Spartans

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced today at NBA All-Star Weekend 2024 the selection of 14 finalists from the following committees: North American, Women&rsquo;s, Men&rsquo;s Veterans, Women&rsquo;s Veterans, International, and Contributors.
The finalists will then be put forward to the Honors Committee to be considered for election as members of the Class of 2024. The new class will be announced in Phoenix on April 6 at the NCAA Men&rsquo;s Final Four.
North American Committee Finalists (in alphabetical order):
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Chauncey Billups</li>
<li>Vince Carter</li>
<li>Michael Cooper</li>
<li>Walter Davis</li>
<li>Bo Ryan</li>
<li>Charles Smith</li>
</ul>
Women's Committee Finalists:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Seimone Augustus</li>
<li>Marian Washington</li>
</ul>
Men&rsquo;s Veteran Committee Finalist:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Dick Barnett</li>
</ul>
Women's Veteran Committee Finalist:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Harley Redin</li>
</ul>
International Committee Finalist:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Michele Timms</li>
</ul>
Contributors Committee Finalists:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Doug Collins</li>
<li>Herb Simon</li>
<li>Jerry West</li>
</ul>
"Being named a Finalist for the Class of 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is a testament to the highest echelons of achievement in the sport,&rdquo; said Jerry Colangelo, Chairman of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. &ldquo;It's an honor that reflects not only individual greatness but also the long-lasting impact on the game itself. From the strategic brilliance of coaches to the unmatched abilities of players and the influential roles of a coach/broadcaster, an esteemed owner, and a dynasty-building executive, each Finalist embodies the pinnacle of basketball excellence. Their inclusion underscores the diverse contributions that have shaped and enriched the sport, making this recognition truly exceptional."
The Class of 2024 will be enshrined during festivities in Springfield, Mass., on August 16-17. VIP packages for the 2024 Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend are now available. Single-event tickets will go on sale on April 6, following the 2024 Class Announcement.
North American Committee Finalists:
CHAUNCEY BILLUPS&nbsp;[Player]&nbsp;&ndash; Nicknamed "Mr. Big Shot" for his ability to deliver crucial plays in pivotal moments, Billups was a five-time NBA All-Star and the 2004 Finals MVP after leading the Detroit Pistons to their third NBA championship. During his 17-year career, Billups&rsquo; averaged 15.2 points and 5.4 assists per game, while his&nbsp; 89.4&nbsp; free throw percentage is sixth best in NBA/ABA history. Billups was drafted third overall in 1997 by the Boston Celtics after earning Second Team All-American honors at Colorado. He is the current head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers.
VINCE CARTER&nbsp;[Player]&nbsp;&ndash; Renowned for his high-flying dunks, the former North Carolina standout was an eight-time All-Star in his 22 NBA seasons (1998-2020). Carter, who won the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, was named the 1998-99 Rookie of the Year and is the only player in NBA history to play in four different decades. Carter averaged 16.7 points per game (21.3 as a starter) and also played a pivotal role in the success of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, clinching a gold medal with the U.S. Men's Basketball Team. He currently holds the single-season franchise scoring record for the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors.
MICHAEL COOPER&nbsp;[Player]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Cooper was named to eight NBA All-Defensive Teams, taking home First-Team accolades five times and winning Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1987. The former third-round draft pick (60th overall) out of the University of New Mexico spent his entire 12-year NBA career (1978-90) with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning five championships while routinely matching up with the opponent&rsquo;s top shooter. Following his playing career, Cooper entered the coaching ranks and earned WNBA Coach of the Year accolades in 2000 with the Los Angeles Sparks before winning back-to-back WNBA titles in 2001-02.
WALTER DAVIS&nbsp;[Player]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;The all-time leading scorer in Phoenix Suns&rsquo; history was a six-time All-Star (1978-81, &lsquo;84, &lsquo;87) during his 15-year NBA career with the Suns (1977-88), Denver Nuggets (1988-92) and Portland Trail Blazers (1991). Before Phoenix chose Davis with the fifth pick in the 1977 draft, the standout player from North Carolina won a gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics. He then averaged 24.2 points per game in his first NBA season and was named the 1978 Rookie of the Year. The late Davis had&nbsp;his No. 6 retired by the Suns, and in 2004, he was enshrined in the team's Ring of Honor.
BO RYAN&nbsp;[Coach] &ndash;&nbsp;Ryan went 747-233 (.762) in 32 seasons as a collegiate head coach with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (1984-89), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1999-2001) and University of Wisconsin (2001-15), including a 364-130 (.737) ledger in 14-plus seasons in Madison. Ryan, honored four times as the Big Ten Coach of the Year, led Wisconsin to unprecedented success, clinching four Big Ten regular-season titles, winning three Big Ten tournament championships, and making back-to-back Final Four appearances (2014-15). The four-time Division III champion (1991, &lsquo;95, &lsquo;98-99) was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
CHARLES SMITH&nbsp;[Coach] &ndash; Smith is Louisiana's all-time winningest high school head coach, surpassing the previous mark of 1,071 in 2020. With eight state championships to his name, Smith&rsquo;s coaching tenure at Peabody Magnet High School began in 1985 after starting as a math teacher in 1975. He guided the Warhorses to a pair of perfect seasons, going 41-0 in 2004 and 2010 and earning national top-five rankings. Smith, ESPN&rsquo;s National Coach of the Year in 2010, was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2019 and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021. In addition, Smith served as a head coach at the McDonald&rsquo;s All-American game in 2020.
