Washington Wizards

This article was originally published on Jan. 16, 2021.
We&rsquo;ve all been here before.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s a random Wednesday. Full slate of games, hard to keep track of everything. Maybe you&rsquo;re peeping an ESPN matchup. Perhaps you&rsquo;re watching your favorite team on the local channel if you&rsquo;re in the market, or you&rsquo;re streaming it LEGALLY ON NBA LEAGUE PASS BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO IT. WINK.&nbsp;
But anyway, you&rsquo;re watching a game. You&rsquo;re roaming Twitter. And then a tweet catches your eye: PLAYER X HAS DUNKED ON LEBRON JAMES.
Your brow raises. You see a few tweets from your online pals big-upping the play. You&rsquo;re really interested now. You click on the video from a Big Social Media Account. And this is the dunk:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/brr.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The excitement drops a little bit. That&rsquo;s a nice dunk from Wendell Carter Jr. LeBron James is underneath the basket, and there&rsquo;s a challenge. But something doesn&rsquo;t feel right about it.&nbsp;
Then you see a different angle of the Dunk Heard &lsquo;Round The World.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/wendell-w-lebron-in-the-area.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
You feel betrayed. LeBron didn&rsquo;t get dunked on; LeBron&rsquo;s arm got dunked on as he jumps out of the darn play! This isn&rsquo;t <a href="https://youtu.be/xtOUpybXmzo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scottie Pippen on Patrick Ewing</a> or <a href="https://youtu.be/6kBWO82HUa4?t=28" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vince Carter on Alonzo Mourning</a>! I can yell at these clouds if I want to!
If you&rsquo;re anything like me, you&rsquo;re tired of being misled. If I hear or read that a player got baptized, I want to see some Holy Water coming out of the rim after the aerial duel. And if you are like me, this is the piece for you. This is the guide of all guides, breaking down the different types of dunks. A universal standard of slams, if you will, so we can finally get on the same page about poster dunks.
A brief note before digging in. I am using a tier system so it&rsquo;s easier to separate the types of dunks. Like many things in life, the scale can slide on a case-by-case basis. For example, breakaway dunks are generally uncontested, which makes them the lowest tier of dunk for me. However, a breakaway dunk from 360-enthusiast Zach LaVine is different -- and much cooler -- than the two-handed flushes we see from Jimmy Butler. Each dunk is still its own thing.&nbsp;
Disclaimer: Alley-oops can fall under virtually all of these categories, with the obvious exception of put-backs.
TIER 10: BREAKAWAYS
Break-away dunks are pretty self-explanatory. There&rsquo;s a long rebound after a miss. A player leaks out early, and gets a dunk with no resistance. They&rsquo;re pretty basic with a few exceptions. LaVine, Paul George or Glenn Robinson III may bust out a 360 or windmill on occasion. LeBron has made the one-handed tomahawk a staple of his repertoire.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lebron-tomahawk.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
It&rsquo;s basic, but it&rsquo;s so darn cool. Power, a little bit of flair, the hang time. All that good stuff.
TIER 9: TIP SLAMS
I like the timing, positioning and coordination it takes to pull off a putback slam. The lower-level ones are uncontested, but can be rated higher depending on the work a player puts in before the ball comes off the rim. Take this multiple-effort possession from Larry Nance Jr. as an example:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/larry-nance-jr-putback.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 8: BUSINESS DECISIONS
The OG: Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal
Also popularized by: LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Zion Williamson
This is for the power dunkers. Whether it&rsquo;s in transition, flowing off of a broken play or rumbling down the lane after a high-ball screen, it&rsquo;s hilarious to watch players actively decide, &ldquo;Nope, I don&rsquo;t get paid enough for this.&rdquo; Take this play from the 2016-17 season, featuring Blake Griffin:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/willy-hernangomez-business-decision.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The key actor here is Willy Hernangomez (No. 14). He is watching this snug pick-and-roll all the way through. His man, noted three-point marksman DeAndre Jordan, is chilling above the break. Not only can Hernangomez make the rotation to cut off Griffin at the rim, he should make that rotation because Jordan is not a threat at all. Instead, he begins to load up, quickly realizes that Griffin will put him in the gulag, and decides against challenging the shot.
Hilarious sequence.
TIER 7: FLY-BYS
This is where having a discerning eye is important. When you think about it, this kind of dunk -- and the praise that these types of dunk typically generate -- is about deception.
A defender jumps across a player to make it look like he&rsquo;s legitimately challenging the dunk. There&rsquo;s no real threat of a block or swipe. The dunk happens because, again, there&rsquo;s no real threat to it otherwise. And somehow both players end up looking good. The dunker gets &ldquo;poster&rdquo; equity they don&rsquo;t deserve; the defender gets a slight pat on the back for giving effort instead of making a business decision.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/hhh.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
