Warriors

In perhaps one of my favorite matchups of this basketball season and scouting cycle, Duke ousted Texas Tech 78-73 in the Sweet 16. It was quite literally a &ldquo;tale of two halves&rdquo; as Tech and Duke exchanged jabs and pot shots for the opening 20, with the Blue Devils struggling to consistently find a weak spot in Tech&rsquo;s no-middle leviathan. 
According to KenPom, Texas Tech&rsquo;s first-ranked defense, allowing just 85 points/100 (adjusted for schedule), was the best defense in DI basketball since&hellip; Tech in 2018-19 (84.1 pts/100), Virginia in 2017-18 (85.6 pts/100, 31-3 record) and Kentucky in 2014-15 (84.4 pts/100, 38-1 record).
In the second half, Duke scored 49 points. That's the most Tech allowed in a half this season &mdash; in fact, Tech held its opponent below 49 points in the entirety of a game multiple times this season. They allowed 45 in a half to Oklahoma earlier this season, and held them to 42 points the next game. Duke&rsquo;s 78 final points was the second-most allowed by the Red Raiders all year, and most in regulation.
This Texas Tech defense was a juggernaut all season, which puts into context the performance Paolo Banchero put together in the second half.
The first time you watch a no-middle defense (what Tech thrives upon), it's vexing. It's odd to watch a team welcome baseline drives, but it makes sense when an unsuspecting guard takes the open lane and runs into well-timed help and back-line rotations in the paint. The communication required to fully execute a scheme so reliant on switching, timeliness and aggression cannot be undersold.&nbsp;
Just watch this possession.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/8tv87k" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Duke opts into a high-aligned horns set to draw out the defense. Look at how much space is presented along the baseline.
Now, watch how Tech slowly shows you that the space just doesn't actually exist!
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_03_26_19_36_19_lg.png" alt="" width="572" height="322" />
Terence Shannon Jr. shades Wendell Moore, presenting the baseline drive, denying the potential of a middle pick-and-roll with Paolo Banchero.
Bryson Williams helps down off of Mark Williams, preparing to time his slide with a Roach drive.
Kevin Obanor pre-rotates off of AJ Griffin to help at the rim.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_03_26_19_40_25_lg.png" alt="" width="577" height="325" />
Williams rotates and the ball is stopped.&nbsp;
Kevin McCullar fronts Mark Williams, preventing any quick lobs or interior passes opened up by Bryson helping off his man.
Adonis Arms (great name) is glued to Banchero to take away any immediate outlet.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_03_26_19_50_13_lg.png" alt="" width="586" height="330" />
Moore tries to split the double and passes out to Roach in the slot as he stumbles.
Obanor closes hard and forces the pass to Griffin who takes an initially open, but at least late-contested shot from deep, as Williams screams to the corner.
This possession wasn't even a perfect showcase of the difficulty of trying to break down a defense this in-sync &mdash; with length, court awareness and athleticism throughout the 5-man unit.
Throughout the first half, Duke attempted to get Paolo open in different ways, but Tech made it near-impossible to get him downhill. If a dribble hand-off was called, Tech switched, but the defender who just switched off would keep a hand on Paolo, sticking to him as the next defender took him on, giving a more open look from deep &mdash; but also not affording Paolo a slip or quick post mismatch. Also, it should be said that there just isn't really anyone you can post-up against and take advantage of on the Tech team. If he did catch the ball outside the arc, the Red Raiders would soft-close, refusing to give him a lane to the rim and forcing him to either drive and post into help on his pivot, or take a pull-up two.
These are the three baskets Paolo made in the first half:
<ul>
<li>And-one layup on the break</li>
<li>Catch-and-shoot three in early offense</li>
<li>Wide-open two-handed slam on blown switch with 15 seconds before the half</li>
</ul>
Tech's defense clung to Paolo like an overblown life jacket. Duke started to use him as a screener for pin-downs from the low/mid-post to try and get him more to the middle of the floor away from action, and able to attack off the catch &mdash; attempting to get his vision in the heart of the defense (precisely where Tech did not want him).
That last basket in the first from Paolo felt like a bit of a parting of the Red Sea, the "we-need-this-more" moment for Duke.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/hw09xm" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Griffin is by and large one of the best shooters in college basketball this season, so Tech sells hard on his cut to the arc off an elevator screen. However, the quick dive from Mark Williams frees up Paolo due to Tech's overplay and miscommunication on the switch. To be fair, that is a hard play to cover when factoring in the gravity in-play. You have one of the best shooters (Griffin), a great roll-man and lob threat (Williams) and then maybe the most dynamic scorer in Division I (Banchero).
It's sort of like guarding a Spain pick-and-roll without the actual pick-and-roll.
While this isn't an action you can just spam over and over against a great defense, it showed the key for Duke &mdash; the team needed to set up more interior screening actions to force the defense to think more and get them into more precarious situations.
To open the second, they started to look for high-lows to find Williams off dummy actions. After Duke caught Tech the first time, they started selling out harder to front. Duke also slipped in more off-ball lifting from the corners to make it harder on the taggers.&nbsp;
Even then, Tech's defense was so stout, and was able to flounder most of those actions. However, it freed up Paolo Banchero to find cracks in the defense. The man who was glued to him at all times earlier... well, the early actions and off-ball movement were enough of a solvent to pry him loose.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/3o6ggx" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Shannon is ball-watching a bit and prepared to help on Williams, but Moore lifts, gets the kick, is stifled himself, and then... Paolo.
The ability to jut into space, and tight space at that, shimmy through unbothered, and then place a perfectly timed lob... that's special. It seems basic watching, but make no mistake, this sort of play is backbreaking.
Then, a few minutes later, a play breaks down. Duke starts swinging and trying to find an answer, and the ball reaches Paolo's hands with 10 seconds on the shot clock.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/m6kpqv" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
He looks to Theo John, fakes a chest pass to Trevor Keels, then jabs and rips left as soon as Kevin Obanor plants his foot, but then spins back on the pivot.
This is really solid defense from Obanor, but the body control and composure from Paolo beats solid defense.&nbsp;
Paolo's drive commands Shannon's attention, but so does Griffin lifting to the slot. Paolo keeps his eyes on the rim as he jumps for a fleeting moment, keeping Shannon's eyes on him in the process, adding a sliver of time and space for Griffin to plant and fire.&nbsp;
This possession and this pass are far from perfect, but in a game like this against this level of opposition, the ability to make imperfect plays work in your favor is part of what sets apart good and great players.
Remember that elevator play from earlier? Well, it's back!
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/tgjaee" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Tech remembers what happened last time that play went down, switching everything, keeping the screeners from getting open, but now with the Arms rotation, Keels is wide open in the weak corner. The shot doesn't fall, but attacking the middle is opening up plays on the perimeter.
Here comes another variation.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/71wn7d" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
What else is Texas Tech supposed to do? The action from Paolo is too quick to front, you can't really just give him a baseline shade when you're that close to the rim. Williams honestly helps about as well as he can given positioning and how the play develops. Paolo just hits a ridiculous baseline floater/push shot that's been setup by his utilization as the game's gone on.
Again, the offense looks late to Paolo off-ball as the clock winds down off multiple stuffed actions.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/r2tvwc" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Williams can't finish inside, but again, they get a great look. Paolo catches, dips left, and rips to his right &mdash; drawing two while also freezing Arms in the middle of the floor, opening Williams for the lightning quick pass to the dunker spot (<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dunker-spot/id1547857052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listen and subscribe!</a>).
Getting to the middle of a no-middle defense is, as the name implies, the way to best defeat it.
Next play down, Roach kicks the ball to Banchero early in the clock and he attacks immediately, driving baseline.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/yazzy3" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Here's the fun wrinkle. He spins as soon as help comes, essentially rendering it useless as he fires the ball out to the top of the key. He draws two to where the ball no longer is!
Griffin attacks the paint and kicks to the corner as Paolo relocates and gets the wide-open three, because of the attack he set in motion seconds earlier.
Again, Paolo stirs the drink later down the floor, attacking off the close, getting deep in the paint and forcing rotations and a wild close-out as Moore attacks off his pass for the bucket at the rim.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/nxq17t" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Duke has the pace pushing now.
Tech's on their heels and it's palpable through pixels.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/ghq0p0" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
It's hard to find players who can spin with regularity, but also with control.&nbsp;
Paolo's drive game has entered 'the deal zone' and there's not an offer that Tech can put forth to stop it. Sell out for the drive, and a dump-off or lob is headed to the dunker.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/xs24jz" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Mark Williams throws down an emphatic exclamation point on a dominant offensive half from Duke.
I could go on and on about their play as the minutes wound down &mdash; a methodic and metronomic bucket precipitated by an attack on the middle of the floor. Paolo Banchero wasn't the primary ball-handler for the Blue Devils, but he was certainly the primary difference maker.
Credit to Duke's coaching staff for putting their players in the right positions to succeed, but Banchero's decisiveness, awareness and gravity put Duke over the top and into the Elite Eight. Just an absolutely electric offensive showing and one of the best games I've seen from a collegiate player this year. Remember this game, as it highlights a great deal of what makes him so intriguing at the next level.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

After Texas Tech stifled Duke's offense in the first half, they were unleashed in the second, spurred by freshman Paolo Banchero.

How Duke's Paolo Banchero picked apart the best defense in basketball

Did you stick around for the Luka Doncic show on Friday night?&nbsp;
It's understandable if you didn't, considering the <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1489807335405019138?s=20&amp;t=zZvJhIoVnlKYvFHJgpdGDw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what-felt-like-hours delay</a> midway through the first quarter. There was an issue with the rim, and it's fitting that Doncic -- the man that seemingly sees everything on the court -- was able to point out the defect after making&nbsp;a three pointer.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
The game would eventually resume, and Doncic would dominate. 33 points were scored, 13 boards (three offensive) were grabbed and 15 dimes were dished in the Mavericks' 107-98 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
If I were to pinpoint one thing from Doncic's night, it's how he made the opposite corner his personal playground in pick-and-roll. Good pick-and-roll playmakers read what's in front of them; guys like Doncic read the third player, the unlucky fella tasked with providing help on the main action.
It's hard out here for a weakside defender, especially when toggling help responsibilities from a single side. Cheat inside too early, and you risk having a pass tossed behind you for a three. Stick to your guy too long, and your center is shooting you angry looks for not helping him on a lob.&nbsp;
Put another way: being in two places at once is&nbsp;really freaking difficult.
The delay got most of the early attention, and Doncic's play afterwards (and the Sixers completely melting against a zone at the end) got the attention late. What if I told you that a broken possession was a precursor to Doncic's big night?
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/z0tvet" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
What's easy to see: Matisse Thybulle showing you why he's one of the best defenders in the sport. It's not easy to stick with Doncic, and it definitely isn't easy to guess what he wants to do&nbsp;and&nbsp;time it correctly. Thybulle does all three, sensing the lob to Dwight Powell coming (Joel Embiid is a smidge too high) and getting the deflection.
What's key to this possession is Tobias Harris. While the ball screen is happening, Harris fully commits to tagging/providing relief on the roll, though a half-beat late. Dorian Finney-Smith lifts from the corner to the wing at the same time Doncic is working himself downhill. That lift is designed to put helpers in pick-your-poison situations.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_02_05_16_58_28_lg.png" alt="" width="576" height="324" />
So as Doncic recovers the ball and does his dance &mdash; a pump-fake to get Embiid and Thybulle in the air, then a gather to force Embiid and Harris to commit to him and Powell respectively &mdash; Finney-Smith is left all alone.&nbsp;
And that, my friends, is the opening salvo of the corner-help battle. With this broken-but-fruitful possession in mind, you're able to better appreciate some late-game nastiness from Doncic with a similar setup.
Poor Tyrese Maxey was caught between a rock and a hard place in the fourth quarter of this one. The Mavs stashed Reggie Bullock &mdash; a career 38.5% three-point sniper, and 43.3% marksman from the corners &mdash; in the left pocket to put Maxey in the same dilemma that Harris was in.
The first go around, Maxey picks Door No. 1. With the Sixers opting to play Embiid higher against screens at this point of the game, it was even more prudent to make sure the roll-man was accounted for.&nbsp;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/dd006p" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
You can see the strain, right? Maxey is already keeping tabs on Powell. Doncic exacerbates the issue; he doesn't just string out the hedge from Embiid, he drives past it. Maxey has to commit at that point, which leaves Bullock open for three.
(Also, I love the "exit screen" &mdash; set by Finney-Smith for Jalen Brunson &mdash; thrown in to take away Harris as a helper.)
On the very next trip, Maxey picks Door No. 2. Well, kind of. He's torn based on the last possession, and that hesitation is all Doncic needs to fire a dart inside.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/9fqr6b" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
I love how early Luka pulls the kill switch on this. He doesn't even attempt to drive past Embiid this time. He strings it out just enough, and makes his move early once he recognizes how much much space Powell has due to Maxey's hesitancy.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_02_05_18_02_54_lg.png" alt="" />
In all, the Mavericks scored a blistering 1.6 points per possession on Luka-led ball screens featuring that corner-to-wing lift, per Second Spectrum. It was one of the high marks of the season, if you care about that kind of granular thing.
Beyond that, it just goes to show how difficult it is to deal with Luka when he's rolling. He's always thinking two frames ahead. Even if you guess right, he can still make you wrong with elite ball placement and velocity.&nbsp;
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
<div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

Nekias Duncan breaks down how Luka Doncic shredded the Sixers in pick-and-roll.

