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Magic

The Orlando Magic finished another losing season singing a familiar refrain.
Despite dropping 60 games, posting the worst record in the Eastern Conference and missing the playoffs for the third time in five years, the club insists it&rsquo;s latest overhaul is headed in the right direction.
&ldquo;From when we walked into the building on Day One, we talked about how we were going to compete at a high level, defend at a high level, work every day and have fun doing it,&rdquo; first-year coach Jamahl Mosley noted Sunday. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve done.&rdquo;
The Magic dropped 27 of 32 games to start the season and never won three games in a row, yet Mosley said a young team that played most of the season without two of its best players never got discouraged.
&ldquo;Practice (Saturday) felt like Day One. There was an energy, an enthusiasm, a joy for being on the court with one another throughout the day,&rdquo; the coach said before Sunday night&rsquo;s finale against the Miami Heat.
&ldquo;And I think it was about what we&rsquo;ve talked about from the beginning. It&rsquo;s about us getting better every single day. Whether we win or lose, we&rsquo;re putting that work in every single day,&rdquo; Mosley added. &ldquo;These guys have embraced that, and they have embraced each other.&rdquo;
In a sense, this season was doomed from the start with Jonathan Issac and Markelle Fultz, two of the young players the Magic are trying to build around, on the mend from serious knee injuries.
Issac tore his left anterior cruciate ligament when the pandemic-interrupted 2019-20 season resumed in the Disney bubble. He&rsquo;s missed all of the past two seasons and only played 136 games since being drafted five years ago..
Fultz tore his ACL in January 2021 and was sidelined almost 14 months before returning late this season and playing well enough to gradually work his way back into a starting role.
Team president Jeff Weltman and general manager John Hammond remain committed to building through the draft after trading veterans Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon in March 2021 for future first-round picks in 2023 and 2025.
The current roster includes eight players selected in the first round of the past five drafts, including Fultz (No. 1 overall by Philadelphia in 2017) and Wendell Carter Jr. (seventh by Chicago in 2018).
Isaac (sixth, 2017), Mo Bamba (sixth, 2018), Chuma Okeke (16th, 2019), Cole Anthony (15th, in 2020), Jalen Suggs (fifth, 2021) and Franz Wagner (eighth, 2021) are Orlando picks.
Suggs and Wagner showed flashes of promise as rookies this season. The 6 foot-10 Carter looks like part of the future, too, after averaging a confidence-bolstering 15 points and 10.5 rebounds in 62 games.
&ldquo;All the young teams in the league &mdash; the Memphis Grizzlies, the Phoenix Suns, the Cleveland Cavaliers &mdash; I feel like we&rsquo;re right there,&rdquo; Carter said.
&ldquo;Especially with us being so young, it gives us the opportunity to really mold everyone,&rdquo; Carter added. &ldquo;I feel like we&rsquo;re in a perfect opportunity where everybody understands what everybody is capable of, and we all like each other.&rdquo;
WORK TO DO
Despite insisting there are signs of progress, this the seventh time in the past 10 seasons the Magic have won fewer than 30 games.
Orlando has had five different coaches and only posted one winning record (42-40 in 2018-19) during that span. The franchise hasn&rsquo;t won a playoff series since 2010.
MIXED REVIEWS
Suggs was the fifth pick in last year&rsquo;s draft out of Gonzaga. He earned a starting job right away, but would up missing 34 games due to various injuries. He shot just 36% and averaged 11.8 points and 4.4 assists in 48 games..
Wagner, the 8th pick out of Michigan, averaged 15.2 points in 79 games. He started the first 74 games before being sidelined by an ankle injury.
GET IN THE GYM
Mosley said one of the team&rsquo;s priorities is improving its perimeter shooting.
The Magic finished 28th in the NBA in field-goal percentage at 43.4, including 33.4 from 3-point range.
Fultz (23.5%, Suggs (21.4%) and Anthony (33.8%) all struggled from beyond the arc.
Without mentioning any names, Mosley said he wants everyone to return in September with better jump shots.
&ldquo;Being able to shoot the heck out of the basketball, and coming back with that conditioning level all the way up, I think those are going to be the big keys,&rdquo; the coach said.

The Magic dropped 27 of 32 games to start the season and never won three games in a row, yet Mosley said they remained upbeat.

Jamahl Mosley: Young, rebuilding Magic have promising future

Right before officially clinching their seventh Final Four berth this past weekend, the Villanova Wildcats lost junior guard Justin Moore, who had to be helped off the floor after a freak injury while dribbling to kill the clock with less than 45 seconds to go.
'Nova beat Houston 50-44 in the Elite Eight to become one of the last four standing teams in the Big Dance for the first time since 2018. However, it was announced days later that Moore &mdash; Villanova&rsquo;s second-leading scorer at 14.8 points per game on .397/.356/.750 shooting splits &mdash; ruptured his right Achilles tendon, prematurely ending his season.
Much of the basketball world united in comforting Moore during an excruciatingly awful time to receive such news, including Kevin Durant, who ruptured his own Achilles during the 2019 NBA Finals.
&ldquo;I texted Kevin; he called me,&rdquo; Wright recalled <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/college-sports/villanova/justin-moore-achilles-kevin-durant-villanova-20220331.html">to the Philadelphia Inquirer</a>. &ldquo;And Kevin said, &lsquo;I was watching that, and it looked just like &mdash; I knew it when he went down; it looked just like mine.&rsquo; So we talked for a while about it.
&ldquo;What was so impressive to me was, Durant said, &lsquo;I&rsquo;d like to talk to [Justin], talk to the parents about the process. I want to tell him that.&rsquo; He listed himself, Klay Thompson, a couple other guys I can&rsquo;t remember &mdash; he goes, 'Look, these guys had it in the NBA.' And people in the NBA know now that you can come back from that.&rdquo;
Moore wasn&rsquo;t just 'Nova&rsquo;s second-best scorer throughout the 2021-22 season, but the 6-foot-4 guard earned Second Team All-Big East honors and All-Big East Tournament honors earlier this month. Moore&rsquo;s been a starter in all three of his seasons at Villanova, and has seen his scoring averages jump from 11.3 to 12.9 to 14.8 points per game. This season, he netted a career-best 17.1 points per 40 minutes while also being the Wildcats&rsquo; best rebounding guard, pulling down 4.8 boards per contest.
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According to FiveThirtyEight, there have been six major injuries to Final Four bound teams in the Men&rsquo;s NCAA Tournament since 2010. Using the qualifier of players logging at least 20 minutes in an NCAA Tournament, these players include Kalin Lucas of Michigan State in 2010, Darryl Bryant of West Virginia that same year, Louisville&rsquo;s Kevin Ware (do not Google it if you&rsquo;re reading this during lunch) in 2013, Willie Cauley-Stein of Kentucky in 2014, Auburn&rsquo;s Chuma Okeke in 2019, and now Moore.
Lucas <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2010/news/story?id=5017721" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruptured his Achilles against Maryland</a> in Round 2, and the Spartans subsequently lost in the Final Four. Oddly enough, <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2010/news/story?id=5022928" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryant broke his foot in the same round</a>, and his Mountaineers were also eliminated in the Final Four. Ware had a gruesome injury against Duke in the Elite Eight, and his Cardinals are the only team of this specific group that became national champions so far. Cauley-Stein <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2014/3/28/5559920/willie-cauley-stein-injury-kentucky-vs-louisville" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suffered a left ankle injury in Round 1</a>, and his Wildcats lost in the title game. And Okeke <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2019/3/29/18287843/chuma-okeke-injury-bruce-pearl-crying-auburn-sweet-16-ncaa-tournament-2019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tore his ACL in the Sweet 16</a>; Auburn reached the Final Four round before having its season end.
So, how does 'Nova piece together the production and minutes to replace Moore? He&rsquo;s logged 35.9 minutes per game since the beginning of the Big East Tournament, and has led the Wildcats with 34.6 minutes per contest this season.
Collin Gillespie &mdash; the 2022 Big East Player of the Year, Big East Tournament MVP and Third-Team All-American &mdash; will likely be keyed in on that much harder against Kansas this weekend. (I mean, that&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;d all do if you were in charge of the Jayhawks' defense, right?)
Gillespie&rsquo;s dropping a team-best 15.6 points and 3.3 assists per game on .431/.409/.905 shooting splits. Team sixth-man Caleb Daniels, a 6-foot-4 guard like Moore, has averaged 10.2 points on .427/.377/.851 in 27.3 minutes per contest this season.
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Though the Villanova-Houston offense resembled the (lack of) effectiveness of the Brock Lesnar-Goldberg match at WrestleMania 20, Daniels came up big with 12 points in 35 minutes, even as it came on 4 of 16 shooting. Every point matters against Houston, who had become a tournament favorite with sportsbooks due to its defensive run to the Elite Eight.
Jermaine Samuels, who led the game with 16 points, is 'Nova&rsquo;s leading non-guard scorer at 11.1 points per contest. The 6-foot-7 big also pulls down a team-high 6.5 boards per contest while shooting 47.4% from the field and 77.3% on free throws. Eric Dixon and Brandon Slater are the other two starting forwards, and there, you have 'Nova&rsquo;s main minute-eaters.
Moore, Gillespie, Slater, Samuels, Daniels and Dixon are the only Wildcats averaging at least 10 minutes per game this season, ranging from 34.6 to 25.1 in the order they&rsquo;re listed.
At least one of the following two guys will have to step up going forward to really alleviate the non-Moore minutes. The first would be Bryan Antoine, a junior who has come off the bench for three seasons with the Wildcats and wasn&rsquo;t one of the seven players to log minutes against Houston. Antoine hasn&rsquo;t played more than 11 minutes in a game since Jan. 25 and has scored 2 points since Feb. 12 (seven games, 35 minutes), but has battled injuries of his own, which is why he didn&rsquo;t appear until December.
He <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/29/march-madness-justin-moore-injury-gives-bryan-antoine-big-chance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently told the New York Post</a> that &ldquo;I&rsquo;d say I&rsquo;m pretty confident. I&rsquo;ve had the same mindset from Day 1. It hasn&rsquo;t really changed for me. Obviously with the injuries, I have been set back, but I&rsquo;m still the same player from high school.&rdquo;
Three years ago, Antoine was a five-star, top-20 recruit and McDonald&rsquo;s All-American who <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/24575439/bryan-antoine-commits-villanova-wildcats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chose Villanova over Duke, Florida, Kentucky, and Kansas</a>. The 6-foot-5 guard should have a chance to prove he can still resemble that as the Wildcat rotation now has to expand beyond six.
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The other guard in waiting is fellow 6-foot-5 junior Chris Arcidiacono, the brother of the Ryan. The younger Arcidiacono did log two minutes against Houston but hasn&rsquo;t cracked 10 since March 5, which is the only other time he&rsquo;s scored in a game since Feb. 22. <a href="https://villanovan.com/20381/sports/with-moore-out-its-time-for-arch-madness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Per the Villanovan</a>, Arcidiacono downplayed his potentially increased role with a boring quote.
&ldquo;Really, nothing changes,&rdquo; Arcidiacono said. &ldquo;My role is I come off the bench, bring energy, and just make sure we&rsquo;re playing Villanova basketball for 40 minutes. So whenever I&rsquo;m in, I&rsquo;m going to help our team play Villanova basketball.&rdquo;
He&rsquo;s downplaying it here, but no doubt that it&rsquo;s possible both Antoine and Arcidiacono receive increased roles against Kansas this Saturday.
Villanova will need to squeeze everything they can out of their non-regulars in hopes of finding something unexpected to help their championship quest.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Villanova played one game this season without Justin Moore --- an 85-74 win over UConn on February 5th in South Philadelphia. Chris Arcidiacono had nine points in 26 minutes off the bench. The Wildcats don't have what they had, but they still have enough. <a href="https://t.co/DckgK3BJyi">https://t.co/DckgK3BJyi</a>
&mdash; Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1508236981083553793?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Bryan Fonseca looks at who 'Nova can turn to with Justin Moore sidelined for the rest of the NCAA Tournament.

Villanova will have to survive without Justin Moore in the Final Four

Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 51 points as the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 134-120 on Thursday night, ending a four-game losing streak.
Bey tied the franchise record with 10 three-pointers in 14 attempts. He was 17-for-26 overall.
Two nights after being torched for 16 points in the first quarter by Brooklyn&rsquo;s Kyrie Irving on his way to a 60-point game, the Magic gave up 21 points in the first quarter to Bey.
Marvin Bagley III added 20 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit in the matchup of the bottom two teams in the Eastern Conference. Franz Wagner led Orlando with 26 points.
Bey finished the first half in spectacular fashion, scoring five points in less than five seconds. He hit a 20-footer while falling out of bounds with 8.8 seconds left, came up with a back-court steal and made a three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left, leaving the Pistons with a 73-62 lead.
The Magic scored the first nine points of the game, but that lead was quickly erased by Bey. The Pistons moved ahead for keeps on a dunk by Isaiah Stewart that broke a 50-50 tie midway through the second quarter.
TIP-INS
Pistons: G Cade Cunningham missed his second straight game because of a non-COVID illness. . . . F Jerami Grant sat out the game because of right knee inflammation. . . . Detroit won the season series 3-1.
Magic: Cole Anthony missed his first 10 shots. . . . F Wendell Carter Jr. did not play due to a sprained left ankle. . . . G Jalen Suggs missed his fourth game with a bruised right ankle. . . . F Chuma Okeke missed his first game since Jan. 3 with a left knee contusion.
UP NEXT:
Pistons: At Cleveland on Saturday night.
Magic: Host Oklahoma City on Sunday night.