It&rsquo;s all a darn farce. A cool-looking farce at times, but a farce nonetheless.&nbsp;
TIER 6: SELF-LOBS
We&rsquo;ve reached the coolest of the non-contact dunks. It doesn&rsquo;t get much better than throwing the ball to yourself for a slam, man. Look at Jamal Murray getting himself out of trouble.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jamal-murray-self-lob.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 5: &ldquo;IN THE VICINITY&rdquo; SLAMS (Also known as ITVs)
Folks, the rubber is starting to reach the road. The ITVs involve actual attempts at a contest and/or a little contact, a step up from the Fly-bys. This is where I&rsquo;d say the Wendell-on-LeBron dunk falls, though I wouldn&rsquo;t be mad at anyone that would classify it as a Fly-by. A better example would be this slam from Matisse Thybulle last season.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/mfff.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
There&rsquo;s an attempt at a challenge, but Thybulle still gets the better of Mason Plumlee. But Plumlee doesn&rsquo;t get dunked on. There isn&rsquo;t enough contact to call it a poster of the highest order.&nbsp;
This is also where failed chasedown blocks come in. With guys flying in from behind, the dunk-on element just isn&rsquo;t there most of the time. Take the famous Kobe-on-LeBron dunk from the 2011 All-Star game.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/kobe-on-lebron.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 4: PUTBACK POSTERS
I&rsquo;ve always gone back and forth with myself about where to place these types of dunks. On one hand, the blindsided nature of it makes it a bit unfair to defenders. You can&rsquo;t defend against what you can&rsquo;t see. However, there&rsquo;s enough contact at play, and a player Mossin&rsquo; a dude and flushing it down is generally some high level stuff.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/gerald-green-putback-poster.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Yes, that is the #BASED and #RARE Gerald Green in a Celtics uni. And yeah that&rsquo;s Mason Plumlee again. Sorry, man.
TIER 3: DUNK-ONS/CHARGE CRUSHERS
We&rsquo;ve reached the portion of the program where dudes are getting legitimately yammed on, but there are a couple of factors that keep it from ranking higher.
First, the level of contest still matters. A lot of these dunks feature dudes sliding over in an attempt to take a charge (hence the alternative name). The higher level posters feature someone trying to actually block the dunk. Sure, a charge and blocked dunk are functionally the same in terms of the result the defense wants -- taking away two points -- but we&rsquo;re talking about highlights here.&nbsp;
Secondly, and I admit we&rsquo;re splitting hairs a bit, size also matters. The first dunk I thought of was Nuggets-era J.R Smith yamming it over Gary Neal:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/jrs.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Objectively a good dunk, but Gary Neal is ground bound and short. You have to dock some points there. I&rsquo;m sorry. The famous DeAndre Jordan-on-Brandon Knight flush, while iconic, also falls in this category.
The higher end of this would be another classic involving the Spurs: LeBron dunking on Tim Duncan.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lebron-on-tim-duncan.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
That&rsquo;s more like it.
TIER 2: THE THROW-IN
THE OG: Blake Griffin
ALSO POPULARIZED BY: Derrick Jones Jr.
DUNK TRUTHERS DON&rsquo;T READ THIS!
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Dunk Truthers are stupid poopyheads.&nbsp;
Yes, we&rsquo;re well aware that dunks that involve the rim being grabbed -- or at least touched -- are more pure, whatever the heck that means. But you look at Blake Griffin embarrassing the life out of Timofey Mozgov and tell me it isn&rsquo;t one of greatest athletic feats you&rsquo;ve ever seen.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/blake-over-mozgov.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Derrick Jones Jr. has some gnarly ones in his bag as well, highlighted by this lob he converted against the Raptors that still doesn&rsquo;t make much sense to me.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/hyyy.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
TIER 1: THE PURE POSTER
Pippen on Ewing. Carter on &lsquo;Zo. <a href="https://youtu.be/tYpwjB0IzoU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baron Davis on Andrei Kirilenko</a>. Michael Jordan on, well, name almost any big man you can think of that played in the '90s.&nbsp;
We can go more modern, like Larry Nance Jr. doing this to pre-DPOY-candidate Brook Lopez:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lrrr.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
Another hidden gem: young DeMar DeRozan throwing the hammer down over Rudy Gobert:
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/derozan-on-gobert.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
The constant for these dunks: full-on, body-to-body contact with a legitimate attempt for a contest. You&rsquo;ll know it when you see it.
BONUS TIER: THE VINCE CARTER
Yeah, this is still the best dunk I&rsquo;ve ever seen.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/vince-carter-dunk-of-death.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
You clear a seven footer, you get your own dunk tier. Those are the rules.

