Seahawks

The Los Angeles Lakers franchise never seems to have a dull moment, and you can bet the roller coaster will continue in 2023.
With another year gone by and 2022 officially in the rearview mirror, it&rsquo;s time for the purple and gold to look ahead. Similar to the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-rumors-7-possible-deals-for-the-los-angeles-lakers-charlotte-hornets-washington-wizards-indiana-pacers-san-antonio-spurs-pistons-magic-knicks-lebron-james-anthony-davis-rob-pelinka" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seven trade scenarios we looked at in last week's article</a>, I've decided to predict five things that could happen with the Lakers in the new year.
Let's take a look.
LeBron James will break the NBA's all-time scoring record sooner than expected
The Lakers season has been underwhelming so far, but LeBron has not been as he continues to play at an ultra-high level even in his 20th season. And now, he&rsquo;s on the verge of making history by surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer.
The question wasn&rsquo;t if he would break the record this season, but when. LeBron has stayed healthy for the most part this year (only missing a handful of games so far) and finds himself just 484 points away from Kareem's mark of 38,387.
If James' scoring binge continues &mdash; he&rsquo;s averaging 36.6 points per game since Christmas, and Darvin Ham has said he will continue to ride him until Anthony Davis returns from injury &mdash; LeBron is going to top Kareem BEFORE the All-Star break.
Here are two dates to target, with both games at home:
<ul>
<li>Oklahoma City Thunder on Feb. 7</li>
<li>Milwaukee Bucks on Feb 9.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
The Lakers finally make a trade... just not the big one
Going back to before the season started, Lakers' fans have been clamoring for Rob Pelinka and the front office to make a deal. And while LA has talked to a lot of teams, the franchise has yet to pull the trigger.
That will change before the Feb. 9 trade deadline, but it won&rsquo;t be that big, potential-game changer that some are hoping for.
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The Lakers have been clinging onto their oh-so-precious, tradeable 2027 and 2029 first-round picks, and the team doesn&rsquo;t seem anxious to include either in a deal at this point. Instead, they&rsquo;d rather count on good returns for minimum-contract players like Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant, and the return of Anthony Davis before the end of January.
LA will do something, but it will be around the edges that will involve the expiring contract(s) of Kendrick Nunn ($5.2M) or Patrick Beverley ($13.0M) and some second-rounders. Think of Josh Richardson, Cam Reddish, or Mason Plumlee &mdash; players who can help now, but also are on expiring deals so the team can preserve its cap space and reset the repeater luxury tax (something owner Jeanie Buss loathes to continue paying).
The Lakers will get into the Play-in Tournament
Somehow, someway, this team will get into the postseason. Right now, LA sits at 17-21, but is just one game back of the sliding Utah Jazz &mdash; losers of five straight &mdash; for the 10th spot in the Western Conference.&nbsp;
The schedule is tough, and they'll need LeBron and Davis to stay/get healthy, but this group won&rsquo;t melt down the stretch like last season; they&rsquo;ll find an avenue into the Play-In. Maybe the Lakers could get as high as the No. 9 spot if things break their way, but that&rsquo;s probably their ceiling at this point. From there, they&rsquo;ll cross their fingers and toes that the LBJ-AD combo can do some damage. Good luck.
LeBron will remain with Lakers next season and beyond
Sure, LeBron is a bit frustrated with this season, and he already sounded off on his &ldquo;playing basketball at this level just to be playing basketball is not in my DNA&rdquo; salvo. And it&rsquo;s not wrong to think that he could get fed up with the situation in La La Land and demand a trade after the season.
(Remember, he cannot be traded during the season because he signed an extension in September and cannot be moved for six months, which is after the trade deadline.)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
lebron james is shooting 72.7% on drives&mdash;and 84.9% at the rim&mdash;since the anthony davis injury <a href="https://t.co/ji0u4Wt2kY">pic.twitter.com/ji0u4Wt2kY</a>
&mdash; Dan Favale (@danfavale) <a href="https://twitter.com/danfavale/status/1611105868736614426?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2023</a></blockquote>

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

LeBron has every right to be upset. Anyone would be, especially a 38-year-old, still-near-his-prime superstar who is chasing one more ring to tie him with Laker greats Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.
With that being said, he&rsquo;s not going anywhere. His sons Bronny (18) and Bryce (15) are entrenched at Sierra Canyon High School, his off-the-court businesses have thrived since moving to California and his family really enjoys the west-coast lifestyle.
LeBron doesn&rsquo;t seem interested in moving his family or being away from them during an NBA season. While he&rsquo;ll continue to put pressure on the front office when it comes to the roster, the bet here is that he&rsquo;s not going anywhere. Well, at least not for the next few seasons.
LA goes big-name hunting and lands one
Nothing says &ldquo;Lakers exceptionalism&rdquo; like the team always looking to add another superstar. And unless the organization makes a trade taking on salary for future years (don&rsquo;t hold your breath), LA is set to have around $30 million in cap space this upcoming offseason. That&rsquo;s not enough to get a star on a max deal, but it could be enough to get a distressed one.
I give you Kyrie Irving.
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While Irving has been a big part of the Brooklyn Nets turning their season around &mdash; now in the No. 3 position in the Eastern Conference at 25-13 &mdash; he&rsquo;s a free agent at the end of the season, and the Nets would still have to make a commitment to him. That could come down to how far they go in the playoffs. Even then, Nets governor Joe Tsai and general Sean Marks could decide they&rsquo;ve had enough of the Kyrie experience.
Of course, the Lakers wouldn&rsquo;t shy away from Irving despite the off-court attention that comes with him. LA is desperate for another big name player. He&rsquo;s probably a much better fit that Russell Westbrook. He definitely is a better long-range shooter. But will his actions off the court get him in trouble? That&rsquo;s a big gamble for most teams.
The Lakers aren&rsquo;t one of them. They embrace chaos. LeBron has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYeEyAqkw_c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly already indicated he would welcome playing with Irving again</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nj.com/nets/2023/01/how-has-kyrie-irvings-recent-stellar-play-with-the-streaking-nets-impacted-his-free-agency-situation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">feeling seems mutual</a>. Despite his sometimes jaw-dropping offensive talent, most teams will steer clear of him. That would allow the Lakers to offer him a good, but less-than-max deal of around two-years, $62M.
Is that enough for Irving? It might be the best deal he gets offered.

Brian Fritz predicts five scenarios that could happen regarding the Lakers in the new year.

Making 5 predictions for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2023

Purdue solidified its No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press men&rsquo;s college basketball poll following UConn&rsquo;s first loss of the season, while No. 23 Charleston moved into the rankings for the first time in 20 years.
The Boilermakers remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week, receiving all but one first-place vote from a 61-person media panel in the poll released Monday. No. 2 Houston and No. 3 Kansas each moved up a spot, and No. 4 UConn dropped two spots after losing to Xavier, which moved up from No. 22 to No. 18. Arizona rounded out the top five.
Purdue lasted only one week after hitting No. 1 for the first time last season, but it has tightened its grip this season since moving to the top spot on Dec. 12.
The Boilermakers (13-0, 2-0 Big Ten) dominated Florida A&amp;M 82-49 last Thursday in its first game in eight days to join No. 21 New Mexico as the nation&rsquo;s only remaining undefeated Division I teams.
&ldquo;Competition is going to get harder and teams are going to know what to scout,&rdquo; Purdue&rsquo;s Mason Gillis said. &ldquo;There are going to be closer games down toward the end. We&rsquo;ll find out who can play under pressure.&rdquo;
UConn (14-1, 3-1 Big East) had been off to its best start since 1998 before losing 83-73 to Xavier, which has won eight straight.
CHARLESTON CHARTING
Charleston put together a solid first season under Pat Kelsey a year ago, winning 17 games. The Cougars almost have matched that already this season to enter the AP Top 25 for the first time since a one-week stint at No. 25 in 2002-03.
Charleston (14-1, 2-0 CAA) lost to then-No. 1 North Carolina in its second game and has since reeled off 13 straight wins. The Cougars outlasted Colonial Athletic Association preseason favorite Towson 76-74 in overtime on Saturday.
LOBOS RISING
New Mexico cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time in eight years last week and won both of its games.
The Lobos beat Colorado State 88-69 on Thursday in front of more than 15,000 people, the largest crowd at The Pit in seven years. They then pulled out a 76-75 win at Wyoming on Saturday for their best start since going 17-0 in 1967-68.
RISING/FALLING
No. 18 Xavier had the largest jump within the poll, climbing four spots after its win over UConn. No. 11 Virginia and No. 12 Miami were the only other teams to climb more than one spot, each moving up two.
No. 19 Baylor had the biggest drop, losing seven places after a 15-point loss to Iowa State, which went from unranked to No. 25. No. 13 Arkansas dropped four spots following a 60-57 loss at LSU.
IN AND OUT
No. 20 Missouri is ranked for the first time since 2020-21 after returning from its holiday break to beat Kentucky by 14.
No. 24 Ohio State returned to the poll after a two-week absence following wins over Alabama A&amp;M and Northwestern. No. 25 Iowa State is back after three unranked weeks, thanks to its win over Baylor.
Kentucky is unranked for the first time in two years, dropping out from No. 19 after its loss to Missouri. Mississippi State fell out from No. 21 following a loss to No. 7 Alabama.
North Carolina&rsquo;s return to the poll didn&rsquo;t last long.
The Tar Heels, the preseason No. 1, moved back into the poll at No. 25 last week after a tumultuous start to the season. North Carolina is again outside looking in, dropping out after losing to Pittsburgh.

The Cougars enter the AP Top 25 for the first time since a one-week stint at No. 25 in 2002-03 as Purdue remains No. 1.

Purdue at No. 1, Charleston ranked for 1st time in 20 years

Spencer Davies details Jamal Cain's climb from Pontiac, Michigan to the NBA level through the lens of longtime friend Mychal Covington.

Outwork everybody: Two-way Heat rookie Jamal Cain catches you sleeping

MARYVILLE, Mo. (AP) &mdash; There is growing fear among college basketball coaches at the lower levels of the sport, the vast majority of which do not make seven-figure salaries, fly around the country in private jets or hang out with rich and famous boosters and fans.
It&rsquo;s a fear that comes with success.
It only takes a couple of marquee players to compete for championships at the Division II or III level, the NAIA or even in low-major Division I leagues. But in an era of freedom of transfer and name, image and likeness endorsement money, the reality is this: If your program is too good, there&rsquo;s a good chance those prolific players will be playing elsewhere next season, recruited to major programs that can offer them more exposure, opportunities and financial benefits.
When it happens, lower-level coaches who might be coming off a 20-win season could be left rebuilding their rosters and fighting for 10 wins and, potentially, their jobs.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s always been an opportunity to poach kids if you want to poach them, but it&rsquo;s all become easier now,&rdquo; said Joe Lombardi, the longtime coach of Division II powerhouse Indiana (Pa.). &ldquo;I believe in karma. I&rsquo;m not doing that, OK? But some places it has become a way of life. It&rsquo;s disappointing that people invest in kids and, you know, they get poached.
&ldquo;They don&rsquo;t just go to the market,&rdquo; Lombardi added. &ldquo;Some do, but a lot of them are talked into it.&rdquo;
His team reached the Final Four last season thanks largely to shooting guard Armoni Foster, who averaged 18 points for the Crimson Hawks, but who will be playing Division I ball for Buffalo this season. And while Lombardi encouraged him to seek a better opportunity for his final year of eligibility, the coach acknowledges that won&rsquo;t always be the case.
Especially when players no longer have to sit out a year under the NCAA&rsquo;s transfer rules.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had guys that Division I schools made overtures about and I&rsquo;m eventually going to lose someone, and it might not be amicable,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;I might not be happy with the move. But if you&rsquo;re in it long enough, that will happen.&rdquo;
It happened at Nova Southeastern, the top seed in the NCAA Tournament last year. Sekou Sylla, who averaged 22.4 points and 10.4 rebounds for the Division II program, will be playing for Towson at the Division I level this season.
And it happened at Hillsdale, another strong Division II program, where Patrick Cartier caught the attention of Colorado State. And at Bentley, which saw shooting guard Colton Lawrence follow up a strong season by leaving for Maryland-Baltimore County, a low-major program but nonetheless an opportunity for him to compete at the Division I level.
Even the bluest of the bluebloods have kept their eyes open for lower-level transfers.
Cam Martin, a bruising 6-foot-9 forward, was a two-time All-American for Missouri Southern who chose to continue his career elsewhere. He landed at Kansas, the defending Division I national champion, about a 3-hour drive from the Lions&rsquo; campus in Joplin but light years away in terms of opportunity and experience.
Martin, who graduated from Missouri Southern and is pursuing his graduate degree at Kansas, went from starting every game and playing major minutes to being a key practice player but rarely seeing the floor in actual games.
&ldquo;You have the good and bad stories that come of it,&rdquo; acknowledged Dennis Gates, the new Missouri coach who brought three players with him when he was hired from Cleveland State. &ldquo;But the rules give student-athletes an opportunity, no different than coaches have opportunities now, to represent a different program.&rdquo;
Still, as TCU coach Jamie Dixon admitted, the fact that players no longer have to sit out has changed the dynamic.
&ldquo;A kid having success at a lower conference than, say, the Big 12, was likely not to transfer and sit out because he&rsquo;s playing well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s getting his minutes. Why would he want to sit out?&rdquo;
When the NCAA removed that impediment, it became easier for players to move on &mdash; and move up. And when NIL legislation came along, allowing players to profit off their celebrity, it created a situation where high-major programs can effectively offer financial benefits unavailable at most lower-level programs.
Throw in the chance to compete at a higher level and it&rsquo;s hard for kids to turn their back on the opportunity.
Fardaws Aimaq remembers playing for Utah Valley in the WAC Tournament last spring, and five or six NBA scouts were sitting in a corner. Aimaq dominated the first half of the Wolverines&rsquo; game, only to see the scouts get up and walk out, and he recalled thinking, &ldquo;Why did they leave?&rdquo; Aimaq texted his advisers afterward, and the answer was simple: &ldquo;They wanted to know if I was really that good or the competition was not that good.&rdquo;
Aimaq ended up transferring from the low-major school to Texas Tech in the hopes of raising his NBA draft profile this season.
&ldquo;Leaving was hard,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but it was just the best decision for me business-wise.&rdquo;
Just like it was for Malachi Smith, a prolific shooting guard who spent the last two seasons at Chattanooga but will play for Gonzaga this season, or Johni Broome, a 6-10 forward who transferred from Morehead State to Auburn.
Transfers go both ways, of course. Plenty of players leave high-majors for low-majors, or even lower divisions, where they might go from benchwarmer to starter. But they are typically easier for big-budget programs to replace.
It&rsquo;s tougher to accept at small schools, though, when a player who might have slipped through the recruiting cracks not only got an opportunity to play but was also developed over time &mdash; only to take their game somewhere else.
&ldquo;There could be a great player at Division III. I will not make an overture for that kid. I will not do it,&rdquo; said Lombardi, the Division II coach at Indiana (Pa.) &ldquo;Maybe I would if I was 10-20 for three straight seasons &mdash; I might then. But I just don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s for the good of the kid or the good of athletics.&rdquo;