Saddiq Bey scored a career-high 51 points and the Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic 134-120.

Bey scores career-high 51 points, Pistons beat Magic 124-120

Khris Middleton scored a season-high 44 points, Jrue Holiday had 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and the Milwaukee Bucks rallied to beat the short-handed Phoenix Suns 132-122 on Sunday.
Milwaukee outscored Phoenix 12-1 over the last three minutes to win in the Suns&rsquo; first visit since Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 50 points in a 105-98 Game 6 victory gave the Bucks their first NBA title in 50 years. In their only previous matchup this season, the Suns won 131-107 in Phoenix on Feb. 10.
The NBA-leading Suns were playing without their usual All-Star starting backcourt of Devin Booker and Chris Paul. Booker missed his third straight game due to the NBA&rsquo;s health and safety protocols. Paul broke his right thumb Feb. 16.
Phoenix also was missing Cam Johnson, two days after he scored 38 points in a 115-114 victory over the New York Knicks. Johnson has a bruised right quadriceps.
The Bucks won their fourth straight as they completed arguably their toughest three-game stretch of the season. In each of those three games, they came from behind down the stretch.
Milwaukee beat Miami 120-119 on Wednesday night and Chicago 118-112 on Friday night. The Bucks erased a 14-point deficit in the final six minutes of the Heat game and trailed the Bulls by seven points at the start of the fourth quarter.
This time, the Bucks trailed by five in the final period and withstood the foul trouble of Antetokounmpo, who had 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists in 31 minutes before fouling out with 1:12 left.
Deandre Ayton led the Suns with 30 points. Cam Payne had 23, Jae Crowder 19, Landry Shamet 17 and Mikal Bridges 14.
Serge Ibaka had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Bucks. Jordan Nwora had 12 points and Grayson Allen added 10.
The Suns led 107-102 when Antetokounmpo went to the bench after picking up his fifth foul with 7:40 left.
But the Bucks outscored the Suns 18-11 in the four-plus minutes Antetokounmpo missed and owned a 120-118 lead when the two-time MVP returned to the floor with 3:23 remaining.
Crowder sank a 3-pointer to put the Suns back ahead with 3:13 left. Nwora missed a 3-point attempt on the Bucks&rsquo; next possession, but Antetokounmpo got the rebound and passed to Nwora, who hit a jumper to put Milwaukee back in front for good with 2:52 remaining.
The Bucks rolled from there. Middleton scored the game&rsquo;s final seven points, including a 3-pointer that gave the Bucks a double-digit edge with 21.6 seconds left.
TIP-INS
Suns: Phoenix coach Monty Williams has said on multiple occasions that the loss to the Bucks in the finals would make his team better. Williams said Sunday he mentioned that again to Antetokounmpo during the All-Star Game festivities. &ldquo;In any sport, when you lose like that, you have to really be honest with yourself as to why,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;If you were a boxer and you got clipped with a right cross, you know what I&rsquo;m saying, you&rsquo;re going to keep your left up. You&rsquo;re going to learn how to build your stamina to keep your left upright. Those are things that, anytime you fail in that particular platform, you just look at stuff that can make you better.&rdquo;
Bucks: Wesley Matthews didn&rsquo;t play due to a sore left hamstring. Matthews had hurt the hamstring Friday at Chicago. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re thinking and hoping it&rsquo;s day to day,&rdquo; Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said before the game. ... Serge Ibaka had his highest point and rebound totals since the Bucks acquired him Feb. 10. This was his ninth game with the Bucks.
UP NEXT
Suns: At Orlando on Tuesday night in the second of three straight road games. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/orlando-magic-phoenix-suns-nba-sports-chuma-okeke-4c2e192e2099bccf7d4127dd8d9a4cf6">The Suns beat the Magic 132-105</a> at home on Feb. 12.
Bucks: At Oklahoma City on Tuesday night. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-jrue-holiday-milwaukee-khris-middleton-381b172d47c3d90463191fedd383dc82">The Bucks defeated the Thunder 96-89</a> in Milwaukee on Nov. 19.

Khris Middleton scored a season-high 44 points, Jrue Holiday had 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and the Bucks rallied to win.

Khris Middleton scores 44 points, Bucks rally to beat 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

Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points, Bobby Portis scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half and the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Orlando Magic 127-110 on Tuesday night.
Milwaukee has won four in a row and five of its last seven. Since starting the season 6-8, the Bucks have gone 17-5 to surge back near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
&ldquo;The ball movement, the playing together and the unselfishness really stood out,&rdquo; Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said. &ldquo;Guys were making the right pass and the right read and then Bobby Portis had an insane shooting half.&rdquo;
Khris Middleton scored 21 points for the Bucks, while Jrue Holiday chipped in 18 points and 10 assists. Antetokounmpo, who returned from COVID-19 protocols on Christmas, capped his 24th 20-point night in the fourth quarter by chucking Orlando&rsquo;s Freddie Gillespie to the floor with a forearm before dunking with his left hand.
&ldquo;I think we did a great job of moving the ball and that&rsquo;s when it&rsquo;s fun to play,&rdquo; said Holiday, who had nine points and two assists in the fourth quarter. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s definitely the way we want to be. When everybody is touching the ball, it&rsquo;s always good. When we do that, we&rsquo;re pretty good.&rdquo;
Orlando rookie forward Franz Wagner scored 27 of his career-best 38 points in the second half. He made 12 of 20 shots and 4 of 8 3s.
The Bucks outscored the Magic 40-21 in the second quarter, led by as much as 29 late in the first half and withstood a 19-0 third-quarter run by Orlando, which dropped to 2-12 at home. Orlando also got within 106-98 with 7:15 to play.
However, Milwaukee responded with seven straight points to all but seal the game and beat the Magic for a third time this season.
Orlando had six players out with injuries, and Terrence Ross, Mo Bamba, Chuma Okeke and Mychal Mulder couldn't play because they were in the NBA&rsquo;s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
KNOCK ON WOOD
Budenholzer sounded almost embarrassed Tuesday when discussing his team&rsquo;s luck with good health &mdash; both on the injury front and COVID-19. The Bucks entered Tuesday with only Brook Lopez (back surgery) out of action.
&ldquo;When you look around the league and see what other teams are having to do, we&rsquo;re very fortunate,&rdquo; Budenholzer said. &ldquo;We felt like when (GM) Jon (Horst) put together the roster, it was going to be very deep. It&rsquo;s a good place to be, but it&rsquo;ll probably change tonight, tomorrow or sometime soon. But we&rsquo;ll take it while we have it.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Bucks: University of Michigan coach Juwan Howard attended the game. His Wolverines play at Central Florida on Thursday. &hellip; The Bucks beat the Magic for the 10th consecutive time, a streak that's in line with 10 straight over the Kings and 12 straight wins against the Pistons. &hellip; DeMarcus Cousins was whistled for a technical foul after screaming, &ldquo;ball don&rsquo;t lie!&rsquo; following a missed free throw.
Magic: Guard Tim Frazier picked up four fouls in his first seven minutes of action. &hellip; Orlando was without point guard Cole Anthony for a second straight game because of &ldquo;maintenance&rdquo; on his sprained right ankle. &hellip; Magic coach Jamahl Mosley described Jalen Suggs&rsquo; recovery from a fractured thumb as &ldquo;progressing along slowly&rdquo; and added the rookie guard would be reevaluated in &ldquo;a couple of weeks.&rdquo; Suggs, the No. 5 pick in last summer&rsquo;s NBA Draft, hasn&rsquo;t played since Nov. 29.
UP NEXT
The two teams play again in Orlando on Thursday night.

The Bucks have won four in a row and 5 of their last 7. Since starting 6-8, they have gone 17-5 to surge back near the top of the East.

Bucks win 4th straight behind 28 from Antetokounmpo

For the umpteenth season in a row, Buddy Hield is on the trade market and actively being shopped by the Sacramento Kings <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/article256556286.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee</a>.
<blockquote>
One source said the Kings are still shopping a package including Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III in hopes of getting a good player in return.&nbsp;
</blockquote>
With Tyrese Haliburton&rsquo;s emergence and Davion Mitchell&rsquo;s initial pop, Sacramento has consistently relied upon three-guard lineups &mdash; four of the top five players in minutes played for the Kings this season are guards.&nbsp;
While I wouldn&rsquo;t argue that Hield is the most replaceable of the guards, he is the oldest by a wide margin and the only guard on a non-max or rookie-scale contract, likely making him the easiest to trade without tearing apart the team structure in its entirety (hence why he&rsquo;s been in trade talks for multiple years).
The initial $24 million hit on his four-year contract, inked during the 2019 off-season, likely played into reticence or difficulty to trade for Hield. A descending scale on his deal and looming <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mortenjensen/2021/09/19/with-new-tv-deal-looming-nba-teams-could-spend-big-on-extensions/?sh=51344fc73e85" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cap spike</a> could potentially temper trade discussions to the right degree.
While Hield has had a slow start to the season, he&rsquo;s caught fire the past two weeks, indicating a return to form. He's shooting 47% from three over the last 10 days on 9.4 attempts per game.
Buddy Hield is undoubtedly a specialist, but the level to which he specializes as a shooter brings much more value than that &ldquo;shooter&rdquo; label may imply.&nbsp;
Per Stathead, no player has hit more threes since the 2018-19 season than Hield, nailing just shy of a thousand in that span (950) with the next closest player, James Harden, nearly 100 behind (862).&nbsp;
He&rsquo;s an elite shooter off-the-catch and from a standstill, but his shooting variety is what makes him such a remarkable offensive player. An elite combination of movement, flexibility, and footwork open up his arsenal.
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He maintains balance and can start and stop on a dime, which allows him to create the slivers of space necessary to garner clean looks. Basketball Index uses NBA tracking data to contextualize data and create metrics to track overarching aspects of the game. For instance, Buddy Hield is in the fourth percentile of openness rating this season, which combines numerous factors to estimate how open a player is on average when they shoot. In essence, Hield is almost never open, which tracks with the eye test &mdash; defenses swarm him.
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One of my favorite aspects of Hield's game is his utility as a screener. The Sacramento Kings run "Spain" pick-and-roll a great deal, mostly with Hield as the back-screener in the action, flaring up after making contact to fly out for an open shot.&nbsp;
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Hield&rsquo;s proficiency as a movement shooter out of these sets has allowed the Kings to create a sort of gravity well between De&rsquo;Aaron Fox&rsquo;s downhill drive and Hield&rsquo;s shooting threat. It has created constant headaches for defenses for multiple seasons now. I cannot stress enough how rare it is for a player to be able to replicate this kind of action and hit that shot with consistency.
On the subject of the ridiculous number of difficult shots in his diet, he&rsquo;s particularly an artist as a pull-up shooter &mdash; especially on pick-and-roll actions.&nbsp;
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Hield is hitting 35.3% of his 3.7 pull-up three-point attempts per game, well above the league average (~31%). Putting that into context, this is actually the worst he&rsquo;s shot on threes off-the-dribble since his first full year in Sacramento (35.9%).&nbsp;
That prolific ability as an off-dribble shooter makes it nearly impossible to go under on-ball screens involving Hield. He doesn&rsquo;t possess great accuracy or court vision as a passer, but the windows provided to him by his scoring gravity are consistently there, and his playmaking out of the pick-and-roll has blossomed the past few years.
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No, Buddy Hield is not a perfect player, and his shortcomings as an athlete and defender do require gameplanning and proper roster construction to amplify what he does well. However, the right team could get the most out of his skill set moving forward if he is traded.
Which teams around the league should be looking into a deal for Buddy Hield and what would it take for a trade to work?
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Orlando Magic
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Orlando is currently 10th in three-point attempts but only 26th in three-point percentage &mdash; spacing has been an issue across the majority of the Magic&rsquo;s lineups. Hield would immediately be the best shooting threat on the team, and could be an intriguing off-ball partner to Cole Anthony and Franz Wagner as they continue to grow on-the-ball.
Terrence Ross&rsquo; career-low shooting has played a part in Orlando&rsquo;s spacing issues, and he seems ripe for a new opportunity for a myriad of reasons.
The main purpose of the deal for Sacramento is to add depth via Ross and potentially Michael Carter-Williams (whose timetable for return <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/08/24/magic-michael-carter-williams-to-miss-start-of-season-with-ankle-injury/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is still indefinite</a>), while also adding an intriguing young player in Chuma Okeke on the wing. Okeke missed the beginning of the season recovering from injury after a solid close last season, and he has struggled to find his footing offensively. He hasn&rsquo;t looked quite the same post-injury in general, and the budding potential of Franz Wagner &mdash; along with the looming return of Jonathan Isaac to an already loaded frontcourt &mdash; makes it appear that Okeke could be on the outside of the lineup looking in.
I probably wouldn&rsquo;t be ready to move on from Okeke if I was in charge of the Magic's front office but, all things considered, there&rsquo;s sensibility to this deal on both sides &mdash; but it may need evening out in the way of draft capital from Orlando.
Memphis Grizzlies
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The Grizzlies have been in need of a consolidation trade for a few seasons now, and this is probably not the one! But it's an intriguing look for both sides nonetheless.&nbsp;
Memphis is two years away from new contracts hitting the cap sheet for Ja Morant (presumably) and other members of the core rotation. While Hield isn&rsquo;t the star likely envisioned as the next player to tip the scales in Memphis, he could be someone who does push the needle while smoothing out a jammed rotation. He'd also provide shooting and spacing to a team that&rsquo;s relatively average in that area, and lacks the elite dynamic that few players can add to an offense like Hield.&nbsp;
In a year and a half or two years from now when the Grizz need to re-up, Hield will be on an expiring deal and maybe part of the consolidation trade that does net Memphis a third star. Regardless, he offers a skill set that&rsquo;s intriguing to ponder alongside Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Kyle Anderson&rsquo;s role has decreased in Memphis after starting all of last year, and he would likely slide back into a starting role with Sacramento. His defense, along with his connective passing and positive decision-making on both ends, could do wonders for the Kings. While he is on an expiring deal, perhaps trading for him could give them a better path to re-signing Anderson than would be available if he were on the open market.
Jarrett Culver has looked like an NBA player in his short time in Memphis, which has been awesome to see. Admittedly, that would make me wary of trading him to Sacramento, but in the reality of this trade, the Kings would love to add a young player at a position of need. John Konchar is a solid role player who would likely factor into the back end of the rotation &mdash; that's a spot the Kings need more consistent play from.
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Detroit Pistons
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This is my favorite deal with regards to potential for both sides. Jerami Grant has grown as a player in Detroit, but has been overtaxed in his role. Shams Charania of The Athletic <a href="https://theathletic.com/3011544/2021/12/13/optimism-for-a-kyrie-irving-return-the-latest-on-ben-simmons-trade-talks-and-more-nba-news-and-notes-inside-pass/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently reported</a> that the Pistons are fielding calls for Grant.
I do wonder what it would look like, and particularly if there would be growing pains if Grant tried to return to a reduced role after high-usage play and some success with the Pistons. However, he would fit pretty well on this team. Ideally, both he and Harrison Barnes are fours, but Grant is a better option at the three-spot than anyone the Kings have employed there since&hellip; Rudy Gay? (Bogdan Bogdanovic was a two-guard)
While the Kings would miss Hield&rsquo;s powers as a spacer, Grant can and will shoot, albeit at a lesser level &mdash; but adding size and athleticism on the wing would be a boon for this team.
On the other hand, Hield to Detroit intrigues me a great deal. The Pistons are the worst shooting team in the league, and while part of that is explained by a slow start from pretty much everyone, it&rsquo;s largely held up. Cade Cunningham and Frank Jackson have both shot well over the past month and a half and Saddiq Bey has come on in the past week, but this is just a bad shooting team regardless of shot luck.
Imagining "Spain" actions with Hield, or even Hield as a direct screener for Cade is so enticing. The best way to get the most out of a young player and bolster his development is to surround them with veterans who can maximize their best skill sets, or ease the load they carry. Hield would do wonders for Detroit&rsquo;s offense (though he couldn't possibly fix them), and could be a quality running mate for Cunningham as he grows as an initiator.
None of these deals are perfect, but most trades aren&rsquo;t &mdash; there are some merits for both sides making these moves. While it&rsquo;s unlikely that any of these deals end up ultimately being made if the Kings do finally move Hield, they provide an interesting framework for viewing his fit within some of the organizations that are reportedly active in the trade market. Regardless, Buddy Hield is one of the higher profile players that&rsquo;s been in reported trade talks in the young season, and he could alter a team&rsquo;s identity prior to the trade deadline.