Nekias Duncan has put together the guide of all guides, breaking down the different types of dunks and rating them on a tier system.

The Dunk-tionary: The official guide to ranking dunks

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

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim won&rsquo;t forget last season, and not because it was the only losing one in more than four decades on the job at his alma mater.
He coached his two sons &mdash; Buddy and Jimmy &mdash; and said that was the most enjoyable of his 46 seasons in spite of the record (16-17, 9-11 Atlantic Coast Conference).
&ldquo;It was great coaching them,&rdquo; said Boeheim, who turns 78 in November. &ldquo;I miss them.&rdquo;
The Boeheim brothers and swingman Cole Swider have moved on, and their offensive contributions were significant. The trio combined to average nearly 47 points a game and made 205 3-pointers. The Orange, who averaged 77.4 points, return two starters &mdash; guard Joe Girard and center Jesse Edwards &mdash; along with guard Symir Torrence and forward John Bol AJak to help guide six incoming freshmen.
&ldquo;I like this team in the sense that we may not shoot it as well as we did last year ... but we&rsquo;ve got guys that can get to the basket better and I think maybe get to the foul line better, so I think our offense will be different,&rdquo; Boeheim said. &ldquo;I think it can still be very high level.&rdquo;
Girard will move from point guard to shooting guard, replacing Buddy Boeheim, who averaged 19.2 points in his final year. Girard averaged 13.8 points and led the Orange with 89 3-pointers, shooting a team-best 40.3%.
As the new season looms, the disappointment of not making the NCAA Tournament is still on players&rsquo; minds.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been using that motivation every day in practices,&rdquo; Girard said. &ldquo;In every single drill and every single rep, the coaches are getting on us and making sure we&rsquo;re going 110% just because of the way things went last year. They want to make sure there&rsquo;s no chance of that happening this year.&rdquo;
Boeheim said the six freshmen &mdash; guards Judah Mintz, Justin Taylor and Quadir Copeland, forwards Maliq Brown and Chris Bunch, and center Peter Carey &mdash; and Duquesne transfer Mounir Hima, a 6-foot-11 forward, will play.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been really good so far, all the new guys,&rdquo; Boeheim said. &ldquo;Their mindset is in the right place.&rdquo;
BENNY&rsquo;S BACK
Highly touted forward Benny Williams had a disappointing first season, scoring just 56 points in 333 minutes over 29 games. But he gave a glimpse of his talent at home against Duke in February, scoring 14 points and snaring six rebounds in 30 minutes. That he came back says a lot.
&ldquo;I think it shows perseverance,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;A lot of guys in my situation would have transferred, coming in as a highly touted high schooler, not playing that much, not scoring that much, not doing anything, really. I feel back to myself. I&rsquo;m very confident of what I&rsquo;m going to bring this year for my team.&rdquo;
JESSE&rsquo;S JOURNEY
The 6-11 Edwards was coming into his own last season when he suffered a season-ending injury in early February. Over a five-game span, he shot 31 of 42 (73.9%) and grabbed 33 rebounds, then broke his left wrist in a fall at Boston College. He&rsquo;s healthy again and ready to go.
&ldquo;The team was going so good at that point, so the timing was terrible,&rdquo; Edwards said. &ldquo;But I think it gave everybody out here extra motivation. Whoever falls out, we&rsquo;re still going to battle.&rdquo;
ZONE OUT
Boeheim said the Orange will have something of a new look on defense, using more man-to-man to complement the 2-3 zone.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve done that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In my first 30 years we did that, so it&rsquo;s not like this is new for me.&rdquo;
MINTZ&rsquo;s MOJO
The 6-3 Mintz, a product of Oak Hill Academy, has been playing alongside Girard in practice and figures the sky&rsquo;s the limit.
&ldquo;I want to be freshman of the year in the ACC,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just having coach have confidence in me makes everything five times easier. I think I&rsquo;ve grown as a player since I&rsquo;ve been here.&rdquo;
SCHEDULE
Syracuse, picked for eighth in the ACC, plays in the Empire Classic in New York City on its first road trip, with an opening game against Richmond. The home slate includes Georgetown, Notre Dame, top-ranked North Carolina, No. 18 Virginia and No. 7 Duke.
___
Freelance writer Mark Frank contributed to this report.

