Bulldogs

The NBA is undergoing an epiphany on positional value, much like the NFL has begun to re-evaluate modern-day running backs. Since positions are becoming less and less important and versatility is the name of the game, what&rsquo;s next for NBA centers?
Centers are slowly but surely being phased out, aside from some rare exceptions. Long gone are the Roy Hibbert-archetype bigs who patrolled the paint with slow-footed speed. The upgraded version looks more like Rudy Gobert in Utah, producing at an even higher level. But even with Gobert, long-term questions have arisen due to his bloated super-max salary.
If Gobert&rsquo;s on-court value is diminishing as well, which bigs will be deemed worthy of a lucrative second contract? It&rsquo;s an elite club where the positional value more than outweighs the price tag: Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo top the list. For all other centers, will they be worth their price in the long run?
For the Phoenix Suns, a $100-plus million decision awaits on Deandre Ayton, their only No. 1 overall pick in franchise history. Does Ayton deserve to be mentioned among those names, or does he fall a tier or two below? Ayton is an anchor of the Suns&rsquo; historic defensive turnaround under head coach Monty Williams, plus his soft touch on the offensive end already brings super efficient scoring value too.
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The Suns and Ayton&rsquo;s representation are about to enter an awkward period, and it seems like the odds of Ayton playing elsewhere next season are increasing. Do the Suns believe Ayton is worth a max-level contract? Does Suns general manager James Jones believe Ayton can be on the same tier as an Adebayo or Gobert?
Based on Ayton's usage within Williams&rsquo; system (19.8% usage rate since 2020-21), Phoenix&rsquo;s need to reconstruct the roster for more wing-based scoring as well as the big man's own desire to be a more featured piece on offense (plus his desire for a max deal), I wouldn't be surprised if Ayton&rsquo;s days with the Suns are numbered.
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One could argue that Ayton would be even more valuable if he were to leave Phoenix and sign elsewhere. In another situation &mdash; in Detroit with Cade Cunningham, for example &mdash; giving Ayton the max would be an acceptable allocation of resources that benefits both parties. However, in the Suns&rsquo; system, I don&rsquo;t believe Ayton is worthy of max-level money.
A fatal flaw that prevents Ayton from being mentioned in the top tier of big men is his lack of self-creation ability, which he's failed to develop throughout his first four seasons with the Suns. According to Cleaning The Glass, 74.8% of Ayton's shots have been assisted on in his career. Compared to his max-salary counterparts, Ayton is nowhere close on self-creation capabilities. And at this point, I have serious doubts that this will ever become a consistent part of his game during his upcoming prime years.
Percentage of FGs Assisted in 2021-22
Deandre Ayton: 81%
Rudy Gobert: 72%
Nikola Jokic: 62%
Karl-Anthony Towns: 62%
Bam Adebayo: 61%
Joel Embiid: 54%
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 43%
The NBA&rsquo;s elite big men buck the trend of super small-ball and three-point-shooting barrages because they bring unique traits to the table.&nbsp;Antetokounmpo and Embiid can simply punish any defenses that are thrown at them. Jokic&rsquo;s demigod-like ability to run an offense and be its primary scoring engine speaks for itself. Towns is one of the greatest perimeter-shooting bigs of all-time. Adebayo&rsquo;s defense and playmaking versatility, coupled with his recent development as an on-ball creator, raise his value. Gobert&rsquo;s price tag is a tough pill to swallow, especially later on, but he&rsquo;s one of the most impactful rim-protectors we&rsquo;ve ever seen (while also providing efficient scoring around the rim).
Ayton is a very good basketball player, but he fails to emphatically check any of the boxes that the other max bigs do. He brings immediate value as a scoring threat and rim-protector, with a rare ability to easily rack up 20-and-10 outings like it&rsquo;s nothing. His stat line shows that there&rsquo;s real promise if he is fed like a primary offensive hub, but that&rsquo;s not going to happen in Phoenix.
The Suns are moving away from the inside-out approach in favor of outside-in, a modern flip of the script that likely provides some insight into how they view centers. JaVale McGee was an excellent free-agent addition for Phoenix last summer, and he ended up putting up nearly identical numbers to Ayton on a per-36-minute basis:
Ayton: 21.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, 65.6 TS%
McGee: 20.9 points, 15.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.5 blocks, 65.1 TS%
McGee is another example where working within the Suns&rsquo; system, especially playing alongside Chris Paul and Devin Booker, brings immense improvement on the margins. From the Suns&rsquo; perspective, would they rather just pay McGee $5 million again and add a difference maker elsewhere for the same price as Ayton? For example, would it make more sense to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-deandre-ayton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bring aboard a unique modern fit in Jerami Grant via a sign-and-trade deal</a>? There&rsquo;s no doubt that these discussions are ongoing for the Suns, because this decision will decide what direction the team is heading in the post-CP3 era.
As a restricted free agent, Ayton is heading toward a negotiation standoff with Phoenix. If the organization doesn&rsquo;t view him as a max-level player, expect to see the Suns&rsquo; offer come in around a similar annual value as Al Horford ($27.8 million) or Nikola Vucevic ($25.0 million). John Collins provides a recent example of restricted free agency leading to a cheaper payday, as he signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 offseason.
For Ayton, it seems like a lock that he'll get a max contract from some front office. The Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers are all expected to show interest once free agency's moratorium period opens on July 1. Will Phoenix try to pull off a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-deandre-ayton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign-and-trade to bring back some win-now pieces</a>? If another team extends a max-level offer sheet, would the Suns match it or let him walk? These are the big questions entering this offseason.
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Another angle that is falling under the radar is how the Suns view Ayton&rsquo;s motor. Will Ayton continue to improve his game or eventually become an albatross contract a few years from now?&nbsp;
&ldquo;Definitely getting to my second contract; that&rsquo;s my success,&rdquo; Ayton said before being drafted by the Suns.
Throughout Ayton&rsquo;s career in Phoenix, teammates like Paul, Booker and Mikal Bridges have had to keep him locked in throughout games to ensure he's playing at a certain intensity level. They have even mentioned it during press conferences. When Ayton is locked in, he&rsquo;s one of the most dominant two-way bigs in the NBA. The issue is his inconsistency and those moments where he loses focus. It's unclear why this occurs, but there are some games where it's apparent in the first few minutes whether it will be a positive or negative outing for the big man. If there are concerns about Ayton&rsquo;s motor, that will also enter this discussion.
Jones and Williams know more about Ayton's work ethic and motor than just about anyone given all the time they've spent with him behind the scenes, so we'll see if this factors in to their decision.&nbsp;
The drive to be great and the sheer will to refuse failure are what separate great players from good ones. Does Ayton possess this trait to become one of those exceptions to the rule for non-floor spacing bigs within the modern NBA?
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This year&rsquo;s Finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics further paints a picture of spacing and wings/on-ball creators buttering the bread of success nowadays. For their bigs, the postseason usage rate is a tell-tale sign of letting the perimeter-oriented stars cook (Al Horford: 13.0 USG%, Robert Williams: 13.0%, Kevon Looney: 11.2%). Can the Suns rely upon Ayton to be a player who takes over 20% of their offensive possessions? If it&rsquo;s a hit-or-miss proposition in their eyes, Ayton will be looking for greener pastures within the next six weeks.
As an elite finisher around the rim who also excels in pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop situations, Ayton already brings a rock solid baseline for a floor. When you add in his supreme athleticism for his position, it brings even more intrigue as a two-way force. Entering into his age-24 season in 2022-23, what&rsquo;s the next step for Ayton? If there&rsquo;s not much room left for Ayton on the developmental curve, a max contract shouldn&rsquo;t be coming his way from Phoenix.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s so divisive here,&rdquo; Suns owner Robert Sarver told BasketballNews.com in April about Ayton&rsquo;s future in Phoenix. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s shown that he&rsquo;s improved each year, helps us both on the defense and the offense. I think offensively, you see this year he&rsquo;s taken another good step in terms of his touch and his ability to score around the basket. So, he&rsquo;s been a key part of what we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Ayton averaged 17.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.7 blocks for the Suns this past season. In an environment where he's more heavily featured, those numbers likely rise closer to 22-23 points and 12-13 rebounds per game. Is that the way to go though?
Welcome to the new evaluation process of great, non-transcendent bigs. Ayton is the first case study, and this expensive decision that's on the horizon is going to change the Suns&rsquo; future one way or another.
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With centers becoming the NBA's version of running backs, is Deandre Ayton worthy of a max deal? Evan Sidery explores.

Should Suns give Deandre Ayton a max deal? Positional value says no

It is common for the players who score the most points to get the most praise. They get the credit on SportsCenter and are viewed as the stars of the night. But there is another kind of player who typically doesn't get the credit they deserve, whose importance to the team is not often illuminated.
Enter Victor Oladipo.
In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night, Oladipo's 5 points didn't make the ESPN highlight reel or pop out in the box score. His stat line wasn&rsquo;t highlighted on the NBA TV recap.
After being bumped out of the rotation in the first half in favor of Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson, Oladipo could have pouted and had an attitude. This is something that happens at every level: a player doesn&rsquo;t play in the first half and mentally checks out. Sometimes, they are visibily disgruntled. You may be able to see it during halftime warm-ups or in his demeanor on the bench.&nbsp;
Oladipo didn&rsquo;t do any of that. He stayed locked in and was ready and prepared if his number happened to be called. Then, it happened. Jimmy Butler went down and could not return to the game in the second half. Butler has been carrying the team throughout the series; he is who the offense runs through, who the team relies on every trip down the court in some capacity. When he couldn't return due to a knee injury, Oladipo&rsquo;s number was called and he was ready.
In just 20 minutes, Oladipo had 4 steals (twice as many as the Celtics had as team for the entire game) and 8 pass deflections (one more than the Celtics). After the game, PJ Tucker raved about Oladipo's play.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s usually his offense everybody talks about,&rdquo; Tucker said. &ldquo;He comes in with a spark. But his lateral slides and quickness were unbelievable. I told him tonight, 'That was some of the best lateral foot speed I&rsquo;ve seen anybody have.' Jaylen Brown, when he gets going &mdash; especially right &mdash; he's tough to get back in front of. For Vic to square him up was unreal. He gave us a spark.
&ldquo;We talked about it at the half, knowing he was about to start the half and play. To not play at all and then step in and do what he did in the second half, that level of professionalism is few and far between.&rdquo;
Former NBA guard Jamal Crawford tweeted: &ldquo;Vic Oladipo&rsquo;s stats won&rsquo;t justify the game he actually played. They don&rsquo;t win this game without him.&rdquo;
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Vic Oladipo&rsquo;s stats won&rsquo;t justify the game he actually played. They don&rsquo;t win this game without him.
&mdash; 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) <a href="https://twitter.com/JCrossover/status/1528214518660157440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;Everything about it, it speaks to his competitive character,&rdquo; Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Oladipo. &ldquo;That was not easy. We went with a slightly different rotation because Kyle [Lowry] came back. That is going to force some changes throughout the rotation, so he didn&rsquo;t play in the first half. We&rsquo;ve had so many guys that have had to take on different roles and sacrifice. We say it&rsquo;s always easy to sacrifice when you&rsquo;re not the one doing it, and he&rsquo;s had to sacrifice many times. That wasn&rsquo;t easy. That wasn&rsquo;t necessarily the way we were going to go the first half. Just things were going really well. We just kept going with that. Then, all of a sudden, boom: Jimmy is not going to go in the second half.
"For him to be stable enough and not be frustrated and not be rolling his eyes and like, 'Oh, okay, now I get an opportunity.... he&rsquo;s just steady. Stays the course. He&rsquo;s made himself available, made himself vulnerable through this whole process. He&rsquo;s prepared behind the scenes. His minutes in the second half were so important defensively against their two studs (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown), and then offensively, he just gave us a facsimile of a lot of the stuff we do with Jimmy. And I mean that as the ultimate compliment.&rdquo;
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This isn&rsquo;t the first time during these playoffs that Oladipo has had to be ready to jump right in and be a determining factor when his number was called. Oladipo was actually outside of Miami's rotation in the first round against the Atlanta Hawks. However, he ended up being one of the key reasons for the Heat's 97-94 win in Game 5, which could have easily gone in the Hawks favor. Oladipo poured in 23 points, 3 assists and 3 steals, while shooting 50% from the floor and 50% from three. After that game, his play was featured in ESPN's highlight reel and his stat line jumped out when looking at the box score.
But again, if he hadn't been ready when his number was called, none of that would have been possible. Time and time again, Oladipo has shown that when given the opportunity, he can produce at a high level and be a game-changing player. Any questions about his past injuries (including a ruptured right quadricep tendon) should be laid to rest as he's proven that he's back in terms of his lateral movement, athleticism, ability to create his own shot, outside shooting and transition defense.
&ldquo;Signing Victor Oladipo [to a veteran-minimum deal] was one of the biggest steals in NBA history for the Miami Heat," said Daniel Abraham, Oladipo&rsquo;s former AAU coach. "To get a former All-Star and All-Defensive Team player still near his prime like that for very little and be able to wait patiently for him to get healthy is the type of move that will likely land them in the NBA Finals! And if you know Vic like I do, you know the level of the dedication and work ethic he has always had, so none of this would surprise you.&ldquo;
Many in the NBA world were ready to write him off into irrelevance after he re-injured his leg in 2020 and got traded twice. In January 2021, Oladipo was traded to the Houston Rockets in the four-team blockbuster deal that also sent James Harden to Brooklyn and Caris LeVert to Indiana. Two months later, the Rockets sent Oladipo to Miami for a first-round pick swap, Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk.
But with all that behind him, Oladipo is proving all of his doubters wrong. He is far from finished and he has proven that he's still capable of being an impact player and a X-Factor for his team &mdash; whether it&rsquo;s by solely playing defense on one of the best scorers in the league or stepping in and being one of the game's high scorers himself. Regardless of his role, Oladipo will have the right attitude and energy, even if those opportunities don&rsquo;t present themselves each and every game.
This is the type of player whom any organization would want on their team, and Oladipo should receive plenty of interest from teams when he hits unrestricted free agency this summer.
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Regardless of what the box score showed, Victor Oladipo played a crucial role in the Heat's Game 3 win over the Celtics.

Victor Oladipo staying ready and making the most of every opportunity

We saw glimpses late in the regular season. We saw more flashes in the Round 1 series against the Atlanta Hawks. Then, in last night's 120-85 drubbing of the Philadelphia 76ers, we were given yet another view of what Victor Oladipo can provide the Miami Heat when healthy and in rhythm.
With Kyle Lowry hobbled and in and out of the lineup, Gabe Vincent struggling from the field and an overall lack of half-court shot creation outside Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, Oladipo finding his groove is proving essential for the Heat.
Oladipo played only eight games in the regular season, which is still mind-boggling. He hasn't even played in 20 contests with Miami since the trade from Houston last season, though he'll hit the mark on Thursday when he sees the court during Game 6.
Returning from injury multiple times and trying to find his way on the court as a player has certainly been a process for Oladipo. He fell out of Erik Spoelstra's rotation entirely near the end of the season, accruing five DNP (Coach's Decisions) in a six-game stretch.
When Oladipo did play, he never quite found his role. The flashes were there, but the cohesiveness wasn't, which was understandable given the context. That's what makes his current play all the more impressive.
Some of the clunkiness in the offense remains, but the process is clicking.&nbsp;
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Here, Oladipo throws a lob when Caleb Martin isn't on the same page, and even with the failed outlet, Oladipo quickly makes himself available.&nbsp;
Selling the at-rim attempt to get Paul Reed in the air before hitting Bam Adebayo with a dumpoff is the kind of verve and creativity the Heat really need in half-court settings. Turning nothing into something was Oladipo's specialty in Indiana. Being able to do it flowing in the offense alongside Butler was highlighted in Game 5, and it had me doing the Leonardo DiCaprio Once Upon a Time in Hollywood&nbsp;point at the screen from my desk.
Off this baseline out-of-bounds play, we hardly even get to see it (much like Joel Embiid!), and that's part of the point:
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His suddenness and stealth as a cutter collapsing the defense creates easy points for the two-man play with Jimmy Butler.
A few possessions later on another broken play, Butler misses the jumper and gets his own board. Oladipo makes himself available in the corner, and when Maxey flies in to pick him up, Oladipo jets to the rim to keep the outlet open for Butler.
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With how demonstrative Butler has been getting into the lane and collapsing the defense in the playoffs, Oladipo finding his timing as an off-ball player is an absolute boon.
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But, the Heat have a multitude of players who can flow off the ball. What makes this so notable is what Oladipo has been able to bring as both a pick-and-roll operator and late clock shot-taker/maker.
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When Oladipo draws close-outs the way he's capable of when his shot is falling, he creates havoc with his secondary attacks. If the shot clock is winding down, he's good at drawing contact and finding his way to the free throw line, averaging four trips to the line in the series and 3.4 in the seven games he's played in the playoffs.
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Finding his balance toggling on and off the ball opens up new line-up constructions and modes of play that elevate who the Heat can be.
So much depends on his shot falling on volume, which has been a sticking point since his initial injury in Indiana. Drawing the defense on the weak-side and getting to the rim to keep revving the engine of the offense, or gliding into his pull-up twos or floaters is predicated on defenses respecting his shot. He still doesn't quite have that standstill burst he did in 2017-18, but stepping into the catch off the second side is legitimately devastating from him.
A side note: I'm not even sure it's about his legs not being back. He certainly doesn't have the same first step he once did. However, it feels like his handle and his lower body haven't gotten back into sync. Injuries suck, but I think it makes me appreciate Oladipo and the work he's put in to get back even more. It's been a really difficult few seasons for him, and seeing him find his footing is awesome.
This snippet from Game 2 is the quintessential vision of who Victor Oladipo can be in Miami:
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He exhibits consistent cycling of the offense. He makes himself available and shifts on and off the ball.
The ground coverage has been awesome. Watch the way he shuts down Tyrese Maxey's drive and the way he's able to crunch in to help in the paint before closing back out, getting his hand in the cookie jar and getting away scot-free with a turnover.
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He's absolutely hounded James Harden when he's matched up with him, often pressing Harden for 94 feet. It sounds minute, but just go back through and watch the possessions where Oladipo presses Harden.
Furthermore, look how consistently the Sixers are starting their possessions with a third of the clock drained. Even without a turnover caused (and many have been!), applying pressure has smothered Philly's offense.
Oladipo is so active on screens, and his play this series reminds us why he was All-Defense a few seasons ago. He engulfs offensive players on switches and chokes the gaps to make it more difficult to slip (a great part of Miami's overall defensive ethos). I hate charges with a passion, but Oladipo draws contact as the low man with charisma. I don't know how else to explain it!
He sheds screens and uses his probing arms so well to spear ball-handlers and make his presence felt. James Harden is not having a good time with Oladipo!
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What he's brought defensively is unquestionable. Pairing his aptitude and skill on that end with his growth in comfort as a more complimentary player makes me more optimistic about the postseason upside of this team.
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Miami's 120-85 win over Philadelphia last night was punctuated by Victor Oladipo's play, which amplified the Heat.

