Dolphins

This article is part of a two-part series preview for the upcoming 2023-2024 NBA Playoffs.
With the 2023-2024 NBA Playoffs starting, all eyes will be on all teams competing for the championship as fans and players look on for a taste of postseason action. As eight playoff teams in each conference gear up for what promises to be an intense battle for the title, each team faces its own set of unique challenges. In this article, we take a closer look at the biggest question facing each Western Conference team heading into the playoffs, from injuries and roster changes to key matchups and strategic decisions.
<h3>Oklahoma City Thunder - How far can their youth and inexperience take them in the playoffs?</h3>
The Thunder got away through the regular season with historic from MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous Alexander, an impressive rookie season by Chet Holmgren, a star sophomore leap by Jalen Williams, and a coaching masterclass in a genius coach Mark Daigneault.
However, the playoffs as we know it is a different beast &ndash; will Mark Daigneault be able to sustain the good coaching he has done with his team throughout this regular season?
How much of this youth and inexperience be a factor for them to advance deeper in the playoffs; will they be able to use it to their advantage? Or will it be a hindrance against other experienced teams when they face each other in these tight situations? Most of the time, these situations require patience and discipline &ndash; teams with playoff experience have shown over time and have done it time and time again on their way to a deep playoff run.
<h3>Denver Nuggets - Can they go back to back?</h3>
There&rsquo;s really no other question for a team like the Nuggets at the peak of their powers: Can they win back-to-back titles? There has not been a back-to-back champion in the NBA for the past 5 years, with the last one coming in 2017 and 2018 when the Warriors won it all.
Like Boston, it is a title or bust status with Denver as of now. They have been fairly healthy throughout the regular season, have a mostly intact roster that won it all last year, and have the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic in his absolute prime. Denver this year has again all the necessary pieces to win &ndash; the right amount of shooters, defensive guys, scoring in the paint &ndash; which are all the makings of a championship team.
A couple of questionable factors though would be how much of an impact the loss of Bruce Brown would have in these playoffs. Brown was arguably the 5th, or 4th best player in their championship run last year &ndash; maybe even the 3rd in some games. He was essential on offense and defense, guarding the opponent&rsquo;s best perimeter threats while providing off-ball scoring and cuts that fit perfectly with Jokic.
Second, they&rsquo;ll be facing championship-caliber teams with hunger and drive to defeat them, and all have been competitive with the Nuggets this season. The Lakers, although the Nuggets swept them last year in the Western Conference Finals, still have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and they won&rsquo;t take that lightly &ndash; likely coming back with a vengeance.
The Suns have won the season series with the Nuggets 2-1 and they pose a threat to the Nuggets with their formula of having three elite shotmakers that can explode anytime &ndash; which the Nuggets may not cover all at the same time.&nbsp; The Wolves, who perhaps have the best lineup suited to defeat them, are lurking in the same bracket waiting to pounce on them at sight.&nbsp;
These are all challenges a defending champion must go through to achieve a rare feat because the playoffs are supposed to be hard.
<h3>Minnesota Timberwolves -&nbsp; Will they finally break through after years of heartbreak?</h3>
This has already been a win of a season for the Timberwolves, achieving their second most wins in franchise history (56) since 2004 when they won 58 wins and reached the conference finals.
However, this has not stopped them from wanting more, and the wolfpack is not satisfied nor contented with just this achievement &ndash; they want more.
Minnesota wanting to go win that first playoff series like a hungry pack of wolves has been evident since trading for 3-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. Although they fell short last season due to untimely injuries to key players, the Wolves ran it back and have proven their little experiment with two bigs in star Karl Anthony Towns and Gobert would work.&nbsp;
Led by their resurgent young superstar Anthony Edwards equipped with the best defense in the league, Minnesota certainly hopes this team would be the one &ndash; the one to end the longest playoff series win droughts in the league for quite some time now.
<h3>Los Angeles Clippers - Will they be able to meet the expectations this time around?</h3>
The Clippers trading for James Harden signaled one thing for the franchise: They are going all in with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and surrounding them with all the help they can get. They are far from a perfect team, but the Clippers want to have the best possible results this season before transferring to their new arena next year.
The Clippers have only appeared in the conference finals once in the Leonard-George era after being plagued by several injuries during their different playoff runs. Due to that, people haven&rsquo;t been able to see what the team is capable of when their two stars are fully healthy in a playoff run.
However, this year might just be their year. Their core of Harden, George, and Leonard have been mostly healthy all season long. The front office has also surrounded them with complementary pieces to help them win. LA now has usable bigs in Zubac, Plumlee, and Theis; they have Terrance Mann as their designated stopper; Norman Powell being the sixth man off the bench microwave scorer; a 3-and-D wing in Amir Coffe; and Russell Westbrook as the spark plug that gives them the boost and the energy off the bench.
After being just the &lsquo;second team in LA&rsquo; and &lsquo;that other team in LA&rsquo; for years, the Clippers aim to prove the doubters wrong and change the perception that surrounds the team as they pivot into a new era of Clippers basketball.&nbsp;
<h3>Dallas Mavericks - Will Luka finally fulfill the promise he has been showing so far in his career?</h3>
Throughout his young NBA career, Luka Doncic has had one of the best starts since LeBron James statistically. He has been in constant range of breaking or matching LeBron&rsquo;s records in points scored, triple-doubles, assists, and rebounds. However, this has not always translated into wins with Doncic just appearing in just one conference finals in the first six years of his career. But that might change this season.&nbsp;&nbsp;
This year, the Mavericks have put up arguably the best roster on paper that Luka has had in his career &ndash; arguably even better than the 2022 team that made the conference finals.
Alongside Doncic&rsquo;s MVP act is a true partner in crime in Kyrie Irving; shot-blocking and rim-rolling vertical threats in Daniel Gafford and Lively; rugged forwards that can shoot in PJ Washington, Dante Exum, Josh Green, and Derrick Jones; a microwave off-the-bench scorer in Tim Hardaway Jr; and veteran bigs that have been in Dallas for quite some time now and you can count on in always with Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell.
Can Luka finally overcome the Clippers? This season was one for the books with an MVP caliber and worthy year by averaging close to 34 points a game with 9 rebounds and 9 assists per game. Doncic has taken his game to another level in the regular season &ndash; this time, can he take his playoff game to another level as well?
All great young players have to go through someone as the stepping stone to reach newer heights &ndash; and Luka has lost to this Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-led Clippers team twice already in his career in the playoffs.
LeBron had to go through the Celtics, Jordan had to go through the Pistons. Could it be Luka&rsquo;s turn to get through this Clippers team that has tormented him for two playoff series?
<h3>Phoenix Suns - Will this new formula take them over the top?</h3>
The Suns have experienced substantial playoff success over the past three years by having a Finals appearance and reaching the conference semifinals twice. However, those groups fell short, with the feeling of something lacking or something missing that could take them over the top.
So lo and behold, Phoenix scrapped it and took a different approach this season &ndash; ditching the point guard spot and getting a rugged and physical big that could set screens and not demand the ball much on offense.
In its place came through as the Suns traded for Bradley Beal &ndash; going with a new formula by having three shot creators and shotmakers on the floor at the same time &ndash; pairing him with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. They also traded away former no.1 overall pick DeAndre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic, a wide-bodied center whose job is to set screens, rebound, and get their three creators open in the lane or for jump shots.
They added an elite shooter in Grayson Allen to space the floor alongside those three, or sometimes Royce O&rsquo;Neale comes in for more defense against the opposing perimeter threats.
The Suns&rsquo; new approach and formula to the game make it incredibly hard to defend because you have to have three elite defenders to contain those three shot-creators, who can explode and get buckets at any point in the game. Although their defense is still suspect at times, the main point of this lineup is not to outscore &ndash; but to out-create teams and have a variety of options to dissect and defeat defenses.
If this new strategy works and could take the Suns to the promised land in these playoffs remains to be seen.
<h3>Los Angeles Lakers - Will they have enough this time around?</h3>
Despite a strong run to the Western Conference Finals as a 7th seed, the Lakers fell short last year vs the Nuggets after being swept 4-0. Throughout the season, the Nuggets&rsquo; dominance of the purple and gold continued, and now they have lost eight straight games against this Denver team.&nbsp;
However, there is optimism that the Lakers will turn it around and have a different result vs the Nuggets. Superstar LeBron James, even at 39 years old, looks to prove that he still has something left in the tank. Although they got outplayed and outcoached last in that series by the Nuggets, James can make those adjustments being the cerebral and high IQ player that he is.
James is perhaps one of the best if not the best tactically sound players of all time, so it would make sense &ndash; if they were to defeat Denver, he needs to be able to outsmart Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets this time around. Superstar tandem Anthony Davis will also be vital to the series having to defend the &lsquo;Joker&rsquo; and producing buckets himself.
The Lakers will also feature some new bench pieces this year that could be difference makers in the series Taurean Prince, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Gabe Vincent, all of whom could defend and hit those spot-up threes if needed.
Then there&rsquo;s a hungry D&rsquo;Angelo Russell who had a bad series vs Denver last year raring to bounce back along with an always-solid Austin Reaves to be the stabilizer.
<h3>Pelicans - How will they fare without Zion Williamson?</h3>
The New Orleans Pelicans start and end with their young star Zion Williamson. After going out with what is to be believed a left hamstring strain, everything now hinges on his health.&nbsp;
The Pelicans obviously need him no matter what and whether or not he&rsquo;s healthy for their first-round series vs the Thunder will likely be the answer if they win it or not.
We&rsquo;ve seen what Williamson is capable of doing, scoring 40 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in his first taste of postseason action in their play-in game vs the Lakers. The burly forward bullied the Lakers&rsquo; defense and he showed his once generational type of body and scoring prowess come together after finally being healthy for a full season in his five years in the NBA.
New Orleans has fallen short a lot of times in the playoffs, either failing to make it or to win a series, and it is clear that Zion is the difference that separates them from winning or losing a playoff series.

s eight playoff teams in each conference gear up for what promises to be an intense battle for the title, each team faces its own set of unique challenges.

2024 Western Conference Playoffs: Each team’s biggest question heading into the playoffs

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) &mdash; Veteran Brooklyn Nets point guard Patty Mills and rising Oklahoma City star Josh Giddey are among the 10 NBA players selected in Australia&rsquo;s extended squad of 18 to prepare for the basketball World Cup.
Mills&rsquo; teammate Ben Simmons is still recovering from injury and wasn&rsquo;t picked for the squad&rsquo;s upcoming training camp, but coach Brian Goorjian hasn&rsquo;t ruled him out of calculations for the global tournament.
Matisse Thybulle, Joe Ingles, Jock Landale, Josh Green, Matthew Dellavedova, Xavier Cooks, Jack White and Dyson Daniels are the other NBA players picked for the extended roster, which will be cut to 12 before Australia&rsquo;s opening game against co-host Japan on Aug. 25.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a thorough process. The coaches and I have had many discussions about getting the mix right but I&rsquo;m really pleased with where we&rsquo;ve landed with the guys we&rsquo;ve selected, there&rsquo;s a good balance across the court,&rdquo; Goorjian said in a statement Monday. &ldquo;The fact it&rsquo;s been so tough goes to show the depth of talent we have in Australian basketball right now.&rdquo;
Australia won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and will again be among the medal contenders in the FIBA World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
The Boomers have been drawn into Pool E with Japan, Germany and Finland and will play their group-stage games in Okinawa.
Giddey, who was among the last players cut from the Olympic roster for Tokyo, will get his first chance to play for Australia at a major international meet.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always dreamed of playing for the Boomers and representing Australia, so to get this opportunity is really special,&rdquo; Giddey said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of talent in this squad and I think we&rsquo;ve got a good chance of matching it with every team -- I&rsquo;m excited for the challenge.&rdquo;
___
Australia squad: Xavier Cooks, Dyson Daniels, Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Sam Froling, Josh Giddey, Chris Goulding, Josh Green, Joe Ingles, Nick Kay, Jock Landale, Thon Maker, Will McDowell-White, Patty Mills, Keanu Pinder, Duop Reath, Matisse Thybulle, Jack White.