The Boeheim brothers and swingman Cole Swider have moved on, and their offensive contributions were significant.

Syracuse looks to rebound after Boeheim’s first losing season

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NBA Expansion Mock Draft: What would a new expansion team look like?

On April 7, 2003, the Syracuse Orange men's basketball team won the NCAA championship, defeating the Kansas Jayhawks 81-78 at the Superdome in New Orleans.&nbsp;
While Carmelo Anthony received the majority of the praise following that title, two key factors on that championship team were Hakim Warrick and Billy Edelin.&nbsp;
BasketballNews.com's Etan Thomas caught up with them to discuss the current Syracuse team, how they compare to their championship squad, playing for Jim Boeheim and more:&nbsp;
Hakim Warrick&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_7364-1_lg.PNG" alt="" /> 
Etan Thomas: One of the most glaring differences between your championship team and a lot of the Syracuse teams post-2003 is the way Coach Boeheim utilized your bench. You all really went eight-or-nine deep.&nbsp;
Hakim Warrick: Coach did a really good job of using our bench. Guys like Billy Edelin, Josh Pace, Jeremy McNeil, we just had a really nice rotation and everyone knew their roles. And all of the guys I mentioned were good enough to be starters, we just had a deep team. We trusted each other and everyone was ready when their number was called. If 'Melo was struggling or I was struggling or G-Mac (Gerry McNamara) was struggling, guys would come in and do what we weren&rsquo;t doing well. Or we would simply utilize their attributes that differed from the starters. And again, Coach did a great job of strategizing and using us as a complete team.
Etan: But it seems like you&rsquo;re the only &mdash; or one of the only &mdash; groups he did that with, and you&rsquo;re the only group that won the championship. So &nbsp;after you all left, the philosophy switched to five iron men and people who would come in for a few spot minutes, but that&rsquo;s really it. I&rsquo;m watching the team now, and I&rsquo;m seeing the starters get tired, start slowing down, shooting tired three-pointers, making tired mistakes, and guys on the bench who could help are sitting on the bench. So what was different about y&rsquo;all that made him utilize the bench the way he did?&nbsp;
Hakim: That&rsquo;s a good question. I know we all trusted the guys coming off the bench, just as much as we trusted the starters. But you&rsquo;re right, there is definitely a different strategy he took with us. We wouldn&rsquo;t have won without our bench. We wouldn&rsquo;t have beaten Oklahoma State if Jeremy McNeil didn&rsquo;t take over that game. Josh was the glue guy all year. And Billy was the floor general when he came in. We wouldn&rsquo;t have won without them.
Etan: Here in the DMV, we all know what an incredible talent Benny Williams is and everyone is scratching their heads about why he's not playing and not part of the rotation, especially when athleticism is something that we lack. What advice would you give to Benny Williams?
Hakim: I would say: I&rsquo;ve definitely been there. My freshman year was rough. But he just has to keep working and always be ready when your number is called, and never lose confidence because lack of talent is definitely not the reason why you&rsquo;re not playing. I worked out with him prior to him going to Cuse. I am very well aware of what he can do. But just stay ready. Coach is going to have no choice but to play you eventually, just be ready.
Etan: This team has had some tough stretches. The game against Duke was ugly &mdash; there's no other way to say it. Do you see the team being able to come together, restructure and turn this thing around? What are some adjustments that need to be made?&nbsp;
Hakim: They&rsquo;ve been playing games pretty tough, other than the last game against Duke. Like you've said before, they live by the three and die by the three. This is probably one of the best all-around shooting teams that Syracuse has ever had, but it&rsquo;s also probably one of the [least] athletic teams as far as perimeter guys as well. And you&rsquo;re right, we need the athleticism off the bench. We do. But we gotta execute down the stretch; we&rsquo;ve seen that be an issue. We&rsquo;ve shown that we can play with anybody in the ACC, and I think with a few adjustments that we&rsquo;ve mentioned, we&rsquo;ll definitely be able to turn things around. And it&rsquo;s happened with Syracuse teams [before] when everyone thought we were out, and next thing you know, we go on a run in the tournament and make it to the Elite Eight or Final Four. It can happen.&nbsp;
Billy Edelin&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/img_7363_lg.JPG" alt="" />
Etan Thomas: I didn&rsquo;t know that you trained Buddy Boeheim, Symir Torrence and Joseph Girard III. Tell me about that.
Billy Edelin: Since 2007, I&rsquo;ve been doing skill development &mdash; mostly working with guys from the DMV area. So when I got up here, I saw the tremendous talent in this area: Mika Adams-Woods (he&rsquo;s at Cincinnati), Buddy, Frankie, Paul Gacetti, and a few other guys.&nbsp;
Joe Girard was with the City Rocks and we beat them as freshmen, so I actually got to coach him one time with the City Rocks. We had Mika on point and him off the ball and he looked really good, so that&rsquo;s kind of what I always thought he was best at. I thought Symir was always good at facilitating, perimeter defense, quick to the ball, great lateral movement and being more of a natural point.&nbsp;
Etan: It&rsquo;s interesting because a lot of people around Syracuse have the same observation watching them this year. I think when Symir checks in the game, the entire flow is different on both ends of the court. And that&rsquo;s not a knock on Girard; I think his shooting is absolutely elite, but they have different attributes they bring to the table.&nbsp;
Billy: I was watching Chad Ford and another commentator a few days ago and they were saying that from an analytics standpoint, having three shooters on the floor would be better for us scoring wise. Then he said, "But the thing that makes Syracuse good is the same thing that makes them bad," and it&rsquo;s difficult to disagree with his assessment. Yes, we&rsquo;ll have more outside shooting than some teams and the numbers can look a certain way, but I&rsquo;m old school and my question is: what&rsquo;s the best way for us to win? And I think you have to find some type of balance and play to your strength regardless of what the &ldquo;analytics&rdquo; suggest.
Etan: Very well said. And I don&rsquo;t want to bring up old stuff, but <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ncaa-basketball-news-losing-kadary-richmond-tragedy-for-syracuse-university-orange-transfer-portal-jim-boeheim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I&rsquo;m still not happy that Kadary Richmond isn&rsquo;t with us</a> because I really felt he could&rsquo;ve helped us tremendously. I mean, he&rsquo;s a pass-first point guard who can break any press by himself and run the team. Look what he&rsquo;s doing with Seton Hall now! Imagine how we would look with him running the point and having all those shooters spotted up?
Billy: I was trying to avoid that topic, but yes, you&rsquo;re 100% correct. That&rsquo;s such a tough pill for me &mdash; and I think everyone in Syracuse &mdash; to swallow, seeing how well he is playing and thinking what could&rsquo;ve been and what should&rsquo;ve been.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan: Ya'll were a special team in 2003, the only championship team for Syracuse. You were the general, you ran the show. Yes, you had G-Mac who was shooting all the threes and lighting it up, but in my opinion and in your teammates' opinion, it wouldn&rsquo;t have worked without you in particular because of the way you ran the show. Now, relating it to this current team, the reason I brought up Kadary and Symir is because they are Billy-Edelin-type point guards who can run the show.
Billy: Yeah, I know exactly what you&rsquo;re saying. I definitely give Coach Boeheim a lot of credit because I had to sit out a year and he reintegrated me back into the rotation, and [he had me] working with Coach Hop every day to get right. I remember one game in particular &mdash; I had 13 and 7 in limited minutes, and it was against Seton Hall ironically. And then I had like 18 points and 9 assists against West Virginia in, like, 18 or 19 minutes and Coach literally said after the game, "Billy Edelin has arrived." So what he was telling the guys and all of Syracuse was that he was going to give me a bigger role, and I give the team a lot of credit because they embraced that. No friction, no disgruntled people about minutes, it was all embraced by G-Mac and by everyone. I knew I could score, but I did what was best for the team and if that was setting up 'Melo, kicking it out to Kueth Duany for the fastbreak, getting Jeremy McNeil a few touches down low (which would translate to him playing better on the defensive end and blocking even more shots), that&rsquo;s what I would do. But to your point, yes, I thought that&rsquo;s definitely the role Kadary could&rsquo;ve played and the role Symir could play now. The exact same role.&nbsp;
Etan: Yeah, the point guard is the most important position on the floor.
Billy: Yeah, you&rsquo;re right. Can&rsquo;t disagree with that, and that&rsquo;s both ends of the floor, [with] Symir being a whole different dimension on the defensive end. And Kadary, we don&rsquo;t even have to talk about his defensive ability, it&rsquo;s off the charts. And he&rsquo;s taller and longer, so yes, that&rsquo;s definitely a big loss. But I still think we could turn it around. We have the pieces. I love how the big fella Jesse [Edwards] is playing in the middle. We can definitely turn this season around. Just gotta take it one game at a time, and I think Coach Boeheim will figure it out. He&rsquo;s a Hall-of-Fame coach for a reason.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1_md.png" alt="" />