Victor Oladipo is finding his verve with Miami

The 2022 NBA Draft is still two months away, but that&rsquo;s when the dominoes around the Association begin to fall for player activity. In a shallow class of free agents, the trade market will be the best way for teams to make win-now moves. So many teams are in flux, stuck between pushing for the postseason or rebuilding. When scouring the potential trade marketplace, five names stand out from the rest.
Malcolm Brogdon
The Tyrese Haliburton era is in full swing for the Indiana Pacers, which showed immediate long-term promise for a star-starved organization. With Haliburton in place as the primary building block for the Pacers, it&rsquo;s time to say adios to the failed Malcolm Brogdon partnership.
Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard is on record as saying Haliburton is their point guard of the future, and he even compared acquiring him to former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. If that doesn&rsquo;t say they&rsquo;re all-in on Haliburton, then I don&rsquo;t know what to tell you.
Although Brogdon put together career-best scoring numbers during his time in Indiana, availability continued to be a serious problem for the veteran combo guard. During the 2021-22 campaign, Brogdon missed 46 games due to nagging injury issues.
Another interesting angle to monitor from the Pacers&rsquo; point of view is losing a first-round pick they expected to receive via the Caris LeVert trade back in February. After the Cavaliers&rsquo; collapse post-All-Star break, Indiana lost out on a top-20 pick they were planning on using for further draft ammunition.
Moving Brogdon would help recoup that asset, now deferred to next season. Brogdon&rsquo;s trade market could be robust thanks to his two-way versatility, despite his injury woes.
If there&rsquo;s any player in the Association who feels like a lock to be dealt, it&rsquo;s Brogdon, thanks to the Haliburton era beginning in Indianapolis.
Christian Wood
Christian Wood is seemingly on the way out in Houston. The Rockets&rsquo; rookie big man Alperen Sengun shined in a limited role, which increased later on as Wood&rsquo;s minutes diminished. Wood was shopped by the Rockets before the trade deadline, but they weren't able to move him. That may change this offseason.
As an expiring contract making only $14 million, Wood offers any contender a ready-made stretch four who provides intriguing upside. For Houston, there&rsquo;s no reason to keep Wood around. He simply doesn&rsquo;t fit their timeline with a young core spearheaded by Jalen Green, Kevin Porter Jr. and Sengun.
Wood originally signed with the Rockets to be a pick-and-roll partner with James Harden, but Harden is no longer with the team. With a potentially fresh opportunity on the horizon, Wood has the chance to cash in if he lands in the right situation.
One team who continues to make sense for Wood as a long-term fit is the Miami Heat. Miami reportedly offered the Rockets Duncan Robinson for Wood, which Houston rebuked. With the Heat&rsquo;s 2023 first-round pick now available, could that change the Rockets&rsquo; mind on this swap? If Houston can offload Wood while obtaining a sharpshooter and a future first, it makes way too much sense.
Whether it be Miami or elsewhere, Wood&rsquo;s market has the chance to catch fire in a few months. He feels like another shoo-in to be on the move.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
CHRISTIAN WOOD ARE YOU SERIOUS! 39 POINTS AND THIS RIDICULOUS SHOT 😱 <a href="https://t.co/rqWDA2NS4z">pic.twitter.com/rqWDA2NS4z</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1506094094698774528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Jerami Grant
Another player who has been stuck in trade rumors for the past calendar year is Jerami Grant, who bet on himself and signed a long-term deal with the rebuilding Detroit Pistons. Grant sought out a role where he would be more of a focal point offensively, and he&rsquo;s shown now over a large sample size he can get it done in that area.
However, Grant&rsquo;s best fit for any contending team is how he was used with the Denver Nuggets. As a third or fourth option who also handles the best scorer on the defensive end, Grant would fit onto any team looking to take a significant leap forward next season.
Grant is another player who doesn&rsquo;t fit the timeline of his current team. With the Pistons projected to have another top pick in this year&rsquo;s draft, plus an enticing young core led by 2021 No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, the youth movement is in full effect in the Motor City. The Pistons would be wise to shop off Grant to the highest bidder around the draft or in early July.
Grant&rsquo;s elite versatility provides him a strong role anywhere he lands. And don&rsquo;t be shocked by the price tag for a Grant trade this offseason. Contenders will get into a bidding war to secure the services of a strong plug-and-play wing who will raise their ceiling immediately.
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John Collins
What&rsquo;s next for the Atlanta Hawks? After a disappointing first-round exit in the postseason thanks to the Heat, Atlanta&rsquo;s roster has a few interesting decisions looming ahead. One of those revolves around dynamic power forward John Collins, who has continued to hear his name floated in trade rumors since signing a five-year extension last offseason.
Collins let it be known this season he was frustrated with his role on the offensive end, and soon after we once again heard trade winds blowing around the former Wake Forest Demon Deacon. If the Hawks begin fielding offers on Collins this offseason, expect Atlanta to net a significant asset (or assets) in return.
Trae Young is obviously the straw that stirs the drink in Atlanta&rsquo;s system, but take a look at all of the young pieces in place within their organization: Onyeka Okongwu, Kevin Huerter, DeAndre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, and you can even throw in the more experienced veteran in Bogdan Bogdanovic to the mix thanks to his strong fit with Young. Huerter already signed his rookie-scale extension, but Hunter and Okungwu will soon be due. The same goes for Bogdanovic, if he wants to stay in Atlanta past the 2022-23 season.
From a financial standpoint, Collins feels like the easiest piece to move in order to keep everyone else intact. Don&rsquo;t be surprised if the Hawks use Collins&rsquo; contract alongside Danilo Gallinari&rsquo;s expiring salary ($21.4 million) to go star hunting.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Trae Young finds John Collins in the corner for 3 🎯<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBAPlayoffs</a> presented by Google Pixel on ESPN <a href="https://t.co/pGchqDhGyW">pic.twitter.com/pGchqDhGyW</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1517668614333210634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Julius Randle
What a disaster this season was for the New York Knicks. After a surprising surge in the 2020-21 campaign, the Knicks felt inclined to run it back with their veteran-heavy core. Looking back on it now, that decision has left egg on the face of New York&rsquo;s front office.
After winning Most Improved Player, Julius Randle may have been the winner of &ldquo;Most Disappointing Player,&rdquo; if such an award actually existed. Randle seemed out of it for most of the season, not utilizing his special motor to help the Knicks consistently. Whether Randle&rsquo;s incredible run was a flash in the pan or the fit has worn itself out, something has to give this offseason.
We should also note the emergence of former lottery pick Obi Toppin, who continued to flash when given more playing time for the Knicks. Toppin makes Randle more expendable, and that should be the primary plan for New York this offseason.
Randle&rsquo;s contract is very movable, too. Making $26.1 million next season, Randle would help present a strong trade market for New York to scour for the best offers. And who knows? Maybe Randle bounces back to his 2020-21 form in a different environment.
For Randle and the Knicks, it&rsquo;s in the best interest of both parties to split up.
While we're still a couple of months away from the trade market opening back up, there are plenty of big names who could be moved. These players should find themselves at the top of that list, as any of them would prove a huge boost for the organization acquiring them.
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Looking ahead to the offseason, here are five names to monitor as potential trade targets.

Five NBA players who feel destined to be traded this offseason

It appears as though the New Orleans Pelicans are playing harder and more aggressively, and with a greater sense of urgency and more passion, than the Phoenix Suns are at this point of their playoff series.
Herb Jones is putting on a Superman cape to leap tall buildings in a single bound and block three-point attempts. The scrappy Jose Alvarado forced Chris Paul into an eight-second violation in the backcourt, something that very rarely happens to the veteran point guard. The bench is fired up for the entire game, and the team is playing with a passion that hasn&rsquo;t been seen in New Orleans for quite some time.
Nobody outside of that city could&rsquo;ve imagined that this series would be tied at two games apiece with the highly-favored, 62-win, defending-Western-Conference-champion Suns.&nbsp;
Having said that, there seems to be a feeling of disrespect from the national media for a team that has exceeded the expectations of so many in the sports world.&nbsp;
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I spoke with Pelicans color analyst Antonio Daniels about his assessment of the team and that national media disrespect toward New Orleans.
Etan Thomas: First, how great is it to see the Pelicans prove a lot of people wrong who didn't even give them a chance?
Antonio Daniels: "Oh, man. Well, for me, it's not even about it being great, proving people wrong. The great part is what I've seen this team accomplish. People are going to doubt no matter what. I don't care who you are, or what you've ever done, how good you are. People are always going to doubt. But you can't allow people's doubts to actually affect the way that you think about yourself. I have said this about this team from Day 1, and I actually have it bookmarked in my Twitter feed; Nov. 5, I said at this time, 'This team gets healthy, they're a playoff team. If they get healthy, they're a playoff team.' And I remember I was doing the pregame show and David Wesley, who's a good friend of mine, turned and faced my way and was almost like to say, 'Whatever.' You know what I mean?
Etan: Right.
Daniels: "Here's the thing, Etan. When you're talking about success in this league, it's not going to [happen] if you don't have a culture of overachievement. It doesn't happen. You have to have guys that overachieve, guys that are outplaying the expectation. You can go all the way back to the Golden State Warriors. What they did with Steph Curry and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson and those guys. They all overachieved. Did you think when Steph Curry and Klay Thompson were coming out that they would be the best shooting backcourt in history? Or when Draymond Green was coming out, at this point in his career, he would be a Hall-of-Famer? No. But they created a culture of overachievement.
"What you have here in New Orleans is, a lot was going on early on in the season, new pieces trying to fit in along with head coach Willie Green. And that's a lot to take on early; 1-12, 3-16 is what this team started. And now, at that time, the talk was, 'Let's tank. There's no Zion.' Fans all said they should just tank the season. Even when you acquired CJ McCollum. I remember Stephen A. Smith saying, 'Oh, I don't know what they're doing. Why would CJ McCollum want to go there? New Orlenas ain't going anywhere anyway.'
"The disrespect from the national media is, I think, what guys really pay attention to. And I think they do somewhat use that as motivation. But to be a part of this journey, Etan, from Day 1 of training camp, to Zion being hurt [and] not being available throughout the course of this team's season, being without your best player and seeing what this team has been able to accomplish, climbing out of that 3-16 start, it's been special."
Etan: Talk about the addition you mentioned of CJ McCollum and how much that has helped the entire team.
Daniels: "I'll say this first: What people forget about in that addition is that Larry Nance was in that [trade] as well, and people aren't talking about that. People are talking about CJ, and CJ's been fantastic. But I'll tell you what, I don't think that the Pelicans are at this point without Larry Nance Jr. He was the difference in the Play-In game against the Clippers because what he offers you is versatility at the 5 spot that you didn't have prior to him. Versatility and experience. When teams go small, like you see a lot of the NBA doing now, and they're basically playing five forwards like the Toronto Raptors, it&rsquo;s problematic for opposing teams. You need a big that is experienced, knowledged, but understands strengths and weaknesses [and] also has the skill set to compete. Larry Nance Jr was great. And people don't talk about him enough."
Etan: Great point.
Daniels: "But to get to CJ &mdash; CJ's playing the best basketball of his career. And from his words, he's a servant leader. And I love it because he's not very vocal, but he leads by example. He came in and he said, 'You know what, man? I want Brandon Ingram to be the best version of himself' on Day 1. Because if B.I.'s the best version of himself, that will allow me (meaning CJ McCollum) to be the best version of myself. And I remember asking CJ, when I sat down and I interviewed him, talking about, 'How do you develop chemistry between you and B.I.?' And he said, 'You know what? I'll do the same thing with him that me and Dame [Lillard] did. We sat down and we watched films together. I want to know where he wants to ball. I want him to be vocal with me. I want to know where his hotspot is, what plays he likes, when he needs me to back down and allow him to be the best version of himself.' The communication between those two from Day 1 was at an all-time level.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
𝙋𝙀𝙇𝙎 𝙒𝙄𝙉 ⚜️ Brandon Ingram : 30 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST ⚜️ Jonas Valanciunas : 26 PTS, 15 REB, 4 AST ⚜️ Cj McCollum : 18 PTS, 9 REB Les <a href="https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PelicansNBA</a> l'emportent 118-103 et reviennent &agrave; 2-2 face &agrave; Phoenix ! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WBD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WBD</a> <a href="https://t.co/zbghiMm2fU">pic.twitter.com/zbghiMm2fU</a>
&mdash; NBA France (@NBAFRANCE) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAFRANCE/status/1518469593290919937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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"But, Etan, what really helped this team was the All-Star break. Because if you look at what this team has done post-All-Star break, that was the chemistry between CJ and B.I. really starting to take off. We opened up in Phoenix. First game at the All-Star break, we opened up in Phoenix. And they talked at length about the dinner that they had in Phoenix the night before, where they just got an opportunity to connect to one another and to communicate with one another. This team has been rolling ever since when those two are on the floor together with a healthy starting five."
Etan: I want you to talk a little bit about Coach Willie Green. I actually posted and tweeted the clip of <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1515310682945855488?s=20&amp;t=jxzjmwJgR9FJ3SYvF7c53w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">him motivating the guys</a>. It made me feel like I want to go out there and lace them back up and get ready to go play. Talk about how great he has been for this team.
Daniels: "Listen, Etan, I can't put it into words the respect that I have for Willie Green from Day 1. You know it's funny. Because when you're losing, people don't want to hear about it. People don't want to hear about the positives when you're losing. They only want to hear about the positives when you start playing well. And when this team was 1-12, and then, when they were 3-16... I'll tell you, Etan, we've both played on bad teams; you know what a shootaround is like walking into the gym when you're 3-16. This was not it. I have never seen more spirited shootarounds from, at the time, what seemed to be a bad basketball team. And that started with Willie Green. He never blinked. He never allowed this team to lose confidence. His faith in this team never wavered, and he stands on his faith as a whole.
"I'll give you a quick example. You know how many coaches have the open-door policy where you can come in and talk? I meet with Willie Green from time-to-time. We'll go into his office. We'll talk or sit or chat or go out to dinner. Etan, our meetings ended with prayer. How many coaches have you ever gone in to meet with and talk about the team or whatever it may be and, when it's all said and done, you guys are at his desk praying together? That speaks to the man that Willie Green is. He is one of those guys that is so inspiring because he makes you want to be a better version of yourself. I don't hoop no more, Etan. If that's how he makes me feel, I can imagine how he makes players feel. When you have guys like Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, Jaxson Hayes &mdash; all these guys, when their number was called, they were ready to go. Because when they weren't playing, Willie Green was still speaking grace, life and confidence into them. And I had an opportunity to see it up close and personal. I am at every practice, at every shootaround. I've traveled with the team. I eat with the team. To see his communication with them, his ability to relate to them [is incredible].
"And I'm a proud believer, Etan, that the best coaches in this league are role players. You know why? Because they can relate to everybody from 1-to-15. If you're a star player, you can't relate to the guy who hasn't played in six games or the guy who's major inconsistent. Willie Green has started in this league, he's been a sixth man, he's been in situations where his minutes weren't guaranteed and he's also been in a situation where he hadn't played at all. Tell me who on that bench he cannot relate to! And there's nothing more important in today's NBA than a coach's ability to relate to his players. I don't care about your defensive schemes, I don't care about your X's and O's. If the players feel like you can't relate to them, they will not play as hard for you. But the moment that they feel like you care about them as men, as fathers, as husbands &mdash; they will run through a wall for you. And I'm telling you, Willie Green has that locker room so engaged, because of the way that he handles himself throughout adversity."
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Etan: Wow. That's great to hear, and I thought that about him already, just from knowing who he is. But it's great to hear you say that. Let me ask you one more thing. I know you don't worry about the haters and the noise and social media, all that stuff, but they keep bringing up the fact that because Devin Booker isn't there, that's the reason why the Pelicans are in this series. I was like, 'Well, wait a minute. Y'all forget that Zion isn't there either?' I'm like, y'all forgot about that part.
Daniels: "Here's the thing. Has there ever been an NBA champion where there's not a 'What if?' attached to it? Let's just go back to a year ago. Remember when Trae Young got hurt against Milwaukee? Remember when Kyrie Irving got hurt against Milwaukee? Remember James Harden had to come back as a shadow of himself with half of a hamstring versus Milwaukee? Remember a couple years back when Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson got hurt, and then Toronto won the championship? Look, ain't nobody tripping on that. This is the league full of injuries. You get certain things that are out of your control. So If people say, 'Oh man, the only reason that the Pelicans won is because (fill in the blank), well, okay.' But you are not going to find an NBA champion, a NFL champion where breaks don&rsquo;t go somebody's way.
"But I'll tell you this, there are two teams in the NBA who have yet to play with their best player. I'm talking about not even one practice. Not even one practice this year with their best player. It's the L.A. Clippers and the New Orleans Pelicans. Kawhi [Leonard] literally practiced one time. But let me tell you the difference. The difference is, Kawhi Leonard has practiced with Tyronn Lue before. He's practiced with him before, last year. Zion does not have one practice with Coach Willie Green. Not one. The last that Zion has been on the floor is when he was averaging 26 points per game and shooting 61% from the field under Coach Stan Van Gundy.
"So people can sit here and say, 'Oh, well, the only reason is, because...' So what? So what? Your job is to go out and your job is to play. Plain and simple. Look at the playoffs now. Khris Middleton is sidelined. Luka [Doncic] was sidelined. Kyle Lowry is sidelined. You get guys that are injured all the time. What are the Pelicans supposed to say? 'Ah, you know what man? Devin Booker's not there. Let's wait. Let's wait until they have help and then come back to finish this series.' No. Your job is to take advantage of the situation that's given."
Etan: That&rsquo;s absolutely correct.
Daniels: "And I'll tell you this, Etan, it goes along with the national narrative of the lack of respect that's given to the Pelicans. It goes right along with it. It doesn't matter. You know this better than anybody. It doesn't matter what people think about you. 'You ain't never believed in me as long as I believe in myself.' And this is a team, right now, that believes in themselves."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_lg.png" alt="" width="690" height="345" />
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Etan Thomas speaks with former teammate and Pelicans color analyst Antonio Daniels about NOLA's playoff surge vs. Phoenix.

