There's been a lot of talk between, in particular, Damian Lillard and Andre Drummond regarding their intelligence. No one is going to deny that Lillard is the sharper tool in the box. How important is this? One factor that is important to consider is that the NBA is vastly different today than in years past. Defenses like Tom Thibodeau's are more complex and effective that ever before, and in a season where we are looking to hire a new head coach, we should be looking to get on the front of the curve of the modern game. So I thought it would be a good to bring up the most successful young players in the past few seasons and discuss their intelligence, and the impact that quality has on their performance.

This link is a good place to start:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/725856-nba-power-rankings-25-most-efficient-nba-players-under-25-in-2011

What I see is that in general, lower on the list where we are talking about players that are the third and fourth options on their team, it's a totally mixed bag. But at the top of that list there's a string of pretty smart dudes like K-Love, Westbrook, Durant, D-Rose, and Al Horford has always impressed me in that department as well. Also, there are Bynum and Howard in the top 10 as well, but does Drummond compare to those players? Even though those guys aren't exactly Brandon Roy, maybe they have a certain mental mojo when the house lights drop. They certainly don't look lost out there.

What do you guys think?