Buddy Hield is on the trade block again. Mark Schindler writes on what he brings and some possible landing spots that make sense.

Examining potential trade destinations for Buddy Hield

Nearly one month into the 2021-22 NBA season, fantasy managers are already looking back at their drafts &mdash; celebrating certain steals and kicking themselves over their biggest busts.
It&rsquo;s always fun to track which players are overachieving from a fantasy standpoint. This list features a wide variety of surprise breakouts &mdash; from rising stars who have made a significant leap forward, to prospects who are making the most of an increased role, to veterans who find themselves in the right place at the right time following a change of scenery.
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s break down the NBA players who have exceeded expectations out of the gate and helped fantasy managers get off to a strong start. (This article uses fantasy scoring from Yahoo's points leagues and all stats are up-to-date to reflect games played through Nov. 11).&nbsp;
Dejounte Murray, San Antonio Spurs | 46.18 FPPG, 9th in NBA
Entering this season, Dejounte Murray was a popular breakout candidate among fantasy analysts and managers, which is why he was being drafted in the third or fourth round of most fantasy drafts. However, nobody saw this kind of leap coming, as he&rsquo;s been a top-10 fantasy option through 11 games. The 25-year-old has become the focal point of the Spurs&rsquo; attack, averaging 18.4 points, 8.2 assists, 7.9 rebounds, 2.2 steals, 1.4 threes, 0.5 blocks and just 2.1 turnovers in 34.3 minutes. Murray is filling the stat sheet on a nightly basis, like when he posted a monster 21-point, 15-assist, 12-rebound, 2-steal, 2-block performance against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 26. San Antonio has shifted its focus to rebuilding and developing their young talent, so Murray's role isn't changing anytime soon.
Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies | 46.29 FPPG, 8th in NBA
Like Murray, Ja Morant was being selected as a third- or fourth-rounder in fantasy drafts, but he has dominated out of the gate, and his 46.29 fantasy points per game rank eighth-best among all NBA players. Morant is averaging a career-high 26.5 points (up from 19.1 PPG last year) to go along with 7.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 threes and 1.7 steals. Also, this has been his most efficient campaign, as he&rsquo;s shooting 48.5% from the field, 34.5% from three-point range and 77.9% from the free-throw line (all of which are career-highs). He needs to limit his turnovers, as he's averaging 4.4 per game (which is eighth-most in the league). But otherwise, he's been an absolute steal for managers who bet on the high-upside guard.
Jonas Valanciunas, New Orleans Pelicans | 43.65 FPPG, 13th in NBA
Jonas Valanciunas has been a solid fantasy option in recent years, totaling the 30th-most fantasy points in the league last season with the Memphis Grizzlies. However, after changing teams over the offseason, the fantasy community wasn&rsquo;t sure what to expect from the 29-year-old. Fantasy Pros&rsquo; preseason Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) had Valanciunas projected as the <a href="https://www.fantasypros.com/nba/rankings/overall-points-yahoo.php?filters=34c251ed83" target="_blank" rel="noopener">69th-best player</a>, and his Average Draft Position (ADP) was <a href="https://www.fantasysp.com/average-draft-position/basketball?league=h2h" target="_blank" rel="noopener">74.09</a>. Well, through 12 games, he's been a top-15 fantasy weapon, averaging a career-high in points (20.0), rebounds (14.0), assists (2.7), threes (1.0) and steals (0.8). With Zion Williamson recovering from offseason foot surgery and Brandon Ingram sidelined due to a hip contusion, Valanciunas has taken on a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pelicans-made-right-decision-by-extending-jonas-valanciunas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">much bigger role than initially anticipated</a>, and he&rsquo;s made the most of the opportunity in New Orleans. He&rsquo;ll likely come back down to earth at some point, but he absolutely deserves praise for his impressive start.
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Miles Bridges, Charlotte Hornets | 41.35 FPPG, 23rd in NBA
One week before the season tipped off, Miles Bridges had an ADP of <a href="https://www.fantasysp.com/average-draft-position/basketball?league=h2h" target="_blank" rel="noopener">103.70</a>. That means he was typically being picked in the same range as Klay Thompson (who remains sidelined) and Delon Wright (who&rsquo;s averaging 9.18 FPPG). Now, the 23-year-old is suddenly a top-25 option, averaging 21.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.5 threes, 1.8 steals, 0.8 blocks and just 2.5 turnovers in 36.2 minutes per game. Bridges is one of the biggest surprises of this fantasy season because nobody outside of Miles&rsquo; family could've seen this kind of breakout campaign coming. With Morant and Murray, there was plenty of talk about how this could be their year, but Bridges wasn&rsquo;t receiving that kind of hype. The high-flyer has always been a ton of fun to watch, and it&rsquo;s been a pleasure seeing him round out his game and realize his full potential. Bridges has been incredibly consistent so far this season, finishing with 36.0 or more fantasy points in 10 of 12 games.
Al Horford, Boston Celtics | 37.23 FPPG, 42nd in NBA
It&rsquo;s easy to see why fantasy analysts and managers didn&rsquo;t feel like they could trust Al Horford entering this season. While a reunion with the Celtics was nice, he turned 35 years old in June and played in just 28 games last season for the tanking Oklahoma City Thunder (who were trying to showcase him and increase his trade value). Horford understandably slipped to the 11th or 12th round in drafts (and even went undrafted in some leagues), but he&rsquo;s been outstanding for Boston. Through nine games, he&rsquo;s averaging 13.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.4 blocks, 0.9 steals, 1.1 threes and just 1.1 turnovers in 28.9 minutes per game. Prior to this season, Horford had never averaged over 1.5 blocks per game, so his 2.4 rejections have been a surprise. And the last time he averaged this many rebounds was back in 2012-13, when he was on the Atlanta Hawks. Horford has turned back the clock, and it&rsquo;ll be interesting to see just how much of this production is sustainable going forward.
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Cole Anthony, Orlando Magic | 37.29 FPPG, 41st in NBA
As of Oct. 17, Cole Anthony&rsquo;s ADP was <a href="https://www.fantasysp.com/nba_player_news/Cole_Anthony/adp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">146.68</a>, which means he went undrafted in some leagues and some lucky managers landed a stud off of waivers. This season, Anthony has emerged as Orlando&rsquo;s leading scorer, averaging 19.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 3.0 threes, 1.3 steals and 2.8 turnovers in 33.9 minutes per game, while shooting 44.0% from the field, 39.1% from three and 85.0% from the free-throw line. The 21-year-old has become a fan favorite thanks to his aggressiveness, swagger and <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1457528011700547588" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amazing interviews</a>. The Magic have assembled an impressive young core that is a lot of fun to watch.
Mo Bamba, Orlando Magic | 32.56 FPPG, 59th in NBA
Speaking of Orlando's young core, Mo Bamba also deserves a mention on this list. His ADP was even lower than Anthony&rsquo;s at <a href="https://www.fantasysp.com/nba_player_news/Mo_Bamba/adp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">151.47</a>, but he&rsquo;s been playing at a high level on both ends. Shortly after he became the sixth pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, his trainer Drew Hanlen <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2018/07/29/nba-offseason-training-joel-embiid-gordon-hayward-jayson-tatum-markelle-fultz/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told me</a> that he was a very raw project; it would likely take three-to-five years before he could become a real low-post threat on offense since he needed to bulk up, improve his lower-body strength and learn to make the right reads. Bamba put in work behind the scenes, following the same developmental plan that Joel Embiid used under Hanlen earlier in his career. Well, here we are four years later, and Bamba looks like the real deal. The 23-year-old is averaging 11.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, 1.8 assists, 1.6 threes and 0.9 steals on 49.5/40.4/70.8 shooting splits, and it's clear his best basketball is still ahead of him.
Harrison Barnes, Sacramento Kings | 37.52 FPPG, 40th in NBA&nbsp;
Barnes has been a serviceable role player for fantasy teams throughout his 10 years in the NBA, but he's been much more impactful this season now that he's playing the best basketball of his career. Barnes, who had an ADP of <a href="https://www.fantasysp.com/nba_player_news/Harrison_Barnes/adp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">99.1</a>, is averaging the 40th-most fantasy points in the league (37.52) thanks to his 21.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.6 threes, 1.2 steals and 2.0 turnovers (plus his efficient 49.0/42.5/86.7 shooting splits). While he has certainly helped many managers in point leagues, he has been even better in category leagues (where he's a top-15 option).
Ricky Rubio, Cleveland Cavaliers | 30.41 FPPG, 73rd in NBA
Following a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ricky-rubio-will-demand-the-best-out-of-young-cleveland-cavaliers-himself" target="_blank" rel="noopener">terrific Olympic showing with the Spanish national team</a> &mdash; during which he averaged 25.5 points, 6.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 threes on 47.8% shooting from deep &mdash; Ricky Rubio has picked up right where he left off. The 31-year-old is putting up a career-high 14.3 points as well as 6.7 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 2.1 threes, 1.3 steals and 3.0 turnovers while shooting a personal-best 41.0% from three-point range. Now, with Collin Sexton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/with-collin-sexton-sidelined-whos-next-man-up-for-cavs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sidelined indefinitely due to a torn meniscus</a>, Rubio will take on a larger role and workload, and become an even bigger steal. Though Isaac Okoro appears to be the team's new starting guard, in the four games that Rubio's played over 30 minutes for Cleveland this season, he&rsquo;s averaged 19.5 points, 7.3 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 threes and 1.5 steals on insane 50.0/50.0/100.0 shooting splits.
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Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers | 30.21 FPPG, 74th in NBA
Once it became clear that Ben Simmons wouldn't be suiting up for the start of the season, Tyrese Maxey became an interesting sleeper to keep an eye on at the end of drafts. But instead of emerging as a quality role player, the sophomore guard has looked like a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/tyrese-maxey-centered-on-getting-1-better-every-day-for-76ers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rising star for the 76ers</a>. Two nights ago, Maxey had 31 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 0 turnovers against the Milwaukee Bucks, and then he followed that up with a 33-point, 5-assist, 4-rebound, 2-block, 1-steal, 2-turnover performance against the Toronto Raptors. The 21-year-old doesn't lack confidence. On the season, he's now averaging 17.1 points, 4.7 assists, 3.8 rebounds, 1.2 threes, 0.9 steals, 0.7 blocks and 1.5 turnovers in 35.8 minutes, while shooting 50.6% from the field, 38.1% from three and 87.2% from the free-throw line.
Honorable Mention: The 2021 Rookie Class&nbsp;
Fantasy managers who put their faith in the 2021 NBA Draft class have largely been rewarded, especially if they bet on Scottie Barnes (33.70 FPPG, 56th-ranked), Evan Mobley (33.33, 57th) or Josh Giddey (30.44, 72nd) &mdash; all of whom are averaging at least 30.0 FPPG and currently top-75 options.
Franz Wagner (25.86, 106th) and Chris Duarte (25.01, 114th) have been the biggest surprises among rookies, as they each got off to a hot start after stepping up amidst injuries. (The Orlando Magic started the season without Jonathan Isaac, Markelle Fultz and Chuma Okeke, while the Indiana Pacers have dealt with injuries to Caris LeVert, T.J. Warren, Malcolm Brogdon and Jeremy Lamb).
Other rookies such as Cade Cunningham (23.48, 134th), Jalen Green (23.31, 135th), Alperen Sengun (21.98, 153rd), Jalen Suggs (21.06, 160th) and Davion Mitchell (20.74, 164th) have shown flashes early on as well.