Antonio Daniels: Pelicans have been disrespected by national media

You hear that alarm going off? It&rsquo;s a wake-up call from Brandon Ingram reminding all NBA fans how good he truly is.
How quickly we forgot Ingram made his first All-Star Game in the 2019-20 season, carrying the Pelicans before young phenom Zion Williamson came along the follow year. Now, without Williamson all season long due to offseason foot surgery, Ingram has spread his wings in his third season in New Orleans, and is thriving under new Pelicans head coach Willie Green&rsquo;s guidance.
On the biggest stage in the NBA, Ingram is unfazed and flourishing as the best player in the team's series against the Western Conference&rsquo;s No. 1 seed. The young, feisty Pelicans have the Phoenix Suns on the ropes, as the first-round series is tied through four games.
It's to nobody's surprise, but Ingram has been the catalyst behind New Orleans&rsquo; recent surge. Over the Pelicans&rsquo; last six games &mdash; including two Play-In Tournament games and their ongoing series with Phoenix &mdash; Ingram&rsquo;s numbers are gaudy: 29.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.2 assists with 63.4% True Shooting percentage. With that kind of production, he has helped back the West&rsquo;s juggernaut into an early corner and flipped this series on its head, and, as a result, it's placing all the pressure on Phoenix to finish this series off <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/devin-bookers-hamstring-injury-shifts-momentum-as-suns-prepare-for-tough-battle-with-pelicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">without its best player in Devin Booker due to a strained left hamstring</a>.
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Ingram&rsquo;s latest masterpiece unfolded in a perfect way for New Orleans in Game 4, dropping 30 points with little resistance. 16 of which came in a huge third-quarter spurt. Following the Pelicans&rsquo; 118-103 blowout win over the Suns on Sunday evening, Ingram calmly put his recent play into perspective while also applauding all of his teammates.
&ldquo;To God be the glory. I feel this is our time,&rdquo; Ingram said. &ldquo;[We] worked so hard throughout the year to become a better team, and we finally get the chance to be on a really, really big stage and continue to play together. My teammates [have] been helping me out a lot, putting me in the right spots, passing me the ball in the right areas. Just making me look good. It&rsquo;s been a team effort. I just love playing with the guys.&rdquo;
With series momentum entirely on New Orleans&rsquo; side right now thanks to Ingram&rsquo;s virtuoso scoring performances, the Suns will have to quickly find a counter-punch to the near-knockout blow that was delivered to them on Sunday.
Whether it be Jae Crowder (Ingram&rsquo;s primary assignment throughout the series), Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson or Torrey Craig, Phoenix&rsquo;s wings have had no answers to trying to guard the ascending Pelicans star. When guarded 1-on-1 by one of the Suns&rsquo; four wings, Ingram is shooting 31 of 54 (57.4 FG%). Take a gander at how easy it&rsquo;s been for Ingram as of late:
<ul>
<li>Ingram vs. Crowder: 12 of 24 (50%)</li>
<li>Ingram vs. Johnson: 7 of 10 (70%)</li>
<li>Ingram vs. Bridges: 6 of 10 (60%)</li>
<li>Ingram vs. Craig: 6 of 10 (60%)</li>
</ul>
If this continues for the Pelicans, and Ingram is seemingly unguardable against blanket coverages thrown out there from the Suns, it changes everything for this now-best-of-three showdown.
&ldquo;Extremely valuable&rdquo; Green said of Ingram&rsquo;s postseason play. &ldquo;Brandon is playing some of his best basketball of the season, and he&rsquo;s doing it on the biggest stage. It&rsquo;s great to see, and he&rsquo;s more than capable. I&rsquo;ve said it before, he&rsquo;s the real deal and he goes out on the floor he puts the work into practice and we&rsquo;re seeing it on display.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Brandon Ingram was LIGHTS OUT in the <a href="https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PelicansNBA</a> Game 4 victory to even the series at 2-2, dropping 30 points for the 3rd straight game! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WBD?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WBD</a><a href="https://twitter.com/B_Ingram13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@B_Ingram13</a>: 30 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST Game 5: Tue. 10pm/et on TNT <a href="https://t.co/hD5EJLBGFw">pic.twitter.com/hD5EJLBGFw</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1518454464885268480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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In Game 4, the Suns kept trying to claw back to make it a competitive back-and-forth contest, but New Orleans continued to slam the door in their face. Ingram&rsquo;s scoring package, coupled with aggressive on-ball defense from rookies Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado, led to a best-case scenario unfolding for the Pelicans.
During a pivotal stretch in Game 4, Phoenix brought it down to a one-possession game in the third quarter before Ingram decided to put the series in his own hands. Consistently delivering with extremely tough shots being made, Ingram has put everyone back on notice in regards to his superstar ceiling.
Crazy enough, Ingram is still only 24 years old. Not even close to his prime years yet, Ingram&rsquo;s dazzling postseason is another reminder of why the Pelicans are closer than we all expect. Obviously missing Williamson for the entirety of the season plays a huge factor, but this new group spearheaded by Ingram and CJ McCollum in the meantime has inspired hope once more in the Bayou.
&ldquo;It was great,&rdquo; Green said postgame of Ingram&rsquo;s 16-point third quarter. &ldquo;I could see that his mindset right away was &lsquo;I&rsquo;m gonna get us going.&rsquo; And that&rsquo;s what he did. He has moments where I can kinda see it in his eyes that he&rsquo;s going and I try to move out the way and let him do what he does.&rdquo;
This series continues to be played tingly on the margins both ways, but the Pelicans actually have a plus-12 point differential; both teams have won a game by 11 points each. Phoenix barely escaped Game 3 behind Chris Paul&rsquo;s fourth-quarter magic, and then two nights later, we all witnessed an authoritative beatdown of the league's top overall seed courtesy of the NOLA underdogs.
Can the Pelicans truly pull off the unthinkable and take down the Suns? With the way Ingram is putting the team on his back as of late, that&rsquo;s a real possibility. Never too high, never too low, Ingram&rsquo;s mindset is fully locked-in for an upcoming three-game war with the Suns.
And that alone is an uneasy feeling that the Suns have to deal with as the series shifts back to Phoenix with all momentum on the opposite side.
&ldquo;Superstar,&rdquo; Jose Alvarado said postgame about Ingram. &ldquo;He big time. He told me this is his first time (in the playoffs). It don&rsquo;t seem like it. He wants to win. He&rsquo;s going to do a lot for us. Mentally, he&rsquo;s going to be really good for us.&rdquo;
Allow Ingram to reintroduce himself as a star-caliber player &mdash; one who developed under the radar before loudly breaking out, and pushes the envelope even further for the resilient Pelicans.
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Coming off another stellar night in Game 4, Brandon Ingram is reminding everyone to not to forget about him as a young star.

Brandon Ingram is putting the NBA on notice during his playoff debut

Duncan Robinson made eight 3-pointers for Miami. Jonas Valanciunas grabbed 25 rebounds for New Orleans. Anthony Edwards scored 36 points for Minnesota in his playoff debut. Phoenix&rsquo;s Chris Paul became the oldest player in postseason history with a 30-point, 10-assist game.
Game 1s brought greatness out of some.
Game 2s will give others a bounce-back chance.
A trio of Game 2s are on Tuesday&rsquo;s NBA schedule &mdash; Atlanta at Miami, Minnesota at Memphis and New Orleans at Phoenix. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-atlanta-hawks-nba-sports-jimmy-butler-524f6e3dc3b47326af36a281e871e64d">top-seeded Heat</a> in the East and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/phoenix-suns-new-orleans-pelicans-nba-sports-33de7a70b3f38ca2c1a8ab2df2d6ebe3">top-seeded Suns</a> in the West both opened the postseason quests with double-digit home wins, while the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-timberwolves-memphis-grizzlies-nba-sports-jaden-mcdaniels-aaf5cd0818a06b8971736c4d19595070">seventh-seeded Timberwolves</a> struck first on the Grizzlies&rsquo; home floor.
Atlanta&rsquo;s Trae Young was held to a career-worst-tying 1-for-12 shooting and a season-low eight points by a swarming Miami defense on Sunday. Memphis&rsquo; Ja Morant scored 32 points, but missed 10 of his last 13 shots from the floor against Minnesota on Saturday. And New Orleans&rsquo; CJ McCollum scored 25 points, keeping his team in it much of the way Sunday, though started 2 for 12 and finished 9 for 25.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t push tempo enough. ... Playing against the No. 1 seed, you&rsquo;ve got to make shots and got to be able to score with them,&rdquo; McCollum said.
The Pelicans and Hawks were both playing a third game in a span of five days Sunday, each doing so in three different cities. They had play-in games at home on Wednesday, then traveled for another one Friday &mdash; Atlanta to Cleveland, New Orleans to Los Angeles to face the Clippers &mdash; then had to get back on planes for Game 1s in Miami and Phoenix.
Monday will be a day to get settled, and it stands to reason that Tuesday will be smoother for both.
&ldquo;We cannot be an excuse team,&rdquo; Atlanta&rsquo;s Danilo Gallinari said. &ldquo;We have to be ready to play.&rdquo;
Adjustments will be made, as always, between Game 1 and Game 2. The Hawks must find ways to get Young to his spots. The Pelicans can&rsquo;t let Paul shoot 12 for 16 again. The Timberwolves know they&rsquo;ll get Memphis&rsquo; best shot, since the Grizzlies clearly can&rsquo;t afford to go down 0-2 at home.
Veterans know Game 1s are never worth making snap judgments over, because series narratives can and often do change in Game 2s.
&ldquo;You never get too high, never get too low,&rdquo; Miami guard Kyle Lowry said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve lost a bunch of Game 1s and won the series. I&rsquo;ve won a couple Game 1s and lost the series. You&rsquo;ve got to be able to stay even-keeled, no matter what.&rdquo;
Tuesday&rsquo;s games:
HAWKS AT HEAT
Miami leads 1-0. Game 2, 7:30 p.m. EDT, TNT.
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: Young was held below 15 points on five previous occasions this season. In the game immediately following those contests, he averaged 30.8 points on 54% from the field and 98% from the foul line. He will be super-aggressive on Tuesday.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: The Heat won by 24 and got only 12 points, combined, from Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. The Heat didn&rsquo;t need them to score much, not with Robinson scoring 27 off the bench, but it&rsquo;s also tough to expect both Adebayo and Herro to remain quiet in Game 2.
&mdash; INJURY WATCH: Hawks C Clint Capela (knee hyperextension) expected to remain out.
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: Miami. The Heat can&rsquo;t give Atlanta momentum to go home with. The Hawks, including the play-in, have gone 28-14 at home this season and that &mdash; statistically improbable as it may seem &mdash; includes a 10-game losing streak. The Hawks lost every home game they played from Nov. 27 through Jan. 15, but are 20-3 in their building since. That&rsquo;s the best home record in the NBA over that span.
TIMBERWOLVES AT GRIZZLIES
Minnesota leads 1-0. Game 2, 8:30 p.m. EDT, NBA TV.
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: The Timberwolves led the NBA in 3-pointers made during the regular season and showed that prowess in Game 1, outscoring Memphis 48-21 from beyond the arc. What should further concern the Grizzlies is that they allowed 130 points on a night where D&rsquo;Angelo Russell shot just 2 for 11.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: Morant. Memphis&rsquo; best player was 5 for 5 in the first quarter of Game 1, 3 for 13 from the field the rest of the way. He attempted 20 free throws, which speaks to his aggressiveness, but the Grizzlies can&rsquo;t have Morant making three baskets over 36 minutes and expect success.
&mdash; INJURY WATCH: Nothing of great significance. Minnesota&rsquo;s Karl-Anthony Towns was limping a bit in the final minutes of Saturday&rsquo;s win after turning one of his ankles, but finished the game.
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: Memphis. Completely, totally on Memphis. If the Grizzlies watched Minnesota&rsquo;s play-in game (and they obviously did), they would be aware of the atmosphere that awaits them when this series shifts back to Minneapolis later this week. A 2-0 deficit will prove very tough to overcome. Tuesday is absolutely huge to the Grizzlies&rsquo; hopes.
PELICANS AT SUNS
Phoenix leads 1-0. Game 2, 10 p.m. EDT, TNT.
&mdash; NEED TO KNOW: All five Suns-Pelicans games have been decided by double figures this season, Phoenix now going 4-1 in those matchups. Paul, a couple of weeks shy of his 37th birthday, was a maestro in Game 1.
&mdash; KEEP AN EYE ON: Even though Phoenix won Game 1, a 55-35 rebounding deficit will need to be addressed in Game 2.
&mdash; INJURY WATCH: New Orleans&rsquo; Brandon Ingram seemed to be laboring through some ankle issues in the second half of Game 1.
&mdash; PRESSURE IS ON: Phoenix. New Orleans shouldn&rsquo;t feel any pressure in this series, even if elimination looms. The previous team to make the playoffs with a 36-46 record or worse was the Boston Celtics in 2004. The Pelicans are playing with house money the rest of the way and the Suns probably would be wise to not give them more reasons to believe.

Game 1s are never worth making snap judgments over because series narratives can, and often do, change in Game 2s.

For some, Game 2s in NBA playoffs provide bounce-back chance

Jackson Frank breaks down the film and collaborates with Nekias Duncan and Mark Schindler to pick the 2021-22 All-NBA teams.

