Brooklyn Nets

Don't forget about the other summer blockbuster.
You can't go online without the Rudy Gobert trade being flamed. It's hard not to question that move considering how clunky things have looked for the Timberwolves on both ends, a recent winning streak when Gobert was out of the lineup, and a slide coinciding with Gobert's return &mdash; featuring closing minutes with Naz Reid instead of Gobert.
You know who else has looked clunky on both ends of the floor? The Atlanta Hawks, fresh off a loss to LeBirthday and the Los Angles Lakers on Friday night.
The Hawks are currently sitting two games under .500 (17-19), with a bottom-10 net rating (-1.7, 24th) and more rumors swirling than a high-school hallway. The latter portion &mdash; the outside noise &mdash; is really what sucks about this Hawks season.
It's understandable enough that there would be growing pains when implenting former Spurs All-Star Dejounte Murray into the mix. I was ultimately <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-offseason-trade-news-dejounte-murray-fit-atlanta-hawks-trae-young-bogdan-bogdanovic-deandre-hunter-san-antonio-spurs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high on the move</a>, but the Young-Murray fit hasn't been clean. The Hawks are <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612737&amp;Season=2022-23&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1629027,1627749" target="_blank" rel="noopener">barely winning the minutes</a> &mdash; plus-1.8 in 695 minutes &mdash; with them sharing the floor.&nbsp;
It's even tougher considering the injury woes the Hawks have dealt with. Clint Capela has missed nine games; John Collins and De'Andre Hunter have missed eight. Bogdan Bogdanovic, an important spacer and secondary creator, made his season debut on December 2.&nbsp;
In a perfect world, this is just a matter of on-court chemistry building. But alas, it doesn't appear to be just that. The cloud surrounding the relationship between Young and head coach Nate McMillan is hard to ignore at this point.
Before the season, Young and McMillan each referenced their need to improve communication with each other. McMillan took steps over the offseason <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34656193/atlanta-hawks-look-improve-communication-trae-young-coach-nate-mcmillan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with an in-house visit</a>, for a quick example. Naturally, Young missed a home game against the Denver Nuggets earlier this month due to [checks notes] <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/trae-young-reportedly-sat-out-fridays-game-vs-nuggets-after-feud-with-coach-nate-mc-millan-232604712.html#:~:text=The%20team%20said%20at%20the,to%20be%20any%20further%20discipline." target="_blank" rel="noopener">morning shootaround etiquette.</a>
(As the story goes, Young wanted to bypass morning shootaround to receive extra treatment for a troublesome shoulder. McMillan gave Young a choice: either come off the bench [for missing a normally-mandatory shootaround], or stay home. Young opted for the latter.)
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That's a petty story at best, another notch on the "what-the-heck's-going-on-with-those-two?" belt at worst. It didn't look good for Young, who simply could've played if he wanted to. It didn't look good for McMillan, who wouldn't have lost sleep over letting Young slide considering the circumstances &mdash; and his importance to the team, but you know.
Fast forward to Friday, before the Lakers loss, and we get a report from The Athletic's Shams Charania that McMillan has <a href="https://theathletic.com/4046211/2022/12/30/nate-mcmillan-hawks-considers-resigning/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considered resigning from the job</a>. When asked about the report, McMillan didn't necessarily <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/hawks-coach-nate-mcmillan-responds-to-report-suggesting-he-may-resign-well-move-on-past-that/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shut things down</a>:
"I read that article briefly, I've never spoke to that reporter before,"&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Pat_Benson_Jr/status/1608958610905903105?s=20&amp;t=p8pumdwNvGb35E1h4W7reQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">McMillan said</a>. "I think the last two weeks, he's written a couple articles with some sources in our organization that are making some comments about me, and some things that I'm saying and doing. Look, at the end of the year, I'll do as I've always done, at the end of the season I talk with my family and see if I still have that flame, that fire to continue next season. That's the end of the season. All of us think about retiring, but that's at the end of the season. So we'll move on past that."
What makes this dynamic &mdash; and the Hawks in general &mdash; so difficult to parse through is the chicken-or-egg nature of it.&nbsp;
For the "star &gt; coach" crowd, there are arguments to make.
There is a level of rigidity with McMillan from a scheme perspective. That isn't inherently bad; he provides structure, and that appeal is what helped land him the job after the Hawks fired Lloyd Pierce in the first place. But it's part of why teams have been willing to move on from McMillan after a spell, looking for a new voice or a boost in creativity. The Hawks very well could use that.&nbsp;
On the flip side, how much more can be done with this personnel? That's worth asking before factoring in the injury woes.&nbsp;
Daryl Morey would throw up at the Hawks' shot profile: 37.5% of their shots come from the mid-range area (1st), while they lag way behind in rim (32%, 20th) and three-point rate (30.5%, 29th). But when your shooting talent underperforms (Collins, Hunter, Justin Holiday), is mostly unavailable (Bogdanovic) or trying to learn the ropes in year one (AJ Griffin), what should the expectation be?
McMillan, like virtually every coach in existence, has had his rotations questioned during his tenure. But with the revolving door of talent he's had at his disposal this season, what should the expectation be?
And then there's Young himself.&nbsp;
He's underperformed by his lofty standards. Averages of 27.4 points and 9.9 assists are dope; averaging career-lows from just about everywhere &mdash; 31% on 7.2 threes, 47% on 13.8 two-pointers &mdash; is admittedly not dope.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_19684868.jpg" alt="" width="629" height="419" />
He hasn't been able to can the pull-up threes that make him such a lethal pick-and-roll threat. His floater, one of the NBA's best weapons, has largely failed him this season. (Ja Morant's dealing with a similar floater issue, hence his career-low in two-point percentage.)
Young missing shots wouldn't be as tough if his play-style didn't exacerbate things. He dictates a ton of the action &mdash; and rightfully so, with his blend of playmaking and scoring chops. After <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?Season=2021-22&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=AVG_DRIB_PER_TOUCH" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leading the NBA</a> in seconds per touch and dribbles per touch last season, Young ranks... second and first respectively <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?CF=GP*GE*20&amp;Season=2022-23&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=AVG_DRIB_PER_TOUCH" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this season</a>.
After an encouraging start to the year, the off-ball juice just hasn't been there for Young. We're back to pass-and-stand with the ball out of his hands. He's taken just 23 relocation threes this season, per Second Spectrum; that's on pace to smash last season's number (26), but still well below the threshold you'd like to see from Young.&nbsp;
The primary reason that people questioned the Young-Murray fit was because of the off-ball woes. Murray was a fine-not-threatening catch-and-shoot threat, while Young just wasn't particularly engaged in that area. Sadly, it's been mostly a "my turn, your turn" ordeal between the two.
It's fair to question if McMillan can bring this team to the next level, and if he can connect with Young enough to make that possibility a reality. It's also fair to question how much of a limiter Young's style is to building the sort of multi-faceted attack that can take the Hawks to the next level.&nbsp;
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That question, in addition to the weird relationship with McMillan, is why <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10059477-sources-trae-young-could-be-next-nba-superstar-to-request-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executives have started chirping</a> about the possibility of Young eventually asking out.
This is where I pause and state the obvious: executives saying "hey, he might be the next star to ask out" is not a report. It's notable conversation, and fun to think about. It's not an actual trade request.
Even with that context, it's interesting to think about what a Young trade would even look like. The Hawks pushing that button would signify, "We can't do this," "We don't want to deal with this," or a combination of the two. How would that message be received league-wide?
Young is an offense unto himself; that's incredibly valuable and, oddly enough, part of the problem with building around him. Add in the defensive concerns &mdash; he's a small dude whose attention span wanes off the ball too often &mdash; and a Young trade sweepstakes won't be as simple as "this dude's good so we should sell the farm for him."
Go down the line of fake trade destinations, and you'll come across some roadblocks.
That Young-for-KAT swap seems plausible until you think about Young, Anthony Edwards and Gobert in the same locker room. Gobert was frustrated enough being blamed for Utah's defensive miscues; cleaning up for Young and&nbsp;Edwards' off-ball lapses feels like trouble waiting to happen.&nbsp;
The New York Knicks should be happy with the All-Star caliber play that Jalen Brunson has provided this season. Brunson isn't a Young-level talent, nor is he a Young-level star. I'd be shocked if they didn't at least consider constructing a package for Young.
In light of Chris Paul's decline, I'm sure the Phoenix Suns would sniff around. The prospect of pairing Young and Devin Booker together would be interesting, though building out an offer would induce headaches.&nbsp;
(I don't know if anyone wants to hear this, but there's probably a conversation to be had between Atlanta and Philadelphia depending on what James Harden wants to do with his player option.)
For a player as talented as Young, that's not a long list of suitors. And again, you could poke holes in all of those. Ideally, this doesn't become a real talking point to begin with. The Hawks want Young to be the face of the franchise, and he's already shown he's talented enough to lead them on a deep playoff run.
What needs to change for the Hawks to turn things around? The anwer is a little bit of everything.&nbsp;
More malleability from McMillan would be nice. A healthier roster &mdash; and better shooting talent &mdash; would give McMillan more room to experiment. Obviously there's no "shoot-the-ball-better" button to press, but Young can control his own engagement level off the ball &mdash; on both ends of the floor.&nbsp;

What's wrong with the Hawks? Nekias Duncan breaks down the team's issues and Atlanta's options moving forward.

What's wrong with the Atlanta Hawks?