Cornered: How Luka Doncic toyed with the Sixers

The continuous struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers didn&rsquo;t come to an end when they faced the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. The Lakers lost 111-104 in yet another disappointing fashion, and much of the blame was once again directed toward Russell Westbrook.&nbsp;
While it is undeniable that Westbrook is in quite a bit of a shooting slump, the unexpected happened when he was benched in the fourth quarter during their final push to win the game.
"[I was] playing the guys that I thought were going to win the game," Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said following Wednesday's loss when asked about Russ not being on the floor to finish the contest.
Speaking with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday morning, Westbrook reacted to Vogel's choice.
"Surprised, yes," Westbrook <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33115018/russell-westbrook-disagrees-benching-remains-undeterred-helping-los-angles-lakers-win-long-run" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in the exclusive interview</a>. "I was disappointed I didn't go back in, but I'm more disappointed that we lost the damn game... I want to be able to be on the floor to help my teammates and be able to help our team win in games like that &mdash; but that was a decision that was made."
Westbrook went on to reflect on the Lakers' status at the moment, and being considered a disappointing team.
"Ultimately, you have to be okay when sh** doesn't go well, and I'm okay," Westbrook <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33115018/russell-westbrook-disagrees-benching-remains-undeterred-helping-los-angles-lakers-win-long-run" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in the interview</a>. "I've done everything that's been asked of me here [in L.A.], and I'll continue to do so and ride this out as long as we can toward our ultimate goal &mdash; and that's to win a championship... We obviously haven't been fully healthy, but I'm committed to making this thing work. The communication is there with everybody in the organization to make this thing work, to make this team we all want it to be in the future.
"I have accepted everything that has been asked of me and tried to do it to the best of my ability," <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33115018/russell-westbrook-disagrees-benching-remains-undeterred-helping-los-angles-lakers-win-long-run" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he continued</a>. "I'm not the ultimate decision-maker of if it's working, or if it's not working. I'm okay with sacrificing some of the things that I've been able to do in this game to win, because that's the most important part of this game. I've done everything they've asked me to do to this point."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
With much of the chatter the past couple of days being centered around criticisms of Westbrook and calls for him to be moved by the Feb 10. trade deadline and run out of L.A., I wanted to have a more nuanced discussion on the topic.&nbsp;
On The Collision: &ldquo;Where Sports And Politics Collide,&rdquo; me and my co-host Dave Zirin had an <a href="https://archive.wpfwfm.org/mp3/wpfw_220120_100000collision.mp3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in-depth discussion about Westbrook</a>, and if the criticism he's been receiving this season has been warranted.
Etan Thomas: Okay, so Russell Westbrook was benched in the last five, six minutes of the game. They lose to the Indiana Pacers. There&rsquo;s been an ongoing criticism of Westbrook's play for a while now. What&rsquo;s your assessment of Westbrook in the midst of all of this criticism?
Dave Zirin: "The first thing we have to recognize is that Russell Westbrook is a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer and arguably the most dynamic point guard of his generation and, in my opinion, a top-five all-time point guard in the NBA. He is a titanic talent, the likes of which you get once in a generation. It is also true that while it may be a dream for Russell Westbrook to go home to Los Angeles &mdash; played at UCLA, play for the Lakers &mdash; there's a historical error happening here.
Etan:&nbsp;Break it down for me.&nbsp;
Zirin: "I don't think it's a good spot for him, and ironically, right across town I think if he was on the Clippers, he'd already be being celebrated as an MVP candidate there."
Etan: Oh really?
Zirin: "Factor it all in, like Kawhi being hurt, Paul George being hurt. Because for Russell Westbrook to be Russell Westbrook, he needs to be able to cook. He needs to be able to do the Russell Westbrook things that he does, and there's probably one player in the entire NBA who is so good all around that it sort of upsets the balance of what makes Westbrook, Westbrook, and that's LeBron James.
"I love LeBron, I respect LeBron, but look at LeBron's career. It's like he needs a certain type of player and a certain mindset around him to be the LeBron who we want to see and who can thrive. And Russell Westbrook, that's less his game; [he doesn't do] spot-up three-pointers, 3-and-D, a lot of defense. I don't think it's a very good fit at all, the two of them, from everything I'm watching. Russ looks at times tentative, but then he'll pull something out of the bag and dunk on Rudy Gobert, almost from the foul line right in the middle of the game.&nbsp;
"So all the athleticism is still there. All the amazingness is still there, it's just he needs the opportunity to make it happen, and right now it's not happening. But it's not that he's terrible. I'm looking it up right now. He's averaging 18.5 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists. For a lot of players, that would be a dream season. For Russ, it's significantly down."
Etan: I understand what you're saying as far as the cohesiveness between him and LeBron, but it's almost as if Westbrook has to be the scapegoat because they're not going to blame LeBron, they're not going to blame Anthony Davis. So the only other person to be able to blame for the Lakers not achieving the level that everybody thought that they would achieve so far is Westbrook.
Zirin: "Yeah, which to me just also an incredible advocation of leadership with the Lakers, and that's the other thing that's going on here. There have been a lot of leaks to the media that are clearly coming from inside the Lakers that are, I think, meant to undermine the presence of Westbrook on the team and Frank Vogel's coaching. Vogel could be gone at the end of business [this week], for all we know. The rumors are that hot and heavy, but I don't think Frank Vogel's necessarily done anything "wrong." But I do think that for the benching of Westbrook...
"And let me say something about this too, for people who didn't see the game [Wednesday] night. With about eight minutes to go, [Caris] LeVert &mdash; who's a really good player, big, athletic &mdash; beat Westbrook off the dribble and hit a layup. Big deal, it happens. A member of the L.A. coaching staff leaked to the media that [that particular play] is what soured Vogel on Westbrook; they had told him to guard LeVert a certain way and it didn't happen, and that's why he was getting pulled from the game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The play that got Russ benched <a href="https://t.co/yONE54ZTCW">pic.twitter.com/yONE54ZTCW</a>
&mdash; Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) <a href="https://twitter.com/LakersDailyCom/status/1484178684697137154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

"LeVert in the fourth quarter [Wednesday] night went 8 of 9 with 22 points. He was cooking on everybody and to me, he's a great player &mdash; injury-plagued, brilliant player who will be a superstar and an All-Star if he gets in the right situation and gets his health on point. So it's no shame giving up a layup to Caris LeVert for goodness sakes if you're Russell Westbrook.
"But the idea that they would leak to that the press is strange. It's weird... it also doesn't quite fit because Westbrook stayed in the game another three minutes before he took him out. Then, there&rsquo;s all these leaks about how there are all these people in the front office who didn't want to bring in Westbrook, but LeBron and Rob Pelinka (who's obviously very close to LeBron) insisted upon it. So this is my belief and please Etan, please disagree with me on this.
"I think the problem at its root level... I don't think it's coaching. I don't know about the Westbrook-LeBron dynamic being able to work together, particularly without a healthy Anthony Davis to erase all mistakes with people coming towards the hoop. Now what? Can you see Russ and LeBron working with a different coaching style, format, motivation? Do you like the combo?"
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan: You know, we talked about this a few weeks ago with my guys from Chopping it Up with G and Z. One of the things that I suggested was having Rajon Rondo play a little bit more at the point and having Westbrook play more of the 2 and attacking, with Rondo doing more facilitating, and that didn't happen at all. I mean, Vogel didn't even play Rondo at all and they traded him to Cleveland.
So I thought that would have worked as a strategy, to be honest with you because I think that you... there are ways that you can utilize what Westbrook brings to the table. I mean, is he a spot up shooter, like you said, for LeBron to drive and then kick it out to Westbrook for the three? That wouldn't really be my strategy. Would that be a strategy if you were the coach?
Zirin: "Not at all."
Etan: Right. So I don't know if they're playing him to his strengths. But let me ask you this: What do you think about some of the people like Shannon Sharpe, who are <a href="https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/1484550725061521410?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">constantly criticizing him publicly and kind of drumming up all criticism towards Westbrook</a>? Or do you think Shannon's just echoing what everybody is already saying? Not him in particular, but just a lot of the media talking heads, because I'm hearing a lot of people pile on with Westbrook. And I know the Lakers are always in the spotlight, but it's a little bit extra this year with Westbrook it seems.
Zirin: "Yeah. The Lakers are the the closest things to the Dallas Cowboys in the NBA. They're America's team. So there's a ton of focus on the Lakers at all times. And L.A. is a city that loves stars. So it's like that affects the decision-making, like Buddy Hield would have been a better [fit]... they had to choose. They were going to get either Buddy Hield, or they could get Russell Westbrook. And Buddy Hield is not... just being very frank, is not one-tenth of the player that Russell Westbrook is.
"But Buddy Hield would've been a better fit. He&rsquo;s like a 40% three-point shooter, plays defense. I think if the Lakers were the Cleveland Cavaliers, they would have said, 'Oh, of course we're [making a move for] Buddy Hield. That fits in with what we're trying to do.' But the Lakers... man, they're star-addicted. So they bring in Russell Westbrook, and Russell Westbrook in a lot of ways is like catnip for the L.A. media, and Shannon Sharpe is the L.A. media."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_17454553_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="433" />
Etan: Russ was great in D.C.
Zirin: "He was amazing."
Etan: Everybody here loved him.
Zirin: "Oh, he was outstanding in D.C. I wish he was still in D.C. He was [putting up] 22/12/12 for the season. That's bonkers.&nbsp;And his stats, in terms of shooting splits, aren't really down from last year. So that's why I think it's total scapegoating. I don't think he's the best fit in LA. I think from a coaching perspective, you start [LeBron and Russ] both and you play them both at crunch time. But second and third quarter, stagger them. Stagger them in the game, [and] have Russ's team and then have LeBron's team, make it work like that."
Etan:&nbsp;So how do you think this ends?&nbsp;
Zirin: "I think Vogel gets fired, and I think somebody comes in who tries to make it work in a better way, even though I do not blame Vogel for what's happening (except for this last game, where I think he was clearly trying to throw a little mischief in the mix). I think they get someone in there, fresh start, whole new ball game. Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, make a playoff run, make it at least to the Western Conference Finals. Boom, I'm throwing that down right now."
Etan: Okay. So you have faith think it can work with Russell Westbrook? And you're not hopping off the Westbrook train or anything like that?
Zirin: "Not even a little bit. You've got to make it work. You know, it's one of those things where it's like you got to play the hand that you're dealt. Would I, as a general manager, have combined these two incredible Hall-of-Fame talents? No, I wouldn't have, but you've got to make use with the talent that you have, especially when it's talent like Russell Westbrook. And I want to say this 'til the cows come home: He's 33 years old. Anybody who saw that dunk on Gobert knows Russ has not lost a step.&nbsp;At 33. So don't give me any of this, 'Oh, he doesn't have what he [used to].' Give me a break. He's in amazing shape. He takes tremendous care of himself. Nobody's more intense. I miss him on the Wizards terribly!"
Etan: I hear you Dave, and again, I was his teammate for a year, and it was a young Russell Westbrook. I have nothing bad to say about him. I mean, the intensity that he brought every single game and the way he brought it, the passion that he brought &mdash; I thought it was absolutely amazing. I still think it's a tragedy that OKC couldn't keep all those guys together (the young Thunder all together), but that's a whole different topic. Yeah, no, what he brings, I have a lot of respect for him &mdash; both on and off the court.
I interviewed him for <a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/we-matter-athletes-and-activism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my book,</a> "We Matter: Athletes and Activism." He's <a href="https://apnews.com/article/5e662a89d2e24aaf80c69de3a93a67e2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speaking out about Terence Crutcher</a>. He's speaking out for the community and for our people and against police brutality. He cares.&nbsp;
So just hearing people pile on him like he's almost like a cancer to the team (as far as on the court and as far as in the locker room), and the media trying to set it up like he's now going to be a problem child because he got taken out the game is ridiculous. So I'm glad that you made these points.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_lg.png" alt="" width="680" height="340" />
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Etan Thomas speaks with Dave Zirin about Russell Westbrook's benching on Wednesday and how he isn't solely to blame in L.A.

