Buffaloes

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Memphis guard Ja Morant not being charged with a crime for twice displaying a gun on social media will not prevent the NBA from handing down more discipline, Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday.
Silver is preparing to announce whatever penalty is coming Morant&rsquo;s way for the second gun incident shortly after the end of the NBA Finals. He suspended Morant for eight games in March after the Grizzlies star held a gun in a suburban Denver nightclub while streaming himself live on Instagram. Another live stream in May, this time while sharing the front seat of a car with one of his friends, saw Morant displaying a weapon again.
&ldquo;Waving them around, displaying them in a certain context, is not consistent with gun safety and is not the proper message that an NBA player, particularly one at Ja&rsquo;s level, should be sending to the tens of millions of followers he has &mdash; and particularly when it&rsquo;s an incident once again, where it&rsquo;s been streamed live on social media,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;So yes, I think given the similarity of this incident to the first one, I was alarmed, I was disheartened.&rdquo;
Police in Colorado looked into the March incident and did not file charges. Morant has also not been charged with doing anything illegal related to the May incident.
But the collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players also says players agree &ldquo;not to do anything that is materially detrimental or materially prejudicial to the best interests&rdquo; of their team or the NBA. That&rsquo;s why Morant&rsquo;s eight-game suspension in March was for conduct detrimental to the league, and it&rsquo;s reasonable to assume that will be part of the sanctioning that Morant will face this time.
&ldquo;When we have a standard for conduct detrimental, at the end of the day, it&rsquo;s one based on what we see as the values of this league and what our expectations from our players in terms of the image we&rsquo;re portraying to our fans,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;So, it&rsquo;s not a legal standard. It&rsquo;s a private organization standard.&rdquo;
Silver announced Thursday that the league and the National Basketball Players Association agree that the latest Morant penalty should not be announced during the finals. Morant has been suspended by the Grizzlies indefinitely, and with the team obviously off until camp this fall there&rsquo;s no urgency for the NBA to announce its decision.
Silver also insisted that his decision is not going to be a political one, even in a time where the topic of gun control only seems to be widening the political divide across the country.
There have been 557 mass killings in the United States since 2006, and at least 2,896 people have died, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. Those include killings where four or more died, not including the assailant, within a 24-hour period. So far in 2023, the nation has witnessed the highest number on record of mass killings and deaths to this point in a single year.
&ldquo;This, to me, is an issue of gun safety,&rdquo; Silver said.
This is the third known NBA investigation surrounding Morant and the possible involvement of firearms so far in 2023.
Morant&rsquo;s actions were investigated after a Jan. 29 incident in Memphis that he said led to Davonte Pack &mdash; someone Morant calls &ldquo;my brother&rdquo; and the person who live-streamed the May incident &mdash; banned from Grizzlies home games for a year.
That incident followed a game against the Indiana Pacers; citing unnamed sources, The Indianapolis Star and USA Today reported that multiple members of the Pacers saw a red dot pointed at them while they were near the loading dock where their bus was located, and The Athletic reported that a Pacers security guard believed the laser was attached to a gun.
The NBA confirmed that individuals it didn&rsquo;t identify were banned from the arena but said its investigation into the January event found no evidence that anyone was threatened with a weapon.
Morant and Pack also are involved in a civil lawsuit brought after an incident at Morant&rsquo;s home last summer, in which a then-17-year-old alleged that they assaulted him. Morant filed a countersuit on April 12, accusing the teen of slander, battery and assault.

Ja Morant not being charged with a crime will not prevent the NBA from handing down more discipline, Adam Silver said Friday.

Silver: Morant not being charged with a crime won’t prevent NBA penalties

Ja Morant spoke out Tuesday night about&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ja-morant-gun-video-investigation-ce4081ab6036570ab2703be26f842743">his latest troubles</a>, three days after the Memphis guard apparently held a firearm again while being broadcast on social media and&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ja-morant-nba-investigation-gun-7fe15dae343f85d0366a4c959d5313b3">was suspended by the Grizzlies</a>&nbsp;from all team activities.
He&rsquo;s also being investigated by the NBA for his actions, two months after the league&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ja-morant-grizzlies-nba-gun-investigation-instagram-863e2f6217ab2ba438a85a31e4a492d5">suspended him for essentially the same thing</a>&nbsp;&mdash; displaying a gun on social media.
&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me,&rdquo; Morant said in a statement released Tuesday night by his representatives. &ldquo;This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I&rsquo;m committed to continuing to work on myself.&rdquo;
His comments came a few hours after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed disappointment over the situation. Silver handed down an eight-game suspension in March; there is no way of knowing yet what penalties Morant may face this time.
&ldquo;Honestly, I was shocked when I saw, this weekend, that video,&rdquo; Silver said in a televised interview with ESPN before the draft lottery in Chicago. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in the process of investigating it and we&rsquo;ll figure out exactly what happened as best as we can. The video&rsquo;s a bit grainy and all that, but I&rsquo;m assuming the worst. We&rsquo;ll figure out exactly what happened there.&rdquo;
The first video, which cost Morant about $669,000 in forfeited salary, came out in March. The second was captured Saturday night and widely shared online. It was streamed on the Instagram account of Morant associate Davonte Pack, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Grizzlies have not commented on the specifics of the latest video.
The video streamed by Pack shows Morant briefly appearing to display a handgun. At the very brief moment &mdash; maybe less than a second &mdash; when Morant is shown holding what appears to be a weapon as he sits in the passenger seat of a vehicle, the livestream had 111 viewers.
&ldquo;He could have injured, maimed, killed himself, someone else, with an act like that,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;And also the acknowledgement that he&rsquo;s a star. He has an incredibly huge following. And my concern &mdash; and I thought he shared with me &mdash; that millions if not tens of millions of kids globally would see him as having done something that was celebrating in a way that act of using a firearm in that fashion.&rdquo;
Morant said in March that he needed to work on himself, and when the season ended a couple weeks ago, he offered similar thoughts.
&ldquo;Being disciplined on both sides, off the court making better decisions and on the court being locked in even more,&rdquo; Morant said. &ldquo;Being a leader of this team, it pretty much starts with me. ... I&rsquo;ve got to be better in that area.&rdquo;
Morant&rsquo;s five-year, $194 million max contract is set to begin this coming season. He has deals with Nike and Powerade, though the sports drink company pulled an ad featuring Morant almost immediately after the March video emerged.
This is the third known NBA investigation surrounding Morant and the possible involvement of firearms so far in 2023.
Morant&rsquo;s actions were investigated after a Jan. 29 incident in Memphis that he said led to Pack banned from Grizzlies&rsquo; home games for a year. That incident followed a game against the Indiana Pacers; citing unnamed sources, The Indianapolis Star and USA Today reported that multiple members of the Pacers saw a red dot pointed at them while they were near the loading dock where their bus was located, and The Athletic reported that a Pacers security guard believed the laser was attached to a gun.
The NBA confirmed that unnamed individuals were banned from the arena but said its investigation found no evidence that anyone was threatened with a weapon.
Then came the Denver-area incident in the early hours of March 4, after the Grizzlies played a road game against the Nuggets when Morant started a livestream from inside a strip club while holding a gun. No charges were filed.
Morant and Pack also are involved in a civil lawsuit brought after an incident at Morant&rsquo;s home last summer, in which a then-17-year-old alleged that they assaulted him. Morant filed a countersuit on April 12, accusing the teen of slander, battery and assault.

Ja Morant spoke out Tuesday about his latest troubles, three days after he apparently waved a firearm again in an Instagram video.

Ja Morant takes accountability after holding gun in another video

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed disappointment Tuesday that Memphis guard Ja Morant apparently held a firearm again on social media this past weekend, but did not predict what punishment the league may impose.
Morant has already been suspended him from all team activities by the Grizzlies and the league has opened another investigation into the star guard&rsquo;s off-court conduct.
Silver met with Morant after a similar incident in March and suspended him for eight games.
&ldquo;Honestly, I was shocked when I saw, this weekend, that video,&rdquo; Silver said in a televised interview with ESPN before the draft lottery in Chicago. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in the process of investigating it and we&rsquo;ll figure out exactly what happened as best as we can. The video&rsquo;s a bit grainy and all that, but I&rsquo;m assuming the worst. We&rsquo;ll figure out exactly what happened there.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s the second time in less than three months that Morant was seen on Instagram holding what appeared to be a weapon. The first led to the eight-game suspension that was handed down in March and cost Morant about $669,000 in salary.
This time, the suspension could be much longer and much more costly. The second video was captured Saturday night and widely shared online. It was streamed on the Instagram account of Morant associate Davonte Pack, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Grizzlies have not commented on the specifics of the latest video.
The video streamed by Pack shows Morant in the passenger seat of a vehicle, briefly appearing to display a handgun. At the very brief moment &mdash; maybe less than a second &mdash; when Morant is shown holding what appears to be a weapon as he sits in the passenger seat of a vehicle, the livestream had 111 viewers.
&ldquo;He could have injured, maimed, killed himself, someone else, with an act like that,&rdquo; Silver said. &ldquo;And also the acknowledgement that he&rsquo;s a star. He has an incredibly huge following. And my concern &mdash; and I thought he shared with me &mdash; that millions if not tens of millions of kids globally would see him as having done something that was celebrating in a way that act of using a firearm in that fashion.&rdquo;
When the season ended a couple weeks ago, Morant said again that he needed to work on his decision-making.
&ldquo;Being disciplined on both sides, off the court making better decisions and on the court being locked in even more,&rdquo; Morant said following a season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. &ldquo;Being a leader of this team, it pretty much starts with me. ... I&rsquo;ve got to be better in that area.&rdquo;
Morant&rsquo;s five-year, $194 million max contract is set to begin this coming season. He has endorsement deals with Nike and Powerade, though the sports drink company pulled an ad featuring Morant almost immediately after the March video emerged.
This is the third known NBA investigation surrounding Morant and the possible involvement of firearms so far in 2023.
Morant&rsquo;s actions were investigated after a Jan. 29 incident in Memphis that he said led to Pack banned from Grizzlies&rsquo; home games for a year.
That incident followed a game against the Indiana Pacers; citing unnamed sources, The Indianapolis Star and USA Today reported that multiple members of the Pacers saw a red dot pointed at them while they were near the loading dock where their bus was located, and The Athletic reported that a Pacers security guard believed the laser was attached to a gun.
The NBA confirmed that unnamed individuals were banned from the arena but said its investigation found no evidence that anyone was threatened with a weapon.
Then came the Denver-area incident in the early hours of March 4, after the Grizzlies played a road game against the Nuggets when Morant started a livestream from inside a strip club while holding a gun. No charges were filed.
Morant and Pack also are involved in a civil lawsuit brought after an incident at Morant&rsquo;s home last summer, in which a then-17-year-old alleged that they assaulted him. Morant filed a countersuit on April 12, accusing the teen of slander, battery and assault.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed disappointment Tuesday that Ja Morant apparently held a firearm again on social media.