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Klay Thompson scored a season-high 41 points and Steph Curry added 33 as the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 127-120 on Sunday night for their first road win.
The Warriors snapped an 0-8 start away from home to improve to 8-9 on the season. Golden State has won five of its last seven games following a 3-7 start.
&ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t sit well with us, our 0-8 record,&rdquo; Curry said. &ldquo;We had to scratch and claw to get this one, so to get that monkey off your back and feel good about yourselves outside of the Chase Center, it matters.&rdquo;
Thompson had a vintage performance, hitting a sizzling 10 of 13 3-pointers and went 14 of 23 from the field.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just something for me to build on,&rdquo; Thompson said. &ldquo;I was really wanting a game like this, so it felt great for me to just let that thing fly.&rdquo;
Longtime teammate Draymond Green said of Thompson: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the most competitive guy that I&rsquo;ve ever played with, and the most important thing to him has always been winning.&rdquo;
Curry struggled early but finished 11 of 20 from the field, including 7 of 14 from 3. He also had a season-high 15 assists, just one shy of his career high.
Curry hit a big 3 just inside of two minutes remaining that doubled the Warriors&rsquo; lead to 121-115. Curry made another with less than 40 seconds remaining to put Golden State up by nine, and he gestured to the crowd like he put the game to sleep.
&ldquo;I surprised myself with that shot,&rdquo; Curry said. &ldquo;Me and Draymond put our hands above our heads like we really won something, kind of making fun of ourselves for our slow start.&rdquo;
Andrew Wiggins hit 6 of 11 3s and scored 22 points for Golden State.
Kevin Porter Jr. led Houston with 30 points, Jabari Smith Jr. had 22, and Jalen Green added 16. Rookie Tari Eason scored a career-high 19 points and added eight rebounds off the bench.
Golden State jumped to an 11-0 lead from the tip and led 40-28 after 20 first-quarter points from Thompson. Houston quickly answered, opening up the second quarter on a 17-2 run to build a small lead.
The Rockets led 65-61 at halftime.
&ldquo;We played a great team, we got down big and fought back,&rdquo; Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. &ldquo;We took the lead, we were neck-in-neck down the stretch, and they had to make some great shots to beat us.
&ldquo;We have to learn some discipline, but this is a team that&rsquo;s been together for years and won championships and all that. We should definitely be proud. It&rsquo;s disappointing that we didn&rsquo;t get the win, for sure, but nobody in that locker room should have their head down.&rdquo;
The loss dropped Houston to 3-14, the worst record in the Western Conference.
TIP-INS
Warriors: Golden State received two delay of game warnings in the first half, resulting in a technical. Houston later received the same technical in the second half. &hellip; Jordan Poole had 10 points off the bench.
Rockets: Porter returned after a one-game absence with left lower back soreness. &hellip; Jalen Green committed an uncommon turnover near the end of the third quarter, walking the ball slowly up the court following a Warriors basket and receiving a 10-second backcourt violation.
&lsquo;FLOODGATES&rsquo; OPEN?
After Thompson promised on Instagram last week that &ldquo;the floodgates will open&rdquo; following early struggles, he said Sunday, &ldquo;I can confidently say they&rsquo;re open now.&rdquo;
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he hoped Thompson's "ffollowers are happy with Klay promising that. I hope there&rsquo;s a lot of good interaction between followers and Klay and everybody can be happy.&rdquo;
RAPPERS IN ATTENDANCE
Hip-hop artist 50 Cent sat courtside, as did Houston-native rapper Tobe Nwigwe, who was recently received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
GREEN AND GOLD
The Rockets wore throwback white jerseys with gold lettering and green trim as a nod to the original San Diego Rockets.
&nbsp;

Klay Thompson scored a season-high 41 points and Steph Curry added 33 as the Warriors beat the Rockets 127-120.

Thompson nets 10 3s, has 41 points in Warriors' 1st road win

The Atlanta Hawks had such high hopes.
After a surprising playoff run that came up just short of the NBA Finals, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ga-state-wire-atlanta-hawks-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-8d827eabf721d1b06d7207da48def57a">they came into this season</a> with a deep roster led by one of the league's most exciting young players.
Yet now, with only a handful of games remaining, Trae Young and the Hawks are limping toward the postseason with no prospects beyond a play-in spot and nothing to indicate they'll be hanging around very long in April.
Of the NBA's most disappointing teams, the Hawks are near the top of the list.
&ldquo;We still have an opportunity,&rdquo; insisted coach Nate McMillan, whose team is 36-37 and 10th in the Eastern Conference, the final play-in spot. &ldquo;The goal is to get ourselves in the playoffs. Once you get there, we showed last year that anything can happen.&rdquo;
Only last year, the Hawks rolled into the playoffs as one of the league's hottest teams, flipping a switch when McMillan took over for Lloyd Pierce.
They went 27-11 after the coaching change, grabbing a No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.
They kept up that momentum in the playoffs, romping past the New York Knicks in what became Young's (Madison Square) Garden party, stunning the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in seven games (effectively finishing off The Process), and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-hawks-phoenix-suns-milwaukee-bucks-nba-finals-nba-86a45418b2bf41ffcd7e53a00e0f7044">taking the eventual NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks</a> to six games in the East final.
If Young had not twisted an ankle in a freak collision with a referee, the Hawks very well could have knocked off the Bucks and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since moving to Atlanta in 1968.
Suddenly, the A-T-L went from a sleepy backwater NBA city that generally ranked near the bottom of the league in attendance to abuzz with excitement &mdash; especially after the team locked up cornerstones <a href="nba.com/news/reports-hawks-trae-young-expected-to-finalize-extension">Young</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-nba-atlanta-hawks-john-collins-3641936ced947b00296dc2abb4dbfd84">John Collins</a> with massive contracts.
But this season hasn't come close to meeting expectations.
The Hawks have lingered around .500 all season &mdash; never building any sort of momentum, generally playing like a group of strangers, showing very little of the joy and camaraderie that carried them so far last summer.
Their mediocrity has been especially glaring in a year when the Braves gave Atlanta its first World Series title since 1995 and the Georgia Bulldogs won the college football championship.
&ldquo;Last year for a lot of guys, it was new,&rdquo; center Cint Capela said. "People don't really realize how hard it is to get there. You&rsquo;re never guaranteed to go back to the conference finals.&rdquo;
Young has put up another big season, ranking fourth in the league in scoring (28.1 points per game), but his supporting cast has been perplexingly inconsistent.
Capela has taken a big step backward, leaving the Hawks vulnerable defensively and on the boards. Bogdan Bogdanovic has never looked comfortable taking some of the scoring load off Young. Ditto for Kevin Huerter, who has too many nights when he fails to show up in the box score. Collins may be done for the season with hand and foot injuries.
Promising wins are generally followed by baffling losses, such as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-hawks-nba-sports-toronto-detroit-4f14d2b182f0e9744d20a3770493778c">Wednesday night's 122-101 debacle</a> against lowly Detroit, a 20-53 team that looked like a championship contender against Atlanta
The Pistons took control with a 23-0 run and led by as many as 29.
The Hawks haven't won back-to-back road games since late December, which doesn't bode well for a team that will likely have to win two straight away from home just to earn its way into the playoffs.
&ldquo;We know what we've got to do,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;We've got to stay locked in and try to finish out the season strong and see where it leads us in the end."
There have been some unexplainable losses to the league's weakest teams &mdash; three times to the Knicks, twice against the Pistons, not to mention Orlando, Washington, Portland, San Antonio and Houston.
General manager Travis Schlenk, who totally overhauled the roster to set up last year's playoff run, held off on any major changes at this season's trade deadline. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-atlanta-new-york-knicks-atlanta-hawks-7b92f82027b999ad26fd862414456510#:~:text=ATLANTA%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20The%20struggling,Knox%20is%20heading%20to%20Atlanta.">His only move</a> was dealing former first-round pick Cam Reddish, who was unhappy with his lack of playing time, to the Knicks.
Now, Schlenk will have to decide if 2021 was an aberration and more big changes are needed.
Capela hopes this season was just an unexpected blip.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new process. Sometimes the next season, you put too much pressure on yourselves, so you don&rsquo;t do as good," he said. &ldquo;It's the season after that where you do good."
So, Hawks fans, maybe check back again in 2023.

Of the NBA's most disappointing teams, the Hawks are near the top of the list.

After thrilling playoffs, Hawks limping into NBA postseason

I'd like to take you on a trip down memory lane, if I may.
The date is Jan. 11, 2021. It's a chilly night in Charlotte, North Carolina. People are stuck in traffic, because that's how it goes after 5 p.m. in this city. There are no fewer than 12 Cook Out locations flooded &mdash; and for that, we say thank you and God bless.
More importantly, there's a basketball game going on between the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks.&nbsp;
Midway through the third quarter, then-rookie phenom LaMelo Ball decides to push the ball in transition. He glides through the middle of the floor, targeting fellow rookie Immanuel Quickley on a drive as he backpedals.&nbsp;
LaMelo decelerates before crossing to his right, then begins his gather. Something funny happens from there though.
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That's right &mdash; LaMelo attempts, possibly, the worst James Harden impersonation of all-time. He goes searching for Quickley's arm and gets nothing but air. The momentum from the flail alters his balance &mdash; the last thing he needs since he's in the midst of a wrong-hand finish.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Show 10 random NBA fans that clip, and I guarantee at least eight of them give some sort of "that's what you get" sentiment for trying to generate contact. I immediately fell &mdash; and continue to fall &mdash; on the other side of the aisle. As I <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1348806292882808833?s=20&amp;t=H-TnrjRhKj4jxJtee4KwqA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted in the moment</a>: That attempt is proof that foul-drawing is a skill.
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NBA offenses have never been as prolific as they are right now.
We're buzzing with buckets in this era, currently riding a four-season streak of the league's average Offensive Rating eclipsing <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">110 points per 100 possessions</a>.
The emphasis on shooting and spacing &mdash; linked, but not synonymous! &mdash; has led to a more open game. Ball-handlers are more dynamic, blending slick handles, a more-willing trigger from (super) deep and driving chops that leave defenders asking, "What the heck am I supposed to do with this?"
We love buckets around these parts. Pull-ups. Stepbacks. Floaters. Eurosteps. Reverse lay-ins. Thunderous finishes. Post work &mdash; hooks, up-and-unders, fadeaways. Scoring is fun, obvious to the eye, and easy to break down and compare for the most part.
There is a brand of scoring that doesn't get the respect it deserves, however: free throws. Not only are they boring to watch, but the process in which they're earned also has an approval rating of, like, six percent.
Don't take my word for it: I asked y'all.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
What's your least favorite part of NBA offense?
&mdash; Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1500833149051445253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