One month into the NBA season, which players have been fantasy-basketball steals? Alex Kennedy breaks down 10 overachievers.

Fantasy basketball steals: 10 players exceeding expectations

I can't help but love a good rebuilding basketball team.
Maybe it's the romantic MyLeague player in me, who spent hours trading 2026 draft picks and using Untapped Potential camps (if you know, you know) to turn a roster of under-25 players into a dynasty. But watching a young core struggle, learn and adjust to the NBA game never gets old. When those glimpses of the future sneak out, they make every loss seem worthwhile.
That's where I'm at with the Orlando Magic, who have become one of the most fun bottom-feeders in the NBA. The Magic, at 2-8, aren't exactly lighting up the league. But three prospects in particular have stood out in surprising fashion, giving fans even more optimism that this core can contend down the road.
Second-year guard Cole Anthony is the first and most obvious young talent on breakout watch. Anthony has been a simply phenomenal shot-maker &mdash; even beyond what I realized.
According to NBA Stats, the 2020 No. 15 pick is shooting 48.4% on pull-up threes &mdash; tops in the entire league among players with at least 20 attempts. Among 119 players with at least 20 pull-up attempts from anywhere on the court, Anthony's Effective Field Goal percentage is tied for fourth-best with Darius Garland (59.8%).
Overall, Anthony's perimeter game has taken a dramatic leap. He's shooting 7.7 threes per game compared to just 3.7 as a rookie, and his three-point attempt rate (the percentage of his shot attempts that are threes) has skyrocketed from 31.2% to 50.7%. Anthony has whittled down his rookie mid-range game and traded it in for a three-point fireball.
Per Cleaning the Glass, Anthony has jumped from the 19th percentile among guards in points per shot attempt as a rookie to the 66th percentile this season. That's massive. And even though Anthony himself is not massive (6-foot-2), his 7.5 rebounds per game rank fourth-most among all guards, behind only Russell Westbrook, Luka Doncic and Dejounte Murray. Altogether, it's been an extremely fun start for Anthony, and he's still very much a work in progress.
Anthony shares the starting backcourt with No. 5 overall rookie Jalen Suggs, who is enduring his fair share of bumps as he adapts to the NBA. But Orlando's other rookie lottery pick has come out firing.
Franz Wagner has already made 20 total catch-and-shoot threes per NBA Stats, which is tied for the 10th-most in the entire league. He's done so at a very respectable 40.8% clip, and is shooting 39.6% from three overall. Wagner is also finishing an impressive 71.4% of his attempts at the rim, and to the delight of analytics folks, has not attemped a single long two-pointer all season.
He's not Mikal Bridges, but Wagner can very clearly fill a Bridges-like offensive role as a sharpshooter who can effectively attack the basket off-ball. Orlando is 17.1 points per 100 possessions better when the eighth overall pick is on the court. Sects of Draft Twitter were extremely high on Wagner throughout the summer. I concede I was not, and am happily wrong so far.
Speaking of efficiency... Mo Bamba, everybody.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
NBA players finishing at over 70% in the restricted area and 40% on threes (min. 20 attempts of each): - Mikal Bridges (87.5%/44.0%) - Nikola Jokic (78.0%/40.6%) - RJ Barrett (77.8%/42.9%) - Mo Bamba (77.8%/40.6%) Some elite efficiency 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/iv1d9rS8eX">pic.twitter.com/iv1d9rS8eX</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1455909816380051466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Bamba has made 40% of his catch-and-shoot three-pointers. And while he's technically dipped under the original stat, the 23-year-old is still canning 39% of his career-high 4.1 three-point attempts per game. The former fifth overall pick also continues to be a forceful rim-protector; his 3.4% block rate is in the 86th percentile at his position, per Cleaning the Glass.
There's a level of surprise to all three of these breakouts. The public had come pretty close to slapping the "bust" label on Bamba after three seasons glued to the bench behind Nikola Vucevic. Anthony appeared to be much more of a long-term project after last season, and Wagner was frequently overshadowed by his pre-draft counterpart in Suggs.
But all three are delivering, particularly as scorers. It's an exciting development for an Orlando franchise that has lacked shooting depth for the better part of a decade. In fact, Orlando hasn't yielded an above-average offensive rating (by Cleaning the Glass standards) or a top-10 team-wide eFG% since 2011-12.
Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz are still working to get back into the fold. Chuma Okeke and Wendell Carter Jr. are finally stringing some healthy contests together. The Magic have turned me from "intrigued" to "Christmas morning excitement" with this season's early developments, and the best should be yet to come.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I find in the void):
<ul>
<li>One more thing on the Magic: Orlando led the league in three-point rate for five straight seasons from 2007-2012 &mdash; when Dwight Howard was on the team! Props to Ryan Anderson, Hedo Turkoglu, JJ Redick, Mickael Pietrus, Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis.</li>
<li>Malcolm Brogdon continues to fly under the radar. The talented Pacer point guard drives 23.2 times per game and dishes out 3.5 assists per game on drives &mdash; both tops in the NBA. He's even leading the league in passes made per game (68.8)m and is fourth in potential assists per game (16.3).</li>
<li>Stealing this one from our own Jackson Frank: 96% (49 out of 51) of Julius Randle's assists this season have been on at-rim makes or threes. That's a testament to many things: Randle's improved facilitating, the Knicks' improved perimeter presence and perhaps an overall stronger offensive focus. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-bizarro-world-new-york-knicks-reside-in-the-big-apple-these-days" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go read his story for more</a> on this because it's phenomenal.</li>
<li>Congrats to Owen Phillips (@<a href="https://twitter.com/owenlhjphillips" target="_blank" rel="noopener">owenlhjphillips</a>) on getting a job with the Knicks' coaching analytics department! He's been my gold standard of stats gurus; I highly recommend you check out his Twitter and Substack. Phillips creates relevant, unique, understandable data visualizations, which is all you could ask for.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Ethan Fuller takes a look at exciting young Orlando players and Malcolm Brogdon in his latest Stats Notebook.

Stats Notebook: Hop on the Magic School Bus

Nekias Duncan previews the Southeast Division for the 2021-22 NBA season.

2021-22 NBA Season Preview: Southeast Division

The reboot has officially begun in Orlando. After trading away Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon at last season&rsquo;s trade deadline, the Magic are finally embracing the long-term build compared to wallowing in no-man&rsquo;s land.
Although the Magic put together an intriguing core led by Vucevic and Gordon, it just wasn&rsquo;t good enough within an Eastern Conference that was ripe for the taking over the years. The best Orlando could muster was a bottom-tier playoff seed, which inevitably reached an easy answer. The definition of insanity is continuously running back the same team with no real room for improvement, and Orlando finally realized this midway through last season when Gordon and Vucevic were shipped off for multiple draft assets and young prospects.
Lottery luck once again wasn&rsquo;t on the Magic&rsquo;s side, but they still were one of the biggest winners from the 2021 NBA Draft in hindsight. Snagging Jalen Suggs at No. 5 overall was a home-run scenario, an immediate franchise-changing prospect with an immensely high ceiling. Then, thanks to the Vucevic trade, Orlando used the Chicago Bulls&rsquo; top-10 pick at No. 8 overall to acquire another high-floor prospect in versatile forward Franz Wagner from Michigan. Adding Suggs and Wagner into the mix of an already bountiful core of under-25 talent in Orlando is an exciting development.
All of the following players projected in Orlando&rsquo;s rotation for the 2021-22 season are age-24 or under: Jonathan Isaac, Chuma Okeke, Markelle Fultz, Mo Bamba, Wendell Carter Jr., Cole Anthony, R.J. Hampton, Suggs and Wagner. That&rsquo;s right &mdash; eight of the Magic&rsquo;s rotational contributors are still at this stage of their careers.
Orlando is just now beginning what the team should have done a few years ago with its roster, but it's the right route when you realize how much young talent can be stockpiled when picks hit.
Isaac is coming off a torn ACL with an extensive recovery; however he&rsquo;s already flashed real two-way potential featuring All-Defense upside in the near future. If the offense clicks for Isaac, he will quickly climb the ranks of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/top-10-players-under-age25-for-the-202122-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">under-25 talent in the Association</a>.
Carter, whom Orlando landed in the Vucevic trade, has flashed on a few different occasion that he&rsquo;s a legitimate rotational big with some untapped upside of his own. Anthony, Fultz and Hampton are darts throws at the guard position, a situation that will sort itself out this season in regards to who will be featured alongside Suggs throughout the upcoming years.
Okeke and Bamba bring more depth to the Magic&rsquo;s frontcourt, although the former Auburn Tiger figures to be a mainstay in Orlando longer than the 2018 No. 5 overall pick.
When trying to picture all of this young core figuring it out, the primary building blocks still crystalize: Isaac, Suggs, Wagner. Although the latter two haven&rsquo;t played in the NBA, the Magic using their most draft capital in recent memory on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/magic-kickstart-rebuild-drafting-jalen-suggs-and-franz-wagner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two of the "safest" prospects</a> says a lot about where they view their long-term future. They want to improve, but it&rsquo;s not going to be rushed. Suggs and Wagner should be connective-tissue pieces that help accentuate what is already in place for Orlando. If everything forms together as planned, Orlando is a team who could make some noise two or three years from now.
So, with that type of timeline, it&rsquo;s fair to assume veteran wings Terrence Ross and Gary Harris are not long to stay on the roster. Rumors bubbled up around the draft mentioning Ross&rsquo; availability around the league. Harris helped match salaries for Denver in the Gordon trade, but he hasn&rsquo;t shown much to the Magic or even Denver over the last few seasons, seemingly stagnating due to injury and inconsistent scoring capabilities.
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In the East, Orlando is well behind the pack for a potential surprise run. (The team is tied for the NBA&rsquo;s worst over-under win total projection with the Oklahoma City Thunder at 23.5.) Orlando potentially landing the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft could be another crucial moment to helping the Magic finally stabilize a future winner. Long gone are the years of Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal and Penny Hardaway, plus the Dwight Howard era.
There&rsquo;s not much buzz around the Magic right now, and for good reason. It&rsquo;s a lot of unproven talent that isn't even close to hitting their prime years. However, new head coach Jamahl Mosley is the right man to help steer the ship in the right direction for an organization in desperate need of it. Mosley was instrumental in helping Luka Doncic develop into the MVP favorite that he is entering his fourth NBA season. If Mosley can repeat his rapid development curves as he did in Dallas with Orlando&rsquo;s roster, it will become a perfect marriage. Imagining Suggs being coached by Mosley is an exciting proposition, potentially one where we see the No. 4 overall pick make a run for 2021-22 Rookie of the Year.
Let&rsquo;s take a look at the Magic&rsquo;s rotation for the upcoming season:
Starters: Markelle Fultz, Gary Harris, Terrence Ross, Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter Jr.
Second Unit: Jalen Suggs, Cole Anthony, R.J. Hampton, Franz Wagner, Chuma Okeke, Mo Bamba
Suggs will quickly push his way into the starting lineup. The question is, does Orlando pull the trigger quickly enough to put Suggs in the ROY race? When the Magic are likely trying to boost the trade values for Harris and Ross early in the regular season, it will be something to continuously monitor.
Orlando is years away from being where it just was as a scrappy, competitive, lower-tier seed in the East playoffs. However, this method of team-building is the way it should have been done all along.
With so much young talent stockpiling on top of one another, the dust will eventually settle itself and help Orlando put together a young core ready to grow together for years to come.

Orlando has officially reset its organization. Now, it's time to let the dust settle for an intriguing young Magic core.