Russell Westbrook has unfairly been made the Lakers' scapegoat

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) &mdash; Klay Thompson scored 17 points in his return from two devastating injuries that sidelined him more than 2 1/2 years, helping the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 96-82 on Sunday night.
Thompson was 7 of 18 from the field and 3 of 8 from 3-point range. He added three rebounds, an assist and a steal in 20 minutes, walking off the court to a thunderous ovation followed by chants of &ldquo;Klay! Klay!&rdquo; from the Chase Center crowd.
Stephen Curry had 29 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Jordan Poole added 14 points for Golden State. The Warriors snapped a two-game losing streak to tie Phoenix for the NBA lead at 30-9.
Lamar Stevens had 17 points and four rebounds for Cleveland.
Thompson missed 941 days and hadn&rsquo;t played since tearing the ACL in his left knee in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals against Toronto. While rehabbing from surgery for that injury, he tore his right Achilles tendon scrimmaging on his own in November 2020.
The five-time All-Star finally made his much-anticipated return, and reached two career milestones &mdash; 12,000 points and 1,800 3-pointers.
&ldquo;It was just amazing having him out there,&rdquo; Curry said on the television broadcast.
Thompson got off to a slow start but showed plenty of the flash that made him a vital component on Golden State&rsquo;s three championship teams from 2015-18.
At one point Thompson brought the crowd to its feet when he drove around a defender near the 3-point line and scored on a jarring one-handed dunk. Thompson snarled and pounded his chest as he walked back toward midcourt. Moments later he made his first 3-pointer to go over 12,000 points and put the Warriors up 49-41.
After spending time on a stationary bicycle, Thompson started the third quarter and made three consecutive shots, including his 1,800th.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
TIP-INS
Cavaliers: Isaac Okoro missed his third straight game because of a sprained left elbow.
Warriors: Golden State has won 10 straight against Cleveland. &hellip; Juan Tosco-Anderson had two points, four rebounds and three assists after being questionable before the game because of left ankle soreness.
UP NEXT
Cavaliers: At Sacramento on Monday night.
Warriors: At Memphis on Tuesday night.

Klay Thompson scored 17 points a return from injuries that sidelined him more than 2 years, helping the Warriors beat the Cavaliers.

Klay Thompson has 17 points in return, Warriors beat Cavs

Kyle Lowry posed for pictures with new Miami Heat teammates Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. He chatted up some new teammates for the first time. And he struggled a bit trying to remember the names of various people he was meeting, a task that proved challenging since most were wearing masks.
The first day at his new job wasn&rsquo;t easy.
The second day, that&rsquo;ll be more to his liking.
Lowry went through media day in Miami for the first time Monday, the gamut of interviews and photos that serves as the precursor to training camp. The actual playing of basketball with the Heat started this week, and that&rsquo;s the part Lowry expects to be seamless.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different uniform, different city, different atmosphere, different people around,&rdquo; Lowry said. &ldquo;So, yeah, there&rsquo;s definitely adjustments and kind of figuring things out. It&rsquo;s a little bit different when people have a mask on so you don&rsquo;t know who&rsquo;s talking to who and you don&rsquo;t know the names. It&rsquo;s different for me and my career, but it&rsquo;s the next chapter to be written.&rdquo;
Lowry comes to Miami after 15 years in the NBA, the last nine with Toronto, where he was a six-time All-Star and helped the Raptors win the 2019 championship. He was nearly traded to the Heat last spring, then ended up in Miami this summer during free agency after agreeing to a deal that ultimately became a sign-and-trade sending Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa to the Raptors.
&ldquo;Kyle is somebody that we&rsquo;ve had great respect for,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;Just an incredible competitor. ... He&rsquo;s just a great winner. He knows how to impact winning.&rdquo;
Lowry has logged nearly 30,500 minutes of playing time, 11th-most among active players. He never expected to play 16 seasons &mdash; and counting &mdash; yet even at 35 years old now the Heat believe he was worth $85 million over the next three years.
&ldquo;I feel so good,&rdquo; Lowry said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going into another year. I&rsquo;m going into Year 16; not many people could say that. Playing for an organization like this and playing with some players like this, our goal is to win a championship. And that&rsquo;s the only goal there should be.&rdquo;
OLADIPO UPDATE
There is no timetable for the return of guard Victor Oladipo, who came to the Heat at the trade deadline last spring but ultimately needed another surgery on his now-twice-repaired right quadriceps tendon. &ldquo;I want to show my resiliency and have one of the best comeback stories ever,&rdquo; Oladipo said.
BULKED UP
Shooting guard Tyler Herro&rsquo;s weight gain over the offseason &mdash; about 10 pounds of muscle &mdash; was at Miami&rsquo;s request, Spoelstra said. &ldquo;Tyler was committed to the process,&rdquo; Spoelstra said.
ANNIVERSARY
Monday marked exactly one year since Miami&rsquo;s 125-113 win over Boston in Game 6 of the 2020 Eastern Conference finals, a victory that sent the Heat into the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. There have been 24 players who have played for the Heat since that game, not counting the nine others who were officially in Miami uniforms for the first time Monday at media day.
BUSY PRESEASON
Most NBA teams are playing four preseason games, a handful of others play five and Miami is playing six. Spoelstra said that is in part due to pre-existing agreements for games that couldn&rsquo;t be played last season because of the pandemic and scheduling limitations. Memphis and the Lakers also have announced six preseason games for the coming weeks.
OLYMPIC BAM
Adebayo said he took some time off to recover physically and emotionally after helping the U.S. win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. &ldquo;You want to enjoy it for a little bit. ... That was my moment, that was my time to really soak it in and enjoy it,&rdquo; Adebayo said. &ldquo;Great for me, great for my family, great for the city of Miami. All in all, a great experience and got it accomplished.&rdquo;

Lowry comes to Miami after 15 years in the NBA, the last nine with Toronto, where he was a six-time All-Star and helped the Raptors win the 2019 championship.