There is growing fear among college basketball coaches at the lower levels of the sport.

Portal chaos puts pressure on hoops coaches in lower levels

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) &mdash; A dramatic roster overhaul has left the Utah Jazz with a load of new faces entering this season.
Utah traded Royce O&rsquo;Neale, Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, and Bojan Bogdanovic in separate deals over the summer, effectively tearing down a team that endured a series of disappointing early playoff exits. Following that flurry of offseason moves, Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson, and Rudy Gay are the only returning players who played significant minutes last season.
&ldquo;It was a roller coaster, honestly,&rdquo; Conley said. &ldquo;A lot of unknown. You didn&rsquo;t know who was staying, who was going.&rdquo;
Utah likely isn&rsquo;t done wheeling and dealing. Eighteen Jazz players have guaranteed contracts entering training camp, and the team must trim that number to 15 before the start of the season.
Utah general manager Justin Zanik said the Jazz are focused on building around young players in the early stages of their NBA careers who can grow into larger roles. Continued roster reshaping has left Utah with a blend of hungry younger players and a sprinkle of veterans &mdash; all eager to prove their worth.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re a really energetic group,&rdquo; first-year coach Will Hardy said. &ldquo;I would say there&rsquo;s a collective toughness. We have a lot of players that have a chip on their shoulder and I think that&rsquo;s really powerful to have guys that are competitive and feel like they have something to prove.&rdquo;
Lowered expectations have greeted the Jazz with the departures of former franchise cornerstones Gobert and Mitchell. The roster is filled with unproven talent and role players. For that reason, Utah is not expected to be in playoff contention this season while undertaking a massive rebuild.
However, the new-look Jazz embrace the season ahead as an opportunity to show they can exceed expectations and still claim a playoff spot.
&ldquo;We all want to win,&rdquo; guard Collin Sexton said. &ldquo;We see what everybody is saying about us, but we want to go out and prove people wrong and also show ourselves we can do it.&rdquo;
HEALTHY AGAIN
A torn left meniscus sidelined Sexton after only 11 games last season. The Cavaliers sent him to Utah in a sign-and-trade as part of the deal to acquire Mitchell. Sexton, the eighth overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft, averaged a career best 24.3 points and 4.4 assists two years ago and appeared to be on an NBA All-Star trajectory before his injury.
Sexton acknowledged feeling frustration while sitting out for several months. Now, after signing a four-year, $72 million deal with the Jazz, he&rsquo;s eager to show he hasn&rsquo;t lost a step since the injury.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I am back and back to 100%,&rdquo; Sexton said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited for the season and excited to get out there with my teammates.&rdquo;
FRESH STARTS
Gay's first season with the Jazz ended on a sour note. The 17-year veteran played only 55 games following offseason heel surgery and posted a career-low 8.1 points per game on 41.4% shooting.
Gay eventually fell out of former coach Quin Snyder&rsquo;s rotation late in the season and did not appear in a single playoff game. It pushed him to put in extra work over the offseason to reclaim a larger role in the season ahead.
&ldquo;Imagine you (the media) coming into this room and not being able to ask questions,&rdquo; Gay said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s how I felt last year. So, I came ready to play and I want to play.&rdquo;
In a similar vein, Conley wants to show his struggles in the playoffs were an aberration. The veteran point guard averaged 9.2 points on 33.3% shooting and 4.8 assists over six games against Dallas.
Trade uncertainty still surrounds both veterans given Utah&rsquo;s desire to rebuild around younger players. For now, their focus is on preparing to spend a full season with the Jazz.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 10 toes in until they tell me I&rsquo;m not,&rdquo; Conley said.
HIGH AMBITIONS
Entering his seventh NBA season, Malik Beasley has set his sights on remaking his image.
The Jazz acquired Beasley from Minnesota as part of the trade that sent Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves. He averaged 15.1 points and 3.5 rebounds in 2 &frac12; seasons with the Timberwolves.
Beasley has set lofty goals for himself in Utah &ndash; playing in all 82 regular-season games, becoming an NBA All-Star, and winning the league&rsquo;s community assist award.
&ldquo;My goal is to stay here as long as I can and do what we&rsquo;re supposed to do,&rdquo; Beasley said.
QUOTABLE
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard it all about me being his other brother or a clone. Let&rsquo;s face it, we both got the same hair color, same face, and jawline. I feel like Coach (Hardy) should be complimented that he looks like me.&rdquo; &mdash; Rookie center Walker Kessler joking about his striking physical resemblance to Hardy.
&nbsp;

After an offseason of trading its superstars and reshaping its team, the Utah Jazz is focused on building around its young players.

New-look Utah Jazz focused on new, competitive identity

The Atlanta Hawks are heading into training camp looking for a bit of a reboot.
First up: improving the communication between coach Nate McMillan and star guard Trae Young.
McMillan already got the ball rolling after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-atlanta-hawks-nba-sports-1c8157e72efbe6347914f1dcb55626fc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Hawks were eliminated</a>&nbsp;in the opening round of the playoffs,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-atlanta-hawks-nba-sports-1309479d3c7f8fdef6159bbf924edbec" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a bitter comedown</a>&nbsp;from their run to the Eastern Conference final in 2021.
In June, the coach hopped on a flight to visit Young at his Oklahoma City home, wanting to make sure everyone was on the same page when camp began Saturday.
&ldquo;One of the big areas that I feel we need to improve on is the connection between the two of us,&rdquo; McMillan said. &ldquo;I think we need to be better at communicating with each other and what we want to do and how we want to go about doing it.&rdquo;
The coach also wants Young, who turned 24 less than a week ago, to claim more of a leadership role, both on the court and in the locker room.
"He&rsquo;s the face of the franchise and it&rsquo;s something that he has just inherited,&rdquo; McMillan said. &ldquo;He will have to work at it and become better.&rdquo;
Young brushed off any attempt to suggest a rift between the coach and his biggest star.
&ldquo;I think you&rsquo;re trying to reach for something that isn&rsquo;t there. The relationship isn&rsquo;t rocky,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;We can all be better in areas. We&rsquo;re all trying to get better. We&rsquo;re not trying to stay the same.&rdquo;
While there was plenty of speculation that the Hawks were headed for a major overhaul after their playoff flop, they decided to keep much of the roster intact.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-clippers-lakers-nba-sports-russell-westbrook-1848f98b0610b0de45f8336b9425d774" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The big move</a>&nbsp;was a trade that landed All-Star guard Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs for three first-round draft picks.
Murray provides the Hawks with another ballhandling guard who can play the point, giving Young a chance to work more without the ball.
That is an element that McMillan wants to develop after watching the Miami Heat stifle Young in the playoffs, giving the Hawks few other options to get the offense rolling.
Murray also should help improve an atrocious defense that was perhaps the most significant factor in the team failing to live up to expectations. He led the league in steals a season ago and was a second-team member of the NBA&rsquo;s all-defensive team in 2018.
While everyone was all smiles during a photo shoot and interview session, it will be intriguing to see how Young &mdash; only the second player in NBA history to lead the league in both total points and total assists &mdash; adapts to Murray assuming some of the playmaking duties.
McMillan said the team was in constant contact with Young as the trade unfolded.
&ldquo;As I told him, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re bringing in another guard, and an All-Star guard. Do you know what that means for you? You&rsquo;ll be playing without the ball more than you probably ever have,&rsquo;&rdquo; McMillan recounted. &ldquo;He was really excited about the opportunity to play off the ball, learn to play off the ball, and play with Murray.&rdquo;
Murray expects it to be a productive relationship, though it may take a while to really click.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to step on any toes,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They have a great thing going here. Trae earned the rights of who he is with this organization. I&rsquo;m coming to help.&rdquo;
McMillan wants his entire team to recapture some of the camaraderie that was clearly there during the unexpected playoff run two seasons ago.
To that end, the Hawks are taking an extended trip to Abu Dhabi, where are they&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-wizards-golden-state-warriors-atlanta-hawks-milwaukee-bucks-nba-89bb1e8f0e5a50f90a0709843fa04040" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scheduled to play a pair of preseason games</a>&nbsp;against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Atlanta will depart next Friday and spend nine days in Middle East before returning to the States for their final two preseason contests.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great opportunity for our guys to bond. We are looking at trying to put them in position for that to happen,&rdquo; McMillan said &ldquo;We want our guys to spend that time together.&rdquo;
It should also give Young a chance to begin flexing his leadership qualities.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been a leader by example,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still learning how to be a leader vocally. It&rsquo;s not that I don&rsquo;t do it; it&rsquo;s just how can I be better at it. I think that&rsquo;s what Nate is talking about.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Our relationship is great,&prime; Young added. &ldquo;My teammates love me, I love my teammates. Now we&rsquo;re going to try to win this championship.&rdquo;

Nate McMillan believes that he and Trae Young need to improve their connection and "be better at communicating with each other."

Hawks look to improve communication between Nate McMillan, Trae Young

CHICAGO &ndash; The National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA) and Intersport announced details for the inaugural Legends of Basketball Showcase, a college basketball quadruple header set for Dec. 17 at the United Center in Chicago.
As part of the four-game set, Northern Iowa will face Towson and Tulane will take on George Mason, while Dayton matches up against Wyoming and NC State will battle Vanderbilt. In the afternoon session, Northern Iowa will face Towson at Noon CT and Tulane will take on George Mason at 2:30 p.m., while the evening session will feature Dayton matching up against Wyoming at 7 p.m. and NC State battling Vanderbilt at 9:30 p.m. Television designations will be announced in the coming weeks.
Tickets for the Legends of Basketball Showcase, a college basketball quadruple header set for Dec. 17 at the United Center in Chicago, will go on sale Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT. Tickets can be purchased by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or by visiting the United Center box office. &nbsp; Tickets, which start at $29, will be sold by session, and one ticket will be good for both games of a session.&nbsp;
Founded in 1992, the NBRPA serves former professional basketball players in their transition into life after basketball. &nbsp;The NBRPA is the only alumni association of its kind supported directly by the NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).
&ldquo;The NBRPA is thrilled to partner with Intersport to present the Legends of Basketball Showcase for the upcoming college basketball season,&rdquo; said Scott Rochelle, President &amp; CEO NBRPA. &ldquo;With NBRPA membership, including several executive board directors having deep ties to the participating college basketball programs, this event is a natural fit for us to bring to fruition. We look forward, to what promises to be an extraordinary day and night of top-notch college hoops entertainment.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Intersport is excited to partner with the NBRPA and help them extend their already well-established presence in the basketball community,&rdquo; said Mark Starsiak, vice president of basketball at Intersport, which will manage the event. &ldquo;As we continue to grow our robust portfolio of successful basketball events around the country, we are eager to create a major annual showcase event alongside another Chicago-based organization right here in our hometown.&rdquo;
The eight programs competing in the Legends of Basketball Showcase have produced a combined 204 NBA Draft selections, while several coaches participating in the event have connections to the NBRPA, and vice versa.
At the helm of Vanderbilt is 18-year NBA veteran Jerry Stackhouse, the former No. 3 overall draft pick and two-time All-Star who appeared in 970 games for eight teams. Wyoming assistant coach Shaun Vandiver is a former first-round pick (25th overall) by the Golden State Warriors in the 1991 NBA Draft. George Mason head coach Kim English was drafted in the 2nd Round (44th overall) of the 2012 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons and Northern Iowa assistant coach Seth Tuttle played for the Miami Heat&rsquo;s Summer League team in 2015.
NBRPA Board Chairman Johnny Davis is a Dayton alum, leading the Flyers in scoring for three consecutive seasons (1973-76) before spending nearly four decades with the NBA as a player, front office executive, assistant and head coach. Additionally, two NBRPA Board Members are NC State alums. Thurl Bailey, who led the Wolfpack in both scoring and rebounding during the team&rsquo;s miracle 1983 NCAA Championship season before embarking on a 13-season NBA career, and Chucky Brown, who led NC State in scoring in 1988 (16.6 ppg) and rebounding in 1989 season (8.8 rpg).
It will be the first matchup between Northern Iowa and Towson and the third between Tulane and George Mason, with the teams splitting the prior two contests. Dayton and Wyoming have also met twice previously, with Dayton winning in December 2004 and Wyoming winning in January 2004. The contest between NC State and Vanderbilt will be the sixth all time, with the Commodores owning a 3-2 edge in the series. Each of the previous three matchups have been neutral site contests, with NC State winning the last matchup in 2018.

