0 points and 8.3 assists per 36 minutes are matched only by Tony Parker and John Wall this season, and only by Russell Westbrook, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Steve Nash in the last decade. Holiday's shown that he isn't missing a vital piece to succeed anymore, turning his potential from the open-ended fantasy everyone has about slashing guards to an All-Star level, and maybe even beyond. At the other end, his quickness guarding the perimeter drives opponents' three-point shooting 11 percentage points south when he steps into a game. His influence increases the 76ers' pace, improves their three-point shooting and makes the team watchable again. In short, no longer can you pick on him on offense or cheat off him on D. He caught our eye in the season's first week when he matched Carmelo Anthony shot-for-shot and nearly point-by-point in a shootout at Madison Square Garden, showing the confidence that comes from being anointed a team's best weapon. Unlike Andrew Bynum, Philadelphia's perpetually injured star-in-waiting, Holiday has shown his playmaking and confidence from November isn't likely to break down anytime soon. team in the Eastern Conference. Let's go back in time to 1999-2000 in Toronto. It was there an explosive young swingman came into his own, moving his game from inside to out. Tracy McGrady was never supposed to turn into the best scorer in the game, was never supposed to win scoring titles. He was just a backup singer, the second-in-command to Vince Carter. No one saw the storm coming. The sun blocked it out. But by the end of that season, McGrady's first as a full-time starter, he was throwing up lines like the one he had in early April against Cleveland: 27 points, six rebounds, nine assists, six blocks, three steals. By the playoffs, he looked like the Raptors' best player. By the following season in Orlando, he officially blew up, becoming an All-Star and later, arguably the best offensive player in the league. Because Granger has barely played this season, George was shoved into his new role as a leading man, and it took him a few weeks to really get it going. But he has, and while he may not have the overall potential of McGrady, the similarities are quite striking. Both grew after they came into the league, and both are around 6-8 or 6-9, depending on whom you talk to. Both are extremely long, move with a swiftness and smoothness that shocks fans and frightens defenders. Both came in as forwards more comfortable closer to the hoop, and both learned how to create off the dribble while expanding their range well past the three-point arc. George won't turn 23 until May, but he's quickly turned himself into one of the fastest rising stars in the league. In last year's playoff series against Miami, George struggled going up against LeBron and Dwyane Wade. In six games, he averaged 10 points and shot below 37 percent. But when they faced off this year in early January, George lit them up for 29 points and 11 rebounds in a Pacers win. Take away George's play in November, and his progress is even more shocking. In December, he averaged 18.8 points and 7.6 rebounds, and then upped those to 19.4 and 9.1 the following month. By February, George was a 20-point-a-game scorer. Pretty good for a guy who barely averaged 12 last year. Last season, Paul George was a slight disappointment as a headliner for the dunk contest during All-Star Weekend. But this year, he didn't worry about Saturday night. He tasted Sunday. 2 KYRIE IRVING During Team USA trial runs before the 2012 Summer Olympics, everyone laughed when Irving challenged Kobe Bryant to a game of one-on-one. Too small. Too young. This was Kobe Bryant he was talking to, the man of 30,000-plus points, 81-point games and the self-proclaimed best mano-a-mano player ever. Bryant wanted to play him. No. 24 should be careful though, because with Irving unleashing new parts of his game every night, it won't be long before Cleveland's newest icon bows to no one. Like Paul George and Tracy McGrady before him, sometimes players come from out of nowhere and turn into studs. 3 PAUL GEORGE SKULLCANDY There was a moment where it all changed for George. In the final game of 2012, George ran through Rudy Gay, another long, explosive wing player, in an Indiana win. Over the last five minutes of the close game, it almost felt like George was loosening the shackles with each possession. He dunked to give Indiana the lead, then hit a fadeaway, then grabbed a board and flung a full-court rainbow assist to a teammate. When Gay airballed a jumper over George in the closing seconds, it felt like a statement. Paul George can thank Danny Granger. Without Indiana's leading scorer missing nearly the entire season so far with a knee injury, none of this would've happened. The All-Star selection. The matchups with LeBron. The 30-point nights, the dunks, the new role as the unquestioned go-to guy on perhaps the second-best 66

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