It's anecdotal of course, but it's telling that 72.3% of the vote &mdash; well over 4,500 people &mdash; voiced their displeasure of foul-drawing. Or foul *baiting*, since that distinction matters to so many of you.
You can cycle through the replies and quote tweets if you'd like, but the common theme was a sense of gaming the system. Those dreaded non-basketball plays. The flailing. The possessions where players make moves to draw contact versus trying to make the shot.
It's a fair position in vacuum. I got a hearty laugh out of Chris Paul drawing a rip-through foul on young Jonathan Kuminga some 70 feet from the basket, but I can understand why that might be annoying.
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(On the Paul front, he t<a href="https://youtu.be/C4BKdCT95h0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alked about the rip-through</a> on JJ Redick's podcast not too long ago. I'd recommend it; also, he's right.)
What I will say, however, is that foul-drawing as a concept seems pretty underrated. Flat-out disrespected, even. I don't think enough people understand the level of skill it takes to draw fouls consistently.&nbsp;
LET IT RIP
Actually, let's talk about the Paul thing for a minute.
Did you know he's essentially made ICE coverage &mdash; the tell is when the on-ball defender positions himself in a way to force the ball-handler towards the sideline &mdash; unplayable against him?
Going into an ICE possession, you have to worry about him snaking the pick and flowing into the pull-up middy he shoots 8,032% on. He's one of the three best pocket passers in NBA history (argue with your mother), so any miscue can lead to a shot at the basket for his big. If all else fails, he can string out the pick, force a late switch and either:
<ul>
<li>Abuse it himself</li>
<li>Let his big brutalize a small guard</li>
</ul>
On top of that, you can't even press him prior to his drive because he'll locate your arm. If you think you can get your hand out of the cookie jar quickly enough, you can't. He's too quick, too good at timing it.
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Over the past three seasons, Paul-led ball screens are generating north of 1.1 points per possession against ICE coverage &mdash; the second-best mark among high-volume guards, per Second Spectrum. Again, Paul as a scorer and passer against the coverage is deadly enough.
On the foul front, only Ja Morant (91) has drawn more fouls against ICE coverage than Paul (83) during that span. Considering the stark difference in athleticism and shot profile between the two, you can surmise who's drawing what type of fouls the most.
Of course, Paul isn't the only guy that can make you pay in that way.&nbsp;
Kevin Durant might be the godfather of the move. He doesn't go to it as often anymore, but he's sure to remind you to keep your hand out of the cookie jar.
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Trae Young sprinkles it in as well, though we'll talk about him a little later.
TAKING STRIDES
Can we talk about the Cameroonian Cheat Code?
People are&nbsp;furious&nbsp;with the whistle Joel Embiid gets. I get it in a vacuum; it's a bit wild to watch a guy that&nbsp;big hit the ground (or flail his arms) as often as he does.&nbsp;But man, I really do implore you to dig into the subtleties of his foul-drawing.
Think about your priors when defending Embiid. He's bigger than you, stronger than you and likely quicker than you. You're already working at a disadvantage before digging into the skill level. Then, he's smart on top of all of that.&nbsp;
If you think guards can be handsy before an attack, bigs definitely are. Embiid has countered by mastering the rip-through in his own right. Because he's so comfortable with his jumper now, defenders are even more susceptible to his pump fake. You're truly at his mercy when he faces up.
On a related note &mdash; very, very, very,&nbsp;quietly, Embiid is one of the most skilled drivers in basketball.
The threat of the jumper (and pump fake) opens up driving opportunities for him. I've found myself in awe of the way he decelerates or changes his stride length when attacking the basket. And when those skills work in conjunction, defenders have no idea what to do with him.
I still have the foul he drew against Evan Mobley last week on a loop in my head.
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Mobley is already one of the best defenders in the sport, and he has nothing here. Embiid faces up, hits Mobley with a stutter-rip (shout out <a href="https://twitter.com/abovethebreak3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PD Web</a>) and immediately gains inside leverage. On the gather, Embiid hits the brakes on his second step and waits out the Mobley contest to draw the foul.
Think about the amount of balance it takes to pull that off, as well as the strength it takes to power through and get a shot up.
You know who else is good at throwing defenders off in that way without really getting credit for it? Giannis Antetokounmpo.
It turns out "Run and Dunk Man" has a little more to him. He doesn't just hit you with spin moves and Eurosteps; he mixes up the speed and stride length of those moves.
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LEVERAGE PLAYS &mdash; STRENGTH VS. SLICK
Zooming out, there's a difference between players who can knock defenders off-balance and players who can shift defenders off-balance. The best foul-drawers are able to do both, of course, but it's rare to find a player with a pure 50/50 split between those methods.
You generally think of bigs &mdash; Giannis and Embiid in particular &mdash; when you think of strength-based foul-drawing, which is precisely why Jimmy Butler is so unique.
He doesn't possess elite burst. The handle isn't great. His jumper is non-threatening. He's passive at times as a scorer. And yet, Butler (5.17) is one of <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/totals/nba/player?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">four high-minute players</a> averaging at least 5 two-point shooting fouls drawn per 100 possessions: Embiid (8.16), Giannis (7.82) and DeMar DeRozan (5.03) are the others.
Butler does possess great footwork, which helps him in face-up situations. He may be the NBA's prominent stutter-rip enthusiast. But man, does he do a lot of work with his shoulder.
If he gains an inch, he's driving his shoulder into his defenders' chests. And if they try to recover, he's able to pump fake them into oblivion, or plow through them for foul calls. Look no further than his masterclass against the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
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As annoyed as people have been with Harden's tricks, his ability to power through guys has gone grossly under the radar for most of his career. Remember the LaMelo play up top? Harden has the cadence down&nbsp;and&nbsp;the strength to power through.
He weaponizes his strength with a low, lull-em-to-sleep dribble that unlocks the rest of his game. Stay lax? Stepback time. Try to shade him a certain way? He's able to attack your front foot and getting downhill. Try to disrupt the dribble? He's powering through that sucker.
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Then, there's the finesse side of the equation, where unpredictability can put defenders in torturous positions.
That's where Young comes in. He's a tricky little booger you can never really catch. His ability to change directions is nearly unrivaled in the leauge.
You don't think of him as&nbsp;explosive&nbsp;because of the lack of vertical juice, but he's a pretty violent dude in terms of darting around; he's the NBA's (peak) LeSean McCoy in that regard. On top of that, I'm not sure anybody in the league decelerates quite like him. To have that, on top of his ball skills, is simply unfair.
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I'm not here to argue that watching these guys rack up 10 to 12 free throws on a given night is as fun as an ankle-breaking crossover that flows into a pull-up.&nbsp;
I do think there needs to be more credit given toward how hard it is to make defenders wrong as consistently as these guys do. There are so many split-second reads (and microskills) at play that can be missed if you aren't paying attention.&nbsp;
Or put another way: If it was easy to flop or grift your way into calls, more people would pull it off consistently.
They don't for a reason.
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Citing different methods, Nekias Duncan gives flowers to some of the best foul-drawers in the league.

A gift, not a grift: Coming to the defense of foul-drawing

Etan Thomas spoke with Al Harrington about Sha'Carri Richardson's suspension, marijuana in pro sports, his cannabis company and more.

