The OFFICIAL 2023 All-Lefty Team
We're celebrating International Left-Handers Day a touch later than we usually do ... but who would dare dispute my claim that this list is absolutely binding?
Welcome to the newsiest All-Lefty Team in our history of compiling them!
I've been fretting for weeks about how and when to unveil the 2023 edition of our annual assemblage of the NBA's best southpaws, because International Left-Handers Day actually fell on Sunday this year … on the same Sunday that I would be returning home from an emotional Basketball Hall of Fame induction weekend.
So ...
After making the executive decision to delay the latest All-Lefty reveal until the first Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza after HoF weekend in Springfield, Mass. ... what happens? We all woke up Monday to All-Lefty all-timer James Harden uncorking a withering critique of 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey in China in which — frustrated that he is still a Sixer — Harden thrust himself right to the forefront of the NBA news cycle by branding Morey a "liar" and vowing never to play again for any team that employs Morey.
There will be lots of Harden coverage to come on where Philly and The Beard go from here, but we've got more bad news for Harden that (we swear) has nothing to do with his Trade Me demands. Incomprehensible as it might sound, we do not have a slot for the 33-year-old on this latest All-Lefty Team squad.
The only way to make room for him would be changing the format we've employed for years: Two backcourt and three frontcourt selections, just like they do on the All-Star ballot format, with a sixth man tacked on as a bonus.
There was no way, using those guidelines, to squeeze Harden in here.
Harden certainly had his moments last season — Game 1 in Boston and Game 4 in Philly against the Celtics come to mind — but he was only the third-best lefty guard in #thisleague in 2022-23. Sacramento's De'Aaron Fox and New York's Jalen Brunson had more complete seasons.
Let's go through each category …
BACKCOURT
De'Aaron Fox (Sacramento) and Jalen Brunson (New York)
Sacramento had its best season in nearly two decades and Fox was central to so much of it, earning both All-Star and All-NBA honors and winning the inaugural NBA Clutch Player of the Year trophy inspired by the iconic Jerry West. He and teammate Domantas Sabonis were pretty much the first two names on this compilation of the elite Southpaw Six.
Brunson? For my money he should have been an All-Star in the East if the Knicks were only granted one and had a strong All-NBA case, too.
There is no denying Harden's standing as one of the greatest lefties ever. If he ever gets a ring, on top of his three career scoring titles and regular-season MVP award from 2018, The Beard might wind up No. 2 in Lefty History behind the immortal Bill Russell.
Under these rules, though, Harden finished third in a race with no bronze step on the medal stand.
FRONTCOURT
Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento), Julius Randle (New York) and RJ Barrett (New York).
Remember everything I just said about Fox? You can just copy and paste it here for Sabonis, who earned both All-Star and All-NBA honors in co-leading the Kings to their first playoff berth since 2006 ... all while playing the final four-plus months of the regular season and the playoffs with a fractured right thumb he sustained in December. There was only one All-Star on the previous season's All-Lefty Team; Sabonis, Fox and Randle tripled that.
Randle's playoff struggles are indeed a full-fledged thing now after woeful marksmanship against Cleveland and Miami left him with a career playoff shooting percentage of 34.4% as a Knick. But c’mon: He’s an automatic choice here after Randle's second career All-Star berth, second career All-NBA berth and sterling averages of 25.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists that he posted in 77 regular-season games.
The toughest decision on the ballot: Barrett over Harden. With New Orleans' Zion Williamson limited to 29 games due to injury, Brooklyn's Ben Simmons no longer playing at a requisite level for consideration and Charlotte’s Miles Bridges deservedly spending a season in NBA exile given the gravity of his off-court misdeeds, this basically came down to the following question: Can I reclassify Harden as a frontcourt player just for this exercise?
Answer: No.
That's just way too much of a stretch.
Barrett, like Randle, tends a hear a lot more about what he doesn't do than the production he does deliver for the Knicks — understandable when Barrett’s spotty efficiency has prevented him from recording a PER that exceeds 13.7 through his first four NBA seasons. Knicks fans nonetheless have to love this All-Lefty Team when half of the six honorees call Gotham home. And Barrett, playing considerable amounts at the 3, logged more minutes (2,475) last season than any lefty apart from Randle (2,737) and Sabonis (2,736).