Patty Mills and Josh Giddey are among the 10 NBA players selected in Australia’s extended squad of 18 to prepare for the World Cup.

Patty Mills among 10 NBA players in Australia’s extended squad

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) &mdash; Bobby Pettiford Jr. made a twisting reverse layup off a loose rebound with 0.2 seconds left in overtime to give No. 3 Kansas a 69-68 win over Wisconsin in a Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal on Thursday.
Pettiford&rsquo;s layup marked his only points of the game, capping a thriller that saw Wisconsin rally from 15 down early in the second half.
Jalen Wilson scored 29 points and had 14 rebounds for the reigning national champion Jayhawks (6-0), and Kevin McCullar Jr. had 18 points and nine rebounds &mdash; and a 3 to force overtime.
Tyler Wahl led the Badgers (4-1) with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Most of his points came after half in what was at times a one-man comeback, including a spinning drive against a falling Wilson for a layup and a 68-67 lead with 21 seconds left.
Kansas will take on No. 22 Tennessee in the tournament title game on Friday.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 89, PORTLAND 81
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Pete Nance scored 28 points, Caleb Love added 23 and North Carolina survived an unexpected test from Portland in the opening round of the Phil Knight Invitational.
The Tar Heels (5-0) needed a late 14-3 run to finally pull away from one of the tournament&rsquo;s host schools. Love carried them in the first half with 16 points and reached the 1,000-point mark in his career, becoming the 80th North Carolina player to reach that mark.&nbsp;
Nance picked up the slack after halftime with 20 points and matched his career high in scoring set last season when he was playing for Northwestern.
Moses Wood led Portland (4-3) with 21 points.
The Tar Heels will face Iowa State in a semifinal game Friday. Portland will play Villanova in a consolation game.
NO. 8 DUKE 54, OREGON STATE 51
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Kyle Filipowski had 19 points and 14 rebounds as Duke held off a challenge from Oregon State in the opening game of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Ryan Young added 11 points and 15 rebounds off the bench and was the only other Blue Devils (5-1) player to score in double figures.
Jordan Pope led the Beavers (3-2) with 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Dexter Akanno hit two 3-pointers and scored 11 points.
The Blue Devils will face Xavier in a PKL semifinal on Friday, while the Beavers will take on Florida.
NO. 6 GONZAGA 102, PORTLAND STATE 78
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Malachi Smith led six players in double figures with a season-high 23 points and No. 6 Gonzaga used a big first half to beat Portland State in the opening round of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
The Bulldogs (4-1) led by 27 in the first half, led 55-31 at halftime and withstood a sloppy second half.
Drew Timme scored 18 points and the only shot he missed was a dunk attempt midway through the second half. Rasir Bolton had 14 points and a career-high eight assists, while Julian Strawther, Anton Watson and Hunter Sallis all finished with 10. Gonzaga shot 60% for the game.
Jorell Saterfield led Portland State (2-3) with 21 points.
Gonzaga will face No. 24 Purdue in the semifinals Friday.
NO. 18 ALABAMA 81, NO. 12 MICHIGAN STATE 70
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half and Alabama pulled away to beat Michigan State in the opening round of the Phil Knight Invitational.
After a rather light schedule for the first couple of weeks, Alabama (5-0) passed its first test of the season against the short-handed Spartans (3-2).
Tyson Walker led Michigan State with 21 points and A.J. Hoggard added 18.
Alabama will face No. 20 UConn in the semifinals Friday. Michigan State will play face Oregon in&nbsp;
NO. 20 UCONN 83, OREGON 59
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Tristen Newton scored 23 points, leading UConn to a win over Oregon at the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Jordan Hawkins scored 18 points, Adama Sanogo added 12 and Joey Calcaterra came off the bench to score 11 for the unbeaten Huskies (6-0).
Kel&rsquo;el Ware led the Ducks (2-3) with 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. N&rsquo;faly Dante contributed 15 points.
NO. 22 TENNESSEE 73, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 66, OT
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) &mdash; Julian Phillips scored a season-high 25 points to help Tennessee hold off Southern California in overtime at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The first-year forward made 7 of 13 shots and 10 of 12 free throws to go with eight rebounds for the Volunteers (4-1), with four of those free throws coming in overtime.
Santiago Vescovi overcame a rough shooting game to hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:45 left in the extra period, while Zakai Zeigler went 4 for 4 at the line in the final 23.7 seconds left of overtime to seal the win.
Boogie Ellis scored 21 points in his second big output in as many days to lead the Trojans (4-2).
The Vols advanced to Friday&rsquo;s championship game to face No. 3 Kansas, which edged Wisconsin in overtime.
NO. 24 PURDUE 80, WEST VIRGINIA 68
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Zach Edey had 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead Purdue past West Virginia in the opening round of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Mason Gillis added 14 points for the Boilermakers (4-0), and Brandon Newman came off the bench to score eight points.
Erik Stevenson scored 17 points as the Mountaineers (3-1) lost for the first time this season. Joe Toussaint added 16 points off the bench.
The Boilermakers will face the No. 6 Gonzaga on Friday in the semifinals.

A recap of the standout games on Thanksgiving Thursday was highlighted by a thriller in the Bahamas.

Pettiford’s last-second layup saves No. 3 Kansas in Bahamas

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jeremy Roach scored 16 first-half points to help seventh-ranked Duke open Jon Scheyer&rsquo;s coaching tenure with a 71-44 win over Jacksonville on Monday night.
Freshman Mark Mitchell had a team-high 18 points for the Blue Devils, who used a 25-4 run spanning halftime to blow the game open.
It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Scheyer taking over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Duke has 11 new players, including the nation&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and two power-conference transfers. The Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t have top freshmen Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead for this one as they recover from preseason injuries.
Mike Marsh scored 15 points to lead the Dolphins, who shot 34% and missed 18 of 19 3-pointers before making two meaningless 3s late.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 69, UNC WILMINGTON 56
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Love and RJ Davis scored 17 points apiece and North Carolina began a season of grand expectations by pulling away from UNC Wilmington.
Armando Bacot added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who were perhaps most impressive at the defensive end. UNCW shot 29.8% from the field.
The Tar Heels, who were the NCAA Tournament runner-up in April, began the new season with the top ranking for the first time in seven years. It&rsquo;s a record 10th time that North Carolina has been ranked No. 1 to start a season &mdash; one more than rival Duke.
Trazarien White scored 19 points for UNCW, which faced a top-ranked team for the first time in program history.
NO. 2 GONZAGA 104, NORTH FLORIDA 63
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 22 points, Julian Strawther added 16 and No. 2 Gonzaga used a big first-half run to beat North Florida in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Anton Watson had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals for Gonzaga, which won its 68th consecutive home game, the nation&rsquo;s longest such streak.
Carter Hendricksen scored 16 points, Jadyn Parker 13 and Jose Placer 12 for North Florida, a veteran-laden team from the Atlantic Sun Conference that returned its top four scorers from last season.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 83, NORTHERN COLORADO 36
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 21 points, J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 12 points and six rebounds, and Houston opened the season by beating Northern Colorado.
Sasser, a preseason All-American, scored 11 points in the first half. He finished 7 of 14 from the field and made 4 of 8 3-pointers. The senior guard missed the second half of last season and all of Houston&rsquo;s run to the Elite Eight with a toe injury.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson won his 700th career game and 200th with the Cougars.
Matt Johnson II, Riley Abercrombie and Caleb Shaw each scored eight points for the Bears.
NO. 4 KENTUCKY 95, HOWARD 63
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, CJ Fredrick had 20 and Kentucky beat Howard with All-American Oscar Tshiebwe and two other players sidelined.
Tshiebwe had a procedure last month on his right knee. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler (right leg) and sophomore forward Daimion Collins (personal reasons) were also out, but the Wildcats still shot 55% against the overmatched Bison.
Jacob Toppin and freshman Cason Wallace each added 15 points for Kentucky.
Kobe Dickson scored 17 points and Elijah Hawkins had 14 for Howard, which shot 34%.
NO. 5 KANSAS 89, OMAHA 64
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Gradey Dick added 23 points in his debut, and Kansas began defense of its national championship without suspended coach Bill Self by routing Omaha.
Bobby Pettiford Jr. added 13 points, Dajuan Harris had 11 points and eight assists, and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. scored 10 for the Jayhawks, who broke open a close game in the second half with two big runs.
Self served the first of a four-game punishment along with assistant Kurtis Townsend as part of the fallout from a 2017 federal investigation into college basketball corruption.
Jaeden Marshall scored 13 points and Luke Jungers had 12 for the Mavericks.
NO. 5 BAYLOR 117, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 53
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Adam Flagler scored 21 points to lead six players in double figures as Baylor won the opener of its 20th season with coach Scott Drew.
Flagler, a preseason All-Big 12 pick who also was the Bears&rsquo; leading scorer last season, also had eight assists and one of his four 3-pointers started a 24-0 run midway through the first half.
LJ Cryer had 16 points and Dale Bonner, another returning guard, had 14.
Alvin Stredic scored 14 points and Terry Collins 10 for Mississippi Valley State in its first game for new coach George Ivory.
NO. 9 CREIGHTON 72, ST. THOMAS 60
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Baylor Scheierman made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to give Creighton the lead for good.
Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points, Trey Alexander had 12 and Scheierman added 11 as the Bluejays won their 25th opener in 26 years.
St. Thomas, a Summit League member beginning its second season in Division I, gave the Bluejays all they could handle until the last few minutes. Andrew Rohde had 15 points to lead the Tommies.
NO. 10 ARKANSAS 76, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 58
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Trevon Brazile had 21 points and 12 rebounds in his debut as Arkansas won its season opener.
Brazile, a sophomore transfer from Missouri, scored six straight points during an 11-0 run early in the second half that gave Arkansas a 16-point lead with 15 minutes left.
Wichita State transfer Ricky Council led the Razorbacks with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg had 17 points apiece to lead North Dakota State.
NO. 11 TENNESSEE 75, TENNESSEE TECH 43
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Tyreke Key came off the bench to score 17 points and Tennessee beat Tennessee Tech in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Key, an Indiana State transfer, connected on 4 of 8 3-pointers to ignite a sluggish Volunteer offense. Zakai Zeigler scored all but two of his 12 points in the second half.
Brett Thompson led the Golden Eagles with 15 points.
NO. 12 TEXAS 72, UTEP 57
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Tyrese Hunter scored 18 points to lead Texas past UTEP in the debut of its new arena.
Hunter, a transfer from Iowa State, was 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Ze&rsquo;Ri Onyema led UTEP with 10 points.
Texas this season moved to the $375 million Moody Center on the edge of campus, leaving behind the old Frank Erwin Center after 45 years.
NO. 13 INDIANA 88, MOREHEAD STATE 53
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and freshman Malik Reneau each scored 15 points, helping Indiana beat Morehead State in the season opener for both teams.
The Hoosiers have won all six matchups in the series and are 26-0 all-time against Ohio Valley Conference foes.
Mark Freeman led the Eagles with 14 points, and Drew Thelwell had 11 for the OVC favorites.
NO. 14 TCU 73, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 72
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Mike Miles hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining to finally put TCU ahead to stay against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which built an early 20-point lead in the season opener for both teams.
Miles, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, hit from deep beyond the top of the key for a 71-68 lead.
Emanuel Miller had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and Miles finished with 15 points for the Horned Frogs. They returned all five starters and five other scholarship players after winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 1987.
Shaun Doss had 25 points with four of Arkansas-Pine Bluff&rsquo;s 13 3-pointers.
NO. 15 AUBURN 70, GEORGE MASON 52
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. scored 16 points while K.D. Johnson and Johni Broome each had 12 to lead Auburn to a season-opening win over George Mason.
The Tigers weren&rsquo;t really challenged much in their first game since losing NBA first-round draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.
Ronald Polite III led George Mason with 10 points, and Victor Bailey Jr. had nine.
NO. 16 VILLANOVA 81, LA SALLE 68
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Daniels scored 24 points to make coach Kyle Neptune a winner in his Villanova debut.
Neptune replaced Hall of Famer Jay Wright, who retired in the offseason. The Wildcats returned three starters (a fourth, Justin Moore, was injured) from the team that lost a national semifinal game to Kansas. Eric Dixon added 20 points for Villanova.
Daniels made his first five 3-pointers and the Wildcats used an early 10-0 run to put away their city rival and spoiled 74-year-old coach Fran Dunphy&rsquo;s return to the bench.
Josh Nickelberry scored 22 points to lead the Explorers.
NO. 17 ARIZONA 117, NICHOLLS STATE 75
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis scored 23 points and Arizona went on a massive opening run to begin its second season under coach Tommy Lloyd with a rout.
Ballo scored 18 points, helping Arizona set a school record with 71.7% shooting from the floor against the reigning Southland Conference regular-season champions. The Wildcats opened the game with a 30-4 run.
Micah Thomas led Nicholls State with 20 points.
NO. 18 VIRGINIA 73, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL 61
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman sparked a 15-2 second-half run, and Virginia beat North Carolina Central after blowing a 16-point first-half lead.
Armaan Franklin led Virginia with 21 points in the season opener for both teams, and Francisco Caffaro had 10.
Justin Wright scored 20 and Eric Boone had 18 for the Eagles, who used a 12-0 run just after halftime to go ahead. But Clark hit a 3 and Beekman followed with a steal and a breakaway.
NO. 19 SAN DIEGO STATE 80, CAL STATE FULLERTON 57
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Darrion Trammell hit three 3-pointers during a 29-10 run to open the second half and finished with 18 points as San Diego State beat Cal State Fullerton.
Fellow newcomer Jaedon LeDee and Lamont Butler scored 11 points apiece and Nathan Mensah had 10 for the Aztecs, who won their 10th straight season opener and their 17th in 18 seasons.
Vincent Lee scored 11 and Jalen Harris 10 for the Titans, the defending Big West Conference champions.
NO. 20 ALABAMA 75, LONGWOOD 54
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller had 14 points and 13 rebounds in his debut as Alabama beat Longwood.
Fellow freshman Rylan Griffen also scored 14 for the Crimson Tide, and point guard Mark Sears had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Freshman guard Jaden Bradley added 11 points and six boards.
Alabama held Longwood to 27% shooting and blocked nine shots. Michael Christmas led Longwood with 12 points.
NO. 21 OREGON 80, FLORIDA A&amp;M 45
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) &mdash; N&rsquo;Faly Dante had 16 points and 10 rebounds as Oregon opened with an easy win over Florida A&amp;M.
Keeshawn Barthelemy added 13 points for the Ducks, ranked to start the season for the ninth straight year. Will Richardson scored 11.
Jordan Tillmon and Jordan Chatman had eight points apiece for the Rattlers, who have 11 new players. Florida A&amp;M coach Robert McCullum was on Oregon coach Dana Altman&rsquo;s staff from 2014-17.
NO. 22 MICHIGAN 75, PURDUE FORT WAYNE 56
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Hunter Dickinson had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and freshman Jett Howard added 21 points in Michigan&rsquo;s season-opening win.
After Purdue Fort Wayne opened an 8-4 lead, Michigan went on a 20-0 run to take control.
Quinton Morton-Robertson scored 15 points and Bobby Planutis added 13 for the Mastodons.
NO. 23 ILLINOIS 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 57
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) &mdash; Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 24 points and Coleman Hawkins had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Illinois cruised past Eastern Illinois.
Dain Dainja added 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Illini, who outrebounded the Panthers 53-30 in the opener for both teams.
Kinyon Hodges scored 14 points and Yaakema Rose added 10 for Eastern Illinois.
NO. 24 DAYTON 73, LINDENWOOD 46
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Mustapha Amzil scored 14 points, DaRon Holmes II and R.J. Blakney each had 13 and Dayton beat Lindenwood in a sluggish opener for both teams.
Dayton was without injured point guard Malachi Smith and didn&rsquo;t play particularly well until late, but it had a large margin for error against Lindenwood, which was playing its first game after moving up to Division I.
Chris Childs had 15 points for the Lions, who shot 33% from the field.
NO. 25 TEXAS TECH 73, NORTHWESTERN STATE 49
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash; Daniel Batcho had 12 points and 10 rebounds as Texas Tech rolled past Northwestern State in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Texas Tech broke it open late in the first half and led 42-23 at halftime.
Isaac Haney led Northwestern State with 16 points.

