The NBA Substance Report: #29 Out of 30 - Domantas Sabonis

All statistics are updated via stats.nba.com as of March 14th, 2019.

To all of the loyal The Fro and The Flow podcast fans out there, I'm sure you're aware that Jack Martin and I have a nearly-weekly segment titled Watch The Throne (Yes, the segment is inspired by the greatest collaboration of all-time, Watch The Throne, by Jay-Z and Kanye West).

During this podcast segment, Jack Sparkin' and I break down the most talented basketball players in the world at that current moment by ranking them 1-15 (Think of it like this: If you were to start an NBA team today from scratch, zilch, nada, who would be the first player that you'd choose to help you win if they were all available?).

Because Jack and I are so dedicated to watching, observing, and sucking however much milk we can out of the NBA's utter, and are also two separate human beings, we have some disagreements every so often.

This daily column over the next 28 days will be relatively similar to that segment. The biggest, and most important difference is that this cluster fuck of a ranking will be an attempt towards breaking down the most valuable players in the NBA in accordance with how vital they are to their team's success (say, if you took Stephen Curry off of the Golden State Warriors, would they still be able to win a championship this season? Or if you took Giannis off of the Bucks would they win 45 games? And other hypothetical things of that nature).

As we progress closer towards the playoffs each day, it is officially Certified Banging With The Big Boys Season, and this young man has proved that he'll be one of the best at it for a long time coming.

29. Domantas "Arvydas's Son" Sabonis

Sabonis straight cheesin'

Since Oladipo injured his knee, Sabonis has been the legitimate leader for the Naptown Pacers. His Per 36 minutes are fucking ridiculous, and if he'd gotten more minutes this season, they suggest that he would've been an All-Star.

Domantas Sabonis Per 36 Minutes Stats

20.6 PPG, 13.4 RPG, 4.1 APG, +4.5 +/-, 62% FG

Simply put, Domantas Sabonis is a big time beast on the boards. For a post player who's only playing around 25 minutes per game, the Large Lithuanian Lefty is reeling in nearly 10 rebounds per game.

Sabonis has also been impressively efficient when shooting the rock. Domantas is shooting 60% from the field which places him at 7th in the league trailing only Rudy Gobert, Deandre Jordan, Clint Capela, Montrezl Harell, JaVale McGee, and Steven Adams.

The difference between Sabonis and these other All-Star caliber big men is that he's capitalizing at the free throw line far better than the rest of them. He's shooting 72% from the charity stripe at four attempts per game, which places him just inside the league's top 40.

Although he rarely attempts 3 pointers, he's shooting 53% from beyond the arc and that minor threat is enough to compliment his low-post bucket getting ability. The Pacers have two legitimate post players who are also perimeter threats in Sabonis and Turner moving forward. It'd be fun to see NapTown begin practicing a more balanced pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop offense with the two bigs determining what the best option is.