The inaugural Legends of Basketball Showcase will be a college basketball quadruple header set for Dec. 17 at the United Center.

Inaugural Legends of Basketball Showcase set for Dec. 17 in Chicago

EuroBasket 2022 is in the books, and this year's tournament was another reminder that a well-oiled team machine can still outlast the brightest individual stars on the planet.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic instantly made their countries favorites to win gold, and even had some of the best supporting casts in the field. But the final four squads &mdash; France, Germany, Poland and Spain &mdash; had one NBA All-Star on their rosters combined. The bracket stage was a true display of just how much basketball talent is spread around the globe.
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These six particularly stood out with some remarkable performances over three weeks. No former NBA All-Stars were considered; they obviously were among the best of the best. The following players might be less heralded in the United States, but any basketball fan should appreciate the runs they put together at EuroBasket.
Lorenzo Brown, Spain
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Spain took home the gold medal against France behind 27 points from Juancho Hernangomez. His brother Willy led the team in per-game scoring across the whole tournament. But Spain does not get to gold without Brown, an NBA castoff who has carved his niche in Europe over the past several years.&nbsp;
The 32-year-old guard averaged 15.2 points and 7.6 assists per contest. He dropped 29 points in a massive semifinal win against Germany, then had 14 points and 11 assists in the title bout. His veteran experience is apparent, and Spain creatively used Brown to keep France on its toes by running him off of ball-screens and mixing in pick-and-roll possessions. Brown in turn knew just when and where his teammates would be when France rotated. The above passes are exquisite; the third clip is my personal favorite.
Simone Fontecchio, Italy
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
For one last time in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EuroBasket?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EuroBasket</a> 2022: Pasta. Pizza. Fontecchio. 🇮🇹 21 PTS 5 REB 4/7 3FG% SIMONEFONTECCHIO gave a hard fight against France 💪 <a href="https://t.co/qT6FEkdMzm">pic.twitter.com/qT6FEkdMzm</a>
&mdash; FIBA (@FIBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBA/status/1570104678653779968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Want to talk about an underrated offseason signing? The Utah Jazz added Fontecchio, a 6-foot-8-inch wing, on a multi-year contract this summer, and if Utah fans checked in on Italy, they saw Fontecchio lighting it up beyond the arc. The 26-year-old canned 45.1% of his 7.3 threes attempted per game and averaged 19.4 points across the tournament.
Fontecchio is simply an entertaining scorer. He can pull up from long range with all sorts of dribble and spin moves and still get into his sweet shooting stroke. He's a solid cutter and transition player, and while not a highlight-reel dunker, he has an underrated level of explosion. I really think Fontecchio's going to suprise fans next season if the Jazz give him extended minutes.
Lauri Markkanen, Finland
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Most U.S. fans probably picture Markkanen as your prototypical stretch forward. At EuroBasket, he was&nbsp;so&nbsp;much more. Markkanen was one of the tournament's most dominant players, putting up 27.9 points and 8.1 rebounds while shooting 61.5% from two-point range and 40.5% behind the arc.&nbsp;
Talk about emptying the bag &mdash; Markkanen was posting up, facing up, flying off cuts, initiating with drives, stepping back and finishing. He had a massive 43-point showcase against Croatia where he appeared blatantly unstoppable. Maybe a run like this encourages Utah to experiment more with Markkanen's usage stateside.
Dzanan Musa, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Once a first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets, Musa fell out of the NBA, but has settled in overseas. He averaged 21.4 points, 4.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game with his home country and really applied pressure as a driver. Musa frequently went at bigs in conservative coverages &mdash; including guys like Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas &mdash; with his combination of quick-twitch handle and finishing touch.&nbsp;
Musa also made a noteworthy 45% of his triples. He's never had much of a three-point stroke up until last season in Liga ACB play, but it seems the swingman is really developing confidence. Musa is still just 23 and definitely has the ability to jump back into the NBA should teams pursue him.
Alperen Sengun, Turkey
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Turkey had a really fun run to the EuroBasket quarterfinals with the 20-year-old fueling the success. Sengun is on the smaller side of NBA centers, but against these opponents, he had more chances to physically dominate and go to work in the post. His speed on some of these spin moves is still incredible &mdash; just look at Hernangomez's reaction after this first bucket.
Sengun stymied teams with his post play and interior passing en route to 16.5 points per game. He's a secure cornerstone for the Houston Rockets at this point. Sure, it's fair to wonder how Sengun's skill set helps Houston once it reaches contender status. But there's no denying Sengun is amazing, regardless of his age, as a post scorer and passing big man.&nbsp;
Aleksandar Vezenkov, Bulgaria
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"Sasha" Vezenkov only played five EuroBasket contests after Bulgaria went 1-4 and missed out on the bracket stage. But he deserves a shoutout because he absolutely dominated his matchups. Vezenkov's box score line is bonkers: 27.0 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists while shooting 56.6% on twos and 40.5% on nearly 8 threes per game.
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The perimeter scoring is frankly ridiculous. Vezenkov is more than a stretch forward or a movement shooter. At 6-foot-9, he's got a stable enough handle to threaten teams by putting the ball on the floor. At the same time, he's got this absurd, quick lefty shot, and can contort himself all sorts of ways without compromising his form.&nbsp;
The Sacramento Kings quietly acquired the rights to Vezenkov from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for the No. 49 pick in this summer's NBA Draft (which became Isaiah Mobley). The 26-year-old reportedly won't come to the U.S. this summer, as he looks to defend a Greek League title with Olympiacos Piraeus and back up his All-EuroLeague First Team selection. But if you're thinking of tuning into some European hoops, Vezenkov should be considered a must-watch talent.

Alperen Sengun, Lauri Markkanen and Dzanan Musa were among the brightest stars at EuroBasket 2022.

EuroBasket 2022: 6 players who stood out in the tournament

We need a bit of context to truly grasp the remarkable nature of RJ Barrett's development in the NBA.
Barrett just wrapped up his third professional season and turned 22 years old in June. He is younger than several incoming rookies, including No. 14 overall pick Ochai Agbaji and No. 31 pick Andrew Nembhard. He recently signed a four-year contract extension worth $120 million &mdash; a lot of money for sure, but nowhere near the rookie maximum.
Yet, despite these indicators that Barrett is still a very young basketball player with ample room to grow, he is already taking on some of the heaviest two-way physical demands we've seen from someone his age.
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The third overall pick from 2019 averaged 13.7 adjusted drives per 75 possessions in 2021-22. Barrett attacked relentlessly, and far more than his New York Knicks teammates. Driving with the basketball is one of the most taxing moves a player can make on offense. It requires the wherewithal to handle the ball and assess the court's shifting spaces, the lower-body strength to explode by defenders and the core and upper-body strength to fend off contact and, then, shoot or pass. These bursts of energy, physicality and processing are not easy to successfully replicate over and over.
And that's just one side of the game. Barrett also graded out as a defender who faced some of the toughest opponents. The BBall Index has created a <a href="https://www.bball-index.com/glossary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matchup Difficulty metric</a> to try and quantify this. Barrett earned a plus-1.66 score, meaning his defensive assignments were more challenging than 95% of the NBA &mdash; requiring an elite combination of physical tools, focus and understanding of concepts to be successful.
With a few charts (sourced from BBall Index), we can place Barrett's responsibilities in the wider frame of the league. Here's a plot of every NBA player who logged at least 1,000 minutes and their numbers in those two categories. I additionally colorized the dots with BBall Index's Defensive Role estimator to add some clarity about what might be changing on defense.
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Several of the league's most frequent drivers &mdash; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic, for example &mdash; had very low matchup difficulty scores on defense, and their roles were even estimated as "Low Activity." Then, you have the elite defensive stoppers in the top-left corner who barely drive the ball. Barrett, who is labeled in yellow, kind of balances in the middle.
Zooming in gives more of an appreciation for his company. The below chart cuts off at 8.0 drives per 75 possessions; it's an arbitrary choice, but a fair one, I think, that encompasses just under 100 players. It also begins vertically at a matchup difficulty rating of zero. I won't break out the ol' AP Stats textbook, but these scores are based on Z-Scores that relate to each other, meaning a "zero" is average among the NBA. With these boundaries, we get down to 55 players:
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Barrett stands out more clearly here as a player who drives frequently before turning around and staring down tough defensive assignments. He's in the company of household names like Jrue Holiday, Jimmy Butler and Fred VanVleet, and he's one of 10 players in this chart who was under 22 years old last season. This isn't to say he matches the impact, of course, but Barrett has a general reputation as a quality defender for his experience level.
This could be restricted even further to players who only take on very difficult matchups. If we cut the chart at 1.0 (about the 84th percentile for Matchup Difficulty), Barrett would be one of only 15 players to stay on the board &mdash; and one of only three players 21 or younger, along with Kevin Porter Jr. and Jalen Suggs.
This type of two-way role is exceptionally unusual for someone of Barrett's age and position. Take a look at the 21-and-under players sinced 2014 who have averaged at least 8 drives per 75 possessions with a Matchup Difficulty score over 1.0:
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Sixteen seasons make the cut. Fourteen of those seasons were from young point guards, who often got thrown into the fire with bad teams. Second-year Andrew Wiggins is the only other wing, and he barely cleared the thresholds (and wasn't nearly as good a player).&nbsp;
Barrett is one of the youngest two-way catalysts in the NBA, and he's taken on the responsibility with relative success. Oh yeah &mdash; and he's playing on the biggest stage in the country.
Obviously, though, he can be better, as he referenced on Monday's live stream interview discussing his new contract.
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"I'm always working on my finishing, and just being able to shoot [and] shoot off the dribble," Barrett told Monica McNutt. "Many things. Free throws &mdash; holy, we've been shooting a lot of free throws, things of that nature."
Barrett averaged 16.2 drives per game after Jan. 1, which ranked eighth across the entire league, per Second Spectrum. But he made just 41.1% of his shots off of drives, ranking third-worst among 64 players who drove to the basket at least 8 times per game. His overall at-rim clip of 55% ranked in the 15th percentile among wings, according to Cleaning the Glass.
The finishing, despite Barrett's superb and improving aggression, remains perhaps the biggest target for critics. It's an area several leading basketball minds have dissected, and a place that can turn him from a volume-based scorer into a dominant, efficient spark.&nbsp;
<a href="https://theathletic.com/3548723/2022/08/31/rj-barrett-knicks-polarizing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam Vecenie of&nbsp;The Athletic</a>&nbsp;noted how important it is for Barrett to develop a right-hand finish. To piggyback, according to InStat Scouting, Barrett made just 36% of his at-rim attempts with his right hand vs. a still-rough-but-better 40% (on over 280 more attempts) with his left.
<a href="Mark%20Schindler%20de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Schindler detailed for UPROXX</a> how improving pull-up and foul-grifting games could help Barrett keep defenders on their toes against his drives. Barrett is drawing more fouls; per Cleaning the Glass, 14.7% of his shots came with a whistle, placing in the 92nd percentile among wings.
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As Schindler wrote, Barrett has enticing potential as someone who can capitalize on second-side swings and kick-outs by continuing to apply pressure as a driver. He's strong and fast with a much-improved handle and court vision that is approaching refinement. But New York rarely surrounded its rising star with the right blend of spacing and complementary aggression.
This year, those pieces might come together, starting with new acquisition Jalen Brunson.
"Jalen's great. He's really smart. He's a hard worker; he works on his game a lot," Barrett said. "He has natural leadership ability too. Just being around him, guys gravitate towards him as well, so I think him and I will work together very well &mdash; especially us being lefties, that'll be very good."
Brunson is one of the elite driving threats in the NBA. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-stats-notebook-jalen-brunson-is-in-the-drivers-seat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I wrote about this specifically</a> back when he was popping off for the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs. Brunson has proven himself as both a secondary pressure-cooker and a lead initiator, and it's easy to see how he can ease some of the load on Barrett.
The Knicks also have Immanuel Quickley, who continues to be one of my favorite young players to watch in the league &mdash; full stop. Quickley has picked up his pace as an attacker; he averaged 6.6 drives per game before the All-Star break and 10.3 afterwards. Like Brunson, he's another point guard who doubles as a quality catch-and-shoot option, and deserves to start next season.&nbsp;
Julius Randle can hit the gas pedal, and he's due for a happy medium between his 2020-21 breakout and last season's struggles. Obi Toppin and Jericho Sims keep defensive help in check as lob threats. Evan Fournier can still shoot it (and is still only 29?). New York has enough support for Barrett to find those extra spaces to dribble, shoot or pass when he puts the ball on the floor.
Driving and guarding tough matchups is not the only example of a demanding two-way role. But it certainly is a big one. Barrett ran the ninth-most miles (2.63) per NBA game last season, and his average speed (4.30 mph) ranked 21st of 124 players who averaged two-plus miles per game. He played 70 games after completing a full 72-game season in 2020-21; the durability in his role is impressive.
Barrett is gaining more experience, and succeeding more frequently, in a context few players receive at his age. Yes, he can markedly improve in several areas. But the man has tons of time and is surrounded by teammates who can help him be successful.
The growing pains of a 22-year-old franchise centerpiece should not overshadow the unique trajectory of his stardom.