Adam Silver expresses disappointment over latest Ja Morant video

Ja Morant was suspended by the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday after he appeared to be holding a gun in another social media video that was streamed live on Instagram.
It&rsquo;s the second time in less than three months that Morant was seen on Instagram holding what appeared to be a weapon. The first led to an&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ja-morant-suspended-nba-gun-video-8cc82061f6465f96d6c5d0806d92d7d0">eight-game NBA suspension</a>&nbsp;that was handed down in March and cost Morant about $669,000 in salary.
It&rsquo;s unclear what sanctions Morant may be facing for the second video, which was widely shared online Sunday. An associate of Morant went live on Instagram while the All-Star was in the front seat of a vehicle with another person, briefly appearing to display a handgun. It is unclear where or when the latest video was filmed.
&ldquo;We are aware of the social media post involving Ja Morant and are in the process of gathering more information,&rdquo; NBA spokesman Mike Bass said.
The Grizzlies said Morant is suspended from all team activities, &ldquo;pending league review.&rdquo;
The gun video earlier this season happened when Morant went live on his own Instagram holding a gun at a club in the Denver suburbs in early March. After that went viral, Morant announced that he was taking time away to seek help, without specifying what sort of treatment he was getting. ESPN later reported that he was getting counseling in Florida, something the team eventually confirmed but did not share any other details.
&ldquo;Ja&rsquo;s conduct was irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement in March after meeting with Morant and deciding on the suspension&rsquo;s length. &ldquo;It also has serious consequences given his enormous following and influence, particularly among young fans who look up to him.&rdquo;
Morant sat down for an interview with ESPN during his suspension, taking responsibility for the Colorado video.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t condone any type of violence,&rdquo; Morant told ESPN in March. &ldquo;But I take full responsibility for my actions. I made a bad mistake and I can see the image that I painted over myself with my recent mistakes. But in the future, I&rsquo;m going to show everybody who Ja really is, what I&rsquo;m about and change this narrative.&rdquo;
And when the season ended a couple weeks ago, Morant said again that he needed to work on his decision-making.
&ldquo;Being disciplined on both sides, off the court making better decisions and on the court being locked in even more,&rdquo; Morant said after a season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. &ldquo;Being a leader of this team, it pretty much starts with me. ... I&rsquo;ve got to be better in that area.&rdquo;
Morant&rsquo;s five-year, $194 million max contract is set to begin this coming season. It could have escalated to a supermax if he made All-NBA this season; he was not voted onto that team, which cost him about $39 million in future earnings.
His talent on the court is not a question. He averaged 27.4 points last season, 26.2 points this season and helped Memphis secure the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
But the Grizzlies&rsquo; season ended amid dysfunction. They were ousted in Round 1 by the Lakers, getting eliminated in a 40-point loss to close a series where trash-talking and antics became as much of a storyline as actual playing of basketball.
And the offseason is now off to a less-than-ideal start as well, especially after Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said following the playoffs that the team has to eliminate &ldquo;unnecessary drama, self-inflicted decisions that take away from the team.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It has to be completely different going into next year,&rdquo; Jenkins said.
This will be at least the third known NBA investigation surrounding Morant and the possible involvement of firearms so far in 2023.
Morant&rsquo;s actions were investigated after a Jan. 29 incident in Memphis that he said led to a friend of his being banned from home games for a year.
That incident followed a game against the Indiana Pacers; citing unnamed sources, The Indianapolis Star and USA Today reported that multiple members of the Pacers saw a red dot pointed at them, and The Athletic reported that a Pacers security guard believed the laser was attached to a gun.
The NBA confirmed that unnamed individuals were banned from the arena but said its investigation found no evidence that anyone was threatened with a weapon.
Then came the Denver-area incident in the early hours of March 4, after the Grizzlies played a road game against the Nuggets. At 5:19 a.m., Morant started a livestream from inside a strip club called Shotgun Willies in Glendale, Colorado.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/ja-morant-police-colorado-memphis-grizzlies-gun-video-f6dc3708e6e48f7ecdbb09c6ff730462">No charges were filed</a>&nbsp;and police said there were no complaint calls stemming from Morant holding the gun were made.
Morant and a close friend also are involved in a civil lawsuit brought after an incident at Morant&rsquo;s home last summer, in which a then-17-year-old alleged that they assaulted him. Morant filed a countersuit on April 12, accusing the teen of slander, battery and assault.

Ja Morant was suspended by the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday after he appeared to be holding a gun in another social media video.

Grizzlies suspend Ja Morant after another gun video appears online

After monitoring the NBA awards races all season, Nekias Duncan shares his final selections for DPOY, ROY, MIP, 6MOY and more.

Nekias Duncan's 2022-23 NBA award selections: DPOY, 6MOY, MIP, more

Heading into the weekend, I figured I'd followed the same script as the other two award pieces. Fill out and&nbsp; complete my (fake) ballot, sprinkle in some extra details or stray thoughts to account for questions that may pop up, then go about my business.
I dropped my "final rough draft" on Friday's episode of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-dunker-spot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Dunker Spot</a>, though I gave myself a weekend's worth of wiggle room to make any last-second changes. In typical fashion, I watched, researched and ultimately thought myself into a headache. The result of that is this piece: A separate article detailing where and how I landed on the 2022-23 NBA Most Valuable Player, with a follow-up article coming to reveal the rest of my (fake) ballot.
Throughout MVP discourse, many people &mdash; voters or people like me who wish they could vote &mdash; have made it a point to mention how tough it is. To highlight how the top three &mdash; Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo &mdash; are all worthy candidates to win, and that we shouldn't be all that upset by who wins. There's truth to that.
(You, savvy reader and/or listener, can also tell when someone is genuinely perplexed vs. when they're throwing in that platitude in an effort to avoid smoke for his/her opinion. We can be real here.)
I landed in the former camp. To refresh your memory, this is where I landed at the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-23-nba-award-picks-mvp-dpoy-rookie-sixth-man-most-improved-all-league-defensive-teams-volume-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beginning of March</a>:
Previous order (through Mar.1): 
<ol>
<li>Nikola Jokic (Previously No. 3)</li>
<li>Giannis Antetokounmpo (Previously No. 2)</li>
<li>Joel Embiid (Previously Honorable Mention, Record)</li>
<li>Jayson Tatum (Previously No. 1)</li>
<li>Luka Doncic (Previously No. 5)</li>
</ol>
This is where I am right now on April 11 with the regular season over:
<ol>
<li>Joel Embiid (Previously No. 3) </li>
<li>Giannis Antetokounmpo (Previously No. 2)</li>
<li>Nikola Jokic (Previously No. 1)</li>
<li>Jayson Tatum (Previously No. 4)</li>
<li>Domantas Sabonis (Previously Honorable Mention, Not As Good As Luka Doncic)</li>
</ol>
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With all due respect to Tatum and Sabonis, there isn't much to discuss with their placements.
Tatum was a two-way ironman for a team that flirted with the best record in the NBA. At full tilt, the Boston Celtics may very well be the best team in the league. Tatum became the first Celtic to average over 30 points per game for a season &mdash; a mind-blowing stat considering their history. Career-high averages in rebounds (8.8) and assists (4.6) are also nice. If you'd like to use Tatum's availability (and overall malleability) to argue for him to be higher, you can; it just wouldn't be my&nbsp;case.&nbsp;
Sabonis was the best player on the Western Conference's most (surprisingly) consistent team, acting as the hub of the NBA's most dangerous offense. He became just the fourth player in NBA history to average at least 19 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists in a season; add in his 61.5% clip from the field (63.9% on twos, 37.3% on a low volume of threes), and the list shrinks to him and Wilt Chamberlain.&nbsp;
The battle for MVP ultimately became a three-man race in 2023 &mdash; if you recall, Tatum was my MVP <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-23-nba-early-season-award-picks-mvp-dpoy-rookie-sixth-man-most-improved-all-league-defensive-teams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in my first check-in</a> from mid-December &mdash; between Embiid, Giannis and Jokic.
There's more to discuss with Jokic, who nearly became the first center in NBA history to average a triple-double. Even that sells his season short; Jokic just logged the most efficient season in NBA history among players to average at least 20 points.
If Jokic and the Denver Nuggets hadn't, by their standards, sputtered to the finish line, he likely would've maintained the lead he had in my second check-in and gotten my fictitious vote. That he was already having a (much) worse defensive season than Embiid and Giannis and managed to go backwards over this recent stretch &mdash; particularly the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-concerned-should-we-be-about-the-denver-nuggets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">middle portion of March</a> &mdash; made it tough for me in a race this close.
There was even a quieter dip in Jokic's production offensively, though he was still absurd overall.
<ul>
<li>Dec. 14 through Feb. 28 (32 games): 25.2 points on 71.2% True Shooting, 10.7 assists (3.7 turnovers)</li>
<li>From March 1 onward (14 games): 24.0 points on 69.6% True Shooting, 9.1 assists (3.6 turnovers)</li>
</ul>
That being said, it was a ridiculous season from Jokic. He was still the best offensive player in the league for me. The Nuggets showcased, on multiple occasions, that they didn't quite know how to function without him. Even with the recent "slippage," he paced the league in many advanced metrics. A worthy choice, just ultimately not my choice.
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From here, let's talk about Embiid vs Giannis for a bit. Here are a handful of Embiid's stat lines since the beginning of March:
<ul>
<li>52-13-6 (plus 2 blocks) in a win vs. the Celtics</li>
<li>46-9-8-2-1 in a loss vs. the Warriors</li>
<li>36-18 (plus 4 blocks) in a win vs. the Cavaliers</li>
<li>31-6-10 in a win vs. the Bucks</li>
<li>39-7-4-1-3 in a win vs. the Timberwolves</li>
</ul>
This ignores the 37 and 16 against Chicago; the 42-on-16-shots affair against the Pacers; the 38-14-5 he slapped up against the Hornets. Of the 18 games Embiid played during this stretch, he scored 30 or more 12 times and the Philadelphia 76ers went 12-6 in those contests. He fell below 20 points once &mdash; 12-7-7 in 16 first-half minutes against the Bulls before sitting the second half of that blowout for precautionary reasons. There's a rule about assuming, but it'd be fair to project him putting up a nutty stat line in that game had he played the second half.
There just hasn't been a consistent answer for this guy all year. Crowding the paint only does so much when he's willing to shoot over you &mdash; and do so at a high clip. Doubling can only do so much when he's grown as a passer &mdash; the Sixers scored at an elite rate on possessions that Embiid passed out of a post-double team (1.17 PPP) or isolation double (1.14 PPP), per Second Spectrum &mdash; and can <a href="https://www.theringer.com/nba/2023/3/31/23664110/joel-embiid-76ers-mvp-race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brow-beat them</a> when necessary.&nbsp;
He's taken over half of his shots from mid-range this season and drilled them at a 49% clip. He drew 104 fouls in the mid-range area, per Cleaning The Glass; do you know how hard it is to have Embiid's shot profile and manage to get fouled as often as he does? It's insane stuff and speaks to the guard-like ability he has in this range.&nbsp;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/kymug6" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
The defense has waxed and waned over the closing stretch, but the Sixers ended the year with a 94.5 half-court defensive rating with Embiid on the floor, per Cleaning The Glass; that's equivalent to the second-best half-court D in the NBA, and is a mark that shouldn't be that high considering Philly's overall roster construction.
Even "Lax Embiid" can goad opponents into pull-ups &mdash; though that's something worth keeping an eye on as the postseason hits. Engaged Embiid &mdash; the guy that can blow stuff up at the level of the screen and still strut back to challenge shots at the rim &mdash; is, and has been, a world-ender.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cot2l0" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
The TLDR summary: Embiid had a heavy load to carry on both ends of the floor, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-feature-philadelphia-76ers-sixers-joel-embiid-mvp-race-james-harden-tyrese-maxey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dominated offensively and anchored a high-level defense while flashing an even higher level when fully locked in</a>. Having a 65% win rate in his games helped; the advanced metrics also paint him in a favorable light.
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Of course, we can't lose sight of the work Giannis did in a less-than-ideal context at the beginning of the year. He was without his best pick-and-roll partner in Khris Middleton and didn't always have Jrue Holiday by his side. It's not a coincidence that, once those two were in the lineup with Giannis more consistently, the Milwaukee Bucks (and Giannis) took off.
Giannis remained a battering ram at the rim, drawing shooting fouls on a career-best 24.6% of his shot attempts this year, per Cleaning The Glass. His mark of 12.3 free throw attempts per game led the NBA. Giannis' downhill passing also remained a legitimate weapon; his rate of kick-out passes rose to career-high levels (17.1 per 100 possessions), while his turnover rate on total passes (1.57%) was his lowest in three seasons, per Second Spectrum.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/gu65qp" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
There was an obvious gap between Embiid and Giannis in points (33.1 vs. 31.1) and a larger one in efficiency (Embiid's 65.5% TS vs. Giannis' 60.7% TS). Again, it's hard to overstate the difference in shooting ability that the two displayed. Embiid was a monster from mid-range compared to Giannis' clip (31.8%), knocked down a higher percentage of threes (33.0% vs. 27.5%) and shot much better from the line (85.7% vs. 64.5%).
Milwaukee faithful would likely point to the context for the two, particularly what Giannis dealt with at the beginning of the year sans Middleton &mdash; and at times, with no Holiday. There's some credence to that.&nbsp;
How's this for a did-you-know: The Sixers logged a paltry 111.4 offensive rating in 333 minutes with Embiid on the floor without James Harden and Tyrese Maxey; the Bucks were slightly better &mdash; a 113.8 offensive rating in nearly double the sample (643 minutes) &mdash; with Giannis on the floor without Holiday and Middleton.
The scoring breakdown in those minutes:
<ul>
<li>Giannis: 608 points (34.0 points per 36 minutes), 57.7% on twos, 26.2% on threes, 60.3% TS</li>
<li>Embiid: 302 points (32.6 per 36), 51.4% on twos, 22.2% on threes, 58.4% TS</li>
</ul>
The playmaking still leans towards Giannis:
<ul>
<li>Giannis: 145 assists (8.1 per 36), 94 turnovers (5.3 per 36)</li>
<li>Embiid: 63 assists (6.8 per 36), 44 turnovers (4.8 per 36)</li>
</ul>
If you only filter for the minutes the two played with and without their primary ball-handler &mdash; <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612755&amp;Season=2022-23&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=203954,201935" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harden for Embiid</a>, <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2022-23&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=203507,201950" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holiday for Giannis</a> &mdash; some fun stuff is revealed, namely:
<ul>
<li>The Bucks' offense burned a little brighter with Giannis and Holiday (123.9 ORTG) compared to the Sixers pairing (123.2 ORTG).</li>
<li>The Sixers still operated at a top-10 rate when Embiid played without Harden (117.8, would rank No. 7); the same could not be said for Giannis without Holiday (113.0, would rank No. 26).</li>
</ul>
Zooming out, the defense is where things got tight for me.
Full disclosure: On Friday's pod, I listed Embiid as my choice. By Sunday morning, I was ready to flip to Giannis. And that was before Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1645111264623095808?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dropped his exclusive sit-down interview</a> with the 2021 NBA champion, surprisingly (and honestly, refreshingly) dipping into his, "Let's not get carried away, I still do this" bag. The Sixers tailing off defensively over the past couple of weeks really opened the door.
Giannis has been elite this year, an omnipresent deterrent lurking around the weak side. When challenged at the rim, opponents haven't had much success; they converted just 55.4% of their shots at the rim against Giannis, <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defensive-impact?CF=GP*GE*49:DEF_RIM_FGA*GE*4&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RIM_FG_PCT" target="_blank" rel="noopener">which ranks 10th among 51 players</a> to defend at least four shots per contest.
But of that 51-player group, Giannis ranked 40th in shots defended per game. Embiid was third and Jokic was fourth; that obviously speaks to how willing teams were to attack the latter, but the discrepancy is at least kinda funny when considering the scheme differences between the two.&nbsp;
Embiid ranked 12th in contested shots per game (10.3). Giannis ranked 44th (6.6); his teammate, Brook Lopez, was first (17.5) by a comically large margin.
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That led me down the Giannis-at-the-5 rabbit hole, which revealed that the Bucks were a middling defense (114.2 DRTG, would rank 13th) with Giannis on the floor without Lopez, per Cleaning The Glass. When you also&nbsp;remove Bobby Portis from the equation, however, that drops to a would-be-league-leading 104.5 DRTG in nearly 850 possessions.
There were other searches I did that I won't bore you with, such as Giannis without Holiday and Lopez (116.7 DRTG in 1,034 possessions) compared to Embiid without De'Anthony Melton and PJ Tucker (111.8 DRTG in 561 possessions).
(It's worth noting that such a query left the Jevon Carter minutes on the table for Giannis, as it did the pre-trade Matisse Thybulle minutes for Embiid.)
Ultimately, the fundamental question became this: Do you value Giannis being better in a secondary rim-protecting role than Embiid with his primary responsibilities, or do you give Embiid the edge for having to carry more responsibility on that end?
You're more than welcome to disagree, but I landed on the responsibility angle.
Embiid getting this&nbsp;team to a top-10 finish defensively was impressive. Having the offensive year he had, on the shot diet he lived on, was also wildly impressive. Only Stephen Curry and 22 games of 1982-83 Adrian Dantley have posted more efficient 30-point seasons than Embiid, and the Sixers big man averaged more points than both of them.
I geniunely don't think you could go wrong with any of these three. Jokic's team performed better with him on the floor than Giannis or Embiid; Giannis paced both guys in wins and win percentage in addition to his excellence.
The combination of production, efficiency, winning and responsibility gave Embiid the narrow win for me.