Kyle Lowry begins anew in Miami, ready for season with Heat

Prior to the start of last season, Kyrie Irving <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2921968-nets-kyrie-irving-on-fine-for-media-policy-violation-i-do-not-talk-to-pawns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called the media &ldquo;pawns&rdquo;</a> and stated that it would be his preference if he didn&rsquo;t speak to them at all, and it appears as though many are dedicated to holding a grudge for the rest of their days.
But did Kyrie Irving have a valid point? Were the members of the media who fall into that category the only ones offended by those comments? I personally didn&rsquo;t take offense because I know he wasn&rsquo;t talking about me. But as the saying goes, if the shoe fits...
Irving's words should have resulted in a lot of the media taking a hard and long look in the mirror instead of getting their notepads in a bunch (see what I did there).
A pawn is defined as &ldquo;a person used by others for their own purposes.&rdquo;
So from that standpoint, was Kyrie onto something? For instance, recall last year&rsquo;s dramatic articles and commentary projecting disaster on the Brooklyn Nets in the preseason. A hypothetical (and eventual) combination of three of the game&rsquo;s most gifted scorers led to the media assuming they'd be unwilling to share the ball. There were accusations that Kyrie would be uncoachable. There were reports claiming he no longer cared about the game of basketball and more of the like.
But didn&rsquo;t all of that disappear as soon as the season started? Some members of the media were even calling for Kyrie to retire before the season even began.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z81VQBtWnYU" width="100%" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Creating baseless gossip and chit-chat for ratings, clicks and shares is very pawn-like.
Isn't that the script that the media is following?
Look at the evidence &mdash; articles with &ldquo;anonymous sources&rdquo; claiming that the Nets are looking to move Kyrie, commentators drumming up baseless trade chatter and spreading rumors that Kevin Durant secretly wants Kyrie gone, reports that if Kyrie is traded he&rsquo;ll retire, suggestions that a Ben Simmons swap is even in the realm of a possibility, etc.
Isn&rsquo;t it interesting that so much of the noise seems to magically disappear as soon as he starts playing? I&rsquo;m sure that will be the case again as soon as this season begins. That usually means the reports and commentary and &ldquo;anonymous sources&rdquo; never really had any substance in the first place, but were just more media noise that was manufactured to create chatter in the slow months tor ratings. Again, very pawn-like.
To weigh in on Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s never-ending battle with the media, I asked NBA Hall-of-Famer, Detroit Pistons legend and television analyst Isiah Thomas for his thoughts on the matter.
&ldquo;I respect the independence that Kyrie has shown throughout this entire process. Just like we [do] as professional athletes, we as human beings, we as fathers, husbands, brothers &mdash; sometimes we get it wrong. And at the same time, sometimes the media gets it wrong," Thomas told me. "And when the media gets called out on being wrong, their response is almost &lsquo;How dare you?&rsquo;
"Just like one side can be wrong, so can the other side. So, don&rsquo;t jump on me when I&rsquo;m wrong, but be quiet when you&rsquo;re wrong. You received information about me, and what I am thinking and what my intentions are, and whoever told you that didn&rsquo;t tell you correctly. Now, this is what I meant, this is my voice. This isn&rsquo;t whatever source, this is my voice. So respect my voice, and that&rsquo;s what Kyrie has been saying. And he has been very authentic in his voice."
It doesn&rsquo;t sound like he took Kyrie&rsquo;s &ldquo;pawn&rdquo; comment personally, does it?&nbsp;
Regarding the trade rumors surrounding the star point guard in Brooklyn, Thomas feels strongly that sending Kyrie elsewhere would be a mistake the Nets would regret.
&ldquo;The LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavs that came back and beat the Golden State Warriors after they had a 73-9 season &mdash; and LeBron James was off the charts in every statistical category &mdash; but the Cleveland Cavs do not win the championship without Kyrie Irving on that team," Thomas said. "Put me down on record. The Brooklyn Nets with the team constructed the way it currently is, cannot, and will not, win the championship if he is not there. Period.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s be clear: Kyrie is special. If he is not beating you from the perimeter off the dribble, he is knifing through the paint whenever he chooses with an array of dribble moves, crossovers, stepbacks and finishing in traffic. He is &ldquo;both-handed,&rdquo; which in basketball terms equates to being ambidextrous. He can finish with his left or right hand regardless of the size of the shot-blocker or the number of people occupying the lane. His layup package is on a different planet.
But don&rsquo;t take my word for it.
Allow legendary NBA point guard and New Jersey Nets fan favorite Kenny Anderson to tell you himself.
&ldquo;As far as [the great] point guards go: Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, [Allen] Iverson, Steph Curry, Oscar Robertson, and you gotta put Kyrie in the next mix," Anderson told me. "He&rsquo;s one of the best that ever played the game. He&rsquo;s so talented. His ball-handling skills are exceptional. He&rsquo;s hitting his shot from long range and short range. He can do it all. He&rsquo;s just a great player. I love watching him. He&rsquo;s one of my favorite players.
&ldquo;The Nets would be crazy to even think about trading him. They&rsquo;re favored to win everything. I don&rsquo;t even believe that they are seriously thinking about trading him. I think that&rsquo;s just something the media came up with to have something to talk about before the season starts. We got the best player in the league, Kevin Durant, with the best point guard in the league. Kyrie Irving. and an unstoppable scorer in James Harden. So no, trading Kyrie from the Nets perspective shouldn&rsquo;t even come into their minds and definitely shouldn&rsquo;t come out of their mouths as even a consideration.&rdquo;
There is statistical evidence to back up what both point guard legends are saying.
Last season, Kyrie had the best regular season of his 10-year career, averaging 26.9 points, 6.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. He became just the ninth player in NBA history to join the exclusive 50/40/90 club and shot 50.6% from the field, 40.2% from the three, and 92.2% from the free-throw line. He joined the likes of Curry, Larry Bird, Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Dirk Nowitzki and Malcolm Brogdon, along with his teammate, Durant, and head coach, Steve Nash.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
To provide further insight, Syracuse University point guard icon Sherman Douglas &mdash; who played 11 seasons in the NBA and two with Nets &mdash; weighed in as the rumors as well.
&ldquo;Kyrie is vital to the Nets' success this season. To even think about trading him is absurd," Douglas said. "It&rsquo;s going to take the Lakers a while to get their chemistry [together], and we&rsquo;ll see how that works out. But if you trade him, you&rsquo;re not going to get equal value back, I don&rsquo;t care what package you come up with. He is a special talent, so what type of sense would it make to take a step back in a season where you should be favored to win it all? And if it weren&rsquo;t for injuries, you very well may have won it all last season. Of course, no disrespect to Milwaukee because they did an amazing job. But my point is, it would make no sense to break that team up.&rdquo;
Nicknamed &ldquo;The General&rdquo; for the way he ran the Orangemen and setting the NCAA record for assists in 1989, Douglas offered his evaluation of Kyrie Irving as a point guard and a leader.
&ldquo;Kyrie&rsquo;s skill level of not just ball-handling but of shooting, passing and scoring is one of the best I&rsquo;ve ever seen. He can do it all," Douglas said. "He is one of those point guards where you have to just say, 'I hope he&rsquo;s off tonight.' And [with] the way Brooklyn plays spreading the floor with shooters &mdash; which leaves the defender on an island by himself with Kyrie &mdash; you wanna send help, but you can&rsquo;t because of all of the shooters.
&ldquo;And as a leader, one of the many things that had impressed me with Kyrie is that he can take a step back and let other guys score. So when he sees Durant is scoring or Harden has it going or whoever, he has the humility to take a step back and allow those guys to get off when he knows he could be doing the same exact level of scoring. And I&rsquo;ve seen Harden do that as well. It&rsquo;s not a competition, and that&rsquo;s special. You don&rsquo;t just throw that away, because that chemistry isn&rsquo;t easy to come by and they jelled quickly.&rdquo;
So everyone agrees that, on the court, Kyrie is invaluable. But one of the things that makes him somewhat of an enigma to many is the fact that Kyrie cares about much more than basketball.&nbsp;
At one point last season, Irving divulged that he was participating in his first Ramadan, a sacred time for Muslims where they fast from dawn to sunset and can&rsquo;t eat or drink anything during the day. He also disclosed that the Israeli airstrikes that slaughtered dozens of Palestinians heavily weighed on him, and despite the fact that the playoffs were just days away and the Nets were significant favorites to win it all, his main focus wasn&rsquo;t at the time bouncing a ball.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Kyrie explained why, with everything going on in the world, basketball isn't the most important thing for him to talk about right now. <a href="https://t.co/y6YbMPoZq6">pic.twitter.com/y6YbMPoZq6</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1393764602840768513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of stuff going on in this world, and basketball is just not the most important thing to me right now," he said. "There&rsquo;s a lot of stuff going on overseas. All my people are still in bondage all across the world. There&rsquo;s a lot of dehumanization going on, so I apologize if I&rsquo;m not going to be focused on your questions. There&rsquo;s just too much going on in the world for me to just be talking about basketball... and it&rsquo;s not just in Palestine and not just in Israel, it&rsquo;s all over the world, and I feel it.
"I&rsquo;m very compassionate to all races, all cultures, and to see so many people being discriminated against based on their religion, the color of their skin, what they believe in it&rsquo;s just sad. We all say we&rsquo;re human beings and we&rsquo;re compassionate and we care, but what are you doing to help?&rdquo;&nbsp;
Anybody with eyes could see the genuine hurt that Kyrie Irving was feeling at that moment. This is who he is. He cares deeply.&nbsp;
Shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection &mdash; in which the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. was violently attacked by a mob of supporters of Donald Trump as they sought to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election &mdash; Kyrie took a break from the team. Upon his return, he addressed the media. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"There are so many oppressed communities and so many things going on that are bigger than a ball going in the rim." Kyrie Irving discussed his absence, mental health and his goals off the court. (via <a href="https://twitter.com/SNYNets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SNYNets</a>) <a href="https://t.co/4LY7T8V327">pic.twitter.com/4LY7T8V327</a>
&mdash; Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/YahooSportsNBA/status/1351601992280498178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2021</a></blockquote>
&ldquo;When things become overwhelming in life, you know, you just got to take a step back and realize what&rsquo;s important. I&rsquo;m not alone in this. And that&rsquo;s just a big thing about also mental health, you know, just coming in and being balanced with yourself and then being able to perform," Irving said. "So, with everything going on in the world politically, socially, it&rsquo;s hard to ignore. I want to make changes daily. You know, there are so many oppressed communities, so many things going on that are bigger than just a ball going into the rim. So it&rsquo;s just the balance of it.&rdquo;&nbsp;
No one is going to deny that Kyrie's absence from the team was unexpected, and the lack of details opened the door for speculation and chatter. And to be fair, the way he handled it wasn&rsquo;t the best either. Breaking the NBA&rsquo;s COVID-19 protocols and attending a party is obviously not the greatest thing to do, even if it&rsquo;s part of the taking a step away process.
However, at the same time, Irving&rsquo;s mental health is something that needs to be intact in order for him to perform at the optimal level fans desire. And taking a break doesn&rsquo;t always look the same for everyone. But in this society, athletes are still greatly ridiculed when they take time off for their mental health, just ask Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles. But that doesn&rsquo;t change the fact that mental health is something that should be valued, and Kyrie is not someone who is going to stop caring &mdash; because that&rsquo;s just who he is. 
On my show "<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rematch</a>," while I was interviewing Stephen Jackson, <a href="nba-kyrie-irving-george-floyd-stephen-jackson-house-bought-gianna-lil-baby-barbra-streisand-brooklyn-nets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he revealed that Kyrie bought a house for the family of George Floyd</a>, who was murdered last year at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.&nbsp;
Irving also <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2021/01/01/brooklyn-nets-guard-kyrie-irving-pays-off-tuition-of-nine-students-at-hbcu-lincoln-university/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paid off the college tuition of nine students from an HBCU</a> (Lincoln University) on Dec. 10 as part of his foundation&rsquo;s 11 Days of Giving.
At the height of an international covid pandemic, <a href="https://nothinbutnets.com/2020/07/27/nets-kyrie-irving-wnba-players/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he committed $1.5 million to help support the income of WNBA players</a> who chose to sit out the 2020 season due to health and other personal reasons.
This past August, <a href="https://www.michigandaily.com/news/kyrie-irving-donates-13000-to-umich-student-run-charity-for-solar-water-center-in-pakistan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he donated funds to help build a solar water center in Pakistan</a> that will provide clean water and electricity to over 1,000 people.
And I could go on and on and on, but in describing his character, many members of the media choose to focus on Kyrie not wanting to speak to them instead of constantly bringing up these facts.
It always goes back to him calling them pawns, or downplaying his need to take a mental break, or not being committed to the team or pulling up previous statements to add ridicule to him. A good example is his strong opposition to Thanksgiving.
(All the while ignoring the fact that he is very serious about his Native American heritage; his mother, Elizabeth, who passed away when he was 4, was a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Irving and his older sister, Asia, were actually welcomed into the tribe with a ceremony in 2018. He was even given the Lakota name "Little Mountain" by tribal elders. So, yes, it should be more than understandable why he would not be as enthusiastic about a holiday that marks the slaughter of his people, but I digress.)&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I asked Douglas why many in the media choose to focus on the negative instead of the positive so often with Kyrie. 
&ldquo;Unfortunately, the way of the media is to focus on the negative and not the positive. &nbsp;Negativity is what sells," Douglas said. "They are not looking to praise Kyrie for what he does off the court, and he is not looking for that. In fact, he wants to do things quietly and is looking to do the right thing, and you have to commend him for that. What he is doing off the court is just phenomenal. I think Kyrie has to just tune all of that out and keep doing what he has been doing. But he is an example to all on how to give of yourself and to be selfless and care for the well-being of others in thought, word and in deed."
Thomas reflected with the same sentiments.
&ldquo;I love the sensitivity that he shows to the community and in particular, people who are in poverty. I am one who grew up in poverty, so I benefitted from the charitable generosity and good will of others. And it is appreciated more than many people know because he doesn&rsquo;t have to do that," Thomas said. "And he doesn&rsquo;t do it to be seen doing it. Things leak out of course because that&rsquo;s the age we are living in, but he would rather keep everything quiet, and that shows how genuine of a person he is &mdash; because he is doing it out of the kindness of his heart, not for recognition or to embarrass the person who he is helping, which happens too often. So I have all the respect and admiration in the world for him.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Anderson had some closing comments, in addition.
"They just want him to just shut up and play basketball. He has things other than basketball that he feels passionately about, and there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that," Anderson said. "He cares for people in a way that is foreign to a lot of folks, but he&rsquo;s supposed to care about people. He wants to make a difference in the world and that&rsquo;s what he is doing. He&rsquo;s looking at what&rsquo;s going on overseas, what&rsquo;s going on here in America, things affect him &mdash; but they are supposed to affect him. He&rsquo;s a human being with a huge heart and the financial ability to make a change.
"I think he is doing great, and he needs to keep doing everything he&rsquo;s doing &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s challenging whoever, or helping whoever, or speaking up for whoever. It obviously didn&rsquo;t take away from what he is doing on the court. He can&rsquo;t help injuries, but when he laced them up, he dominated. And if he wouldn&rsquo;t have gotten hurt, things would&rsquo;ve been different last year. So he just needs to ignore everyone and keep doing what he is doing. He definitely has my admiration and support.&rdquo;
All three are absolutely right about Kyrie Irving, and I couldn't agree more.

Etan Thomas defends Kyrie Irving along with three former NBA point guards that admire his game and, more importantly, his character.

Isiah Thomas, Kenny Anderson, Sherman Douglas have Kyrie Irving's back

Toronto, for example, could offer a package [for Bradley Beal] centered on the No. 4 selection and Pascal Siakam, who's considered available for trade by sources around the league.
The Raptors have been categorized as one of the most active teams in predraft trade chatter, exploring all avenues from swapping their pick in a deal for an All-Star such as Beal or&nbsp;Damian Lillard&nbsp;to trading back and recouping more draft capital to embrace a post-Kyle Lowry rebuild.
Source: <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2946317-sources-bradley-beal-considering-trade-request-before-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jake Fischer/Bleacher Report</a>
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;Siakam has been with the Raptors since they selected him with the 27th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. The 6-foot-9 forward earned 2018-19 Most Improved Player, helping Toronto win its first NBA championship. This past season, Siakam averaged 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

Siakam averaged 21.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game with Toronto last season.

Report: Pascal Siakam seen around the NBA as 'available for trade'

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; This could have been the offseason in which Giannis Antetokounmpo entered the free-agent market and perhaps teamed up with another superstar to try winning multiple NBA titles together.
Antetokounmpo instead will spend the summer celebrating a championship he won with the team that picked him.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/battle-tested-milwaukee-bucks-find-redemption-from-past-with-nba-championship-gold" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leading the Bucks to their first NBA crown in half century</a> rewarded Antetokounmpo for his December decision to sign a supermax extension&nbsp;with Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo averaged 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds and 5 assists to help the Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
&ldquo;I could go to a superteam and just do my part and win a championship,&rsquo;&rsquo; Antetokounmpo said Tuesday as he was flanked by the Larry O&rsquo;Brien trophy and his NBA Finals MVP trophy. &ldquo;But this is the hard way to do it and this is the way to do it. And we did it.&rdquo;
Antetokounmpo, 26, stuck with the franchise that had taken a chance on him eight years ago by selecting him with the 15th overall pick in the draft. He was just 18 then.
Loyalty matters to Antetokounmpo, who grew up dealing with poverty in Greece.
He spent much of his postgame news conference thanking the people who helped get him to this point. He praised the current and former Bucks officials who assisted in his development. He wore a T-shirt honoring <a href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-brooklyn-nets-entertainment-nba-college-football-d6db64b98962a168b510c2cf57981344#:~:text=MILWAUKEE%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Jim%20Paschke,game%20with%20the%20Brooklyn%20Nets." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jim Paschke, who retired this year after broadcasting Bucks games for 35 seasons.</a>
Most of all, he spoke about his family while crediting his Nigerian parents for the sacrifices they made along the way. Three of their sons have now won NBA championships, though Giannis is the unquestioned star of that group.
&ldquo;I can be stubborn sometimes,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said. &ldquo;I can disconnect myself from the world because I want this so bad. I wanted this so bad, and I was able to get it. That&rsquo;s why I was tearing up. But people helped me to be in this position. I didn&rsquo;t do it by myself. Every freaking day, people helped me.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
He also thanked the city that has become his basketball home.
Antetokounmpo averaged 6.8 points his rookie year as Milwaukee staggered through a 15-67 season, but he developed into a two-time MVP while helping the Bucks emerge as annual contenders.
A surprising second-round loss to Miami in the playoff bubble last year could have caused Antetokounmpo to start planning his exit from Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo instead doubled down by signing that extension.
&ldquo;This is my city,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said. &ldquo;They trust me. They believe in me. They believe in us.&rdquo;
His love affair with the Milwaukee area was evident Wednesday morning as he <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1417878127058030596" target="_blank" rel="noopener">went on Instagram Live and ordered 50 chicken nuggets</a> at a local Chick-fil-A drive-through with his trophies in his car. When fans started approaching his vehicle, Antetokounmpo chatted with them and let them take pictures.
The Bucks didn&rsquo;t have the smooth regular season they&rsquo;d enjoyed the last couple of years.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/on-lock-how-jrue-holiday-became-the-nba-finals-xfactor-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jrue Holiday, the team&rsquo;s top offseason addition, </a> missed 10 games due to COVID-19. After entering the playoffs as the NBA&rsquo;s top overall seed in 2019 and 2020, the Bucks posted the seventh-best record in the league and had the East&rsquo;s No. 3 seed this year.
But that regular-season adversity gave the Bucks the toughness they&rsquo;d need in the postseason.
&ldquo;We knew it wasn&rsquo;t always going to be pretty," Bucks forward Khris Middleton said. "We knew we were going to have to win different styles of ballgames, but that&rsquo;s the type of team you want to be, to throw different guys out there, different lineups out there, because you can&rsquo;t win the same way at this level.&rdquo;
Like many champions, the Bucks got some good luck along the way.
James Harden missed the first three games and Kyrie Irving sat out the last three games of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-7c1e79825d167e686b9c132c0c8634e0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brooklyn&rsquo;s second-round series loss to Milwaukee. </a> The Bucks won Game 7 in overtime after Kevin Durant&rsquo;s foot was on the line as he hit a jumper at the end of the fourth quarter, turning his potential series-clinching 3-pointer into a two-point basket.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
But the Bucks also showed their mettle by erasing 2-0 deficits against Brooklyn and Phoenix. Antetokounmpo delivered his dominant performance in the finals while playing with on a left knee he had hyperextended just a few weeks ago. The Bucks were 10-1 at home in the playoffs.
Middleton played a major role in this title chase. He made the winning basket in the final minute of overtime in that Game 7 victory at Brooklyn. He had a 20-point fourth quarter in Game 3 and a 23-point third quarter in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals with the Atlanta Hawks. He scored 40 points in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Antetokounmpo carried the Bucks across the finish line by scoring at least 40 points in three of the six NBA Finals games, including his 50-point, 14-rebound, 5-block effort in Tuesday&rsquo;s 105-98 series-clinching victory.
Throughout his NBA career, Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s had Middleton as a teammate. Now they&rsquo;ve won a title together.
It turns out Antetokounmpo didn&rsquo;t have to leave Milwaukee to find his championship running mate.
&ldquo;We have to live in the moment, enjoy this moment," Antetokounmpo said. "I hope Khris enjoys it with his family. And he played amazing throughout the whole playoffs, man. He led us when I was down. He gave me a chance to come back.
&ldquo;But once we&rsquo;re done enjoying this, we got to get back to work. We&rsquo;ve got to do it again. That&rsquo;s how me and Khris operate.&rdquo;