RJ Barrett is a rare young NBA player who takes on major offensive and defensive responsibilities.

Understanding RJ Barrett's uniquely heavy burden with the Knicks

With 6.8 seconds left in Game 1, the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces needed a bucket to stay alive.
Down three, 2022 Coach of the Year Becky Hammon drew up "Winner", a nifty end-of-game set most recently popularized by former Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, if you care about that kind of background.
The set calls for a big to receive a cross screen before receiving a long inbound pass from the opposite sideline. After the big receives the pass, a perimeter player is tasked with coming off a screen above the break. If timed and executed correctly, an open three-point shot should be created. <a href="https://youtu.be/c7i0Fs7QfgY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">When it's run well</a>, it looks like this:
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This is what happened when the Aces ran it.
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Jackie Young doesn't even set the cross screen for A'ja Wilson; she essentially "ghosts" the screen and jets to the corner. While that's being whiffed, Chelsea Gray -- one of the best passers on the planet -- throws the pass where Wilson is supposed to be. She wasn't, so that leads to some bobbling of the ball.
While&nbsp;that&nbsp;is happening, Kiah Stokes is setting the second of a pair of screens for Kelsey Plum. She sets one during the cross screen segment of the play to occupy Tina Charles (and bump Sue Bird), then flips the screen to the opposite side to free Plum for the actual shot. Stokes doesn't get a ton of contact on the first screen, and flat out misses on the second; the latter allows Bird to duck under Stokes and contest Plum's shot.&nbsp;
The look was still a solid one for Plum, a testament to how good the play call was. But the fact that it was a solid look instead of an open one speaks to a lack of thoroughness. The screening was off. The timing was off. Enough of the little things were mishandled to minimize the effectiveness of the play.
Would Plum have drained a three if the second screen from Stokes connected, allowing Plum to sip a cup of coffee due to being so open? We don't know. Great shooters miss great shots, and Plum very well could've missed it either way. It's just a shame that we didn't get a chance to find out.
Compare that to this clutch bucket by Jewell Loyd to give the Storm a 73-71 lead.
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The Storm set up a high ball screen because they know the Aces would switch the matchup. Once Breanna Stewart drives Young back and draws a double team, Stephanie Talbot cuts from the left wing to the right corner to distort Gray's help responsibilities. Sue Bird recognizes this and fires a pass to Talbot. She's able to attack a flustered Stokes from there, and the rotations to help on that drive free Loyd for a crucial shot.
Everything was done with intention.&nbsp;
The final score, a 76-73 win for the Storm, doesn't properly indicate how much better the Storm's execution was on both ends of the floor. That the Aces still had a chance to win is a testament to their talent and willpower. They'll simply need the execution and attention to finer details to turn things around in Game 2.
"I think the biggest thing we have to work on is our defense," Aces center Iliana Rupert said after practice on Tuesday.&nbsp;
"We made a lot of little mistakes, especially in transition. At one point, I think they scored six straight points, basically off of layups. When it comes to a game decided by a few points, you think about those actions."
Kiah Stokes offered similar sentiments.
"We only lost by three points, and we did&nbsp;so&nbsp;many things wrong," Stokes said.
"We gotta focus on cleaning up the little things, being a little sharper, and hopefully get rid of the stupid turnovers, fast break points, and things that we can control."
On the defensive front, the Aces never seemed to have a firm handle on the Storm's offense. They shot poorly, but their shot quality was pretty high. It especially stood out in the opening quarter, where the Aces reverted to their trapping style of ball screen coverage they displayed to begin the season.&nbsp;
"Our intention was to get the ball out of Jewell's hands when she was coming off a screen, but she did a great job of baiting the trap and getting rid of it early," Stokes told Basketball News.
"I think going forward, it's going to be more mixing things up and keeping her on her toes; keep her guessing between us trapping or short-hedging. Our focus point now is making the guards uncomfortable so they don't know what we're doing, make 'em think. It's easy, if you know we're going to trap, to one-dribble towards the screen, back away, kick it to Tina [Charles] and then they have open shots. Luckily for us, they missed those shots, but we don't want them to have those looks because they're a great team."
"They're smart players," Rupert told Basketball News.
"They know how to attack every defense, and I think they quickly understood the changes we made [to begin the game] and knew how to adapt. They had open looks -- luckily they didn't make them -- but that's why we changed a little bit [after the first quarter.]
You can get a feel for how quickly the Storm picked apart the Aces' aggressive scheme below. These aren't all makes, but they're all quality looks.
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Offensively, the Aces didn't have a ton of success. It's easy to point to their 6-of-23 clip from three and dub it as an anomoly. It may be, but the larger issue was the quality of those shots.
The offense as a whole didn't function particularly well. The Storm threw a wrench into the Aces' plans by flat-out ignoring Stokes away from the ball. That made it easier to load up on Wilson, who finished the game with eight points and a more-disturbing 10 shot attempts. Wilson only attempted one shot in the fourth quarter.
"The dunker or short corner is where I'm going to get most of my open shots," Stokes told Basketball News.
"One thing we did notice was that my defender wasn't really guarding me; they were acting more as a helper. So if I continue to cut and at least occupy the defense, it's either going to give me an easy layup or it'll allow A'ja to go 1-on-1 instead of 1-on-2; Kelsey [Plum] will be able to get downhill against one [player] instead of one and the big coming over to help."
"For me, it's just continuing to space [correctly], continuing to cut, catching passes and finishing at the rim."
The opening possession of the game was a great example of the opportunities that were, and will be, available for Stokes.
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It's a good design from the Aces. They stack the right wing with Young and Stokes while Gray, Wilson, and Plum occupy the left side of the floor. A Gray-Wilson ball screen with Plum in the strong side corner -- and Wilson rolling to Plum's side -- is a great way to put Bird in a bind as a helper.&nbsp;
Ideally, Bird would have to choose between tagging Wilson on the roll and leaving Plum open, or sticking with Plum and giving Wilson an open lane to roll into. It doesn't really work becuase Charles is parked at the free throw line to cut off a potential drive from Gray. Stokes does a great job of cutting behind the help, but misses the layup.
Stokes will have to capitalize on those openings. On a basic level, duh, you want players to make open shots. But Stokes has to nail those shots so the Storm aren't comfortable ignoring her. That will open the floor for everyone, which in turn will make life more difficult for the Storm.
Cutting will help. Flashing to the middle of the floor is another counter to keep an eye on. Stokes attempted a middle flash to set up a high-low with Wilson, but Stewart made a DPOY-level play by anticipating the entry pass and picking it off.
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It didn't work out, and it took a little long for things to set up for my liking. But it's more low-hanging fruit for the Aces to grab. If they're able to do so, we're going to have a fun series on our hands as things shift to Seattle.

Nekias Duncan breaks down some of the little things that plagued the Aces in their Game 1 loss, including insight from players.

Aces must clean up 'little things' to regain control of series

What happens is the crux of any conversation. Results spur on ideology and conjecture. Wins, losses, box scores and stat lines invite slander and celebration.
Why?&nbsp;
Results are important for measuring goals, gauging success and resetting priorities or strategies. Why those results occur is what I find fascinating.&nbsp;
The 2022 Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics have been difficult to parse through, akin to a redux of the 2004 series between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers. Only four of the players who played 10 minutes per game or more in that series shot 40% or better from the floor.&nbsp;
A series defined by restrained offense and amplified defense is rooted in the why. Yes, both the Heat and Celtics have exchanged slogging moments. Turnovers have been in abundance. There have been many free throws, as the physicality is ratcheted up to the 10th degree.
The Heat&rsquo;s offense is predicated on movement, screening, handoffs and maximizing their pressure points through shooting gravity to open up looks with their collective passing and intuitive play. Miami was 14th in the league in three-point attempts per game, but first in three-point percentage (37.9%). What made them more impressive was how those shots got off.&nbsp;
The Heat are chock-full of movement shooters with Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, Gabe Vincent and Kyle Lowry all capable of hitting shots off of a variety of movements and even self-created with their handles to varying degrees. Miami shot 42.9% from deep in Game 6, a far cry from the 29.2% (52/178) over the previous five games. Jimmy Butler hit four shots from distance after only hitting two all series. Tough shots fell in volume.&nbsp;
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To equate Miami&rsquo;s victory and invigorated offense strictly to shot variance would be unfair. Miami has thrived on those tough threes off movement or pull-ups all season, but they haven&rsquo;t hit the same. It&rsquo;s difficult to project another game like last night for Miami&rsquo;s shot-making, although one game throws sample size to the wind. Again, the why is so crucial here.&nbsp;
Miami&rsquo;s offense has been stuck in the mud much of the series as our own Nekias Duncan <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-heat-have-a-bigbig-problem-on-their-hands">recently wrote</a>. Boston&rsquo;s bigs have stifled the Heat in the paint and through their ability to toggle between the paint and perimeter. Stopping shots at the second and third level has been a large reason for Boston&rsquo;s defensive success. Miami,&nbsp; 27th in rim frequency during the regular season per Cleaning the Glass, is dependent on their ability to attack the gaps created by their shooting gravity.&nbsp;
They&rsquo;ve been constricted by their own shot profile at times this series, but mainly due to how Boston has been able shut off the release valves. Most of Miami&rsquo;s aforementioned premier spacing core, particularly the shooters off screens, has struggled throughout the series. We know the shots haven&rsquo;t fallen, but it&rsquo;s not simply a collective slump. Boston&rsquo;s defense as a whole has been swarming, but why have Miami&rsquo;s movement shooters struggled the most?
Through the lens of the Eastern Conference Finals and the league at large, few players epitomize the why quite like Derrick White. The results haven&rsquo;t always been there for White during the playoffs, although the post-baby bump has been real (congrats again to Derrick and his family).&nbsp;
Yet, so often when watching White, whether with the Spurs or Celtics, the why is consistently there. The consistency in process matters so much more than the consistency in production. That sounds counterintuitive, but it&rsquo;s strikingly true in basketball. There&rsquo;s a line in the sand that wavers among the grains, and White often has crossed the line in spite of his production simply due to his persistent process.
White has routinely neutralized Miami&rsquo;s release valves and shut off the water entirely for stretches. It&rsquo;s been like watching a naturally-rich land dry up after a dam is built up stream. That dam is Derrick White, and the Heat have employed any number and variety of players to try to take White out of the picture to free up shooters.
This play from Game 5 stood out.
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Notice the quick flip and pushoff from P.J. Tucker in a screening action that was masked with Oladipo setting up as a second screener. White immediately takes Oladipo, and Horford takes Tucker after Jaylen Brown switches onto Duncan Robinson. Brown navigates the screen well enough for the action to die out, and would you look at that... Derrick White still makes a play on the back side.
Already four games and roughly 10 minutes into the series, the Heat are throwing the kitchen sink at an off-ball chaser to free up their shooters. Whatever it takes to force switches, including some semi-illegal&nbsp; screens. Again, why?
Well, White immediately made his presence felt on Max Strus.
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He always shifts his body, scans the floor constantly, and his slight movements are impeccable. So often, chasers get beat off the ball because of too big a stride or a wrong step. White rarely crosses his feet up, and he can appear choppy at times, but it's because he's always on his toes, minimizing space given and maximizing his margins for error. Even with the majority of hard screens, White is making his recovery plays and finding his way back into the picture.
If he does get beat when running a shooter off the line, he's one of the best in the league with backtaps and strips.
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Press up that hard on a shooter, and the opposing team will try to use that against you as a pressure point. Lo and behold, Erik Spoelstra dialed up just that, using Duncan Robinson as a screener with White stapled to him, hoping to cause an error on the perimeter.
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White shoots that gap absurdly well. Not just well, like Julius Peppers is smiling somewhere watching that. White dips his shoulder back around Bam Adebayo's screen and is back in front of Herro by the free throw line. It's a ridiculous possession.
To say Max Strus hasn't had a fun series would be an understatement. Watch the way White starts to angle himself, immediately prepping to lock and trail as soon as he knew the movement was en route.
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White seemingly always has at least one hand on the man he's trailing, making it that much harder to gain separation.&nbsp;
This play is a pinnacle "What else am I supposed to do?" moment. Strus hits White with a swim move, sends him careening into the Tucker screen, and Tucker thuds White. So clearly, Strus should be open, right? Right?
Once again, White comes flying around the screen and reattaches to Strus' hip without being overly physical or fouling, funneling him into the looming Horford.
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That consistency has been unreal. While White isn&rsquo;t necessarily the player finishing possessions defensively (although he still forces his fair share of turnovers), the quietness is what stands out.&nbsp;
White&rsquo;s giving his best Darrelle Revis impression, shutting off options, isolated against the best deep threats in the game. You see Jimmy Butler struggling to find an opening, wading in the mid-range, but the why? Max Strus can&rsquo;t get separation. White&rsquo;s been glued to Duncan Robinson. Gabe Vincent is always seeing a rear contest on pull-up twos. Nothing is coming easy for Miami.&nbsp;
Derrick White has put on a masterclass of screen shedding and route mirroring. His off-ball defense and ability to make things difficult always&nbsp;is a large reason for why Nekias Duncan, Jackson Frank and I had <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/defensive-awards-and-a-celebration-of-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">White making an All-Defense team</a>. It's not hyperbole to say that White is among the most consistent defensive players in basketball, something that tends to go underappreciated. Regardless of whether or not the Celtics win Game 7 tomorrow and make their first NBA Finals since 2010, Derrick White's consistent ability to make things difficult deserves shine.

