Those who have followed my work for some time know I have a slight obsession with the combo guard archetype, even going as far as to dedicate entire articles about them.
As is the case for most human behavior, there is a reason for my fixation. Combo guards play an important role in the NBA ecosystem. They are not good enough with the ball to be a team’s lead creator, but they are also too skilled to be relegated to purely an off-ball role. That dynamic intrigues me.
On most nights, these players are not stars. However, unlike most role players, they have the firepower to explode into a star-caliber player on special nights. When these eruptions occur, they can swing a game — or even a series — in their team’s favor.
So, in honor of this special player type, let’s look at three combo guards who are off to especially strong starts this year.
Jordan Poole
Few players’ stocks were lower than Jordan Poole’s at the end of the 2023-24. He was overpaid, a matador defender and an inefficient offensive scorer – the dreaded triple threat.
Poole’s contract is still the same (over 20 percent of the salary cap), but it is easier to digest with how good he’s been playing. After posting a true shooting mark of 53.3 percent (21st percentile) in 2023-24, Poole is up to 61.3 percent in 2024-25 (70th percentile). Normally, I would point to the small sample size and fact that Poole is hitting 44.4 percent on his threes as reasons why this mark won’t hold up.
However, in Poole’s case, he’s a career 87.9 percent free-throw shooter who’s been under 34 percent from three in each of his last two seasons; free-throw shooting is a great context-independent indicator of a player’s shooting prowess. He was due for some positive shooting regression. On top of that, he’s been off to a slow start from the rim and the midrange. So, even when his 3-point shooting comes down, those other two facets will ideally rise up to balance that out.
What’s been really inspiring is his improved defense. Due to his frail frame, he’s going to always be a target on that end of the floor, no matter how hard he tries (not that he was trying all that hard last year!).
This year, knowing full well of his deficiencies, Poole has opted for more of a boom-or-bust strategy. He knows he can’t keep ball-handlers in front possession-by-possession to slowly lower an opponents shot quality. So, instead he’s hunting for big plays via steals and charges. On the season, Poole is in the 98th percentile in forced turnovers, per Thinking Basketball.
Sometimes, his gambles leave him out of place and completely crater Washington’s defense. But it’s OK because he’s producing a lot of possession-ending outcomes with his defensive playmaking that give opponents zero chance of scoring.
Tyler Herro
Tyler Herro has always been a polarizing figure. On one hand, he’s averaged at least 20 points in each of his last four seasons. On the other, the Miami Heat made their Cinderella run to the NBA Finals while he was sidelined with a broken hand, raising questions about his impact on winning.
One thing that is indisputable, though, is how well he’s been playing to start this season. So far, he’s averaging 27.3 points per 75 (97th percentile) on 67.4 percent true shooting. Like Poole, Herro is shooting unsustainably well from three at 47.9 percent. But also like Poole, there is reason to believe Herro can maintain strong efficiency.
As he mentioned in my conversation with him this offseason, Herro is getting to the rim more often than ever. He still isn’t efficient (17th percentile), but it’s generally more efficient better to be an inefficient, high-volume rim scorer than it is an efficient, high-volume midrange shooter.
Speaking of midrange, Herro is following the lead of guys like Anthony Edwards and Brandon Ingram by substituting a good chunk of his midrange pull-ups for 3-pointers – taking the latter at a career-low rate and the former at a career-high.
Herro has taken steps to become a more efficient scorer. As a result, he’s become the force that has kept the pedestrian Heat offense from being downright awful. Miami’s offensive rating is 9.0 points better with him on the floor, which is the most drastic split on the team.
Norman Powell
I wanted to save the best for last here. The 2024-25 Los Angeles Clippers is a team loaded with defense-first players that are craving someone to buoy their offense, while they suffocate opposing teams (ninth in defensive rating).
Not only is Norman Powell just what the doctor ordered, he may very well be the most underrated scorer in the association.
Don’t let all the AND1 mixtapes you see on YouTube fool you (although, there is a certain beauty to those, too). Scoring is all about efficiency and versatility. Powell has those two factors so heavily ingrained in his game that you wonder whether he was created in a lab.
He’s averaging 26.7 points per 75 (95th percentile) on 65.5 percent true shooting (84th percentile). And it’s not like he’s Adrian Dantley-ing his way to these numbers, methodically dribbling the air out of the ball and curating his shot diet to allow only the most perfect looks. Powell is only in the 53rd percentile in time of possession. He’s got the ball about as much as a 3-and-D player like Kelly Oubre Jr. and still putting up points like he’s Damian Lillard.
Powell can cook from any place in almost any basketball action. He scores at all three levels, on spot-ups, while attacking off the catch, coming off of a screen and via handoffs. He does everything.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Clippers’ offense is 14.4 points per 100 possessions better when Powell is on the floor; that’s the highest mark on the team and routs No. 2 with Derrick Jones Jr. at plus-6.2. Powell has been tremendous and Los Angeles is much better because of it.