Nekias Duncan narrows down his final candidates for the 2022-23 NBA MVP and picks the league's most valuable player.

Nekias Duncan's 2022-23 NBA award selections: Who wins MVP?

Nekias Duncan checks back in with this year's NBA award races with an in-depth look at who leads the pack through the end of February.

2022-23 NBA award front-runners Vol. 2: MVP, DPOY, ROY, more

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; There are still a handful of players left at Florida who remember the exact moment, during a timeout against rival Florida State more than two years ago, that Keyontae Johnson collapsed to the floor and time seemed to stand still.
Johnson was loaded onto a stretcher, taken to the hospital and remained there for more than a week.
It was the last time he stepped on the floor for the Gators, other than a senior-day sendoff when he went out for an opening tip. Considering doctors at Florida and numerous other schools would not clear him to play given the heart condition that led to his collapse, it could have been the last time he stepped on the floor, period.
Kansas State was willing to let him play, though. Its medical staff examined his history, put him through a battery of tests and ultimately decided, with close observation, the senior could resume his basketball career.
He&rsquo;s set to the lead the No. 5 Wildcats against &mdash; you guessed it &mdash; Florida on Saturday night.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be amazing just playing against the team (where) I started college basketball,&rdquo; Johnson said, &ldquo;and just seeing my brothers back on the court, and just having to have that feeling of a family around me again.&rdquo;
The exact nature of Johnson&rsquo;s heart condition has never been disclosed, though he told The Associated Press prior to the season that he was on medication to help control it. But he said he hasn&rsquo;t harbored animosity toward Florida or its medical staff, understanding full well the ramifications if something happened again.
&ldquo;It was very tough,&rdquo; Johnson acknowledged this week, &ldquo;but they just had to do what was best for them medically and what they felt was safe for me. There is no ill will or hate for them. I&rsquo;m still a Gator for life.&rdquo;
Except on Saturday, when he&rsquo;ll most decidedly be a Wildcat.
Johnson was voted SEC preseason player of the year in 2020, and the 6-foot-7 forward with the NBA-ready inside-outside game was staring at the possibility of becoming a first-round pick.
He never imagined becoming a glorified coach, which is what happened when he was released from the hospital and rejoined the Gators &mdash; a role he took on with a passion. Johnson even had a $5 million insurance policy that he could have collected had he never played another minute of college or professional basketball.
He loved the game too much for that.
Once cleared by K-State, Johnson became perhaps the most important piece in the program&rsquo;s major transformation. First-year coach Jerome Tang, who had helped build Baylor&rsquo;s dynasty over the past two decades, brought together a collection of talented but largely underappreciated Division I and junior college transfers, along with a couple of prep prospects, to join a couple of holdovers from the end of Bruce Weber&rsquo;s tenure.
In all, 14 players from last season were gone and a dozen newcomers arrived.
The Wildcats have been one of the incredible stories of the college basketball season, climbing into the top 5 in the AP poll for the first time in more than a decade. They scored 116 points in beating No. 6 Texas, edged No. 19 Baylor in overtime and produced a court-storming 83-82 overtime win over No. 2 Kansas &mdash; thanks to Johnson&rsquo;s alley-oop dunk out of a timeout.
&ldquo;We all watch (his) games when we&rsquo;re on the road in hotels, and we just cheer him on, &rsquo;cause we know how much he cared about basketball,&rdquo; Florida&rsquo;s Colin Castleton said. &ldquo;Everything he&rsquo;s been through just shows you how strong a human he is, and just how much fight he has. He just pushed through it all, came with a great attitude every day.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really superhuman, to be honest, in everybody&rsquo;s eyes,&rdquo; Castleton added. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be awesome to see him play. I know everybody in the locker room and everybody who knows him is really happy for him.&rdquo;
That includes Mike White, his old coach at Florida, who is now in charge of SEC-rival Georgia.
&ldquo;Wish he was wearing red and black,&rdquo; White said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s unbelievable. He is so good.&rdquo;
Johnson is third in the Big 12 in scoring at 18.3 points per game, and third in rebounding at 7.5 per game. He&rsquo;s shooting nearly 40% from the 3-point arc, nearly 75% from the foul line and is in the league&rsquo;s top 10 in field-goal percentage.
Just as importantly, Johnson is providing leadership for a team assembled in a span of months.
&ldquo;The silver lining, if there is any silver lining, is he had a long time where he just worked on his skill level,&rdquo; White said. &ldquo;He got in the gym and shot. He&rsquo;s gotten even better and better. His confidence level is at an all-time high. Those guys are doing a terrific job with him. We root for him like crazy. My kids love watching them on TV.&rdquo;
You can bet a lot of people will be watching this weekend.
&ldquo;This guy&rsquo;s overcome stuff that none of us can even understand,&rdquo; Castleton said. &ldquo;When he had chances to feel sorry for himself or pout or have a bad day, he didn&rsquo;t let it happen. It wasn&rsquo;t going to happen. He&rsquo;s the epitome of character.&rdquo;
___
AP Sports Writer Mark Long in Gainesville, Florida, contributed to this report.

“It’s going to be amazing just playing against the team (where) I started college basketball,” Johnson said.

Keyontae Johnson at No. 5 K-State to face ex-Gator teammates

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Donovan Mitchell kept coming at the New York Knicks and they kept blocking his path.
Julius Randle had 36 points and 13 rebounds, and his eighth 3-pointer snapped a tie with 2:07 left as the Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-103 on Tuesday night.
Mitchell had 24 points, eight assists and eight rebounds in his return from a three-game absence with a left groin strain. But he was stopped on his last three attempts at the rim and was slow to get up after falling to the ground in an effort to save the Cavaliers&rsquo; final possession, saying afterward his legs cramped.
&ldquo;I went up to try and dunk it, both my legs cramped and my groin just tightened up and locked up on me so three things happened at the same time,&rdquo; Mitchell said.
RJ Barrett added 16 points and Jalen Brunson had 14 for the Knicks, who snapped a four-game losing streak.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the thing, You&rsquo;ve got to keep fighting and you&rsquo;ve got to fight the good fight,&rdquo; Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. &ldquo;So sometimes you fall short and then you&rsquo;ve got to work your way out of it.&rdquo;
Jarrett Allen had 24 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland, while Darius Garland added 22 points and six assists.
The Knicks were ahead by 11 with under eight minutes remaining before Mitchell made a 3-pointer, stole the ball from Randle and fed Isaac Okoro for a three-point play, and then made another 3 for nine straight Cleveland points in barely a minute to trim it to 93-91.
Evan Mobley&rsquo;s basket tied it with 2 1/2 minutes to play before Randle answered with his 3 on the other end. Cleveland had two chances to tie or cut it to one, but Mitchell was blocked first by Barrett and then by Isaiah Hartenstein on the next possession.
Brunson then made two free throws for a five-point lead but Garland had a three-point play that trimmed it to 105-103. The Cavs got the ball back after a shot-clock violation and Mitchell drove into the lane but was stopped again by Hartenstein. Mitchell went to the ground and the Cavs batted the ball back out to Mobley, whose jumper missed.
&ldquo;I mean, you kind of knew that he was going to take the last shot and so I was just ready to help,&rdquo; Hartenstein said. &ldquo;If he dumps it off to Allen, it&rsquo;s a 2, we go into overtime, but I was just trying to make a play and not foul at the same time.&rdquo;
Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff motioned to two referees afterward that he was trying to get a timeout during that possession that they missed.
Randle had five 3-pointers and 17 points in the first 9 1/2 minutes and the Knicks led 34-27 after one quarter. But he took just one shot in the second, when Allen went 5 for 5 for 10 points as Cleveland cut it to 53-51 at the half.
TIP-INS
Cavaliers: Mobley had 12 points after scoring a career-high 38 against Milwaukee on Saturday. ... The Cavs dropped both games at Madison Square Garden this season, where they have won 12 of their last 16.
Knicks: It was the ninth anniversary of Carmelo Anthony&rsquo;s 62-point performance against Charlotte that set the Knicks&rsquo; and current Madison Square Garden single-game records. ... Brunson will have his No. 1 jersey retired at Villanova, where he won two NCAA titles, at halftime of its Feb. 8 game against DePaul.

Julius Randle had 36 points and 13 rebounds, as the New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-103.