Derrick White has put on a defensive masterclass during the Conference Finals, shutting down Miami's shooters.

Derrick White: Eliminating release valves and shutting off the water

With just one minute and 15 seconds remaining in Game 4, James Harden stared at holes in the Miami Heat's defense, preparing to make his move.
Danny Green crept up to Victor Oladipo's right side to create a driving lane for Harden's preferred left, and so Tyler Herro hedged the pick-and-roll to stop Harden in his tracks. Then, with just five seconds to improvise, Harden whipped out a slew of crossovers, stepped back to his right while gathering across his body, nearly dropped the ball and proceeded to nail the game-sealing three.
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Harden's 16 fourth-quarter points were the most he's scored in the final frame of an NBA playoff game since way back in 2015. Moreover, Sunday was just the second time since the turn of the new year that Harden broke 30 points in a game, regular season or the playoffs. It was only fitting that the shot that had failed him most in his down year signed, sealed and delivered his keystone performance of the season.
It's true. Harden's step-back three, a weapon that once sent shivers of fear up and down defenders' spines, fell off a statistical cliff during the 2021-22 season. The Beard connected on just 33.3% of his 199 step-back treys this season; yet, in his previous four seasons, that percentage sat at 38.9% on 1,431 shots. Quite the tailspin, indeed.
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It's tough to decipher what has fueled that decline. One could make the case that his lift has failed him; now, he's unable to generate the same level of space when moving front-to-back on his signature shot. Maybe it's his free-falling first step, as James is no longer able to keep defenders on their toes in lieu of the threat of his drive, making those step-backs all the easier to contain. More than likely it's a combination of both, a consequence of multiple hamstring strains in the previous season and an offseason set back by slow, plodding rehabilitation.
But that was the beauty of Sunday. Those arguments about the former MVP's decline, for the first time in a while, were best saved for another day. In Game 4, he was sublime &mdash; nah man, let's be real &mdash; he looked like Prime Harden in certain stretches, knocking down 4 of his 7 step-backs en route to 31 points on 69.2% True Shooting. Heck, the dude was feeling it so much he even took (and made!) a catch-and-shoot three.
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But Harden's barrage of step-backs wasn't his only divine moment. 
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This drive in the second quarter was one of Harden's best rim attacks of the entire 2021-22 season after getting the switch against Herro. An hour(-ish) later, he did similar things against Bam Adebayo, first getting a half-step on the Defensive Player of the Year finalist, and then whipping out a nasty&nbsp;hesitation dribble to clear his way to the rim for the uncontested lay-up.
Of course, Harden wasn't without his flaws. On numerous occasions, the 32-year-old was stonewalled on drives to the rim, a trend that has reared its ugly head throughout the entirety of the season; his 59.8% shooting within 3 feet of the basket was his worst regular-season mark since his rookie year. It didn't really matter who was in front of him &mdash; PJ Tucker, Jimmy Butler, Victor Oladipo... shoot, even Herro &mdash; if Harden couldn't generate any space with his dribbling forrays, his drives were as good as done-zo, swallowed up or just flat-out swatted into nothingness by a defense eager to pounce. Overall, the Beard shot just 1 of 7 on his drives to the rim.
I've long worked under the hypothesis that Harden's decline in zippiness, and especially his first step, has dramatically affected his once-touted decelaration game. Why? Well, because his top speed has been dampered, Harden now has nothing to contrast with when he drags his feet to slow down. What I'm saying is: He's effectively working at one speed for the entirety of his drives, and it makes him all too predictable as a downhill-heavy player.
The first clip in the video below is a great example. Harden does a nice job getting a shoulder into Butler's body after a series of crossovers, but because his first three steps are so sluggish, Butler is able to stay an arm's reach away. Then, when Harden decelerates in the cadence that once made him so tough to tango with, his change-of-pace game actually works against him and gives Butler ample room to recover for the block.&nbsp;
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One thing that has remained a constant this year has been Harden's passing, which, whew. He tossed out some beauties versus Miami. 
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Harden was just about the only Sixer who could capably feed Joel Embiid entry passes against the relentlessly fronting Miami Heat defense, powering a 15-point first quarter for the MVP front-runner. His second-quarter lay-down pass to a cutting Tobias Harris after faking it to Tyrese Maxey in the strong-side corner was just vintage stuff from one of the best passers in the Association.
Sunday marked Harden's sixth game of tossing out 9 dimes or more, which ties Ja Morant for the most&nbsp; playoff games with 9+ assists this current postseason.
Game 4 was more than just another extraordinary performance etched into a storied legacy; it was the physical representation of a player breaking out of the shackles of his least efficient season since just 20 years of age.
Is it sustainable? Can Harden continue to supercharge and lead a playoff offense? And, maybe more importantly, can The Beard helm the Sixers into winning the minutes (by +3) with its superstar in Embiid off the floor?
That much is to be determined... and is maybe the biggest swing factor of the 2022 postseason. Sure, Harden had himself a monstrous showing with his team's season on the line, but 6 of his 8 makes came from the three-point line; otherwise, he went just 2 of 8 from two-point range on the night &mdash; a troubling trend for a player that's so rim-dependent.
It's crazy, but suddenly, one of the league's most prestigious scorers &mdash; a walking 50-point bucket just two seasons ago and a former MVP &mdash; is one of the NBA's biggest X-factors in the postseason.&nbsp;
The success of his Philadelphia 76ers rides on his ability to take a step back, step-back and reclaim his greatness on the shot that brought him to the forefront of the NBA landscape.
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Matt Brooks details James Harden's extraordinary performance in Game 4 for the 76ers and why he is a huge X-factor for Philadelphia.

Taking a step-back: How James Harden found his groove in Game 4

The Boston Celtics are the NBA's biggest shapeshifters.
Boston entered the second round of the 2022 postseason coming off a dominant 4-0 sweep against the Brooklyn Nets, a team that many pegged as preseason championship favorites. The Celtics appeared mostly unphased by Brooklyn's glossy star power, stymying Kevin Durant&mdash;and to a lesser degree, Kyrie Irving&mdash;with a sea of arms and defense working on a string. Boston helped liberally off Brooklyn's non-shooters to throw two and sometimes three bodies at Kevin Durant. Forcing Durant into becoming a passer produced an uncharacteristic playoff performance, a theme I detailed in both <a href="https://www.netsdaily.com/2022/4/23/23037554/as-brooklyns-best-all-around-player-its-time-for-kevin-durant-to-show-it">writing</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtTgfjtQUk">video</a>.
It wasn't necessarily surprising to see Ime Udoka carry over that strategy into the second round versus a Milwaukee Bucks team missing its biggest release valve, Khris Middleton, who remains out with a knee sprain. Hypothetically, halting Giannis Antetokounmpo's production with a slew of double-teams would slow Milwaukee's 5th-ranked regular-season offense. To their credit, Udoka's ploy worked; Giannis mustered 24 points on 25 shots during a fairly inefficent Game 1.
There was one problem.
Much has been made about Giannis' improvements as a free-throw shooter and mid-post scorer this season, but there's a real argument to be made that his biggest leap has come from his passing.&nbsp;He showcased that growth in Game 1, mapping out 12 assists amid significant ball pressure. It was his second-highest assist total in a playoff game ever.
Milwaukee brought its A-game in terms of spacing, assuring that Antetokounmpo was flanked by his strongest shooting options on the same side of the floor. When Boston brought in help from the entry passer on post-ups, Giannis quickly sussed out the correct read to the open shooter. Marcus Smart turned his head for just a brief second to take a peak at Grant Williams battling with Antetokounmpo, and low and behold, the ball was basically already in Grayson Allen's hands for a quick strike catch-and-release three.
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Giannis punished even the slightest of micro-hesitations from Boston. Here, Jaylen Brown is gapped at the nail to take away the drive going middle for Giannis, but when he leaned over ever so slightly to stunt at the ball, Antetokounmpo flipped a kick-out pass to Pat Connaughton the moment Brown's left foot made contact with the floor.&nbsp;
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On drives to the rim, Boston made it clear their intent was to shadow the two-time MVP in the event that he found a way to bruise his way to the middle with his signature EuroGyro-Step or whiplash-inducing spin-move. Here, Grant Williams stalks Antetokounmpo all the way down to the restricted circle, and Giannis heaves one of the nastiest passes of the postseason to Bobby Portis at the top of the key. I mean, goodness gracious. Look at this dime!
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The area in which Antetokounmpo discerned himself the most&mdash;at least in Game 1&mdash;from Durant was that he trusted his teammates early and often. Boston preyed on KD's tendency to overdribble into a crowd from the top of the key instead of getting off the ball early and relocating for better shots. Giannis, meanwhile, understood the full magnitude of his gravity from the jump and put full faith in his championship-winning teammates to complete possessions.
Here, Boston builds a "wall" by basically having Jayson Tatum stay attached to the left elbow as if he's in a zone alongside Al Horford at the right elbow. Collectively, their goal is to completely erase any and all room for Giannis to burrow his way to the cup. But in doing so, Tatum hands off Bobby Portis to Jaylen Brown, who is now tasked with keeping tabs on Portis and Allen in the strong-side corner. Suddenly without a matchup, Portis tip-toes underneath the rim, Giannis quickly whips a pass his way and when both Brown and Robert Williams lurch forward to clean up the mistake, it's a three-pointer for Connaughton.
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Overall, 7 of Antetokounmpo's 12 assists generated three-pointers, and more than half of Milwaukee's 12 made threes came from its star's willingness to share. The fascinating thing is, the Bucks left food on the table. Giannis had 17 potential assists in Game 1, which measures any pass to a teammate who shoots within 1 dribble of receiving the ball, per NBA's stat glossary.
Clearly, after getting dogged by as many as 15 points late in the fourth quarter, Boston had to go back to the drawing board. That's where Ime Udoka tends to shine.
Boston entered Game 2 with a completely different approach. Rather than showing Antetokounmpo multiple bodies on the catch, the Celtics entrusted their brawniest, strongest and most versatile defenders to hold their own.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re guarding him well one-on-one but want to mix it up and give him different looks,&rdquo; Udoka said after Game 2. &ldquo;I felt after Game 1 that we helped inappropriately at times and gave up some of those 3s when guys were in good position to guard him, or he kind of baited a little bit. So we want to be a little more deliberate when we went on him, on what situations in Game 2, and I felt like we did that.&rdquo;
Udoka's chosen soldiers to grapple with perhaps the league's most dominant interior force were Al Horford and Grant Williams. Each presented different strategies and attributes to tangle with Milwaukee's Greek God, yet collectively they forced him into 8-of-22 shooting and 3 turnovers in Game 2.&nbsp;
In one corner, we had Williams, who despite having a 5-inch height disadvantage, battled Antetokounmpo with a low center of gravity and strong base. The 22-year-old accepted Giannis' low-post forrays using a deep and low defensive stance, absorbing his body blows like a PVA sponge. Despite the defending Finals MVP's best efforts, he couldn't move the 236-pound micro-center, who used those aggressive shoulder bumps to knock Antetokounmpo off his spots. Williams was prepared for every move, playing a defensive boxing game like, say, Floyd Mayweather.
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(One thing to note in both of these clips: Notice how it's Jrue Holiday instead of Grayson Allen as the nearby entry passer for Antetokounmpo, who obviously isn't as threatening from deep one pass away. As noted earlier, Milwaukee displayed hyperawareness to its spacing in Game 1, yet waned in this category in the second of the two games. This is an area of improvement for the Bucks going forward.)
Regardless, Williams' immovability frustrated Antetokounmpo. This elbow to the face was a reflection of just how anchored Williams was down low:
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"We talked about guarding him a little bit more 1-on-1. We feel like we have the defensive guys to do it," Udoka said. "Grant's a big part of that. His versatility is something I talk about. He's like a mini Al (Horford) out there. His versatility to be able to switch onto guards and guard (Giannis) 1-on-1 in the post and be physical and frustrate him to some extent is what we need with a player like that. That's one of Grant's main strengths is guarding guys like that."
In the other corner, we had Horford, who may not present the same level of mass as his co-Giannis deterrent, Williams, but instead blended an impressive mesh of size (6'9"), defensive IQ, and hip flexibility to keep pace with Antetokounmpo. Williams defended Giannis with sponginess, while Horford moved and hounded the Bucks' star like a shadow. Horford is afforded the ability to pick up the Greek Freak much higher up the floor than Williams. Horford's immaculate footwork that could set high-scores on DDR arcade games and a 7'1" daylight-erasing wingspan work hand-in-hand in this regard.&nbsp;
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Continuing the boxing analogy, Horford could best be compared to someone like Tyson Fury, who moves in a way that shouldn't be possible for someone his size, perpetually remaining two steps ahead of his opponent. Exquisite fundamentals and uncanny flexibility shape both of these athletes' impressive careers.
Plus, Horford is well-versed in the Giannis assignment after meeting up three separate times in the postseason (2018, 2019 and 2022). Below, he's all too prepared for Antetokounmpo's spin move, flipping his hips quickly and then swiping down on the ball for a strip-steal to ignite the fastbreak.
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&ldquo;Getting hits early, meeting him around free-throw line area, not letting him bury you too deep,&rdquo; said Udoka after Game 2, echoing the tenets of Horford's defensive strategy versus Antetokounmpo. &ldquo;You want to push his catches out, that&rsquo;s the first part. Make him do his work early, and I think they did that, bodied up and didn&rsquo;t let him get deep position."
Horford has held Giannis to just 6-of-22 shooting in the series, by far the best showing of any player that has defended the Greek Freak in these playoffs for more than 10 partial possessions. In fact, Antetokounmpo's 27% shooting would be his third-worst performance against a defensive matchup who saw more than 50 partial matchups in the playoffs since the NBA started tracking this data, second to only Serge Ibaka in 2019 (18.8%) and Bam Adebayo in 2021 (18.8%).&nbsp;
Ultimately, it's likely that Antetokounmpo finds his way out of this Lucky Charm-sized hole. For as much as Boston has frustrated him defensively, a full 20.5% dropoff in true shooting from the regular season to the postseason feels almost inconceivable and borderline improbable. Plus, it wouldn't be the first time that Giannis problem-solved his way out of a difficult matchup. Funny enough, his most famous time doing so occured in the first-round of the 2019 playoffs against the very same Al Horford and Boston Celtics.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Giannis, he always figures things out,&rdquo; said head coach Mike Budenholzer after the Game 2 loss.
Regardless, Boston's defense deserves its flowers. This is now the second top-3 player that has been utterly exhausted by this versatile and gritty unit. The Celtics, helmed by a defensive whiz in Ime Udoka, have showcased the requisite adjustability and creativity to withstand the different challenges found within the postseason crucible.
Thus far, they really haven't missed a beat.