Magic finally hit the reset button for a bright future

By trading long-time franchise building blocks Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic at last season's trade deadline, the Orlando Magic finally pushed the reset button after toiling below even the Eastern Conference's middle tier for way too long. &nbsp;
Fortunately for the franchise, Orlando was one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2021-nba-draft-recap-winners-and-losers-steals-biggest-surprises-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biggest winners</a> of the 2021 NBA Draft.
Selecting Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs at No. 5 and Michigan forward Franz Wagner at No. 8, the Magic's young core got a much-needed boost toward respectability as they begin the process of building out a talented crop of young prospects.
Suggs has the alpha dog mentality many stars need to thrive on the next level. Winning has always been in his DNA, and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/jalen-suggs-thinks-2021-class-definitely-has-a-chance-to-rival-2003" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he made it known</a> that the teams who passed over him would eventually regret it.
"I will say: the ones that do pass on me and take another prospect, it will come back," Suggs told reporters prior to the draft. "It will be to their detriment, honestly, because you can look at my track record &mdash; what I&rsquo;ve done and where I&rsquo;ve been &mdash; it&rsquo;s always win at the highest level. And my play has been at the highest level.
"As far as that goes, if somebody makes a decision that&rsquo;s not me, that&rsquo;s their opinion and I can never be angry at them for that. But I don&rsquo;t forget those kinds of things; that&rsquo;s just how competitive I am.&rdquo;
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Leading a new era of Magic basketball, Suggs is exactly the type of prospect needed to take their rebuild off ground level. An aggressive scorer, willing defender and growing playmaker, it's hard to envison the 20-year-old failing in the NBA. Possessing one of the highest floors of any player in this year's draft, Suggs will be a long-time starter who could quickly ascend to a star-caliber player. If all works out for Suggs, he's someone Orlando can build the next great Magic team around, in short order.
As a freshman last season, Suggs averaged 14.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.2 threes, while shooting 50.3% from the field, 33.7% from three and 75.4% from the free-throw line. He shined during the NCAA Tournament, leading the Bulldogs to the National Championship Game, elevating his averages to 16.2 points, 5.2 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals.
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Franz Wagner also has a high floor, as he can serve as the new connective tissue to help Orlando leap up another rung on the proverbial ladder to relevance. A great help defender with real versatlity to guard three positions, Wagner helps cement an identity for the Magic, which can become a respectable two-way team that flanks Jonathan Isaac and Wendell Carter Jr.
Reportedly growing to 6-foot-11, Wagner also offers floor-spacing potential from NBA range, which raises his own ceiling.
Both Suggs and Wagner are very unselfish players with high basketball IQs. Inserting these two prospects into an already enticing core should make Magic fans giddy for the future. Check out how Orlando's potential rotation stacks up for 2021-22:
STARTERS: Jalen Suggs, Markelle Fultz, Gary Harris, Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter Jr.
SECOND UNIT: Cole Anthony, R.J. Hampton, Chuma Okeke, Franz Wagner, Mo Bamba
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Terrance Ross is missing from the projected rotation because the acquisitions of Suggs and Wagner could signal that Ross will be dealt once the new league year begins next week. There's already interest around the Association in Ross, <a href="https://www.sny.tv/articles/several-teams-have-been-in-touch-with-magic-on-trades-involving-terrence-ross" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per SNY's Ian Begley</a>, and Orlando's draft results will only add to the speculation.
In the end, shipping Gordon and Vucevic out led Orlando to these potential long-term pieces: Harris, Hampton, Carter, Wagner, and a 2023 first-round pick (via Chicago) and a 2025 protected first-round pick (via Denver). Add on another potential asset or future pick in a possible Ross deal, and the Magic will continue to help themselves in their rebuild.
Trotting out a rotation with nine players who are age-25 or younger next season, Orlando is back to square one. Where the club goes from here all depends on its player development, but hiring former Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley to be their new head coach fits right into that critically important strategy. Luka Doncic, who established himself as an MVP contender in his third season, was a huge Mosley supporter. Now, with a copious amount of young talent to groom, the coach-organization fit between Mosley and the Magic is perfect.
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All teams start where Orlando currently is.
The Phoenix Suns toiled in mediocrity for years before finally breaking through this past season, and after hiring Tom Thibodeau, the New York Knicks finally returned to respectability after the coach helped to elevate the team's young core, led by Julius Randle and RJ Barrett. Philadelphia endured "The Process" years, and now they are a perennial contender.
Orlando now has all the pieces in place to eventually make a leap back to where they haven't been since the prime Dwight Howard days &mdash; regarded as a real threat in the Eastern Conference. With Mosley leading a strong young core that's spearheaded by Isaac and their two top-eight picks, the Magic could soon have Orlando back on the map.

After selecting two of the 'safest' prospects in the 2021 NBA Draft, the rebuilding Magic have a solid foundation to stand upon.

Orlando Magic kick-start rebuild by drafting Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner

The Play-In Tournament is underway, which also means we're a few days away from the Fight For 16 kicking off. The NBA community at large will rightfully shift their focus to the teams participating in postseason play.
With the regular season wrapping up on Sunday night, I wanted to give one last ode to the teams that didn't make it to the big dance. They'll garner plenty of draft talk moving forward, but it's fair to acknowledge the fun portions of their actual seasons. This is what I enjoyed -- or will miss -- about the current lottery teams.
HOUSTON ROCKETS: KEVIN PORTER JR.'S DANCE PARTY
The Houston Rockets could never find their footing. An offseason trade of Russell Westbrook for John Wall; a trade demand, and a lot of extracurriculars, from James Harden; injury woes from Wall and Victor Oladipo; sitting, then eventually trading beloved vet PJ Tucker, as well as Oladipo.
A season that began with fringe title hopes quickly shifted to hard-reset mode. And that's okay, because the Rockets enter the offseason with a clean salary sheet, a lot of future pick capital, and a dude who can do stuff like this:
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Kevin Porter Jr. was an absolute joy to watch at times. Given the reins as a full-time starter on March 27, Porter Jr. averaged 17.2 points (43/35/76), 4.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists (3.6 turnovers) in 19 games.&nbsp;
Porter Jr. really got busy in isolation. He graded out in the 69th percentile overall this season, but especially turned it up after becoming a full-time starter. You can insert the #SmallSampleAlert disclaimer if you must, but he converted nearly 58% of his shots in iso situations in those 19 games, per Synergy. His shot breakdown was even more absurd:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">10-of-16 at the rim (62.5%)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">3-of-6 from mid-range (50%)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">6-of-11 from three (54.5%)</li>
</ul>
His slick, effectively-loose handle allowed him to catch defenders leaning. His ability to decelerate kept defenders off-balance. That timing, footwork, and touch often came together for some fun finishes. Stepbacks, side-steps, eurosteps. You name it, he did it.
Can't wait to see how he builds on that stretch next season.
DETROIT PISTONS: ISAIAH STEWART'S RAPID EVOLUTION
I was not a fan of the Stewart pick.
It was less about him, and more about the general confusion I had about Detroit's direction. A big-centric offseason only added to that confusion. I had no idea where he would slot into the rotation, nor did I have a real feel for how the pieces around him would make him better.
Stewart blew my expectations out of the water.
He popped as your prototypical energy guy, muscling dudes out of the way for offensive rebounds. You can't teach this kind of motor.
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But then Stewart began to branch out his game. He didn't just lurk around the paint, hunting for dump-offs and offensive rebounds. He started picking-and-popping for threes. From there, he's flashed an ability to attack from the perimeter. 
His numbers after the All-Star break -- 10.4 points (55/35/70) and 7.6 rebounds -- won't wow you, but it's fun watching him get the opportunity to try new things. The Pistons have a good one.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: THE POKU EXPERIENCE
Aleksej Pokusevski averaged 8.2 points with a 43.0 True Shooting percentage this season. He finished 11 games with four or more turnovers; that ain't easy to do as a big (I use that term loosely). I have absolutely no idea what position he can defend full-time right now.
He can also do this.
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I am&nbsp;never&nbsp;going to quit this dude. And on a more serious note, he bounced back nicely from a predictably horrific start to his rookie campaign. Poku averaged 11-5-3 after the break, including four games of 20 or more points.&nbsp;
The efficiency still isn't great, at all, but it's evident that he's getting used to the speed and physicality of the NBA. A seven-footer with his level of ball skills and touch is someone to track, especially once you consider how young he is.
ORLANDO MAGIC: CHUMA OKEKE-WENDELL CARTER JR. CONNECTION
It's a nerdy thing for sure, but I really appreciate big-to-big actions on the perimeter. Ball-handling wings are all the rage; ball-handling bigs might be the meta moving forward.
At any rate, one of the hidden joys of this post-trade-everybody squad was Chuma Okeke and Wendell Carter Jr. hooking up to make Magic. I'm not apologizing.
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I'm down to see more of that. Okeke isn't a primary, but he's certainly someone you can run secondary actions through. And honestly, any time Carter Jr. is able to rack up a field-goal attempt is a win for my viewing experience.
Spread your wings, young man.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: EXPLORATION WITH KAT
After the Ryan Saunders firing, I <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-minnesota-timberwolves-karl-anthony-towns-reshape-offense-primary-initiator-playmaker-chris-finch-dangelo-russell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote a piece</a> about the Wolves needing to shape their team in Karl-Anthony Towns' image. Give him more touches, and do so from further out. Unlock the passing ability. Invert your offense, and good things will follow for everyone involved.
Chris Finch did that, and we got to see stuff like this.
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Towns' per-game numbers were outstanding after the Finch hiring -- 25.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists -- and the Wolves scored over <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/vs/advanced/#!?TeamID=1610612750&amp;VsPlayerID=1626157&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=02%2F23%2F2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">115 points per 100 possessions</a> with Towns on the floor in that stretch.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: DARIUS GARLAND'S GROWTH
Garland walked into the league with a slippery handle, plus-passing vision and a quick trigger from deep. The skeleton of a high-level initiator was there; it was just going to take time -- and reps -- for him to showcase it consistently.
If the second half of the season is any indication, Garland may get there sooner than expected. I'd highly recommend this breakdown from my guy <a href="https://twitter.com/jackfrank_jjf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jackson Frank</a> on Garland's <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2021/05/is-darius-garland-rising-to-stardom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strengths and weaknesses</a>. In the meantime:
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</div>
TORONTO RAPTORS: OG ANUNOBY DOING IT ALL
It was at this point that I just knew OG Anunoby was going to win the Most Improved Player award this season.
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Is a transition behind-the-back against a backpedaling LaMelo Ball a huge deal? Not in a vacuum. It was for Anunoby, who mostly operated as a straightline driver and spot-up shooter for the Raptors the year before. Any amount of wiggle in his dribble would be welcomed.
(He's not going to win MIP this season. He probably won't get any accolades due to games played and Toronto's record, though I believe he's been one of the six or so best defenders on the planet.)
SACRAMENTO KINGS: RICHAUN HOLMES' PUSH SHOT
I could talk about Holmes bringing the funk as a rim runner. The rim protection improving, the absurd amount of times he was asked to switch screens. No, no, no, no, no. This is what I'm going to miss.
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Aside from TJ McConnell's six-foot fading jumpers, I don't know if there's a more peculiar role-player-good-at-random-shot combo than Holmes and his mid-range fling. It's a weird quirk I've come to enjoy. Breaks up the monotony of regular season COVID-ball. Holmes <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-richaun-holmes-qa-interview-free-agency-all-defensive-team" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke to BasketballNews.com</a> about adding this shot to his repertoire: "I worked hard on my floater so that if I didn&rsquo;t have a dunk, I still had a go-to move."
CHICAGO BULLS: ZACH LAVINE, PULLING UP
Stephen Curry is the league's preeminent "He's hit four shots in a row; get to your television NOW!" player. His fallen partner, Klay Thompson, might be second.
Could I suggest Zach LaVine as a sneaky pick for third?
I know that the result is all that matters when it comes to scoring, but it's worth pointing out how freakin'&nbsp;cool&nbsp;LaVine looks. He's an incredibly smooth offensive player. He glides with the ball, really. Combining that with an effective pull-up jumper -- not just an effective jumper, but one with deeeeeeep range -- lends itself to some dope possessions.
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A quick stat, if I can indulge: LaVine is one of 17 players to take at least 200 pull-up threes. Only Mike Conley (41.5) and Steph (40.9) made a higher percentage of them than LaVine (39.0).
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: POINT ZION
Well first, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/zion-williamson-is-breaking-basketball-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">read this</a>.
Then, watch this.
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You tell me if you're excited to see more of Zion as a lead ball-handler next season.

Nekias Duncan gives a parting shot this year's lottery teams as we head into NBA postseason play.

What I'll miss from each of this year's NBA lottery teams

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid and the 76ers are happy to have earned home-court advantage for the playoffs — but they are a long way from their goal.
Seth Curry scored 20 points, Embiid had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Philadelphia clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 122-97 victory over the Orlando Magic on Friday night.
Ben Simmons added 13 points and nine assists to help the 76ers improve to 48-23. Philadelphia could’ve clinched earlier this week, but lost at Indiana on Tuesday and at Miami on Thursday. Embiid didn’t play against the Pacers due to illness and logged just 25 minutes against the Heat while still looking sluggish.
But he was more engaged in the second quarter against the undermanned Magic, helping Philadelphia outscore Orlando 39-19 in the period to take firm control. Embiid showed the edge that has made him arguably Philadelphia’s most-loved athlete when he picked up a technical for a confrontation with Shane Bacon with 3:16 left in the period.
“I’m happy about what we accomplished, but we have a long way to go,” Embiid said. “Now’s the time to lock in and go get the whole thing.”
Philadelphia fans reigned down “M-V-P!” “M-V-P!” chants on Embiid in the first half. And those cheers will get even louder in the postseason, as the city announced this week that the 76ers’ home arena can have 50 percent capacity when the playoffs begin. That will mean about 10,000 fans can be in attendance, or about double the current allowance.
The 76ers improved to 28-7 at home.
“Home-court advantage helps a lot,” Embiid said. “We’ve been dominant at home; we barely lose here. It means a lot to have the No. 1 seed.”
Embiid, Simmons and the rest of Philadelphia’s starters relaxed on the bench in the fourth quarter with the 76ers up big.
“I told our guys to enjoy the second,” coach Doc Rivers said. “It’s not what we want, but it’s part of what you can get on your way to what you want.”
Ignas Brazdeikis scored 21 points for the Magic. They have lost six straight.
“They’re great, they’re an elite team, championship level, ton of talent,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “That game was important to them. The second quarter when they really turned up the defense, it was a struggle.”
The 76ers last took the top seed in 2001 when Allen Iverson won the MVP, Larry Brown the Coach of the Year and Aaron McKie the Sixth Man award. That team reached the NBA finals before losing to Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and the Lakers in five games.
Philadelphia has made the playoffs 10 times since, but hasn’t gotten close to the finals. The club started from scratch under former GM Sam Hinkie, famously rebuilding beginning in 2013-14. The 76ers won just 47 games over the first three seasons of The Process before using high draft picks on Simmons and Embiid helped turn things around.
They will enter the playoffs for the fourth straight season, but the hope of a Process-produced championship has remained elusive. Philadelphia hasn’t even reached the conference finals during the recent stretch, and last year’s first-round playoff exit cost former coach Brett Brown his job.
Now, Rivers and GM Daryl Morey, Hinkie’s ex-boss in Houston, will try to help bring Philadelphia its first championship since 1983. The 76ers will begin that quest on May 22 and have home-court advantage as long as they stay alive in the East. They’ll start with a series against the No. 8 seed, which will come by way of a play-in tourney between the No. 9 and 10 seeds.
“We did it as a group, felt like everybody contributed,” Embiid said. “Great coaching staff, great front office, the group we’ve had this year has been exceptional. As good as we were in the regular season, I think we’re going to be even better in the playoffs.”
SHOT-CLOCK MALFUNCTION
The shot clock didn’t work at the start of the second half. The public-address announcer called out when there were 15 seconds and then 10 seconds remaining before counting down the last five seconds.
TIP-INS
Magic: Mo Bamba returned after missing the last two games due to illness. … Fell to 10-25 on the road. … Were without Michael Carter-Williams (sprained left ankle), James Ennis III (sore right calf), Markelle Fultz (torn ACL left knee), Jonathan Isaac (left knee rehab), Chuma Okeke (sprained left ankle), Otto Porter Jr. (left foot pain) and Terrence Ross (back spasms).
76ers: Matisse Thybulle (swelling left hand) missed his third straight contest. … Backup center Dwight Howard served a one-game suspension for picking up his 16th technical of the season on Thursday against the Heat.
UP NEXT
The teams wrap up the regular season in a rematch on Sunday night in Philadelphia.