Q&A: Al Harrington on Sha’Carri Richardson, cannabis company, more

Team USA's first game is against France; the first battle is against the clock.
Too much time and too few games &ndash; six in 17 days. That leaves an awful lot of downtime for Team USA later this summer at the Tokyo Olympics, and team director Jerry Colangelo is going to have to get creative to keep his players sane halfway around the world.
&ldquo;We need to keep ourselves staying busy. You don&rsquo;t want them sitting around and twiddling their thumbs. That&rsquo;s just not going to work,&rdquo; Colangelo said Monday while formally announcing the 12-man roster that will represent the United States.
It is one of the best rosters <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/usa-basketball-announces-us-olympic-mens-basketball-team-2020-tokyo-olympics-games-japan-fiba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Team USA has ever put together</a>. Alphabetically, it is Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards), Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets), Jerami Grant (Detroit Pistons), Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls), Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers), Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) and Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics).
The coaching staff is led by Gregg Popovich (San Antonio Spurs) with assistant coaches Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors), Jay Wright (Villanova University) and Lloyd Pierce.
Nobody will be able to compete with these guys, correct?&nbsp;
Well, they say that every time Team USA puts a squad together, and then strange things happen in the unlikeliest of places. It was a mere two years ago that the Americans finished seventh at the 2019 World Cup in China, defeating Poland for that honor. Their prior game was a loss to Serbia, which was preceded by a loss to France.&nbsp;
And of all the places for Colangelo to bring his final version of Team USA (he is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-team-usa-roster-director-jerry-colangelo-gregg-popovich-2021-tokyo-japan-olympics-ioc-fiba-international-basketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stepping down</a> after the Olympics and handing over the reins to Grant Hill), the Olympic tournament will be held in Saitama, Japan, where Colangelo&rsquo;s first team -- which included LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh -- was unceremoniously upended by Greece in the semifinals of the 2006 World Championship.
&ldquo;The loss to Greece stuck with us, both myself and Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) for a long time, but we can&rsquo;t think that way,&rdquo; Colangelo said of returning to the site of that debacle. &ldquo;An arena is an arena. It&rsquo;s still 94 feet by 50 feet. So I have no problem with going back to the same arena.&rdquo;
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Booker, Holiday and Middleton face the possibility of participating in a seven-game NBA Finals while the rest of the team is holding mini-camp in Las Vegas. The last possible date for the NBA Finals is July 22, and the opening ceremony in Tokyo is July 23. Colangelo said the U.S. federation is already putting plans in place to get those players overseas quickly.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re young. They can sleep on the plane,&rdquo; Colangelo said.
"Booker called me maybe a month ago to express his great desire to be a part of the Olympics, and I knew that just because of the relationship, I didn't have to say a word," he added. "He said, 'If we get to the Finals and we go all the way, I'll be on the plane the next day and I'll be there. It doesn't matter.' When you're young, you can think that way."
As mentioned before, the Americans will play only six games over the course of their 17 days in Japan after FIBA cut down the number of Olympic games from eight. Only the first two opponents, France and Iran, are known. The third opening-round opponent will be whoever wins the qualifying tournament in Victoria, British Columbia that begins Tuesday. The six teams competing are Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey and Uruguay.&nbsp;
What concerns Colangelo the most at this present time is finding ways to stay active and entertained once the team lands in Japan. The Olympics will be contested under a highly restrictive set of rules that continue to evolve, with organizers currently prohibiting foreigners from using public transportation, interacting with Japanese citizens and straying from pre-planned activity schedules.
Colangelo said &ldquo;it is not really a bubble,&rdquo; which is somewhat true. But as a practical matter, finding things to do away from the Tokyo Hilton while also staying within the rules will be a challenge.
As loaded as the U.S. roster is, there is always a learning curve when it comes to playing in FIBA competitions, where the referees typically let things get very physical. NBA players are not going to get favorable whistles if a defender crowds their landing area when attempting a three-point shot. The games sometimes resemble another Olympic sport, Greco-Roman wrestling, and the physicality will come as a surprise to viewers in the United States who have not watched an Olympics basketball game since the Games were held in Rio in 2016.&nbsp;
The American roster is also somewhat devoid of size, with Adebayo being the only true center. Rudy Gobert of France and Hamed Haddadi of Iran will be the first two centers the Americans will have to contain. Teams from other nations will also keep a close eye on how the Americans are defending the pick-and-roll, because history has shown that if the Americans are not fighting over picks, then the opposition can easily find open three-pointers.
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Greece did that against Team USA in the 2006 World Championship, and the game got away from the Americans before they knew what hit them. As loaded as Team USA's roster is, there is only one ball, and only five players can be on the court at the same time.
This roster is stacked with shooters and scorers, showing that the Americans realize they are going to have to simply outscore each and every opponent, overwhelming them with offense. But historically, problems have arisen when the five-man unit on the floor is unaccustomed to playing with one another, something the U.S. federation hopes to alleviate by playing five exhibition games in Las Vegas after camp opens on July 6.&nbsp;
The opponents are Nigeria on July 10 (8 p.m. EDT); followed by Australia on July 12 (8 p.m. EDT); Argentina on July 13 (6 p.m. EDT); Australia for a second time on July 16 (6 p.m. EDT); and Spain on July 18 (9 p.m. EDT). All of the exhibition games will be played at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay.
The U.S. Men's Team has collected a medal in all 18 Olympics in which it has competed, including 15 gold medals, one silver and two bronze medals. The American men own an impressive 138-5 all-time record (.965 winning percentage) in Olympic action. Since NBA players began representing the United States in 1992, the USA is 53-3 in seven Olympics, capturing six gold medals and one bronze medal. The USA currently enjoys a 25-game Olympic win streak that dates back to the bronze-medal game of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
The average age of the 12 U.S. players at the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympics (Aug. 8, 2021) will be 28.2, the third-oldest U.S. Men&rsquo;s Olympic Team in history, behind the 1996 Atlanta Olympics squad (29.4) and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics Team (29.0).
Durant, who also collected MVP honors in leading the USA to gold at the 2010 FIBA World Cup, has finished as Team USA's leading scorer the past two Olympics &ndash; the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Owning the top two U.S. Olympic scoring marks (156 points in 2012 and 155 points in 2016), Durant has 16 career Olympic games under his belt, with 311 total points in Olympic games (19.4 points per game). He ranks second all-time for points scored, trailing only Carmelo Anthony (336) by 25 points.

Team USA will play only six games over the course of 17 days in Japan after FIBA cut down on the number of Olympic games.