It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Jon Scheyer taking over Duke's program.

Roach leads No. 7 Duke past Jacksonville in Scheyer’s debut

From a mid-season blockbuster swap involving two disgruntled stars, to rumors that a former No. 1 overall pick wants a change of scenery in only his third season, the topic of player empowerment is front and center in the NBA. &nbsp;
Superstars wanting off their team isn't a new concept. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar forced a trade from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975. In recent years, superstars demanding to be dealt is so common that the term &ldquo;player empowerment&rdquo; established itself in our NBA lexicon.&nbsp;
But this season feels different, in that it is rife with unique trade demands. Like Ben Simmons' refusal to play a single minute for the Philadelphia 76ers while requesting a trade, with a whopping four years left on his contract. Or James Harden asking off of his second team in as many years. Even the Zion Williamson situation &mdash; rumored to be disgruntled in New Orleans after playing a total of 85 games &mdash; is unprecedented. With every new trade demand, it feels like stars are pushing the limits and boundaries of player empowerment.
Either the NBA's Mercury is in retrograde or we&rsquo;re witnessing the dawn of a new era.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Player empowerment&rdquo; was popularized in 2010 after LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh conspired to play with each other in Miami. Suddenly, players realized they could control their own destiny and team up to form super-teams.
Since then, player empowerment has largely come to mean trade demands from superstars. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Many executives have decried it as ruining the league's parity and even the sanctity of the game. &nbsp;
"Player empowerment is a catchall for the fact that the league has done a terrible job of empowering teams, the players have all of the leverage in every situation. I think it's the worst thing that ever happened to professional sports on all levels," an anonymous NBA general manager <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/07/lebron-james-agent-is-transforming-the-business-of-basketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Isaac Chotiner of The New Yorker</a>.&nbsp;
Many fans view it as a win for laborers.&nbsp;
The NBA is, after all, the most progressive sports league. However, without even touching the racial undertones that weave throughout the narrative about the league, it is easy to see why the masses support the players. Fans have watched players lose the battle over the means of production &mdash; from owning 57% of league revenue in 2005 down to only 50% today &mdash; so witnessing players gain autonomy over their playing career by stripping control from owners is celebrated as a nice consolation prize.&nbsp;
As we become inundated with debate over the merits of player empowerment, we&rsquo;ve seemed to skip over what the term actually means and how it actualizes itself in the league.&nbsp;
There is no denying that some players have power and some of those players have controlled the make-up of the league for over a decade. The issue is that player empowerment is a term that poses as the league's players uniting, but instead, it is merely a select few exercising their power over everyone else.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s break this down.&nbsp;
Were the Los Angeles Lakers' young core of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart empowered when Anthony Davis forced his way to Los Angeles? Not likely.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s also impossible to imagine all six of Jarrett Allen (Brooklyn to Cleveland), Taurean Prince (Brooklyn to Cleveland), Caris LeVert (Brooklyn to Indiana), Rodions Kurucs (Brooklyn to Houston), Dante Exum (Cleveland to Houston) and Victor Oladipo (Indiana to Houston) felt empowered after being forced to uproot themselves midseason during a pandemic because Harden wanted to join the Nets.&nbsp;
Framing the whims of a small few that can disrupt the lives of many as player empowerment feels disingenuous. A better term would be &ldquo;superstar entitlement.&rdquo;&nbsp;
With the knowledge that player empowerment really means superstar entitlement, it&rsquo;s easy to understand how empowerment stories are often framed as prima donnas throwing tantrums until they get their way.
But maybe it should be framed as superstars earning power through loss of salary.&nbsp;
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With the advent of max salaries, stars are never fairly compensated. The bigger and brighter the star shines, the more they lose out &mdash; with their play forever eclipsing the money they make. Ergo, player empowerment is less about empowering all or even most players and more about compensating superstars in a salary-cap league.&nbsp;
Heliocentric is another popular term in our NBA vernacular; we&rsquo;ve heard the term &ldquo;heliocentric offense,&rdquo; and we&rsquo;ve heard stars described as heliocentric. But it&rsquo;s also a term that can refer to the league itself.&nbsp;
To briefly go back to the 1500s and Copernicus &mdash; heliocentrism is a cosmological theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the sun. And in the NBA, everything revolves around certain stars. The bigger and brighter the star, the stronger their gravitational pull &mdash; the LeBronicus Theory, if you will.&nbsp;
Superstars wield more power than ever. They influence nearly every aspect of an organization &mdash; from coaching hirings and firings, to player personnel and roster construction.
The Harden-for-Simmons swap is an interesting case to dissect, because it centers around two stars whom everything doesn&rsquo;t revolve around.&nbsp;
On one side, there&rsquo;s Harden, whose status as a heliocentric star diminished as soon as he left Houston for Brooklyn. And on the other side is Simmons, a player who could never cement himself into anything more than a secondary star in Philadelphia.
Though both players had leverage, Harden had more because of the status of his contract. Neither were in a place to force their teams to bend to their will &mdash; at least not in the same way Harden was able to back when he told Houston they had a problem.&nbsp;
In Brooklyn, Harden <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33259122/james-harden-wants-trade-philadelphia-76ers-formally-request-deal-due-concern-public-backlash-sources-say" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly never voiced his desire to leave</a>, and 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey threatened to hold out on trading Simmons for the duration of his contract.
&nbsp;"You're going to think I'm kidding, I'm not. This could [go on for] four years... We're in the prime of Joel's career... Either Ben Simmons is playing for us, or we have to get back a difference-maker," Morey said.
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Morey on his timeline: "You're going to think I'm kidding, I'm not. This could (go on for) 4 years. ... We're in the prime of Joel's career...Either Ben Simmons is playing for us, or we have to get back a difference maker."
&mdash; Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/DerekBodnerNBA/status/1451288448875343872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2021</a></blockquote>

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It wasn't Simmons' refusal to play games or Harden&rsquo;s pouting that forced their teams&rsquo; hands.&nbsp; It was that Embiid&rsquo;s play pressured Morey to make a deal, and Kevin Durant <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953512-inside-kevin-durants-role-in-brooklyn-nets-james-harden-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly wanted one too</a>.&nbsp;
Ultimately, the deal came down to what was best for the biggest stars. While James and Ben were the players who used their leverage to request out, Durant and Embiid &mdash; being the heliocentric star of their respective teams &mdash; made the final call.&nbsp;
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What Harden lost in star power in moving to Brooklyn, KD gained by doing the same. Though Durant&rsquo;s play has always been stellar, it&rsquo;s clear he has more power within the Nets' organization than he did with the Warriors. It was Durant, after all, who <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953512-inside-kevin-durants-role-in-brooklyn-nets-james-harden-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly requested Kyrie Irving be allowed to play road games</a> despite <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nets-say-kyrie-irving-cant-play-or-practice-with-team-while-unvaccinated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the stance Sean Marks and the Nets took</a> earlier in the season.&nbsp;
Who has power and how much they have is determined by a number of variables, like their standing in the league, their standing on their team, their health, the length of their contract and market size, etc. And this list of powerful players is still arguably fewer than 10 names long in any given season (with some variance).
The variables at play that make Durant&rsquo;s star shine brighter with the Nets than with the Warriors are as simple as the fact that there's another superstar in Golden State &mdash; and he was there first and couldn&rsquo;t be eclipsed.
Of course there are titans like LeBron James, who can completely shift the paradigm of the league with a flippant comment &mdash; like over All-Star Weekend when he hinted at a possible return to Cleveland.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The door&rsquo;s not closed on that&hellip; &nbsp;I&rsquo;m not saying I&rsquo;m coming back and playing, I don&rsquo;t know. I don&rsquo;t know what my future holds. I don&rsquo;t even know when I&rsquo;m free.&rdquo; James <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lebron-james-on-cleveland-return-the-doors-not-closed-on-that" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Athletic</a>.
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LeBron is back in Cleveland this weekend. His picture is on the building again. At first he said he hasn&rsquo;t thought about returning to play for the Cavs, but then we kept talking. &ldquo;The door&rsquo;s not closed on that,&rdquo; he said. LeBron had a lot to say today. <a href="https://t.co/cdg8RIoxZb">https://t.co/cdg8RIoxZb</a>
&mdash; Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByJasonLloyd/status/1495148179410591745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2022</a></blockquote>