2021-22 All-NBA Teams: Praising this season's 15 best players

In a domineering defensive showcase in the Elite Eight against the No. 2 seed Texas Longhorns, Stanford is on its way back to the Final Four, seeking to re-up its status as the NCAA national champion.
Cardinal junior forward Haley Jones put on an impressive showing, triggering Stanford's Princeton sets from the high post and slicing up Texas' defense with pocket passes and face-up drives if those actions were shut down. A likely top pick in the lottery in next year's WNBA Draft, she has the craft, fluidity and scoring chops as a point forward that just aren't easy to find.
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Oh Haley Jones is so smooth <a href="https://t.co/mrHb8MOgit">pic.twitter.com/mrHb8MOgit</a>
&mdash; Mark Schindler (@MSchindlerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSchindlerNBA/status/1508412949983121411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Texas had no answer for Jones, sending her to the line 11 times. Overplay her, and she's going to make the right pass. Put a big on her, and Jones will take it to the rim and use an array of post moves and her quickness at her size to create an advantage.
Senior guards Joanne Allen-Taylor (Texas) and Lexie Hull (Stanford), both projected 2022 WNBA Draft picks, punctuated play with their shooting prowess in and outside the arc.
Yet, the play of two young stars on their respective teams stood out.&nbsp;
Longhorns freshman guard Rori Harmon, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, had a rough game from the field going 6 of 18, but the flashes of her brilliance lend credence to an extremely bright future.
Harmon is an artist, and her preferred medium is paint touches.
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That's Anna Wilson, two-time Pac-12 All-Defensive team honoree and last year's Co-Defensive Player of the Year in her conference.
Harmon's shake is violent and explosive, but also controlled and reigned in just enough to make creative chaos lethal to a defense. She unleashes some slithery finishes and tight-space craft, allowing her to use her quickness and smaller size to her benefit against bigger defenders.
Lack of size can be a real detriment for paint attacks, but Harmon showcases some impressive ability to finish through contact.
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Continued development of her pull-up jumper will be key, as Stanford routinely went under on ball-screens employed for Harmon; her guile and pace are so exquisite that it doesn't matter at times. There are few things in prospects more revered than the ability to routinely break down a defense, and Harmon has the sauce.
Her defense at the point of attack can be menacing (Harmon was all over Wilson on both ends), as Harmon possesses elite lateral quickness and stout physicality as the tip of the spear.
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Look at Rori Harmon's defense here. good lord <a href="https://t.co/T29gXmeYZk">pic.twitter.com/T29gXmeYZk</a>
&mdash; Mark Schindler (@MSchindlerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSchindlerNBA/status/1508417975824666633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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With three more years of development and experience left before she's eligible for the draft, she's gonna be a problem.
(Note: The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement states that a player isn't allowed to enter the draft until she turns 22 years old during the calendar year of the draft itself AND has either no remaining college eligibility or renounces her remaining college eligibility.)
Stanford sophomore center Cameron Brink stole the show, however. After a first half punctuated by foul trouble (a theme for her this year, but she's made real progress), she put together a flat-out dominant defensive second half with some intriguing offensive flashes smattered in.
She walled off post-ups and flexed her length and verticality to neutralize Texas' bigs.
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Her ability to lock-in, slide her feet, maintain her balance with the functional strength to not get backed into the rim and display the timing to swat away or stifle an attempt is absurdly impressive.
Brink finished with 6 blocks (including <a href="https://twitter.com/MSchindlerNBA/status/1508431909881319429?s=20&amp;t=70QKcFzE8cA3MXtF0gC1Eg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this devastating block on Harmon</a>) and a steal, but her ability to obliterate possessions extends outside the box score.
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It's just one possession, but it encapsulates so much of what makes Brink a tremendous defensive prospect. She has the length and size of a true 5 with the rim-protection to back it up, but she also has mobility and coordination that few possess at 6-foot-4, lending credence to the idea that she has some real viability at the 4 as well.
I mean, just look at this late switch onto Harmon.&nbsp;
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Could Brink staple a speedy guard to the top of the arc for an entire possession? Probably not, but the wrinkle to smother a late shot-clock possession like this on a switch is absurd! Against most bigs, that's a quick J from Harmon as soon as she comes off the screen, but Brink's positioning and angling are just awesome here.
Thinking about Brink having the chance to roam off-ball at the next level alongside another post player and blowing up offensive actions is enamoring. She won Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, and it's easy to see why she'll be up for both awards again as a junior.
Yet, you can't really play the 4 without showing the skill to do it on the other end right?&nbsp;
Brink has taken 30 three-pointers this season (including March Madness), with 24 coming after February, including four against Texas &mdash; a huge development.
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The make was great; suave smooth, quick release, no hesitation. But, the misses also stand out!
A jab-step take off a head fake?!&nbsp;
Again yes, it's a miss, but the comfort and smoothness is impeccable. This is a good shot, and I want to see more volume.
The next shot, please have your volume UP, because I am dying. This is definitely a heat check, but it's an earned heat check! Again, the smoothness on this stepback really stands out. Will it ever be a massive part of her game to take self-created threes at the next level? I'm unsure, but the fluidity and confidence is so, so huge in projecting her as a viable shooter on volume and with variety.
Brink has a really good feel for the game and a pretty quality handle for her size. If that shot comes along, I envision even more of this opening up, which is just.... man.
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The shooting matters because of what it can unlock and how it can dictate a defense will defender Brink. Hitting shots? Great. Making the defense care that you're taking them? All the more important.
This dump-off is awesome. If you're driving baseline and the lane isn't really there and there isn't an angle, get your defender going backwards with their momentum, spin back and find the cutter. What's so impressive is that this isn't premeditated; it's a great cut by Fran Belibi to open an outlet, and Brink sees this ASAP, making an incredibly quick scan and read while spinning (?!). And don't get me started on the wrist flick to perfectly deliver that pass.
Brink is such a special prospect and player. And while we've got a great deal of time before we need to talk about Harmon and Brink's draft status, they deserve shine for some incredible performances and flashes enveloping their quality seasons.
Be sure to catch the next set of games, as the Final Four kicks off on Friday at 7 p.m. EST with South Carolina vs. Louisville. Later on, UCONN and Stanford will meet at 9:30 p.m. EST.
Aliyah Boston, Hailey Van Lith, Christyn Williams, Azzi Fudd, Paige Bueckers, Brink and Jones? There is some HEAT in this Final Four. Don't miss out.
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Stanford advanced to yet another Final Four, beatiing the University of Texas, but Cameron Brink and Rori Harmon both stood out.

Cameron Brink, Rori Harmon flash bright futures in Elite Eight

You are now invited into the NBA rabbit hole you didn&rsquo;t know you needed.
Do you remember Deron Williams before he boxed Frank Gore? The Deron Williams before toiling away with his hometown Dallas Mavericks and ring-chasing with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The one before the New Jersey Nets moved to Brooklyn. The one that got you banned on forums because of how vociferously you may have argued that he was better or worse than Chris Paul.
Ten years ago today, on March 4, that dude dropped a franchise-record 57 points. Yeah, you&rsquo;re getting old too, son. (That's still a Nets record, by the way.)
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That game itself, otherwise, wasn&rsquo;t all that memorable. The Nets had about one month left as representatives of New Jersey before relocating to Brooklyn later that year. They, at 12-26, won 104-101 against a Charlotte Bobcats (!) team that dropped to 4-31 on the lockout-shortened season.
Starters in the game included other glorious names like Kris Humphries, who was second on the Nets with 11 points (and 13 rebounds) and played 40 minutes. DeShawn Stevenson finished with an 0-2-1-0-0 line and had one shot attempt in 29 minutes of play. Eduardo N&aacute;jera, DeSagana Diop (who started for Charlotte!) and Shelden Williams got some run, and Tyrus Thomas played about seven minutes.
Kemba Walker was still coming off the bench for D.J. Augustin. Corey Maggette was the game&rsquo;s second-highest scorer, finishing with 24 points on just 4-of-12 shooting, but converted 15-of-16 free-throw attempts.
Current Charlotte (Hornets) star LaMelo Ball was 10 years old.
But it was also one of Williams&rsquo; last awesome NBA moments while still in his prime, a career cut short due to... well, it depends on who you ask, and/or what you believe. It&rsquo;s either related to injuries, which we began seeing take a toll on Williams after the Nets moved to Brooklyn. Or other stuff, like constant clashes with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett during that infamous 2013-14 season together.
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Say what you want about Stephen A. Smith &mdash; and this was before he essentially became the face of ESPN &mdash; but I vividly recall him here in New York saying things like, &ldquo;Deron Williams has the easiest job a franchise player could ever hope to have!&rdquo; And, &ldquo;All he has to do is ball,&rdquo; as Williams, frankly, didn&rsquo;t.
There was also the story that Pierce once mocked Williams, saying, &ldquo;<a href="https://www.netsdaily.com/2015/7/11/8932649/farewell-to-all-that" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What&rsquo;s the matter now, Deron? Your ____ hurt</a>?&rdquo; (If I&rsquo;m blanking it and not even giving you a letter, just know it was raw.)
The Nets had Williams &mdash; generally hated by their fans to this day &mdash; Pierce, Garnett, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez as a championship-level starting-five (in theory) entering the 2013-14 season. And the head coach was a first-timer in Jason Kidd, who played an integral part on the underappreciated 54-win New York Knicks the season before as a player.
<a href="https://sicovers.com/featured/brooklyns-new-look-nets-who-wants-a-piece-of-them-2013-14-october-28-2013-sports-illustrated-cover.html">Remember that Sports Illustrated cover</a>? Ohhhhhh maaaaaaan.
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You may also recall the famous Jackie MacMullan <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/12690080/washington-wizards-paul-pierce-speaks-truth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">profile on Pierce</a> when he was a Washington Wizard in the early John Wall and Bradley Beal days. As far as we know, this was before Wall and Marcin Gortat <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wizards-insider/wp/2018/02/07/marcin-gortat-responds-to-john-walls-comments-whos-attacking-who/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wanted to box each other&rsquo;s heads off</a>.
&ldquo;Before I got there, I looked at Deron as an MVP candidate,&rdquo; Pierce <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/12690080/washington-wizards-paul-pierce-speaks-truth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said to MacMullan</a>. &ldquo;But I felt once we got there, that's not what he wanted to be. He just didn't want that.
&ldquo;I think a lot of the pressure got to him sometimes. This was his first time in the national spotlight. The media in Utah is not the same as the media in New York, so that can wear on some people. I think it really affected him.&rdquo;
After noting that Johnson is quiet and doesn&rsquo;t want much attention, Pierce continued.
&ldquo;There's a lot of secondary guys on that team. KG and I went there looking at them as the main guys who would push us, because we were advancing in years. But we ended up doing all the pushing,&rdquo; he said.
(Given what we&rsquo;ve learned, it&rsquo;s mildly surprising that Williams didn&rsquo;t <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1472409021189857287" target="_blank" rel="noopener">just fight him</a> after seeing this, but anyway.)
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Williams remains one of the grand "what ifs" of this century. And let&rsquo;s be responsible &mdash; injuries are one of the driving reasons for his sudden downswing from stardom to shell over a... hmm... two-year span? But we do what-ifs with guys who battled injuries all the time: Penny Hardaway, Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Grant Hill and Derrick Rose, to name a few.
With Williams, just visualize, given how the game was going &mdash; and where he had been trending at one point &mdash; where he would&rsquo;ve evolved to if the talent, health, discipline and mentality all added up. And it doesn&rsquo;t always come together, which is why it&rsquo;s not responsible to purely say &ldquo;talent wins&rdquo; if the implication that talent alone is enough for substantial success.
And he clearly worked hard.
Williams averaged 19.5 points and 10.2 assists from 2007 to 2012 on .460/.346/.827 shooting splits. He attempted four threes a game at a respectable level and nearly six free throws per contest during that span. He consistently was among the league leaders in assists, while simultaneously profiling as one of the NBA&rsquo;s best scoring point guards. His True Shooting percentage was at 56.8% during those five years, hitting 60% in '07-08 and never dropping below 56.6% until the Nets&rsquo; last year in New Jersey. (Understandable when Humphries is your second-best player for most of the season.)
We weren&rsquo;t letting &lsquo;em fly from three the way we are now, and Williams was, like most others, streaky &mdash; but you had to guard him out there. The 35% perimeter clip in his peak reflected the near 36% for his career. The assists came with some high turnover numbers &mdash; Williams averaged 3.5 turnovers per game in those five seasons &mdash; but that still gave him a near 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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Williams wasn&rsquo;t a usage monster either &mdash; his rating was never higher than 25.8% until a 30.1% usage in 2011-12, but, again, <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/NJN/2012.html">look at the roster</a>. Even so, he was eighth in the league in usage; otherwise, he never cracked the league&rsquo;s top-20. You know who did during that span? And on multiple occasions? Corey Maggette, Michael Beasley, Stephen Jackson, his then-teammate Brook Lopez and his former teammate Carlos Boozer. (Rashad McCants, Andrea Bargnani, Charlie Villanueva, Josh Smith, Rodney Stuckey and Jordan Crawford were in the top-20 as well during those days.)
Until the trade from Utah to New Jersey, Williams would be in the top-20 in VORP consistently too. Most hadn&rsquo;t yet cared about some of those metrics though.
And his strength was a big part of his game. Williams was built like Eric Gordon, had powerful crossovers like Baron Davis, a passing fluidity that neared Steve Nash, and an offensive creativity that rivaled CP3&rsquo;s &mdash; which is how all those damn fights started.
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Williams, in a lot of ways, was perfect for where the league was going. Surprisingly, he only made three All-Star teams, which were consecutive from 2010 to 2012; though, <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2009/2/12/20301620/all-star-snubs-continue-for-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he had snub arguments in 2008 and 2009</a>, and <a href="https://nypost.com/2013/01/26/nets-wont-stir-pot-about-all-star-snub/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">again in 2013</a>.
It never came together, and everyone missed out because of it. Imagine if his prime stretched into a couple of those Brooklyn seasons... but don&rsquo;t imagine too hard because logistically, it would be a pain in the ass to lay out. But if he did ball out the way people on microphones, in forums and in his own locker room called for? Man.
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Williams would've been toe-to-toe in the mid-2010s against then-prime-entering stars such as James Harden, Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard. In his own conference, we might&rsquo;ve seen him in the playoffs go crossover-for-crossover with Kyrie Irving, or bump-for-bump with Kyle Lowry, or tough-finish-for-tough-finish with Wall. All of that while still mirroring a stat line of roughly 20 points and 10 assists per game on efficient shooting, further increasing his three-point and free-throw volume in the process.
That said, he did give us multiple All-NBA seasons and, again, a whole-ass fight with Gore. He says he&rsquo;s one-and-done, but that might be because none of you have offered him the Pierce one yet. And as silly as that sounds, you know you&rsquo;d watch.
But seriously, peak Williams was epic. If he continued along the path he had been, we don&rsquo;t know if it would&rsquo;ve brought the Nets a title &mdash; but they would&rsquo;ve been damn close.
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On the March 4 anniversary of Deron Williams' 57-point game, Bryan Fonseca looks back on his career and wonders: "What if?"

Deron Williams dropped 57 a decade ago... what could've been?

When Rick Carlisle started job hunting last summer, Indiana quickly emerged as a favored destination.
The Pacers had an experienced roster, playoff aspirations and a hungry group eager to fulfill its full potential.
Eight months later, a rash of injuries, COVID-19 absences, and a flurry of trade-deadline moves changed the plan. Expectations were lowered dramatically with a suddenly fresh-faced team hovering near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and trying to rebuild on the fly.
It's forcing everyone to embark on a new journey..
&ldquo;You kind of scale down the menu of things you're doing offensively. You get to the core of what's most important and you kind of rebuild based on personnel," Carlisle said. &ldquo;It's been a little bit of a whirlwind for these guys, but it's a great opportunity for them and for us."
This is not uncharted territory for Carlisle, the Dallas Mavericks career wins leader.
Coaches who stick around the league for two decades, like Carlisle, have been down this course multiple times. They've endured the midseason swaps, the changing philosophies, the mixing and matching of rotations as each game becomes a new audition &mdash; and survived..
For Indiana, though, this is a stark departure from standing operating procedure.
Since the early 1990s. Indiana's decision-makers &mdash; Donnie Walsh, Larry Bird and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard &mdash; largely kept the cornerstones in place and tinkered around the edges to stay competitive.
But multiple injury-riddled seasons, a franchise-record nine straight playoff losses, no playoff series victories since 2013-14 and the likelihood of a second straight postseason absence convinced Pritchard to pull the plug. Sagging attendance and the possibility of a second straight losing season at home only expedited it.
So Pritchard sent two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis to Sacramento and starting guard Caris LeVert to Cleveland. Guards Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb and forward Torrey Craig also were dealt away.
They&rsquo;ve been replaced in the rotation by 3-point specialist Buddy Hield and two recent first-round draft picks, forward Jalen Smith and an emerging star in 21-year-old point guard Tyrese Haliburton.
&ldquo;I think there's a journey starting here, a journey with some younger players, a journey with some existing players, but I do feel the best I've felt in a long time about the direction of this team," Pritchard said after also adding two potential top-40 draft picks. &ldquo;We have the point guard of our future and if you've been in this business for a long time, you know getting a point guard who is young with upside who you feel like you can build around for the next 10 years, those don't come around very often. We feel like Tyrese is that guy.""
Trying to piece it together over this final 22-game run won't be easy. It begins Friday against Oklahoma City.
Pacers fans got a brief preview of coming attractions before the All-Star break, but with eight days between games, Carlisle, his staff and players have had time to map out a new strategy.
How exactly the Pacers intend to play it remains uncertain.
Carlisle remains hopeful that veterans Malcolm Brogdon and two-time blocks champion Myles Turner will return from injuries soon. Brogdon has missed 27 of the past 30 games with a sore right Achilles tendon and made his last appearance Jan. 19, though he told reporters he expects to play Friday. Turner, meanwhile, has been out since Jan. 14 because of a stress reaction in his left foot.
While Smith and Hield have been solid since arriving two weeks ago, Haliburton has become the feature attraction. Despite practicing sparsely with his new teammates, he averaged 20.8 points and 11.0 assists in his first four games &mdash; before leaving the All-Star weekend festivities so he could retrieve his clothes from Sacramento. It didn't deter his focal point.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve gotten more unsolicited messages about this kid as an amazing person, an amazing player, how joyful he is &mdash; it&rsquo;s been a little bit overwhelming,&rdquo; Carlisle said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a pass-first guy that&rsquo;s always looking to involve all of his teammates and yet he finds a way to get the ball in the basket. He&rsquo;s a special young player.&rdquo;
Brogdon and Turner will have to adapt, too. They&rsquo;ll need to work their way into game shape, learn the nuances of their new teammates, and get reacquainted with an offense designed to run through Haliburton.
It won't be easy and it might not be pretty as Carlisle pieces the Pacers back together with an eye toward making a playoff run in 2022-23. But it will give the Pacers two months to recast their future plans &mdash; and find a new landing spot with a revamped roster.
&ldquo;The whole week&rsquo;s been crazy, but what can you do?&rdquo; Haliburton said before leaving town. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve just got to go out there and hoop.&rdquo;

The Pacers will have two months to recast their future plans — and find a new landing spot with a revamped roster.