Boredom is one enemy Team USA must fight at Olympics

I'm not sure who could've predicted this Eastern Conference Finals.
On one side, the Milwaukee Bucks are seeing the fruits of their switch-it-up labor. They've tinkered all year long in preparation of this postseason. They mollywhopped the Miami Heat in round one. They then snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, before snatching victory anyway in a seven-game slugfest against the Brooklyn Nets.&nbsp;
On the other side are the Atlanta Hawks, a team that didn't look playoff bound midway through the season due to injuries, roster instability, and coaching turmoil. The firing of Lloyd Pierce, and the subsequent hiring of Nate McMillan, jumpstarted their turnaround. They proved to be too prolific for the New York Knicks in round one, and too resilient for the Philadelphia 76ers in round two.
And so, here we are. Two teams with unique (and oft-hated) offensive engines. Two teams that have had a microscope on their head coaching jobs for different reasons. Two teams that haven't won a title in decades, both presented with the opportunity to make the Finals.
I&rsquo;m not a coach -- I'm just a pun-loving basketball fan with a hankering for film breakdowns. But instead of a traditional series preview, I decided to go into the basketball trenches and devise gameplans for both teams. The tone of this piece will be a little more informal, but it will still be informative (at least I hope).
Without further ado, let's look at how the Atlanta Hawks will try to stop the Milwaukee Bucks.
Defensive Matchups
Kevin Huerter --&gt; Jrue Holiday
Trae Young --&gt; Pat Connaughton
Bogdan Bogdanovic --&gt; Khris Middleton
Clint Capela --&gt; Giannis Antetokounmpo&nbsp;
John Collins --&gt; Brook Lopez
The Hawks have a decision to make with the frontcourt. Do you go with Capela on Giannis to start, considering he's the most physically equipped to deal with him? Or do you start with Collins as an innings-eater of sorts, and have Capela roam off of Lopez to muck things up if necessary?
I think I'd choose the former option, understanding the foul trouble risks that come with it. Slowing Giannis down should be priority number one. Not only is Capela better equipped to do that, Collins does have solid weakside rim-protection chops. He's also faster than Capela, so he should be able to help in the paint and scoot out to Lopez on the perimeter with a little more ease.&nbsp;
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Top Priority on Defense: Make it a Half-court Affair
If you look at the personnel for each team -- specifically, who the stars are -- you'd likely think of the Hawks as a run-and-gun squad, while the Bucks profile as a grind-it-out, beat-em-up half-court. It's pretty much the opposite.
No team pushes more than the Bucks, with nearly 18% of their possessions starting in transition, per Cleaning The Glass. While Giannis is a battering ram in the half-court (more on that shortly), he's at his best when long-striding in the open floor. He drives the transition attack, figuratively and literally.
Giannis ranked in the 85th percentile when operating as the lead ball-handler in transition; when filling the "trailer" role, that bumped up to the 91st percentile per Synergy. There are few things scarier in the NBA than that guy coming with a full head of steam.
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The proverbial "wall" has been talked about ad nauseam over the past couple of (post)seasons, but it's imperative to get back and cut off the middle of the floor. Making Giannis navigate in close quarters is the best way to slow him down. He's nimble for his size, but he isn't guard-level slithery.
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Of course, it isn't&nbsp;just&nbsp;Giannis. Jrue Holiday is not only good at pushing in transition, he adds value as an early seal threat. He's a big man in a guard's body in that way, willing to leak out early and either put smaller defenders on his hip, or to lurk around the dunker spot for dump-offs.
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It may not be safe to play the offensive rebound game; getting back and cutting off easy opportunies should be of higher importance.
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Bucks' Team Stats (and Milwaukee's stats vs. Atlanta)
<ul>
<li>Offensive Rating: 116.5, 5th (119.3)</li>
<li>Half-Court Offensive Rating: 102.0, 6th (106.5)</li>
<li>True Shooting Percentage: 59.3, 5th (59.5)</li>
<li>Assist Percentage: 56.9, 25th (57.0)</li>
<li>Turnover Rate: 13.4, 13th (12.8)</li>
<li>Pace: 102.85, 2nd (98.67)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Attempts: 21.4, 16th (21.3)</li>
<li>Free-Throw Percentage: 76.0, 23rd (81.3)</li>
<li>Three-Point Attempts: 37.1, 8th (34.0)</li>
<li>Three-Point Percentage: 38.9, 5th (33.3)</li>
<li>Offensive Rebounds: 10.3, 12th (11.3)</li>
</ul>
Bucks' Play Type Breakdown
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2021-06-22-at-12-44-41-pm.png" alt="" width="755" height="325" />
Defending Giannis Antetokounmpo
Giannis is one of the most dominant rim threats the NBA has ever seen. He's been a monster this postseason, averaging [checks notes] 29-14-5. Okay then.
He wasn't superhuman during the regular-season series, but still scored efficiently (24.3 points, 67.8 TS) and <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;OpponentTeamID=1610612737&amp;TeamID=1610612749&amp;DistanceRange=By%20Zone&amp;sort=Restricted%20Area%20FGA&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">owned the interior</a> (84.6% on 8.7 attempts).
He's been working on counters all season long. Some of that is quicker decision-making -- the passes on drives are coming a beat earlier than last season, for example. Some of that is adding to the shot repertoire. Post hooks, step-in middies, and turnarounds are all shots he has shown more comfort getting to.&nbsp;
There's no way to&nbsp;stop&nbsp;this guy. Slowing him down, and hoping his extremely poor luck from the free throw line (48.3% vs the Nets, 53.8% overall) carries over, will go a long way to swinging the series.
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Major Key: Crowd the Paint
The same principles that apply in transition -- taking away the middle, being active with your hands on the drive -- also apply in half-court situations.&nbsp;
Giannis attempting to add half-court counters to his game is fine. Ultimately, his primary method of attack can be devastating enough to render those counters useless.
It's hard to overstate just how strong this dude is. He has no issue doing his work early, putting a guy on his hip and setting up shop on either block. His backdowns create genuine space. Once he gets to the restricted area, you're pretty much dead. He'll nudge you off-balance with fakes or, if they don't work, simply extend his never-ending arms to get a good look.
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That's not a bad rep from Danilo Gallinari, who actually bumps Giannis off his spot on the catch. Three dribbles and a head fake later, Giannis is taking a shot two-and-a-half feet from the basket, if that. That's how tough it's going to be.
The key to hindering Giannis in the half-court is doing your homework early. Building the "wall" is an easy example, particularly when he's isolating above the break. When he isn't at the center of the court, pinching in early will be necessary to making him work.
Wing isolations or post-ups should look like this.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2021_06_23_21_51_09.png" alt="" width="577" height="325" />
It's not a hard double from Capela, but he's pulling in early from one pass away. He's trusting that he can get out to Bobby Portis for a contest if necessary. Brandon Goodwin is at the nail. Lou Williams has his toe at the edge of the paint. The only place Giannis can go is to the baseline.
Sure enough:
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</div>
Giannis won't always settle for that -- you saw what he did in the clip against Gallinari -- but you bump up the odds of him settling if you restrict his space.
As far as actual doubles, timeliness will be key. He's no Nikola Jokic, but he's also a step above Joel Embiid as a passer in terms of ability and willingness. The Bucks generated nearly 1.3 points per possession when Giannis passed out of a post double this season, per Second Spectrum.
Show the hand too early, and he'll make the right play.
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If you're able to blindside him a bit, wait for him to begin his move or get into his gather, you may be able to fluster him. Take this rep for example.
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Bogdan Bogdanovic comes over to the right elbow once Giannis starts his post-up, but doesn't commit until he drives to the baseline. As that happens, Capela pulls in to cut off the dump-off pass to Portis. Behind that, Williams sinks down to the opposite baseline to take away a potential kick to the corner.&nbsp;
This is the blueprint.
As a bonus: whenever Giannis is starting a post-up or an isolation with a lefty drive, make sure there's someone ready to pinch in to the middle of the floor. The left-to-right spin is his go-to move in close quarters (while the eurostep is more of a transition weapon).&nbsp;
As another bonus: if you're going to pinch in to bother the spin,&nbsp;fully commit to that sucker.&nbsp;
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Bogdanovic doesn't sink quickly enough, nor does he reach in with any fervor. This is one heck of a move by Giannis, but it's still a help-defense failure.
Can't have that.
Defending the Shooters (Perimeter)
Jrue Holiday: soft close-out
<ul>
<li>Holiday is coming off the best three-point shooting season of his career (39.2% on 4.8 attempts), though he's cooled off considerably in the postseason (24.6% on 5.5 attempts). He's solid with his feet set so you don't want to completely ignore him off-ball, but alarm bells shouldn't be ringing if someone kicks it out to him.</li>
</ul>
Bryn Forbes: hard close-out
<ul>
<li>Forbes is Milwaukee's best shooter, able to drill set shots, fly off screens, pull off of dribble handoffs, or relocate when chaos is happening elsewhere. He's also not a strong playmaker at all, and only took 25 shots at the rim in half-court situations during the regular season, per Synergy. Run him off the line, deal with the rest later.</li>
</ul>
Pat Connaughton: soft close-out
<ul>
<li>Connaughton is a solid shooter (37.1% on 3.9 attempts this season, 35% on 3.6 attempts during the postseason). He's good at finding creases off the ball, particularly sneaking down to the corner on drives. Keep an eye out for him, but he isn't worth selling out against. He's not&nbsp;that&nbsp;level of shooter.</li>
</ul>
Khris Middleton: hard, but controlled close-out
<ul>
<li>If Forbes takes the top shooter billing, Middleton is a close second -- especially once you factor in how much he self-creates. You don't want him getting clean looks on the perimeter, though with his release point, contests only mean so much. He ranked in the 68th percentile on "guarded" catch-and-shoot looks, per Synergy. Still, try to get him off the three-point line and stay attached to him. Live with the contested pull-up twos.</li>
</ul>
Defending the Shooters (Frontcourt)
PJ Tucker: Let him fire above the break, soft close-out in the corners
<ul>
<li>Tucker has shot 36.6% from deep on moderate volume over the last four seasons. The kicker: a whopping 72.2% of those threes have come from the corner. He's made those at a respectable 38.6% clip. But considering how open those shots have been, it's a bit underwhelming. Tucker doesn't have a particularly quick release, and he's prone to streakiness. Make him think when he's in the corner, but ignoring him elsewhere should be fine.</li>
</ul>
Thanasis Antetokounmpo: Let him fire
<ul>
<li>The Other Antetokounmpo likely won't have a sizeable role in this series, but his jumper is nothing to be afraid of. Well, except for that one game against the Knicks.</li>
</ul>
Brook Lopez: Soft close-out
<ul>
<li>Lopez has a high, but slow release on the jumper. As long as you don't cheat too far off of him, a balance can be struck between crowding the paint and getting out to the big fella. He doesn't mind driving -- really, slow-grinding -- a sloppy close-out. Discipline will be key here, especially from the corners.</li>
</ul>
Bobby Portis: hard, but controlled close-out
<ul>
<li>Running Portis off the line isn't an admission of elite shooting, though he is good (39.1% over the past four seasons). It's more of a tendency play; he's not a threatening passer on the move, and he may still take a tough shot anyway.</li>
</ul>
X-Factor: Jrue Holiday
Beyond Giannis, Holiday may be the most important Buck in this series.
He'll have to hound Trae Young for a majority of his minutes on the defensive end. I don't have to explain why that's important. If the Bucks come out in a deep drop, Young may need to dig into the foul-drawing bag to get Holiday out of there.
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Don't sleep on Holiday's offensive importance either. Unlike 6'8 Khris Middleton, Holiday likely won't be at a size advantage against whoever defends him (likely Kevin Huerter). He'll be needed as a genuine shot creator, particularly when Giannis is off the floor.
Holiday&nbsp;can&nbsp;do it; he generated 1.07 points per possession on isolations during the regular-season series, per InStat tracking data. It's always a risky proposition once Holiday gets into his pull-up bag, but it adds another dimension to his, and the Bucks', attack when he has it rolling.
Frankly, dare him to knock down isolation pull-ups. Duck under picks against him and make him drain threes off the bounce. What you don't want is Holiday getting downhill consistently and finishing, making kick-outs, or drawing fouls himself.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/scouting-report-how-the-bucks-can-stop-the-hawks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Check out Nekias' breakdown of how the Bucks should defend the Hawks.</a>

Nekias Duncan puts on his amateur coaching hat and puts together a game plan on how the Hawks should defend the Bucks.

Scouting Report: How the Hawks can stop the Bucks

Joel Embiid grabbed a two-handed rebound, turned and <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1385047791328763904">heaved an 85-foot, right-handed strike</a> with a throw ripped from Bryce Harper's playbook that banked off the glass and rattled off the front and back of the rim and out.
The Philadelphia center was flat on his back in disbelief over the near-make that would have sent the game to overtime.
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Joel Embiid was THIS CLOSE to sending it to OT in incredible fashion. 🤯 <a href="https://t.co/gw6eFGiml8">pic.twitter.com/gw6eFGiml8</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1385043572462964739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2021</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;It would have made for a long flight, long night and not a lot of sleep," Suns coach Monty Williams said.
Rest easy, Phoenix.
Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and the Suns walked off winners on the road for the second time this week against one of the top teams in the East. Paul scored 28 points, Booker had 19 and Bridges 18 to lead the Phoenix Suns to a 116-113 victory over Philadelphia on Wednesday night.
Embiid had 38 points and 17 rebounds and one oh-so-close shot.
&lsquo;When I threw it, it looked good," Embiid said.
Paul, a 93% free-throw shooter, missed one from the line that would have sealed the win instead of giving Embiid a glimmer of highlight-reel hope.
&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re up three, I always want to make the free throw to go up four,&rdquo; Paul said. &ldquo;That shot was in-and-out. I ain&rsquo;t never seen anything like it.&rdquo;
Neither had the rest of the Suns.
&ldquo;That was a heck of a display of a throw right there,&rdquo; Suns forward Cameron Johnson said.
Said Bridges: &ldquo;I don't know how I would have reacted. That was crazy.&rdquo;
The Suns improved their NBA-best road record to 19-7 and are second overall at 42-16 &mdash; 1 1/2 games behind Utah for the league lead.
Paul hit five 3s and Bridges, a former Villanova standout, continued to haunt the Sixers three years after an ill-fated draft-night deal. The Sixers selected Bridges with the 10th overall pick in 2018 &mdash; a feel-good story because of the Nova connection and his mother worked for the 76ers&rsquo; parent company. Zhaire Smith played only 13 NBA games and is out of the league while Bridges turned into a breakout star for the blossoming Suns.
The Sixers again played without starters Ben Simmons (unspecified illness) and Tobias Harris (right knee). Simmons missed his second straight game and Harris his third, the Sixers certainly secure enough in playoff spot to the point they don&rsquo;t have to rush either one back. Seth Curry also missed the game with a left hip flexor -- three starters down certainly one reason why <a href="https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/">FanDuel Sportsbook</a> had the Suns as three-point favorite.
The Sixers would certainly like all three back in time for this week&rsquo;s two-game set in Milwaukee. Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, and Matisse Thybulle joined Embiid and Danny Green (18 points) in the lineup.
"I know we got a lot of guys out, but we still want to win the game," 76ers coach Doc Rivers said.
Embiid left in the third when he slammed his left knee on the court and sat behind the basket with a towel around his leg. He rested on his back and stretched his knee as the teams went basket-for-basket. Embiid jogged in place on the baseline and played cheerleader as the short-handed Sixers tried to hang with the Suns. Embiid has missed 18 games this season with injuries, notably a bone bruise on his right knee that cost him 11 games after the All-Star break.
Rivers said he did not know who would be available for both games against the Bucks.
Paul buried consecutive 3s for an 85-81 lead in Embiid&rsquo;s absence and the All-Star center did not check back in until a shade over 6 minutes left the game and the Sixers down seven. Embiid buried a 3 in a late-game lineup in which he was the only regular starter.
The Suns, coming off an overtime win in Milwaukee, got big baskets down the stretch from Booker -- including a nice bank off the glass and he swished a fall-away jumper for the dagger with 13 seconds left in the game.
TIP-INS
76ers: Rivers, who stumped for Joe Biden during his campaign President, welcomed the guilty verdict of the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd. &ldquo;The fact that we celebrated a man who committed murder is going to jail, I thought about that last night and I&rsquo;m not so sure if we&rsquo;ve come a long way or we have a long way to go,&rdquo; Rivers said. Rivers said he talked to the team about the verdict and felt &ldquo;it was my responsibility&rdquo; as coach to discuss current events with his players.
Suns: Count Rivers among the fans of Williams. &ldquo;Monty is a terrific coach. When you talk to other coaches and who you have to prepare for, who runs good stuff, Monty&rsquo;s name always comes up. Now he has the talent,&rdquo; Rivers said. The Suns will make the playoffs for the first time sine 2010. ... Jae Crowder left the game with a sprained right ankle.
UP NEXT
Suns: At Boston on Friday night.
76ers: At Milwaukee on Thursday night and Saturday.
__
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and the Suns walked off winners on the road for the second time this week against one of the top teams in the East.