Former Syracuse stars Etan Thomas, Hakim Warrick and Billy Edelin break down this year's team and what adjustments need to be made.

Hakim Warrick, Billy Edelin, Etan Thomas discuss current Syracuse team

Houston Rockets assistant coach Gerald Green is unretiring and plans to sign in the NBA G League, sources tell&nbsp;The Athletic.
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1479095030715461636" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shams Charania/The Athletic</a>
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;The 12-year vet reportedly hopes to make an NBA comeback. Green has not played at the NBA level since 2018-19, when he averaged 9.2 points per game in Houston. The high-flying wing has suited up for eight NBA teams to date.

Green has not played at the NBA level since 2018-19, when he averaged 9.2 points per game in Houston.

Gerald Green to unretire, plans to sign in G League

Spencer Davies chats with Aaron Ryan and Brandon Williams about the details of Overtime Elite, a new league that's changing the game.

Former NBA execs, Overtime Elite seek to revolutionize amateur-to-pro preparation

Despite the Herculean efforts of the NBA and the NBPA, the league is encountering a variety of problems in trying to get everyone in the league vaccinated against COVID-19. The teams having the most difficulty getting vaccinations include the Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers, BasketballNews.com has learned.
Numerous league sources described the situation as an ongoing, daily dilemma in which they are fighting against misinformation, historical truths about government abuse of vaccination programs in Black communities and logistical complications based upon different vaccination qualification rules in different states.
Despite the problems, the New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trail Blazers have managed to have team vaccination events &mdash; a single event in which members of the organization who wish to receive vaccinations are given doses. Close to half of the league is roughly three weeks away from being freed from strict lockdown rules that one Western Conference executive described as being &ldquo;worse than the bubble.&rdquo;
With the United States entering what the government is calling the &ldquo;fourth wave&rdquo; of COVID-19 infections, the slow return to normalcy is proving difficult in both the NBA and society at large. A league source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said teams have been instructed by the league office that they cannot jump the line to get members of their organizations vaccinated, and nobody will be forced to be vaccinated against their will. But at the same time, extraordinary efforts are being made to educate players and team personnel about the merits of vaccination.
The league has incentivized it, too, allowing teams that have 85% of both players and staff fully-vaccinated to be freed from the restrictions -- some of which have been deemed onerous -- that have kept them masked in locker rooms, confined to their hotel rooms without guests on the road and banned from eating at restaurants.
The league defines &ldquo;fully vaccinated&rdquo; as being two weeks past the second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or the single-dose Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine.&nbsp; A handful of players have flown on their own or with the assistance of their agents to states with less restrictive qualification rules. However, despite the incentives, some players and staff are refusing to be vaccinated, citing religious reasons, health concerns (such as allergies) or other personal reasons.
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On March 24, the Warriors held a vaccination event at Kaiser Permanente S.F. in Mission Bay, California. There, members of the organization who wished to be were vaccinated received Johnson &amp; Johnson&rsquo;s single-dose vaccine. The Pelicans were able to hold a vaccination event in their home state of Louisiana because the state has a body-mass index rule that is less-restrictive than in other states. Many members of the organization were able to qualify. Not every team has had the same experience.
One league source described the current degree of difficulty of receiving vaccines as a five on a 1-to-10 scale, whereas it was a three one week ago and a one (a virtually impossibility) one month ago.
On Monday, ESPN&rsquo;s The Undefeated reported that Andrew Wiggins and Kent Bazemore of Golden State are two players who <a href="https://theundefeated.com/features/nba-players-have-a-responsibility-to-black-people-when-it-comes-to-covid-vaccine/">have said they won't take the vaccine anytime soon</a>.
NBPA executive director Michele Roberts <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-vaccine-nba-nfl-mlb-players-11613963876" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke with the Wall Street Journal</a> and confirmed that at least <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-vaccine-nba-nfl-mlb-players-11613963876">a sect of players have concerns</a> about being vaccinated. Roberts suggests, however, that the vaccines -- which she says are &ldquo;auditioning&rdquo; -- are &ldquo;earning credibility&rdquo; with her constituents.
NBPA president Chris Paul has been mum on the issue for the last three weeks after <a href="https://twitter.com/GeraldBourguet/status/1368595236688179200?s=20">being quoted as saying,</a> &ldquo;I think all of these decisions are personal-type decisions.&rdquo;
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<div class="p-rich_text_section">LeBron James&nbsp;<a class="c-link" href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/03/08/lebron-james-decision-whether-to-get-vaccinated-a-private-thing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-stringify-link="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/03/08/lebron-james-decision-whether-to-get-vaccinated-a-private-thing/" data-sk="tooltip_parent">made a similar comment earlier this month</a> when asked about the vaccine, agreeing that it's "a private thing."&nbsp;</div>
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One source said that one of the most difficult tasks has been dispelling myths being perpetuated by anti-vaccine advocates whose information is being re-reported by some mainstream media companies and spreading on social media and online forums.
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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Privately, players have expressed that they are hesitant to get the vaccine due to systemic distrust in the U.S. government, in large part due to the infamous "Tuskegee Experiment," league sources told BasketballNews.com.</div>
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The program, which took place in Tuskegee, Alabama from 1932 to 1972, was used to author a report entitled &ldquo;Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.&rdquo; The men who participated in the study were told that they were receiving free health care from the federal government, but they were left untreated for decades. Even after penicillin became widely available, the men never received it. After initially being told that the study would last six months, it continued for 40 years. The study reportedly caused the deaths of 128 participants, either directly from syphilis or from related complications.
The league and union have worked together to start conversations with players and address their concerns. Dr. Leroy Sims, the NBA&rsquo;s medical director, and Dr. Deverick Anderson, a Duke University medical professor hand-picked by the NBPA, have given informational vaccination presentations to all 30 NBA teams via Zoom.
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All of these developments come as more NBA arenas are being opened up to fans. The Boston Celtics played in front of a &ldquo;full house&rdquo; of 2,298 masked fans on Monday night after Massachusetts cleared the state's professional sports teams to admit up to 12% capacity.
After a series of infections forced numerous postponed games early this season, especially for the Washington Wizards and Memphis Grizzlies, the league and union agreed to a more restrictive set of rules that, among other things, barred players from having guests in their hotel rooms while on the road.
One adjustment was subsequently made to allow for a pair of 60-minute &ldquo;exercise&rdquo; trips outdoors for teams while on the road, but the net effect has been a league-wide case of cabin fever. Worldwide, it is being called &ldquo;coronavirus fatigue&rdquo; and includes social isolation leading to social disengagement.
Those speaking with BasketballNews.com said the most optimistic forecasts would have all 30 teams operating under the less restrictive rules prior to the end of the regular season in mid-May, but the equation changes every day. The situation is being complicated by a new surge of cases in several states. Vaccine availability also varies by geographical region.
&ldquo;Right now, I am scared,&rdquo; Deborah Birx, the former White House coordinator for pandemic response, said on Monday as U.S. president Joe Biden addressed the nation, saying (among other things), &ldquo;We are in a life-and-death battle with a virus that is spreading quickly."&nbsp;
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Center for Disease Control, fought back tears as she pleaded with Americans to &ldquo;hold on a little longer&rdquo; during Monday&rsquo;s coronavirus briefing at the White House.
A league memo on this subject was obtained by BasketballNews.com and it outlines the benefits that &ldquo;fully-vaccinated teams&rdquo; can enjoy. They include not having to wear masks at practice facilities, more flexibility to leave hotels on the road, being served meals on team flights, being allowed to eat outdoors or indoors at restaurants, loosened rules on the timing of daily PCR tests, the ability to hold team meetings at locations other than the court or hotel ballrooms, no COVID testing on off days and no quarantine following exposure to COVID-19. Read the full memo below:
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<a href="https://t.co/QrFG8xc17r">https://t.co/QrFG8xc17r</a> obtained this memo that the NBA sent to all 30 teams. It outlines the benefits that &ldquo;fully-vaccinated teams&rdquo; can enjoy. <a href="https://t.co/Cjg1shPZZT">pic.twitter.com/Cjg1shPZZT</a>
&mdash; Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/sheridanhoops/status/1377033106495045633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2021</a></blockquote>

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The NBA playoffs are beginning in less than two months, and the league was hoping the virus would either be under control by now or that all of its players would all be vaccinated.
Unfortunately, neither has happened.
They&rsquo;ve made it this far, but obviously, the NBA isn&rsquo;t totally out of the woods yet.

From hesitant players to logistical issues, the NBA is encountering problems as it pushes to get everyone vaccinated against COVID-19.