Randle has 36, 8 3s as Knicks stop Mitchell, Cavs 105-103

NBA Media Day is typically a wellspring of optimism and excitement for teams across the Association. But in Boston, Celtics players have simply been trying to collect their bearings.
Ime Udoka's sudden one-year suspension as the team's head coach has rocked the organization and sent unprecedented questions toward a roster trying to rebound from falling two wins short of an NBA title. While Monday's press conference still included on-court questions, most of the dialogue revolved around Udoka, interim head coach Joe Mazzulla and the players' ability to even process this past week.&nbsp;
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Here's what we did learn about the Celtics' muddled circumstances, plus some unanswered questions that will hopefully be answered before the season:
WHAT DO THE PLAYERS KNOW ABOUT IME UDOKA'S MISCONDUCT?
Based on their answers, very little.
Jayson Tatum said he found out about Udoka's suspension on Twitter. Grant Williams said he learned "same as everyone else." <a href="https://theathletic.com/3617945/2022/09/22/celtics-ime-udoka-discipline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shams Charania of&nbsp;The Athletic</a>&nbsp;reported that members of the Celtics franchise first learned of Ime Udoka's relationship with another woman in the organization in July.
Marcus Smart said that Udoka visited him and other players in Los Angeles over the summer, and he noticed nothing unusual about the suspended head coach.
"I think that's why (the news is) so off-guard for us, because everything just seemed so normal," Smart said.
Since the announcement, the players have obviously met and had conversations. But several indicated that, as of Monday, the players don't know much more information than the public. Tatum has not spoken with Udoka since the suspension.
"It's been hell for us, caught by surprise. Nobody really knows anything. So we're just in the wind just like everybody else. So the last couple of days, as far as this, have been confusing," Smart said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"It's been hell for us... these last couple days for us have been confusing." Marcus Smart reacts to Ime Udoka's suspension, and Joe Mazzulla stepping in as interim head coach <a href="https://t.co/IwD4YJCDco">pic.twitter.com/IwD4YJCDco</a>
&mdash; Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1574455058460282880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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"I wish we had more details," Jaylen Brown said. "From what we know, it's hard to make a decision based upon whether it's consensual or not in the workplace or whatever is going on &mdash; which we've known has happened before in the workplace &mdash; but I guess there's more to it possibly, which we don't know. I don't know. I don't have all the details; [they're] not being shared with me. So it's hard to really comment on something that you're not filled in with all the details. So I don't really have a feeling or comment on my emotions about it because I don't have the details."
Celtics players generally seemed to understand that legal and privacy reasons have slowed the information process. That doesn't mean it's easy being left in the dark on the full story.
"If you read the statement, and if you watched the press conference [Friday], obviously, apparently there's a lot of things that they can't, can't speak about," Tatum said. "So I think I'm kind of in the same boat, as &mdash; I don't know. So it's hard for me to answer if things were handled the right way [or] if they weren't because I guess for a lot of reasons, I don't know all the details."
Added Smart: "We don't know what the organization knows. So it's kind of hard to say that &mdash; we don't know what they know, so we don't know what they are supposed to tell us or what we're supposed to know. And I think this is where this is at and why it is what it is, because literally, no one knows anything. We're still waiting just like everybody else. As a player, you would like it to be known, but at the same time, that's none of our business. It's their lives. It's the people involved, it's between them, you know, and we should respect their privacy and we understand, just like we want our privacy respected. So, although, as a player, you would like to know, like I said, it's it's not an obligation."
DOES JOE MAZZULLA HAVE THE BACKING OF THE PLAYERS?
Like <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/breakingnews/celtics-udoka-suspended-for-multiple-policy-violations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brad Stevens and Wyc Grousbeck did on Friday,</a> the players gave positive reviews of Mazzulla. The 34-year-old was hired as an assistant on the C's staff in 2019, and is a holdover from the Stevens coaching era.
"He knows and understands us as players. He's built relationships with us. So we love Joe; we're excited to be able to work with him in this opportunity that he has," Smart said.
Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser have both played under Mazzulla when he was at the helm of the Summer League Celtics.
"I think he's gonna be an unbelievable coach," Pritchard said. "He's intelligent, he knows the game and I think he is the right amount of, like, pushing players, but also understanding [them]."
"I think he is a hard-nosed type of coach," Hauser added. "He kind of says it how it is, but he also really cares about you as a person &mdash; not only a basketball player, but he really cares about the off-the-floor stuff. I'm excited for Joe, and I can't wait to see how he takes advantage of this opportunity."
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Malcolm Brogdon certainly didn't expect this past week to happen when he <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-malcolm-brogdon-qa-fit-boston-celtics-basketball-without-borders-africa-camp-egypt-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown-danilo-gallinari-ime-udoka" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined Boston as a high-profile trade acquisition</a>. Brogdon said the Indiana Pacers gave him a few options for trade destinations, and he picked Boston because, "I want to win."
In his short time knowing Mazzulla, Brogdon has admired his discipline. Mazzulla often lifts weights with Brogdon early in the morning. One time he approached Brogdon, who was doing a breathing exercise, and started explaining the theories behind different techniques. Brogdon has also heard of Mazzulla's reputation for putting together quality opponent scouts.
"He's a guy that is so detail-oriented; I am like-minded with people that are detail-oriented, that care about the small things, the little things that get you through the day," Brogdon said.
WHAT WILL MAZZULLA CHANGE FROM UDOKA'S SYSTEM?
Of course, the Celtics have all the on-court pieces to replicate and even improve upon last season. Mazzulla does not want to drastically change course from Boston's success under Udoka.&nbsp;
"It's about carrying on the identity of our players," Mazzulla said. "We had our struggles early last season, but at our best, we knew what our identity was. It was our defense, it was our buy-in from a defensive standpoint, and then it was sharing the ball and moving quickly on the offensive end. So as much as we can stick to the things that we were great at last year, and then find small areas to improve in, is the right way to go."
The Celtics' coaching staff now has two openings with Udoka's suspension and Will Hardy's departure for the Utah Jazz head coaching gig. Mazzulla has not thought about replacements yet and would work with Stevens on filling out the bench. He believes the foundation of existing relationships should help the Celtics build solid chemistry early in the season.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Joe Mazzulla talks about the strong endorsement he received from Brad Stevens for interim head coach <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Celtics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Celtics</a> <a href="https://t.co/hCuynuUdoR">pic.twitter.com/hCuynuUdoR</a>
&mdash; Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCSCeltics/status/1574435350465990657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CENTER ROTATION WITH ROBERT WILLIAMS III OUT?
Amidst the off-court bombshell, the Celtics also announced that Robert Williams III will miss 8-to-12 weeks as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. This puts additional strain on an already-thin big rotation for a Boston team that sent Daniel Theis out in the trade for Brogdon this summer.
Luke Kornet could step into major minutes. The 7-foot-2 center spent most of last season with the Maine Celtics in the NBA G League, but has four seasons of experience at the top level. Kornet said that with the door for minutes certainly open, his mindset naturally changes, but not his approach to the game.
"There definitely is a bit of a switch in that, but in terms of still being a basketball player and conditioning and [wondering] how am I going to help this team do the best they can &mdash; a lot of those things stay the same. But there's some change," Kornet said.
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A larger burden falls on Al Horford, now age-36 and older than his head coach, to shoulder some of the two-way responsibilities Rob Williams wields.
"For me, I have to step up a little more, Grant's gonna have to step up a little more, Luke, whichever one of our bigs, we just have to step up and do a little more," Horford said. "Even some of our guys, whether it's you know, [Tatum] playing more at the 4 or whatever it may be, I'm not sure about all that. But we all just have to do more until he gets back."
Williams, meanwhile, will start a road to recovery that began as he battled knee injuries throughout last spring's playoffs. Despite eventually needing surgery, he doesn't regret playing through the injury to compete in the NBA Finals.
"I'm playing the Finals, you know what I'm saying?" Williams said. "You win some you lose some, but I don't regret my decision at all. I was 24 years old, my dream was to play in the Finals, dawg. I can't regret that sh**."
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
What is the extent of Udoka's misconduct? &mdash; Ultimately, the players and public need more details as to the forces behind a year-long suspension and potential firing. Grousbeck said Friday that Udoka committed multiple violations of multiple team policies, suggesting the punishment came down for much more than the singular act of being in a workplace relationship. While the woman's privacy must be respected, there must be some level of clarity on the wrongdoing.
What has Mazzulla done to atone for his past arrests?&nbsp;&mdash; Mazzulla answered two questions relating to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/celtics/2022/09/22/joe-mazzulla-boston-celtics-new-coach-ime-udoka-suspension/8087114001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple arrests between 2008 and 2009</a>, including a domestic violence charge in '09. Here were his quotes:&nbsp;&nbsp;
"Listen, I've made mistakes. I'm not perfect. I've hurt people, and I've had to use the situations I put myself in as a younger man, I've had to use to learn from and to become a better person," Mazzulla said. "And that's what I've tried to focus on is: 'How can I recreate my identity as a person? How can I rely on my faith? And how can I just have a positive impact on the people around me?' And I've always had good people around me...
"...I can't talk about specifics of [the incidents]. But what I can talk about is: I'm not the same person that I was, and I think as you grow as a person, you're constantly having to build an identity, and you know, I didn't have an identity at a certain point in my life for whatever reason. And I think it's [about]: 'How can I develop an identity? How can I find a foundation which for me, is my faith, and then, how can I impact people positively around me? And that's something that I really learned throughout my life.'"
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&ldquo;That made him who he is today&hellip; I&rsquo;ll be the first to tell you, I believe in him.&rdquo; Brad Stevens on Joe Mazzulla after being asked about Mazzulla&rsquo;s domestic battery charges from his college days. <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC6?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@abc6</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bleedgreen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bleedgreen</a> <a href="https://t.co/s5ia1rYvnY">pic.twitter.com/s5ia1rYvnY</a>
&mdash; Ian Steele (@IanSteeleABC6) <a href="https://twitter.com/IanSteeleABC6/status/1573338669007704064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Mazzulla did not dodge any questions and he did acknowledge his past wrongdoing. But he also did not explain what led to his behavior, what in his faith prompted the change and how he has shown other people he has progressed.
Player and front-office endorsements are not enough in an NBA that has hired at least two other coaches with domestic-violence and sexual-assault histories in the last year-and-change &mdash; not to mention the recent reminders of troubling workplace environments in Boston and Phoenix. We need more assurance that this behavior does not have a tolerable place in the league.
How will Mazzulla manage his starters in the early goings of the regular season? &mdash; Among the many, many questions Mazzulla will face as he acclimates to the head-coaching gig is the impending usage for Tatum, Brown and others. Tatum played through a fractured wrist down the stretch of the postseason (he said he feels good on Monday).
Can Mazzulla give the high-usage players more rest to hopefully prepare them for another deep playoff run? Or will the Celtics have to go all-out just to stay on top of a stacked Eastern Conference?
ADDITIONAL NOTES
<ul>
<li>Brown's name popped up in trade rumors surrounding Kevin Durant this offseason, and the 25-year-old said he discussed those rumors with members of the Celtics, but did not elaborate.</li>
</ul>
"I've talked to my teammates, I talked to ownership, the organization, etc. I'll keep those conversations between us," Brown said. "All I can say is now that I'm here, I'm ready to play basketball. I'm in great shape, probably the best shape of my life. So I'm excited to start the journey."
<ul>
<li>With Brogdon bolstering a stellar guard rotation, his addition leaves room to wonder about Pritchard's playing time. Pritchard is embracing the competition for minutes in training camp.</li>
</ul>
"Obviously, we have a lot of tremendous players. But I don't go through all summer and all year working on my game to just ride the bench," Pritchard said. "So for me, I'm just looking forward to the opportunity to go out there and compete, and earn minutes and see where that lies. Ultimately, we just want the team success though."
<ul>
<li>Grant Williams will soon be eligible for a contract extension, but said he hasn't let that distract him. &nbsp;</li>
</ul>
"When it comes to that, I just let my agents and everybody handle it, because if you become too overwhelmed or concerned with it, that's when you start focusing on your play or you start doing things that aren't necessarily characteristic of yourself," Williams said. "For me, my number one focus and goal is allowing and helping this team to win a championship. Everything else takes care of itself."

Celtics players addressed the upcoming season and head coaching change on Monday at Media Day.

2022 Boston Celtics Media Day Notebook: What did we learn?

With a 5-27 record on the season, we won't be seeing much more of the Indiana Fever. They're currently the only team in the WNBA officially eliminated from playoff contention, and have been for a while now.&nbsp;
It's understandable to an extent; this is clearly a rebuilding roster, with 4 of the top 7 minute-getters on the roster being rookies. The future is bright. NaLyssa Smith, Queen Egbo, Destanni Henderson and Emily Engstler have all showcased fun flashes this season, but it's just that &mdash; the future. We're likely a couple of years away from serious playoff contention with this group, assuming it stays in tact.&nbsp;
Not only will we not be seeing much more of the Fever as the season winds down, we specifically won't be seeing guard Kelsey Mitchell for the remainder of this campaign. The Fever announced on Saturday that she will miss the rest of the season with a partial plantar fascia tear in her left foot.
It's an unfortunate end to a tremendous individual season that has frankly flown too far under the radar.&nbsp;
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Mitchell finishes the year with averages of 18.4 points (seventh in The W, fourth among guards) and 4.2 assists per game &mdash; both career-highs. Her jumper was the primary weapon of choice. Not only did she drain a career-best 40.9% of her 5.7 triples, but she is also <a href="https://stats.wnba.com/players/traditional/?sort=FG3_PCT&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2022&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;CF=FG3A*GE*5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one of three players</a> to shoot north of 40% from deep on more than 5 attempts per contest. New York Liberty guard Marine Johannes (40% on 5.3 attempts) and Las Vegas Aces star Kelsey Plum (42.7% on a ridiculous 7.3 attempts) were the other two.
(It's also worth noting that Phoenix Mercury <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/sophie-cunningham-giving-phoenix-a-lift-at-the-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">small-ball 4</a> Sophie Cunningham &mdash; at 39.8% on 6.0 attempts &mdash; is knocking on the door.)
Mitchell's intersection of usage, production and efficiency is nearly unmatched. She's currently one of five players to post a usage rate over 20% (23.6%), an assist rate over 20% (23.5%) and a True Shooting percentage above 55% (56.8%; <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/years/2022.html#advanced-team" target="_blank" rel="noopener">league average is 53.9%</a>). Plum, Diana Taurasi, Courtney Vandersloot and Candace Parker are the other four players, and I think it's fair to say that they benefit from an easier context than Mitchell has to deal with. Add the fact that Mitchell has the lowest turnover rate (10.5% of possessions) of the group, and her season becomes even more impressive.
Enough numbers though. The way that Mitchell racks them up is captivating on its own.&nbsp;
There are quicker guards than Mitchell. Stronger guards. Bigger guards.
But I don't know if there's one in The W that's harder to keep track of than Mitchell. 
The Fever frequently run her through a maze of screens, exhausting even the stickiest of defenders after a while. Mitchell's battery never seems to deplete.
Los Angeles Sparks guard (and elite defender) Brittney Sykes described Mitchell as an "Energizer bunny" on an <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brittney-sykes-game-2-thoughts/id1547857052?i=1000565497045" target="_blank" rel="noopener">episode of The Dunker Spot</a>: "She does not&nbsp;stop moving. It is&nbsp;ridiculous. She's just a motor... she's a really great player. Her skill set allows her to move freely and keep defenses on their heels. It's like 'Dang it, Kelsey, stop moving!'
"She's one of those players where you're like 'I need to get you in foul trouble immediately so you'll slow down."
Per InStat tracking data, no player in The W has made more shots after utilizing an off-ball screen than Mitchell has.
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I appreciate her pacing off the ball. Sometimes, it's a dead sprint into a screen, either lifting up the wing or going baseline to baseline. Other times, it's a light trot to get a defender in a certain position before jetting away. Defenders never have a sense of when she's going, where she's going or how quickly she wants to get there.
That same pacing allows Mitchell to throw defenders off-balance when she has the ball in her hands. She's a smooth pick-and-roll operator with an ability to flow into pull-ups or stepbacks on a whim. When dealing with an overzealous defender, she's able to counter with hard drives to the basket. While she may not be the&nbsp;strongest guard in The W, she's certainly up there. Contact doesn't really bother her that much.
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Mitchell is a scorer at heart, but she's done a better job of leveraging her scoring gravity to create looks for her teammates. You don't have to manipulate weak-side defenders like Vandersloot or Chelsea Gray when the pure threat of your ratchet can bend a defense.
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Mitchell missed out on All-Star honors this season. Considering the Fever's record, it's fair to assume she'll end up on the outskirts of All-WNBA discussions as well.
(As a brief aside, an All-WNBA Third Team would be nice at some point. Just saying.)
But Mitchell is one of the best guards in The W. She's one of the best players in The W. She was the brightest spot of the season for a Fever team without a ton of them, and I'll miss watching her ball out.&nbsp;
Get well soon, Kelsey.