Pacers' revised roster faces different challenge after break

Every All-Star break, the discourse around the NBA explodes in one way or another without League Pass to fill the void &mdash; NBA 75 debates (please, we need to chill about Tony Parker), <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/is-there-even-a-quick-fix-to-reviving-the-nba-slam-dunk-contest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dunk-contest disappointment</a>, pretty much <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/rob-pelinka-refused-to-trade-russell-westbrook-draft-pick-for-john-wall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anything related to Lakers drama</a>, and eventually settling in on Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans.
CJ McCollum's interview with TNT's Inside the NBA crew <a href="https://twitter.com/cclark_13/status/1495203700964569089?s=20&amp;t=OSF7W4Bxm0C4o0bkp4nxqA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">absolutely blew up</a>, as it came out that he and Williamson had yet to speak (they have <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33348507/zion-williamson-ripped-former-new-orleans-pelicans-teammate-jj-redick-not-being-better-teammate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoken since</a>) after New Orleans traded for McCollum ahead of the trade deadline to bolster its roster.
There's a lot to unpack here in a multitude of layers.
To me, this comes down to transparency from every party involved.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
To recap Zion news: - Sept. 27: Says he&rsquo;ll be ready for season opener - Dec. 2: Team says he&rsquo;s dealing w/ soreness - Dec. 16: Has injection to promote healing, per team - Jan. 5: Pelicans say he&rsquo;s rehabbing away from team - Feb. 10: Griff says he doesn&rsquo;t know when Zion returns
&mdash; Christian Clark (@cclark_13) <a href="https://twitter.com/cclark_13/status/1495223791773011972?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The Pelicans' front office has been... uhhh... lacking in transparency since the start of the season. Here's the thing, though: What else are they supposed to say?
Yeah, we're not that tight with Zion, and he's rehabbing away from the team. We'll let you know when we find out more.
It doesn't work like that. Say something publicly like that, and you risk further alienating your star player.&nbsp;
This consistent approach to injuries has become rather commonplace. For example, the Indiana Pacers have routinely stated that T.J. Warren was hopefully "weeks not months" away from return due to a foot injury, a message they've been giving since media day, and Warren has yet to suit up for a game.
I don't care about the injury report from a betting perspective (although that's becoming a growing topic of intrigue/concern). I just want guys to be healthy. Selfishly, I want to know where a player is at physically so I can properly evaluate a team and have some sort of timetable for a return.
Williamson is rehabbing away from the team in Portland. From a professional standpoint, I get the frustration that he hadn't reached out to McCollum. However, that's part of what's odd to me. He's rehabbing and getting right from a significant injury. He hasn't been around the team and what they're doing day-in and day-out. You can call that bad leadership (not wrong), but at the same time, it's just wonky because... What is he supposed to say?
I would do it differently in the same spot, but I'm not in the same spot. I don't know everything behind the scenes. I don't intend to excuse his lack of reaching out. I think we're past the point of questioning Zion's commitment to the organization, as he's made it pretty clear without stating the obvious in any medium. If Zion were fully committed to this team and their direction, then yes, I'd be entirely perplexed at his not having spoken to McCollum immediately.
This speaks to the larger issue on transparency all around. I don't intend to come off as though I know Williamson's every waking thought, but the rumors and whispers have been out there for some time about his interest in New Orleans. His actions, or lack thereof, have all but solidified the merit to them.
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Perhaps I'm being naive to the way that things work, but I just wish we could be more concrete. Much akin to the situation with James Harden wanting to leave Brooklyn, we'd known for a while that The Beard wanted out. The silence was absolutely deafening. Would a direct quote saying, "I don't want to be here anymore," help? I don't know man, but I'd like to think the fallout would've been better without absurd build-up.
Social media and immediate reactions to small chunks of information often foregoing the entirety of the story is a very real factor. An aggregated quote is still something one said, but shedding so much of the nuance and context. In the era of mass communication, actually communicating has somehow become more difficult, and I think we see that on a micro-scale with free agency and trades in the league.&nbsp;
I can't speak on how well Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin has or hasn't connected with Zion, or attempted to. I think some have been a bit too quick to throw the organization under the bus. I haven't abided by every move Griffin has made, but this team is on an upward trajectory.
Read anything from Will Guillory, Christian Clark or Andrew Lopez (three fantastic NOLA beat reporters), and it's so apparent the impact that head coach Willie Green has had on this team. After a disastrous 3-16 start &mdash; in part due to missing Zion and one of the hardest early season schedules &mdash; New Orleans has gone 20-20.
The turnaround has been drastic. Brandon Ingram <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/brandon-ingram-has-evolved-his-game-to-become-the-best-version-of-himself" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has adapted his game</a>, improved as a passer and is now impacting winning at the highest level he ever has. Starting a second-round pick in Herb Jones has paid dividends for this squad, and was an ambitious move early in the year. My only real gripe remains with Garrett Temple's minutes.&nbsp;
Look no further than Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Josh Hart sticking around after being traded to watch one last Pelicans game from the sideline; that just doesn't happen. It sounds cliche, but Green is building something real in New Orleans and impacting the culture in a way that's been palpable much of the year if you've tuned in.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The entire Pelicans squad just went over to say their goodbyes to Josh Hart and Nickeil Alexander-Walker including coach Willie Green. <a href="https://t.co/Umy7IlnCZJ">pic.twitter.com/Umy7IlnCZJ</a>
&mdash; Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) <a href="https://twitter.com/_Andrew_Lopez/status/1491252547482697728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2022</a></blockquote>

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That's my main frustration with this whole situation. This team has a real foundation and footing. I've constantly said to myself "Man, when Zion comes back," while watching this team play. Selfishly, I just want to see it, or at least know if he is or isn't coming back. That's unfortunately overshadowed the really fun and intriguing developments the team has made throughout the year on a national scale.
Building relationships is arguably the most important part of running an organization, but if the star player you drafted with the first overall pick isn't that interested in being there, what are you supposed to do? Yes, it's on Griffin to sell the team to anyone he brings in, but again, he can only do and say so much. At some point, you're just shouting at someone with headphones on.
No, Zion hasn't put the city on his back or fully embraced New Orleans, and in many ways he's done the opposite of what Ja Morant has done in Memphis. That's not to pit them against one another, but when comparing the two situations of small-market teams taking franchise-altering stars back-to-back in the same draft, it's worth noting.
Can we just admit how crazy it is that we're asking someone to come in at 19 years old and be the face of a multi-million dollar franchise? Zion is not wired like Michael Jordan or LeBron James, but that is such a wild standard to set that sheds so much nuance. He gets paid a ridiculous amount of money, but that's not the pressure-release valve we like to paint it as.
This is where one of my larger issues pops up as well. If I were Zion, I'd like to say that I'd go to bat for New Orleans and want to lead the organization that drafted me, but he quite seemingly doesn't want to. I guess I can't entirely fault him for that as a person and his want to be somewhere else.
The everlasting "abolish the draft" calls have come out in force, and I get it. I think we need to transition sports in the United States to a different model, but the point remains that we're not there yet (but please, we can still brainstorm even if we don't have an answer). I don't know a way to allow players to choose wherever they want to go without totally damaging league balance and small markets, but this is another tally on the docket that the draft is inherently flawed. I'd really love to see a shift towards the European soccer model, with a prioritization on youth development and professional organizations down to the grassroots, but again, that would take years to move towards. Talking about it is a start.
Zion Williamson is deserving of some heat for how he's gone about his tenure in New Orleans, as does the front office to a lesser degree. Hopefully, both sides can find a way to to come to terms one way or another and bring at least a modicum of transparency.
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Zion WIlliamson made waves over the All-Star Break without uttering a word. What's going on in New Orleans?

Trasparency lacking, the Zion-Pelicans saga is difficult to read

When the All-Star break ends, the stretch run begins.
There isn&rsquo;t much time left in the NBA season. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-nba-all-star-game-a9ef981e48154749ea2e912e0423f295">All-Star weekend</a> came at about the 60-game mark for teams, far beyond the midpoint of the 82-game schedule. It&rsquo;s a sprint to the finish now, and the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers have to prove they have the legs to make a run.
The Nets could have Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons on the floor soon to spark a surge. But the Lakers might be without Anthony Davis for more than a month because of a foot injury, putting a heavy burden on LeBron James.
Injured and inconsistent, neither team is a sure thing to even make the postseason. Both have performed far below expectations, with the Lakers only 27-31. But poor play in the winter is quickly forgotten if a team warms up come springtime, just as the Milwaukee Bucks did last year.
&ldquo;As a team, we started playing good basketball towards the end,&rdquo; Giannis Antetokounmpo said. &ldquo;Maybe we can do it again. Who knows? We&rsquo;re in a good place. We have a hell of a team.&rdquo;
The Bucks are actually only in fifth place, but that means little in the tightly packed Eastern Conference. Miami and Chicago are tied at the top, surprising Cleveland and Philadelphia are 2 1/2 games back and Milwaukee is just percentage points behind them.
There&rsquo;s more separation out West, where Phoenix has pulled away to a 6 1/2-game lead over Golden State by winning seven straight to run its record to 48-10.
Even those teams have concerns, with Phoenix bracing for a lengthy absence for Chris Paul and Golden State still going without Draymond Green because of a back injury.
The Nets hope their injury issues are almost over. Durant is nearing a return after missing a month with a sprained left knee ligament, though coach Steve Nash said he isn't expecting the All-Star forward to be ready when they resume their season Thursday against Boston.
Injuries are a part of every season, but the usual problems this season were compounded for some teams by the coronavirus. An outbreak within the Nets contributed to them deciding to bring the unvaccinated Kyrie Irving back part time even though he still can&rsquo;t play in home games. The Atlanta Hawks lost nine of 12 games during one rough stretch in December, having to sign multiple players just to field a team while their regulars were out.
They have been trying to climb out of that hole and are 10th in the East a year after reaching the Eastern Conference finals.
&ldquo;At one point it was crazy. Like, just going out there and not knowing any of your teammates besides two of them,&rdquo; All-Star Trae Young said. &ldquo;It was different, but like the world might not always, always see that and see the struggle early on and understand that&rsquo;s the reason. So now that we&rsquo;re here, we&rsquo;re starting to pick things up and guys are getting healthy. It&rsquo;s going to be good for us if we keep it going.&rdquo;
The play-in helps them. For the second straight year, the teams in the Nos. 7-10 spots will play for the final two postseason spots in each conference. Right now, both the eighth-place Nets and ninth-place Lakers would find themselves there.
There's still time to climb, but not much.
Some other things to watch down the stretch:
PAUL'S PAIN
The All-Star point guard injured his right thumb in the Suns' final game before the break and had a soft cast covering it this weekend. He could miss the rest of the regular season.
&ldquo;We have to figure it out,&rdquo; fellow All-Star Devin Booker said. &ldquo;Everybody has to give a little bit more. I look at the beauty in it. He gets to rest his legs. He gets to get ready for a long postseason that we&rsquo;re trying to make happen. So we got to hold it down without him. We got to hold the fort down.&rdquo;
MVP RACE
Denver's Nikola Jokic has a strong case to win a second straight MVP award and Antetokounmpo could win his third. They both might be chasing 76ers center Joel Embiid, the league's leading scorer with 29.6 points per game who gets an All-Star sidekick this week when James Harden debuts after being swapped for Simmons.
&ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t really want to push for the whole thing, but the way I&rsquo;ve been playing speaks for itself,&rdquo; Embiid said, &ldquo;especially with everything we went through, the drama this whole year, and obviously missing a big piece, and everything we added to our team and the way our team is set up.&rdquo;
SURPRISES OF THE SEASON
All-Star Ja Morant has fueled Memphis to a 41-19 record and third place in the West, while Cleveland is an unexpected 35-23. They don't have any postseason polish, but Green doesn't think that will hurt the young teams.
&ldquo;We won a championship my third year,&rdquo; he said, referring to the Warriors' 2015 title. &ldquo;The majority of us were going into that playoffs 15 to 20 playoff games in our career and we were able it win a championship. So I don&rsquo;t view the inexperience as a problem.&rdquo;
IN THE EAST
Miami made a run to four straight NBA titles from 2011-14 when James was there, but the conference wasn't nearly as deep as it appears this season.
&ldquo;It's compelling in the East right now. If you have real competitors, that's what you want,&rdquo; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. &ldquo;You want to be challenged, you want to be pushed and see how your team stacks up against the other best teams. That's what it's all about and there's some great teams in the East.&rdquo;
AND IN THE WEST
Is it as wide open in the other conference?
"No, we&rsquo;re going to win it," Green said. "Seriously.&rdquo;

When the NBA resumes play on Thursday, the race for the postseason will commence.