Women&rsquo;s Committee Finalists:
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS&nbsp;[Player]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Augustus, who was selected first overall in the 2006 WNBA Draft, was a four-time champion and eight-time All-Star during her 15-year WNBA career (2006-2020). The cornerstone player for the Minnesota Lynx, where she spent 14 of her 15 seasons, averaged 15.4 points per game and was named the 2006 Rookie of the Year and 2011 Finals MVP. At LSU, Augustus led the Tigers to three straight Final Four appearances and won the Naismith College Player of the Year and Wooden Awards in back-to-back campaigns (2005-06).
MARIAN WASHINGTON&nbsp;[Coach] &ndash; Washington led the University of Kansas women&rsquo;s basketball team for 31 seasons (1973-2004) and recorded a school-record 560 wins. The Jayhawks made 11 NCAA tournament appearances under her guidance, including two trips to the Sweet 16 (1996, &lsquo;97). Washington, who also served as Kansas&rsquo; director for women&rsquo;s athletics from 1974-79, was named her conference&rsquo;s Coach of the Year on three occasions (Big Eight: 1992, &rsquo;96; Big 12: 1997). She was a pioneer on the international stage, becoming one of the first two African American women to compete in basketball internationally at the 1971 World Championships and the first black woman to coach a United States team in international play at the 1982 R. William Jones Cup. Washington, who was the first female president of the Black Coaches Association, was inducted into the Women&rsquo;s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.
Men&rsquo;s Veteran Committee Finalist:
DICK BARNETT&nbsp;[Player] &ndash;&nbsp;Barnett first gained prominence at Tennessee A&amp;I University, where he led the Tigers to three straight NAIA national championships (1957-59), the first historically black school to claim a men&rsquo;s basketball title. The &ldquo;Skull&rdquo; played 14 NBA seasons with the Syracuse Nationals (1959-61), Los Angeles Lakers (1962-65) and New York Knicks (1965-73), winning a pair of titles in the Big Apple (1970, &lsquo;73) and making his lone All-Star team in 1968. The Knicks retired his No. 12, and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame honored his 1957&ndash;59 Tigers squad in 2019.
Women&rsquo;s Veteran Committee Finalists:
HARLEY REDIN&nbsp;[Coach]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Redin went 431-66 in 18 seasons leading Wayland Baptist&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s basketball program and captured six AAU National Championships. He coached the Flying Queens to two undefeated women&rsquo;s seasons (1956, &lsquo;57), 17 top-five finishes, and went 110-2 during his first four campaigns at Wayland Baptist. Redin also coached the Women&rsquo;s U.S. National Team in 1959, the 1971 Pan-American Games, and the 1963 World Tournament in Peru. He was the recipient of the Jostens-Berenson Service Award by the Women&rsquo;s Basketball Coaches Association for his lifetime of service to women&rsquo;s basketball in 1992, inducted into the Women&rsquo;s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999, and honored with the Naismith Award for Outstanding Contribution to the game of women&rsquo;s basketball in 2000.
International Committee Finalist:
MICHELE TIMMS&nbsp;[Player]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;A trailblazer in Australian women&rsquo;s basketball, Timms became well-known as one of the best point guards in the world, representing the Australian national team throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Timms won a pair of Olympic medals with the Opals, winning bronze in 1996 and silver in 2000, and was the first Australian, male or female, to play professional basketball internationally when she suited up for Lotus M&uuml;nchen in Germany. In addition, Timms spent five seasons with the Phoenix Mercury, guiding the team to a berth in the 1998 WNBA Finals and earning an All-Star selection in 1999. The Sport Australia Hall of Fame inducted her in 2003, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2016. The Mercury retired her No. 7 jersey in 2002.
Contributor Committee Finalists:
DOUG COLLINS&nbsp;[Coach/broadcaster]&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Collins' versatile career in basketball is marked by significant achievements in roles ranging from player to coach to broadcaster, underscoring his wide-ranging impact on the sport. Following an NBA career where he was a four-time All-Star with the Philadelphia 76ers, he transitioned into coaching and accumulated over 400 wins with the Chicago Bulls (1986-89), Detroit Pistons (1995-98), Washington Wizards (2001-03) and 76ers (2010-13). Collins, who coached Hall of Famer Michael Jordan in both Chicago and Washington,&nbsp;also served as an analyst for various NBA-related broadcasts for CBS, NBC, TNT, TBS, and ABC/ESPN, along with working for NBC at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
HERB SIMON&nbsp;[Owner] &ndash; Simon, the longest-tenured governor in the history of the NBA, purchased the Indiana Pacers, along with his late brother Mel, back in 1983. Under Simon&rsquo;s stewardship, the Pacers won numerous Central Division titles and made the franchise&rsquo;s first NBA Finals in 2000. Throughout his ownership period, the Pacers have been home to legendary players like Jermaine O&rsquo;Neal, Rik Smits, and Reggie Miller (Class of 2012). Beyond ownership, Simon's influence extends deeply into the heart of the Pacers&rsquo; organization, shaping its identity and impact both on and off the court through his philanthropic endeavors and civic engagement.
JERRY WEST&nbsp;[Executive] &ndash; Enshrined as a player in 1980, West then went on to establish himself off the court as one of the most successful executives in the sport&rsquo;s history. West played a pivotal role as the architect of a pair of Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; dynasties during the 1980s and 2000s, drafting key players like Magic Johnson and James Worthy, acquiring Kobe Bryant, signing free agent Shaquille O'Neal, and hiring head coach Phil Jackson. He totaled eight NBA championships in Los Angeles (1980, &lsquo;82, &lsquo;85, &lsquo;87-88, 2000-02) and was named Executive of the Year twice (1995, 2004). Following his time in the Lakers&rsquo; front office (1979-2000), West served as GM of the Memphis Grizzlies from 2002-07 before earning two additional NBA championships as an executive with the Golden State Warriors (2015, &lsquo;17).