It's time to give the Boston Celtics' defense the credit they deserve for holding Giannis Antetokounmpo to historically-low numbers.

The Celtics' defense is the story of the 2022 NBA playoffs

Nine days.
I repeat, nine days until the NBA Playoffs are officially underway.&nbsp;
As I mentioned previously, to do my civic duty in aiding your preparation for basketball&rsquo;s second season, I have decided to spend the next month studying some of the NBA's biggest stars and (hopefully) prescribing some tips for how teams can try to slow them down this postseason. (Here are my linked breakdowns of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/slowing-giannis-the-wall-still-the-way" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Giannis Antetokounmpo</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-to-slow-down-kevin-durant-let-the-reaper-reap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kevin Durant</a>.)
But remember, these suggestions are only for slowing these stars down &mdash; because you can never truly stop the best of the best.
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Now, without further ado: Luka Doncic.
In the most recent episode of the Dunc&rsquo;d on Podcast, Nate Duncan said this of Doncic: &ldquo;[He] has an argument... to be the best playoff offensive player in the NBA.&rdquo;
When I heard that, I did the Tiger Woods fist pump to myself, because I knew at that moment I had the introductory hook to my article.&nbsp;
In all seriousness, though, he&rsquo;s got a point. This dude just might be unstoppable.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/how-to-slow-down-kevin-durant-let-the-reaper-reap">In my last article of this series</a>, I posited the idea of using a balancing scale (between scoring and playmaking) when thinking about star offensive players. Guys like Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are naturally more inclined to score, while the scales&rsquo; of Nikola Jokic and Chris Paul lean more towards the playmaking side.&nbsp;
No such imbalance exists with Doncic.&nbsp;
Over the last two seasons, not one player has finished in the top-five in both points per possession and <a href="https://backpicks.com/metrics/box-creation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">box creation</a> (an estimate of open shots created for teammates). This means teams can&rsquo;t load up on his scoring attempts or try to isolate him (<a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/isolation/?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Doncic" target="_blank" rel="noopener">90th percentile</a>) to defang his passing without suffering some harsh repercussions. &nbsp;
Although the sample is small (13 games), his achievement of the perfect chemical equilibrium puts him in rarified air as far as postseason scoring goes.
Career Changes in Scoring/Efficiency From Regular Season to Postseason
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 324px;" border="1">
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<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 25.258%; height: 54px;">
Player 
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Points Per 100 Possessions*
</td>
<td style="width: 32.7389%; height: 54px;">
True Shooting*
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 25.258%; height: 54px;">
Kobe Bryant&nbsp;
</td>
<td style="width: 41.9226%; height: 54px;">
-1.1
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<td style="width: 32.7389%; height: 54px;">
-0.9%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 25.258%; height: 54px;">
Luka Doncic
</td>
<td style="width: 41.9226%; height: 54px;">
+5.1
</td>
<td style="width: 32.7389%; height: 54px;">
+1.0%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 25.258%; height: 54px;">
Kevin Durant
</td>
<td style="width: 41.9226%; height: 54px;">
+0.3
</td>
<td style="width: 32.7389%; height: 54px;">
-1.6%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 25.258%; height: 54px;">
LeBron James
</td>
<td style="width: 41.9226%; height: 54px;">
+0.4
</td>
<td style="width: 32.7389%; height: 54px;">
-0.5%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 25.258%; height: 54px;">
Michael Jordan&nbsp;
</td>
<td style="width: 41.9226%; height: 54px;">
+2.9
</td>
<td style="width: 32.7389%; height: 54px;">
-0.1%
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
(Mobile users scroll right to view the full table.)
*Data Provided by Basketball Reference&nbsp;
His offensive versatility (the key to postseason success) is highlighted when you look at his counters in the pick-and-roll game.&nbsp;
Similar to the Phoenix Suns (who I <a href="https://fansided.com/2022/03/15/phoenix-suns-pick-and-roll-defense/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spotlighted </a>last month), the Dallas Mavericks run a ton of pick-and-rolls (<a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/ball-handler/?sort=POSS_PCT&amp;dir=1">No. 8</a> in frequency). However, their attack isn&rsquo;t pioneered by a two-headed serpent. Instead, it's quarterbacked by the human manifestation of the Old Testament&rsquo;s Leviathan.
If you opt for <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/how-to-identify-pick-and-roll-coverages-a1e8dffe54e9">drop coverage</a> against Doncic, he can hit you with his float game (<a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4432#tab-shooting_accuracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">90th percentile</a> in the short midrange) or a lob over the top.
If you <a href="https://medium.com/thebasketballactiondictionary/how-to-identify-pick-and-roll-coverages-a1e8dffe54e9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hedge/show</a> against him, he&rsquo;s too big, too calm, too cool (Hand Luka) to not see over the top of you and find the weak point in the defense.
Lastly, you can&rsquo;t mitigate his impact with switches the way you could with the frailer Chris Paul/Devin Booker tandem. It's all thanks to his powerful frame (71st percentile or higher in post-ups from 2019-21), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHxTzCU3KKg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trusty stepback</a> and aforementioned isolation brilliance.&nbsp;
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Also, as if that wasn&rsquo;t already enough, he&rsquo;s improved his efficiency on <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1512112939834261507?s=20&amp;t=qxvZzjOsRvwk7TutSRadNw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">handoffs</a> to give his game an off-ball element.
Watching him for this article reminded me of an old Antonio Gramsci quote: &ldquo;Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.&rdquo;
We are all smart enough to know that Doncic is probably going to decimate any game plan we attempt to deploy against him, but we can&rsquo;t lose hope in our ability to slow him down. Here are three ideas Optimistic Mat came up with:
1. A little luck never hurt anyone!
Poor shooting has plagued his worst performances of the season. He&rsquo;s shooting a combined 9 of 46 from three (19.6%) in the six outings where he&rsquo;s posted a sub-10 <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/doncilu01/gamelog/2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game Score</a>. But it&rsquo;s not really anything his opponents are doing that is slowing him down, as according to NBA.com tracking data, he&rsquo;s shooting 9 of 39 on open/wide-open threes (23.1%) during those contests.
On the surface, banking on him having an off-shooting night seems demoralizing, but when you account for the fact that he&rsquo;s fielded three months of <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1512122208461758479?s=20&amp;t=qiNoKstzbC5gFXVfNUv5BQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sub-29%</a> shooting this season, there&rsquo;s a decent chance you could catch him on a bad day.
2. Get yourself an Aaron Gordon.
I&rsquo;m partially joking here, but man, does <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/gordon-wasnt-the-player-the-magic-wanted-but-hes-exactly-who-the-nuggets-need" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gordon</a> have Doncic&rsquo;s number. This season, Doncic is shooting a mere 7 of 24 (29.2%) from the floor during the 97.5 partial possessions he&rsquo;s being shadowed by AG (per NBA.com). Widen those parameters a bit further, and for his career, Doncic is shooting a slightly better but still pedestrian, 22 of 73 (30.1%) throughout 287.3 partial possessions.
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Gordon is strong enough that Doncic can&rsquo;t simply veer into him on finishes, quick enough to reattach to him after screens and long enough that, when he crowds him, he can blur his sightlines.
And while Gordon himself isn&rsquo;t cloneable (yet), players stemming from the same evolutionary branch have experienced some success of their own against the Slovenian. In the playoffs last season, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard were the only players who could hold Doncic to under <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1629029/head-to-head?Matchup=Offense&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=MATCHUP_FG_PCT" target="_blank" rel="noopener">48% shooting </a>from the floor. This year, De'Andre Hunter has held him to 4 of 17 shooting during the two games their teams have squared off in.
The formula for (partial) success here is finding a lengthy wing who can match Doncic&rsquo;s unique blend of quickness and strength.&nbsp;
3. Throw the kitchen sink at him.
Despite not having a Gordon-esque body type on the roster (Jarred Vanderbilt is a little too lean), the Minnesota Timberwolves held Doncic to his lowest Game Score output of the season (4.5). And yes, some of it came from the <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1629029/shots-dash?DateFrom=03%2F21%2F2022&amp;DateTo=03%2F21%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shooting luck</a> we talked about earlier, but the group also did a good job of throwing a ton of different matchups/coverages at Doncic.
During their March 21 showdown, I counted seven different Wolves guarding Doncic for at least a possession during the game. This revolving door of characters makes it so that Doncic can never fully figure out the cadence of his defender.
For instance, a smaller Patrick Beverely would probably get <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqyaO8G899k" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bullied</a> if assigned to the larger Doncic for the entire night. But his pest powers become far more valuable when Doncic has just spent the past handful of possessions getting acclimated to the longer dimensions of a Taurean Prince.
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The same logic applies to coverages. The Timberwolves are notorious for their aggressive approach to defending ball-screens. However, in this game, they coordinated their traps and blitzes with a steady diet of switches and drops, and this strategy ultimately befuddled the Mavericks' star for large portions of the game.
<a href="https://ezhoops.co/2021/01/04/feel-and-feel-accessories/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Feel-based</a> players like Doncic need to be kept on their toes by throwing new problems at them to identify and solve at all times.
Regardless of what option you choose to rely on, you better bring your A-game when you stand by for battle, because anything less will be the equivalent of playing with fire.&nbsp;
And when your dealing with quite possibly the best postseason weapon in the world, you will most certainly get burned.
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Mat Issa attempts to find a way for opponents to best limit Luka Doncic's wizardry.

How to slow down Luka Doncic: Is it even possible?