Nekias Duncan sings the praises of Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell, whose 2022 season has come to an end.

An ode to Kelsey Mitchell, the WNBA's forgotten star

Changes are coming in Minnesota.
Fresh off a 46-36 campaign and competitive first-round exit, the Timberwolves have already gone swinging. There's a new sheriff in town, with former <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nuggets-tim-connelly-to-become-wolves-president-of-basketball-ops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Denver Nuggets president Tim Connelly joining the team</a> in a similar role. The price was huge: a five-year deal worth north of $40 million and&nbsp; &mdash; and! &mdash; equity in the organization, per The Athletic. It's a monstrous deal with the potential for more &mdash; a deal, as my Dunker Spot co-host <a href="https://twitter.com/stevejones20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Jones Jr.</a> described on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-dunker-spot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our latest episode</a>, that the Nuggets weren't likely to match.
There's obvious intrigue in Connelly's move to Minnesota, namely him leaving a successful division rival that currently rosters a back-to-back MVP in Nikola Jokic to do so. But the interest for me has come with the reporting around the move. Take this passage from The Athletic's <a href="https://theathletic.com/3320881/2022/05/18/timberwolves-tim-connelly-president-basketball-ops/?source=emp_shared_article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jon Krawczynski and Shams Charania</a> as negotiations were heating up between the two sides.
<blockquote>
Leaving the two-time MVP for upstart Minnesota would be a bold move. But the Timberwolves do have a pair of building blocks in Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards, promising young talent in Jaden McDaniels and Jarred Vanderbilt, a coach who is revered throughout the organization and an ownership group that appears to be motivated to invest in the organization.
</blockquote>
Hmm... notice anyone missing? Also, the "ownership group that appears to be motivated to invest" portion could be seen as subtle shade toward the organization that was on track to lose Masai Ujiri (killing it in Toronto since 2014) and Connelly due to being outbid.&nbsp;
And how about this one, from Krawczynski and Charania again, after the <a href="https://theathletic.com/3326241/2022/05/23/tim-connelly-wolves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deal was done</a>?&nbsp;
<blockquote>
There are reasons beyond financial for him to be optimistic about the situation in Minnesota. Connelly will be taking over a team with two stars in Towns and Edwards, promising young players in Jaden McDaniels and Vanderbilt and a top-notch coach in Chris Finch, who spent one season working with Connelly in Denver as an assistant on Malone&rsquo;s staff. D&rsquo;Angelo Russell had a strong season before struggling in the playoffs and Patrick Beverley asserted himself as a tough, veteran leader for a young group.
</blockquote>
Ah,&nbsp;there's&nbsp;the name. But you see why my brow is raised, right? Towns and Edwards represent the core. McDaniels and Vanderbilt are the young pieces dubbed to grow alongside them. The 26 year-old Russell &mdash; one of Towns' best friends making north of $30 million this season &mdash; went from not being mentioned at all in the lead-up piece, to essentially getting a throw-in line with Beverley in the update five days later.
Oh, it doesn't help that Jordan McLaughlin was closing out playoff games while a healthy Russell watched in Round 1. Add in the fact that Russell's future has <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/05/03/report-timberwolves-will-attempt-to-trade-dangelo-russell-this-offseason/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already been questioned</a>, and I think it's fair to assume what the big&nbsp;roster&nbsp;swing for the Wolves will be.&nbsp;
Any team acquiring him will be on the hook for over $31 million next season, though that's the only&nbsp;year left on Russell's deal.&nbsp;
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WHAT RUSSELL BRINGS
Russell remains a smooth operator. He's a proactive passer, one who's able to see and&nbsp;fire into a gap before most players know what's happening. You'll see it with his transition hit-aheads, as well as some of the reads he'll make in pick-and-roll.
And about pick-and-roll: Not many players blend pull-up shooting and high-level passing like Russell does. You can't afford to duck under against him, or drop your big back too far. He will absolutely waltz into jumpers. Once he gets hot, you're forced to press up &mdash; and that opens up even more passing windows for him.
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Russell was one of 31 players to receive at least 1,500 on-ball picks this season, per Second Spectrum. Russell-led ball screens were good for nearly 1.03 points per possession (PPP), a top-10ish mark in NBA among high volume ball-handlers.
You can thank the jumper for that &mdash; Russell converted 37% of the pull-up threes he attempted out of pick-and-roll, per InStat tracking. For comparison, that put him in line with high volume pull-up artists like Stephen Curry (38.9%) and Trae Young (37.0%).
(Also: Shout out to Darius Garland for bombing away at a 42.5% clip. That guy's getting paid.)&nbsp;
LIMITATIONS
Russell is what I'd describe as a two-level scorer. He's comfortable firing from deep, and he's able to snake and hunt shots around the elbow area with the best of them. Rim pressure is... simply not his thing. Only 16% of Russell's shots came at the rim last season, a mark that ranks in the 16th percentile per Cleaning The Glass. (Not great!)
And as someone who rarely got to the rim, Russell didn't draw many shooting fouls either. The lack of "easy points" lends to a boom-or-bust nature in Russell's game. His pull-up jumper is a legit weapon, but things kinda crater for him if it isn't falling in a way that isn't helpful for your&nbsp;lead&nbsp;ball-handler.&nbsp;
I think a truth has become (more) clear &mdash; Russell needs to be paired with a ball-dominant rim threat to get the best out of him.
That was the intrigue around Edwards taking more of a lead role in the second half of the season. In theory, Edwards ability to touch the paint on any given possession would lead to easier catch-and-shoot &mdash; or catch-and-drive &mdash; opportunities for Russell. A team trading for Russell should have a similar infrastructure in place.
Defensively, Russell found his home as a middle linebacker. Most teams rely on their primary rim-protector to call out coverages and actions. For Minnesota, that responsibility was Russell's. It was an odd dynamic, but one that worked. He was often seen and&nbsp;heard barking out instructions while he zoned up behind the action.
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I remained worried about him in more conservative defensive schemes. Russell isn't the quickest laterally. And while he's improved a bit from his rookie season (I'd hope so!), screen navigation remains an issue for him overall.
With the Wolves, Russell was blessed with the opportunity to roam off-ball (his ideal role) while having the screen navigation issues limited due to his big hedging ball-screens with him. If Russell's dumped into a drop scheme, the onus flips back on him to stay attached to ball-handlers. That could be a tricky bet.
LANDING SPOTS
Due to Russell's contract and the context needed to unlock him on both ends, it's hard to imagine 20+ teams blowing up the phones in Minnesota. There are a few teams that:
1) Make theoretical sense for Russell's game
2) Have the contracts to at least get conversations started
The New York Knicks have been searching for a calming presence at point guard for ages; at the very least, a guy that can grease the wheels of an offense with pick-and-roll play. While an in-house option is staring them in the face &mdash; <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/explain-one-play-young-knicks-playing-chess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I'm with you, Knick fans</a> &mdash; it wouldn't shock me to see the Knicks take a flier on a talent like Russell, especially if it doesn't cost a core piece.&nbsp;
The contracts of Alec Burks, Derrick Rose, and Nerlens Noel get you in the ballpark of Russell's number. The Knicks have the Mavericks' first rounder in 2023 &mdash; a likely low 20s pick &mdash; to toss in if the Wolves don't think that's enough.
In theory, you'd have Russell playing off the rim-battering of RJ Barrett and Julius Randle. Maybe you get a more unlocked Randle with someone that can thread the needle on tight-window passes more consistently.&nbsp;
The Wolves would be able to bolster their depth, adding some rim pressure (Rose), movement shooting (Burks) and a big that can do work in an aggressive scheme (Noel). The Knicks losing the latter would be buffered by the retention of Mitchell Robinson and the likely growth from Jericho Sims.
Quick question: Who's the best passer for the Los Angeles Clippers? Follow-up question: How many names did you list before naming an actual guard? The combined deals of Reggie Jackson and Luke Kennard get you in the door. I can hear arguments about that already being too much for L.A. I'd argue that Russell gives you more on the playmaking front, gives you more size in the backcourt and helps your defense without tapping into your wing depth. Again, there's at least a conversation to be had.
If you're looking to pair Russell with a ball-dominant rim threat, how about Luka Doncic and Dallas? At worst, Russell could serve as a buffer to Jalen Brunson signing elsewhere. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dwight Powell would give the Wolves the movement shooting, plus big-man depth combination to bolster their supporting cast. I'd argue the Mavericks may have to throw in a pick, though they're a little light on that front.
Lastly, would you rather have Russell or Cole Anthony? Actually, don't answer that.
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Nekias Duncan looks at potential landing spots for Wolves guard D'Angelo Russell this offseason.

Examining potential trade destinations for D'Angelo Russell

Through two weeks of the WNBA season, where does each team stack up and what are some prime takeaways?