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced the 14 finalists for the class of 2024 including Vince Carter and Chauncey Billups.

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announces 14 finalists in class of 2024

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

The white flag is being waved in Portland.
With the Blazers sitting at 32-43, five games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the final play-in spot, it's fair to say the playoffs probably aren't in the cards this season. That reality has reportedly led the Blazers to shut down their superstar, Damian Lillard, for the rest of the year.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
With injury-plagued Portland Trail Blazers out of the playoff picture, superstar guard Damian Lillard will be held out the remainder of the season, league sources tell <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBAonTNT</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BleacherReport</a>.
&mdash; Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/1640819291783323648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2023</a></blockquote>

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

Lillard had already missed the last three games (all losses) with a calf injury. In light of the Blazers' place in the standings &mdash; and the benefit that could be gained by juicing their lottery odds &mdash; it makes sense that the Blazers would take a forward-thinking approach with Lillard.
It's a somber end to what's been, at least statistically, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-damian-lillard-making-claim-as-nba-most-dangerous-offensive-player-portland-trail-blazers-71-point-game-joel-embiid-luka-doncic-michael-jordan-nikola-jokic-tracy-mcgrady" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the best offensive season in Lillard's career</a>. He posted career-highs in points (32.2), 2PT% (57.4), True Shooting percentage (64.5), three-point rate (.547) and attempts (11.3), free-throw rate (.464) and attempts (9.6), and assist rate (35.1).
The rest of his box score numbers &mdash; 7.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds, a 37.1% clip from three and 91.4% mark from the free throw line &mdash; certainly pass the smell test.&nbsp;
He currently leads the NBA in DunksAndThree's Offensive Estimated Plus-Minus (oEPM) metric (+8.1), narrowly ahead of MVP shortlist candidate Nikola Jokic (+8.0). He ranks fifth in Estimated Wins (EW), the cumulative version of EPM, with 14.0. He only trails Jokic (17.2), Joel Embiid (14.8), Jayson Tatum (14.4) and Luka Doncic (14.3) in that stat.
Lillard was a worthy All-Star and, in the games he appeared in, a no-brainer selection for an All-NBA team. With him only appearing in 58 games (27-31 record), I'm curious to see where the voters land with his case. There's no question Lillard played well enough, but there's room to argue against his candidacy depending on how highly availability and winning rank in a voter's mind.
Bigger picture, the Blazers enter the offseason with the same set of big questions. Can they build a contender around Lillard? How, with their current asset pool, can they do so? And considering what the rest of the conference looks like right now, does it make sense to cash in their chips to build around Lillard, or would it make more sense to use Lillard as&nbsp;the&nbsp;chip to jumpstart a rebuild?
If it's up to Lillard &mdash; and please, please stop asking him, he's been clear about his desires! &mdash; the Blazers will continue trying to build around him. That'll start with landing on an acceptable number with Jerami Grant, then likely move to evaluating the market for upgrades in the frontcourt.
We have plenty of time to dig into potential offseason moves. For now, Lillard deserves his flowers for an incredible year.
He stretched defenses to their limits with long-distance bombs. He parlayed that shooting gravity into his most efficient season as a driver. Those drives allowed him to further lean into the foul-drawing tricks he's developed throughout his career. And the constant attention he drew opened up passing windows for him to access when necessary.&nbsp;
Oh, right: he also dropped the most efficient 70+ point game in NBA history this year. Can't forget that.
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Hopefully Lillard is able to rehab and recharge. I have no idea how you&nbsp;build&nbsp;on a campaign as ridiculous as Lillard's, but he's proven to be someone you can't comfortably bet against.&nbsp;

The Blazers are sitting Damian Lillard for the rest of the season. Nekias Duncan breaks down Lillard's great season and what's next.

Blazers guard Damian Lillard ruled out for remainder of season

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; No Nikola Jokic, no problem for the Denver Nuggets. Especially when it comes to the Clippers.
Jamal Murray scored 24 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 22 in a 115-103 victory over Los Angeles on Friday night that Jokic missed because of right wrist management.
&ldquo;We got a lot of guys that can play,&rdquo; said Murray, who rolled his ankle.
The Nuggets gained sole possession of first in the Western Conference over the idle Memphis Grizzlies with their fifth straight win.
&ldquo;I didn't want to make a big deal of Nikola not being here,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;That's disrespectful to those other players.&rdquo;
The Nuggets defeated the Clippers for the second time in a week, although this one was much closer than the 31-point beatdown they handed out at Ball Arena.
At least until the fourth quarter. That's when the Nuggets pulled away, stretching a three-point lead into double digits. They scored nine in a row to go up 104-92, their largest lead of the game. Aaron Gordon hit a 3-pointer and Bruce Brown added four points. Gordon finished with 17 points.
Kawhi Leonard scored 24 points for the Clippers. He didn't have running mate Paul George, who sat out with a hamstring injury. Norman Powell added 18 points off the bench and John Wall had 16. They've dropped seven of eight.
&ldquo;The effort is there,&rdquo; Leonard said. &ldquo;The execution part wasn't in that second half.&rdquo;
Murray crashed into a woman sitting courtside while chasing the ball in the fourth. She emerged laughing and he grabbed her hand to make sure she wasn't hurt. He finished with eight rebounds and four assists in 39 minutes.
&ldquo;Jamal Murray is more than a scorer. Jamal Murray is a complete basketball player," Malone said. &ldquo;He's a guy who should be given All-Star recognition because of the way he impacts the game.&rdquo;
Denver's Zeke Nnaji got posterized twice &mdash; first by Leonard on a one-handed jam in the third and then by Wall on a dunk in the fourth. Both drew raucous cheers.
Trailing by five, the Nuggets outscored the Clippers 20-8, including nine in a row, to lead 81-74 in the third. Former Clipper DeAndre Jordan and Porter dunked and Gordon hit a 3-pointer.
&ldquo;It was a great opportunity for a lot of people to play,&rdquo; Jordan said. &ldquo;It was really good for us.&rdquo;
Robert Covington hit a 3-pointer and Wall made a pair of free throws to leave the Clippers trailing 86-81 going into the fourth.
The Clippers controlled the first half, when they led by seven.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Malone said he's hoping Jokic's wrist calms down so he can play Sunday. ... Improved to 3-0 over LA this season.
Clippers: Their bench outscored Denver's reserves, 46-30. ... Luke Kennard (right calf soreness) sat out his third straight game. ... Fell to .500 at 22-22. ... Have dropped five straight to the Nuggets.
&nbsp;