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LeBron&rsquo;s comments dominated the news cycle over the league&rsquo;s busiest weekend, and that's in large part because he will be a free agent in 2023. James signs short-term deals to maximize his leverage even though it means leaving long-term NBA money on the table.
Player empowerment isn&rsquo;t limited to team decisions &mdash; the NBPA also caters to the stars. With recent negotiations featuring superstars at the helm, contract negotiations often prioritize their needs.&nbsp;
Take for example the 2017 CBA. Superstar and NBPA president Chris Paul managed to help push forward the NBA supermax deal, given to players who have either won an MVP award, a Defensive Player of the Year award or earned an All-NBA selection in the previous season &mdash; or two of the previous three. The NBA supermax allows these stars to earn massive five-year deals with a starting salary of up to 35% of the cap.
Paul also helped change the "over-36" rule that prevented players from signing multi-year deals if they are to turn 36 or older over the course of the contract to "over-38." Not lost on anyone, Paul was set to be a free agent the summer of 2017, and pushing the rule back two years would have positively affected how much and how long he could have signed for.&nbsp;
In any collective bargaining, there&rsquo;s a give and a take &mdash; so both parties can walk away feeling like winners. So as collective bargaining agreements continue to reward those at the top, that leaves little for the rest.&nbsp;
Now, let's take a look at punishments. More often than not, disciplinary action comes in the form of fines. Technical fouls, for example, come with a fine of $2,000 for a player&rsquo;s first five offenses.&nbsp;
On Jan. 25 this season, the Sixers faced the New Orleans Pelicans. Embiid and rookie Jose Alvarado got into it and were each assessed technical fouls. That means Alvarado, who earns $462,629 this season, and Embiid, who's making $31.58 million, are meant to pay the same amount. Though Embiid generously offered to cover the fine for Alvarado, the benevolence of stars shouldn&rsquo;t make up for this obvious imbalance.&nbsp;
Fines are meant to disincentivize players from committing offenses, but when by setting these as a specific dollar amount as opposed to a percentage of their salary, they disproportionately&nbsp;hurt the lowest earners. And consequently, they allow the elite to do as they please.&nbsp;
Calling out NBA officials comes with a hefty $25,000 fine &mdash; this would be astronomical to rookies like Alvarado, but not to a superstar like Embiid who has been fined for doing just that. In Feb. 2019, Embiid told reporters the "referees f**king sucked" after a missed call in a close loss to the Boston Celtics. Though the fine undoubtedly hurt his pocketbook, it was a calculated risk he and other high earners like him have the freedom of taking.&nbsp;
From afar, superstar entitlement looks like stars picking their teams; a closer look unveils real inequities like financial penalties and disproportionate representation at the top of the players' union. A more granular look reveals that every scenario and every superstar is unique.&nbsp;
There is, however, one constant amidst the chaos in understanding power dynamics in the league, and that&rsquo;s team control. The NBA draft, rookie contracts, restricted free agency and good old-fashioned trades are just some of the ways in which teams have maintained ultimate control. The difference is when teams wield their power, it&rsquo;s not much of a news story.
We clutch our pearls at Kawhi Leonard demanding a trade but not at the Raptors for sending out DeMar DeRozan. We expect teams to make moves to better their situation, yet players who have become brands in their own right aren&rsquo;t given the freedom to do the same.&nbsp;
Any team would be over the moon to have a superstar play for them &mdash; we recognize this and they recognize this. So, they aren&rsquo;t going to sit back and wish upon a star for a trade. They ask, and if they're good enough, teams will acquiesce. It is a star-driven league, after all. So, we can&rsquo;t be surprised at who's steering the ship. And I&rsquo;d argue it&rsquo;s high time for the rest of the league to just grab on to their seats and hold on, because the era of player empowerment has only started taking off.&nbsp;
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Imman Adan details what "player empowerment" in the NBA truly entails and how it's been framed incorrectly.

The truth about 'player empowerment' in the NBA

When gauging the state of the NBA close to the midpoint of the season, perhaps no team has had a more disappointing and frustrating season than the New Orleans Pelicans. A new coach, shifted roster and one of the brightest young stars in the sport in Zion Williamson led to projections of a trip to the playoffs. Of course, Zion hasn&rsquo;t played a game, and the Pelicans essentially went through the hardwood recreation of Dante&rsquo;s Inferno across the first month of their schedule.
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However, New Orleans has plugged gaps and the ship hasn&rsquo;t sunk. While an easier schedule has certainly benefited them, the Pelicans are playing .500 basketball since mid-November (13-13 since the 13th).
Willie Green has done a much better job than his record indicates &mdash; the Pels play solid defense and cobble together just enough offense to keep games tight. Brandon Ingram&rsquo;s passing has been a revelation in recent weeks after a struggle early on. Jonas Valanciunas is absolutely bludgeoning opposition in the paint. Devonte&rsquo; Graham is bombing from deep. Herb Jones is one of the brightest defensive prospects I&rsquo;ve seen ever,&nbsp;and now he&rsquo;s testing the waters as a ball-handler and driver.&nbsp;
My favorite bright spot: Josh Hart&rsquo;s offensive proliferation.
Hart hasn&rsquo;t had a non-double digit scoring outing since before December, averaging 15.8 points on 64.8% True Shooting across that span (12 games). He&rsquo;s getting to the line with regularity (4.8 free throw attempts), has been steady from deep on moderate volume and maintains the highest Offensive Estimated Plus Minus of his career (+0.9 , 78th percentile).
This hasn&rsquo;t just been a hot streak or numeric coincidence, Hart has legitimately (and literally) made strides as an offensive player! The man is driving all over the court and collapsing your favorite defense with ease on vicious power drives.
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At 6-foot-5 with a stocky, powerful frame, Hart's ability to batter his way to the rim is second to none on New Orleans' roster. He's taking slightly over half his shots at the rim and converting 70% of them, both career marks. Watching Hart grind his way downhill is reminiscent of watching grainy Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson highlights on YouTube with my father growing up. It doesn't matter who's in the way, the shoulder is dipping, the pads are popping, and Hart is creating the space necessary to get his desired looks at the rim.
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While Hart has been capable of attacking off the catch his whole career, his improved ball-handling has opened up the court for him. He's doubled his drives per 75 possessions according to Basketball-Index, ramping up his usage to the highest of his career (17.9% per Cleaning the Glass). For reference, Hart has already driven in the half-court more this season than he did in 16 more games last season (190 to 133).
Hart was the barometric gauge of &lsquo;3 and D&rsquo; in prior years, pretty exclusively deriving utility as a connective passer, stationary shooter, closeout attacker and defender. Making himself a downhill threat has added some seasoning to the pot &mdash; scoring gravity is the paprika of basketball. Adding it in or having it at all revamps the entree presented entirely &mdash; how it's defended, and how it should be viewed.
The way defenses have started to adapt to Hart's power game has allowed for some of that aromatic zest to waft through the crevices of the defensive shell, and it is pungent.
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The recipe hasn't completely changed, but the opposition is unused to it &mdash; trying to furiously scribble it down on a scrap sheet of paper as they tweak coverages and personnel.&nbsp;
Hart's had stellar court vision and feel since his days at Villanova, but the increased on-ball reps and defensive attention has allowed for him to showcase his playmaking.
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He's not destroying a defense with cross-court whip passes, but he doesn't need to! Simply collapsing defenses, sniffing out the open windows, and making accurate passes has made Hart a viable secondary creator.
It's certainly an imperfect art thus far. Hart's not accustomed to running pick-and-roll or commanding attention on screens, but defenses have started to force unders on ball screens as a means of preventing his drives. That's resulted in some very clunky pick-and-roll reps, as Hart is not comfortable as a pull-up shooter from any area of the court.
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But clunkiness can be good! Especially for a team that needs more firepower.&nbsp;
Josh Hart's growth is a boon for the Pelicans. If you'd told me prior to the season that he'd A) run a modicum of offense, B) look pretty good doing it and C) told me he'd be making plays like this out of pick-and-roll ... I wouldn't have believed you, frankly.
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But, that's part of the wonder and amazement of basketball and player development. Hart has gone from rotation player to bona fide starting wing due to his improvements. While he's not fundamentally changing the course of the Pelicans' season on his own, he's played a significant part in their staying afloat after a disastrous start to the season.&nbsp;
Next time you're flipping through League Pass and have an opportunity to catch the Pelicans, tune in. Everyone could use a little more of Josh Hart's funk in their daily life.
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Josh Hart's growth as an offensive player has helped stabilize the New Orleans Pelicans' season.