Giannis Antetokounmpo could've left the Bucks for a super-team, but he stayed put in Milwaukee. Now, his loyalty is being rewarded.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's commitment to Bucks rewarded with championship

We have a fantastic matchup on our hands, health permitting.
In one corner, the Milwaukee Bucks have finally broken through the glass ceiling. Back-to-back postseason meltdowns led to an epiphany: hey, maybe we should do some things differently.
And so, they did.&nbsp;
A different offensive formation. A departure from their strict drop scheme, opting to sprinkle in more switching as preparation for later rounds. You've seen the fruits of that labor. Their drop suffocated the Miami Heat's offense in round one. Their alterations in drop and willingness to switch were evident against the Brooklyn Nets in round two, and especially against the Atlanta Hawks in the Conference Finals.
The health of Giannis Antetokounmpo looms large, but this is a talented, mentally tough, and diverse (at last!) group ready to bring this thing home.
And then there are the Phoenix Suns, who almost nobody expected to be here.&nbsp;
They barely missed the playoffs last season, partially due to an unfortunate suspension. They went 8-0 in last season's bubble, leading to optimism and ultimately setting the stage for a Chris Paul trade.
Paul raised the floor tremendously with his playmaking, shooting, shot creation, and leadership. Internal improvement from the young studs -- Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges -- raised the ceiling. The vets filled the gaps, with Cameron Payne's resurgence leading the charge.
They took down the defending champs in round one, with injuries on both sides permeating the series. They destroyed the Denver Nuggets in round two, one pick-and-roll at a time. The Los Angeles Clippers threatened late, but ultimately couldn't push the Suns to a seventh game in the Conference Finals.
The Suns have the goods, y'all.
I&rsquo;m not a coach -- I'm just a pun-loving basketball fan with a hankering for film breakdowns. But instead of a traditional series preview, I decided to go into the basketball trenches and devise gameplans for both teams. The tone of this piece will be a little more informal, but it will still be informative (at least I hope).
Let's look at how the Suns will try to stop the Bucks.
Defensive Matchups
Chris Paul --&gt; Jrue Holiday&nbsp;
Mikal Bridges --&gt; Khris Middleton
Devin Booker --&gt; PJ Tucker
Jae Crowder --&gt; Bobby Portis
Deandre Ayton --&gt; Brook Lopez
Aside from swapping the Bridges/Booker assignments for obvious reasons, this should be pretty straightforward. If/when Giannis is back, that duty will fall to Crowder as it did during the regular season meetings -- as well as last postseason when Crowder was a member of the Miami Heat.&nbsp;
There's room for more cross-matching if necessary. Ayton on Portis or Giannis could be an option to keep him near the paint, particularly if the Bucks use Lopez primarily as a spacer.
Bucks' Team Stats (and Milwaukee's stats vs. Phoenix)
<ul>
<li>Offensive Rating: 116.5, 5th (119.0)</li>
<li>Half-Court Offensive Rating: 102.0, 6th (101.6)</li>
<li>True Shooting Percentage: 59.3, 5th (60.2)</li>
<li>Assist Percentage: 56.9, 25th (45.7)</li>
<li>Turnover Rate: 13.4, 13th (10.4)</li>
<li>Pace: 102.85, 2nd (100.04)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Attempts: 21.4, 16th (24.5)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Percentage: 76.0, 23rd (81.6)</li>
<li>Three-Point Attempts: 37.1, 8th (35.5)</li>
<li>Three-Point Percentage: 38.9, 5th (38.0)</li>
<li>Offensive Rebounds: 10.3, 12th (9.5)</li>
</ul>
Bucks' Play Type Breakdown
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2021-06-22-at-12-44-41-pm.png" alt="" width="755" height="325" />
Actions to Watch For
<ul>
<li>Slice</li>
</ul>
This is a favorite of the Bucks to get Giannis a post-up or wing clear-out. They alternate between setting a cross screen on the baseline, and doing so from an angle around the free throw line to get Giannis attacking with some momentum.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/jmfn5a" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
<ul>
<li>Ghost</li>
</ul>
The Bucks dabble with inverted pick-and-rolls -- guards screening for Middleton or Giannis as the pick-and-roll ball handlers. Something to watch for, particularly with Bryn Forbes in the game, is a ghost screen. It'll give off the look of an inverted pick-and-roll, but instead of setting an actual screen, Forbes will pop out.&nbsp;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/5va4f8" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
<ul>
<li>Double Drag</li>
</ul>
Pretty common set throughout the NBA, and one the Bucks will sprinkle in during early offense situations. The setup is simple: one ball-handler, two screeners. One of the screeners will roll to the basket, the other will pop above the break.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/7h3oi9" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
No bucket on this one -- the defense does a great job of recovering -- but you can see what the action looks like.
Base Coverage: Drop
No need to overthink this one. Stick to your guns, and force them to beat you with pull-up jumpers. Ayton is mobile enough to play closer to the level of the screen, so some of the easier mid-range jumpers can be hampered a bit.
The Changeup: Zone Defense
The Bucks were an average bunch (14th, via Synergy) against zone during the regular season. They haven't seen it much in the postseason, but the 0.69 PPP clip is worth raising a brow over, at least. For a team that runs pretty hot and cold from deep, it may be worth mixing it in to further throw off their rhythm in the half-court.
Defending Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis' status may be up in the air right now, but he'll certainly make an appearance in this series. He's arguably the NBA's most feared rim threat, able to finish over, around, and through defenders from a variety of angles.
He's been working on counters all season long. Some of that is quicker decision-making -- the passes on drives are coming a beat earlier than last season, for example. Some of that is adding to the shot repertoire. Post hooks, step-in middies, and turnarounds are all shots he has shown more comfort getting to.
He's been dominant this postseason (28-13-5), and got pretty busy during the regular season series (40-10-4 in two games). Whenever he's back, keeping him away from the rim will be priority number one.
Major Key: Crowd the Paint
The same principles that apply in transition -- taking away the middle, being active with your hands on the drive -- also apply in half-court situations.&nbsp;
Giannis attempting to add half-court counters to his game is fine. Ultimately, his primary method of attack can be devastating enough to render those counters useless.
It's hard to overstate just how strong this dude is. He has no issue doing his work early, putting a guy on his hip and setting up shop on either block. His backdowns create genuine space. Once he gets to the restricted area, you're pretty much dead. He'll nudge you off-balance with fakes or, if they don't work, simply extend his never-ending arms to get a good look.
<div>
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/5oq99t" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>The key to hindering Giannis in the half-court is doing your homework early. Building the "wall" is an easy example, particularly when he's isolating above the break. When he isn't at the center of the court, pinching in early will be necessary to making him work.</div>
<div>
Wing isolations or post-ups should look like this.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2021_07_07_02_45_28_lg.png" alt="" width="577" height="325" />
</div>
Ayton has the Giannis assignment here. Langston Galloway is helping off of Bryn Forbes to provide some elbow help. Jae Crowder is coming baseline to help, while Chris Paul is tasked with splitting between Bobby Portis and DJ Augustin (no longer with the team). Giannis eventually settles for a failed up-and-under.
As far as actual doubles, timeliness will be key. He's no Nikola Jokic, but he's also a step above Joel Embiid as a passer in terms of ability and willingness.
The Bucks generated nearly 1.3 points per possession when Giannis passed out of a post double this season, per Second Spectrum. Show the hand too early, and he'll make the right play.
If you're able to blindside him a bit, wait for him to begin his move or get into his gather, you may be able to fluster him. Take this rep for example.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/loivce" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Peep the timing of when Paul flies over. He waits until Giannis commits to the gather, then flies in for relief. Cam Johnson does a fantastic job of flashing his hands, causing the turnover.
Other Keys
<ul>
<li>Whenever Giannis is starting a post-up or an isolation with a lefty drive, make sure there's someone ready to pinch in to the middle of the floor. The left-to-right spin is his go-to move in close quarters (while the eurostep is more of a transition weapon).</li>
<li>Show-and-recovers should be fine whenever Giannis calls for an inverted ball screen in the middle of the floor. He's gotten better, but still isn't a particularly quick worker when getting the mismatch temporarily. Combine that with some weird spacing from Milwaukee, and that changeup may not be as effective as it looks on paper.</li>
<li>Keep up the free throw line chants. Giannis followed up a woeful Nets performance (48.3% on 8.6 attempts in the series) with a 53.6% clip (on 7.0 attempts) against the hawks</li>
</ul>
Defending the Shooters (Perimeter)
Jrue Holiday: soft close-out
<ul>
<li>Holiday is coming off the best three-point shooting season of his career (39.2% on 4.8 attempts), though he's cooled off considerably in the postseason (29.9% on 6.3 attempts). He's solid with his feet set so you don't want to completely ignore him off-ball, but alarm bells shouldn't be ringing if someone kicks it out to him. Duck under his picks to wall off the drive; dare him to beat you with pull-ups.</li>
</ul>
Bryn Forbes: hard close-out
<ul>
<li>Forbes is Milwaukee's best shooter, able to drill set shots, fly off screens, pull off of dribble handoffs, or relocate when chaos is happening elsewhere. He's also not a strong playmaker at all, and only took 25 shots at the rim in half-court situations during the regular season, per Synergy. Run him off the line, deal with the rest later.</li>
</ul>
Pat Connaughton: soft close-out
<ul>
<li>Connaughton is a solid shooter (37.1% on 3.9 attempts this season, 36.1% on 3.6 attempts during the postseason). He's good at finding creases off the ball, particularly sneaking down to the corner on drives. Keep an eye out for him, but he isn't worth selling out against. He's not that&nbsp;level of shooter.</li>
</ul>
Khris Middleton: hard, but controlled close-out
<ul>
<li>If Forbes takes the top shooter billing, Middleton is a close second -- especially once you factor in how much he self-creates. You don't want him getting clean looks on the perimeter, though with his release point, contests only mean so much. He ranked in the 68th percentile on "guarded" catch-and-shoot looks, per Synergy. Still, try to get him off the three-point line and stay attached to him. Live with the contested pull-up twos.</li>
</ul>
Defending the Shooters (Frontcourt)
PJ Tucker: Let him fire above the break, soft close-out in the corners
<ul>
<li>Tucker has shot 36.6% from deep on moderate volume over the last four seasons. The kicker: a whopping 72.2% of those threes have come from the corner. He's made those at a respectable 38.6% clip. But considering how open those shots have been, it's a bit underwhelming. Tucker doesn't have a particularly quick release, and he's prone to streakiness. Make him think when he's in the corner, but ignoring him elsewhere should be fine.</li>
</ul>
Thanasis Antetokounmpo: Let him fire
<ul>
<li>The Other Antetokounmpo likely won't have a sizeable role in this series, but his jumper is nothing to be afraid of. Well, except for that one game against the Knicks.</li>
</ul>
Brook Lopez: Soft close-out
<ul>
<li>Lopez has a high, but slow release on the jumper. As long as you don't cheat too far off of him, a balance can be struck between crowding the paint and getting out to the big fella. He doesn't mind driving -- really, slow-grinding -- a sloppy close-out. Discipline will be key here, especially from the corners.</li>
</ul>
Bobby Portis: hard, but controlled close-out
<ul>
<li>Running Portis off the line isn't an admission of elite shooting, though he is good (39.1% over the past four seasons). It's more of a tendency play; he's not a threatening passer on the move (though he made some nice ones against Atlanta), and he may still take a tough shot anyway.</li>
</ul>
X-Factor: Jrue Holiday
With Giannis out or at least compromised at the beginning of the series, the creation burden with slide to Middleton and Holiday.
Holiday looms as the more important piece here. Not only will he likely have a size mismatch (Paul is 6'0 on a good day), he becomes the natural heir to the Bucks' rim pressure kingdom.
Holiday can absolutely get busy on the block. In isolation siutations, he has a solid enough handle to get to where he wants to go, and combines that with brute strength and nifty footwork to generate solid looks at the rim.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/wya9qd" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Keeping him out of the paint will neutralize his impact. It'll take away the easy kickouts, and it'll goad him into taking pull-ups and turnarounds. He got in a bit of trouble against the Hawks last round with some of the And-1 Mixtape possessions he pulled out. Those can add up.