Despite efforts of NBA and union, some players hesitant to get vaccinated

Syracuse University&rsquo;s magical Sweet 16 run may have ended on Saturday night against the No. 2 seed Houston Cougars, but this is what March Madness is made of: the story of Jim and Buddy Boeheim, a coach and his son making a tournament push, warmed everyone&rsquo;s heart.
Interviewed on countless shows, laughing and joking, the duo was everywhere. The two talked about everything, from who was the better player to Buddy forgetting his electric shaver and having to run to Jim&rsquo;s room to borrow one before the game. It was March Dad-ness, and the world couldn&rsquo;t get enough of it.
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Of course, this was a dramatic turnaround from the original reaction. Just two seasons ago, the consensus was that Buddy was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-ncaa-syracuse-orangemen-the-pressure-of-being-son-of-coach-jim-q-and-a-buddy-boeheim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only on the team because his daddy was the coach</a>, but he definitely shut all of his critics up as he morphed into Buddy Buckets right before everyone&rsquo;s eyes.
However, when the dancing stopped, it really stopped. Coach Boeheim broke the news that he expected four-to-six players to transfer this season, and the Orange Nation took a collective gasp.
One by one, he's been absolutely right.&nbsp;
First, the news came about Bol Ajak, a freshman who only appeared in 10 games this season, entering the transfer portal. He was recruited as a forward and converted to the center spot, and was never able to crack the rotation.
Then came Robert Braswell, who saw his playing time really increase toward the end of the season. In fact, Braswell averaged 7.4 points per game over the last five games of the campaign (including the ACC and NCAA Tourney). He received endless praise from Coach Boeheim, although the praise did appear to be more of continuous jabs at Alan Griffin, who appeared to be in Jim's dog house and was never able to get out.
Griffin went from 30 minutes a game -- and at times carrying the offensive load almost single-handedly -- to being consistently yanked out of the game just minutes after tip-off. It was almost as if Coach Boeheim was waiting for him to make a mistake so he could snatch him out. It wouldn't be suprising to see Griffin as another player to enter his name into the transfer portal, but I&rsquo;m sure he will do well wherever he goes. He&rsquo;s a very good player and handled a difficult situation with maturity and professionalism.&nbsp;
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In <a href="https://www.si.com/college/syracuse/basketball/predicting-players-leave-stay-syracuse-basketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an article on SI.com</a> predicting who will stay and go, Mike McAllister said he expected freshman guard Kadary Richmond to continue his career with the Orange.
"Richmond is young, extremely talented and has an NBA ceiling," McAllister wrote. "Syracuse knows how good he is. My prediction is that the coaching staff communicates all of that during exit interviews, reiterating he will play a lot of minutes next season, and Richmond stays."
Unfortunately, that didn&rsquo;t happen. Tuesday morning, Richmond <a href="https://verbalcommits.com/players/kadary-richmond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entered his name in the transfer portal</a>, officially exiting Syracuse to join his former teammates in looking for a new direction.
How did we get here? How did a point guard who has shown the potential to be included in the upper echelon of Syracuse greats end up transferring after his freshman year? Well, let&rsquo;s take a look back at what transpired this season.
All season long, Syracuse fans screamed from the mountain tops for Richmond to receive more playing time. It&rsquo;s been kind of a rallying cry for one and all. (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/syracuse-center-jesse-edwards-answers-critics-with-his-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Along with "Free Jesse</a>," but for the purpose of this article, we&rsquo;ll focus on Kadary.) Orange Nation would watch Richmond on the bench, puzzled.
Why would a person who is that much of a difference-maker not play more minutes?&nbsp;
Now, this is no knock on starting point guard Joseph Girard, who is capable of shooting the ball from Steph Curry land, as his endless range makes defenses extend their pressure. When he comes off of a screen, catches the ball and goes up to shoot, most onlookers expect it to go in. He has a James Harden-like sidestep or stepback that has proven extremely difficult to guard.
Girard is very good at what he is good at -- but on the flip side, the things that are not his strengths seem to all be Richmond&rsquo;s strengths.
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For example, the end of the game against West Virginia seemed like it was headed for disaster. Syracuse was having trouble inbounding the ball (multiple times) under the opposing basket. They ran scheme after scheme: lined up all four guys across the front, had one person cut one way, had the other set a pick the opposite way, called a timeout to regroup. But each inbound attempt resulted in the team getting trapped in the corner and almost turning the ball over. It happened three or four times in a row in less than a minute.&nbsp;
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Then, Coach Boeheim inserted Richmond to save the day. He casually cut open to receive the ball, and broke the press by himself. That play symbolized what happened the entire season. Kadary would be inserted almost when all other options ran out to save the day, and he would repeatedly deliver, yet never earned the starting position.&nbsp;
Richmond&rsquo;s ability to handle pressure was simply far beyond his years. Opposing teams would smell blood in the water when they would see Girard alone in the backcourt. Teams that didn&rsquo;t even typically press would all of a sudden start blitzing him because every scouting report on Girard read: "Doesn&rsquo;t handle ball pressure well." Even in the half-court, you would see teams bump him, apply pressure and make him put the ball on the floor, which more times than not would result in turnovers for Girard.&nbsp;
They couldn&rsquo;t do that with Richmond. He would almost invite the pressure, calmly crossing over from left to right a few times and knifing down the lane to effortlessly lay it in or find someone wide open for an assist. In fact, if you adjusted his playing time to 40 minutes per game, Richmond would almost lead the ACC in assists per game (trailing only Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Xavier Johnson).&nbsp;
Richmond got everyone involved. He is the type of point guard anyone, including myself, would&rsquo;ve loved to play with. Players know that if they set a pick for him and roll hard to the basket, he will find them. If he drives and they get to an open spot and have their hands ready, the ball will just magically appear in their grasp. If they run the floor hard on a fastbreak, Richmond won&rsquo;t keep it to try to go 1-on-3 or Eurostep into traffic and force up a shot like so many players do today; he will make the right play and hit the open man. If you spot up behind the three-point line, he will find you. (I&rsquo;m still not a big fan of all these threes, but I understand that&rsquo;s just the new age of basketball, and I have morphed into the grumpy old get-off-my-lawn former player in some sense, and I&rsquo;m okay with that...but I digress).
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The point is, what Richmond brings to the game is invaluable.&nbsp;
On the defensive end, Richmond was clearly the best perimeter defender on the team, and it wasn't even close. Multiple times, he would get back-to-back steals as soon as he was inserted into the game. The careless and lazy passes that the opposing team were able to get away with doing when he was on the bench would no longer work. Richmond&rsquo;s lengthy wingspan, physicality, lateral movement, mobility, basketball IQ, anticipation and ability to pick-off ball carriers would be on full display game after game. He would have an immediate impact on both ends of the floor.&nbsp;
Coach Boeheim then gave excuses to the media and writers, who were also wondering why Richmond wasn&rsquo;t seeing more playing time.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s learning. He has his conditioning. I&rsquo;m not sure he can play any more minutes than 20. He could play a few (more) maybe,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2021/02/the-case-for-kadary-can-jim-boeheim-and-su-fans-find-common-ground-in-a-backcourt-battle.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boeheim said</a>.
That statement left all of Syracuse Nation completely puzzled -- including myself.
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I&rsquo;ve said it before and I&rsquo;m going to keep saying it, Kadary Richmond should play as many minutes as he can possibly play (and that&rsquo;s a lot more than 20) We are a completely different team with him on the floor. Offensively and defensively it&rsquo;s night and day<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeWoodyNewton?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FreeWoodyNewton</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/wgpbiW7PSO">pic.twitter.com/wgpbiW7PSO</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1363241007568084996?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2021</a></blockquote>
The point guard is the most important position on the floor. Yes, everyone knows he should&rsquo;ve been playing more, but what needed to be communicated to him was that what he brings to this team is invaluable, appreciated, cherished, recognized and respected, and that he would not be hampered by remaining in a Syracuse uniform. I&rsquo;m sure other teams have been whispering in his ear all season that he won&rsquo;t have these issues at their school, that he would flourish at their programs and that they would value him.
Coach Boeheim and the entire staff should have started recruiting him all over again, and all of that should have been communicated to him. Maybe it was, and Kadary was just didn&rsquo;t believe them because of what actually transpired this season. At any rate, it wasn&rsquo;t enough to convince him to stay.
And as the tragic reality settles in on Orange Nation that Kadary Richmond will no longer be with the Syracuse program, we have to come to grips with the fact that we have squandered away a special talent.