WNBA Power Rankings 5/22

In a raucous Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Miami Heat walked away with the first tally struck in the win column of the best-of-seven series.
Boston opened up shooting the lights out, taking a 62-54 halftime lead. Jayson Tatum was firing on all cylinders. Robert Williams III was cultivating a no-fly zone with his verticality. Derrick White had Max Strus running circles trying to get open.
Coming out of the locker room for the second half, it was a different story. The Heat cracked off a 22-2 run to start the third quarter. Butler finished the game with 41 points, and his physical drives battered the Celtics, particularly with Payton Pritchard seeing the court as much as he did due to Marcus Smart's injury. Butler's prowess is the main story last night, but as you can hear multiple times a week on The Dunker Spot&nbsp;(<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/young-man-the-three/id1547857052?i=1000561786139" target="_blank" rel="noopener">They just had JJ Redick on, go listen!</a>), good offenses require multiple pressure points &mdash; especially against a defense as good as Boston's.
Tyler Herro had it going off the bench last night and was a bastion for Miami's first-half offense. Victor Oladipo crafted some solid looks out of ball screens, but the finishing wasn't there.
And then, there was Gabe Vincent, who was exceptional in finding his groove in the first half as a tough shot-maker in pick-and-roll situations and off of screens. He also found his teammates well as a second-side operator in the offense.
Vincent finished with a +23 Tuesday night, second in the game only to Butler (+25), and while single-game plus-minus is a finicky metric at times, it was indicative of Miami's play. The best minutes the Heat put forth were with the duo on-court and working in tandem. After a stellar regular season that saw Vincent start 27 games, he struggled a great deal across the first two series from the floor, shooting 27.7% from three and registering a 49.5% True Shooting percentage; a far cry from his regular-season play.
17 points, 3 assists and gritty defense made for a grand return to form for Vincent in the series opener, and a return greatly needed for a Heat team still missing Kyle Lowry.
Vincent's first basket encapsulated much of what was essential in his Game 1; extremely tough and well-defended, and Butler screening (more on that later).
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Ripping off a quick double drag with Butler rolling and PJ Tucker popping, Vincent gets a step or two on Jaylen Brown due to a crunching Tucker screen. Robert Williams III is lurking, already having rejected a similar play from Vincent in an empty side pick-and-roll with Tucker earlier in the first quarter.
Vincent goes up and Williams III magnetizes to the ball, but Vincent adjusts mid-air and gets a remarkable high-glass finish to fall.
With his only second-quarter shot attempt midway through the frame, Gabe hit a relocation three to draw Miami back within single digits.
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Shout out to Caleb Martin for the impromptu screen and calling for Vincent to move and open himself up for the Butler outlet. With how this game was going for Boston early, enough can't be said for how huge this possession was at the time and in retrospect.
Early in the third quarter, there were two huge back-to-back plays by Vincent that kick-started the Heat offense. First, a huge deep self-created three to bail out a stifled possession. To say it felt back-breaking in the moment seems egregious, but just watching that game live, it was like, "WOAH, okay this is happening. The Heat are here."
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There's going to be, and already has been, criticism for Tatum's defense here, but I'm not sure what else you're supposed to do. Play too tight, and Vincent is going for a drawn foul. Tatum looks at the shot clock momentarily and that's right when Vincent rises and fires. Huge shot, huge play; here comes the avalanche (Miamalanche???).
Off another stifled Boston possession, Vincent comes down with a high pick from Bam Adebayo, and tries a pull-up three with about 5.5 seconds off the shot clock. He misses, but the impact is sizable. Boston's defense isn't that set, and it's scrambling to be ready earlier. Butler does his ghostly ninja cut to catch&nbsp; Brown off guard as soon as the shot goes up and seals Jaylen, and the offensive rebound falls right into Butler's lap. Putback, Miami lead.
Here's where the fun wrinkle mentioned earlier starts to come in. Jimmy Butler: Super-screener.&nbsp;
Butler was utilized as a screener for much of the game by the Heat, partially to limit how often he was strictly spacing, but also to get him going towards the rim. With how Vincent started to gun from deep and operate as a handler late second and early third, the combining of pressure points was vital in tearing open the gap and bending the Boston defense in cruel ways.
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Three Vincent-Butler pick-and-roll possessions, three fouls drawn! That's pretty good!
Miami did everything they could to put Pritchard through the ringer. Case in point: This Butler-Vincent dribble handoff.
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Make Pritchard run, get Vincent a half-step, make Tatum think and make a decision with the clear-out. Vincent touches the paint and kicks to Tucker. "BANG!"
Vincent's icing on the cake was this sideline out-of-bounds play.
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Another Butler screen in a quick Chicago action for Vincent. White was legitimately everywhere defensively last night, and yet, he just was rendered null and void by Vincent here. That's a nutty shot regardless of who you are; east/west movement, late clock, pull-up going towards the sideline.
While it would be unreasonable to expect Gabe Vincent to replicate this performance for an entire series, the way he was able to play off of Butler and add in his own wrinkles to the offense as a shot-maker was vital in taking an early series lead.
It was an awesome game from a former undrafted player who continues to ratchet up his play and appears even closer to becoming a future starter in the NBA.
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The Heat won Game 1 of the East Finals behind a remarkable Jimmy Butler performance and Gabe Vincent's stellar play.

How Gabe Vincent helped Miami exacerbate pressure points in Game 1

Jimmy Butler scored 32 points and waved &ldquo;bye bye&rdquo; to the Philly crowd as he sent the Miami Heat into the Eastern Conference finals with a 99-90 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night in Game 6.
The Heat will play the winner of the Milwaukee-Boston series. The defending champion Bucks lead that series 3-2, with Game 6 on Friday night in Milwaukee.
The Heat reached the conference finals for the second time in three seasons, again with Butler leading the charge. Philly fans &mdash; and many inside the 76ers organization &mdash; still can&rsquo;t believe the franchise let Butler get away after the 2019 season. He did not mess around and scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the third quarter when the Heat used a 16-2 run to take control.
Joel Embiid, the NBA scoring champion, scored 20 points for Philadelphia on 7-of-24 shooting.
Coming off a 35-point victory in Game 5, the Heat wore down a battered Sixers team. Embiid looked gassed as he gamely tried to carry the Sixers. He had little lift and had a pull-up jumper blocked by Bam Adebayo in the third.
The Sixers parted with Butler in large part because they chose Ben Simmons over him. Simmons was unhappy and forced a trade this season to Brooklyn for James Harden. Harden, a three-time scoring champion, was supposed to shoulder the load with Embiid for a potent postseason push. Harden instead all but disappeared in the playoffs. He had a fantastic Game 4 at home against Miami but otherwise was a turnover machine. When he lost another ball that led to a Heat bucket and an 80-63 lead in the fourth, the Sixers were booed off the court.
Harden scored all of his 11 points in the first half. He had four turnovers and four baskets.
Few in Philly would give The Beard a passing grade.
Coach Doc Rivers implored his team to &ldquo;fight for this!&rdquo; in the huddle during the fourth. The 76ers just fell flat.
The Heat are thrilled with an NBA championship still in play. Max Strus had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Even another abysmal night from 3-point range &mdash; Miami missed 21 of 28 attempts &mdash;- failed to matter.
Embiid again gutted out a postseason game in his mask (right orbital fracture) and with torn ligaments in his right thumb after he was only cleared to return last week from a concussion. He held the back of his head after he knocked it on the court after a fall late in the second quarter. Embiid still played 22 minutes in the first half and scored 14 points.
Embiid missed the first two games of the series as he recovered from the concussion. The Sixers lost both games in Miami. Would a healthy Embiid have made a difference? Maybe not but it&rsquo;s still another sudden end to the All-Star cornerstone who has yet to taste a conference final.
TRAINER&rsquo;S ROOM
Heat: Kyle Lowry sat out again with his left hamstring injury. He paced the Heat sideline like a coach and called over his teammates during free throws and other breaks in action to talk strategy.
76ers: Danny Green left in the first quarter with a serious left knee injury. Embiid went up for a bucket and crashed on Green as they tumbled to the court. Green, who averaged 5.9 points this season, grabbed his leg and was carried off the court.
TIP-INS
Heat: Are 7-1 in closeout Game 6s since 2006. ... Won their 30th career playoff series.
76ers: Have not advanced past the second round since 2001.

Jimmy Butler scored 32 points and waved “bye bye” to the Philly crowd as he sent the Heat into the Eastern Conference Finals.

Heat beat 76ers 99-90 in Game 6 to advance to East finals

As humans, it&rsquo;s in our nature to simplify topics to help enhance our perceived understanding of them. Simply put, we like putting things in boxes.&nbsp;
For Jayson Tatum, the box he&rsquo;s long been secluded to is "bucket-getter."
In some respects, this is a noble designation, considering the essence of the sport is to, how you say, get buckets. However, the taxonomy has a limiting quality that comes with it. You see, the impact of players that fall under this archetype typically caps off in the low-end All-Star territory &mdash; a far cry from Tatum&rsquo;s megastar ambitions.&nbsp;
So, to burst through this glass ceiling, Tatum has become something else. He&rsquo;s become someone else (The <a href="https://youtu.be/7wnMZRs1c34" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Green Arrow?</a>).&nbsp;
He&rsquo;s transformed himself into a generous facilitator and a stalwart defender, and that maturation was never more apparent than in the role he played in the Celtics 4-0' conquest of the Brooklyn Nets.&nbsp;
Playmaking&nbsp;
His passing development is best cataloged through the lens of Ben Taylor&rsquo;s <a href="https://backpicks.com/2018/07/15/nba-passer-ratings-since-1978/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Passer Rating</a> (a 1-to-10 measure of a players passing ability) and <a href="https://backpicks.com/metrics/box-creation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Box Creation</a> (an estimate of open shots created for teammates per 100 possessions) metrics.&nbsp;
Passing/Playmaking Stats By Year 
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 23.1456%;">Jayson Tatum</td>
<td style="width: 12.3873%;">
'17-18 
</td>
<td style="width: 12.2953%;">
'18-19 
</td>
<td style="width: 12.4109%;">
'19-20 
</td>
<td style="width: 12.3163%;">
'20-21 
</td>
<td style="width: 13.7372%;">
'21-22 
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 23.1456%;">
Passer Rating*
</td>
<td style="width: 12.3873%;">
2.6
</td>
<td style="width: 12.2953%;">
3.7
</td>
<td style="width: 12.4109%;">
4.2
</td>
<td style="width: 12.3163%;">
5.0
</td>
<td style="width: 13.7372%;">
5.6
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 23.1456%;">
Box Creation*
</td>
<td style="width: 12.3873%;">
2.3
</td>
<td style="width: 12.2953%;">
3.1
</td>
<td style="width: 12.4109%;">
5.9
</td>
<td style="width: 12.3163%;">
8.2
</td>
<td style="width: 13.7372%;">
9.1
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
(Mobile users scroll right to view full table)
*Data Provided by Backpicks
As you can see, Tatum began his career as a horrid passer (for reference: Moses Malone once penned a 2.6 Passer Rating). Nowadays, his playmaking numbers are some of the best in the league, as he finished the 2021-22 season ranking in the 90th percentile in Box Creation.
We've seen a similar growth curve from other athletic forwards who began their All-Star reigns as pure scorers, and then, graduated into MVP candidates by improving their passing.
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Kawhi Leonard had a Passer Rating of 2.9 during his rookie season and went on to finish in the top-20 in the stat in 2019-20 (6.9), tying the Point God himself, Chris Paul.
Tatum&rsquo;s Celtic progenitor, Paul Pierce, began his career with a Box Creation output of 1.7, only to finish in the 92nd percentile in creation in 2015-16 (once again tying Paul!).
(Keep in mind that Leonard and Pierce were both 28 when they made their playmaking peaks; Tatum just turned 24.)
A huge part of Tatum&rsquo;s synthesis as a passer and playmaker can be credited to his strength. The Nets often tried to load up on Tatum in a fashion similar to the way the Celtics did so with Durant. And yet, unlike Durant &mdash; who was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-celtics-game-1-defense-on-kevin-durant-showcased-their-greatness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">battered into a barrage of contested jumpers</a> &mdash; Tatum continuously found ways to knife his way into the eye of the storm. During the series, Tatum took an average of 8.5 shots at the rim per game, while Durant managed a mere 1.7 (per Dunks &amp; Threes).
Tatum wasn&rsquo;t converting on these looks at his usual rate, but his ability to consistently get two feet into the defense's place of worship forced the Nets to <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/how-do-nba-defensive-rotations-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sink</a> in on his drives, and that shift empowered Tatum to spray passes out to his loosely guarded contemporaries.
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The immediacy with which he relieves himself from custody of the rock is another key to his progress in the playmaking department. Last season, when Boston played the Nets (albeit without Jaylen Brown), Tatum was handling the ball for <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Tatum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4.48</a> seconds, and he took <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Tatum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3.40</a> dribbles during those possessions. This time around, he only held the ball for <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Tatum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4.06</a> seconds and produced only <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Tatum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2.95</a> dribbles per touch.&nbsp;
This change in time may not seem significant, but a half-second here and half-dribble there can be the difference in a few inches of airspace for his teammate. And like Tony D&rsquo;Amato said in Any Given Sunday, "Life&rsquo;s a game of inches, g**damn it!"
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Tatum is making decisions swifter and more precisely than ever before, and it shows in his postseason Box Creation score of 12.6 (third among postseason participants).&nbsp;
Defense
Sticking with our previous comparisons, Pierce and Leonard both authored two No. 1 ranked defenses with the franchises that drafted them.
(Pierce did it behind the watchful eye of Kevin Garnett in 2007-08 and 2011-12, while Leonard was the keystone to an impenetrable wall of defensive superiority from <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/team/27/team#tab-four_factors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015-17</a>.)
This iteration of the Celtics just <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/team/2/team#tab-four_factors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">completed this feat</a> for the second time since Tatum started tending to the TD Garden in 2017-18, and one could reasonably argue that he may have been the third-best guardian on a unit with two potential <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/defensive-awards-and-a-celebration-of-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">All-NBA defenders</a>.
Like Pierce and Leonard, Tatum relies on a tantalizing blend of strength and length to bother players of all shapes and sizes. Against the Nets, Tatum forced over&nbsp;2 turnovers per 75 possessions (that includes steals, blocks and charges).&nbsp;
As for Durant, Tatum not only used his aforementioned strength to bully his frailer adversary around on the perimeter, but he also leveraged his length to meet KD&rsquo;s shot at its zenith in a manner we haven&rsquo;t seen since Giannis Antetokoumpo.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Other than Giannis and Tatum, who else has the ability to block a Kevin Durant jumper at its apex? <a href="https://t.co/mAmHHqkpiH">pic.twitter.com/mAmHHqkpiH</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1519726455948820481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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And while <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-to-slow-down-kevin-durant-let-the-reaper-reap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slowing Durant</a> has been a team-wide endeavor (every player that played significant minutes shadowed him at one point or another), Tatum&rsquo;s individual work is nothing to scoff at.&nbsp;
In over 30 minutes of guarding him, Tatum held Durant to 3 of 18 shooting in a performance that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrD5hCP8X6s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">garnered comparison</a> to the containment job Pierce executed on LeBron James in 2008. For the record, Leonard also has a superstar stymie on his resume &mdash; that being his famous walling off of Giannis in 2019.
James, Antetokounmpo and Durant experienced significant decreases in volume and efficiency when they went up against this troika of star wings.
Superstar Shutdown Performances
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.7658%;">
Player Matchup (Year)
</td>
<td style="width: 10.5775%;">
TS%*
</td>
<td style="width: 25.4747%;">
Dif. from Regular Season*
</td>
<td style="width: 10.2303%;">
PPG
</td>
<td style="width: 25.7298%;">
Dif. from Regular Season*
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.7658%;">
James (2008)
</td>
<td style="width: 10.5775%;">
48.0%
</td>
<td style="width: 25.4747%;">
-8.8%
</td>
<td style="width: 10.2303%;">
26.7
</td>
<td style="width: 25.7298%;">
-3.3
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.7658%;">
Antetokounmpo (2019)
</td>
<td style="width: 10.5775%;">
51.8%
</td>
<td style="width: 25.4747%;">
-12.6%
</td>
<td style="width: 10.2303%;">
22.7
</td>
<td style="width: 25.7298%;">
-5.0
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.7658%;">
Durant (2022)
</td>
<td style="width: 10.5775%;">
52.6%
</td>
<td style="width: 25.4747%;">
-10.8%
</td>
<td style="width: 10.2303%;">
26.3
</td>
<td style="width: 25.7298%;">
-3.6
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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*Data Provided by Basketball Reference
It&rsquo;s also worth noting that Pierce and Leonard both captured NBA titles during the postseasons they administered their signature shutdown performances in.
Overall, Tatum&rsquo;s recent stretch of play pushes him from bucket-getting All-Star to a borderline top-10 player in the NBA. And future improvements around the margins could lead to Tatum ascending into the all-time pantheon of two-way forwards &mdash; right next to Pierce and Leonard.
His growth thus far is best summarized in a Game 4 quote from <a href="https://twitter.com/realStanVG/status/1518569656470093827?s=20&amp;t=pp4NUrT5Mmx_-_htG8l8VQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter&rsquo;s favorite son</a>, Stan Van Gundy:&nbsp;
&ldquo;Tatum, at the end of last year, was thought of in this league as a great scorer. Now, he is a great player, and it is because he has become an outstanding defender and a willing &mdash; and very good &mdash; playmaker.&rdquo;
Well said, Stan. Well said.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
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Mat Issa writes on how Jayson Tatum's playmaking and defense have reminded him of two other great wing players on both ends.