CLEVELAND (AP) &mdash; Joel Embiid did plenty of damage on his own. The Cavaliers, though, felt the big man got some unwarranted help.
Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff was highly critical of the officiating after Embiid scored 44 points &mdash; and made 20 trips to the free throw line &mdash; in Philadelphia's 112-108 win over the Cavs on Sunday night.
&ldquo;That game was taken from us,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said. &ldquo;We deserved to win it.&rdquo;
Embiid added 17 rebounds and James Harden had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in his second triple-double with Philadelphia as the 76ers locked up a playoff spot.
Embiid was questionable coming into the game with a sore ankle. But not only did the 7-footer play, Embiid dominated down the stretch, scoring 12 points in a key sequence of the fourth quarter.
He also made 17 free throws, added five blocks, made three 3-pointers and had three assists in 38 minutes of another MVP resume builder.
Embiid won&rsquo;t allow himself to get caught up in the debate.
&ldquo;If it happens, great,&rdquo; he said of winning his first MVP. &ldquo;If it doesn&rsquo;t, I don&rsquo;t know what I have to do. I&rsquo;ll feel like they hate me. I feel like the standard for guys in Philly or for me is different than everyone else.&rdquo;
Bickerstaff wasn't taking anything away from Embiid or Harden, but he was upset with what he thought was a major discrepancy in fouls. Cleveland was called for 28 to Philadelphia's 19 in a physical game with playoff-level intensity.
&ldquo;The one thing you can't defend is the free throw line and that's absurd,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said, referring to the Sixers' 42 attempted foul shots. &ldquo;Our guys deserved way better than they got tonight.
&ldquo;They're great players and they understand how to play through the rules,&rdquo; he said of Philly's All-Stars. &ldquo;They know how to manipulate the rules. This is no knock or disrespect to those guys. But the game has to be consistent on both ends of the floor. We were searching for that consistency and we never found it.&rdquo;
Darius Garland scored 23 and Caris LeVert and Lamar Stevens had 18 apiece for the Cavs, who played without injured 7-footers Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen but battled one of the East's top teams to the finish.
Cleveland, which is trying to hang onto the No. 7 play-in spot, was within 107-106 when Bickerstaff felt Garland drew contact from Embiid while missing an off-balance layup with 15.2 seconds left.
&ldquo;Darius was fouled,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said. &ldquo;He did his job and got to a spot and got fouled. No whistle.&rdquo;
The Cavs were only down 109-106 after Harden made two free throws with 11.2 seconds left.
But Kevin Love made a careless inbounds pass that was stolen by Matisse Thybulle, who then made a pass from a sitting position to a streaking Tobais Harris for a game-sealing dunk with 7.2 seconds left.
Nothing came easy on offense for the Sixers, who made 21 3-pointers and scored a season-high 144 in a win over Charlotte on Saturday.
&ldquo;Yesterday we couldn&rsquo;t miss,&rdquo; coach Doc Rivers said. &ldquo;Today, we couldn&rsquo;t make.&rdquo;
But Embiid bailed his teammates out with the kind of performance that has come to be expected of him, the kind made by an MVP.
&ldquo;I get to witness his greatness every night," Harden said. "Obviously, his offensive numbers tonight are self-explanatory. Defensively, he was very active blocking shots, changing shots and clogging the paint up was key.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
76ers: Finished 35 of 42 at the line. ... F Paul Millsap, a 15-year veteran, has only played eight minutes in the last five games. Millsap has only appeared in four games since DeAndre Jordan was signed on March 3. &hellip; Philadelphia plays three of its final four regular-season games on the road. ... Rivers had high praise for Cavs guard Rajon Rondo, who played for him in Boston. &ldquo;The brightest player I've ever been around,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;He kept us (coaches) on our toes.&rdquo;
Cavaliers: Rondo (ankle) played for the first time since March 12. ... Allen missed his 15th straight game and Mobley sat his fourth in a row. Bickerstaff did not say when &mdash; or if &mdash; either will be back before the regular season ends in a week.
EM(BIID)-VP TALK
Rivers has been campaigning for Embiid to win MVP honors this season among a group of worthy candidates. For the Sixers coach, Embiid's passing, defense and leadership are overlooked parts of his well-rounded game.
&ldquo;I know he's my guy, obviously,&rdquo; Rivers said pregame. &ldquo;He has just has done so many things.&rdquo;
Rivers credits Embiid for pulling the Sixers through &ldquo;the Ben Simmons saga.&rdquo;
&ldquo;He was our second-best player at the time and was out, and at the All-Star break when we made the trade, we were a game out of first place in the East,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;There's a lot to be said about that.&rdquo;
UP NEXT
76ers: Play at Indiana on Tuesday.
Cavaliers: Visit Orlando on Tuesday.

Joel Embiid scored 44 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in Philadelphia's win in Cleveland.

Cavs cry foul after Embiid scores 44 in Sixers' 122-108 win

The Phoenix Suns are the best team in basketball, and have been all season long.
They're third in offensive rating (114.5) and second in defensive rating (106.0), making them the lone team to rank in the top three in both metrics. Zoom out a smidge, and they're the only team that ranks in the top five in both. Zoom out again and you see that the Memphis Grizzlies join them as the only team that ranks in the top ten in both.
You get the picture.
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If there was a perceived chink in the armor, it was their ability to create efficient offense beyond their star backcourt of Chris Paul and Devin Booker. Remove Paul from the mix, as he has been since the All-Star break due to a broken thumb, and it was fair to ask what things would look.
The answer so far: a 9-4 record, a top-five offense (119.2) and defense (108.7), and the third-best net rating (plus-10.5) in the league.
The offense humming to this degree is wildly impressive, and highlights (or further affirms, for those who follow the team closely) three things:
1) Booker is an absolute&nbsp;problem and deserves your All-NBA love.&nbsp;
2) There was room for Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges (among others) to stretch their games, and Paul's absence exacerbated that process. (This doesn't mean Paul was holding them back.)
3) It is hard to overstate just how effective and layered their offense is from a scheme perspective.
To the third point, the Suns' pick-and-roll attack is absolutely lethal. It's hard to pinpoint what they want to do, how they want to attack, who they want to attack, who they want to do the attacking and where they want to do it from.
They fluctuate between spamming the same action, or running three or four variations of a play from the same setup. Think about your annoying friend in Madden that lines up in Gun-Bunch 98% of the time, but has four different audibles (and hot routes on top of that) to keep you on your toes.
In short, the Suns seem to have an answer for everything.
Running drop coverage is a no-go. Switching allows Booker or Ayton to cook against mismatches, and Bridges is really freakin' good at slipping screens. Put two to the ball, like the Chicago Bulls often did on Friday night whenever Nikola Vucevic was involved in action, and the Suns can pick you apart.
Take this possession as a premium example.
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It. Took. Four. Seconds.
Using Cam Payne, a near-40% three-point shooter during his Suns tenure, as the inbounder was intentional. Coaches always tell you to watch the inbounder, and his presence is the hidden key to making this baseline out-of-bounds play (BLOB) work.
Things kick-off with Booker curling around an Ayton screen to receive the inbound. As noted earlier, the Bulls played Vucevic at the level (or higher) in ball screens against Booker in order to 1) keep him from turning the corner and 2) force someone else make decisions.
After receiving the pass, Booker runs a ball screen with Ayton. Sure enough, Vucevic jumps out to pressure Booker. And that, my friends, is where things get hazy for the Bulls.
With Vucevic playing high, the backline is responsible for tagging the roller (Ayton) and then helping the tagger by zoning up behind him. Because of the location of the play and the personnel involved (the Bulls are #TooSmallErneh), this is darn-near impossible.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_03_19_18_39_37_lg.png" alt="" width="577" height="325" />
DeRozan is in a bad place. If he picks up Ayton, allowing Dosunmu to stick with Payne as he relocates to the corner, that would leave Zach LaVine to split the difference between Bridges and Torrey Craig. With Bridges chilling above the break (empty corner!) and Bridges in the paint, there's no win.&nbsp;
Dosunmu is also in a bad place. If DeRozan can't handle Ayton, the smaller Dosunmu surely can't. And that comes with the added stress of leaving Payne open in the corner.&nbsp;
Booker further complicates things by&nbsp;accepting&nbsp;the pressure from Vucevic and stringing out the ball screen.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_03_19_18_47_54_lg.png" alt="" width="577" height="325" />
From there, Booker has his pick of the litter &mdash; firing the dart to Payne in the corner, or lofting a pass to Ayton underneath. He chooses the latter, leading to one of the easiest baskets the Suns scored on Friday night.
It's important for the Suns, and Booker in particular, to get these reps against aggressive coverages. As dynamic as the Suns' pick-and-roll attack is, they rank 15th in points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring a blitz or hedge by the defense.
Booker has especially struggled against traps and hedges in ball screens, generating 0.81 PPP on direct plays. Among 41 players that have been hedged/blitzed on 100 picks, that ranks 38th. Only Dejounte Murray (0.8), Cade Cunningham (0.78) and Jordan Poole (0.76) are lower on the board.&nbsp;
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Nekias Duncan breaks down a play that highlights how lethal the Suns are on offense, even without Chris Paul.

Explain one play: How the Suns create without Chris Paul

Mark Schindler teams up with Nekias Duncan and Jackson Frank to create a consensus All-Defensive Team ballot and choose a DPOY.

Celebrating defense: Selecting the 2022 NBA DPOY, All-Defensive Teams

Evan Mobley has flashed brillianace in a complementary role for the third-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers as a rookie, bolstering one of the top defenses in the league. He's factored in primarily as an outlet scorer, putback machine and opportunistic bucket getter on offense. However, due to injuries, primarily one sustained by Darius Garland that's kept him out of the last four contests, Mobley has received more reps on-ball out of necessity.
Across the first 41 games of Mobley's rookie season, 68% of his baskets were assisted, according to Cleaning the Glass. Over his last five contests, just 56% have been assisted. His efficiency has dipped (55% TS to 47% TS), and while some of the drop is small-sample size, he just isn't fully capable of some of the ground he's breaking. With that said, the flashes of creation with confidence and quickness shouldn't be overlooked.
While seemingly a minor shift on paper, the breadth of self-creation has been notable on-court, but through non-traditional means.
Mobley isn't running much pick-and-roll (God, I wish he was though) and he's not isolating at a ridiculous rate. Mobley's offense is an amalgamation of wonder: stride-based drives and extension finishes, quick mid-post flurries, face-up creation off actions and some late-shot-clock wizardry.&nbsp;
Mobley's ground coverage has been on <a href="https://www.fearthesword.com/2021/11/12/22776342/cleveland-cavaliers-defense-evan-mobley-jarrett-allen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">full display defensively</a> throughout the year, and those same principles have shown out even more recently in the halfcourt offense.
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He's not taking many shots from deep, just 1.4 per game (converting 28.6%), but his combination of length and athleticism make him a tough player to leave unguarded. Mobley's ball skills and handle are smooth for his size, and his coordination is impressive. Much in the same vein as Jaren Jackson Jr., length + athleticism + a modicum of ball skills = havoc getting downhill. It's not exactly E = mc^2, but I'm not Einstein, and it's efficacy is proven on-court!
Even then, Mobley has shown a level of coordination that JJJ didn't possess at the same stage; the ability to put together those lengthy strides and effective handles is not a simple task.
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Give Mobley the space to attack off the drive, and attack he will with a quickness. Then, you're likely fouling him at the nail as you recover, or he's got an easy look in the paint. That quickness is such a key aspect. If he had a tendency to hold the ball, we're not having this conversation and I'm not writing this article, but this is Evan Mobley!
Once his shot is coming along on higher volume and without hesitancy, that will be significant for Mobley's development. But what he's shown already operating from the perimeter has impressed.
Fake DHO's have become an absolute cheat code with Mobley, forcing the defense to be weary of a drive from either him or his teammate in the action.&nbsp;
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He may not get the finish, but the defense is collapsing, and the beauty of the Cavs is that a miss at the rim is right in their wheelhouse for another attempt.
If his defender is able to get into his hip and bump him off his spots, he can be forced into tough shots inside and outside the paint. Smaller defenders with broader frames (Saddiq Bey and Miles Bridges) have been particularly capable of forcing Mobley into less comfortable and effective looks.
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Even then, the functional strength he's displayed along with his ability to draw contact (5.0 free-throw attempts per over his last five games compared to 3.3), and some of the flashes he's shown finishing through it, lead to bewildered laughs from onlookers and frustration from opponents.
He works in a great deal of mid-post looks, but not in the sense of a ball-holding, clogging-and-slogging possession as often gets surmised (the post is not a bad place!!!).
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Mobley optimizes quick clear-outs and a rip-through move to use his limbs as weaponized foul magnets, or a cross-screen out of the corner into a quick face-up jumper or post-up depending on the look he draws from his defender.
Much of his post-up-oriented offense is read and react or when the ball is dumped to him for a scoring opportunity. Draw a mismatch and Mobley is quickly backing down and gunning for an instant foul.
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Much like with his drive and face-up game, he can get jostled in the mid-post with good positioning and strength. He's seemingly much more comfortable going to his left out of face-up opportunities and with his footwork in general, although he's more than capable from either side. There are ways to sit down on his game and I'm interested to see how defenses approach him in the playoffs. But even then, he has counters.
While they're not fully polished, what he's showing in his bag as a rookie, especially recently, is absurd.&nbsp;
I mean, what are you supposed to do with this?
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Fellow rookie Alperen Sengun defended Mobley fairly well throughout their most recent match-up, and it just didn't matter to an extent. (Mobley had a career-high 29 points, but the Cavs played one of their worst collective games of the season).
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Mobley is shooting 38.2% on fade-aways and step-backs on 68 attempts, according to InStat Scouting. That's not a ridiculous mark, but again, the flashes are bright and the potential is brimming. Considering the majority of these shots come as last-resort, late-clock and garbage-possession attempts, it's encouraging.
His release point on his jumper is pretty close to unguardable, and as he continues to grow into his body, improve his strength and tweak his game, it's awe-inspiring to imagine what his face-up game could look like in the future. He's canning 41% of his long-range jumpers, per Cleaning the Glass, a nice 69th percentile among all bigs in the league.
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There just aren't many 7-footers capable of putting together multiple dribble moves fluidly and flowing into a jumper like this.
While he may be a ways from putting it all together, that's partially what's so mesmerizing about Evan Mobley. He's playing at a borderline All-Defense level already and flashing the offensive upside and creation that created buzz about whether he should be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. It's far too early for a redraft or to declare who should or shouldn't have been drafted where, but it's hard to debate Mobley's dominance as a rookie. As he continues to dip his toes into the developmental waters, enjoy the flashes, because, man, they are fantastic.
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With Darius Garland out due to injury, Evan Mobley has flashed more self-creation on the ball as the Cavaliers have searched for offense.