Nekias Duncan breaks down how the Suns can defend the Bucks in the NBA Finals.

NBA Finals Scouting Report: How the Suns can stop the Bucks

Calm. Cool. Collected.
Those are three of the first words that come to mind for me when someone asks about Tyronn Lue. Whether it was the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, or a game where much less was on the line, Ty never lost his cool. It&rsquo;s one of his best qualities, and even though his Los Angeles Clippers ended up losing to the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals, he deserves a round of applause for the job he did this past season.
Ty took over a team that had championship aspirations, and he had to earn the trust of his players. Even with the challenges of this condensed season and the Clippers' injury issues, he was able to lead the team to its first-ever Western Conference Finals. They fell down 0-2 to the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz and still managed to win those series, despite being without Kawhi Leonard for the last two games against Utah.
Maximum respect.
I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to coach under Ty in Cleveland, and helping bring a championship to my hometown is an accomplishment I&rsquo;ll always cherish.
It&rsquo;s funny how we ended up together. After my playing career ended, David Griffin got wind of me wanting to coach. Griff reached out to me to see if I&rsquo;d be interested in an assistant coaching opportunity with the Cavs&rsquo; D-League affiliate, the Canton Charge. I&rsquo;d just had my youngest son, though, and I really wanted to be around him at that time. But I told Griff that if the same opportunity existed the following year, I would be in.
Knowing what I know now, I realize how lucky I was. There are a lot of guys out there who are looking for an opportunity, and most of them would&rsquo;ve jumped at that chance when Griff presented it. But my family is very important to me and the timing just wasn&rsquo;t right. I turned it down, even though some guys wouldn&rsquo;t have.
Fortunately, Griff called me back the next year! And this time, I was happy to take on the challenge of beginning my coaching career. So, I took my talents to the D-League.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_9122751_lg.jpg" alt="" width="636" height="434" />
Ty, on the other hand, had already been an assistant coach in the league for a few years. He started out in Boston with Doc Rivers, then followed Doc to the Clippers. By the time I got involved with the Cavs, Ty had been hired as David Blatt&rsquo;s associate head coach in Cleveland. I eventually got called up from the D-League to join Blatt&rsquo;s staff along with Larry Drew, Jim Boylan, Phil Handy and Vitaly Potapenko. That&rsquo;s where it all started, and things worked out for the two of us while we were together there. So it was all thanks to Griff, to be honest.
I think most people assume that me and Ty were friends going back to our playing days, and it makes sense. He came into the league one year before me and we were contemporaries, but we weren&rsquo;t close at all. I mean, I knew who he was and I respected the hell out of him. We were similar in that we were role players, played tough defense and seemed to have similar values, but it wasn&rsquo;t until Griff brought us together that we really became friends. Our friendship developed naturally because I respected Ty and everything he brought to the table.
As a coach, he&rsquo;s extremely knowledgeable. He&rsquo;s well-prepared, he&rsquo;s creative and he just has a level of understanding for the game and how to make things work on the basketball court. As a player who played for great coaches, it&rsquo;s easy for me to recognize that Ty was coached by amazing basketball minds, including Phil Jackson. I think what most people appreciate about him, though, is the fact that he is someone who never, ever loses his cool. Even in 2016, when we were down 3-1 to the Warriors in the NBA Finals, we all knew that no team had ever come back from that deficit to win the championship, but Ty didn&rsquo;t change anything about his preparation or about his delivery.
Of course, we made some minor adjustments, but there was zero panic in this man. It&rsquo;s fair to say that he just exuded so much confidence that our plan would work that it was contagious.
I&rsquo;ll never forget, after Game 4, when Ty was doing his press conference with the media, he repeated to the press what he said to the team right after we lost the game: &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t think we can win, don&rsquo;t get on the plane.&rdquo;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SAbREQuU0WA" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Before you knew it, LeBron James was saying the same thing. Tristan Thompson was saying the same thing. It became a rallying cry.
Ty basically said, &ldquo;Hey look, we gotta go to Oakland to play a game. Then, whether we win or lose, we all gotta come back to Cleveland, right? So if we&rsquo;re going to Oakland to play a game and then coming back to Cleveland, we might as well play a game in Cleveland, too.&rdquo;
It might sound silly, but Ty being such a calm and collected person was what helped the team through, I think. That and, of course, LeBron and Kyrie Irving.
So I wasn't surprised at all to see the Clippers climb out of the 0-2 hole they found themselves in against Dallas and Utah, and even when they fell down 3-1 to Phoenix, I didn't count them out.
We all hear people talk about how much a player&rsquo;s confidence affects their ability to perform on the court (and yes, it is true)&hellip; I can tell you from experience that players who believe in their coach also play harder and play better. If they don&rsquo;t think you know what you&rsquo;re talking about, or if they don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;re prepared, they&rsquo;re just not going to go out there and give you 100% effort.
But if they do? They&rsquo;ll run through a wall for you. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m not surprised by what the Clippers were able to do this postseason, even without Kawhi Leonard. And I definitely wasn't surprised that they were able to go into Phoenix and win Game 5 of that series.
I&rsquo;ll also tell you this: Ty is a realist. He doesn&rsquo;t try to sell you B.S. or give you any false advertisements. He&rsquo;ll admit to you when your opponent made some big plays and did a few things that exploited some of his own weaknesses or his own team&rsquo;s weaknesses, and I think players respect that accountability.
But let me tell you this: By the time Ty comes to talk to you to tell you he recognizes an area where he or the team fell short, he already has a solution to the problem and a counter-solution to however he thinks the other coach is going to respond. At the same time, he doesn&rsquo;t walk around with his chest puffed out acting like he&rsquo;s the smartest guy in the room, or making others feel like he doesn&rsquo;t respect them or their opinions. He gives everybody a voice, even though he knows that at the end of the day, the route his team takes is going to be his decision.
Some coaches are good at making speeches and doing all the &ldquo;rah-rah&rdquo; stuff with the storytelling and the fables and the morals and all that; that&rsquo;s not Ty.
Ty never tried to be Pat Riley or Doc or any of those coaches. His thing has always been planning and showing guys the result of great preparation. He&rsquo;s always been about practicing hard, studying in film sessions and preparing his team for success by getting them on the same page and getting them to believe in a game plan. He&rsquo;s definitely more like Hubie Brown and Byron Scott in that regard, and he's always done things his way.
Being a former player, especially one who&rsquo;s experienced the highest level of success, Ty has been in those shoes before. He knows what pressure feels like, he&rsquo;s been in some tough locker rooms, he&rsquo;s been rattled and has overcome it all. There&rsquo;s nothing he hasn&rsquo;t already seen.
Unfortunately for the Clippers, Chris Paul just refused to be denied when it came down to it. He's been waiting 16 years to get to the Finals, and without Kawhi, Ty and the Clippers just didn't have enough. Even with that being the case, I&rsquo;m happy that Ty finally seems to be getting his just due.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
LeBron made it to the Finals 10 times and with five different coaches. He&rsquo;s won with three of them. A lot of people might have looked at Ty&rsquo;s success with the Cavs as a given because everyone has won with LeBron. They may have thought that we were able to overcome that 3-1 deficit against the Warriors in spite of him, and not necessarily because of him. After seeing what the Clippers did this past season, though, I think everyone now knows a little better.
Ty Lue is a master of preparation, and he has developed into one of the best coaches in the game. Although it ended in disappointment, this past season is definitely an example of that. I was by his side for five years, though, so I already knew.
But now, the secret is out, and it&rsquo;s about time we all put some respect on Ty Lue&rsquo;s name.

Even without Kawhi Leonard, Ty Lue led the Clippers to their first Western Conference Finals. Respect is due, writes James Posey.

It’s time we all put a little more respect on Tyronn Lue’s name

It&rsquo;s funny. After the Denver Nuggets' Game 4 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers last season, when Michael Porter Jr. spoke out about the team's play calls, everyone had something to say about it.
The whole situation made me recall my own experience in Denver.
And so has all the chatter about Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/mark-cuban-explains-the-relationship-between-luka-and-porzingis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">whether they are &ldquo;friends&rdquo;</a> <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/mark-cuban-doncic-porzingis-have-a-good-solid-business-relationship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">off the court.</a>
I figure I'll let everyone in on a little secret: contrary to what people want to believe, succeeding in the NBA is not just about competing against the 29 other teams in the league. It&rsquo;s also about competing against the other players in your own locker room. Most players come into the league trying to earn their keep, not necessarily trying to make friends.
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter">
<div class="c-message_kit__gutter__right" data-qa="message_content">
<div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text">
<div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer" data-qa="block-kit-renderer">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first">
<div class="p-rich_text_block" dir="auto">
<div class="p-rich_text_section">As a young player, when you walk into a locker room for the first time, there are veteran players at the end of their careers, each trying to keep his job. There are journeymen on one-year deals who are trying to stay in the league. There are other young players who are trying to prove themselves, too. If you go into that situation thinking about anything other than playing your role and helping to win games, you might find yourself out of the league pretty quickly.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Most coaches I played for liked having that kind of competitive edge in the locker room because it usually meant that everyone was going to be giving maximum effort.
Even though everyone is wearing the same jersey, it doesn&rsquo;t always mean they have the same short-term and long-term goals. It&rsquo;s just the nature of the business. Because of that, there isn&rsquo;t always room for friendships.
Everyone knows that Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal and Kobe Bryant didn&rsquo;t really have the best relationship when they were teammates, and Charles Barkley himself talks about how he and Kevin Johnson weren&rsquo;t good friends off the court in Phoenix. I&rsquo;m pretty sure Michael Jordan wasn&rsquo;t best friends with his teammates, either.
At the end of the day, all players know that friendships aren&rsquo;t necessary to win in the NBA; mutual respect, understanding each other&rsquo;s roles and putting the team ahead of yourself are.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
For some players, that&rsquo;s easier said than done, though, especially young players who are still trying to establish themselves. I know because I was there.
I met John Lucas more than 20 years ago during my rookie year in Denver. He was one of our assistant coaches. What everyone loves and respects about Luc is that he tells it like it is, but he also understands how to connect with you. He&rsquo;s been there, done that and has seen everything.
One day after practice, I was moping around a little bit and, in front of the whole team, Luc decided to school me. He asked me what the problem was, even though he knew. I admitted I was a little upset because I wasn&rsquo;t really getting any shots. For the most part, I was a decoy on the court, standing in the corner, just waiting to get some scraps on the offensive end. And in front of the whole team, Luc pulled no punches. In his own way, he explained to me that in the NBA, a young player like myself has to pay some dues and work my way up before anyone &mdash; including myself &mdash; knew where and how I could fit in. Our established vets were Nick Van Exel and Antonio McDyess, and we also had Raef Lafrentz &mdash; they were the ones who were getting the shots and opportunities.
Straight up, he asked me: "Do you expect us to take shots away from Nick and Dyess for you, a rookie named James Posey?" My job, according to him, was to play my role, support them and just be ready whenever my number was called.
It was tough.
I was coming off three good years at Xavier and wanted to establish myself in the NBA, especially being a first-round pick. But I took Luc&rsquo;s words to heart because I realized that if I didn&rsquo;t fit in or if I got the reputation as being a &ldquo;me-first&rdquo; player, my time in the league could be short-lived.
From that point on, I didn&rsquo;t complain about my shots or my touches and just tried my best to succeed in the role that Coach Dan Issel gave me. Looking back at it, I think that lecture and my attitude adjustment is part of what helped me have a long, productive career in the league. I&rsquo;m still close with Luc to this day.
Now when you&rsquo;re talking about young players who believe they have superstar potential, think about how hard it might be for them to decide to just &ldquo;play a role&rdquo; or play &ldquo;second-fiddle&rdquo; to another star player. That can be difficult. As athletes, we spend our entire lives being competitive and trying to get to the NBA, then when we get there, suddenly, we must become a little less competitive and be satisfied with playing a role on a team. It was a difficult adjustment for me, so for someone with a more decorated collegiate career or someone who was drafted earlier than me, I can imagine it would be even tougher.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/lebron_irv_lg.jpg" alt="" width="685" height="384" />
When LeBron James returned to Cleveland, I&rsquo;m pretty sure that there was some of that with Kyrie Irving, which is probably part of the reason why Kyrie asked out.
When you put two superstars on a team together, or a superstar and a potential superstar, they might not be competing against one another for contracts (they&rsquo;re both gonna get paid), but they&rsquo;re definitely competing for shots, opportunities, legacy and personal accolades.
If everyone is more concerned about their personal goals than winning, then things might not work out. You need everyone to be selfless. And sometimes, even if everyone is selfless and is only concerned about winning, you might still hear things here and there about Player X being unhappy with his role or a lack of touches or what have you. It happens.
As it relates to Porzingis and Doncic, I&rsquo;m not saying that any of this is applicable. I&rsquo;m not in that locker room, but they definitely wouldn&rsquo;t be the first set of teammates to just treat their relationship as a business arrangement, and there&rsquo;s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was drafted in Denver, I had Bryant Stith playing in front of me. Our practices were intense because we were competing against each other. We didn&rsquo;t have fights or anything like that, but we were physical and sometimes, things got heated. That dynamic existed in every locker room I was in, and by the time I landed in Indiana at the end of my career, it came full-circle. I was one of the veteran players on the team and saw younger players like Tyler Hansbrough, Lance Stephenson and Paul George fighting for minutes in order to establish themselves.
The franchise decided to go young, and that was that, but by that point, I&rsquo;d already come to understand the NBA player lifecycle. And I also knew it wasn&rsquo;t personal. It was just business.
Now that I&rsquo;ve been a coach, I can honestly say that we don&rsquo;t care whether our players are friends or not, it&rsquo;s really not important at all. As a coach, you just want to know that, at the end of the day, your players are going to respect one another, believe in one another and do what they need to do to put the team in the best position to win.
You obviously hope that guys&rsquo; egos and personal goals don&rsquo;t get in the way of the ultimate goal, but not every player has someone like John Lucas in their ears as a rookie. It&rsquo;s easy for jealousy and resentment to creep in if someone feels like they&rsquo;re not getting enough touches or enough shots to prove themselves, especially if they&rsquo;ve got people in their ears telling them they should be getting more. It&rsquo;s just the nature of the beast.
No matter where you work or what you do, we&rsquo;ve all worked with people we didn&rsquo;t necessarily like. We&rsquo;ve all seen someone get a bigger raise or get more responsibilities or a promotion that we feel like we deserved. I can tell you firsthand: NBA players deal with the same exact thing.
At the end of the day, we&rsquo;re all out there competing.