Jamal Murray scored 24 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 22 in the Denver Nuggets' 115-103 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Nuggets beat Clippers 115-103 for 5th straight win

Welcome to Basketball News' 10-part mini-series, Blazing the Trail, where Mat Issa breaks down the most revolutionary players of the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout this series, we'll examine how these players changed basketball and pioneered their respective skills.
In this fourth installment, Mat goes in-depth on one of the greatest shooters of all-time: Reggie Miller. He explains what made him different from the marksmen who came before him, with insights from his former coaches in Indiana &mdash; Dan Burke and Bob Ociepka &mdash; his former teammate Rik Smits and basketball analyst Mike Prada.
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In his critically acclaimed, historical rendition of the NBA, "The Book of Basketball," The Ringer's Bill Simmons ranked NBA and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller outside of the top 60 all-time:
&ldquo;Reggie Miller was the most overrated &lsquo;superstar&rsquo; of the past thirty years,&rdquo; Simmons opined.
To Simmons' credit, however, he later retracted this statement in the sequel podcast, "<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/book-of-basketball-2-0/id1483525141?i=1000462435000">The Book of Basketball 2.0.</a>" Revising his previous comments, Simmons suggested that in today's game, Miller would indeed constitute superstar status.
But what if Miller would have been a superstar in any era? What if he was an elite scorer and playmaker in ways that we couldn&rsquo;t comprehend during his time? And what if he served as an inspiration to the most prolific dynasty of the NBA's pace-and-space era?
Let's find out.
WHAT MADE MILLER SPECIAL
As a child, Miller would regularly participate in 1-on-1 matchups against his older sister, Cheryl, who turned out to be one of the greatest women's basketball players of all-time prior to untimely injuries. (She's enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.)
Because of Cheryl's superior size and strength, Reggie going inside was a moot point.
&ldquo;One of the reasons I practiced shooting from the outside was that Cheryl used to block my shots when I drove to the hoop,&rdquo; Miller recalled in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Being-Enemy-Reggie-Miller/dp/0684870398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his autobiography</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bad feeling when your sister is knocking your best stuff into the rosebushes.&rdquo;
To defeat his sibling, Miller needed to hone in on his perimeter game.&nbsp;
That's exactly what he did.
Miller endured his sister&rsquo;s challenges and triumphed to become one of the premier shooters the NBA had ever seen. According to Cerebro Sports' Three-Point Efficiency metric (a shooting metric that combines three-point volume and efficiency to show the most lethal shooters), Miller finished in the 97th percentile or higher in all but one year from 1988 to 2004.
(The 2002-03 campaign was the exception, where he finished in the 94th percentile).
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2.png" alt="" width="550" height="550" />
Visual provided by Cerebro Sports
Even more impressive is how he earned his standing in this data set. Unlike many of the great shooters of his time &mdash; who made their mark primarily off standstill catch-and-shoot opportunities &mdash; a majority of Miller&rsquo;s triples came while he was circling the half-court at top speed.
And again, much like his pickup contests growing up, this strategy was rooted in necessity.
&ldquo;The chances for spot-up [threes] weren&rsquo;t really there,&rdquo; said Dan Burke, Miller&rsquo;s former coach in Indiana and now an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. &ldquo;You have to have a real big, key player [you&rsquo;re playing off of] to get spot-ups.&rdquo;
To back Burke's words, think of one of the other notable three-point shooters of that time: Dan Majerle. Throughout his time in Phoenix and Miami, Majerle was gifted with potent penetrators like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway, who could both consistently <a href="https://streamable.com/wd17v5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">break down a defense and get two feet in the paint</a>.
Meanwhile, Miller&rsquo;s most accomplished backcourt mate, Mark Jackson, was more of a post facilitator than a downhill threat.
Instead, Miller achieved sage status in the art of movement shooting. And for those following along at home, his technique can be divided into <a href="https://youtu.be/tv3EyzBuRb4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three keys</a>.
Key 1: Set up the Defender
Miller was an avid participant in basketball grappling &mdash; the practice of using physicality to manipulate and gain separation from your defender.
&ldquo;[Miller] embraced contact and sometimes got the feel of a guy so [he] could push off him and get open,&rdquo; Burke said.
The cunning sharpshooter also deployed harsh cuts and abrupt changes in speed to further decrease the likelihood that his opponent could shadow his movements.
&ldquo;When you watch him, it wasn&rsquo;t always the same speed,&rdquo; Burke continued. &ldquo;He changed speeds. He&rsquo;d stop and go.&rdquo;
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Key 2: Read the Screen
Once he gained a step, Miller could interpret his optimal route-running path based on the direction his defender was chasing him. If his defender trailed outside the screen, Miller would juke inwards. If his defender rushed from the inside, Miller would retreat outside.
Miller's astute ability in this regard was largely based upon the continuity he achieved with his screen-setting bigs &mdash; Antonio Davis, Dale Davis and Rik Smits.
&ldquo;We would run through our sets almost every practice,&rdquo; Smits recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;[A lot] of dummy offenses. Just run, run, run. We really concentrated on getting good screens set just to take full advantage of everything [Miller brought to the table].&rdquo;
"Reggie would talk to those bigs too," Burke added. "'Just stand there, I&rsquo;ll use you.'&rdquo;
Key 3: Footwork
Miller boasted balletic footwork, akin to that of a peak-<a href="https://youtu.be/Ye7xMqYqAbA">Torture Chamber Kevin McHale</a>, able to stop and pop effortlessly regardless of his travel velocity and angle.
&ldquo;[Typically], if you are right-handed, you want to come off [a pindown screen] going to your left so that your shoulder is closer to the rim,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t matter with Reggie. He could come with his right hand or with his left hand.&rdquo;
Miller's ambidexterity is a testament to his impeccable footwork. The direction didn't matter because his stride was sound both ways. And his ability to maintain balance during these sequences is even more impressive when you consider the defensive physicality that was accepted during his era.
&ldquo;Every time a guy like Reggie cut through the lane, the goal was to smack him. We used to say, &lsquo;Pinball him,&rsquo;" Burke recalled.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The league allows no &lsquo;impeding&rsquo; cutters now. There was much more holding then. But Reggie would stay locked and still get a rhythm jumper.&rdquo;
Here are all three of those keys in action:
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ON-COURT PRODUCTION
Miller&rsquo;s shooting served as a double-edged sword for his reputation. On one end, he was revered as one of the game&rsquo;s top snipers. On the other, he&rsquo;d been pigeonholed into a singular role on the floor.
However, Miller was more than a marksman. He was a three-level scorer who utilized the <a href="https://streamable.com/ykdkx5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">triple-threat</a> position to score from the mid-range and at the rim.
&ldquo;One thing Reggie worked on, we used to call it &lsquo;Pete Newell,&rsquo;" Burke explained. &ldquo;Pete Newell was an old coach who used to have a big-man camp. His whole thing was: Jab, catch, create space. If the guy doesn&rsquo;t honor your jab, you go by him. If he backs up, you raise up and shoot it.
&ldquo;It was a series. And [Reggie] really worked on it.&rdquo;
This combination of three-level scoring and high conversion rates from the most efficient spots on the floor made Miller arguably the best backcourt scorer of the 1990s not named Michael Jordan.
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To compare the two, from 1989 to 1999, Miller tallied nine seasons where he ranked in the 90th percentile in both scoring volume and efficiency, while Jordan only touted two such seasons.&nbsp;