Etan Thomas looks back at the Orange's Sweet 16 run in the NCAA Tournament and how Kadary Richmond's exit will hurt the team.

Losing Kadary Richmond is a tragedy for Syracuse University

The Minnesota Timberwolves have managed to be the center of the NBA universe twice in a three-day span.
On Friday night, Anthony Edwards converted a poster dunk -- yes, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-dunks-poster-posterized-dunktionary-nekias-duncan-slam-putback-flyby-fastbreak-transition-lebron-james-vince-carter-blake-griffin-shaq-gerald-green-demar-derozan-larry-nance-jr-jayson-tatum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an actual poster</a> -- with remnants of <a href="https://youtu.be/gOcdOF04-wk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">McGrady-on-Bradley</a> shining through. The dunk was so nasty, the conversation around it turned into a philosophical debate about single-game analysis and what really matters.&nbsp;
On Sunday night, the Wolves fired head coach Ryan Saunders. The move itself wasn&rsquo;t a shock; even within the context of injuries and COVID woes, a league-worst 7-24 record following a 19-45 campaign the year before doesn&rsquo;t inspire much confidence. Beyond bad and/or unavailable personnel, the process on both ends of the floor screamed, &ldquo;This needs to be shaken up, and quickly.&rdquo;
The hiring of Raptors assistant Chris Finch is one worth being optimistic about. He&rsquo;s long been regarded as one of the best offensive minds in basketball; heck, the Wolves interviewed him for the head gig before eventually hiring Saunders after the 2018-19 season. The existing history between Finch and the Wolves, specifically team president Gersson Rosas -- the two worked together in Houston as part of their then-D-League affiliate -- takes away some of the awkwardness of a hmm-that-was-quick coaching search.
While it&rsquo;s fair to feel uneasy about the <a href="https://twitter.com/Dame_Lillard/status/1363704821497298945?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">optics of the hire</a>, the bottom line remains: this is a team in need of major overhaul. They have a generational offensive talent in Karl-Anthony Towns that they need to build around in an effective manner.
Towns recently expressed his desire to build a legacy in Minnesota, but he&rsquo;ll need help. The clock is ticking, and the Wolves don&rsquo;t necessarily have, say, Blazers-esque front-office competency to fall back on and feel super comfortable banking on Towns being their Damian Lillard. Here&rsquo;s how the Wolves should go about building this thing out.
UNLEASH QUARTERBACK KAT
Making sure your best player gets a healthy amount of touches isn&rsquo;t a profound analysis. At this point, it isn&rsquo;t as simple as getting Towns the ball: the Wolves need to reconfigure their thoughts on what Towns is.&nbsp;
He isn&rsquo;t just a talented three-level scorer; he has the scoring gravity and, more importantly, the passing chops needed for him to operate as a primary initiator. I mean this solely in terms of usage: the Wolves have to treat Towns more like Nikola Jokic and less like Nikola Vucevic.
<a href="https://twitter.com/C2_Cooper">Caitlin Cooper</a> of Indy Cornrows, the Indiana Pacers&rsquo; blog for SB Nation, wrote <a href="https://www.indycornrows.com/2020/10/6/21501224/how-chris-finch-could-invert-the-pacers-offense-with-continuous-spacing">a fantastic piece</a> detailing Finch&rsquo;s offensive philosophy. Though it was written within the context of how his hiring could juice the Pacers&rsquo; offense and maximize the talents of Domantas Sabonis, many of those points are applicable to the Wolves and Towns.
The major theme of that piece, and what&rsquo;s important to gather in relation to a shift in usage for Towns, is the inversion of the offense. To put it simply: instead of primarily using actions that feature guards feeding Towns down low, Towns should be the primary initiator, stretching defenses from above the break to open up possibilities for everyone else.
We know what Towns brings to the table as a scorer. He&rsquo;s drained at least 40 percent of his threes in each of the past four seasons -- a 41.1 percent clip on nearly five attempts over that span. He&rsquo;s a sniper with his feet set, but adds another layer of terror by being able to fly off pindowns.&nbsp;
Per Synergy, Towns has graded in the 86th, 74th, 59th, and 81st percentile as a post scorer. His blend of touch, strength and footwork are rivaled by only a handful of players in the league.
Towns&rsquo; passing ability just hasn&rsquo;t been tapped into enough. Some of that starts with his actual placement in the offense. Towns has ranked 38th (3.6), 28th (3.6), 33rd (3.3), and 43rd (2.5) in <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?sort=ELBOW_TOUCHES&amp;dir=1&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">elbow touches per game</a> over the past four seasons. For reference, Jokic, Sabonis, and Marc Gasol have taken turns leading the league during that stretch with double (and sometimes triple) the volume.
What&rsquo;s frustrating is that the Wolves have hinted at different actions that highlight Towns&rsquo; scoring gravity and passing ability.
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This is a variation of &ldquo;blind pig&rdquo; action -- a pitch to a high-post hub as another player cuts off of him simultaneously. It&rsquo;s about the pass -- you have to have a certain level of timing and touch to pull this action off -- but it&rsquo;s also about the placement. Towns being stationed just inside the arc brings Dwight Powell above the free-throw line. You can quibble about Powell being caught flat-footed instead of being more on his toes, but the recovery angle is tougher because of how high he&rsquo;s brought out. Ricky Rubio isn&rsquo;t even an explosive athlete, but with him catching the pass with a full head of steam, there&rsquo;s no time for Powell to turn and affect the shot.
If you want a more traditional example of an elbow touch, try this possession on for size:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/kat-horns.gif" alt="" width="702" height="AUTO" />