Breaking down Evan Mobley's budding self-creation

At the tail end of 2021, the former director of basketball research for the Milwaukee Bucks and current NBA writer for The Athletic released his new book &ldquo;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Midrange-Theory-Seth-Partnow/dp/1629379212" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Midrange Theory</a>." The book received rave reviews from the likes of Zach Lowe, Chris Herring, Ben Falk, Ben Taylor and even <a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/1463590554026057736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daryl Morey</a>, making it safe to say that Partnow&rsquo;s recent addition to the field of basketball analytics has been a massive success.
To talk about his book and the current and future state of NBA basketball and analytics, BasketballNews.com caught up with the brains behind this 270-page masterpiece, Seth Partnow.
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Throughout the book, you make multiple references to Dean Oliver and his book Basketball on Paper. How well do you think his work in that project holds up with the state of basketball analytics today? And how much do you recommend it to younger people just dipping their toes into the field?
Seth Partnow: "It&rsquo;s funny, when I went back and reread Basketball on Paper as part of the research for my book, I was shocked by how short the sections on the Four Factors were. In terms of things directly applicable to modern research, those concepts remain the most relevant, largely because many of the other topics in the book are trying to solve questions in more roundabout ways than we need to today, given the broader availability of more granular data. I should also add that Dean wrote extensively about the implications and applications of the Four Factors elsewhere, and a little bit of Google magic can probably unearth some of those, which I think are well worth reading."
"As for BoP itself, I definitely think it&rsquo;s worth reading as much for the insight into the analytical mindset and how to define the questions being asked. I&rsquo;m not sure I would recommend it as the first thing for people just dipping their toes in to read, especially those without a decent amount of familiarity with the primary concepts of formal statistics. I tried to address the lack of a real 'intro to basketball analytics' book in the appendix to 'The Midrange Theory,' but I would say even that assumes a certain degree of statistical literacy &mdash; which, depending on what you mean by 'younger people,' could be too much to expect given the degree to which stats is underemphasized in secondary education at least in the US."
Towards the end of Chapter 4, you mention that it&rsquo;s better for overall spacing if below-average shooters pull the trigger on open looks rather than avoid shooting them all together. Do you feel such a prescription is applicable for a player like Ben Simmons? Or is he too far below the threshold of a below-average shooter?
Partnow: "There isn&rsquo;t a magical line at which a player is an effective spacer through sheer volume, as it&rsquo;s as much about defensive perception as anything else. In practice, as long as a player is in the low 30s overall and the mid-30s [percentage] on catch-and-shoot threes, their willingness to shoot will greatly influence the amount of defense attention they draw. Below that fairly low accuracy bar, they will more likely get the &ldquo;he&rsquo;s with us&rdquo; treatment of defenders conceding and even encouraging those attempts until they make a few in a row."
You dedicate nearly an entire chapter of the book towards discussing Plus/Minus data and make multiple references to Regularized Adjusted Plus/Minus (RAPM). Are there any other publicly-available one-number metrics that you find to be beneficial tools of analysis?
Partnow: "I think the entire alphabet soup of RAPM-inspired metrics can be useful, but they require an understanding of what they are and are not measuring. That&rsquo;s the easiest to explain in relatively non-technical terms of vanilla RAPM, which doesn&rsquo;t have a ton going on underneath the hood. The more successful extensions of the methodology, such as &ldquo;Estimated Plus/Minus,&rdquo; incorporate box score and other more traditional production measures to refine the outputs of base RAPM. But as you start adding ingredients to the recipe, I think greater care, expertise and experience are needed to properly interpret the results."
"There are also non-RAPM models, which I think are extremely useful. Kostya Medvedovsky&rsquo;s DARKO, for example, is much more box score-based. Kostya does some clever things with how he weights production by recency to help pick up on changes in player skill level earlier than might otherwise be possible. It&rsquo;s hard to find in public now that he&rsquo;s been snapped up by the Wizards, but Player Impact Plus/Minus created by Jacob Goldstein can give some RAPM-like insight into player impact across smaller samples which can be especially relevant (though with a big &ldquo;handle with care&rdquo; sticker) to evaluating playoff performance."
The problems with Bird Rights get brought up in your discussion about the NBA salary cap. Do you think there is a reasonable alternative the league can create to combat this conundrum, or is it a necessary evil to ensure teams have a means of keeping their core group together?
Partnow: "Ben Falk (proprietor of Cleaning the Glass and former head of analytics for the Blazers and 76ers) has told me that he often annoyed the GMs he worked for by answering many questions with one of his own: &ldquo;what are we solving for here?&rdquo; I think Ben&rsquo;s query applies here. Are we trying to help teams stay together because we think it helps drive fan interest in commitment? Are we trying to protect teams from themselves in terms of how deep a hole any one management group can dig, a la the Stepien Rule? Essentially, what&rsquo;s the problem we are trying to solve, or is the system working as intended? I think that&rsquo;s a bigger question than we have time for here, but I think the present system broadly works, though it would work better if teams didn&rsquo;t tend to be quite as status quo-biased as they often prove to be."
Given the cyclical nature of trends and how many great big men passers we now have in the NBA, do you see the game ever returning to the post-up heavy one of the 90s and 2000s?
Partnow: "I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re likely to see a return to a game with a lot of static, clear out a side and dump it into the big guy post-ups, at least not without substantial rule changes. I covered this in the book, but the switch from the old illegal defense rule to today&rsquo;s defensive 3-seconds rule makes playing out of a stationary post-up player a lot more challenging than it used to be."
"What we might see is offenses based around facilitating out of quicker, movement-based post-ups. As my fellow Milwaukeean Eric Nehm has often noted, I love a good duck-in where a player receives the ball in a post-up position off of quick, possibly random movement. The increased vision and skill level of modern bigs will allow them to take advantage of defenses reacting to such an unexpected threat. But that strikes me as an approach that will end up looking a lot more like some of the dribble handoff heavy stuff teams like Denver and (when Bam Adebayo is healthy) Miami like to run, than it would Shaq planting himself on the block and sticking a hand in the air to receive the ball in the 90s and early 2000s."
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In the chapter comparing playoff and regular season strategy (great Carlos Boozer shoutout, by the way), you talk about how, in order to neutralize All-Star players, teams normally devise multiple plans for stopping them (&ldquo;Plans A, B, and C&rdquo;). Can you give us an example of how this works in practice from a time during your tenure with the Bucks?
Partnow: "I don&rsquo;t think I can give a specific example. But there were numerous situations where you go into a series not wanting to have to double team a given player or on a certain action, so plan A might be to defend it straight up until that proves untenable. Plan B might be double-teaming immediately, but then if the opposition is consistently able to pass out of the double to good looks, Plan C might be doing some kind of scramble early in a possession to keep the offense from even getting to the action causing all the problems."
"The best teams and players will be able to choose the correct option depending on which plan the defense is executing. But the players without a variety of skills or the teams which play by rote won&rsquo;t be able to adjust, and those are the ones that will often struggle in the playoffs as the opposition finds out their weak points."
In your chapter about drafting, you talk about the issue with player comparisons. I am not really a fan of one-to-one player comparisons, but I do like the idea of having tiers of potential developmental outcomes. Do you see any use/value in player comparisons at all, or would you like the practice removed altogether?
Partnow: "In practice, the combination of anchoring and optimism biases make comps more likely to mislead than to enlighten, in my opinion. Sure, you can give a range of outcomes, but how many people will look past the top line? I understand the desire to simplify with a quick comp, because you consider a whole lot of guys in any one draft class, but the shortcut ends up short-circuiting the evaluation rather than simply saving time."
Coming into this book, I&rsquo;ve always felt a sense of existential dread in the back of my mind about the possibility that basketball analytics may reach a level that data will no longer require analysts for interpretation. To your credit, you do a great job throughout the book of highlighting the importance of humans in this process; what other comforting advice would you give to someone who shares this feeling of the future?
Partnow: "We would have to improve our understanding of the game by multiple orders of magnitude for truly useful 'automated analysis' to be a worry. During one offseason during my tenure with the Bucks, the analytics group got together and brainstormed all the things we would need to know from a statistical point of view to feel we had 'solved' basketball &mdash; things from perimeter defensive skill, to movement shooting, to lineup synergies and so on. We ended up with around 70 post-its up on the board. We figured about three of them were already solved. Another five or six were close. Of the remaining 60-plus, we couldn&rsquo;t even imagine how we would go about addressing more than half of the concepts. So I would say there is still an immense amount to learn."
---
Wow. What great responses from Seth. I feel even smarter than I felt after I read through his book (and I felt brilliant after that!). If you enjoyed this conversation and want to hear more from Seth, be sure to buy his book "The Midrange Theory," available now.
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Mat Issa asks and Seth Partnow answers questions about basketball analytics and his book on the subject, "The Midrange Theory."

Seth Partnow Q&A: A sit down with the author of “The Midrange Theory”

Don't watch the ball when you're watching Tyler Herro.
You normally reserve that type of request when trying to get a better handle on team defense. Peep the scheme, learn the cadence of rotations &mdash; you know, the nuts and bolts of the less-appreciated end of the floor.&nbsp;
But I'm not referencing defense in this case. Don't watch the ball with Herro, even when he has the ball.
You may miss out on the slightly tighter handle, the cleaner in-and-out dribbles he uses to reject picks. You'll miss the head fakes he uses to sell his moves. Might even miss the snarl he unleashes on occasion after big buckets.
But that's okay. You can come back to that, eventually.
To fully understand the leap Herro has made this season &mdash; one that's taken him from a solid secondary to a 20-point scorer and Sixth Man of the Year front-runner &mdash; you have to start with his footwork.
It's light. It's coordinated. Balletic, even.<a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1476015240920051712?s=20"> Some may say</a> it's among the league's best. But it's the foundation of everything he does.
Herro's shooting touch is easy to see, but it means little if he isn't able to access defensive windows to showcase it. His improved handle helps him navigates space, but his footwork unlocks a new world of real estate. Take this three from Miami's recent win over the Washington Wizards. Look at how economical this is from Herro.
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You'll notice just how delicately he moves &mdash; on his toes, ready to change directions or speeds at a moment's notice. Look at how he utilizes his right foot to both sell the drive (while sending Deni Avdija stumbling), and to explode backwards into a stepback jumper.
While Herro isn't able to consistently blow by guys off the strength of his burst or handles, his ability to decelerate and gather allows him to generate ridiculous separation.
Because of this, Herro has become Miami's most versatile &mdash; and most trusted &mdash; shot-maker. Over two-thirds of his two-point attempts have been unassisted this season, a massive leap from last season (54%). 33% of Herro's threes have been unassisted, a lower but still noticeable rise from the 27.1%. clip he posted the season before.
On stepback and pull-up jumpers, Herro has posted an Effective Field Goal percentage (eFG) of 47.8, per Second Spectrum. That&rsquo;s keeping pace with noted shot-makers like Bradley Beal (47.7), Khris Middleton (45.1), Luka Doncic (44.4), Brandon Ingram (43.1) and Paul George (41.6).&nbsp;
Herro isn't touching the paint as often as he did last season, but he is converting at-the-rim shots at a career-best mark (69%). He's added strength &mdash;<a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/tyler-herro-sizzling-for-the-heat-again-after-offseason-transformation"> eating five meals a day</a> to add body mass during the summer &mdash; to make it easier to ward off defenders on his way to the basket. Being able to stop and pop is a valuable weapon, but it's even more dangerous if it can be complemented by all-out drives.
He is driving more frequently &mdash; and getting fouled more often on those drives. He's done a better job of absorbing blows, but he also has counters to make his rim trips more fruitful. Wrong-foot finishes. Early, gliding gathers. He's crouching even lower on drives to gain inside leverage on defenders, creating clean finishing windows for himself.
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And that's just what he's able to do on the ball. Off the ball, Herro's a smart mover in and outside of structure. He's a threat to pop outside or cut to the rim when the Heat go to their vaunted split action, the East Coast version of the Golden State Death Machine. Herro's knocking down 70% of his shots off cuts, and nearly 43% of his relocation threes, per Second Spectrum.
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Herro's leap has been one of the biggest reasons the Heat have been able to stay afloat near the top of the Eastern Conference, despite injuries to their two best players. His 20.6 points per game ranks second on the Heat, but leads all (regular) bench scorers in the league by a pretty solid margin. The difference between Herro and second place Kelly Oubre (16.0 points per game off the bench) is roughly the same as Oubre's gap to 12th place Cedi Osman.
Herro made waves before the season when he said he should be talked about in the same class as Luka Doncic, Trae Young and other young stars in the league. He may not be in that class, but that assertion doesn't seem as ludicrous as it did before the season started. He's balling, and there isn't much reason to believe he can't get even better.
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Nekias Duncan breaks down the third-year leap of Heat guard Tyler Herro.

Kai