Additionally, Miller&rsquo;s unpredictable tendencies coming off screens and counter-laden arsenal made him one of the few stars to rarely improve his volume and efficiency during postseason play.
For instance, in 1994-95, Miller averaged 23.9 points per 75 possessions on 62.0% True Shooting. In the playoffs, those averages ballooned to 28.0 points and 63.2% True Shooting, respectively.&nbsp;
To show how rare that is, there was an inverse trend of that with John Stockton and Mitch Richmond &mdash; two guards who were (<a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1556676428426612738?s=20&amp;t=haKXS_VAVIAeIw7hLdSqkQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrongfully?</a>) regularly awarded All-NBA selections over Miller.&nbsp;
WEAVING THE THREAD
The first guard to function as an off-ball superstar was John Havlicek. When "Hondo" wasn&rsquo;t ripping and running in transition, he was usually <a href="https://streamable.com/uzgwhw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curling off screens</a> for leaning mid-range jumpers.
A post-three-point line precursor to Miller was Joe Dumars (who coincidentally probably also took some of his All-NBA accolades). Another one of Miller&rsquo;s coaches in Indiana, Dick Versace, spent time as an assistant on the Detroit Pistons before becoming the head coach of the Pacers in 1988.
&ldquo;Joe Dumars had that knack for getting free off screens,&rdquo; said Bob Ociepka, an assistant on Versace's staff in Indiana and a 23-year NBA coach. &ldquo;Coach Versace, coming from [Detroit], ran a lot of the things Chuck Daly did &mdash; [like Dumars] coming off those staggered screens from the baseline.&rdquo;
Miller expressed a great admiration toward Dumars, even going as far as to call him the "unsung MVP of Dream Team II" in his book.
Dale Ellis was another <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1555600444763869186?s=20&amp;t=EBeojEhLms-WUc2csgmNdA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sniper</a> from that generation who cratered defenses using floppy action &mdash; a play in which a player, positioned under the basket, can choose whether to cut off a single screen to one side or a double screen to the other, per Basketball Dictionary.
However, because of the typical constraints placed on 2-guards at the time, neither Dumars nor Ellis could fully leverage their shooting prowess to their advantage.
&ldquo;[In that era], the shooting guard was supposed to be Jordan-esque,&rdquo; said Mike Prada, editor at The Athletic and "Spaced Out" <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spaced-Out-Three-Point-Revolution-Everything/dp/1629378860/ref=asc_df_1629378860/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=564700905732&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=6603785140486578978&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=9016969&amp;hvtargid=pla-1645726366795&amp;psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">author</a>. &ldquo;You were an all-around player, you got a lot of rebounds and assists, you went 1-on-1 a lot, you were explosive, you could dunk on people &mdash; sort of that Platonic Ideal.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miller was different from those guards; he didn&rsquo;t possess the same ball-handling or rebounding acumen. He was an outlier who weaponized his extraordinary gift to buoy an offense almost entirely through his off-ball presence.
Notably, the Pacer legend pioneered a term deeply entrenched in today&rsquo;s basketball jargon: gravity.
Dangerous from deep, Miller made <a href="https://en.mimi.hu/basketball/double_down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubling down</a> on his big-men teammates in the post a conversation killer. Teams would rather face guard him at the three-point line than send reinforcements to the interior, which opened up room for his low-post executioners to make decisions.
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Smits expressed a great deal of gratitude for the space Miller provided him to operate.
&ldquo;I was glad he was on my team. I could tell you that,&rdquo; Smits laughed.&nbsp;
Miller&rsquo;s landscape-altering effect is felt when you look through the lens of historian Ben Taylor&rsquo;s passing and playmaking statistics.
For example, in 1993-94, Gary Payton finished in the 80th percentile in Taylor&rsquo;s Box Creation stat &mdash; a metric that estimates playmaking (per <a href="https://backpicks.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Backpicks.com</a>). Payton did this while simultaneously scoring in the 94th percentile in Passer Rating.
In the same season, despite only scoring in the 37th percentile in passing, Miller finished in the 77th percentile in playmaking.
Miller wasn&rsquo;t the on-ball initiator that Payton was, but this conveys that the former was still able to operate as a high-end creator thanks to the attention he garnered from his opponents.
&ldquo;The thing that Reggie Miller had that we didn&rsquo;t know how to identify back when he played &mdash; but now it&rsquo;s a no-brainer concept &mdash; is this idea of gravity,&rdquo; Prada said.
IMPACT ON TODAY'S GAME
In many circles, Ray Allen is often cited as the disciple who bears the most resemblance to Miller. Along with Allen, Richard Hamilton, JJ Redick and Kyle Korver have all played the part of "<a href="https://grantland.com/features/kyle-korver-nba-atlanta-hawks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offense unto themselves</a>" by utilizing their off-ball gravitational pull.
In the current NBA landscape, Miller&rsquo;s most obvious descendants share the same squad.
&ldquo;Two guys on the same team,&rdquo; Burke pointed out. "Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson."
The dynastic Golden State Warriors have become famous for pushing the boundaries of time and space by exploiting the shooting gravity their dynamic duo wields.&nbsp;
And, as fate would have it, Miller also once teamed up with a fellow gravity co-founder, Chris Mullin.&nbsp;
Mullin was arguably the closest comparison to Miller at the time, and together, the tandem caused wide-scale chaos and confusion &mdash; the likes of which the league would not see again until the Splash Brothers coalesced in the Bay Area nearly two decades later.
Tell me if these sequences look familiar:
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In both plays, the two pairs create a defensive breakdown simply by running past each other in the opposite direction.
Even more poetic, take a look at the Pacers&rsquo; opponent in the first clip. Who was a reserve on that team? None other than Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
&ldquo;All of the stuff that the Warriors did in the early days with the Steph/Klay combo &mdash; the crazy, figure-eight-type stuff &mdash; was very much ripped right from the Pacers,&rdquo; Prada explained.
Golden State expanded on Miller&rsquo;s semi-contained havoc, turning half-court offensive sets into absolute anarchy.
Miller&rsquo;s movement authored a great deal of mayhem, more than anyone of his time, but he was still forced to rein it in a bit to accommodate the structure of his offense. Nowadays, engines like Curry and Thompson have the discretion to graze the terrain as they see fit.
&ldquo;[For Miller], his was set plays, so it was easier for teams to really dial in,&rdquo; Burke explained. &ldquo;Curry is more of a constant, built into a random system.&rdquo;
But it was still the audacious Miller who paved the way. He crawled so that the Golden State empire could walk.
&ldquo;He was this type of player that, in an era that did not have a blueprint for this style of play, he provided it,&rdquo; Prada concluded.&nbsp;
He's the player responsible for the outline that triggered a dynasty.
Are we sure Reggie Miller was overrated?
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Tune in next week for Part V of Blazing the Trail, which focuses on Andrei Kirilenko &mdash; the five-tool defender.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-shane-battier-the-databall-defender-memphis-grizzlies-houston-rockets-miami-heat-daryl-morey-david-fizdale-detroit-pistons-draymond-green" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part III: "Shane Battier, the data-ball defender."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-rashard-lewis-all-star-stretch-four-orlando-magic-stan-van-gundy-dwight-howard-hedo-turkoglu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part II: "Rashard Lewis, the All-Star stretch 4."</a>
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-blazing-the-trail-steve-nash-phoenix-suns-mike-dantoni-raja-bell-steph-curry-all-time-great-point-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here to read Part I: "Steve Nash, the magician who danced in the paint."</a>