It&rsquo;s a HORNS alignment. Nothing fancy, but it&rsquo;s important to note the positioning of LaMarcus Aldridge. He&rsquo;s basically in Towns&rsquo; jersey. As Malik Beasley &ldquo;ghosts&rdquo; the back-screen for Juancho Hernangomez and cuts, the paint is completely exposed.&nbsp;
What&rsquo;s special about Towns is that, though he can execute these sorts of sets, there&rsquo;s an improvisational aspect to his game just waiting to be explored.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/kat-fake-cross%2C-manipulation.gif" alt="" width="706" height="AUTO" />
The Wolves are setting up a cross-screen underneath the basket to get Towns a post-up. Towns reverses course on the fly, rejecting the screen and lifting up to the wing. Nerlens Noel has to take the road less traveled to get there; Towns pumps, drives, then finds Jaden McDaniels after reading the &ldquo;tag&rdquo; from Reggie Bullock.
The Wolves are an odd case to where they&rsquo;ve taken the &ldquo;right&rdquo; shots -- only the Rockets (82.8%) and Raptors (77.3%) have taken a <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/totals/nba/team?Season=2020-21,2019-20&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;StartType=All" target="_blank" rel="noopener">larger share of their shots at the rim or from three</a> than the Wolves (76.4%) over the past two seasons -- but the offense has still been terrible. The first step to correcting that issue is leveraging the full breadth of Towns' skill set. Shots at the rim and threes are inherently valuable, but you still have to create quality looks from those areas.
PULLING THE PLUG EARLY
&ldquo;Towns and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell have only played five games together! The Wolves don&rsquo;t really know what they have in them yet.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s a common, somewhat reasonable counter to the dire straits the Wolves find themselves in. You can&rsquo;t call an experiment a failure if you haven&rsquo;t had the opportunity to test it out.
[taps forehead]
I&rsquo;m not sure how hot of a take this is, but I&rsquo;d argue the Wolves have seen enough. In the case of Russell, he&rsquo;s young (25), but not young enough to where we don&rsquo;t have a handle on his strengths and weaknesses. There&rsquo;s still room and time for him to grow, but we have the template: a pull-up artist with good passing vision that doesn&rsquo;t pressure the rim, and a poor defender with limited upside.
Russell has utility, but it&rsquo;s fair to question if he&rsquo;s truly a core piece you want to build with long-term. The &ldquo;poor defender with limited upside&rdquo; bit may seem harsh, but the Wolves want to build a winner around Towns at a certain point. That means thinking about what this team will look like in a playoff setting. Within that context, having Russell at the point of attack in end-of-game scenarios is problematic for obvious reasons.
About that utility: the bulk of Russell&rsquo;s value comes on the offensive end. He&rsquo;s a slithery guard in high ball-screen situations with an ability to pull-up from just about anywhere. When he&rsquo;s rolling, he&rsquo;s able to leverage the threat of his shot to sling cross-court dimes when the defense rotates early.
In a world where Towns soaks up more playmaking usage, how valuable is Russell to the offense? When you add in the context of Malik Beasley further establishing himself as a stationary and movement shooter, the downhill fire that Edwards brings and the borderline destructive nature of Russell&rsquo;s defense, what exactly is the argument to him being QB2 on the Wolves&rsquo; core list?
To be clear, the defensive fit for Russell is a much more pressing issue than the offensive fit. And while I understand the Wolves don&rsquo;t have to choose between two of the Russell/Edwards/Beasley triumvirate, there may be diminishing returns with keeping Russell long term.
It&rsquo;s hard to imagine there wouldn&rsquo;t be teams that could talk themselves into a shot creation upgrade: Philadelphia, Dallas, New York and Memphis come to mind. There are some workable &ldquo;young secondary ball-handler + defensive pieces&rdquo; deals to be had if you fire up your local trade machine.&nbsp;
STEPPING UP
Minnesota will need to up its level defensively, figuratively and literally. Though we&rsquo;ve seen stretches of improvement, Towns remains a less-than-ideal backline anchor. The Wolves mostly deploy him in drop coverage, keeping him near the rim to contest shots and clean the glass.
The issue is that Towns still struggles to navigate the gap while dropping. Too often, he&rsquo;s caught dropping back too far and giving up easier intermediate shots (you want long twos in an ideal world), or he&rsquo;s lunging at the ball-handler and giving up an easy pass behind him.
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You can see what Towns was thinking: &ldquo;My guy got caught; I need to take away the elbow jumper!&rdquo; He seemingly had no faith in McDaniels (No. 3) providing &ldquo;nail&rdquo; help to either take away a potential pull-up or contest it. The result was Towns taking himself out of the play.
At this point, I&rsquo;m interested in seeing the Wolves take the opposite approach: bring Towns to the level of the screen or have him hard hedge. Force some activity.&nbsp;
The Wolves now have a pair of versatile forwards -- McDaniels and Jarred Vanderbilt -- that provide real value as weakside rim protectors. To draw on the Jokic/Nuggets example from earlier in the piece: McDaniels or Vanderbilt would be Minnesota&rsquo;s version of Paul Millsap in this scheme. You can afford to put two to the ball, in pick-and-rolls or on drives if you have this kind of explosiveness behind you.
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We have enough evidence that Towns isn&rsquo;t capable of anchoring a defense right now. If he can&rsquo;t navigate space and make reads on the fly, simplify his job and surround him with length and athleticism so there&rsquo;s less to navigate.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan dives into how the Wolves can maximize Karl-Anthony Towns' underutilized skill set on both ends of the floor.

Gerard