Josh Hart: Bringing offensive funk and firepower for the Pelicans

Team USA handled Spain by overcoming a slow start and riding Kevin Durant and Jayson Tatum. They are in the Olympic semifinals against Australia, and like the Spanish, it's another team the Americans have a history against.
Ironically, the Team USA's games are being called on NBC by Vince Carter, who was the designated villain 21 years ago when the American federation got its first taste of what defeat might look like when the Games were held in Sydney.&nbsp;
During a pre-Olympic stop in Melbourne for an exhibition game against the Boomers, the Aussie crowd was relentless in its heckling of Carter, the Durant of his time.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Carter is a wanker,&rdquo; fans chanted in unison, as Andrew Gaze and Shane Heal and Luc Longley put up quite a good fight before succumbing. The Americans eventually got a scare from Lithuania in the semifinals before winning the gold medal, and it was the first time a U.S. team with NBA players had ever been tested.
The latest version of Australians advanced by dismantling the remnants of what was once a powerhouse Argentina team, scoring the first 19 points of the fourth quarter in an 97-59 victory &mdash; the most lopsided of the four quarterfinals. It&rsquo;ll be Australia-USA at 12:15 a.m. ET Thursday, followed by France-Slovenia at 7 a.m. as the Olympics begin to wind down. France dispatched Italy by 9 and Slovenia, making its first men&rsquo;s basketball appearance, defeated Germany by 24 to make it to the Final Four.
Australia already <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/what-is-going-on-with-the-usa-mens-national-team-in-exhibition-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeated the United States in a friendly played in Las Vegas</a>. A second glorified scrimmage between the teams was canceled because of COVID concerns, and the Americans have changed dramatically since those games were played last month prior to the conclusion of the NBA Finals.
Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker are now major pieces to the puzzle for Gregg Popovich, who was caught smiling on camera during the game against Spain after Tatum knocked a ball off the rim (goaltending in the NBA, but not under FIBA rules) during a fourth-quarter surge.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The further you move in the tournament, the more difficult it gets. That's pretty obvious,&rdquo; Popovich said.
&ldquo;The game is about buckets,&rdquo; said Durant, whose American team opened the third quarter by hitting five three-pointers and stifling Spain with zero field goals in that stretch. &ldquo;When you see the ball go in the rim, everybody&rsquo;s got more energy &mdash; coaches, players, trainers, everybody. We started making shots, made some threes and guys calmed down and made some stops.&rdquo;
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KD, SOARING DOWN THE LANE. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TokyoOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TokyoOlympics</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeamUSA</a> Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USABasketball</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/peacockTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@peacockTV</a>: <a href="https://t.co/f0j91aoEXP">https://t.co/f0j91aoEXP</a> <a href="https://t.co/mOklwQh2XH">pic.twitter.com/mOklwQh2XH</a>
&mdash; #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1422419395058491392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Ricky Rubio scored 38 points for Spain, the 2019 FIBA World Cup champions and a team the U.S. has beaten in two of the past three Olympic gold-medal games. Sergio Rodriguez added 16 points, and Willy Hernangomez had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
&ldquo;I didn't expect anything less,&rdquo; Holiday said. &ldquo;Ever since he (Ricky) was, what, like 12, he&rsquo;s been doing this. So for him to come out here and just display the type of talent that he has is really cool to be a part of and to see.&rdquo;
Team USA rallied after trailing 39-29 in the second quarter. The difference was much better ball movement in the second half; they stopped settling for the quick-trigger three-point attempts that they were taking and missing so often in the first half, when they were 4-for-17 from long distance. Durant was the star with 29 points, but Tatum was the closer with 10 of his 13 points in the final frame.
&ldquo;I think the potential of this team is endless,&rdquo; said Draymond Green, who had four points and two assists. &ldquo;Unfortunately, we (only) got two games left. So, we need to make sure that we&rsquo;re continuing to get better each and every time we step on the floor, and I think that&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve done it.
&ldquo;I think we're holding up pretty good. And we're really not worried about [teams taking advantage in the paint], you know. If that&rsquo;s where teams want to go, that's fine. At the end of the day, we're going to battle. We battled. We battled and teams have tried that each game now. We let the first one (a loss to France in the opener) get away, but we&rsquo;ve answered that bell and we&rsquo;re going to continue to answer that bell.&rdquo;
The United States men's team is 8-0 against Australia in Olympic history, but this is the strongest team the Aussie federation has ever put together. They steamrolled Argentina with a 28-4 surge at the start of the fourth quarter last night. The Boomers were led by Patty Mills with 18 points, Matisse Thybulle with 12, Joe Ingles with 11 and Dante Exum with 9 points on 4-for-4 shooting. Exum had a plus-minus of +31 in just under 22 minutes, as Australia likely ended the international career of 41-year-old Luis Scola.
Argentina, Spain, Italy and Germany now must return home, while the four finalists are all worthy medal contenders.&nbsp;
But make no mistake about it: Australia-USA is the better of the two semifinal matchups. And whoever gets through will either have to face a stoked Luka Doncic or reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in the gold-medal game Sunday.
This thing is far from over, and the Americans appear to be peaking. Will that be good enough to get them out of Saitama with gold medals around their necks? Stay tuned.
Perhaps the next game will actually make it onto live TV in the United States.

Chris Sheridan recaps the Americans' win over Spain and previews a matchup against the game Australian Boomers in the Olympic semis.

U.S. men's national team to face tough Australian club in Olympic semifinals

The NBA trade deadline is now nine days away, and while we can safely assume that all 30 teams want to get better, we must proceed expecting two teams --the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks -- to play big roles in dictating what the market will look like.
There are lots of big men available, and anybody who tells you that Andre Drummond or Hassan Whiteside or JaVale McGee would not make a difference in an Eastern Conference playoff series has not been paying attention. Or as Gregg Popovich would say: &ldquo;Living in a phone booth.&rdquo;
Also, those who assume the Knicks (with $15.7 million in cap space) are not in win-now mode do not understand Tom Thibodeau. The guy is married to a basketball, and he is anxious to do in New York what he was unable to do in Minnesota and, to a lesser degree, in Chicago.
And then we have the Celtics, who are sitting on the largest trade exception ($28.5 million) in NBA history and are worse off that they were a year ago when they made the Eastern Conference Finals. Danny Ainge cannot stand pat and expect to get past the Nets, Sixers, Bucks or Heat.
The rumor mill will be churning between now and March 25, and every contending team in the East will be scheming to make an addition that attacks the weaknesses of Brooklyn and Philadelphia, while every Western team will try to find a way to compete with the three-point shooting of the Utah Jazz and the depth and experience of the Los Angeles Lakers.
So let&rsquo;s go through the league alphabetically and assess each team&rsquo;s needs, expectations and expendables.
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ATLANTA HAWKS: Nate McMillan is 5-0 as head coach, and the most active team in the weeks leading up to training camp remains built (if fully healthy) to advance if all of the pieces can fit together with almost zero practice time. John Collins is entering restricted free agency and is not as productive as he was a year ago, but he makes just $4.1 million. Put him in a deal with Tony Snell, though, and those combined salaries equal $16.3 million, which can get you a nice player.
BOSTON CELTICS: What made them special a year ago was the ability to get offensive production from three All-Star caliber starters: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward. But Hayward is gone, Enes Kanter is doing big things in Portland (remember how he was a game-changer for Boston in the postseason a year ago?) and Kemba Walker is shooting 38% in his 10th season. Standing pat is not an option.
BROOKLYN NETS: At some point they will need a third center to join DeAndre Jordan and Nicolas Claxton, but the buyout market or the China market (the CBA season ends before the NBA playoffs) may be the easiest way for Sean Marks to add an extra big body if they cannot get a big man whose contract fits into their $5.7 million disabled player exception. Spencer Dinwiddie is the only superfluous player on the roster, but he is out for the remainder of the season, and the Nets have no future draft picks to throw into a deal. They used them all in the Harden trade.
CHARLOTTE HORNETS: Michael Jordan&rsquo;s team is 100-1 to win the East despite having the lock for Rookie of the Year, a four-game winning streak and a roster chock full of young and hungry players who, for the most part, lack postseason experience. At a certain point, they have to realize they could have done better than Cody Zeller ($15.4 million) with the fourth pick of the 2013 draft. It might be time to sacrifice a future first-round pick or two to upgrade at center. Malik Monk has been playing well lately, otherwise, we would predict his imminent departure. The Hornets have an open roster spot and $4 million in cap room.
CHICAGO BULLS: It would be delusional of them to think they can advance beyond the first-round of the playoffs, which is why they have to consider getting a good young player from a contender in exchange for Thaddeus Young ($13.5 million), who is the leading candidate to finish a distant second to Jordan Clarkson in Sixth Man of the Year voting. &nbsp;Tomas Satoransky ($10 million this year and next year) is 29 years old and could be combined with Young to bring in a good young player. Here is an idea:
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Who says no? <a href="https://t.co/Pc61DX8jQV">pic.twitter.com/Pc61DX8jQV</a>
&mdash; Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/sheridanhoops/status/1371826941804883973?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2021</a></blockquote>