Jayson Tatum is much more than just a bucket-getter

Following last year's inaugural Tampa Bay Pro Combine, several participants &mdash; including Terry Taylor, Brandon Williams, Micah Potter and Jordan Goodwin &mdash; turned their dreams into reality by signing deals and playing in the NBA in their rookie season.
Now, the Tampa Bay Pro Combine is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/tampa-bay-pro-combine-returns-with-24-nba-draft-prospects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">back for another year</a>, and our new group of participants is looking to find the same level of success. The TBPC will be held from April 26 to April 29 at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus in Wesley Chapel, Florida.
We are providing 24 draft-eligible prospects an opportunity to audition in front of NBA scouts, compete in a slam-dunk contest and three-point shootout on April 28, and play in a doubleheader on April 29.
NBA scouts and personnel will be allowed to attend workouts on April 26 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST and April 27 from 9:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. EST.
Here is the list of participants:
Alex Barcello, BYU
Evan Battey, Colorado
Luka Brajkovic, Davidson
Savion Flagg, Sam Houston State
Michael Flowers, Washington State
John Fulkerson, Tennessee
John Harrar, Penn State
Noah Horchler, Providence
Nate Johnson, Xavier
Abu Kigab, Boise State
Kimani Lawrence, Arizona State
Kalob Ledoux, Santa Cruz Warriors
Davion Mintz, Kentucky
Taze Moore, Houston
Justyn Mutts, Virginia Tech
Tyler Polley, UConn
Taz Sherman, West Virginia
Jaylen Sims, UNC Wilmington
Mark Smith, Kansas State
Amadou Sow, UC Santa Barbara
Au'Diese Toney, Arkansas
Davion Warren, Texas Tech
Marcus Weathers, SMU
Jacob Young, Oregon
In addition to the 24 invitees, we will also be welcoming 12 additional draft-eligible prospects who will participate in workouts and games. Our video partner, <a href="https://event.veo.co/">Veo</a>, will record the action and distribute it via BasketballNews.com's YouTube channel, and <a href="https://instatsport.com/basketball">InStat</a> will also provide video and data from the event.
The 2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine is presented by Florida's Sports Coast.

The 2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine will be held from April 26 to April 29 at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine announces list of participants

As every regular season inches toward its end, things tend to get wonky for the teams south of .500. Being somebody who always searches for progress or development, it makes things murkier when Josh Hart has a 25% usage rate (10% higher than his career usage). Shout out to Hart and his season, though, because he's been absolutely on one.
Yet, that's kind of the point of trying to sift through post-All-Star break basketball: Is Hart a primary option moving forward? Nah, but I do think he's shown some stuff in Portland (which <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/josh-hart-offensive-funk-and-firepower" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has flashed in NOLA</a>) that further solidifies that he can handle more on-ball reps and ball-screens than previously thought. Trying to extrapolate what a more normal competitive situation could look like without overdoing it is something I'm definitely trying to get a better grasp of. So much is context-dependent.
The man had 44 points!
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Justise Winslow has played some really quality ball for the Blazers when healthy and in the lineup, but we're here for the purposes of the man who grabbed the mic.
I have absolutely no idea what to make of Trendon Watford's play.
In March (10 games), Watford's played 29 or more minutes in every game, averaging 15.6 points per game on 57.2% True Shooting (right about league average); he's expanded upon his intriguing ball skills and passing flashes he's shown since entering the rotation. The defensive flashes of upside give me pause as well.
That said, the Blazers have also lost by double digits in six of their March games with a minus-19.2 point differential per Cleaning the Glass. The Thunder have the second-worst point differential in March... at minus-13.8. Yeah, it's been rough in PDX.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
So again, there are wrinkles in judgment and evaluation (and woooo boy, that is A WRINKLE). However, I must admit that I'm pretty bullish on what I've seen from Watford, the undrafted rookie.
It's been a wild ride for me, as I was lower on him coming out of LSU and really wasn't sure what to make of his environment there and some of his inconsistencies, but he's repeatedly drawn me in with his play and improvements this season. No, I'm not there with a starting spot, but the flashes have been on full display, and he's starting to string them together with more regularity. I can see the vision of Watford on a solid team, adding an element as a bruising dribble-handoff operator, short-roller and potentially versatile defender in time.
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Watford opts more for brush screens, which can seemingly be frustrating and go against conventional screening wisdom, but he's so good at opening himself up to attack the basket while drawing the attention of the man he's screening. I would definitely like to see him set screens with more impact, but it's worth noting that screening without contact is an art in and of itself, and man, Trendon's pretty effective with it. He's solid at slipping and is fantastic at flipping his hips into a roll/into space.
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He's not a crazy explosive leaper as a roller, with most of his value coming from his touch in the intermediate areas and his ability to open lanes for the ball-handler. He's shooting 49% from 4 to 14 feet, per Cleaning the Glass (72nd percentile amongst bigs), which teeters on the line of danger for opposing defenders. If he does sell out for contact to screen the handler open, his slow roll and the potential for a pocket pass or toss back can scratch an itch for his defender. Even if it's not as effective or efficient as a layup, there's a legitimate annoyance factor to having a floater or push shot hit right in front of you just out of your reach.
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It's worth noting, however, just how difficult this diet can be as a player. Watford has made it work, but as we've seen with other touch-based rollers like Bruce Brown for instance, a drop in that floater efficiency or confidence can belittle impact and make it much easier for the defense to sell out at the rim on drives. Watford's got solid craft around the rim and touch, but he struggles with length around the basket &mdash; especially if he doesn't have a head of steam or an angle to use to his advantage.
That makes the development of his jumper and pick-and-pop game even more intriguing and instrumental to his maturation. His shot is pretty slow right now; there's inconsistency in his shot prep (feels most comfortable with a hop step in my viewings), and he can be hesitant at times, but he's been more willing as of late. An offseason with shooting work and more instilled confidence in taking his shot off the pop could do wonders for him. His ability to attack off the catch with a coordinated handle and legit counters while getting downhill have been quite impressive.
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More of this.
He's getting to the line 4.2 times per game according to Basketball-Reference, and the majority of those trips have come from getting fouled as he batters towards the rim. He's not bursty per se, but he has a pretty violent and quick motion into his downhill drives at times that can really take 5s by surprise. My vision for him (and it seems Portland feels similarly) is being a combo big who can make the most of himself as a mismatch 5, attacking with his skill in a spread-out offense; so, the shot is key to keep his best attributes sustainable.
His playmaking is solid, as he displays quality court vision and ball placement on passes. His best reads come out of DHOs or on a quick roll &mdash; although, I do think ironing out the speed with which he makes reads and passes will be important in his development &mdash; but he's already made strides in that regard since college! If the defense is lacking, he'll find the open man more often than not.
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Defensively, much of Watford's intrigue comes from what he could be rather than what he's doing now. It cannot be undersold just how bad Portland's defense has been the last month. He makes rookie mistakes and can get back cut against. He doesn't always make the right rotation, and he can be too aggressive overplaying on the perimeter.
However, I'm really encouraged by the flashes. Portland has opted for more switching and playing their bigs closer to the level of the screen with backline rotations. Watford has shown agile feet and the ability to use his length on the perimeter to deter ball-handlers. He's got pretty good hands, even if they're hyperactive at times! He can foul, like, a lot (4.2 fouls per game in March), but I tend to think it's easier to reign in defensive aggression than to instill it.
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He's had solid moments rotating as the low man. He certainly needs to clean up his footwork, technique and timing, but so do the majority of rookie-scale players.
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The foundation of mobility, coordination, length and instincts is there, and honestly, it's a lot better than I saw or expected last year.
Overall, I'm really impressed with how Watford's game has come along. I don't know exactly how I would project him moving forward, but I feel more confident today than I did in the past that he can contribute to winning play and flourish in a role. He's doing things, and while it's hard to quantify what it means in this context, it's still meaningful.
Trendon Watford is an immensely talented player, and he's putting in the work to put it together. In time, I can't wait to see what he looks like on a team that's more cohesive and he looks to further establish himself in the league.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
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Blazers undrafted rookie Trendon Watford is on a tear in March, showcasing his upside and potential for more.