Joel Embiid and the 76ers are happy to have earned home-court advantage for the playoffs — but they are a long way from their goal.

Curry, Embiid help 76ers top Magic, clinch top seed in East

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Cole Anthony made a 3-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining, giving him a career-best 26 points and the Orlando Magic a 112-111 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.
Anthony, a rookie who hit a game-winning shot earlier in the season against Minnesota, drilled the high-arching shot over the outstretched arm of Memphis guard Kyle Anderson. 
Anthony added eight rebounds and six assists for the Magic, who ended their home losing streak at nine games. 
Memphis led by 20 points in the third quarter before Orlando's furious rally in the fourth. The Magic tied the game at 109 on a 3-pointer from Moritz Wagner with 1:16 to play. 
After the teams traded misses, Memphis got possession on a ball out of bounds following a lengthy possession. Dillon Brooks then went to work and hit a 17-foot jumper over the outstretched arm of Orlando’s Dwayne Bacon to give the Grizzlies a 111-109 lead with 7 seconds to play.
Brooks scored 23 points, while Ja Morant added 22 points and seven assists. Anderson had 21 points, but did not score in the fourth quarter. Jonas Valanciunas notched his 43rd double-double of the season for Memphis.
The teams were playing for a second consecutive night after the Grizzlies won 92-75 in Memphis in a game where both teams failed to reach even 40% shooting. 
Currently eighth in the Western Conference standings, the Grizzlies fell three games back of Portland and had their lead over San Antonio drop to a half-game. 
Valanciunas finished with 11 points and 16 rebounds. He has notched a double-double in 43 of 55 games (78.1%) and is on pace to break Zach Randolph’s franchise record from the 2010-11 season (double-doubles in 71.8% of the games).
Wagner had a season-high 24 points in just his third game with the Magic. Bacon scored 23, while R.J. Hampton scored 18 off the bench.
CLIFFORD STILL OUT
Magic coach Steve Clifford, who led Orlando to the playoffs each of the two previous seasons, missed his fifth straight game because of COVID-19protocols. Clifford first tested positive for the virus last week, then tested negative twice and then tested positive again. Clifford’s first positive test came in between his two vaccination shots and he’s yet to experience any of the symptoms usually associated with the virus.
“From everything he has told me, he’s feeling fine, has no symptoms, no temperature and his oxygen levels are good,” acting head coach Tyrone Corbin said. “He’s feeling great and looking forward to coming back.” 
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Grayson Allen missed his second straight game with a hand injury. Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said Allen is trending toward returning by Monday. … The Grizzlies recently started a season-closing stretch of 11 games in 17 nights. The final 10 opponents have a .408 winning percentage prior to Saturday for the NBA’s second-easiest closing stretch. … A night after hitting just 3 of 12 shots, Morant made his first four shots.
Magic: The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation raised more than $150,000 at a charity golf tournament to benefit at-risk children in Central Florida. The money raised this week pushed OMYF’s total donated over the last 30 years to $26 million. … The Magic were once again without five players, including forward Chuma Okeke for a second straight game with a sprained ankle. …
UP NEXT
Grizzlies: Host New York on Monday night.
Magic: Play at Detroit on Monday night.

Cole Anthony's buzzer-beater gave him a career-best 26 points and the Magic a 112-111 victory over the Grizzlies on Saturday night.

Anthony's 3-pointer gives Magic 112-111 win over Grizzlies

Hi, hello, and welcome to yet another edition of Roaming The Baseline! This will be a weekly endeavor where I point out some things that caught my eye: a hot or cold streak from a player, a developmental flash, a well-run play, a funny tweet, who knows? There will be film -- it&rsquo;s me, so of course there will be film -- but this will also be a bit looser. It&rsquo;s an extension of my Twitter feed, if you will.&nbsp;
With that said, let&rsquo;s roam the baseline.
PAUL GEORGE, IN ATTACK MODE
Don't look now, but the Clippers have won six in a row, and 12 of their last 14 games. They're getting a little bit of everything from everyone, though we should probably be paying more attention to Paul George's recent run.
He's tossing flames, averaging 28.3 points with a 51/54/97 shooting split. A 54 percent clip from deep on nearly seven attempts is absurd; the 5.2 free throw attempts in that stretch, as modest as that number looks on the surface, is the more important number to note.
We know what George can do as a shooter. He can kill drop coverage with pull-up triples. He's a monster off of corner pindowns or free-throw-line curls. Any semblance of space is an invitation to be picked apart with his quick trigger and high release point.
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What's more encouraging is that George has tuned his attack method. The volume of his drives hasn't changed much -- breaking it down monthly, he's been floating between 12.2 and 13.1 drives per game since the turn of the year, per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;Month=7&amp;TeamID=1610612746&amp;sort=DRIVE_FGA&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Second Spectrum tracking.</a> George has been more forceful and more intentional with those looks.
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The number of drives may not have risen, but his shot attempts have. He's putting up nearly seven shots on drives in April, and converting those at a 56.1 percent clip. The free throw attempts have risen in tandem with his aggressiveness.
While the Clippers have been an elite offense all year long, the lack of rim pressure has been a question mark with serious playoff implications. That's gotten better as of late -- the Clippers rank 12th in the percentage of shots at the rim (33.6) since March 17, per Cleaning The Glass -- and George has been a major reason for that.
THE MONSTER MASH
"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
- Mark Twain, allegedly
- Kim Jung Un, allegedly
- Post-up offense
The post-up ain't dead; the bar for success is just higher. The increase in weak side zoning, the added length and athleticism of digging defenders and a shift in developmental priorities for young big men have been key factors in the rate of post-ups going down across the league. That doesn't mean we don't still have practitioners.
Jonas Valanciunas is one of my favorite players to watch on the block. It's akin to a bear doing ballet -- a grizzly bear, if you will. He's a massive human, but a massive human with superb footwork and a slow-but-effective over-the-head fake that helps him get defenders off balance. The way he can dislodge dudes with his shoulder is high comedy, and a welcomed change-up from the Memphis floaterfest.
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Valanciunas has been on fire as of late, averaging 22 points on 68.4 percent shooting from the floor in April. He's converted 12 of 22 shots (54.5 percent) on post-ups this month per Synergy, identical to his season average. Among 33 players that have logged at least 75 post-up possessions this season, Valanciunas ranks seventh in field goal percentage.
HE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT
T.J. McConnell just keeps doing it. He can't keep doing it.
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Allowing McConnell to get to the baseline is a cardinal sin at this point. He's become one of the NBA's best Nashers, circling around the baseline to hunt dump-offs, kick-outs or quick-hitting turnaround jumpers.&nbsp;
It's especially criminal to toss lazy passes in the backcourt against him. After going through all of McConnell's steals this season, he's racked up 14 steals in the backcourt after dead balls this season -- 15 if you count this one.&nbsp;
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Whether it's 14 or 15, I'm just going to assume that mark leads the NBA by a wide margin.
A question to ponder: Is there a player better at an obscure skill than McConnell is at pilfering after the inbound?
I'm open to hearing your suggestions.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO "HMMMM"
<ul>
<li>155 players have logged at least 100 possessions as the pick-and-roll ball handler (passes included), per Syngery. Pascal Siakam ranks No. 6 (!) in points per possession generated (1.13 PPP). Pick-and-rolls only account for 17.1 percent of his offensive possessions. If you're looking for a way to unlock a next level for him offensively, maybe it's leaning into more of that? Inverted ball screens since the guard room (Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet) is so good at setting them? Just spit-balling.</li>
<li>More Synergy fun: the NBA's most efficient isolation player (including passes, min. 100 possessions) is, you guessed it, Andrew Wiggins (1.27 PPP). Zach LaVine (1.23), Paul George (1.18), Giannis Antetokounmpo (1.15; come back, king) and Kyrie Irving (1.15) round out the top five. Do with that information as you will.</li>
<li>There are 11 players averaging at least 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks. Eight bigs, two forwards and Matisse Thybulle, who is the only player on the list doing so in fewer than 20 minutes per game. Just a ridiculous event creator, and his work off the bench might <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612755&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1627732,1629680&amp;OnlyCommonGames=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">skew the on-off numbers</a> enough to kill Ben Simmons' DPOY case.</li>
<li>Very quietly, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is on a heater: 42.7 percent from deep since the beginning of March, and a 51.2 percent clip on nearly six attempts in April. The Lakers have struggled to shoot all year long; getting KCP going, especially on the type of movement looks he feasts on, is wildly important as they get closer to the postseason.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
<li>I know I mentioned him last week, but Clint Capela is averaging 20 &amp; 15 with nearly three blocks per game in April (7-0 with him). Him good, him real good.</li>
</ul>
PLAYS I LIKED
Cutting Loose
Karl-Anthony Towns has been unleashed since the hiring of Chris Finch -- higher usage, more elbow touches, better numbers almost across the board. The high-post touches are key, as they allow the Wolves to maximize his scoring gravity and passing ability to unlock opportunities for others.
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This is a beautiful switch-beater from the Wolves. After the pitch to Towns, D'Angelo Russell gives the illusion of screen setting. Jaden McDaniels instead ghosts the screen -- the best way to beat a switch is with a slip, folks! -- and jets to the basket. This puts Marcus Smart behind the play and causes Grant Williams to offer some help. The sink from Williams ultimately opens up a wider window for another cut, this time for Anthony Edwards.
Sheesh.
Reversing Course
If you're looking to find some fun in Magic games, as a fan or a neutral observer, try to track the way they generate looks for Terrence Ross. Always a gunner, he's become even more important to their offense due to his ability to bend defenses with movement.&nbsp;
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We get some Iverson action at the beginning of the play (Ross running off the two elbow-area screens), though he cuts it short to set up a pick-and-roll...or so we think. A cross-screen underneath the basket frees Chuma Okeke (he's fun and&nbsp;good!) for a low-post touch. Mo Bamba then flips his screen to free Ross for a corner look.
It would've been nice if the Bamba screen was better -- a theme for him at this stage -- but it's essentially an empty corner with built-in counters depending on the way it's defended. I like the design.
The Power of Gravity 
There are players that force extra attention due to their on-ball prowess. There are players that strike fear in the heart of defenders off the ball because of their shooting ability. Then, there are guys like Damian LIllard, who can fill both roles at an elite level.&nbsp;
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A double-stagger look for Lillard ends with an Enes Kanter layup. How?&nbsp;
It all boils down to the Heat being terrified of what Lillard can do with the ball in his hands. As he begins to come off the first screen, he cuts his path short to screen for Robert Covington. Against normal humans, the Heat would simply switch it. But because Lillard is the screener, Jimmy Butler outright refuses to give up the assignment to Duncan Robinson.
This kicks off the chain of events. Covington comes off the screen, forcing Bam Adebayo to leap out to prevent an open triple. Kanter slips to the rim and gets a layup because Butler is behind the play. Despite not touching the ball, the two points scored are a direct result of Lillard.
THE READING LIST
There is plenty of high-level basketball content out here if you know where to look. I wouldn&rsquo;t be where I am as a writer without reading a ton of Zach Lowe or Chris Herring or Caitlin Cooper or Mirin Fader or, well, you get the point.&nbsp;
Anyway, here are some -- not all, but some! -- of the stories I&rsquo;ve read this week (since April 7) that I think you should check out. Their Twitter handles will be linked under their names, so click and follow if you don&rsquo;t already.
A double dip from <a href="https://twitter.com/wtevs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Katie Heindl</a> (please follow her) -- a research-heavy piece on the <a href="https://uproxx.com/dimemag/nba-soft-tissue-injuries-2020-2021-season-analysis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rise of soft-tissue injuries</a> in the NBA this season, and a dope feature on <a href="https://uproxx.com/dimemag/kevin-huerter-atlanta-hawks-interview-feature-profile/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hawks guard Kevin Huerter</a>.
<a href="https://twitter.com/MarcoRomo_" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marco Romo</a> gives some <a href="https://uptempo.substack.com/p/terance-mann-through-the-wreckage?r=1fb9n&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_source=copy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">love to Terance Mann</a> for becoming an important role player on a title contender.
<a href="https://twitter.com/MSchindlerNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Schindler</a> goes deep on <a href="https://premiumhoops.org/2021/04/11/rj-barrett-is-controlling-the-driving-lanes-on-both-ends/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RJ Barrett's development</a> on both ends.
<a href="https://twitter.com/jackfrank_jjf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jackson Frank</a> on the <a href="https://uproxx.com/dimemag/michael-porter-jr-denver-nuggets-2020-2021-analysis-breakdown-videos/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">development of Michael Porter Jr.</a> on both ends.
<a href="https://twitter.com/Herring_NBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Herring</a> on <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2021/04/08/jalen-brunson-mavericks-offense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jalen Brunson operating</a> as a great complement to Luka Doncic.