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CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: Aside from the inevitable Drummond and McGee moves (best offers arrive at 2:59 p.m. on deadline day), Koby Altman will probably keep quiet after acquiring Jarrett Allen from the Nets and sending Kevin Porter Jr. to the Rockets. Kevin Love is going to be dead money for two more seasons and Cedi Osman is looking like he will be in the same category, though not quite as expensive. It&rsquo;ll be a long road back.
DALLAS MAVERICKS: They should be better than their record (20-18), but the West is tough. Dwight Powell ($11 million this season and the next two) is not worth what he is being paid and could be packaged with more future No. 1 picks (the Mavs can&rsquo;t trade their own first-round draft pick until 2025 because they owe the Knicks their 2021 and 2023 picks), if mortgaging the future is something Mark Cuban is cool with. Powell and James Johnson for Drummond works cap-wise.
DENVER NUGGETS: A rumor is out there that the Nuggets have spoken to the Magic about acquiring Aaron Gordon, and the price would include Bol Bol. They currently do not look like they have enough to come out of the West, and JaMychal Green has not been an adequate replacement for Jerami Grant. To a lesser degree than Boston, standing pat does not seem like the most prudent option. They have a $9.6 million trade exception, so expect them to make some sort of acquisition that improves the roster. They are one player away from being one player away.
DETROIT PISTONS: Troy Weaver might have already made his &ldquo;deadline deal&rdquo; in getting Hamidou Diallo from the Thunder. Wayne Ellington is superfluous, and one would think teams might like a 14-year veteran who shot 42% from three-point range with a manageable $1.6 million salary&hellip; But the Knicks couldn&rsquo;t find a taker for him a year ago.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: Limbo sucks, but Klay Thompson will be back next season. In the meantime, the best they can do is hope that the Wolves&rsquo; pick is not top three and they can get another high lottery pick to put next to James Wiseman for the years ahead. Kelly Oubre Jr., Kent Bazemore, Brad Wanamaker and Marquese Chriss are all on expiring contracts. Their combined salaries total $20.6 million. The Warriors can acquire a player into Thompson&rsquo;s $9.25 million disabled player exception.
HOUSTON ROCKETS: We are seeing a flurry of Victor Oladipo trade rumors, which is strange because he was the biggest piece they got in the Harden trade. If they are disappointed in him (and his expiring $21 million contract) they must not have been watching Pacers playoffs games the past few seasons. Kevin Porter Jr. was a nice pickup, and Rafael Stone is probably on the hunt for another player who has worn out his welcome for non-basketball reasons. P.J. Tucker is headed somewhere. Dante Exum (expiring $9.6 million contract) didn&rsquo;t quite work out for a fifth overall pick, eh?
INDIANA PACERS: Acquiring Caris LaVert for Oladipo as part of the Harden trade will go in Kevin Pritchard&rsquo;s trophy case, so the question now becomes &ldquo;What next?&rdquo; aside from waiting for T.J. Warren&rsquo;s broken foot to heal. They are in 10th place, which wasn&rsquo;t exactly what they had in mind for this season. Still, Indiana has a nice mix of players in their mid-to-late 20s. Doug McDermott (expiring $7.3 million) and T.J. McConnell (expiring $3.5 million) could be a useful shooter and pest duo for a playoff team willing to give up a draft pick and a matching expiring salary. Indiana is probably better off keeping both and rolling the dice in the play-in postseason.
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LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: They have everything they need except the Lou Williams they had gotten used to over the past three seasons. His scoring average is down almost six points. Serge Ibaka (scoring average down 4.5 points) is showing his age at 31 and has a 15% trade kicker. Both still have plenty of playoff experience, but Jerry West likes to make trades when he can find the right ones. The Clippers are an interesting team to watch at the deadline because they have an open roster spot, but they are also within a $500,000 of the hard cap, which limits their options.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS: They need nothing except for Anthony Davis to be healthy, so the Lakers are the winner of the &ldquo;Most Unlikely To Make A Trade&rdquo; award. They are option No. 1 for pretty much everybody getting a buyout after the deadline.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: More than a year later, we are still trying to figure out the Justise Winslow acquisition. Taylor Jenkins&rsquo; rotation goes 10 deep, not including the team&rsquo;s highest-paid player in Gorgui Dieng -- $17.2 million. They are young and they are not a good team, yet they are still in contention for a play-in spot, so that incentivizes them to get creative.
MIAMI HEAT: The rule of thumb used to be &ldquo;Pat Riley hates making midseason trades,&rdquo; but he went out and got Andre Iguodala and Jae Crowder last season and built an NBA Finals team. So you would think they would be predisposed to tinker despite their recent run of 11 victories in 12 games. Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million) and Moe Harkless ($3.6 million) are on expiring deals, and Avery Bradley is gathering dust. They can take on long-term money if the incoming player is worthy of it, but that would likely involve trading a starter (Olynyk). They also have a $7.5 million trade exception but owe Oklahoma City two first-round picks.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS: Veteran Bucks writer <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-sheridan-show/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-16-gery-woelfel-on-milwaukee-bucks-chances,-possible-trade,-other-east-contender">Gery Woelful said on my most recent podcast</a> that he fully expects the Bucks to try to find an upgrade from Donte DiVincenzo at shooting guard. The salaries of DiVincenzo and D.J. Wilson add up to $7.5 million, and it is hard to see Jon Horst moving anyone else on this roster. They are not last year&rsquo;s Bucks, but they theoretically have enough to get to the NBA Finals. They are very close to the hard cap and cannot trade any more picks after using so many in the Jrue Holiday acquisition.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: The team is for sale, so do not expect Gersson Rosas to take on any long-term money. They have already changed coaches, and they have nothing anybody would want except for Karl Anthony-Towns, who isn&rsquo;t going anywhere. Okay, they have Ed Davis, who may be somebody&rsquo;s consolation prize as contending teams search for bigs. Nominations for the Dumpster Fire Award are now closed.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are not available. You can safely assume that everyone else is, and David Griffin does not need to hold anybody else up because he already did that to Horst. This was not supposed to be a throwaway season, but it is. The Pelicans would like to get J.J. Redick closer to his family, who live in Brooklyn. Exactly how close? Well, when Redick played for the Sixers, he commuted to Philadelphia. So &ldquo;close&rdquo; is a relative term. Boston is drivable from Brooklyn.
NEW YORK KNICKS: As mentioned above, they are the team to watch most closely. They can take on long-term money if the incoming player is someone who can tolerate Thibodeau&rsquo;s coaching style, and they would bring in a player on an expiring contract if they believed that player&rsquo;s Bird rights would be of value over the summer. Leon Rose is one year away from having a top-three team in the East if he plays his cards right a week from Thursday.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: Sam Presti likely has George Hill, Trevor Ariza and Mike Muscala available to the highest bidders. Hill was an important piece of the Bucks last season and could help a playoff team needing a bench shooter and veteran voice in the locker room. At a certain point, Presti is going to have to package together some of the 20 extra first and second-round picks he has accumulated through trades, but that point is probably a couple of years away as the rebuild runs its course. Important: If Houston&rsquo;s pick is in the top four, the Thunder get it. Also, Presti has three trade exceptions; the largest is $27.6 million.
ORLANDO MAGIC:&nbsp; Aaron Gordon trade rumors are everywhere, which makes sense because the time to cash in on their seven-year investment is now. They need to get younger and acquire assets to build around Markelle Fultz, Nikola Vucevic and Jonathan Isaac. Their ceiling should not be the kind of first-round exits they have been producing the past two seasons, and they have not won a single playoff series since 2009-10. So, it would be shocking to see them keep Gordon, who is only 25 years old and can bring a lot in return. Gordon is a good guy who needs a change of scenery and deserves one. Same goes for Evan Fournier.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: They wanted James Harden and did not get him, and Doc Rivers still somehow kept Ben Simmons committed to the team. That is pretty huge, because players who know they have been shopped usually resent it. They are in first place in the East and have a roster with the proper pieces to match up with Brooklyn. Mike Scott&rsquo;s expiring $5 million deal and the Knicks&rsquo; 2021 second-round pick are Elton Brand&rsquo;s most movable trade assets, but Scott has been playing well lately. Terrence Ferguson, Vincent Poirier and Tony Bradley are on expiring contracts but would bring little in return.
PHOENIX SUNS: Acquiring Chris Paul checked the &ldquo;monster trade&rdquo; box, and the NBA&rsquo;s most overachieving team will likely abide by the &ldquo;If It Ain&rsquo;t Broke, Don&rsquo;t Fix It&rdquo; rule. That being said, if an on-the-ball defender capable of defending LeBron James is out there somewhere, you kick the tires on just about anything that does not include Devin Booker, DeAndre Ayton and Chris Paul. Ariza would seem to be a fit.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: Like Dallas, they should be better than their record&hellip; and would be if C.J. McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic had not gotten injured. At full strength, they are going to be a tough out in the postseason. Gary Trent Jr. is on an expiring contract and they may fear losing him, so keep that in mind with these guys. They are sleepers.
SACRAMENTO KINGS: What they can get for Whiteside will be interesting to see, because he was killing it for the Blazers last season. Then, Nurkic returned in the bubble. Whiteside does not exactly have the best reputation around the league, which is why he played in Lebanon and China before resurrecting his career. There are also a lot of Harrison Barnes rumors out there, and like the Magic and Gordon, it may be time for the Kings to cash in on the three-year investment they made in Barnes after acquiring him from Dallas. He makes $22.2 million. Does Nemanja Bjelica have any value? Same question has to be asked of Jabari Parker.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS: The LaMarcus Aldridge era is in its final days, and you have to wonder if the Patty Mills era is, too. Derrick White is signed long-term and Dejounte Murray is damn good. The expiring contracts of Aldridge and Mills add up to $37.2 million, and if you include Rudy Gay&rsquo;s expiring deal that number becomes $51.2 million. They are 20-16, yet, as currently constituted, not good enough to do much in the postseason. R.C. Buford wins the award for the league executive most overdue to make a trade.
TORONTO RAPTORS: The name that is out there now is Kyle Lowry, who has spent nine seasons of his 16-year career playing for the team that now calls Tampa its home. Having lost five in a row and sitting in 11th place in the Leastern Conference, Masai Ujiri must determine whether it is time to turn Lowry&rsquo;s expiring $30.5 million contract into something of value. At 35 years old, Lowry can still play and, percentage wise, is hitting threes, twos and free throws better than he has over the past four seasons. But this would not be a giveaway, and a sign-and-trade in the offseason is still possible.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_15729880_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="auto" />
UTAH JAZZ: Like Phoenix, the &ldquo;If It Ain&rsquo;t Broke , Don&rsquo;t Dix It&rdquo; rule applies. They are in first place in the West, are making threes better than anybody and have Rudy Gobert finding new and incredible ways to never, ever be mentioned in the MVP debate. None of their nine rotation players is going anywhere, and no one else on the roster has either a big contract or much trade value. Still, someone on the team could be a giveaway because the Jazz are $1.9 million over the luxury tax line. They have already traded five of their next seven second-round picks (they don&rsquo;t have one until 2025).
WASHINGTON WIZARDS: You&rsquo;ve got to feel bad for Tommy Sheppard, one of the best guys and better GMs in the league -- he was able to turn John Wall into Russell Westbrook but then lost Thomas Bryant and had his team put on ice because of COVID issues. They are now playing the busiest second-half schedule of any Eastern Conference team, and they theoretically have a puncher&rsquo;s chance against practically anyone in the conference if Westbrook keeps triple-doubling (he leads the league with 11). But they have lost four in a row and rank 12th. Robin Lopez and his expiring $7.3 million contract is their best trade asset. If they combined Lopez with Ish Smith&rsquo;s expiring contract, that totals $13.3 million.

With one week before the NBA's trade deadline, Chris Sheridan previews what could be in store for all 30 of the league's teams.

What to expect from all 30 NBA teams ahead of the Trade Deadline

Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr. opens up about his breakout season, his terrific defense, Sexland, becoming a vocal leader and more.

Larry Nance Jr. on career-year, growing up a Cavs fan, Sexland and more

Ethan Fuller takes a look at how the James Harden trade and other weekly events have affected the NBA landscape.

NBA Sour Rankings: Life After a Blockbuster

The NBA landscape was rocked this afternoon when the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-brooklyn-nets-acquire-james-harden-houston-rockets-cleveland-cavaliers-three-way-trade-jarrett-allen-caris-levert-four-first-round-picks-taurean-prince-dante-exum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Houston Rockets traded James Harden</a> to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a massive four-team blockbuster that included the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers. The news instantly dominated basketball conversations on social media.&nbsp;
Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum summed up the public sentiment in this tweet:
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Right before my nap huh . Most entertaining sport in the business
&mdash; CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) <a href="https://twitter.com/CJMcCollum/status/1349468790057123841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Here are some more social-media posts from NBA players watching the drama unfold:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
That&rsquo;s a lot of firepower in Brooklyn <a href="https://t.co/6JIi5YxM7k">https://t.co/6JIi5YxM7k</a>
&mdash; Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dame_Lillard/status/1349480212182958082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A live look at the NBA right now.... <a href="https://t.co/kdYIJqY2TC">pic.twitter.com/kdYIJqY2TC</a>
&mdash; Andre Drummond (@AndreDrummond) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndreDrummond/status/1349470884122259458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Well that escalated quickly 😳😳
&mdash; Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) <a href="https://twitter.com/paulpierce34/status/1349465168627974145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NBA crazyy ain&rsquo;t it..🤣🤷🏽&zwj;♂️
&mdash; Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheTraeYoung/status/1349492991719661568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Woah😂
&mdash; Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) <a href="https://twitter.com/spidadmitchell/status/1349467227817435140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It&rsquo;s about to go down 😀
&mdash; Jusuf Nurkić (@bosnianbeast27) <a href="https://twitter.com/bosnianbeast27/status/1349465273485561856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trapped in hyperbaric chamber for &gt;2hrs and sheesh...
&mdash; Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) <a href="https://twitter.com/SDinwiddie_25/status/1349501557704957952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Not Going To Lie If LeBron Beat This Nets Team In The Finals Its No Discussion On Who The Best Player To Ever Play Is Forreal 🤷🏾&zwj;♂️
&mdash; Isaiah Whitehead (@isaiahwhitehead) <a href="https://twitter.com/isaiahwhitehead/status/1349503268305711104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Wow 😱🤯...
&mdash; Thad Young (@yungsmoove21) <a href="https://twitter.com/yungsmoove21/status/1349478807770705923?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WOW
&mdash; Bradley Beal (@RealDealBeal23) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDealBeal23/status/1349465224303276037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I&rsquo;m pretty sure Deandre Jordan will be starting but yes they look great on paper tho! Carry on... <a href="https://t.co/9O8W2RLbtH">https://t.co/9O8W2RLbtH</a>
&mdash; Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/status/1349497284724191241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
League is crazy right now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a>
&mdash; Rudy Gay (@RudyGay) <a href="https://twitter.com/RudyGay/status/1349474125153267712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I think it goes without saying that you can&rsquo;t pick Brooklyn in 2k no more 🥲
&mdash; Mo Bamba (@TheRealMoBamba) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealMoBamba/status/1349479354984787969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Former NBA coach George Karl wonders how Steve Nash will integrate Harden into the Nets' offense:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I hope Steve Nash knows magic cause getting three ball dominant players to work well together for the Nets is going to require special tricks!
&mdash; George Karl (@CoachKarl22) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachKarl22/status/1349510464238219265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Royce O'Neale of the Utah Jazz was shocked and sent his best wishes to Taurean Prince, who was traded from the Nets to the Cavaliers:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Wtf just happened 👀
&mdash; Royce O'Neale (@BucketsONeale00) <a href="https://twitter.com/BucketsONeale00/status/1349465459364491265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
My dawg TP just went to Cleveland Hope he get off and go hoop 🙏🏾💫
&mdash; Royce O'Neale (@BucketsONeale00) <a href="https://twitter.com/BucketsONeale00/status/1349465861032013824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. took note of Cleveland adding yet another big man when they acquired center Jarrett Allen in the deal:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The big man is BACK!!! 😂
&mdash; Larry Nance Jr (@Larrydn22) <a href="https://twitter.com/Larrydn22/status/1349478532238483456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Sexland is now surrounded by trees
&mdash; Larry Nance Jr (@Larrydn22) <a href="https://twitter.com/Larrydn22/status/1349486182804172801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2021</a></blockquote>

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&nbsp;

Here's what NBA players and coaches were posting on social media after the Brooklyn Nets landed James Harden in a four-team trade.

Here's how NBA players, coaches reacted to James Harden trade

Ethan Fuller breaks down the general direction of all 30 NBA teams in his weekly Sour Rankings.

