Another Surprise List . . .

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Greivis Vasquez

Even though Vasquez started all 66 games for the Hornets last year in his second season, it was difficult to know just what to make of him. He was a shot-creating specialist who couldn’t shoot all that well. He created good looks for teammates around the rim, but wasn’t quick enough to get there himself consistently. At worst, he looked the part of a competent offensive curator, and yet it would be a shame to pigeonhole him so early in his career. The only way to know for sure was to see Vasquez in different contexts and with different kinds of players.

As it turns out, he makes for a pretty remarkable high-usage ball-handler, capable of buoying a weird collection of players to a league-average mark in scoring efficiency. It’s still tough to say whether he’s effective enough to eventually lead a top-five or top-10 offense with such a ball-dominant style. But for the moment he’s using some clever moves off the dribble to handle the bulk of the ball-handling for a team short on supplementary creators. He’s exactly what the Hornets need right now and has unexpectedly emerged as the No. 3 assist man in the league with 9.1 per game.

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