When the All-Star break ends, the NBA's stretch run begins

We've seen many claims for the East's best team this season.&nbsp;
The Bucks are last year's champions, and have won over 80% of their games when their Big Three (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton) is available this year.&nbsp;
The Nets, Bulls and Heat have all had runs as the East's top seed despite myriad injuries &mdash; and in the case of the Nets, vaccine &mdash; absences. Even now, Miami and Chicago have the same record (37-21), with the Heat holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.
We can't forget the Cavaliers, an upstart bunch that had the East's best net rating through December 31. The Sixers have the best win percentage (72%) in the East since Christmas; related, Joel Embiid is averaging a league-leading 33.1 points (63.1 True Shooting percentage), 11.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists during that stretch.
For those counting, that's six teams that have or had "we're-playing-better-than-anyone-in-the-conference" arguments this season. Since the turn of the calendar, the Boston Celtics have submitted a strong case to be the seventh.
The Celtics have a conference-best 17-6 record in 2022. Their plus-13.2 net rating doesn't just top the conference &mdash; it's nearly three points better than the Phoenix Suns for the league's top mark.
Their defense, both overall (100.4 defensive rating) and filtered for half-court situations (85.9), is roughly&nbsp;four&nbsp;points better than anyone else's this year. The offense, once maligned for its lack of movement and underwhelming shot profile, is hovering around the top 10 in 2022.
There are caveats to throw out if you want to discount some of their statistical dominance. Chief among them are the key absences some of their opponents have faced. And trust me, the irony of dropping this piece after they mollywhopped the Sixers by 48 without their new addition, James Harden, isn't lost on me.
To that I counter:
<ul>
<li>You can only play who's in front of you.</li>
<li>Surely we're not pretending this Celtics group has been a beacon of health.</li>
<li>Even if you concede that they've gotten some&nbsp;injury luck, particularly in early/mid January, there are still structural things to be excited about with this team.</li>
</ul>
This is why the East should be on notice.
THE JAYS ARE ROLLING
Kinda has to start here, right?&nbsp;
A large part of the offensive clunkiness has boiled down to these two. Jayson Tatum went the first couple months of the season missing more jumpers than an abandoned trampoline park. Jaylen Brown staked his claim as the best Celtic early on, but tunnel vision still happened to hit him at inopportune times.
It was an odd problem; both players were good enough to be the focal point of defensive game plans, and both struggled to lift the guys around them &mdash; including each other. The flashbulb moment came when Marcus Smart (more on him later) essentially called them out for <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32530325/marcus-smart-calls-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown-pass-ball-celtics-lose-third-straight" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not being willing ball-movers</a>.&nbsp;
<blockquote>
"Every team knows we're trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen," Smart said after the 128-114 loss to the Bulls. "Every team is programmed and studied to stop Jayson and Jaylen. I think everybody's scouting report is to make those guys pass the ball. They don't want to pass the ball."
</blockquote>
He did express optimism toward the end, capping his thoughts with this:
<blockquote>
"That's something that they're going to learn," Smart said. "They're still learning. We're proud of the progress they're making, but they're going to have to make another step and find ways to not only create for themselves but create for others on this team to open up the court for them later down in the game. It's something we've been asking them to do, and they're learning. We just gotta continue to help those guys do that to help our team."
</blockquote>
But the message was clear: we're not going to hit our level unless we can work together.
To that point, there's been a commitment to unselfishness by The Jays and&nbsp;a better environment being fostered by those around them. As my co-host Steve Jones Jr. has pointed out on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dunker-spot/id1547857052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Dunker Spot</a>, the Celtics are doing a better job of leveraging their talents together to grease the wheels of the offense.
Sets like this have become more frequent.
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Smart sets <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/ram-13a8dc5f8f4e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a ram screen</a> for Al Horford, who then ghosts a screen for Tatum. With Julius Randle in a drop, that's a shot (or a pump-and-drive) for Horford if he wants it. Instead, the Celtics flow into an empty corner handoff with Brown to put further strain on the defense. RJ Barrett provides help at the nail, so Brown kicks it to Tatum. With Barrett off-balance on the recovery, Tatum is able to drive by and get a layup.
Another fave of mine: a Double Drag look with Brown or Tatum as the popper. Depending on the coverage, it either allows them to dictate a switch, or open up something with the roll man (Robert Williams III, Horford) since helping off of Tatum or Brown is typically a bad idea.
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Individually, we've seen passing growth from the Jays. Tatum is starting to thread the needle between being patient and decisive. He's slowing up enough to engage the big more in pick-and-roll, but firing darts outside if extra help appears. He's leading the Celtics in three-point assists (54) by a wide margin in 2022.
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For Brown, he's leveraging his scoring gravity to create open looks. He's more comfortable making interior reads right now &mdash; 51 two-point assists (34 at the rim), 35 three-point assists in 2022 &mdash; but that's okay. That his comfort and willingness (<a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/passing/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612738&amp;sort=POTENTIAL_AST&amp;dir=1&amp;DateTo=12%2F31%2F2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">5.5 potential assists</a> through Dec.31, <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/passing/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612738&amp;sort=POTENTIAL_AST&amp;dir=1&amp;DateFrom=01%2F01%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7.2 in 2022</a>) are growing is all that matters.
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THE GAP FILLERS
It would be one thing if Smart simply called for more ball movement earlier in the year. The (valid) criticism has aged well because he's taken more of that responsibility into his own hands.
He's done it in the traditional sense, using ball screens early in the clock to get downhill and get the defense scrambling. Smart has long been an underrated passer, so shifting him from off-ball spacer to tip of the spear has been productive.
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The Celtics are generating nearly 1.03 points per possession on trips that feature a Smart-led pick-and-roll in 2022 &mdash; a mark sandwiched between Devin Booker (1.03) and Darius Garland (1.01 PPP), per Second Spectrum.
What's fun is the inverse; that number rises to 1.23 (!!!) on possessions featuring Smart as a screener. That is the best mark in the NBA among 164 players that have set at least 75 picks this year. He's a rugged dude that can spring The Jays free or help them get mismatches, but he's also a good enough playmaker to make things click as a short-roll threat.
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Employing a similarly versatile skill set is newcomer Derrick White. The longtime Spur has fit in nicely so far, averaging 13-4-3 through three games as an overqualified sub.
He can kick off possessions with ball screens and create for himself or others. Off the ball, he can find cracks to attack as a cutter. He doesn't mind being used as a (ghost) screener.&nbsp;
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Robert Williams III has been a godsend for this Celtics group. He's their best athlete, making him a tremendous roll threat or offensive glass cleaner when he's locked in. Beyond that, Williams operates as a connector in Boston's half-court attack.
He isn't just a hand-it-off-to-the-top-dawg placeholder; the Celtics legitimately use him as a hub in Delay or Elbow sets. He's one of the league's best passers from the center position, opening the door for half-court randomness when necessary. And friends, the short-roll playmaking is coming along.
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Similar things can be said about Al Horford, sporting north of a 3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio since the year began. He toggles between roles: an elbow hub out of HORNS on one possession, a pick-and-popper on the next, then a pure spacer in the corner while his teammates get busy.&nbsp;
His on-ball usage has decreased as of late; after averaging <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612738&amp;sort=FRONT_CT_TOUCHES&amp;dir=1&amp;DateTo=12%2F31%2F2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nearly 12 more frontcourt touches</a> per game than Williams through December 31 (34.2 to 22.4), Williams has <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612738&amp;sort=FRONT_CT_TOUCHES&amp;dir=1&amp;DateFrom=01%2F01%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">usurped him in 2022</a> (26.1 to 25.8). But the beauty of Horford is that he can scale up when necessary.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
FLIPPING THE SWITCH
Alas, there's the defense &mdash; the lone constant of this group as they tried to find themselves.&nbsp;
To restate things from earlier, they have the best defense (100.4 defensive rating) by a wide margin in 2022. During this nine-game winning streak, that number has dropped to 95.5. If you want to go old school, they've held their opponents under 100 points in seven of their last nine games.
Scheme-wise, this is a switchy unit. They switch 26.9 picks per 100 possessions, the second-highest rate in the league behind the Miami Heat (27.2), per Second Spectrum. And on possessions featuring a Celtics switch in 2022, opponents are scoring just 79 points per 100 poss- SEVENTY-NINE POINTS PER 100 POSSESSIONS.
Between the Smart/Brown/Tatum triumvirate, the Celtics have three players who can defend up and down the positional scale. Horford has been surprisingly steady in space, and Williams has some fun tape in that regard. The other Williams, Grant, has been defending at a high level for most of the season too. Adding White to this group gives the Celtics a terrifying top-seven.
It's a unique blend of athleticism, length, strength and IQ. To the latter point, one of the joys of this team is watching them navigate mismatches. If, by some chance, you get them in a matchup they don't like, they're able to scram-switch their way out of it, or shrink the floor and dare you to beat them with skip passes.
Peep the early scram-switch here from Smart:
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Got the Payton Pritchard-on-Tobias Harris switch? No problem. You aren't getting a clean look.
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That's a pretty aggressive pinch on Harris, which highlights another strong suit of the Celtics: they absolutely strangle your half-court attack if you have a non-shooter on the perimeter.
Tatum is fine with helping at the nail because he doesn't fear Shake Milton from deep. White is tasked with "splitting the difference" between Milton and Matisse Thybulle, but sinks to pick up Paul Reed once Daniel Theis leaves to contest the shot because Thybulle doesn't scare anyone either.
Both Tatum and Smart thrive as off-ball roamers if they're "defending" a non-shooter. As The Ringer's <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinOConnorNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kevin O'Connor</a> pointed out <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2022/2/14/22932897/james-harden-ben-simmons-trade-76ers-nets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a recent piece</a>, they've experimented with Williams III doing the same thing.
This is a team that keeps the initial action in front. If it isn't a switch, they're going to be in drop. They've blitzed 13 screens in 2022, the lowest figure in the NBA. If they're going to send an extra guy to the ball, they're going to do it on their terms.
There are things to keep an eye on with this Celtics team. The ball and body movement has improved, but you won't confuse their half-court attack with the Suns'. Things can still bog down for them in fourth quarters.
Zooming out, the Celtics aren't stocked with great shooters. If all else fails, opponents can still attempt to muck things up for the Jays and dare The Others &mdash; Smart, White, WIlliams, Horford &mdash; to beat them from deep.
But for now, this a team that's humming &mdash; figuring things out offensively and restricting airspace defensively. Ultimately, they're a team other East contenders should start keeping tabs on.
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>!

Nekias Duncan breaks down the Boston Celtics' hot run in 2022, and why they've been so effective on both ends.

The Celtics are humming, and East contenders should keep tabs on them

Since the dawn of modern draft philosophy, NBA front offices have generally prioritized the untapped potential of younger prospects over the more apparent ceiling of an upperclassmen.
However, for every theory, there exists exceptions, and the league has fielded its fair share of outliers since the rise of the one-and-done era. Guys like Draymond Green, CJ McCollum, Jimmy Butler and &mdash; most recently, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/desmond-bane-cementing-himself-as-essential-part-of-nextgen-grizzlies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Desmond Bane</a> &mdash; have massively outperformed their respective expectations and helped shed the stigma that comes with being an &ldquo;older&rdquo; draftee.
Enter Chris Duarte. The 24-year-old rookie has had an <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ncaa-basketball-chris-duarte-oregon-ducks-dominican-republic-continues-climb-nba-draft-2021-prospects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unconventional journey into the NBA</a>, but now that he has arrived, he has proven to be one of the better players in a stacked 2021 class.
So is he the next link in the chain of draft anomalies?
To find out, let&rsquo;s take a deep dive into the film to see what gives the Former Pac-12 Player of the Year a chance to be a high-level pro for a very long time.
Offense
Upon being selected with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Duarte was dubbed by ESPN's <a href="https://fieldhousefiles.substack.com/p/chris-duarte-then-isaiah-jackson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jay Bilas</a> as &ldquo;a poor man&rsquo;s Klay Thompson.&rdquo; And while he&rsquo;s right to some degree &mdash; Duarte&rsquo;s 35.5% from beyond the arc is mincemeat to one of the greatest shooters that ever lived &mdash; he's mostly missing the mark on offense because Duarte's versatility as a scorer is an entirely different tax bracket.
This season, Duarte has been unassisted on 51.7% of his twos and 22.1% of his threes, a healthy margin above Thompon&rsquo;s highest marks (44.4% and 9.2% respectively, per Basketball-Reference). Duarte&rsquo;s volume on unassisted shots is in part due to the injuries of lead guards like Malcolm Brogdon and T.J. McConnell, but it also speaks volumes about his juice as an on-ball scorer.
Not a supreme athlete or ball-handling maestro, much of Duarte&rsquo;s chops off-the-dribble can be attributed to his advanced footwork, which Indy Cornrows writer Caitlin Cooper (great <a href="https://twitter.com/C2_Cooper" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> follow) raved about during her December appearance on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-dunker-spot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Dunker Spot</a>:
<blockquote>
&ldquo;I love his footwork. It&rsquo;s so good. Like, the Pacers don&rsquo;t have other guys that can shoot off of a hedge or off of a switch [to] that type of degree.&rdquo;
</blockquote>
And she&rsquo;s one-hundred percent on the money. Duarte&rsquo;s gracefulness adds another dimension to his game and the Indiana offense. Just look at this clip from a film thread Cooper did on a Duarte game in January, where he buries a nasty mid-range jumper with none other than Klay staring at him from under the basket:
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2) Reverse pivoting out of a probe dribble without losing any balance or control on his jump shot. <a href="https://t.co/h4tRTzYUFF">pic.twitter.com/h4tRTzYUFF</a>
&mdash; Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/C2_Cooper/status/1484606298322833412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Overall, his ability to act as an on-ball/off-ball hybrid offensively enables him to handle a relatively high scoring load (fourth in usage and sixth in points per possession among rookies) while also maintaining solid efficiency (No. 6 in <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_advanced.html#advanced_stats::ts_pct" target="_blank" rel="noopener">efficiency</a> among rookies).
One development many of us didn&rsquo;t see coming (myself included) is Duarte&rsquo;s effectiveness as a part-time playmaker. He&rsquo;s in the 55th percentile among pick and roll ball-handlers primarily because of his ability to navigate the floor and pinpoint the optimal play available.
In the next trio of clips, Duarte identifies two weak-side corner skips and one laydown dump-off at the rim (passes even <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/making-the-allstar-case-for-dejounte-murray" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dejounte Murray</a> himself struggles consistently making):
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Now granted, he still has plenty of hiccups when saddled into the head creator role (evidenced by his 31st percentile turnover percentage). But the flashes he shows are exciting, particularly when factored in with his promising profile as a scorer.
Defense
When scouting perimeter players on defense, you normally want to ask yourself three questions:
1) Are they staunch at the point of attack?
2) Can they guard multiple positions?
3) Do they create <a href="https://premiumhoops.org/2021/04/06/evaluating-nba-perimeter-defense-establishing-and-using-a-rubric/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">events</a> on defense?
For the first two questions, I&rsquo;d probably lean towards "No." Duarte is solid at the point of attack, but he can&rsquo;t really keep up with intense speed or overwhelming strength. And his versatility on that end of the floor grades second-last out of the 43 &ldquo;wing stoppers&rdquo; with at least 600 minutes (per BBall Index).&nbsp;
Where he does shine, though, is in his penchant for taking the ball away from the opposition. So far this year, his nearly 2% steal rate places him in the 72nd percentile at his position (per Cleaning the Glass).&nbsp;
His playmaking as a defender also exemplifies arguably the most important part of his long-term defensive value: team defense.
This is highly anecdotal, but when I went back and dove into the tape on Duarte, it seemed like every game, there was at least one instance where he&rsquo;d make a play that compelled the opposing team&rsquo;s broadcast to say something like &ldquo;right place, right time, Chris Duarte.&rdquo;&nbsp;
(Side note: Always watch the opposing team&rsquo;s broadcast of the player you&rsquo;re studying, unless you&rsquo;re scouting a Charlotte Hornets player.)
What these commentators are trying to convey when they use that overworked sports cliche is Duarte&rsquo;s knack for providing help at the nail, executing the one-pass closeout, zoning up two defenders on the weak side and intercepting passes for an electrifying pick-six.
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The Pacers' defense is abysmal, but it improves by 4.5 points per 100 possessions when Duarte&rsquo;s on the court (81st percentile) because of his <a href="https://www.indycornrows.com/2022/1/26/22900955/on-the-instinctual-play-of-chris-duarte">instinctual</a> play on that end of the floor. (Seriously, follow Caitlin!)&nbsp;
Conclusion
I realize that, up to this point, I haven&rsquo;t focused too heavily on Duarte&rsquo;s shortcomings as a player, and it&rsquo;s not due to a lack thereof. His playmaking is fun, but spotty. He lacks the necessary burst/verticality to be an elite rim finisher (34th percentile), and his defense will always be solid &mdash; just never mega-impactful for the reasons highlighted earlier.
With that said, I&rsquo;ve strayed away from harping on his limitations because those aren&rsquo;t the reasons you draft a player like Duarte in the first place. In fact, a lower-potential ceiling comes with the territory. You select prospects like him for the certainty they provide. The certainty of having someone who can enhance high-usage offensive stars by effectively playing off them while also never compromising the defense thanks to a propensity for schematic punctuality.&nbsp;
Players like that start meaningful games on championship teams. And if Duarte can manage that, he makes one hell of an argument for why you should draft older players.
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Mat Issa believes that Pacers rookie Chris Duarte is making a strong argument for NBA front offices to rethink potential vs. certainty.

Chris Duarte and the case for drafting older players

The Phoenix Suns have signed general manager James Jones to a multiyear contract extension, he confirmed to The Undefeated.
Jones joined the Suns as the vice president of basketball operations in 2017 before being named interim general manager and eventually the permanent general manager in 2019. During his tenure, Jones hired Monty Williams, who was the NBCA Coach of the Year last season. He also acquired and re-signed All-Star guard Chris Paul while building a roster that reached the NBA Finals in 2021 and entered Tuesday an NBA-best 37-9 this season.
Source: <a href="https://theundefeated.com/features/suns-general-manager-james-jones-signs-multiyear-contract-extension/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated </a>
ANALYSIS: Here is James Jones on the extension via The Undefeated:
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m just fortunate and I&rsquo;m extremely grateful to be a part of it. It&rsquo;s more than I could have ever dreamed of to be a part of a team like this, some of the best professionals across sports. And to have the success that we&rsquo;re having, it&rsquo;s so much fun. When you step into this job, you never really know what it&rsquo;ll be like, you hear stories about what it looks like, what the profession looks like, and the arc of a career in the front office or in an organization.&rdquo;

According to The Undefeated, the Suns have agreed to a multiyear extension with general manager James Jones.