NBA Sour Rankings: New Year, New Problems

BROOKLYN &ndash; A security guard with colorful purple streaks in her hair was watching the third quarter of Wednesday's game between the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks from an empty concession stand in the concourse at a deserted Barclays Center, then moved inside the upper-level later in the quarter because she wondered what all the noise was about.
Because the noise was quite something. As was the whole experience of covering an NBA game under the pandemic rules and procedures.&nbsp;
There might have been 300-400 people inside the Nets' home arena, but one of those people on the game operations crew had a hand on the fake-crowd-noise dial, and that person was pumping up the volume excessively.
I have covered literally thousands of basketball games all around the world in my three-plus decades as an NBA reporter, and I can honestly say I have never been to a louder arena than the one I was in last night in the borough also known as Kings County.&nbsp;
Tarps covered nearly all of the seats in the lower bowl, and every single concession stand was closed. Concourses usually teeming with people were barren. Usually, the place is an olfactory overload with all of the different culinary choices. But on Wednesday night, there was merely a skeleton crew of security guards, and I did not gain admittance until a pleasant young lady stuck a nasal swab up my right nostril to give me a rapid COVID-19 test. I was negative.&nbsp;
Every single NBA beat writer and national writer and broadcaster is going through this very same procedure every night they go to work at an NBA arena. The rules are clearly spelled out by the NBA, with everyone&rsquo;s safety the foremost concern. Masks are mandatory at all times. You want a sip of water? You have to drink it in the concourse.
&ldquo;You pick noses for a living?&rdquo; I cheerily asked the COVID-19 tester (because mirth and levity cure COVID fatigue).&nbsp;She smiled back, a rare moment of levity prior to what would be the game of the night, a 145-141 Nets victory that knocked the Hawks from the ranks of the unbeaten and reaffirmed Brooklyn as perhaps the best team in the East when playing nearly at full strength.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Of the six games on the NBA schedule, it was the only one decided by single digits. There has been a pattern of blowouts developing over the first week-plus of the NBA season, and it is not a good pattern.&nbsp;
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Many of this season&rsquo;s games have not been close, and the sights and sounds that everyone is getting on TV are different from what we all got back in the days of the bubble. Fans are barred from all but a handful of the 29 NBA arenas; large tarps cover huge swatches of the stands (sometimes adorned with advertisements so that viewers will see the team's sponsors). The audio and video quality varies tremendously from game to game (across different networks), and the fake crowd noise &ndash; which was kind of welcome in the bubble because it restored some sense of normalcy &ndash; is having a different effect this season.
It is too fake, if there is such a thing.&nbsp;
In Brooklyn, it was earsplitting. NBA players should be getting earplugs to deal with it, along with the masks that they and the coaches are wearing on the benches throughout these games during the 2020-21 season.
This is not a criticism of the Nets, who are doing everything they can to host games and accommodate media members working under extraordinary logistical difficulties. They must keep media members socially distanced from one another as well as from players and coaches, and all interactions between media and team members are conducted pre- and post-game via Zoom.&nbsp;
This has the impact of limiting the opportunities that reporters have to interact informally with coaches and players, and the quality of the reporting suffers because media members have fewer opportunities to mingle with coaches, players, scouts and folks sitting courtside as part of the news gathering process. The floor level at Barclays is a no-fly zone, so one cannot even tell if the team has exercise bikes in their usual spot just to the side of the exit tunnel, a place where the Nets have a dazzling array of photographs from games, concerts and events that have been held over the years at the arena.
Media members have no choice but to adjust, and some beat writers are choosing to cover their teams from home&nbsp; -- unthinkable in journalism theory, a necessity at times during a pandemic. Things are going to remain this way for the foreseeable future, and it will not make NBA reporting any easier; simply more challenging. The more intrepid among us can handle it.
New York is generally a grumpy city these days, but it should be noted that every single person I ran into at Barclays Center was cheerful and helpful. It is human nature for 99 percent of us to act that way, and whatever they are putting in the eater in Brooklyn is working.
Getting back to last night&rsquo;s epic game, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant combined for Brooklyn's final 20 points over the final five-and-a-half minutes of a contest that left everyone spent. But what it looked like in the locker room afterward -- something reporters routinely describe anecdotally in their coverage -- was a mystery.
"Yeah, I definitely need a beer," Nets head coach Steve Nash said afterwards via Zoom.
A colleague I have known for several years who works for CBS was in attendance, and I gave him a ride after the game back to Manhattan where his car was parked. He has been attending games all over the country in football stadiums where the roofs have been closed and the 80,000-seat arenas have been emptied. He said Indianapolis was boarded up, Las Vegas was dead (both inside and outside the Raiders' new retractable-roof stadium), but absolutely nowhere was the pumped-in crowd noise anywhere near the levels that we both experienced at Barclays Center. This was headache-inducing noise, and one headache in particular did not subside until 5 a.m. this morning after a couple hours of shut-eye.
We drove along 34th Street in Manhattan and spotted exactly one open business &ndash; a 24-hour convenience store. There were perhaps 30 pedestrians along that major crosstown thoroughfare, and we marveled at the ghost town aspect of Manhattan during this pandemic. It was eerie, and as Jeff Van Gundy said on The Sheridan Show earlier this week when <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-podcast-chris-sheridan-jeff-van-gundy-rockets-james-harden-hawks-team-usa-cuba">describing Staples Center in Los Angeles</a>, it was surreal.
Every hoophead in America is getting a taste of this from their sofas each evening, but to witness it in person was different.&nbsp;
Under new media rules, after you pass your COVID test, you go to your assigned seat and stay there. Period. Unless you need a bathroom break. From the Nets' media seats in the 200 level (think &ldquo;corner of the arena, halfway up&rdquo;) one could see a pair of security guards come onto the court during every timeout, but there was nothing for them to do except go through the motions and look busy. There was no one inside the arena for them to crowd control. 
Whatever was being said in timeouts was a mystery. Cameras could catch it for the TV audience, but from 80 yards away, you cannot see much in detail. Within view were the three rows of socially distant seating for the bench players and assistant coaches, a socially distant scorer's table with only a few folks keeping stats and making public address announcements, and perhaps the person with the fake crowd noise controller.&nbsp;
Since the floor level is off-limits to anyone not affiliated with the league or the teams, the usual NBA reporting practice of going to a locker room and mingling with the players and/or spotting which celebrities were in attendance was an impossibility. Not that any celebrities were in Brooklyn on Wednesday, unless they were spirited inside where no one was watching and kept out of camera range. It would not have been impossible, given the building&rsquo;s layout. (I once interviewed Bill Clinton on the loading dock after a Bucks-Nets game. He is buddies with Marc Lasry and likes the Bucks a lot).&nbsp;
The working press room is closed. The interview room is closed too. The luxury club down the hallway from the locker rooms is also closed. The dance team&rsquo;s room and the Team Hype cheer quad rooms are empty. Those folks are not working this season.&nbsp;
Outside Barclays Center on the streets of Brooklyn, there was zero pedestrian traffic. A supermarket across the street was virtually empty. The plaza leading to the subway and the Long Island Railroad station that serves Barclays Center was devoid of people, and even the ever-present pigeons were gone.
Surreal may not be a strong enough word. Again, eerie.
But this is the new normal in these tough times, and as we all should know by now, the new normal is often abnormal. This dynamic is taking place in all 28 NBA cities along with Tampa, the current home of the Toronto Raptors, and there is no way that it is financially sustainable.&nbsp;
Barclays Center was sucking electricity from the power grid in order to heat the massive arena. Inside, every concession stand was closed, which means that all of the people who used to work at those concession stands are now either out of work or have found other jobs.
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True story: When I was a young sportswriter covering a Utah Jazz-Houston Rockets playoff semifinal in Salt Lake City in 1996, former Commissioner David Stern was in attendance with his wife, Dianne, who was put off by all of the fake noise. Stern got things done, and he ordered one of his staffers, Todd Harris, to keep a decibel meter at courtside and to make sure the sound level did not exceed a certain threshold.&nbsp;
Harris was a dutiful foot soldier, and he followed the directive so closely that the Jazz dancers could not hear the soundtracks that they were dancing to. Odds are that Dianne Stern left the next game without a splitting headache.
Stern passed away exactly 366 days ago, and his successor, Adam Silver, is doing his utmost to have a 72-game NBA season that gives the league's fans at home enduring the pandemic something entertaining and unscripted to watch each and every night. But that manufactured noise is too phony.&nbsp;
Ironically, the Nets were one of the first teams to pop in fake crowd noise, doing it back when they played in East Rutherford before sparse crowds. When news broke of what they were doing, they were ridiculed. Now, it is the norm.
However, it would be interesting to see the NBA test this idea:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Try televising a couple of games with no fake crowd noise.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Put microphones on the players so we can hear their interactions.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Open the broadcast with a disclaimer that there may be some off-color language picked up by the microphones.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Let the viewers experience the on-court noises and what the players are saying to each other as these games are being played. If a cuss word sneaks in, so be it. We can handle it.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Look, there comes a point where the product is too fake. The bubble served its purpose, and the fake noise made it seem familiar. But those games were played in very small arenas in Lake Buena Vista, FL, whereas the current games are being played in empty 20,000 seat-arenas with massive tarps covering the seats. The optics are unnerving, no matter how good or bad the games are.
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We all want to get bodies back into those seats as soon as possible, but in the meantime, over-faking it is too phony.&nbsp;
The NBA toyed with the idea of playing at G-League arenas and practice facilities, but for a variety of reasons, the idea was scrapped. Those reasons included the economic expense of outfitting new venues for NBA broadcast and other technology. The costs of implementing required health and safety protocol measures were significantly more feasible in the normal arenas &ndash; things such as entrance, egress, space for distancing, hand-sanitizing stations, plexiglass dividers, space for players, personnel to be physically distant on benches, locker rooms, weight rooms, etc. Also, it was less desirable from a revenue perspective as it was easier to implement the needed signage elements in existing arena setups, many of which have naming rights deals.
So the NBA will stay in the big arenas, come what may.&nbsp;
But it would be nice to see the NBA try something different at some point this season. You can turn the limited fake crowd noise back on when the arenas have fans in them. But until then, let viewers hear what's really happening.

Chris Sheridan shares his experience covering an NBA game during a pandemic, as he attended Wednesday's Nets-Hawks game.

Sportswriter’s Diary: Covering an NBA game in a pandemic

Ethan Fuller breaks down the biggest takeaways from the NBA preseason.