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes all-time shooting great Reggie Miller and what separated him from the rest.

Blazing the Trail: Reggie Miller, the moving target

The NBA Playoffs are basketball's biggest stage, giving players an opportunity to emerge as a star and become a household name. Many players have won over fans by thriving when the games matter most. These days, performing in the playoffs also translates to an increase in social-media followers.
Which players have gained the most followers since the start of the 2022 NBA Playoffs?
Interestingly, the NBA tracks the follower growth of every player on Instagram, and a league source shared this information with BasketballNews.com. Here are the 10 players who have gained the most followers since the start of the postseason in early April:
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 48.3299%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">PLAYER</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%; text-align: center;">NEW FOLLOWERS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">LeBron James</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">5.2 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Stephen Curry</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">1.4 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Ja Morant</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">909,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Klay Thompson</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">603,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Lonzo Ball</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">598,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Jayson Tatum</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">583,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Russell Westbrook</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">406,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Kyrie Irving</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">392,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">PJ Washington</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">387,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 21.4018%;">Jordan Poole</td>
<td style="width: 19.2881%;">384,000</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Surprisingly, LeBron James has gained the most followers during these playoffs&nbsp; &mdash; despite the fact that his Los Angeles Lakers missed the postseason altogether. This is a testament to James' massive following, which is easily the largest among NBA players. James has 123 million followers on Instagram, and the next most-followed NBA player is Stephen Curry with just 42.7 million.
With that said, Curry has also seen a nice boost during these playoffs, gaining 1.4 million followers over the last two months. Curry is one of three Golden State Warriors on this list along with Klay Thompson (603K) and Jordan Poole (384K), which isn't a surprise given their NBA Finals run. Jayson Tatum (583K) has also added a ton of new followers after leading the Boston Celtics back to the Finals.
Speaking of Poole, his 384,000 new followers represent a 73% growth rate &mdash; the highest of any player in the playoffs (with a minimum of 100,000 followers).&nbsp;
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Ja Morant sitting at No. 3 isn't a surprise since he is arguably the breakout star of this postseason. He was already viewed as a special player, but he took his game to another level during the playoffs and won over a ton of new fans with his huge performances and jaw-dropping plays. At one point during this postseason, Morant had <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1522324914468003840" target="_blank" rel="noopener">generated the most video views</a> of any player across the NBA's social-media platforms, so it makes sense that this excitement led to many new followers too.
The biggest surprises on this list are Russell Westbrook (406,000), Lonzo Ball (598,000) and PJ Washington (387,000). Westbrook has gotten a lot of hate following his 2021-22 season, but he also has some of the most passionate fans in the NBA and he remains very popular.&nbsp;
The NBA also tracked which teams have gained the most IG followers during the playoffs, so <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/which-nba-teams-have-gained-the-most-followers-during-the-playoffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here for that information.</a>

Find out which players have gained the most followers on Instagram since the start of the 2022 NBA Playoffs.