Three-time NBA champion James Posey explains why there isn't always room for friendships in an NBA locker room.

Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis don’t need to be friends

The New Orleans Pelicans are signing Isaiah Thomas to a 10-day contract, sources confirmed to BasketballNews.com. The news was first reported by <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1378044475172388866">Shams Charania of The Athletic</a>.
Thomas' most-recent NBA stint was with the Washington Wizards last season, when he averaged 12.2 points, 3.7 assists, 2.0 threes and 1.7 rebounds (while shooting 41.3% from deep) in 23.1 minutes per game. He became a free agent last February after the Wizards traded him to the Los Angeles Clippers, who subsequently waived him. Ever since, he&rsquo;s been staying in shape and waiting for the right NBA opportunity to present itself.
A hip injury has limited Thomas ever since he left the Boston Celtics in 2017. However, after undergoing resurfacing surgery on his right hip last May, the 32-year-old is confident that he can look more like his former self on the court.
"It's like night and day for me," Thomas <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30046701/isaiah-thomas-ready-contribute-nba-roster-undergoing-hip-procedure-five-months-ago">told ESPN</a>. "There's no more pain. I've got my full range of motion. For three years, I was trying to play the best players in the world on one leg. I needed help from my kids to put my socks on in the morning. Now, I can lift weights. I can squat low. I can work out twice a day. I'm able to cut and move and stop, able to cut and go. I feel like I'm [32] years old again."&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
In an effort to show that he&rsquo;s 100% healthy and still capable of producing at a high level, Thomas recently suited up for Team USA in two FIBA AmeriCup qualifying games. He did well, lifting the team to a 2-0 record and leading the squad in scoring. In his first game back against the Bahamas, he had 19 points, 5 threes, 4 rebounds and 2 assists (while shooting 55.6% from three) in 21 minutes of action.&nbsp;
Just four seasons ago, Thomas finished fifth in MVP voting and averaged 28.9 points per game, which was the third-best scoring average in the NBA. He was named to the All-NBA Second Team and made his second All-Star appearance. If this is truly the first time he&rsquo;s been healthy since that 2016-17 season, it makes sense why the Pelicans want to see what&rsquo;s left in the tank.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/itdd_lg.jpg" alt="" width="618" height="319" />
This is a low-risk, high-reward signing for New Orleans. If Thomas thrives, they get a steal and can sign him for the remainder of the season. If he struggles, they can move on after 10 days.
New Orleans needs backcourt help since Lonzo Ball will be sidelined for some time due to a strained right hip flexor, and Josh Hart is also out for a while after an MRI revealed a torn UCL in his right thumb. Thomas can provide instant offense off the bench as well as veteran leadership for New Orleans&rsquo; developing guards: Ball (23 years old), Kira Lewis Jr. (19) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (22). Even New Orleans&rsquo; best players -- Zion Williamson (20) and Brandon Ingram (23) -- are young and could benefit from Thomas&rsquo; mentorship.&nbsp;
Last February, when Thomas hit the free-agent market, <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2020/02/20/nba-rumors-isaiah-thomas-free-agency-celtics-wizards-kobe-bryant-interview-waived-chyna-ainge/">I caught up with the veteran point guard</a> for a one-on-one interview. He told me that he would love to join &ldquo;an up-and-coming team where I&rsquo;m helping the young players and being a good veteran,&rdquo; which perfectly describes the Pelicans&rsquo; situation.
When asked what he can bring to a team, Thomas didn&rsquo;t hesitate.
&ldquo;Everything that I&rsquo;ve always brought to a team. I&rsquo;m a leader, first and foremost,&rdquo; Thomas <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2020/02/20/nba-rumors-isaiah-thomas-free-agency-celtics-wizards-kobe-bryant-interview-waived-chyna-ainge/">told me</a>. &ldquo;I won the NBA&rsquo;s Community Assist award so, off the court, I help in the community. On the court, I think it&rsquo;s self-explanatory what I bring to a team when given an opportunity. I also bring my wisdom. I don&rsquo;t think anybody has been through the things that I&rsquo;ve gone through in this league. Despite obstacle after obstacle, I&rsquo;ve overcome everything that&rsquo;s been thrown at me and taken advantage of any opportunity that I&rsquo;ve gotten. I think that&rsquo;s what is most important&hellip; Understand that any opportunity that&rsquo;s given to me, I&rsquo;ll be ready for it. And I think everybody knows that.&rdquo;
Thomas has spent the last year &ldquo;staying in the gym, staying in the weight room and doing a lot of conditioning,&rdquo; so that he could shine when his number is called. He&rsquo;s been waiting for this opportunity.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Every step of Thomas&rsquo; journey, he has been doubted. Remember, before becoming a two-time All-Star, he was Mr. Irrelevant in the 2011 NBA Draft (which means he was picked last). At this point, he&rsquo;s used to being counted out and not having anything handed to him. He thinks this past year is just another setback that he&rsquo;ll bounce back from, just another opportunity to silence his doubters.
&ldquo;I mean, it&rsquo;s just another chapter in my book,&rdquo; Thomas <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2020/02/20/nba-rumors-isaiah-thomas-free-agency-celtics-wizards-kobe-bryant-interview-waived-chyna-ainge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a>. &ldquo;This has been my story and that&rsquo;s probably the way it&rsquo;s always going to be. Everything is going to be an uphill battle and that&rsquo;s fine because I&rsquo;ve been through it. I think that just builds character&hellip; I work hard, I never cheated the game and I&rsquo;m in it for all of the right reasons. I love this game. But it&rsquo;s never been easy, so why would it be easy now?
&ldquo;You have to continue to believe in yourself and be a professional, on and off the court. I think being professional is one of the most important attributes of a player. You have to know that it&rsquo;s a business and, at the same time, just do your part each and every day &ndash; no matter what the circumstances are. You should appreciate the highs, but appreciate the lows as well. I&rsquo;ve always said that my goals are bigger than the obstacles I faced. Adversity builds character. I&rsquo;m not saying it&rsquo;s easy (because it&rsquo;s not), but I always look at my end goal, which is to try to be one of the best best basketball players to ever play the game. I mean that. I just turned [32] years old, and I still have a lot of basketball left in me.&rdquo;

Isaiah Thomas is back in the NBA after a full year off, joining the New Orleans Pelicans on a 10-day contract.

Isaiah Thomas ready to help Pelicans: 'I still have a lot of basketball left in me'

Ethan Fuller gauges which NBA teams should be zeroing in on Cade Cunningham.