NBA Sour Rankings: Preseason Overreactions

Over six months removed from their final game of the 2019-20 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are raring to go. This week, they&rsquo;ll finally return to the court, as the franchise prepares to conduct its first organized team activity since the pandemic.
Currently, the Cavaliers&rsquo; players and staff are quarantining in their own hotel rooms downtown before their first scheduled group workout on Wednesday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Abiding by the same protocols as the NBA teams in Orlando, everybody must test negative for COVID-19 twice in order to attend. There will be six, two-and-a-half-hour late-morning programs and optional nightly shooting and workout sessions from Sept. 23 through Sept. 30.
According to a Cavaliers team source, the organization fought hard for this opportunity. It was anything but the perfect solution; Cleveland and the seven other teams left out of the NBA bubble in Orlando would&rsquo;ve loved to participate in the restart. These eight franchises lost a lot of footing compared to the teams that were able to continue their season in Orlando.
Despite missing the playoffs, the Phoenix Suns went 8-0 in the seeding games and built toward next season. The Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans had the chance to fight for a playoff spot. Perhaps the closest team to Cleveland process-wise is the Washington Wizards and, with Bradley Beal on the sidelines, they saw their future cornerstone pieces such as Rui Hachimura and Troy Brown Jr. improve and get reps versus other teams. The Cavaliers source described being left out of the Orlando bubble as an "extreme disadvantage." Each team in Orlando played a total of eight games and had three scrimmages.&nbsp;
While it seems minor, that type of progression is important and Cleveland had no way to replicate that. Instead, the Cavaliers will have to settle for this in-region, internal bubble of their own -- scrimmaging five-on-five and practicing within a team setting. Again, it isn&rsquo;t perfect, but it&rsquo;s better than nothing, even without the likes of Andre Drummond (personal matter), Cedi Osman (overseas), Tristan Thompson (unrestricted free agent) and Matthew Dellavedova (unrestricted free agent).
&ldquo;First of all, it's going to be some semblance of normalcy, which is great,&rdquo; the Cavs team source said. &ldquo;I think, more than anything, the team bonding and being together and enjoying each other and our presence is going to be awesome. I think that's going to be a big, big positive for us. It's going to be like a really cool retreat, if you will, with basketball. I think it&rsquo;s going to be a major plus and then Coach (J.B. Bickerstaff) getting to reaffirm some of the stuff he wants to put in from a defensive standpoint will be great. And just getting to play [is important]. We'll just continue to move forward, onward and upward, hopefully make some real strides during these next few days in our bubble, and then continue on to what's next.&rdquo;
Bickerstaff will return as head coach after his 11-game showing last season; it&rsquo;s the first time the Cavs have had the same coach in consecutive years since Tyronn Lue in 2018. That continuity is essential for a franchise that&rsquo;s focused on turning into a consistent winner. According to the team source, Bickerstaff was always going to be the coach to lead Cleveland into the future; it just so happened that former head coach John Beilein didn&rsquo;t make it through the year, so Bickerstaff got to grab the reins a bit earlier than anticipated.&nbsp;
The Cavaliers are thrilled to see how Bickerstaff can push their team forward. He&rsquo;s been in the NBA for 17 years, starting under his father, Bernie, as an assistant with the Charlotte Bobcats. He also had stints coaching the Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies. His head coaching experience with the Rockets and Grizzlies is a huge reason why Cleveland believed in him as its long-term solution, per the team source.&nbsp;
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Bickerstaff has a unique ability to develop relationships with his players, on and off the floor. He&rsquo;s not afraid to be honest, he grinds and he&rsquo;s &ldquo;magnetic&rdquo; as a teacher.
&ldquo;He's the right guy for what we're doing right now,&rdquo; the team source said. "We have our head coach of the future. And we have some continuity moving forward.&rdquo;
Consistency is the next step for these Cavaliers. For that to happen, there has to be widespread improvement from top to bottom. That includes the front office providing the right pieces to the puzzle, players committing to get better in-house and coaches continuing to adapt their schemes to the roster. Bickerstaff&rsquo;s short takeover stint was a taste of what that looks like.
&ldquo;It has to be a multi-prong approach. There's not one solution to becoming better at that,&rdquo; the team source said. &ldquo;Post All-Star break, we were competing, we were playing hard. And the results show that; it&rsquo;s a small sample size, but [it was] 11 games against some real teams. We know we can do it.&rdquo;
Cleveland went 5-6 after the All-Star break, but there were plenty of positive takeaways from that stretch. There was a double-digit comeback win against the Miami Heat, a grind-it-out victory over the San Antonio Spurs, a 14-point win over the Philadelphia 76ers and a tough victory over the Denver Nuggets. Even in losses, there was a competitive spirit that had been missing.&nbsp;
Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman and his front-office staff have the chance to bolster the roster in multiple ways. First, there&rsquo;s the upcoming NBA Draft on Nov. 18. The Cavaliers currently hold the No. 5 overall pick. According to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, the team will be active in trade conversations and <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2020/09/will-kevin-porter-jr-start-for-cleveland-cavaliers-this-coming-season-hey-chris.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could use the selection as bait</a> -- if the right short- or long-term piece is available. That is contingent on how the draft shakes out, though.
The 2020 NBA Draft is wide open in terms of where players are projected to land. Altman and his front office are still mulling things over. With plenty of time to do their due diligence, there have been debates over certain prospects; Cleveland.com reported Deni Avdija, Isaac Okoro and Devin Vassell as the <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2020/08/who-will-cleveland-cavaliers-pick-at-no-5-in-nba-draft-hey-chris.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three top wings in consideration</a>.&nbsp;
Per the Cavs source, this pre-draft process has been more difficult than usual considering teams can&rsquo;t meet any of the prospects in person to get a feel for their personality and establish a rapport. Also, there&rsquo;s less data available than in a typical year, so the team is just trying to watch as much game film as possible and hold virtual meetings with prospects. If Cleveland chooses to hang on to the fifth pick, the organization has an opportunity to add a good player who fits into the culture that&rsquo;s being established. Ideally, they&rsquo;ll find someone with the right attitude, a strong work ethic, toughness and a desire to be there.
Another way Altman and Co. can help Bickerstaff is through free agency. Much of their plan is hinges on Andre Drummond and whether he&rsquo;ll opt out. According to the team source, all signs suggest that Drummond &ldquo;probably will&rdquo; exercise his $28,751,774 player option. Drummond said as much during an appearance on ESPN&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.espn.com/espnradio/podcast/archive/_/id/26437808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Le Batard &amp; Friends Network podcast</a>.
&ldquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;s going to be pretty hard to give up, so you can count on me being in Cleveland still,&rdquo; Drummond said in June. Later in the interview, he added: &ldquo;I definitely will be in Cleveland.&rdquo;
Since they&rsquo;re no longer a luxury tax-payer, the Cavaliers will have the $9,258,000 mid-level exception on their hands; this can be used entirely on one free agent or split between multiple players. The Cavs source said that the team will be looking for &ldquo;defensive-minded players&rdquo; while also looking to add &ldquo;length and athleticism.&rdquo;&nbsp;
It is important to note that the franchise does hold Tristan Thompson&rsquo;s Bird rights, meaning if the Cavaliers decide to bring him back into the fold, they can go over the salary cap to sign him and still have their MLE. With that said, they&rsquo;re likely not going to spend a ton of money to the point of dipping back into the luxury tax, especially since they did all that work to clear up their cap sheet in the previous two years. At this stage, it&rsquo;s about hitting singles and adding those positives up -- Alfonzo McKinnie and his team-friendly contract is a perfect example of that.
The team source said that there&rsquo;s &ldquo;a lot of mutual interest&rdquo; between Cleveland and Thompson. In a sense, who the team drafts could play a significant role in that free-agency decision. Would it make sense for Thompson to return if Onyeka Okongwu is the selection at five? Though unlikely, if <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/james-wiseman-memphis-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Wiseman were to surprisingly slide</a> to the Cavaliers and they nabbed him, re-signing Thompson may no longer be a priority.
The Cavs could also try to improve the roster via trades, although league sources say that most trade talks around the NBA are on hold at the moment. Not many conversations were taking place while teams were in the bubble and everyone is waiting to see what the 2020-21 salary cap will be set at before making moves.
As for the cornerstone pieces already on the roster, Cleveland feels great.&nbsp;
Collin Sexton found his niche and, specifically under Bickerstaff, thrived. Over his five games in March, the second-year guard averaged 30 points, 4.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds in 40 minutes per contest. His true shooting percentage during that stretch was a career-best 66.4 percent. If you want a slightly larger sample size, look at his post All-Star break numbers when Bickerstaff slid into his head coaching role: 25.5 points and 4.2 assists with a 43.1 three-point percentage. Playing both as a ball-handler and off the ball, Sexton was as efficient as he&rsquo;s ever been, had the highest usage rate on the team and made teams pay.
The team source described Sexton as &ldquo;looking monstrous&rdquo; and &ldquo;huge&rdquo; after working on his body. The Cavaliers are excited to see where Sexton goes next in his development.
&ldquo;He's our cultural backbone and what we want to be about,&rdquo; the Cavs source said. &ldquo;He just puts his head down and goes. He got left off the initial team for Rising Stars, which is insane. He's an incredible kid in that way [that he keeps working].&rdquo;
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Last year&rsquo;s draft saw the franchise bring in three different talents: Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr. and Dylan Windler.&nbsp;
Garland had a case of the ups and downs, but the ups gave us a glimpse of his ceiling. Among rookie point guards, he ranked second in total assists (229) behind only Ja Morant. Despite his streaky shooting nights, he still knocked down 35.5 percent of his five triples per game. Coming off just four games of collegiate experience, reps at the professional level were paramount for Garland from the standpoint of running the marathon, so to speak.
According to the source, Garland&rsquo;s been throwing down alley-oops in 1-on-0 workouts, asserting the fact that he&rsquo;s healthy and has his legs under him without any limitations. He&rsquo;s also come back to Cleveland with a better physical frame.
&ldquo;We know there's so much more left, we know there's so much more there,&rdquo; the team source said of Garland&rsquo;s development. &ldquo;He's also been super locked in because he feels like he has so much more potential, so much more to offer. He also feels snubbed and disrespected by that All-Rookie team, which was absurd in a lot of regards. He's a wonderful kid, too. Great worker. We're excited about him and his potential. I think his best basketball is yet to come.&rdquo;
Can Sexton and Garland work in the same backcourt, particularly on the defensive end? That&rsquo;s a question the Cavaliers are hoping to get answered too. The source concedes that the two would benefit from a bigger and longer froncourt; however, they&rsquo;ll also have to get tougher, slide their feet better, power through screens and genuinely take charge of that side of the court as a duo.
They could always just talk to Larry Nance Jr. An unsung hero for the team, last season was the best of his career. He&rsquo;s a Swiss Army knife who offers the versatility that coaches dream of, both as an offensive weapon and defensive stalwart. Most notably for Bickerstaff, he was even used as a three in some lineups when the Cavaliers went bigger. Remember the double-digit comeback against the Miami Heat at home? That all started with Nance&rsquo;s tenacity on defense.
Of course, Porter might&rsquo;ve shown the most flashes as an individual defender among the young guards, and he showed much more than just that. Bouncing between the second unit and the starting lineup, the rookie swingman provided highlight-reel playmaking, impressive shooting and infectious energy. Though there&rsquo;s been curiosity about when he&rsquo;ll start at the three or supplant one of Sexton or Garland as a starting guard, the Cavs source has an inkling that Porter will continue to pack his powerful punch off the bench. Maybe that&rsquo;s because the organization would like to see what Year 2 looks like for its young pairing, and it&rsquo;s been reported that Cleveland views Porter more as a shooting guard rather than a forward.
Regardless of positional opinions and who&rsquo;s in the starting five, you&rsquo;re going to see all three of them playing together at the same time under Bickerstaff. You might see different combinations of those players alongside Windler, too.
The 24-year-old missed the entirety of his rookie season with a stress reaction in his lower left leg. The Cavaliers tried to bring him back slowly via a couple of stints with the team&rsquo;s G League affiliate, the Canton Charge, but it was to no avail. Since the January surgery, however, he has recovered fully. According to the team source, Windler is going to be 100 percent, full-go in the upcoming team workouts.&nbsp;
&ldquo;These next couple weeks are going to be just awesome for him, to get back to playing basketball again,&rdquo; the Cavs source said. &ldquo;We're excited to see what that looks like. But talk about a great fit along with the guards -- size, shooting, basketball IQ, cutting, really good rebounder for his position. We're pretty pumped about the possibilities, but we have to see it first.&rdquo;
A healthy, fresh Kevin Love will go a long way too. His gravity on the perimeter, effectiveness on the block and aggressiveness on the glass are game-changers. Cedi Osman has steadily improved as one of the team&rsquo;s all-around forwards. The length of the second unit with Dante Exum and McKinnie was one of the more intriguing parts of the latter half of the season.
The Cavaliers also converted Dean Wade&rsquo;s two-way contract into a standard deal and took a flyer on versatile big man Jordan Bell, so we&rsquo;ll see how they look in the next week.
The Cavs source said that the mood around the team is an eager one. Being on pause for this long has Cleveland wanting to get going. It hasn&rsquo;t been easy to sit at home and watch as much of the league continues without you.
Come 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, they won&rsquo;t have to anymore.

Spencer Davies details what's next for the Cavs as they hold their first team workouts since March and enter a unique offseason.

Diante