Which NBA players have gained the most followers during playoffs?

MONTVALE, N.J. &ndash; The rest stop on the Garden State Parkway was almost completely empty early Sunday morning as a man and a dog pulled up in a Toyota Camry with $20 and an idea.
Why not take a chance on the possibility that a $20 bill could become $6,000 by the time June arrives, if Kyle Lowry can become the NBA's Most Valuable Player next season?
Improbable, yes. Impossible? No.
Heck, the dog liked the idea, so we did it.
And with that premise, the sinkhole that is the legalized U.S. sports gambling market claimed another $20, this one going to BetMGM, which currently has 66 players listed with MVP odds for the upcoming season, with Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks the 4-1 (+400) favorite.
Nobody outside of the Lowry household has probably used his name and the phrase MVP together in the same sentence in the three-and-a-half weeks since the Toronto Raptors executed a sign-and-trade with Miami that sent Lowry to the Heat for Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa.
Lowry, 35, is about to enter his 17th NBA season and will be playing for his fourth team. He is coming off a lost season of sorts in which the Raptors were forced to play their home games in Tampa, Fla. And Lowry played in only 46 contests because of a back injury and several games in which he was rested. His spectacular moments were few and far between, but he did have a 37-point, 11-assist output in his final game of the regular season on May 2 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Pat Riley and Erick Spoelstra have brought him in to replace the tandem of Dragic and Kendrick Nunn that handled the point-guard duties for the Heat over the past two seasons. The thinking is that despite his advanced age, Lowry still has plenty in the tank. He was not all that bad last season, shooting 39.6% from three-point range while averaging 17.2 points (down from a career-high 22.4 points in 2016-17) and 7.3 assists.
For Lowry to even sniff the MVP discussion, a bunch of things would need to happen:
&bull;&nbsp;The Heat would need to seriously outperform expectations (their over/under win total is 48.5);
&bull; Lowry would need to become a 20-point scorer for just the third time in his career while also outscoring teammate Jimmy Butler, who has averaged 20.0 or more points in six of the past eight seasons;
&bull; He also would need to be among the top-three in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio, while also being among the league leaders in steals because MVP candidates always have their success quantified statistically;
&bull; A series of unfortunate events would take out all of the other top MVP contenders, sort of like what happened last year when Nikola Jokic was the last man standing.
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Again, all of these things happening together are unlikely. But at 300-1, and with only $20 wagered, we file this one under the &ldquo;nothing ventured, nothing gained&rdquo; department. And with that, let&rsquo;s have a look at the other player-award future markets, and where $20 flier bets might bring some extra anticipation as we count down the longest month&hellip; the one that snakes along before training camps open.
Other odds at BetMGM.com:
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Listed behind Doncic are Joel Embiid and Kevin Durant at +700, Giannis Antetokounmpo at +800, Steph Curry at +900, Damian Lillard at +1100, LeBron James at +1400 and Trae Young and Jokic at +1600. Intriguing prices include James Harden at +2500, Julius Randle at +6600 and Zach LaVine at +8000.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Rudy Gobert is co-favored at +350 along with Ben Simmons, who is still a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and might actually win this award if he comes back to Philly and simply gives up on the idea of being anything other than a distributor and a dunker (especially when open) on the offensive end. Gobert has won the award in three of the past four years, so we are due for a perimeter player to take this one, as Giannis Antetokounmpo did two years ago and Kawhi Leonard did in 2014-15 and 2015-16 before Draymond Green won the award the following season. With that in mind, interesting prices are available on Jrue Holiday (+2000), Jimmy Butler (+4000) and Robert Covington (100-1).
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons is favored at +250, and we should all remember that a team&rsquo;s win-loss record typically impacts voting on this particular award less than all others. So this will be a stat-based race, which may or may not work in Cunningham&rsquo;s favor due to his workload, which should be heavy. The same goes for No. 2 pick Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets (+300), as nobody else had odds lower than 7-1 at this point. A player from outside the top-three in the draft has not won Rookie of the Year since Malcolm Brogdon (No. 36) in 2017, and before that it was Michael Carter-Williams in 2014. If it is to happen this year, might it be Chris Duarte of the Indiana Pacers? Despite being a rookie, he is much older (24) than his draft classmates &ndash; the same age as Brogdon during his rookie year. He is on the board at +3500, and undrafted center Jock Landale of the San Antonio Spurs (who Patty Mills was raving about last week) is 125-1.
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SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR: Incumbent Jordan Clarkson is the +500 favorite ahead of his Utah Jazz teammate Joe Ingles (+1200). The newest Brooklyn Net, Patty Mills, is at +100 along with Kevin Huerter of the Atlanta Hawks. This is a guessing-game category to a large degree if you take into consideration that aside from Lou Williams in 2017 and 2018, nobody has won this award in back-to-back years since Detlef Schrempf did it in 1991 and 1992. Dragic is +1400 in his new home city of Toronto (for now), and Alex Caruso is +3000 with the Chicago Bulls. Thaddeus Young (San Antonio) and Kelly Olynyk (Detroit) are +6600 with their new teams, and Dwight Howard of the Lakers is in a group of players at 100-1.
COACH OF THE YEAR: This award will go to someone who outperforms expectations, so is it out of line to suggest that Tom Thidodeau of the New York Knicks (priced at +2500) is a serious contender to become the first coach to win this award in consecutive seasons since Hubie Brown (who shared the award with Gregg Popovich In 2003 and then won it outright in 2004)? The books have set the Knicks&rsquo; over/under at just 41.2, which basically is setting them up to be a .500 team after they finished fourth in the East last season, 10 games over .500 at 41-31. Steve Nash of Brooklyn (+850) is the favorite, just ahead of Miami&rsquo;s Erik Spoelstra (+900). Jahmal Mosley of Orlando has the longest odds (+8000).
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City is co-favored (+700 along with Zion Williamson), perhaps because he is just about the only NBA-caliber player suiting up for the Thunder in the upcoming season. Intriguing long-odds players include <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-roundtable-which-player-is-poised-to-break-out-next-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com favorite</a> OG Anonudy (+6600) and Seth Curry at +8000.
STAT LEADERS: Bradley Beal (+275) is favored to lead the league in scoring. Clint Capela (+125) is the favorite in rebounding, while James Harden (+120) is tops for assists and Steph Curry (+125) is expected to make the most three-pointers (of course).

