Jeff Teague Praised by CBS Sports NBA Panel

With the NBA world now in the process of speculating and predicting the upcoming season, the Atlanta Hawks and their players have seen their fair share of preseason picks and previews as of late.

Recently, Sports Illustrated ranked the Top 100 NBA Players, and not surprisingly 5 Atlanta Hawks made SI’s list.

As the Hawks and their players garner preseason awards as the 2015-2016 campaign approaches, Jeff Teague is the latest Hawk to receive praise from the media; this time from a panel of CBS Sports writers that includes Zach Harper, James Herbert and Matt Moore.

In their “3-Man Weave” player discussion, the panel compared points guards from around the league head to head. The matchups included: Kyrie Irving vs. John Wall, Damian Lillard vs. Mike Conley, and our own Jeff Teague vs. Ty Lawson.

All three of the writers came to a similar consensus, stating that Jeff Teague is a better all-around player than Ty Lawson. Zach Harper writes,

"” Even if we’re putting all the off-court stuff aside here, I’d still go with Teague over Lawson…in the end, Teague’s capable of doing a lot of that same stuff while being a much bigger and longer point guard. Lawson is 6-feet on a good day with a 6-foot wingspan, and defensively he can pretty much be used as a ball rack by shooting point guards…Teague is just under 6-2 and has a 6-7 wingspan. He can push the ball, shoot the ball, and is a plus-defender with the Hawks‘ new direction. We’ve also seen him run that Hawks offense to near perfection on a lot of nights. I might be projecting here a bit rather than going on pure data, but I’ll take Teague’s size and overall game in a close call."

Harper astutely points out Teague’s versatile game, as well as his ability to be a good defender. Jeff Teague has blossomed in Mike Budenholzer’s system, and will continue to do so in the near future.

James Herbert also praises Jeff Teague:

"“Teague gets the slight edge here because of his all-around play. It’s close because Lawson is as fast as anybody in the league and he’s a great pick-and-roll player, but the leap Teague made last year was something special.He made it look easy, but there was a high degree of difficulty for Teague last year in Atlanta. He knew precisely how to break defenses down within the Hawks’ system, and he kept his scorers happy. His team was unstoppable for most of the season, and four guys, Teague included, made the All-Star team because of the way he orchestrated things.”"

Once again, Jeff Teague’s ability to play unselfishly is at the forefront of Herbert’s assessment, and his ability to quarterback the offense has a skill he has developed incredibly well.

Finally, Matt Moore evaluates Jeff Teague, stating,

"“Still, I’m going with Teague here. Lawson suffers from his height, or lack thereof, which hurts him most on the defensive end in terms of contesting shots and getting over screens. Teague — a bigger, longer player — is an A-level defender, and the offense is right there with Lawson as Teague is ridiculously crafty with the ball, can knock down shots, and has become a patient game-mananger in Mike Budenholzer’s system. Teague has been instrumental to a great team’s success, while Lawson has failed to deliver what his weaker Denver team needed from him. Plus, Teague doesn’t bring any of the baggage.”"

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