NBA Sour Rankings: Cade-O-Meter 2.0

Things are kinda weird in Atlanta.
The Hawks currently sit with a 12-17 record, a big improvement from last season (.414 win percentage compared to .299) but one that leaves them just outside of the play-in. The growth should be viewed as a positive, but it feels a little underwhelming based on the offseason they had.
There was a clear emphasis on adding talent for a playoff push: that would help explain the several million dollars spent to bring in Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic and others. Using free-agent dollars and draft capital to juice the roster wasn&rsquo;t a surprise, but where those resources were allocated was a bit odd.&nbsp;
Atlanta&rsquo;s biggest free-agent addition (Gallinari) and prized draft pick (Onyeka Okongwu) profile as 4s right now; that just happens to be where John Collins, arguably Atlanta&rsquo;s second-best player, plays most of his minutes. With Collins up for an extension in the preseason and set to hit restricted free agency this summer, it was fair to question what those moves meant for his future.
Sure enough, Collins and the Hawks failed to agree to an extension. Two reporters from The Athletic have recently tag-teamed on reports about Collins&rsquo; future. Sam Amick reported that the Hawks were <a href="https://theathletic.com/2383620/2021/02/12/nba-trade-news-rumors-nuggets-hawks-kings/?source=emp_shared_article">willing to listen to trade offers</a> for Collins, while Shams Charania <a href="https://theathletic.com/2387459/2021/02/15/nba-trade-news-andre-drummond-to-raptors-coming-lonzo-ball-interest-and-more/">gave insight</a> on the potential asking price: a lottery-level first-round pick.
None of that means a Collins deal is imminent. It does mean the Hawks have seriously thought about -- and may end up accepting -- a long-term future without Collins on the roster.
Let&rsquo;s take a look at potential in-season trade partners, as well as teams that could use Collins&rsquo; services if he hits free agency.
Note: All trades were checked/completed on <a href="https://tradenba.com/">tradenba.com</a>, while salary figures were checked from <a href="https://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/261138/2021-NBA-Cap-Space-Projecting-All-30-Teams">realgm.com</a>.
TRADE PARTNERS
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies have one of the best young cores in the NBA, headlined by star-in-the-making Ja Morant. They&rsquo;ve mostly overachieved this season within the context of their injuries: Morant has missed a chunk of games, while Jaren Jackson Jr. has yet to play this season. Despite this, the Grizzlies are 13-13 and are firmly in the play-in mix.
They&rsquo;re not at a point in their rebuild where consolidating parts of their core for a superstar makes sense. It&rsquo;s why you didn&rsquo;t hear anything about the Grizzlies being in the mix for James Harden, and why you&rsquo;ve heard nothing on the Bradley Beal front either.
A tier below? Adding to the young core? That&rsquo;s more palatable, and why a swing for Collins could make sense.
Starter Offer: Gorgui Dieng, Jon Konchar, 2021 first-round pick via Utah (protected 1-7, 15-30 this season, 1-6 in 2022, 1-3 in 2023), 2023 first-round pick (top-10 protected)
The first via Utah will likely convey in 2022. It&rsquo;s fair to say, barring injuries, the Jazz won&rsquo;t be in the lottery that year either. That falls below the reported asking price of a lottery-level first, which is why the Grizzlies may be inclined to include a protected first of their own.
Dieng is very quietly -- too quietly, honestly -- a very good backup big. His ability to space the floor makes him an ideal partner alongside Okongwu on the second unit. Konchar can do a little bit of everything: shoot, keep the chain moving as a passer and cut, while being sound rotationally on the defensive end. There&rsquo;s a quality wing -- a fifth starter on a good team -- in there if he gets the reps.
Final Offer: Brandon Clarke, Justise Winslow, 2021 first-round pick via Utah (protected 1-7, 15-30 this season, 1-6 in 2022, 1-3 in 2023)
If the Hawks can&rsquo;t get a lottery-level first, getting a lottery-level talent who&rsquo;s still on his rookie deal seems like a fair consolation prize. Clarke has regressed some as a shooter; I&rsquo;m not quite sure what&rsquo;s going on with his shooting form. He still has fantastic touch on his floater, and he provides value as a roller, screener, off-ball mover, and a smart defender.
The theory of Winslow -- a 6&rsquo;6 playmaking wing who can puncture the rim in PnR, fire darts everywhere, and defend four positions -- is better than the reality right now. His inability to stay healthy is a red flag that he has to shake. But it&rsquo;s hard to talk yourself out of Winslow&rsquo;s talent when he is available. Even in a season debut filled with misses, he gave you flashes of his ability to get downhill and make life tough on the other end.
San Antonio Spurs
Who could&rsquo;ve expected the Spurs to be this fun this season?&nbsp;
They&rsquo;ve gone from a plodding, mid-range hunting slogfest to a turbo-charged unit led by dynamic athletes on the perimeter. The absence of LaMarcus Aldridge has only expedited this shift.
It&rsquo;s tough to imagine Aldridge being back next season; honestly, it&rsquo;s tough to imagine Aldridge being on the team past the trade deadline. There&rsquo;s room for the Spurs to add a piece to their frontcourt. Collins could either slot in at the 5 -- he&rsquo;s certainly an upgrade from Aldridge on both ends -- or at the 4 alongside Jakob Poeltl, one of the more underrated rim protectors in the league.
Starter Offer: Lonnie Walker, Trey Lyles, 2022 first-round pick (top-7 protected)
While the Spurs have a ton of young talent on the wings, that&rsquo;s kinda the thing: they have a ton of young talent on the wings. They can&rsquo;t play everybody. Looking further ahead, they certainly can&rsquo;t pay everybody. Walker could be pry-able, especially with Devin Vassell being drafted over the offseason and already showing flashes of being a defensive terror who can knock down threes at a high clip.&nbsp;
Lyles could be a short-term spot-starter alongside Clint Capela to 1) space the floor and 2) keep Gallinari in a bench role. If not, Lyles could space the floor alongside Okongwu on the second unit.
Final Offer: A whole lot of moving parts around Derrick White
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/trrd_lg.png" alt="" width="785" height="AUTO" />
As someone who generally enjoys thinking about trades, let me tell ya: dealing with a player with a poison-pill provision absolutely stinks. A Collins-for-White package makes some roster-balancing sense, but pulling it off takes some financial gymnastics.
I settled in on this framework. White goes to Atlanta as a fun partner alongside Trae Young. Tony Snell and Darius Miller swap spots, along with a pair of second-rounders going to OKC for helping grease the wheels of a deal -- and taking on a little money in the process.
FREE-AGENT DESTINATIONS
Collins will want a max contract, which is currently projected to be in the neighborhood of a four-year, $125 million deal for non-Hawks teams. He reportedly turned down a four-year deal worth north of $90 million extension before the season. Collins&rsquo; limitations as a primary rim protector or consistent threat off the bounce -- as a driver or passer -- will likely keep him out of max territory.&nbsp;
However, he does bring enough as a pick-and-roll threat, shooter, rebounder, and weakside rim protector to warrant more than $90 million over four years. My take-with-a-grain-of-salt guess -- I emphasize &ldquo;guess&rdquo; here -- is that it would take something like a four-year, $110 million offer sheet to both land Collins and also make the Hawks uneasy about matching.
Put another way: a team looking to land Collins is going to need -- and be willing to spend -- north of $25 million in cap space. Here are the teams I feel could justify making that sort of splash:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jjjn_lg.jpg" alt="" width="751" height="AUTO" />
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks, like the teams that&rsquo;ll be mentioned after them, cleared their books so they&rsquo;d have a max slot available for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis is off the market, so the Mavs will need to pivot elswhere.&nbsp;
Luka Doncic is one of the best playmakers in the NBA. The Mavericks have wisely attempted to surround Doncic with shooters, highlighted by Kristaps Porzingis and Tim Hardaway Jr. What&rsquo;s missing in their attack is some north-south oomph; Collins could help provide that as a high-volume roller or screen slipper.
He&rsquo;s an ideal diver to complement the spacing Porzingis provides. Defensively, Collins could bring a little more size and athleticism to the backline as a weakside helper.
Miami Heat
Finding a long-term frontcourt partner for Bam Adebayo should be pretty high on the priority list for the Heat. They drafted Precious Achiuwa over the offseason, a Bam-lite athlete with flashes of defensive switchability and open floor ball-handling. The lack of a reliable jumper makes the AA frontcourt a questionable fit in the short-term; Collins would alleviate the need for that plan to be fast-tracked.
Collins has proven enough as a shooter to comfortably operate as the 4 on offense. There would still be ample roll opportunities despite Adebayo not being a true spacer yet. The Heat invert the floor by using Adebayo above the break as a handoff or screening hub, making it difficult for opposing bigs to cheat off of him at the risk of Adebayo and a shooter hooking up for some sort of two-man action off the ball.
Toronto Raptors
One of the more underrated storylines of the season has been the Raptors&rsquo; struggles at the center position. After losing Marc Gasol (and Serge Ibaka), they turned to Aron Baynes in free agency to fill the void. He&rsquo;s been mostly bad. They also signed Alex Len in November, but he struggled so much that he was waived one month into the season.
Chris Boucher has been a bright spot, firmly in the &ldquo;he won&rsquo;t win MIP but he&rsquo;s been good enough to get a nod as an honorable mention&rdquo; camp, but he&rsquo;s a bit matchup dependent because of his weight. The recent answer has been downsizing, using Pascal Siakam and even OG Anunoby at the 5 in a switch-heavy scheme.
Collins would fall somewhere in the middle -- he&rsquo;s beefier than Boucher, a better shooter and athlete than Baynes, a more dynamic vertical threat than Siakam or Anunoby, and probably worse defensively than all of them.

Is John Collins' stint with the Hawks coming to an end? Nekias Duncan breaks down five possible destinations for the big man.

Will the Hawks trade John Collins? Analyzing possible destinations

Fresh off of signing a five-year, $12.5 million contract extension with the Memphis Tigers, Penny Hardaway sat down with me on my show, &ldquo;The Rematch.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cvbQEcLMGCU" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
He talked about being a Memphis native, pouring resources back into the community, how he got into coaching, how he actually cares about his players and their well-being and the life lessons he teaches them. He also discussed his playing days, stint in Orlando alongside Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, the injuries he dealt with, his AAU days and more.
However, one topic he didn&rsquo;t shy away from was the NCAA&rsquo;s treatment of his star player, James Wiseman, who played only three games with Memphis last season before being ruled ineligible by the NCAA. He discussed how unfair that ruling was and how it sent Wiseman spiraling into depression.&nbsp;
Hardaway didn&rsquo;t hold back at all -- even when I interjected that I didn&rsquo;t want to get him in trouble with the NCAA. He was eager to get this off his chest and break down exactly what happened. Here&rsquo;s a transcript of our conversation (and you can watch the full interview above):
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;What happened with James Wiseman being suspended? As much as you can say, of course. It seemed to me like he was kind of an innocent bystander in this whole thing, but he got the bulk of the punishment. That's what I saw, but can you explain to me what happened?&rdquo;
Penny Hardaway: &ldquo;First of all, you're a former athlete, just like I am. &lsquo;Melo built the practice facility at Syracuse, right?&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;Right. The Melo Center.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Penny: &ldquo;Okay, so Melo built the practice facility at Syracuse out of the kindness of his heart. He won a national championship, showing Syracuse all kinds of love. If Melo wanted to be the head coach of Syracuse, everybody that plays on his AAU team, Team Melo, is not eligible to go to Syracuse, and why's that? Because he gave that practice facility. I gave $1 million to the university to build the athletic department offices -- out of the kindness of my heart, [I] never had anything to do with the school. I became a high school coach and gave to my community. When I became the head coach, they said that I was deemed a booster. And when you're a booster, you can't deal with athletes.&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;Wow.&rdquo;
Penny: &ldquo;And James got caught up in that wash because I helped him and his mom move from Nashville to Memphis when I was a high school coach, and they intertwined all of that together. And that's how he became ineligible. How hard is that as an athlete where you played the game and a school gave you a scholarship, and you said, &lsquo;Man, you know what? I'm going to bless the school and give them money back.&rsquo; As soon as you do that, if you're thinking about being a coach, then you can't be a coach at your alma mater, you gotta go to another school.&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;Yeah, that's a terrible rule.&rdquo;
Penny: &ldquo;That's horrible. It needs to be thrown away, man.&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;And the NCAA, in essence, pushed him out of college, because he wanted to play. I mean, he wanted to play for you.&rdquo;
Penny: &ldquo;Yes.&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;Talk about how much he struggled and anguished over that whole situation, because a lot of people don't know. They know he got suspended and then there was a period of time, then he announced that he was leaving. But there was a lot that went on in between that, with you dealing with him personally and how it personally affected him.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Penny: &ldquo;Man, we saw him spiraling downward fast. It sent him into depression. He was really depressed. He was not happy; he didn't understand why he was being punished. It was something that was so innocent that got taken advantage of. There are so many ways that I can look at that, and any coach around the country would say, from top to bottom, low-major, mid-major, high-major, that was the biggest disappointment ever with a player and a coach.&rdquo;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jameswiseman5_lg.jpg" alt="" width="791" height="AUTO" />
Etan: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s really messed up.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Penny: &ldquo;I didn't do anything wrong on the collegiate level at all. All I did was give my hard-earned money that I broke bones for back to the university, and then went back to help my community. And because it quote-unquote looked like I paid James Wiseman to come to Memphis, to go to Memphis, that's unheard of. That's what they deemed. It's not what they knew, it's just what they thought. Like, &lsquo;Maybe that's what happened&hellip;&rsquo; or, &lsquo;We thought that's what happened,&rsquo; and now we're going to penalize them.&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;That's terrible. What do you think of the new rule that Governor Gavin Newsom instituted? The one that allows college students to profit off of their likeness, get endorsements and things of that nature. Do you think that helps the NCAA, or do you think that hurts them?&rdquo;
Penny: &ldquo;No, it helps, because kids were going to start going to the G League -- a lot of these top kids. Not every kid; every kid can't go. But all the top kids that college [basketball] needs to kind of promote what NCAA is all about. You need five-star players who need to be seen on TV, which promotes the NCAA. The NCAA did themselves a disjustice by not allowing James Wiseman to play, because the kid left. Even though it ended up being the COVID situation and not doing the conference tournaments and the NCAA tournament, this kid would've been all over ESPN and he would've been overshadowing anything that was going on with the NBA, because that's how ESPN works. Unfortunately for him first, and then for the NCAA second, that happened. But the name, image and likeness situation is going to help the NCAA, because kids are going to want to go to college that aren't ready for the NBA. And they're going to be able to get paid, and that helps them.&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;But even from a business standpoint, that just didn't seem like it was a wise move for the NCAA. I mean, they know that each situation is different. I don't want to get you in trouble. I don't know how much you can say and can't say, but it was just unfortunate that he had to be used as an example for a rule that didn't apply here and had different circumstances in the first place. So I thought that was just unfortunate, and these types of situations are causing young people to want to bypass the NCAA completely. You see LaMelo Ball going overseas, you see Darius Bazley, who was supposed to go to Syracuse, but he just worked out for a year basically and then went in the first round of the draft. You see guys wanting to take different routes. Do you see that becoming more of the norm, or do you see this new rule with guys being able to get endorsements and profit off their likeness helping curb that new wave? What do you think?&rdquo;
Penny: &ldquo;I think it will curb it some, but most guys just don't want to deal with the NCAA. Period. When you start hearing what happened to James, you see things of that nature, it scares you, it makes you not want to go. It'll make you sit out a whole year like Darius did. Darius was in Memphis pretty much that whole year that he sat out, working out down here. And you get guys that'll just go and work out [individually] or go overseas, and they'll still be a top pick because the league wants them. And that'll be a shame on the NCAA because every kid, to me, should experience college, man. College is the most fun time of your life before you get to that next level, if you're able to go -- even if it's just for one year.&rdquo;
Etan: &ldquo;Yeah, it was a blast. I was blessed to go to Syracuse, where I met my wife and started my whole... everything. So, I loved it. But I do see the economic exploitation, and I do see these situations like what happened to Wiseman that make it apparent that there's definitely a lot that the NCAA needs to change and improve on. And I hope they keep improving for the sake of the players and college basketball as a whole.&rdquo;

Penny Hardaway gets candid about James Wiseman being ruled ineligible last season and criticizes the NCAA for their "horrible" rule.

Chett