In this notebook, Chris Sheridan explains his long-shot MVP bet and takes a look at some interesting odds on the 2021-22 NBA awards.

Betting Notebook: Is Kyle Lowry at 300-1 worth an NBA MVP wager?

Midwest Mania, a high-school tournament that's held in Indianapolis, features a wide age group and players in a variety of situations. Many of the participants are decent high-school players who are looking for an opportunity to get national exposure for the first time. They're hoping this event, which was put together by Chad Babel and MADE Hoops, can serve as their coming-out party.&nbsp;
However, one player in attendance has had a completely different path thus far: high-school sensation Emoni Bates.
At this point, Bates probably doesn&rsquo;t need much of an introduction. He&rsquo;s the youngest player ever to win the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year award, doing it as a sophomore. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was 15 years old. He has been labeled a &ldquo;prodigy&rdquo; and a &ldquo;once-in-a-generation talent.&rdquo; He has already been mentioned as the next in line to follow NBA greats like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. He is currently the No. 1 ranked player in the class of 2022, and although he&rsquo;s committed to Michigan State, many have said they doubt he&rsquo;ll ever step foot on a college campus.&nbsp;
The expectations for Emoni Bates are lofty, to say the least.
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Recently, Bates has had some struggles on the floor. I watched him at Flyin&rsquo; to the Hoop in Dayton, Ohio, a little over a month ago and although he showed flashes of greatness, he did not have a good showing overall. On the second day of that event, TyTy Washington and AZ Compass Prep blew out Emoni&rsquo;s team (Ypsi Prep). Following that game, Washington gained quite a bit of national attention and decommitted from Creighton, and he has been one of the hottest names in the country ever since.
For Midwest Mania, Emoni suited up for his father&rsquo;s team, Bates Fundamentals. In their first game, they faced E1T1, which featured two players from Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School in Tampa, Florida: Dillon Mitchell and Emanuel Sharp. Like TyTy Washington in Dayton, the boys from BMCHS took advantage of this match-up against Bates, using this big stage and national-media audience to gain more recognition. Mitchell, a 6-foot-8 athletic wing, went head-to-head with Bates and was terrific. He went from hardly being on the map to being smack dab in the middle of it. Sharp was impressive as well; he&rsquo;s a tough, assertive scorer, and a good overall player. His father, Derrick Sharp, was a great player for Maccabi Tel Aviv. E1T1 beat Bates Fundamentals with ease, and Mitchell and Sharp walked off the floor as victors in more ways than one.
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Despite a somewhat disappointing performance, Bates and Bates Fundamentals had a chance to redeem themselves in their second game of the day, which was perhaps the main event of Midwest Mania. They faced Team Final, which was a showdown between the top-two players in the class of 2022: Bates and Jalen Duren. Team Final also consisted of other high-level prospects such as Dereck Lively II and Justice Williams.
Bates&rsquo; struggles continued in that game too. His shot selection was questionable and there seemed to be several missed shots between each dramatic shot that he made. He tried to do a little too much (probably because of all the cameras and attention), and he resorted to playing &ldquo;hero ball.&rdquo; Team Final beat Bates Fundamentals, and Duren and his teammates celebrated on the floor.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Twitter was buzzing with critiques of Emoni.
There&rsquo;s no denying that Bates has some things he needs to work on. Personally, I&rsquo;d like to see him pick and choose his spots more, take better shots, move without the ball and become a little more composed.&nbsp;
He has a lot of room for growth, but keep in mind that Emoni is only 17 years old. He&rsquo;s a young guy and, of course, he&rsquo;s still developing.
Considering the cloud of negativity surrounding Emoni at the moment, Bates is still a special talent, in my mind (even though he's had a few games that haven&rsquo;t lived up to everyone&rsquo;s expectations).
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At nearly 6-foot-9, Bates has incredible range with a quick-and-smooth release. He has good handles and is a high-level passer. Many people have compared Bates to Kevin Durant. It&rsquo;s often unfair to compare young prospects to NBA greats, but the similarities between Bates and Durant are undeniable. There have not been many players with their body type and such a unique and high skill level.
Do I think Emoni Bates is a surefire NBA superstar and future Hall of Famer? No, I don&rsquo;t. I think that&rsquo;s a ridiculous expectation to put on any kid. However, I think Bates has as good a chance as any player I&rsquo;ve seen in recent memory due to his natural talent.
Any athlete who has found the ultimate level of success has God-given talent. However, the only way for them to maximize their potential is by continuing to develop. Nobody is done growing at 17 years old. Also, every great athlete faces criticism and adversity at some point. Perhaps this small bump in the road triggers Emoni&rsquo;s inner greatness and allows him to take the next big strides in his development.&nbsp;
If that happens, it&rsquo;s very likely that we&rsquo;ll see a star emerge before our very eyes.

Emoni Bates has struggled as of late, but Matt Babcock still believes in the high-school phenom and his incredible talent.

Despite recent criticism, Emoni Bates remains a special talent

James Posey talks to T.J. Ford about his upbringing, the 2003 NBA Draft, getting traded, how a tough season Indiana strengthened their bond and more.