Suns survive heave from Joel Embiid in 116-113 win over 76ers

The only time Nate McMillan cracked a smile during Tuesday's 35-minute introductory news conference was when he recounted how departed Atlanta Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce actually apologized to him for bringing him aboard as an assistant.
Gallows humor among coaches is a special thing, and they all know what they are signing up for when they vow to do their best in what has been a players&rsquo; league for decades. Unless they are named Popovich or Spoelstra, they are hired to be fired.
And that was what happened with Pierce on Monday, much to the dismay of other coaches around the NBA, who weighed in with very strong thoughts about what may have led to the decision nominally made by general manager Travis Schlenk, but likely made by owner Antony Ressler.
The Hawks have been horrid in fourth quarters and tight games this season, losing 11 of which they held a fourth-quarter lead. The tension between Pierce and many of the organization&rsquo;s younger players was well-documented, and most of the veterans who were brought in to help out have been injured, ineffective or both.
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Atlanta is 11th in the East with a 14-20 record, hands down the most disappointing team in the Eastern Conference with a roster built around three young stars -- Trae Young, John Collins and Clint Capela -- who are still in the process of learning how to become winners, a personality characteristic on the NBA level that sometimes takes years for a player to hone.
&ldquo;I told the players: &lsquo;If you are looking to point a finger, point it at yourselves. All of us,&rsquo;&ldquo; McMillan said, &ldquo;because all have to do better and win some games. Coach Pierce doesn&rsquo;t have that opportunity. He takes the hit.&rdquo;
Pierce exits with a 63-120 record, along with the backing of his fraternity. But the backing of the players on his roster is what ultimately makes or breaks every coach at every level. Pierce had enough trouble breaching the generational divide, and Schlenk cited a need for a new voice as one of the primary reasons why the change was made just two games prior to the All-Star break.
McMillan said Young, in particular, needs to become more adept at reacting to different defensive looks, particularly the box-and-one that at least three teams have employed this season. He noted that Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant adjusted and thrived despite the different defensive looks they encountered over the course of their careers. Can Young do that? He didn&rsquo;t under Pierce, that much we know.
McMillan&rsquo;s prior head coaching experiences came with franchises that each had a culture. In Indianapolis, Portland and Seattle, the teams were civic treasures; in Atlanta, he takes over a franchise that could use a similar facelift. The pieces are in place for this roster to be a legitimate championship contender if everyone is playing at peak efficiency.
But Rajon Rondo, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kris Dunn, De&rsquo;Andre Hunter and Danilo Gallinari have missed significant time because of injuries, and the lack of practice times that all teams are having to adjust to has been especially difficult for a Hawks group that clearly needs as much acclimation time as possible. That commodity is unavailable during the current pandemic, so we are where we are.
&ldquo;I told them about the three Cs: calm, clear and connected,&rdquo; McMillan said of his message, explaining that bad decision-making on both ends of the floor in the final minutes of close games was what separated good teams from bad teams.&nbsp;
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Going forward, he wants an end to the internal barriers -- deep three-pointers early in the shot clock, failure to help as weakside defenders and losing poise as individuals and as a unit. If the players can listen and harness McMillan&rsquo;s message, there is no reason why they cannot be a top-eight team with the personnel able to present a postseason challenge to a Brooklyn or a Philadelphia.
But if Atlanta continues to be a player-centric type of situation and pays no mind to the message, McMillan does not figure to be a long-term solution (he took the job on an interim basis). Young is 22, Collins is 23, Hunter is 23 and Reddish is 21. Bogdanovic and Capela, both 26, are pretty much the wise old men on this team in terms of players currently producing.
McMillan is 56, a guy who went straight from being a player for the Sonics to being an assistant coach. He takes over for a 44-year-old Pierce that will likely not be heard from again until he resurfaces as an assistant on Gregg Popovich&rsquo;s Team USA squad for the Olympics this summer.
Pierce was the fall guy; he even he saw it coming. It takes a special person to connect with a younger generation that is not always amenable to accepting life experience as a valued commodity. Perhaps McMillan will get through to them, perhaps not.
&ldquo;The sleepless nights have already started,&rdquo; McMillan said.&nbsp;
And he was not laughing or smiling when he said that, because mirth is in as short supply in Atlanta as signature victories.
Time will tell if McMillan can change that.

Chris Sheridan details Nate McMillan's first press conference as Atlanta's interim head coach.

Nate McMillan to Hawks: 'If you are looking to point a finger, point it at all of us'