James Jones signs multiyear contract extension with Suns

It&rsquo;s been quite an unconventional season in Washington.
The summer in D.C. was drowned out by an onslaught of Bradley Beal trade rumors. Instead of discussion about Wizards president Tommy Sheppard&rsquo;s impressive offseason, questions like the ones below dominated the news cycle.
Could Beal be the missing piece for Golden State? What if Boston broke the internet to form an all-St. Louis duo with Brad and Jayson Tatum? Is this the Ben Simmons trade that&rsquo;s been sitting there underneath our noses?
Well, here we are. Seven months later, Beal is still a Wizard, and as it so happens, most of us missed the point. Washington has cobbled together a deep, impressive group of veterans, which <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/kyle-kuzma-montrezl-harrell-have-wizards-adopting-dog-mentality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hit the ground running with an Eastern Conference-leading 10-3 record</a> and the third-best defense in the entire league to start the season.&nbsp;
But then, the inevitable defensive regression hit like a <a href="https://www.mlb.com/video/miguel-sano-homers-22-on-a-fly-ball-to-center-field">Miguel San&oacute; deep-ball</a>; Washington has returned to its homey lair of a <a href="https://www.cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/summary?season=2021&amp;seasontype=regseason&amp;start=10/1/2021&amp;end=01/15/2022">bottom-10 Defensive Rating</a>, and the Wizards overall record has deteriorated in harmonious fashion, with the team going just 12-17 since Nov. 15. With Beal having a down year and the vaunted defense appearing... um, suddenly not-so-vaunted, Washington has since looked rudderless following the hot start.
That is, until Kyle Kuzma started averaging a cool 26 and 11 over the Wiz&rsquo;s last nine games.
His output has largely been a byproduct of circumstance. Seven Washington players entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols at the turn of the new year, forcing the Wizards to go the substitute-player route like most other ball clubs. This left a hefty load to shoulder for Washington&rsquo;s mainstays, and Kuzma, in particular, made quite the impression while eclipsing 39 minutes in three straight games to ring in 2022.
The plat principal of the Kuzma experience this season has been his inspiring commitment to rebounding. He&rsquo;s finally at his rightful position &mdash; the 4 &mdash; and has seen his overall rebounding average jump by a colossal 2.6 per game while inhaling a career-high <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced/?sort=GP&amp;dir=-1&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma">12.8%</a> of available boards.
As Washington&rsquo;s corps dwindled, Kuzma only dug deeper into the comfy niche he&rsquo;s settled into this season.
Kuz&rsquo;s rebounding rate has bumped all the way up to 14.5% since Dec. 27, when nearly half of his teammates entered protocols. He's keyed in on opponents&rsquo; misses with the hunger of Shaggy and Scooby Doo on a Whole 30 diet, his hands fastening onto the rock like a toddler leash. (Side note, who the heck uses those things?)
From there, Kuz is more than capable of initiating the offense in the open floor after ripping down a&nbsp; board, something he&rsquo;s been quite potent at as of late. No longer sharing the floor with LeBron James &mdash; whose resume alone obviously merits sole ownership of a fastbreak offense &mdash; Kuzma&rsquo;s now been empowered to push the pace like true-blue point-forward.
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But Kuzma&rsquo;s more than just a rebounder. He&rsquo;s a full-blown supersized slasher that knifes through coverages with X-Acto Blade precision, and he&rsquo;s only carved opponents up with more voraciously as Washington has suffered its availability crisis.
Kuzma&rsquo;s average drives per game have nearly doubled from 5.9 to 12.2 since December 27, and he&rsquo;s shot a supremely impressive <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=12%2F27%2F2021">63.5%</a> on those forays to the rim in that time (his accuracy on drives sat at just 45% beforehand). For context, the league leader in field goal percentage off drives is Giannis Antetokounmpo at 60.2%. So basically, Kuzma&rsquo;s been the personification of the &ldquo;He Don&rsquo;t Miss!&rdquo; meme when putting the ball on the floor in the Year 2022.
Perhaps it was out of pure necessity, but what&rsquo;s largely spearheaded Kuzma&rsquo;s torrential downpour of downhill scoring has been his aggression. He&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwZqaHipqs&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">playing through contact</a>, devising the necessary counters &mdash; like the occasional <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iANdyk_EHA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eurostep</a> &mdash; to leave opponents loopy in a drunken state. <a href="https://youtu.be/LXyy_Z8Zy5g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The glass</a> is the 26-year-old&rsquo;s friend if needed, of course. And his fabled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkXmnXdURF4&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hook shot</a>, which earned him modest prominence during his rookie season, will peak through the blinds when applicable. (Rejoice, Laker fans, it&rsquo;s back!)
Most importantly, when he gets to that right hand, it&rsquo;s basically over. Kuzma&rsquo;s always been a sturdy at-rim finisher, and his <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4230#tab-shooting_accuracy">74% accuracy inside 4 feet</a> ties a career-high for the Flint native. His rim attacks have become a reliable source of renewable energy when Washington&rsquo;s bottom-tier offense trips up.
Here&rsquo;s a fun example of his decisiveness.
Washington sets up a pair of staggered screens for Beal, and Kuzma makes his move right when the help defender (Gordon Hayward) turns his head to bark out orders. Miles Bridges is left... miles behind (sorry) as Kuz stretches out for the layup.&nbsp;
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It&rsquo;s strange, but his size seems to stand out more now that he&rsquo;s a Wizard, no longer sharing the floor with a gaggle of giants in purple-and-gold threads. You really feel that Kuz is a full 6-foot-10 on his bull rushes to the rim. He's a towering thunderbolt of an athlete with G5 jets affixed to his highlight-blue sneakers.
Nothing is more emblematic of Kuzma&rsquo;s hot streak than his recent success from floater range. He&rsquo;s shot a hellacious <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4230?season=2021&amp;start=12/27/2021&amp;end=12/28/2022#tab-shooting_accuracy">55% on short-range middies</a> in his last nine games, a massive bump from the mere 36% he posted prior; it's also good for the 72nd percentile among his peers. Granted, it&rsquo;s unlikely that he&rsquo;ll maintain this level of preposterous efficiency on in-betweeners, as runners like the one below are a tricky diet to survive off of. But for now, I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;ll gladly take it.
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What makes all of this so impressive is that his handle &mdash; which can get a little rickety when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9t8NDEGJEE&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bothered by nearby helpers</a> &mdash; hasn&rsquo;t been especially fluid nor deceitful as of late. His vision has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmbA8HBzZl0&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moments of genius</a>, though inaccuracy can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qmZXfjyI-Y&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plague him</a>. He grades out as a fairly average passer.
Most of all, his three-pointer remains a work in progress, and he&rsquo;s actually seen his efficiency from distance fall a percentage point to 33% during the recent hot stretch. He&rsquo;s pump-faking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CuZ0O8dJOw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defenders out their shoes</a> without the requisite long-range weaponry typically required to make the seas part and open up the rim.
Kuz made his bed as a defensive-minded grinder in Laker Land, and that calling card is still very much intact. As mentioned before, the dude&rsquo;s mobile and huge. It&rsquo;s tough as nails to score on him in isolation, where he ranks within the 75th percentile as a 1-on-1 defender.&nbsp;
Kuzma uses his body well to shield opponents away from the rim, with his 7-foot wingspan handling the rest. It&rsquo;s tough to get him in the air on pump-fakes. His body control is pretty exceptional, and here, he uses a 2-foot jump to slow down and leap with precise control while contesting Chuma Okeke.
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Recently, he&rsquo;s even had to pick up the slack and play some 5. Montrezl Harrell was one of the many players held out due to health and safety protocols, leaving the Wizards with only one available big man, Daniel Gafford. Playing Kuz in the middle allows the Wizards to switch pretty much everything, and he&rsquo;s had some super impressive reps against the likes of LaMelo Ball, Terrence Ross, Cole Anthony and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, just to name a few. Certainly a varied cast of opponents.
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Failing to mention Kuzma&rsquo;s legend inside of five minutes would be a disservice, because, well, you&rsquo;ll hear about it on nearly every single Wizards broadcast. Only a handful of people in human history have shown more exuberance about anything&nbsp;than Washington&rsquo;s play-by-play crew when discussing &ldquo;Klutch Kuz&rdquo;: Anthony Edwards when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Y2P-BQP5w&amp;ab_channel=DaHoopSpotProductions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranking fast-food french fries</a>, JAY-Z the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aayZ9ybDTBw&amp;ab_channel=MardyMoves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first time</a> he heard the &ldquo;Dirt Off Your Shoulder&rdquo; beat, and pretty much anyone who has ever done a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGJhjHw4sMM&amp;ab_channel=Whereuat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nardwuar</a> interview.
That&rsquo;s it. That&rsquo;s the list.
Having said this, it&rsquo;s easy to understand NBC Sports Washington's fascination with Kuz in crunch time. His <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-traditional/?sort=GP&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3.0 points</a> per game lead the Wiz in the clutch, and he&rsquo;s posting a <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-advanced/?sort=TS_PCT&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612764&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma">70.6% True Shooting percentage</a> when it matters most. He&rsquo;s already nailed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-cVQhyBvw0&amp;ab_channel=ChazNBA">not one</a>, but two game-winners as a Wizard, sending the Pistons' fans home with a cheery wave and a toothy smile after a cold-blooded three. Truly villainous stuff from the hometown kid, if I do say so myself.
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It&rsquo;s been quite the revenge tour for Kyle Kuzma this year. Dangled in trades for almost the entirety of last season, his former employer sent him to the nation&rsquo;s capital in the Russell Westbrook blockbuster. Shortly after, the Brooklyn Nets felt a trade exception (that will likely go unused) was more valuable than his services in the Spencer Dinwiddie sign-and-trade. In the moment, it seemed quite telling that two teams on the brink of a championship said, &ldquo;Nah, I&rsquo;m good&rdquo; to Kuz.
Now, I bet they&rsquo;d surely love a do-over.

Matt Brooks takes a deep dive into Kyle Kuzma's resurgence with the Wizards and his incredible production since Dec. 27.

Don't look now, but Kyle Kuzma is silencing the critics

It only takes one tweet to describe the inauspicious nature of where we are in the NBA to tip off the New Year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Following last night&rsquo;s games, the total number of NBA games lost to injury or illness this season surpassed 3,000. It took 34 days to pass 1,000, 26 days for the second 1,000, and just 17 for the most recent 1,000.
&mdash; Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) <a href="https://twitter.com/InStreetClothes/status/1478357378928193537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

This season is constantly defined by incongruity, as the past month-and-a-half has seen a consistent ramp-up of players entering health and safety protocols and missing extended time. While it's commonplace for depth players to see increased playing time due to injuries any given year, an outlier number of them have been presented with larger opportunities due to sheer necessity.&nbsp;
While it is a small silver lining in an overall negative situation, some have really popped in extra time with more consistent minutes. Not every burst carries the same weight, comes through in a similar way or creates the same overarching questions that arise when a rotation's homeostasis is recalibrated on the fly. Unexpected flourishes from the 10th or 11th man in a rotation? Sign me up!&nbsp;
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Who's popping, why are they popping and what does it mean moving forward? Let's find out.
Jalen McDaniels, Charlotte Hornets
The third-year forward's seen a bump in his rotational minutes with P.J. Washington missing time due to injury/health and safety protocols, and is responding with the highest efficiency output of his career. McDaniels is hitting 62.4% of his two-pointers (54.2% over his first two seasons) and 40.9% from three, albeit on modest volume.
His ability to drive and put the ball on the deck to make positive plays is the highlight of his offensive package. McDaniels' handle isn't flashy, but it's functional, especially for his size (6-foot-9), and he parlays his long-strided drives into quality, live-dribble passes that open up his teammates.
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Add in that McDaniels is converting 61.1% of his field goal attempts on drives since returning to the lineup on Dec. 15 (a figure in between Myles Turner and Jrue Holiday over that span), and another brush stroke is painted on an impressive season.
His defense is much like Charlotte as a whole &mdash; eventful and chaotic. He's better playing out on the perimeter, using his length and footspeed to bother ball-handlers and jut into passing lanes, but also has utility as a weak-side rim-protector at times. His timing isn't really there to be relied upon for primary rim-protection capabilities, and he can get caught ball-watching as well, but Charlotte has often employed him as a 5 due to Mason Plumlee and the aforementioned Washington missing time.
The framework is there for a really high quality defensive player if he can rein in some of his tendencies. A better structured defense with more defined rules and surrounding personnel could do wonders for his development on that end.
He also dazzles in transition, adding another wrinkle to his game. His flashes of contact-finishing and his ability to use his length to guide in touch shots are incredibly intriguing.
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McDaniels has flashed brightly for the Hornets routinely throughout his young career, but is cemented behind Washington, Miles Bridges, Gordon Hayward and Kelly Oubre Jr. in the wing room. While he certainly has a role with the Hornets moving forward, I'd be surprised if other organizations haven't taken notice of his extended play in a larger role.
While I don't think Charlotte should be willing to move on from McDaniels easily, the idea of him on a contender is tantalizing. Jerami Grant is considered the "Belle of the Ball" of the trade season, but Chicago, Utah and Miami should all be calling up Mitch Kupchak if they haven't been already. McDaniels seems primed for more.
Skylar Mays, Atlanta Hawks 
The Hawks were lauded for their depth prior to the season, housing talent across their roster. And yet, it just hasn't clicked like expected due to a myriad of reasons, injuries chief among them. With their wing rotation in shambles over the past month, sophomore Skylar Mays has gotten his foot in the door.
Mays is one of the best players on a two-way contract in recent memory, and I would've argued prior to the season that someone should have signed him to a guaranteed deal. His time in the rotation since December has reinforced that. A 10.2-point/3.3-rebound/2.0-assist split on 59.9% True Shooting isn't earth shattering by any means, but it's indicative of his steadiness as a productive player.
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Mays is a fantastic pick-and-roll operator, although oddly is much better as a scorer than a passer. He's not traditionally bursty or adept at creating space with speed, but is incredibly strong and manufactures angles with constant readjustments, spins and off-hand craft.
He's a capable shooter off-the-catch and as a relocator, but not much of a threat off-the-dribble from deep.&nbsp;
Defensively, Mays is a bit plodding and doesn't have great footspeed, so he can be limited at the point of attack. However, he's a very good communicator and active off-ball defender, using his length well to impact passing lanes. He often catches unsuspecting drivers off-guard at the nail, where he's prone to spear the ball loose with quick jabs; Mays is currently averaging 3.88 deflections per 75 possessions according to Basketball Index (94th percentile).
Nate McMillan has been beholden to Lou Williams for backup point guard minutes, one of my major gripes with Atlanta this season, and Delon Wright struggles to impact the offense without the ball in his hands running pick-and-rolls. Mays shouldn't technically be a backup point guard, as he's more of a combo or outright 2-guard, but it stands to reason that there are minutes that he could be soaking up without injury. Regardless of whether or not it happens in Atlanta, Mays has shown that he's ready for a consistent rotation spot.
Jalen Smith, Phoenix Suns 
Across the last five games, Jalen Smith has nearly eclipsed the amount of minutes he played all of his rookie season; 120 minutes and 30 seconds compared to 156 minutes total in 2020-21.
With both Deandre Ayton and JaVale McGee out for the Suns, Smith was injected to the rotation and eventually the starting lineup after mostly being out of the rotation this year. He's quickly made everyone take notice, as he's averaged 15.2 points &amp; 9.4 rebounds on 66.9% True Shooting since Dec. 27.
I have absolutely no idea what to make out of Smith's play. On one hand, some of the flashes have been so encouraging and exactly what I imagined for him coming out of Maryland. On the other hand, how on earth does this work in Phoenix, a team trying to return to the Finals, where consistency is a must?
The calculus is quirky!
What Smith has flashed and theoretically brings is a stretch option and versatile pick-and-pop option for Chris Paul and Devin Booker as a counter to what they run with Ayton. Their bench thrived last season early with Dario Saric operating as a hub on the perimeter as a popper, which opened the floor for a new style of play.
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Smith has shot 36.4% from deep in those five games, which is good, but he's only taking slightly over two per game and is a career 23.1% perimeter shooter. The idea of what he could be is clear, but without a sizable role, is that all that attainable right now? Even with a continued larger role, is he shooting more and still hitting at a clip that will make the defense care?
To make it more muddled, Smith is just not a passer or playmaker to much degree at this stage, which is a tough sell for a team that's just as predicated on ball movement as Golden State.
His defense is also hard to stomach for a title contender at the moment. He does offer shot-blocking and some mobility, but he's more of a tweener big than a true 4 or 5, which outright is not a problem. But, it makes it harder to envision him spending time alongside McGee or Ayton to find easier ways to get him minutes. He's better offensively at the 5, but he's pretty lost as a primary rim-protector right now. However, there have been some great sequences from him blowing up plays at the rim or playing out in space, even with some viable switching.
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But, more often than not, Smith is caught in the wrong place with poor positioning leading to fouls or wide-open plays at or around the rim.
To be fair to Smith, he hasn't even played 50 NBA games in his career! But again, I'm not under the impression that Phoenix can necessarily coax the most out of him while dealing with some of the warts of a very raw player.
A five-game swing shouldn't redefine a player, but *this* five game stretch certainly has made me question what to think more than most. I don't have an answer for Phoenix; the organization seemingly made its bed by <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/suns-decline-thirdyear-option-on-2020-lottery-pick-jalen-smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not extending Smith a qualifying offer</a> this offseason.
How much has this recent play raised the eyebrows of other teams looking to try and make a move for a young talent? It's one of the more intriguing storylines to track moving forward, and most importantly, I'm stoked for Jalen Smith. It's awesome to see him finally put some good tape together.
Aaron Wiggins, Oklahoma City Thunder 
The OKC Thunder have quietly played .500 basketball over the last few weeks, and have dispelled the preseason notions that they could be worse than "The Process" Sixers. The Thunder are in a much different place than the playoff hopefuls above, still searching for the players who will comprise their next playoff push alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Nothing is set in stone, but rookie Aaron Wiggins has put together one of the best stretches by a young role player in the NBA this season.
After a DNP-CD on Dec. 22 against Denver, Wiggins has started the past six games, averaging 14.7 points on 66.3% True Shooting while hitting 40.0% of his threes and getting to the line at a decent rate.
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Wiggins has a downhill guile that I just love and find invaluable in a player who's operating off the ball primarily. He's not bursty, but he operates quickly, loves throwing ball fakes, low swings and stutters to give himself an extra hair of space; it just works. Is he going to shoot 80% at the rim for life? No way, but he's flashing some quality finishes through contact, and has attempted more self-created looks in the half-court as well (to varying degrees of success).
There's a twitchiness there with his upper body that allows him to maneuver well through tight space, but his legs aren't always on the same page. Coordination as a ball-handler is not easy! Just ask Darius Bazley.&nbsp;
I really liked what I saw of him at Maryland, but wasn't expecting him to have an early impact and continue to be impressed. I want to see him shoot way more from deep. He has a quick release, but doesn't get a ton of pop on his jump, which feels like it plays into him not being fully comfortable gunning yet; he hasn't played 20 games to this point.
But I cannot wait to see more from Wiggins moving forward.&nbsp;

Deep rotation players are taking full advantage of opportunities created by missed games due to COVID by playing larger roles.