In Nekias Duncan's weekly notebook, he shares things that have caught his eye. He breaks down players, teams, plays, stats and more.

Roaming the Baseline: Paul George, Jonas Valanciunas, T.J. McConnell, more

After spending eight-and-a-half years with the Orlando Magic, Nikola Vucevic was dealt to the Chicago Bulls two weeks ago in exchange for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two first-round picks. Not only was this the biggest deal to go down prior to the trade deadline, but it was also the most shocking.&nbsp;
Of all the rumors that were circulating in the weeks leading up to the deadline, there weren&rsquo;t many involving Vucevic. Most reports indicated that Orlando wanted to keep their three-time All-Star, and that their asking price had been high when teams called to gauge his availability. All signs seemed to point to the Magic keeping Vooch...until they didn&rsquo;t.
With this deal, Chicago has bolstered its roster for a playoff push, and they can build around their All-Star duo&nbsp; -- Vucevic and Zach LaVine -- going forward. They have a nice mix of veterans (Vucevic, LaVine, Thaddeus Young, Tomas Satoransky, Daniel Theis, Garrett Temple, Al-Farouq Aminu) and youth (Lauri Markkanen, Coby White, Patrick Williams, Troy Brown Jr.).
For the Magic, they bring in two first-round picks and a 21-year-old as they rebuild. Orlando also dealt Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier, so it&rsquo;s clear that the team wants to add talent through the draft and develop their young core of Carter Jr. (21), Cole Anthony (20), Jonathan Isaac (23), Markelle Fultz (22), R.J. Hampton (20), Mo Bamba (22) and Chuma Okeke (22).
Since joining the Bulls, Vucevic is averaging 22.9 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 51.7% from the field, 41% from three and 89.5% from the free throw line.
BasketballNews.com caught up with Vucevic for his first one-on-one interview since the blockbuster trade went down. He opened up about how he learned of the trade, why leaving Orlando was emotional for him and his family, forming a one-two punch with LaVine, his excitement about this Bulls squad, his first impression of Chicago and more.
How did you find out about the trade? Where were you?
Nikola Vucevic: &ldquo;I was actually with my son; I had taken him to this activity that he has because it was our day off. So, I went with him and then I got a call from the GM [John Hammond], and they just called me to let me know that the trade was happening. It wasn&rsquo;t out of nowhere, we&rsquo;d had discussions prior to it, so it was kind of mutual; it wasn&rsquo;t just out of nowhere. They pretty much just let me know that the trade was happening and said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re going to Chicago.&rsquo; Honestly, even though I had an idea that it could happen, it was still a big shock to me. I&rsquo;d never been through it before. And I think the biggest thing for me is that I was in Orlando for so long and I had such a special bond with the franchise, the city, the fans, the people there. I pretty much grew up there. I went from a 21-year-old boy to a 30-year-old man who&rsquo;s married with two kids, so I don&rsquo;t know...it was definitely still a shock, and it took a little bit for me to adjust to it. After a few days, I was able to gather myself and it&rsquo;s been good. It&rsquo;s obviously part of the business that we&rsquo;re in and things like this happen and you just move on.&rdquo;
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Garrett Temple told me that the Bulls don&rsquo;t have many leaks, so their moves tend to be surprises. You mentioned that you were having discussions with the Magic about their trade talks. Did you know that Chicago was a possibility, or were you surprised when you heard that you were heading to the Bulls?
Vucevic: &ldquo;I was aware of the teams that were showing interest in me; I knew that there were a couple, but I didn&rsquo;t know where I&rsquo;d land or all of the details because that&rsquo;s something that the front office was handling. But I knew of the teams that were interested; I knew that part.&rdquo;
Let&rsquo;s talk about leaving Orlando. You were there for eight-and-a-half years, and you have many relationships with people there. But you and I have also talked about how off the court, your family loved it in Orlando. Your wife was comfortable there and your kids were happy. I think fans tend to focus on the basketball side of things when a trade happens, but you also have to relocate your family and leave a city you all loved.
Vucevic: &ldquo;Even with the basketball part, I became who I am with the Magic and I grew as a player there. I had a great relationship with the owners. We had two front offices [while I was there] and I had great relationships with both, along with the coaches, the players, everything. That&rsquo;s a big part, too. But I think, for me, what made it hardest was that, like I said, I had a very special bond with the city and the fans. I was there for so long. Both of my sons were born there and we had a very good life, very established. We had a lot of friends and everything, so you&rsquo;re leaving a big part of your life behind. That was the hardest part. You&rsquo;re going into this big change that&rsquo;s not only affecting me, but also my family. My wife has to move, my kids have to move -- although they&rsquo;re little, so they won&rsquo;t be as aware of it, but still; my son liked the daycare he was at and had a lot of friends there. My wife had a lot of friends there and had established a nice life. So, you think about all of that and it&rsquo;s not easy. If it had just been me, I think it would&rsquo;ve been easier because I could just relocate and it&rsquo;s whatever. But when you have to move your whole family, you&rsquo;re also thinking about how that affects them -- and actually, that was one thing that was really difficult, just making sure that my job doesn&rsquo;t affect them in a negative way. That&rsquo;s the first reaction that you have, which is normal, because it&rsquo;s a big move.&nbsp;
&ldquo;But then once I got to Chicago, all of the people were great to me and very welcoming -- people from the team, the players, the coaches, the front office, people in the city, everywhere. Even in the hotel that I stayed at the first couple of days, everybody was pretty excited. When you see that, it gets easier. And now, after two weeks, I&rsquo;ve found us a place to stay and I found a daycare for my son, so it just gets easier and easier. But I think it&rsquo;s normal once you go through a big change; it&rsquo;s always difficult -- especially when you were so attached to a place for so long. I had a lot of success there, and I had established so many great relationships with so many great people, which I&rsquo;ll have forever -- it&rsquo;s not like those will stop. It&rsquo;s just in that initial moment, it&rsquo;s very difficult because you have to leave all of that behind and go to a new place. It wasn&rsquo;t easy, but at the same time, I was also very excited to join the Chicago Bulls, which is an amazing organization with a lot of history. This is a team that I grew up watching a lot, being a big Michael Jordan fan, so you get excited about that. There&rsquo;s just this crazy mix of emotions that you deal with all at once.&rdquo;
What are your thoughts on this Bulls team and the group&rsquo;s potential going forward?
Vucevic: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s one thing I&rsquo;m very excited about: the team has great potential. It has very good structure, and we&rsquo;re built to be successful for years to come, which is very important in this league. Knowing Zach, he&rsquo;s one of the best players at his position in this league and he had a great year this year; he was an All-Star, and I think he will be one for many years to come. It&rsquo;s always great to play alongside a guy like that and it&rsquo;s going to make my life easier, and hopefully I can make his life easier as well on the court. But I believe in Zach and I, and once we really grow our chemistry and build that two-man game, I think we can be very, very good and help our team in many ways and make it difficult for other teams to defend us.&nbsp;
&ldquo;But we also have guys like Thad [Young] and Garrett [Temple] and guys who have been around the league for a long time. Especially Thad, this is Year 14 for him; I actually played my rookie year with him in Philly, so I&rsquo;ve known him for a while. You have [Tom&aacute;&scaron;] Satoransk&yacute;, who&rsquo;s only been in the NBA for five years, but he played overseas so he has a lot of experience as well. Then, we also have Lauri Markkanen, Coby White, Denzel Valentine and Pat Williams, and all of those guys are really good players. Then, we also brought in Daniel Theis in a trade, who&rsquo;s also an experienced player. There are some very good pieces and I&rsquo;m excited. It&rsquo;s a new start, and hopefully with my experience and my knowledge, I can help them get to a higher level, which is my goal. But so far, the whole experience has been very positive. I think I&rsquo;ve been fitting in pretty quickly, and I think it&rsquo;s been getting better each day and each game. We&rsquo;re only going to continue to grow and get better, and I think we&rsquo;re going to have success hopefully this season but also for years to come.&rdquo;
In Orlando, you were the focal point of the offense, so Zach should be able to take some of the pressure off of you and vice versa. You guys can be a terrific one-two punch.
Vucevic: &ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;m very excited. I&rsquo;ve never played with anyone who&rsquo;s as good of a scorer as Zach is, so I think it&rsquo;s going to be great for me to have a guy like that on the ball a lot. In some of the games, it&rsquo;s shown already in some of our two-man game action, although we haven&rsquo;t played together a lot. It&rsquo;s going to be hard to defend. I mean, when you&rsquo;re trying to guard a two-man game that has two very good players, two very good scorers, it&rsquo;s hard to defend because it&rsquo;s hard to take away both; one or the other is always going to have a chance to get open or create for themselves, or for the other guy or for somebody else on the team. With me and Zach, it&rsquo;s going to be awesome to play with him. Another thing about him is that he&rsquo;s very unselfish; he&rsquo;s a willing passer, he&rsquo;s willing to make the right play, and that&rsquo;s always a huge plus for the team. Honestly, so far, it&rsquo;s been good. Against Indy, he hit me on seven or eight pocket passes where I just had to shoot it; I made some, but I even missed some very easy ones. But we had a very good connection in that game, and hopefully we can continue to build that because I think it&rsquo;s going to be very important for the team and the success that we have.&nbsp;
&ldquo;But also, Zach has been great with [welcoming me]. As soon as I got traded, he called me and said he was very excited that I was coming. He was super happy, and he said if there was anything I needed in the city, he could help me. Things like a car, a place to stay, a chef or whatever, he said he could help me out because he&rsquo;s been there for a bit. That&rsquo;s always great to see, when you have the best player on the team welcoming you and helping you with things like that. I really appreciated it. He understands that it isn&rsquo;t easy to move, so I appreciated that.&rdquo;
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Earlier this season, we spoke about how this condensed schedule has been difficult. There&rsquo;s less practice time and not many days off. Is it tougher to get acclimated to a new team during this condensed season? Chicago added a number of new players at the deadline, so has it been tough to get everyone on the same page?
Vucevic: &ldquo;For sure. It&rsquo;s more difficult because you just don&rsquo;t have as much practice time and you play every other day and you have a lot of back-to-backs, so it&rsquo;s a little different than what it would be in a regular season. But it&rsquo;s the same for everyone else, for all of the other teams that also made moves, so we just have to adjust on the go. And I think we&rsquo;ve been doing a pretty good job of that, with Coach [Billy] Donovan and the rest of the coaching staff. They&rsquo;ve been doing a good job in meetings and in shootarounds and when we&rsquo;ve had practice of running through stuff and helping us with the plays, the defense, the schemes and all that. I think we&rsquo;ve been able to catch on pretty quickly, which is good. And I think what also helps is that this is a group of guys that is really unselfish and that plays team basketball, and we have a lot of high-IQ players, so that makes it easier to kind of fit in and just play ball. So, for sure, it&rsquo;s not easy at any point. And I think this season, you obviously have all of the COVID protocols and everything is limited, so it is a little more tricky. But I think we&rsquo;ve been doing good so far.&rdquo;
You haven&rsquo;t been in Chicago for too long, but what&rsquo;s been your first impression of the city and the fan base?
Vucevic: &ldquo;I was familiar with the city just from being in the league so long. Whenever we came to Chicago, I&rsquo;d always take advantage of it and try to walk around and visit it. And I&rsquo;m a huge restaurant guy and I know that Chicago has some of the best restaurants in the country, so I&rsquo;m very excited for that. Hopefully when COVID calms down or goes away soon and we can get back to normal life, [we can eat at some]. Hopefully, the vaccination helps; I got my first shot and I&rsquo;m supposed to get my second shot in a couple days. After that, it&rsquo;ll be easier. I&rsquo;m very excited about the city. I&rsquo;ve only visited part of it, but everybody has told me that it&rsquo;s an amazing city. Obviously, it&rsquo;s one of the best cities in America and people love it. But yeah, we&rsquo;re actually very excited for that part and to get to know the city and learn good areas, good places to go. We heard there are many great things that you can do with kids, so we&rsquo;re excited for that.
&ldquo;And then, the fan base has been great. On social media, they&rsquo;ve been good and they&rsquo;ve been welcoming; actually, my followers went up a bit so that&rsquo;s not bad (laughs). But even around the city, one day I was just walking around and going to visit the spot that we&rsquo;re going to move into, and fans around the city were recognizing me and welcoming me. Like I said, even some of the people who work at the hotel I was staying at were excited and welcoming. Obviously, I know that Chicago has a great fan base; it&rsquo;s one of the biggest, for sure, out of all the NBA teams. They&rsquo;re very into sports; it&rsquo;s one of the biggest sports cities in the country. I&rsquo;m excited for that and it&rsquo;ll be special. The Bulls are one of the biggest franchises and especially for our generation -- we all grew up watching MJ and Pippen and all of them dominate the league -- so we were all big Bulls fans, so I&rsquo;m very excited about that. The only thing is that I&rsquo;ll have to make sure we get some good winter clothing, which we aren&rsquo;t really used to (laughs). That will probably be the biggest adjustment, but it&rsquo;s okay.&rdquo;
Right now, the Bulls have the 10th-best record in the East. Have you guys talked about making the playoffs this season and made that a goal?&nbsp;
Vucevic: &ldquo;Yeah, for sure, that is their goal. Coach Donovan even emphasized that in the first meetings when all of us first arrived. I think that&rsquo;s an achievable goal. It&rsquo;s not going to be easy because a lot of teams are going to be fighting for those last couple of spots. Unless we get the sixth seed, we&rsquo;ll have to play in the play-in. It&rsquo;ll be easier if we get seventh or eighth and then we have to play, but if you&rsquo;re ninth or 10th, you have to play two [play-in] games. But I think it&rsquo;ll be huge if we can get to the playoffs. It&rsquo;ll be a great achievement for a lot of these young guys to have that experience and also for the franchise to get back to the playoffs after a couple of years. I think by making these moves, the Bulls already sent a strong message to the rest of the league that they really want to win now, but making the playoffs would send a strong message, too. And when you make that step and have some success, it also attracts other people to want to play for a team like that.&rdquo;
Having two All-Stars in a big market like Chicago, I think other stars will want to come play with you and Zach, too.
Vucevic: &ldquo;Hopefully!&rdquo;
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Nikola Vucevic talks with Alex Kennedy about leaving Orlando after eight years, joining the Bulls, playing with Zach LaVine and more.