In an exclusive interview with BasketballNews.com&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Rematch,&rdquo; former NBA player and current co-host of &ldquo;All The Smoke&rdquo; Stephen Jackson opened up about his relationship with George Floyd and how his murder set him on a path of activism, prompting him to use his voice and platform like never before.
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Jackson spoke candidly about the pain he felt when he learned that his friend had been murdered. This wasn&rsquo;t simply another tragic murder at the hands of the police or another hashtag; this was his friend. This was very personal for him.
He reminisced about his first encounter with Floyd; they looked so similar that they started calling each other &ldquo;Twin.&rdquo; He discussed their friendship as well as the growth he saw in Floyd, who admittingly made his share of mistakes over the years in his quest to provide for his family while living in an impoverished situation with limited opportunities. But, according to Jackson, he had found a new path and was making the necessary changes to improve his life and surroundings. Jackson discussed Floyd&rsquo;s love for his daughter, Gianna, and his commitment to helping others (such as the work he was doing in his church). Jackson painted a much different picture of Floyd than the media initially did after his murder.&nbsp;
He humanized George Floyd.
Just as his friend was turning over a new leaf, his life was snatched away from him by Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Jackson went into great detail about the tears he shed, the anger he felt and the heartache he shared with the Floyd family. He vowed to be there for Gianna, who recently celebrated her first birthday without her father.&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s a transcript of my conversation with Jackson, who detailed the entire process starting from the moment he learned the news that Floyd had passed:&nbsp;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Talk to me about what happened when you got the call and found out about George&rsquo;s death. Where were you? Who broke it to you? What was your immediate reaction?&rdquo;
Stephen Jackson: &ldquo;I was right here on the same couch I'm sitting on. It was probably 10:30 in the morning. I'm on the couch, sleeping with my daughter. My daughter's room is upstairs, but she doesn't like to sleep in her room because my room is downstairs. So she sleeps on the couch and watches TV, so she can be close to me. And something made me get up and come get on the couch with her. So I was laying on the couch with her that morning. And me and my girlfriend's mom talk about police brutality and all the nonsense that&rsquo;s done to Black people all the time, and she sends me videos all the time.
&ldquo;So my phone is ringing, vibrating. I look at it and I see the video from her, but I don't even correlate that this is my brother. So I'm not even thinking about George when she sent me the video. I look at it, not even putting two and two together. I'm just like, &lsquo;Oh man, they done killed another brother.&rsquo; As I put the phone down, my phone vibrates again. And I pick up the phone and I look at it and it&rsquo;s a message from my friend, Mike Dean, and it says, &lsquo;You see what they did to your twin in Minnesota?&rsquo;&nbsp;
"I went back to the video from my girlfriend's mother. And I see the video and I look in closely and see that's him on the ground and I lose it, E. I get to throwing stuff. I jumped up and scared my daughter. I'm screaming. I was hurt, bro. I was actually hurt because I saw myself in him and this is somebody who I consider my twin getting murdered by the police for the world to see. I never thought that I would see that with my own eyes -- somebody that I loved, that I consider me. I've never dealt with nothing like that, E. And so to see that, it knocked the wind out of me, honestly. It knocked the wind out of me and I just cried. I couldn&rsquo;t even get myself together for a while.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;Everybody saw the video and when I watched, I was looking at the evil in him -- in the officer, Derek Chauvin -- as he was kneeling on his neck and putting his hand in his pocket (and they say this was so he could apply even more pressure to his neck). The facial expression that he had, it was just nothing. I looked at it with my kids and I'm breaking down too. We talk about Black Lives Matter and that showed us that, to that officer and all those officers around him, our lives didn't matter at all. You don't even treat an animal like that. I mean, if everybody saw a dog being murdered like that&hellip;&rdquo;
Jackson: &ldquo;They would go crazy.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;They would go absolutely crazy. And that's the part that was so tough to me. You think that we&rsquo;ve made some kind of progress and then you see something like that, and it just knocks us all the way back. I'm feeling like, &lsquo;Wow, so what do we do now?&rsquo; And you went into work mode after that. That happened, you had your moment of grieving and feeling upset, and then you went into work mode right after that. Talk about that switch; what went into that?&rdquo;
Jackson: &ldquo;You never know what God has for you in your life. I was really upset. In the past, I had been upset that I didn&rsquo;t make All-Star games in my career. [I had been upset] for being judged for the (Malice at the Palace) brawl for having my teammates&rsquo; back and it messed up my career and all of the accolades I should&rsquo;ve gotten. I know I should have been an All-Star at least two or three times. But God works in mysterious ways. What I'm doing now, I want to be known for that. I don't even want to be known for basketball at all. I want to be known for what I'm doing now. Like I said, you never know what God has for you. Me going to Minnesota... I wanted to go down there so they wouldn't demean my brother's name. Like you&rsquo;ve said: the first thing they do when they murder one of us and try to make it look valid, they demean our character.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;s what they always do. With Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Ahmaud Arbery and so on. They literally do it every time.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Jackson: &ldquo;Yup, and I wanted to go down there to let the world know who he really was. And nine times out of 10, when this happens, none of these people that get killed by the police have a celebrity to speak up for them. That's one thing that messed up Minnesota and the world: nobody expected Stephen Jackson to be considered George Floyd&rsquo;s twin. And nobody expected Stephen Jackson to put everything he had on the line for him, and fight for justice for him. While I was in Minnesota, not only did they know he had a celebrity speaking up for him, but at the time I spoke up for him, my podcast was one of the bigger podcasts in the world. I was all over ESPN and doing all of these shows. Nobody expected him to have somebody [with that kind of platform] to speak up for him.
&ldquo;When I went down there, seeing how the city of Minnesota got behind me and supported me, [that] let me know that this has been going on for a long time. I walked to the corner [and saw a woman holding a sign that said], &lsquo;His name was Hardel Sherrelle.&rsquo; His mom was standing on the corner, crying and holding signs, trying to get justice for her son just by herself. She didn&rsquo;t have no Stephen Jackson to speak up for her. So we stopped. I had all kinds of cameras following me at the time. I stopped, I put the cameras and the mics in front of her, and she tells her whole story. I ended up being the voice for her [too]. So I inherited being the voice for so many people who have been brutalized by police or by racism and never got justice. And the fact that it was a celebrity basketball player that everybody knew, that a lot of people respected and loved, all 18 countries and 50 states got behind me. And it became one of the biggest protests all at one time ever in the history of protests.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So the fact that that happened, I just dropped on my knees because I never knew God would make my life that important. It's way more important than basketball because I'm changing lives. And it sparked me to want to go to all 50 states and to let people know -- in the areas we come from -- that we care about them, that we hear them, that we have money to give and resources to help you out to try to get to a better life. And it's just God. Like I said, you never know what God has for you. It was meant for me to be in this position. It was meant for me to have a domino effect of helping people after going out there and standing up for my brother and to fight for change, and I would rather be known for what I'm doing now than anything else.&rdquo;
Later in the interview, Jackson lashed out at the media for the way they negatively portrayed his friend. He criticized attorneys like Benjamin Crump, whom he called out by name, because he feels they should fight harder for justice and less for settlements. (Although he did add that he still has respect for Crump and prays for him and hopes that the fight for justice is successful.) He also expressed his frustration with a justice system that doesn&rsquo;t hold police officers accountable for murdering innocent civilians.&nbsp;
Also, Jackson thanked celebrities such as Kyrie Irving (who purchased a house for the Floyd family), Lil Baby (who paid for Gianna's recent birthday party), Barbra Streisand (who bought Disney stocks for the Floyd family) and activist Tamika Mallory (who showed a lot of support).&nbsp;
Jackson praised the people of Minnesota for the tremendous support he received when he went there to protest for his friend. He really felt like the city embraced him and his cause, which he didn&rsquo;t anticipate. He also thanked all of the white allies, in particular, across the country who have aided him and supported him on his quest for justice.&nbsp;
Jackson is a new man. A man who has found his voice after much of the world joined him to protest the murder of George Floyd. In fact, many people were getting involved and protesting police brutality and racism for the first time (including many white people), which was likely due to Jackson&rsquo;s efforts. 
As the country awaits to hear the verdict for Derek Chauvin and the other officers involved, we can only hope and pray that justice will prevail.

Stephen Jackson opens up about his relationship with George Floyd and how his murder prompted him to speak out like never before.

Stephen Jackson on fight for George Floyd: 'It's way more important than basketball'

On Wednesday, NBA players reacted to the storming of the U.S. Capitol building by kneeling or standing in solidarity prior to last night&rsquo;s 11 games.
And then, they played. Bradley Beal had the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-washington-wizards-career-high-bradley-beal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">game of the night</a>, the Knicks shocked New Yorkers again, Collin Sexton gave Clevelanders <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-cleveland-cavaliers-collin-sexton-sets-record-passes-lebron-james-eight-straight-game-20-plus-points-open-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">something new to appreciate</a> and Markelle Fultz tore his ACL, ending his season and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-film-breakdown-markelle-fultz-thriving-transition-play-half-court-creation-defense-orlando-magic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changing the fortunes of one of the NBA&rsquo;s feel-good stories</a> for the 2020-21 season.
It is quite significant that the games went on last night, with the NBA and its leadership staying silent but using their Twitter feeds to get out the messages that their players want to convey. The following is a sampling:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Statement from the players of the Boston Celtics and the Miami HEAT<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesStillMatter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlackLivesStillMatter</a> <a href="https://t.co/RtpAOJfxh3">pic.twitter.com/RtpAOJfxh3</a>
&mdash; Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT/status/1346982722842058758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
"To hear what happened in Kenosha today was a blow to the heart and to the gut. ... We gotta continue to stay strong and continue to believe in each other." LeBron James spoke on prosecutors not filing criminal charges against police officers in the shooting of Jacob Blake. <a href="https://t.co/h9RzhgsvcX">pic.twitter.com/h9RzhgsvcX</a>
&mdash; ESPN (@espn) <a href="https://twitter.com/espn/status/1346697064210706433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Bucks and Pistons players took a knee to start tonight's game. <a href="https://t.co/hz4ASdJhDI">pic.twitter.com/hz4ASdJhDI</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1346989834921857027?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2021</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&ldquo;In one America, you get killed by sleeping in your car, selling cigarettes or playing in your backyard. In another America, you get to storm the Capitol, and no tear gas, no massive arrests, none of that.&rdquo; Jaylen Brown cites MLK&rsquo;s two Americas in discussing breach of Capitol <a href="https://t.co/YnJbOxqRd8">pic.twitter.com/YnJbOxqRd8</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1347045914318303232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2021</a></blockquote>
Jaylen Brown&rsquo;s statement spoke about two Americas, which is a reality all NBA fans and U.S. citizens still have to deal with as we all move forward in a year where change is going to come one way or another, and the news cycle is clearly not going to dry up anytime soon.
There are different standards when it comes to how law enforcement agencies deal with different segments of society, which (as Mitt Romney might say) is simply stating the truth. A majority of NBA players are Black Americans; many have children who still must be given special instructions about how they need to conduct themselves if they find themselves in an encounter with someone wearing a badge.&nbsp;
Last summer, the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-boycott-jacob-blake-protest-social-injustice-lebron-james-playoffs-postponed-milwaukee-bucks-etan-thomas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outrage over the Jacob Blake shooting</a> and the George Floyd killing and the Breonna Taylor case paralyzed the NBA. After a night of contentious debate inside the NBA Bubble outside Orlando, the decision was made to play on, which is why we have the Los Angeles Lakers as defending champions.&nbsp;
If the loudest voices in that room had gotten their way, the NBA would have shut down. 
Recently, during <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-dwight-howard-los-angeles-lakers-philadelphia-76ers-free-agency-shaquille-shaq-oneal-married-championship-redemption-title" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an appearance on Etan Thomas' podcast</a>, Dwight Howard revealed just how close the season came to ending.
"We were ready to leave. We were ready to go," Howard said. "Our team and the Clippers, we were ready to go because like I said, we tried all the other things. We knelt during the national anthem and we talked about it and it&rsquo;s like, this is still happening and nobody is hearing us. Our team had a meeting and the consensus was: We out. Let's get together, let's go [home] and let's get on the front lines. I would say by the end of that night, everybody was like, &lsquo;Yo, we need y'all to play. We need everybody to come back&hellip;' [But] we were probably 45 minutes away from packing our bags and everybody leaving the bubble. So, it was it was a very close call.&rdquo;
One voice of reason in the bubble was Doc Rivers, who was coaching the Clippers then and is now pulling off something special with the 7-1 Philadelphia 76ers, who beat the Washington Wizards 141-136 last night and have the best record in the league.
Rivers was as calm as he was blunt in discussing Wednesday&rsquo;s events.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll say it," Rivers said. "Could you imagine today if those had been black people storming the Capitol, what would have happened?&rdquo;
And then there was Malcolm Brogdon of the Indiana Pacers, who had this to say before going out and having the highest-scoring game of his career: &ldquo;It would have been the biggest massacre in U.S. history. Those people would have been gunned down if they were black.&rdquo;
Sports and politics are going to remain intertwined. There is no getting away from it. The problems of yesterday remain the problems of today, and the best way for everyone to move forward is to focus on the solutions.&nbsp;Americans have to deal with what went down yesterday in Washington D.C., and must come to grips with exactly how divided a nation we live in. 
And life must go on; in the NBA, that means continuing to play games. Last night, the NBA played when they could have shut down, and that is more significant than some might realize. A number of players said that playing last night was important because it provided fans with some positivity and entertainment after a long, awful day.
Even in midst of the strangest of circumstances, folks around the NBA went to work, said what they needed to say and got ready to move on to a new day.&nbsp;
From where this writer was sitting, it was reassuring. Let&rsquo;s hope it continues.
Props to the Association for soldiering on.