4 rotation players making the most of NBA roster inconsistency

I can only speak for myself, but it's a little difficult to&nbsp;feel&nbsp;basketball right now.&nbsp;
The game itself has seemingly improved &mdash; there's somehow more physicality&nbsp;and a better game flow &mdash; but that progress has been derailed by absences. The injury bug has affected a multitude of stars this year. COVID has run roughshod through the league, with rosters looking like they've been through fantasy drafts.
With these circumstances, you have to find joy where you can. The Cleveland Cavaliers have been a consistent source of that, with their 19-12 start being one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/from-lovable-underdog-to-unforgiving-bully-how-the-cavs-got-here" target="_blank" rel="noopener">great surprises of the early season</a>.&nbsp;
They've zigged while the rest of the league has zagged, notably starting a trio of bigs to help spearhead an elite defense. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have been the linchpins, with their combination of length and lateral quickness allowing them to execute multiple schemes and cover an incredible amount of ground.&nbsp;
But if there's a player on the roster that exudes joy &mdash; heck, exudes&nbsp;fun &mdash; it's Darius Garland. The third-year guard has taken full control of the offense. That's partly due to the absence of backcourt mate Collin Sexton, but it's mostly due to Garland taking a leap in his own right. He's turned himself into one of the most dynamic guards in the sport, one worthy of strong All-Star consideration.
RUTHLESS AGGRESSION
Saying that Garland has been much more aggressive seems curious on the surface. His shot attempts have marginally improved from last year (14.9 to 15.1); his attempts per 100 possessions have actually decreased (22.1 to 21.7).&nbsp;
But you watch him, and there seems to be less indecision. Less fruitless probing. "Take what the defense gives you" is a boring cliche, but it applies to Garland. That evolution has been more apparent in his pull-up shooting.&nbsp;
Nearly half of Garland's shots came from outside of 10 feet last season; that number has risen to 67%, mostly off the strength (and willingness) of his pull-up trigger.
And consider this stat: among 78 players that have taken at least 100 pull-up jumpers this season, Garland ranks No. 7 in Effective Field Goal percentage (52.4%). That puts him right below Chris Paul (53.0%) and slightly ahead of Kevin Durant (52.1%).
Seems like pretty good company, IMO.
Garland's three-point volume has skyrockted (4.9 to 6.7) while roughly maintaining his efficiency from last season (39.5% to 39.2%). On <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1629636/shots-dash/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pull-ups specifically</a>, Garland has nearly doubled his volume (2.4 to 4.1) while knocking those attempts down at a higher clip (35.7% to 37.8%).
In years past, teams could get away with ducking under the occasional screen against Garland in pick-and-roll &mdash; not because he couldn't shoot, but because he'd be hesitant to do so.&nbsp;
That's no longer the case. Give Garland a sliver of space, and he'll light you up from deep.
Drop coverage is untenable against him at this point. Bigs have to play at the level of the screen or higher, and even then they run the risk of Garland stringing out the play before flowing into a pull-up. Switches have to be quick and physical; leaving a gap is daring Garland to pull.
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Though Garland isn't getting to the rim as often as he did last season, he's been much more successful when he gets downhill. He's converting a career-best 64.8% from inside of three feet, an improvement of 6.2 percentage points.&nbsp;
He's not a Ja Morant-like high flyer; more craft is needed for Garland to win inside. Luckily, he's able to combine an ever-shifting gear with sublime touch and impeccable footwork. He has Nash-ian scoops in his bag to go along with arrhythmic gathers. Despite the height disadvantage Garland often operates with, defenders can't get a read on what Garland's doing until it's too late.
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What's been fun to track is Garland's aggression off the ball. Chilling off the ball when the action doesn't involve you is an easy trap for young guards to fall into. Not only does head coach J.B. Bickerstaff discourage that sort of malaise, Garland himself recognizes the importance of reading the floor and staying active.
"The best point guards in our game are valuable in all three phases of the [shot] clock," Bickerstaff told <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1470485876354555906?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our own Spencer Davies</a>.&nbsp;
"We talk about [Garland's] walk-up threes early in the clock, and the pressure it puts on defenses to get back, to pick him up higher, and open up gaps for other people. There's the middle-of-the-clock pick-and-rolls that we run, where he's isolated with Jarrett [Allen] or Evan [Mobley] and he's making the lob, the floater, or the kick-out. And then there's the late clock &mdash; our "butter" situations &mdash; where his ability to get the ball and just beat his guy and get a shot [is important]. All those point guards have the ability to do that, but you just have to have the aggressiveness. Obviously, Darius has taken that step to be aggressive in that mold."
Who are the point guards that Garland has studied?
"I've watched Steph [Curry] a lot," Garland says. Because of course he has.
"Steph, Dame [Lillard], CP [Chris Paul]. I think those are the guys that are really good at relocating and getting their shots or getting their teammates involved."
He notes that his personnel allows him to flourish off the ball. Ricky Rubio is a phenomenal passer; Allen, Mobley and Kevin Love are all plus-passers in the frontcourt. Garland has the awareness to find spaces to flash into; his teammates have the vision to thread the needle.&nbsp;
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SHARING IS CARING
Because Garland has become a more willing scorer, his passing ability has been enhanced. Bigs are a little more antsy; the help has to pull in a step further, a beat earlier.&nbsp;
If you want to talk about joy, watching Garland use that level of fear to his advantage is pretty high on my list. The yo-yo handle combined with the footwork, combined with the shooting prowess, combined with his actual passing bag, culminates into an absolutely filthy lead guard.
And that bag runs&nbsp;deep.&nbsp;Corner skips. Lay-downs. Wrap-arounds. Off-hand shovel passes. Lobs disguised as floaters, a rising tool in the bag of young initiators (hi, Tyrese Haliburton).
Garland's been able to build solid downhill chemistry with Allen and Mobley. Love and Lauri Markkanen have been able to pick-and-pop their way into success playing off of Garland. The Cavs smartly spam actions with two screeners &mdash; either out of HORNS or with double drag looks in early offense. The Cavs are generating nearly 1.09 points per possession when two of Allen/Mobley/Markkanen/Love screen for Garland, per Second Spectrum.
The Garland-Mobley combo in particular has been darn-near impossible for defenses to figure out. On top of Garland being as dynamic as he is, Mobley brings his own diverse skill set. He's a mix of his other frontcourt parters: the vertical terror of Allen combined with Love's quick processing and passing ability. The shooting isn't as lethal as Markkanen's, but it's reaching "the defense has to account for it" levels.
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The Garland-Mobley dance isn't just effective among young duos &mdash; it's an elite two-man action, period. Per Second Spectrum, the Cavs are generating north of 1.17 points per possession when those two are involved in ball screens. Only Trae Young and John Collins have been more effective among high-volume pairings.
Put the scoring and passing together, and you have a young guard averaging 21 points and 7 assists since Sexton went down. The Cavs are outscoring teams by <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?TeamID=1610612739&amp;VsPlayerID=1629636" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 10 points per 100 possessions</a> with Garland on the floor this season; since Sexton has been unavailable, that number has <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?TeamID=1610612739&amp;VsPlayerID=1629636&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=11%2F10%2F2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">actually improved to 12.7</a>.
Garland has the ball on a string, and the offense in his hands right now. He's thriving, the Cavs are thriving. With this sort of leap and team success to complement it, it's hard not to view Garland as an All-Star this season.

Nekias Duncan analyzes Darius Garland's breakout season with the Cavs and why he has a real case as an All-Star.

Darius Garland exudes fun, and is making the All-Star leap

The Houston Rockets are trending upward.
We're three weeks removed from <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2950751-sources-houston-rockets-weighing-future-of-head-coach-stephen-silas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on-the-hot-seat reporting</a> from Bleacher Report's Jake Fischer concerning head coach Stephen Silas. The offense was bland and ineffective; the defense was spotty, to be kind. It wasn't all on Silas, as <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/whats-wrong-with-the-houston-rockets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained in this space</a>, but things certainly didn't look good.
Since that report, the Rockets have won eight of their last 11 games behind an elite offense (116.4 Offensive Rating, 3rd in the NBA). The defense still ain't great &mdash; it's actually gotten worse (115.7 Defensive Rating, 26th) during this stretch &mdash; but it hasn't bitten them yet.
Despite the recent success, the Rockets are aware of where they are: Stage 1 of the rebuild. As such, the phone lines are open for some of their veterans. Chief among them is Christian Wood, an All-Star caliber frontcourt talent.
On the surface, that's a surprise. When you think of Rocket vets that could swap teams, you'd likely land on 32-year-old Eric Gordon (absolutely balling as of late) or 29-year-old Daniel Theis. Not only is Wood better than both players, he's also much younger (26 years old).&nbsp;
But over the last week, <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/rockets-willing-listen-offers-christian-094911591.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Tim MacMahon</a> and Bleacher Report's Fischer have hinted at a willingness to at least hear offers for the big man. The price would likely be steep &mdash; Fischer ballparks it at "a first round pick plus further capital" <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2951461-latest-nba-trade-buzz-sourced-intel-on-simmons-kyrie-lakers-and-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in his latest report</a> &mdash; but that could be worth it for a team looking for help up front.
WHAT WOOD BRINGS&nbsp;
As our Jackson Frank wrote <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/christian-woods-offensive-versatility-will-benefit-houstons-core" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before the season</a>, there aren't many centers more gifted than Wood on the offensive end of the floor.
He's a dynamic partner in ball-screens, able to beat defenses as a roller or popper. He transitions smoothly from screener to roller or popper, allowing him to get a jump on the defense depending on what coverage they're in.
Wood has had to pop more this season due to the spacing around him, but he remains a paint threat due to his ability to pump-and-go. Leave him completely open and he'll fire above the break; close-out too hard, and he'll get downhill.
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Wood's ability to handle could be an added dimension for a team. He's not a Giannis-type threat to grab-and-go after misses, but he can push a break and allow offenses to attack earlier. His handle also allows him to initiate &mdash; or fake &mdash; handoffs against unbalanced defenses.
This is a down year for Wood as a finisher &mdash; spacing and playmaking issues have put a more difficult self-creation load on him &mdash; and he's still converting 73% of his shots inside of 3 feet, per Basketball-Reference. There's room to believe he could be even more effective with more room to operate, and/or more dynamic ball-handlers to work with.
LIMITATIONS
While Wood is able initiate some early offense in Delay sets, he doesn't have the passing chops to act as a true offensive hub. That's not inherently a bad thing; a team hoping to acquire him just has to understand he's a play-finisher that can sometimes get you into your offense, not Western Conference Domantas Sabonis.
Wood isn't the quickest processor when forced to make playmaking reads, and his actual pass accuracy leaves a bit to be desired. Combine those traits, and you get some rough turnovers when he's in creator mode.
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Defensively, Wood doesn't have the spatial feel to hold up as a primary rim-protector. His drop coverage film is littered with possessions of him conceding too much space to the ball-handler, or playing too high up (in a hunched over stance, no less) on the floor, allowing his assignment to get behind him for lobs.
Wood has shown some comfort switching out on the perimeter. He also possesses the mobility and hands necessary to play in more aggressive schemes. The swing skill for him would be his recovery; cutting off a ball-handler is one thing, but finding your assignment after the hedge is a separate task that he's had uneven results with.&nbsp;
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Even with some of his limitations, he's shown to be an active communicator. He's been a competent weak-side rim-protector. So long as you have good personnel around him, Wood can be a positive cog in a system.
LANDING SPOTS
If you're looking for a team with 1) a dynamic ball-handler, 2) plenty of spacers and 3) a strong defensive infrastructure, look no further than the Golden State Warriors.&nbsp;
Among the many weapons the Warriors have at their disposal, a vertical spacer is one they currently lack. It's safe to say Wood could slot right into that role. This may shock you, but Stephen Curry has had success with those type of partners.&nbsp;
Since the 2017-18 season, ball-screens spearheaded by Curry have generated roughly 1.08 points per possession &mdash; the best high volume mark in the NBA over that stretch, per Second Spectrum. When working with an athletic vertical threat &mdash; let's say JaVale McGee, Damian Jones, and Marquese Chriss &mdash; that number jumps to 1.12.
Last season's blockbuster trade cut the sample short, but it's worth noting just how successful the James Harden-Wood connection was last season (north of 1.13 PPP). It's fair to believe the Curry-Wood pairing would be a darn good one.
And if you need defensive covering for Wood, is there a better guy to pair him with than Draymond Green? Curry would be step up from what Wood has had to cover for at the point of attack this season; doubly so when Curry is replaced by Gary Payton II in the lineup.&nbsp;
The complicated matter would be the price. I would imagine the Rockets would want two of the Warriors' three young prospects &mdash; James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody &mdash; if possible.
The Athletic's Tim Kawakami recently laid out <a href="https://theathletic.com/3006586/2021/12/09/kawakami-why-the-warriors-absolutely-positively-are-not-trading-james-wiseman/?redirected=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a strong argument</a> regarding why the Warriors don't want to part with Wiseman right now. Beyond that, it would be shocking if the Rockets prioritized Wiseman considering they just drafted Alperen Sengun (please play him more!) and Usman Garuba over the summer.&nbsp;
Kuminga and Moody might be considered steep for the Warriors; only flipping one of those would make salary matching a bit of a chore. The Warriors do have all of their future firsts, sans a 2024 pick that will likely transfer to the Grizzlies.&nbsp;
For an off-the-radar team, how about the Minnesota Timberwolves?&nbsp;
Their defense has been surprisingly sturdy (6th in half-court defense, 12th in overall DRTG) thanks to an aggressive scheme. The offense has lagged behind (26th in half-court offense, 24th overall ORTG) behind spotty shooting and a quietly-subpar conversion rate at the rim.
The (admittedly reductive) question I have: What do the Wolves look like with Wood instead of Jarred Vanderbilt in the lineup?
Wood is not the overall defender that Vanderbilt is, but how much of the backline workload could he replicate?&nbsp;More importantly, is the gap between the two as defenders greater than the gap in scoring chops?
I would answer "maybe 75-80% of it" and "absolutely not" to those questions.
To the defense point, the Wolves often play at, or above, the level of the screen when defending pick-and-rolls. That puts strain on the backline to clean up messes behind it. Like this, basically:
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One blocked shot doesn't mean he can be peak Paul Millsap in this role, but again, Wood does possess legit weak-side rim-protection chops. If he can nail those rotations, the Wolves shouldn't see a major slide defensively. It also helps that Wood is one of the best defensive rebounders in the sport. The Wolves have, uh, struggled (30th in defensive-rebound rate) in that regard.
The offensive upgrade is an easier case to make. Wood has shot 36.9% from three dating back to his Detroit season (2019-20), and has converted 40% of his corner threes in that time frame. He's both a better shooter, and more of a threat to beat a (soft) closeout than Vanderbilt is.
With Karl-Anthony Towns often setting up shop above the break or from the mid-post, Wood seems more equipped to convert catch-and-shoot looks, or to take advantage of the space Towns provides with drives, and cuts, or to work as the screener in pick-and-rolls.
About those pick-and-rolls: I'm be interested in seeing what he could do when screening for D'Angelo Russell or Anthony Edwards.
Like the Warriors example, the price is worth the pause. The Wolves have all of their firsts moving forward. They also have Jaden McDaniels, an intriguing, rangy forward worth investing in.
The salary filler is where things could sputter. Taurean Prince probably isn't enough short-term help; Malik Beasley would further crowd the guard room, and I'm not sure how willing the Wolves would be to part with him. There's an intriguing package to be made, though.&nbsp;
I'd like to live in a world where Luka Doncic has a legitimate roll man (and thus, a complement to Kristaps Porzingis up front), but I'm not sure the Mavericks have the horses to get a deal done. What exactly is Tim Hardaway Jr. doing for this version of the Rockets?
The Hornets haven't just been linked to Wood in the past; they literally had him on their roster a few years ago, though this was obviously before he broke out. They could use some frontcourt juice, and have enough wing talent (hello, Kelly Oubre Jr.) to potentially intrigue the Rockets.
We'll keep an eye on the talented Houston big man moving forward, because there are bound to be plenty of suitors.

Nekias Duncan breaks down potential trade destinations for Rockets big man Christian Wood.