Nikola Vucevic Q&A: 'We’re built to be successful for years to come'

Aaron Gordon scored 24 points against his former team, rallying the Denver Nuggets past the Orlando Magic 119-109 Sunday night.
&ldquo;Those are my brothers, man,&rdquo; Gordon said, &ldquo;but business is business.&rdquo;
Gordon said he was proud of his team&rsquo;s resilience, evidenced by its 72-44 recovery in the second half.
&ldquo;A lot of teams that get down by 18 in the first half, they would just let go of the rope, they would just give up,&rdquo; Gordon argued.
Not these guys.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a testament," he said, &ldquo;to where this team can go.&rdquo;
Gordon scored Denver's first dozen points, then helped the Nuggets erase an 18-point halftime deficit for their 14th win in 17 games and their 10th straight over the Magic.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
24 points for Aaron Gordon. 10/13 from the field. The <a href="https://twitter.com/nuggets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nuggets</a> improve to 4-0 with <a href="https://twitter.com/Double0AG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Double0AG</a>! <a href="https://t.co/iCXoQiKdUL">pic.twitter.com/iCXoQiKdUL</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1379048704565518339?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

&ldquo;Poor offense, poor defense, poor effort,&rdquo; Denver coach Michael Malone said of his team's awful first half, which he called &ldquo;our worst half of the season.&rdquo;
Which was followed by a masterpiece.
&ldquo;It was great to see the comeback, but I'd rather see 48 minutes&rdquo; of that kind of basketball, Malone said.
Jamal Murray added 22 points and Michael Porter Jr. 20 for Denver, which got 17 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds from Nikola Jokic. Chuma Okeke and Terrence Ross led Orlando with 19 points each.
Rookie R.J. Hampton, who was dealt by Denver in the Gordon trade, scored 16 points, including Orlando's first seven.
&ldquo;It was definitely fun to see those guys and compete against those guys," Hampton said. &ldquo;They're a great basketball team.&rdquo;
Malone said before tip-off that he didn&rsquo;t have to give Gordon any advice about keeping his emotions in check going against his former team that dealt him to Denver last week after seven seasons in Orlando.
But he did admonish his team not to take Orlando lightly because they're a rebuilding team, one that's also riddled by injuries and illnesses.
&ldquo;If we think we can just show up because we&rsquo;re playing a team that doesn&rsquo;t have maybe a marquee name, we&rsquo;re going to find ourselves in a ballgame," Malone warned.
They sure did.
The Nuggets trailed by double digits for most of the first half, and after cutting their deficit to 54-47, they surrendered the final 11 points of the second quarter and trailed 65-47 at halftime.
Denver erased all of that in the third quarter before Ross put Orlando back on top 86-85 with a jumper in the closing seconds.
But the Nuggets pulled away in the final minutes for their fourth consecutive win since the big trade for Gordon.
TIP-INS
Magic coach Steve Clifford called his team&rsquo;s injury epidemic &ldquo;like nothing I&rsquo;ve ever been through before as a head coach or an assistant.&rdquo; Sidelined against Denver were: Cole Anthony (ribs), Michael Carter-Williams (non-COVID illness), Markelle Fultz (left ACL), Harris (strained left adductor), Karim Mane (hamstring) and Otto Porter Jr. (left foot). Limited were Chasson Randle (hamstring), James Ennis III (non-COVID-illness) and Mo Bamba (non-COVID illness).
Nuggets: The Nuggets played a video tribute to Harris in the second quarter, which earned him a standing ovation from the 4,050 fans at Ball Arena in the <a href="https://twitter.com/arniestapleton/status/1378914209774202883?s=20">first game open to the public</a> since before the pandemic hit last year (employees and front-line workers were at last game). Hampton, a rookie, got his video tribute later in the quarter. ... Denver was outshot in the first half 57 percent to 39 percent.
UP NEXT
Magic: Hosts the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.
Nuggets: Host the Detroit Pistons and former teammates Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee on Tuesday night.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Gordon scored Denver's first dozen points, then helped the Nuggets erase an 18-point halftime deficit for their 14th win in 17 games.

Aaron Gordon on win over Magic: 'Those are my brothers, but business is business'

About a year ago, Gary Clark was fielding 10-day contract offers from a handful of teams. As he studied each squad via film sessions, one stood out in particular: Steve Clifford&rsquo;s Orlando Magic.
&ldquo;Knowing how Coach [Clifford] plays, he&rsquo;s all about defense,&rdquo; Clark said via Zoom after Monday&rsquo;s shootaround. &ldquo;And how they needed some extra shooting, it was kinda ideal for me to come here... Seeing Coach, the numbers about how defensive our team is -- it's like night-and-day. It was like, 'I have to go to Orlando to be able to be a part of a defensive team that is in the NBA.'&rdquo;
If you look up Clark's stats, the numbers won&rsquo;t jump out at you. He admits that he&rsquo;s not the most athletic player in the league, nor is he likely to show up on a nightly highlight reel. He just goes out there and does his job when called upon.
Take his play in the NBA Bubble, for example, when Jonathan Isaac tragically went down with a torn ACL on Aug. 2. Clark went from getting DNPs at the end of the bench to averaging 22 minutes per contest. The burly forward stepped right in and filled the role that Clifford asked of him.
Matching up with the Milwaukee Bucks in the postseason, Orlando needed somebody to get a body on Giannis Antetokounmpo. Insert Clark, who spent nearly 25 minutes total guarding the Greek Freak in that series. Not only did he do a stellar job holding his own against the league&rsquo;s back-to-back MVP, he also <a href="https://go.nba.com/48lx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">forced eight turnovers and held Antetokounmpo to 26.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc</a>, per NBA.com.
&ldquo;It was a huge learning experience, just playing the best offensive team and close to being the best defensive team last year," Clark said. "Like, there's no plays off, so you have to be extra prepared for the game plan.
&ldquo;Defensively, I think [I&rsquo;m] night-and-day better at what to expect on a night-in, night-out basis [as far as] what other teams like to do. I think I'm more confident in guarding pretty much anyone after guarding [Giannis] as my assignment. You kinda take a little bit of it and move on, but I hold an edge with myself every day knowing that I had that assignment in the postseason.&rdquo;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/clark2_lg.jpg" alt="" width="797" height="AUTO" />
Go figure that Clark put up the best numbers of his career when it was playoff time. He scored 7.4 points and nabbed 5.6 rebounds a night, knocking down 34.4 percent of his triples on over six attempts per game. He also registered a steal per game.&nbsp;
Suiting up for the Cincinnati Bearcats in college, Clark was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference. The 26-year-old won over Clifford with his terrific defense and ability to knock down threes.
&ldquo;His range shooting and then I think also, he has a mindset on that [defensive] end of the floor -- pick-and-roll coverages, he'll make multiple efforts on possessions... Those would be the two things [that impressed me],&rdquo; Clifford said. &ldquo;And then as a coach, we function when he's out there. He knows where he's supposed to be, he knows what we're doing at both ends of the floor. And with a 24-second shot clock, that's a big part of it."
Following a 4-0 start to the season, the Magic caught the dreaded injury bug. Currently, they&rsquo;re down Evan Fournier, Chuma Okeke, James Ennis and Al-Farouq Aminu -- a mixture of wings and frontcourt talent. Slotted at those similar positions, Clark is able to provide the necessary depth for Orlando to keep rolling. He&rsquo;s made a career off staying ready, and that hasn&rsquo;t changed.
&ldquo;With all the guys going down like that, it's one of those things where I think it's been a tale of my journey so far in the NBA -- just always staying ready conditioning-wise and knowing our game plan,&rdquo; Clark said. "It's benefited me so far in my career, just always being prepared and just always thinking the game and having my body and mind ready to play no matter if I haven't played in three or four games, or if Coach -- in the middle of a game if a guy goes down -- just throws me in. Just being prepared.
"I think it's the biggest part of being a professional,&rdquo; Clark continued. &ldquo;You see guys that excel in their role -- whatever it is, they just kinda perfect it. Knowing the schemes and knowing the game gives me a benefit. And the more I study and the more I prepare, I'll always have an edge or an advantage. I think the hardest part is probably the game rhythm. You can do all the running and conditioning outside I was doing with Nate [Spencer] and strength-conditioning guys, but it's nothing like the change in direction of a regular game and how the game flows. I think that and just rhythm shooting -- one of those things that comes with not playing many games. But [the key is] just... never being not confident.&rdquo;
On Monday night, Clark connected on a pair of shots from downtown, his first threes of the season after an iffy 0-for-5 start. He mentioned the work he&rsquo;s putting in with assistant coach Bruce Kreutzer on his jumpshot, most notably making sure that he&rsquo;s not shooting on his toes. He also had the third-highest plus-minus for the Magic with a plus-14 in his 20 minutes off the bench in Orlando's 103-83 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
&ldquo;I think just my resume of being able to knock down a shot, it's easier said than done to think about the next shot when you're so passionate about your craft and how confident you are when you're putting in that work,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;I know it's been ugly as far as the lid hasn't come off the basket yet, but I'm confident, the team is confident, Coach is confident in me to be able to step in there and knock down some shots, provide the spacing that allows our guys to really get in the paint and [Nikola Vucevic] to facilitate inside with the extra spacing that I bring.&rdquo;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/cla_lg.jpg" alt="" width="754" height="AUTO" />
Clark&rsquo;s teammates are constantly encouraging him to fire them up when he has good looks. Khem Birch loves the way he stretches the floor, his unselfish play, his knowledge of when to help on defense and the basketball IQ he brings to the team. Aaron Gordon had similar praise as well.
&ldquo;He's an excellent shooter. The thing about shooters is you gotta keep shooting,&rdquo; Gordon said. &ldquo;G-Clark is a pro. He's a pro's pro, man. He's always ready. He does whatever he is asked to do. He takes care of his body in the training room, in the weight room, on the floor. He's always putting in work, he's always getting shots [up] and when the opportunity presents itself, he steps up and he plays big. It doesn't go unnoticed and we appreciate him for that.&ldquo;
In just one year&rsquo;s time, Clark has earned the trust of the Magic -- from the coaching staff to the guys he&rsquo;s playing with. While he believes being a reliable shooter helps with that, it&rsquo;s his defensive prowess that really accelerated the process.
&ldquo;The biggest trust issue that you have to gain from coaches is knowing our stuff defensively, and then offensively," Clark said. "You can survive a couple nights not knowing exactly what you're supposed to do offensively, but defensively [if] you [are] in and something happens within those first couple of possessions that you don't do right, then you lose coach's trust.
&ldquo;So I think the biggest part for me within that year was to learn everything that is expected from us on the defensive end. The playcalls on the offensive end, Coach kinda gives you a lot of plays, but you kinda prepare each game based off how the other team plays. So you can kinda get an edge or an advantage as to like what plays are gonna be called, so that you can prepare. But the defensive part is everything here, and I learned that pretty fast as far as, 'How do I get on the court?' when I had times where I hadn't been playing. Just be ready knowing our schemes."
Whether you need him for five minutes or 25, Clark is going to bring consistency to the table, and you can&rsquo;t say that about everybody.

Spencer Davies dives into the preparation of Gary Clark and how he's earned the trust of the Orlando Magic.

Gary Clark's efforts aren't going unnoticed by the Magic

Orlando Magic F Chuma Okeke is expected to miss several weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee.
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1345084171543306245" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adrian Wojnarowski/Twitter</a>
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;Okeke already missed his entire rookie season due to a torn ACL. The Magic sophomore was selected 16th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, but has had little time to get comfortable on the court. In his five contests this season, Okeke averaged 3.0 points in 18.2 minutes per game, struggling from the field with a 35.7 field goal rate.

The former Auburn Tiger was drafted by the Magic in the first round of the 2019 NBA Draft.