Chris Sheridan applauds the NBA for soldiering on following Wednesday's horrific events in Washington, D.C.

Bravo, NBA, for playing through the craziness

There are many unknowns surrounding this NBA offseason. The 2020 NBA Draft is on Nov. 18, but that's the only day that is set in stone. Bubble is over and the only thing NBA fans have to do at this time is hang onto hope.
But that is the nifty thing about the NBA, especially when it comes to the have-nots. The draft brings hope for the long-term, while free agency brings hope for the short-term.
With that in mind, let&rsquo;s take a look at the NBA teams that project to have the most salary-cap space this offseason and what they are positioned to do in terms of possible wants and needs.
Teams That Definitely Have Cap Space
Atlanta Hawks 
Despite getting nearly 30 points per game from Trae Young and more than 20 from John Collins, the Hawks were 20-47 last season. At the trade deadline, they went out and traded for Clint Capela, who is 26 years old and should anchor the middle long after Dewayne Dedmon and his two years and $26.6 million of salary eventually come off the books. If Atlanta could find a way to move Dedmon this offseason, the organization's committed salary number would drop to the $45 million range. As it is, Capela and Dedmon will be the two highest-paid players on the team next season. Jeff Teague will likely head elsewhere as a free agent, meaning a point guard should be a priority in free agency. The best young one out in the market is Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors, who likely will have his choice of destinations once free agency begins sometime after the draft.
Atlanta has always been a favored destination city for a lot of NBA players because of the usual nightlife, although the pandemic has made nightlife a fond memory in most major American cities. Still, operating under the assumption that things will eventually return to normal, players and their agents who look at the Hawks see a terrific youthful trio in Young, 22, Collins, 23, and Capela, 26. The Hawks missed the postseason in each of the past three years after making it for 10-straight seasons, and general manager Travis Schlenk has stuck to a steady rebuild plan. Cam Reddish will be entering his second NBA season, and Atlanta selects No. 6 in this year's draft.
Having the most cap room in the NBA (about $40 million) will allow the Hawks to broker deals and add players without having to match salaries, so this is a franchise that should be positioned to grow into a contender over the next few years. Given the fact that they MUST spend 90 percent of the cap on somebody, it is incumbent upon head coach Lloyd Pierce and the ownership group (led by Tony Ressler) to sell perspective additions on the prospects for long-term success. The city is an easy sell. The goal of winning soon is a little more tricky.
New York Knicks
Assuming they do not pick up the Bobby Portis' player option ($15.75 million), New York's committed salary number will drop to roughly $67 million. That provides a heck of a lot of flexibility for new general manager Leon Rose (and new head coach Tom Thibodeau), and the team&rsquo;s braintrust is scheduled to meet in two weeks to map out a free agency plan. The Knicks have won exactly one playoff series in the past 21 seasons, and a significant portion of the fan base has given up on the team, believing sustained success will never come until James Dolan ceases being the owner. But since that is not happening anytime soon, Rose must become a super salesman to free agents later this year -- or a master craftsman in making trades.
There is a school of thought that trading for Chris Paul might be a way to lure Giannis Antetokounmpo in free agency after the 2020-21 season, but The Greek Freak&rsquo;s long-term plans will be impacted more by what changes Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst is able to make on the trade market this season, and he will probably kick the tires on a number of moves. Nearly every player on the Knicks' roster -- aside from RJ Barrett and Julius Randle -- will come off the cap a year from now (New York has only $21 million committed for the 2021-22 season), so free agency after another season of mediocrity is where Rose has to set his sights. But until players are convinced that the Knicks are capable of having a winning culture, they will stay away -- the same way Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving did.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons were 20-46 last season and traded away Andre Drummond to Cleveland for John Henson, Brandon Knight and a second-round pick, creating an immediate nomination for Head-Scratcher of the Year. Drummond has led the league in rebounding in each of the past three seasons (and four of the past five), and little did the Pistons -- who expected Drummond to leave in free agency -- know how the pandemic would change everything for everyone in the NBA.
Unrestricted free agent Christian Wood should be Drummond's replacement at center if re-signed, but his market value will determine if Detroit brings him back. With Derrick Rose now trade bait on an expiring $7.68 million deal, Detroit currently has only $68 million in committed salary for next season, so there will be new faces joining the team through trades or free agency. Incoming general manager Troy Weaver has waited his whole career for this opportunity, but there is not much young talent there to build around.
The first order of business will be taking the best-available prospect with the No. 7 pick in the draft. As of now, Detroit does not have a second-round pick; it was dealt to Phoenix in the home-run deal that brought Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger to the Pistons back in 2015, but the Sacramento Kings now own that selection. Blake Griffin is on the cap sheet for two more seasons for nearly $76 million as well, so Weaver has his work cut out for him.&nbsp;
Charlotte Hornets
Michael Jordan can do better, one would think. How&rsquo;s this for preposterous: Nicolas Batum will earn $27.13 milllion next season if he picks up his player option. If there is an expression for &ldquo;no brainer&rdquo; in French, it would be fitting here, but at least Jordan can sleep tight at night knowing that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Bismack Biyombo will not be getting any more of his money. The Hornets went for Terry Rozier in free agency a season ago, and he responded by averaging 18 points and shooting 40 percent from three-point range.
The two best players on this roster are guards after Devonte' Graham&rsquo;s strong second season, which was largely overlooked by Most Improved Player voters (perhaps because of this franchise&rsquo;s low profile). They are building a young core with P.J. Washington and Miles Bridges at the forward spots, and they now need a center. Montrezl Harrell and Serge Ibaka are <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ranking-top-10-nba-free-agent-centers-2020" target="_blank" rel="noopener">among colleague Spencer Davies&rsquo; top-10 free agents</a>, and landing Harrell would be a coup for Jordan. There have been reports that Harrell was among the Los Angeles Clippers players turned off by former coach Doc Rivers&rsquo; load management of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but the hiring of Ty Lue could be the proper fix. Ibaka would be a riskier long-term investment given his age (31). Mitch Kupchak is on the spot this offseason with Charlotte currently sitting on roughly $30 million in cap space.
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Teams That Could Have Cap Space (Depending On Moves)
Miami Heat
This is where things get very interesting, with a lot of moving parts. Already the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Heat are sitting roughly $28 million under the projected salary cap number (or $41 million if Kelly Olynyk opts out), which means they can probably entice anyone out there to join a team anchored by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo -- and yes, Miami remains enticing in the COVID era. But that cap space is an illusion because the cap holds on Goran Dragic and Jae Crowder prohibit using it unless one or both leave in free agency.
If Dragic and Crowder leave for big money elsewhere, things get interesting because, in addition to the cap space, the Heat have trade chips in Andre Iguodala&rsquo;s expiring $17 million deal and Olynyk's expiring $13.6 million deal. Put the two of them together with a Kendrick Nunn or a Tyler Herro, and the sky is the limit in terms of what can come back in a trade. It remains to be seen what Miami has its eye on short-term (perhaps Victor Oladipo?), but the team is most certainly watching the Giannis situation for the longer-term. Pat Riley is a master recruiter, and let&rsquo;s just say that Miami is a nice place to live even during a pandemic. It should be a very interesting offseason...
New Orleans Pelilcans
First thing's first: They need to hire a coach; then comes the decision on whether to trade Jrue Holiday while his value is sky-high, having just been voted by his peers as the most desirable teammate in the league. The keeps long-term are Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram (the NBA&rsquo;s Most Improved Player) and Lonzo Ball. There is a glaring need for a big man, which is where executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin and general manager Trajan Langdon may look to spend with his cap number currently sitting at $83 million -- unless they makes an uneven trade salary-wise and bring in more money than he sends out in a Holiday trade (this is a scenario looked at in my <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-playoffs-finals-milwaukee-bucks-eric-bledsoe-khris-middleton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Khris Middleton/Eric Bledsoe column</a>).
The Pelicans' cap situation will depend on a couple of things. The first is Brandon Ingram, who is a restricted free agent with the ability to sign an offer sheet anywhere (but New Orleans has the ability to match any deal). The Pels were also one of the NBA&rsquo;s top-six rebounding teams last season, but Derrick Favors is an unrestricted free agent after averaging nearly 10 boards per game, which led the team. If they choose to re-sign him, their cap space is illusory because Favors&rsquo; cap holds eats it all up. If he leaves, New Orleans is right behind Miami on the list of Best Cities In Which To Ride Out a Pandemic.
Phoenix Suns
The beasts of the bubble (8-0) looked fantastic in Lake Buena Vista, FL, so maintain a healthy skepticism of rumors out there that Devin Booker could be traded to Minnesota for the No. 1 pick. Suns general manager James Jones has a nice young core in place with Booker, Deandre Ayton, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Mikal Bridges; two factors that will impact their cap space is whether they tender a qualifying offer of $4.8 million to Dario Saric and whether they pick up the team option on Frank Kaminsky&rsquo;s $5 million option.
Phoenix had seven double-digit scorers last season led by Booker&rsquo;s 26.6 points per game, and their performance in the bubble made folks wonder whether the NBA should have included a play-in contingency plan for a team that outperformed expectations. As it was, they got squeezed. If Saric, Kaminsky (and Cameron Payne) are kept, the team's cap space shrinks to roughly zero when also accounting for the No. 10 pick in the draft. They are a work in progress, building to be a legit contender as this young core has another year together. Adding another piece with all or part of the $9.3 million mid-level exception, if it does not create luxury-tax problems, seems the most likely route.
Note: The cap and tax levels have not yet been set.

Chris Sheridan dives into the teams in the NBA with the most cap space and what they are positioned to do this offseason.

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