Trendon Up: Trail Blazers rookie Watford is coming along

The NBA is built on star power, more so than perhaps any other sport. The seventh man on most teams has a larger following than some of the most marketable stars in other sports. Stars bend defenses, they isolate late in games when it's do-or-die time, and they're simultaneously the foundation and roof of a team's winning viability.
Much of what I've written about in regards to the youth development in the league this season has been tracking what's happening and why, pinpointing growth areas. I've always been pretty averse to projection, at least without much concrete backing; it's so finicky and I don't want to box in what someone can be.
Yet, throughout the season, I keep coming back to one player. Kenyon Martin Jr, has it.
He's played pretty well recently, averaging 11.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists on 63.8% True-Shooting in March, but his future projection fascinates me. No, he's not going to be a high-usage ball-dominant star, but when I watch him play, I not only see the outline of one of the most valuable role players in the league, but an already strong foundation as a pro.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The Rockets have decided to guarantee the $1.8 million salaries of Garrison Mathews and K.J. Martin for 2022-23, sources told ESPN. Mathews, 25, and Martin, 21, have proven themselves as role players who fit in the Rockets&rsquo; long-term rebuilding plans.
&mdash; Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) <a href="https://twitter.com/espn_macmahon/status/1502409270192586752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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After the Rockets <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/rockets-guarantee-garrison-mathews-kj-martins-deals-for-202223" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fully guaranteed his contract</a> for the upcoming season and two-straight starts (due to injury), I couldn't put off writing about his upside any longer.
Why do I think KJ Martin has this upside? For starters, the game of basketball continues to adapt. As I wrote about recently when discussing the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/explaining-why-we-need-to-appreciate-screening-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">importance of screening</a>, the ability for every player on the court to make positive decisions with the ball in their hands has become more and more vital over the past few seasons. While most players won't be relied upon to cause the initial dent in the offense (KJ among them), can you not only finish an advantage, but continue it? Can you continue to put pressure on a defense, exacerbating rotations?
Part of what intrigues me the most about KJ is his elite potential as a supplementary player in pick-and- roll. Saying he is one of the best screeners in the NBA is not an overstatement.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
KJ Martin, your favorite screener's favorite screener <a href="https://t.co/aoDSF5Q6iu">pic.twitter.com/aoDSF5Q6iu</a>
&mdash; Mark Schindler (@MSchindlerNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MSchindlerNBA/status/1501981608643076100?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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He's adept at utilizing angles, re-screening and continually shifting himself to better adjust for his ball-handler, something that's been an absolute boon for Jalen Green's development.
His subtle slot screens in early offense or off quick-ball reversals give Houston some of their best looks.
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KJ does everything in his power to get his man open while also coming dangerously close to getting called for an offensive foul every time. It's an art form, a Southeastern Texas Van Gogh, not yet appreciated in his time. It's easy to see the open space, but it's not always easy to see in-game why the space is open, and so often it can be attributed to a KJ Martin screen.
Kevin Porter Jr. is rejected harshly by Carmelo Anthony, but this screen is just breathtaking. The flip and re-screen is just awesome and totally takes Austin Reaves out of the action.
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The screening matters so much, because what makes him such a useful offensive player is what he can do from it. To thrive and survive on the margins as an offensive player, the thresholds are higher for competency, and Martin surpasses them.
He's shooting 62.8% as a pick-and-roll roll man, according to Second Spectrum Tracking, which is among the top third of qualified players in the league. Not bad for a 6-foot-6 forward!&nbsp;
He excels flowing from impactful contact screens into rolls that put pressure on the rim, which is easier said than done.
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Martin can struggle a bit with lengthy rim protectors who possess good timing, but his vertical pop and touch around the rim allow him to play much bigger than his listed size.
His ability to hit short-roll passes with regularity and in a timely manner makes it harder to just load up at the rim. His passing isn't otherworldly, but it's pretty good for his role and much better than I expected coming into the NBA.
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Oh, about that vertical pop &mdash; it's absolutely menacing in early offense. If a defense cannot get set in transition or off of a make, good lord, batten down the hatches because he is rolling to the rim ASAP.
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He's fantastic at pushing the ball up, kicking it ahead in transition and then flowing into the offense from there. That's anther important point, even if he's not involved directly in an action, he finds ways to make himself felt. His cutting is fantastic. Lay off him in the slot, and he'll 45 cut or slide in for an offensive board. Sag off him in the corner and he'll time his baseline rim runs for lobs or roam to the paint for a quick touch shot or two-footed dunk without even loading (he's like THAT as a leaper).&nbsp;
What unlocks everything for KJ is the shot &mdash; something that's fallen for him at an exceptional clip of late: 37.7% on 2.5 per game in 2022, and 46.7% on 3.3 per game since the All-Star Break.
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His shot was a major question coming into the league, and getting to just under 230 attempts across his two seasons at 35.5%, it's starting to seem reasonable that the shot is going to at least be average on volume. I'm not sure he'll ever be able to incorporate movement (AKA off pin-downs or exit screens), and while it would be awesome if he could, all he needs is a respectable shot that he takes with confidence to unlock the rest of his game.
Hitting a relocation three against a closeout is about as much as you can ask for!
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I think he needs to quicken his release over the coming year or two to make it easier for him to get his shot off on more contested looks, especially considering he's mostly shooting a set shot. But the mechanics look good!&nbsp;
Martin has popped as a catch-and-drive player, making lightning quick decisons to attack off the bounce if given space on the catch. He's explosive with his first step, and his handle is tight enough that he can put the ball on the floor a few times before attacking the rack. He's shooting 48.8% on drives, nothing wild, but also nothing to scoff at; he's in the same ballpark as Jimmy Butler, Andew Wiggins and Herb Jones in terms of his field goal percentage on drives, per Second Spectrum (albeit on lower volume).
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He's not ultra crafty and doesn't have much shake, but he has some verve as a finisher alongside his line-drive juice that makes him effective.
The recent game against the Utah Jazz on March 2 was a great encapsulation of where he's at and the importance of his shot for establishing himself as an offensive player. He took eight three-pointers in that game, nearly all of them open. The Jazz played Rudy Gobert on him for stretches defensively (Terance Mann vibes ran heavy), and eventually, Gobert had to close on him.
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On the surface, these plays are nothing crazy, but being able to capably take a center (and a pretty mobile one at that) off the dribble and make a good kick out to keep the offense flowing is absolutely essential.
If he does get stonewalled on a drive, which happens mostly when he gets funneled baseline and has to drive with his left, he doesn't stop the ball or post up.
This is the good stuff part, which makes him pass the threshold as a margins-based player.
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To create a good look on the quick-pitch impromptu DHO is just awesome stuff. Again, ideally he's making that drive, but he's defended by a perennial DPOY, so I'll take this with a grin.
I think the question is: what happens when he gets to a level where he is demanding consistent closes? Can he add a little more polish to his handle? As mentioned earlier, can that release quicken a hair? I certainly lean yes, because those things are relatively commonplace developments, but it's definitely worth noting.&nbsp;
Earlier this season, we saw this with Myles Turner, who is a very different player, but it's the same concept. When a player who gets treated as a non-shooter starts to get treated like a shooter, the equation changes for them and what their role in the offense looks like and the space afforded to them. I lean toward KJ having more that he can lean into, making it more viable for him to handle being treated as a shooter; he's shown really quality footwork to shoot off the pop, which is huge when paired alongside a downhill threat like Jalen Green (have I mentioned how much I love their two-man game already and its potential?).
Put a perimeter player on him to guard the shot and he could be called up for a quick screen to take advantage of that or force a switch that he could slip. Point being, he has a ton of versatility in how he can be utilized in an offense, and I think that only increases his value if defenses begin to consistently respect his shot.
I mean, look at what happened when Miami laid off him entirely in their recent outing when he played the 5 in downsized line-ups (some of the more effective units in that game).
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The defense is where things get even more interesting with Martin. At the moment, he is not a good defender on balance. He does things that ARE good, but he has some drawbacks right now that inhibit him being more valuable on that end. It's also very worth noting that Houston's team defensive context is uhhh... tough, ranking 30th in defensive efficiency on the season, per Cleaning the Glass.
He has some of the young-player-on-a-bad-team tropes: He can get back cut due to ball watching, his screen navigation can be rough and while he has some promising flashes, pin-ins can erase him in the corners. His point-of-attack defense can leave you a bit wanting too.&nbsp;
Martin can have some really solid moments of riding out his defender to the rim, keeping his arms up and getting a decent contest around the basket.
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However, he lacks much length; he stands 6-foot-6, but has a 6-foot-7 wingspan, which isn't the end-all be-all, but it certainly makes an impact. He can have some moments of foul proneness on the ball, because he often uses his chest to bump off offensive players, which yeah, that's a way to get a consistent whistle against heady ball-handlers.
He's a solid lateral athlete, but that limited length makes it more difficult to crowd offensive players.
Yet, his defensive value comes from what he does that defies that logic. Martin is a legitimately impactful rim protector! His timing is fantastic and his verticality (especially for his size) is among the best in the league.
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He's excellent roaming the baseline and playing as the low man off the weak corner.
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I do think there's a ceiling to what he can be as an on-ball defender, likely a neutral, with some more positive play in the right match-ups. However, he has the tools and technique to be a top-notch team defender. In the right scheme and with the right personnel, I'm pretty confident he'll develop into a plus defensive player.
Martin's playing time has been confusing this season. He started out with DNP coach's decisions to open the year in spite of an awesome closing stretch last season &mdash; from when he first began starting in April to the end of the year (averaging 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting 39.3% from deep on 4.7 attempts per game).&nbsp;
I'm not saying he&nbsp;has to start, but I would really like to see it happen (partially due to my own wanting, but also because he genuinely seems like he would excel with more minutes). KJ Martin appears ready for more.
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Kenyon Martin Jr.'s contract was recently guaranteed for the 2022-23 season by the Rockets. Where is he headed as a player?

KJ Martin: More than meets the eye

As I got heavily into the NBA when I was in high school, I found a particular affinity for the Sacramento Kings. Rudy Gay was the one for me, man. I loved the old UConn highlights and the dunk packages he put on display in Memphis and Toronto, and I was like "Okay, yes." I thought Ben McLemore as Ray Allen was a bit much, but Ben as Wes Matthews with more juice? I was in.
DeMarcus Cousins, he was an anomaly to me.
My entire time growing up as a casual fan of the game, the idea of centers with superlative ball skills never crossed my mind! My dad showed me reels of Kevin McHale, Moses Malone and other post-centric savants, so that was the foundation of what I thought a big man in basketball was.
And then I saw this for the first time!
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That was one of the first earth-shattering moments for me in sports.&nbsp;
All the concepts and boxes I'd placed big men into combusted like an atom bomb as soon as I saw that clip in study hall.
A 6-foot-11 center can run the floor and go for a coast to coast jam like THAT? 
I dove in more. I started to recognize the passing with more regularity. He expanded his game out to the perimter towards the end of his Sacramento tenure, taking over 5 threes per game prior to the trade to New Orleans. (There were a lot of "Is DeMarcus Cousins shooting too many threes?" questions, and I kept the receipts). The flashes of him and Anthony Davis together were mind-bending. That team was going to be my NBA League Pass darling.
Through the first 48 games prior to Boogie's injury, the Pelicans were 27-21 with the seventh-ranked offense in the league. Davis, Cousins and Jrue Holiday were beating teams by plus-6.9 points per 100 possessions when sharing the court. I'm not trying to plunge the knife deeper Pels fans, but man, people need to remember how freakin' good that team was!
New Orleans wasn't a title contender, but it had a foundation that was so enticing. The Pels went on to sweep the Portland Trail Blazers in that 2017-18 postseason in Jrue Holiday's national-coming-out party, and lost in five games to the Golden State Warriors in the second round. All without Cousins, who missed half of the season and the playoffs due to injury. Yeah, I'm choked up reminiscing on a Wednesday afternoon.
Injured again in Golden State the following campaign and bouncing around &mdash; playing in Houston and with the Los Angeles Clippers last year &mdash; Cousins went on to play just 71 regular-season games over the next three years.
However, earlier this season, he played 17 games with the Milwaukee Bucks. And while he wasn't perfect.... *whispers* I think they should have kept him. The physical limitations after his multitude of lower-body injuries have made him most suited as a drop defender; although, he had some interesting moments of playing at the level of the screen. When the Bucks waived him, I was kind of at a loss.
But I think he's more than proven that the decision may have been a mistake on Milwaukee's end as he's played perhaps his best basketball post-New Orleans as a Denver Nugget!
The Nuggets are 13-1 when Cousins plays, and while pointing the finger to him as the sole reason would be ridiculous, he's absolutely played a part in their success.
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In fact, Denver is 16-5 since Jan. 23 (Cousins' first game with Denver) with the sixth-ranked offense and defense in the league, per Cleaning the Glass. While On/Off stats are finicky, Nikola Jokic's plus-20.6-point differential is not a mirage. That number partially paints the picture of his MVP-caliber season as one of the most impactful individuals in the league. Yet, it also leaves brushstrokes of the struggles of Denver's bench this season.
Michael Porter Jr.'s injury pushed depth players into much larger roles than could have been conceived in the preseason. The lack of a true backup center on the roster was greatly felt, as JaMychal Green struggled to find consistency with his shot and Jeff Green at the 5 has been a mostly rough look.
Cousins, on the other hand, has been able to bring some real stability off the bench. The Nuggets can replicate some of their Jokic staple actions with Cousins' passing and court vision.
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He can attack off the bounce, his shot is enough of a threat to warrant regular-season closeouts and he makes really solid, quick decisions; defenses almost have to guard him out on the perimeter. He draws two with ease, absolutely feasting on post mismatches, but more importantly, he's drawing them routinely. He can create advantages and stir the drink at times for bench lineups.
Golden State and Houston left those games battered after dealing with Cousins on the interior.
He's been setting some absolutely bone-crushing screens, paving the way for Denver's guards and wings to open shots.
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Cousins and Bones Hyland (<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/winners-lounge-bones-hyland-joins-the-show-to-break/id1070099369?i=1000553132548" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shout out to Bones and DNVR</a>) have sneakily developed a really nice two-man game in pick-and-roll.
Their chemistry has really seemed to bud over the past few weeks, Bones has continued to grow in his role, and the Nuggets' bench is steadily becoming at least neutral after being one of the worst units in the league earlier this season.
Bones-and-Boogie lineups are pummeling the opposition, scoring 123.2 points per 100 possessions per Cleaning the Glass (98th percentile). It's worth taking that with a grain of salt, as it's only a 198 possession sample, but it tracks with what's played out on the court.
Defensively, Cousins has, again, been solid. He's been fine as a drop defender, but the Nuggets have also tapped into some higher showing with him, or even all-out blitzes on unsuspecting guards. He's still got some short-area quickness that can take ball-handlers by surprise, along with some fantastic hand speed and hand-eye coordination to pick pockets.
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That the Nuggets can run more than one base scheme with Cousins on the court has made it even more viable for him to play a significant amount of time.
Is Cousins a 13.2-point, 7.0-rebound, 3.0-assist, 2.1-steal/block-on-64.0%-True-Shooting guy moving forward (his six games since the All-Star Break)? Probably not! But, this stretch, along with his full tenure in Denve, has shown he has more than something in the tank. He's playing quality minutes and filling a void the Nuggets were unable to for half the season.
The Nuggets are 9-1 in their last 10, one-and-a-half games back from the No. 4 seed in the Western Confeerece, and Porter's <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2022/03/03/nuggets-michael-porter-jr-jamal-murray-grand-rapids/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">potential return looms on the horizon</a>. This team is good, and Cousins playing a small part in that has been awesome to watch unfold.
Keep Boogie and the Nuggets on your radar as the season closes.
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After a slew of injuries and bouncing around as a journeyman for the past few seasons, DeMarcus Cousins has found a home in Denver.