SIXTH MAN
Luke Kennard (Memphis)
As my longtime editor Royce Webb has noted about a zillion times over the years, my rigidity tends to be a stubborn obstacle to my workflow.
With options like Manu Ginobili and Lamar Odom and Harden himself early in his career in Oklahoma City, it used to be pretty easy to choose a sixth man for the All-Lefty Team who actually came off the bench more often than he started.
That's no longer the case.
Harden obviously doesn't fit here anymore, either, but I really wanted to go with New Orleans' (Not On) Herb Jones or Brooklyn's Nic Claxton — unheralded lefties who deserve some spotlight and, compared to the first five names on the ballot, seemingly have profiles that would work in a Sixth Man capacity with this group.
The problem? Jones played in 66 games last season and Claxton played in 76 ... and they started them all. It just didn't feel right to label one of them a sixth man when neither comes close to that job description in real life.
And then there’s Kennard.
I'd argue against the notion that we're settling here given that Kennard led the league in 3-point shooting percentage for the second consecutive season, raising his success rate from 44.9% in 2021-22 to a heady 49.4% in 59 games last season with the Clippers and the Grizzlies. He shot nearly two more 3s per game after Memphis acquired him at the trade deadline and raised his impression conversion rate to 54.0% with the Grizz.
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Programming Notes
Our #thisleague UNCUT podcast, which I co-host alongside Turner Sports’ Chris Haynes, will return this week with a very special guest. Stay tuned for it Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.
My latest episode of The Saturday Stein Line on 97.1 The Freak, which aired L-I-V-E from Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend in Springfield, Mass., featured special guests Ben Rogers and Skin Wade and is all here in podcast form if you missed it:
Then on Monday I spent two hours in studio with Ben and Skin on their show to recap Hall of Fame festivities and tell four segments’ worth of (mostly) Dirk Nowitzki stories. Check that out below if you missed it live … in four installments:
Numbers Game
🏀 46
There were only 46 players listed as left-handers who appeared in at least one game last season. That's down from a league-record 54 in 2021-22 according to data provided by Stathead's Mike Lynch.
🏀 166
Hall of Fame stat from Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press: Newly enshrined Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich has coached against 166 NBA coaches. That’s 48% of all coaches in league history.
🏀 111
Another Reynolds gem: Dirk Nowitzki played against Gregg Popovich teams 111 times including the playoffs. No other player in league history has faced the Pop-coached Spurs more often.
🏀 2,252
Nowitzki scored 2,252 points in those 111 regular-season and playoff games against Pop’s teams ... second only to Kobe Bryant's 2,278 for the Lakers.
🏀 0
Zero NBA teams have a winning record against Popovich.
🏀 2014
Please allow me to re-share this virtual e-book I first published in 2014 on Popovich and his Power Couple soul mate Tim Duncan.
🏀 1,500
The Spurs announced Monday that they have made 1,500 additional season-ticket packages available to accommodate the high demand sparked by No. 1 overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama.
🏀 2024
Top prospect Cooper Flagg has reclassified and is now on course to graduate high school in 2024 rather than 2025, establishing himself as the projected top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. More here from my fellow Substacker Rafael Barlowe.
🏀 90
ESPN’s Hubie Brown, one of my favorite all-time teammates and one of the truly legendary coaches and voices and #thisleague, turns 90 on Sept. 25 and remains an integral part of Bristol’s NBA coverage.
🏀 97.1
Readers in the Dallas area — or those who want to listen online — can catch me live for an hour on Saturdays talking NBA on 97.1 The Freak. The Saturday Stein Line debuted on July 1 and can be found via both Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Think I'll be taking a gap year on the NBA this year. Have had enough of "player empowerment." Now embiid wants to continue to play his juvenile games too. Goodbye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Go to 1 year contracts and be done with this nonsense.
Domantas Sabonis (Indiana) doesn't seem right, or left!