Lions

Nekias Duncan thoroughly grades every NBA trade from 2022 Deadline Week.

Grading every move from 2022 NBA trade deadline week

Moke Hamilton reacts to the BasketballNews.com staff's picks for the 2022 NBA All-Star Game and explains his selections.

Selecting the 2022 NBA All-Star reserves

If you haven&rsquo;t heard by now, you will soon: the Cleveland Cavaliers are coming for you.
Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the wine-and-golders have gone from lovable underdogs to unforgiving bullies. Through 30 games, over one-third of the way into the 2021-22 campaign, the Cavs boast an 18-12 record &mdash; probably the most misleading in the NBA, an absolute undersell &mdash; with one of the top average margins of victory in the league.
Using cliches and &ldquo;broken-record coach speak&rdquo; as J.B. Bickerstaff lightheartedly says before answering our repetitive comments of praise, you can&rsquo;t single out anyone as the sole reason for such a dramatic turnaround. Everyone has collectively bought in &mdash; from the returning players who &ldquo;took a lot of ass whoopings&rdquo; to the new ones who came in looking to advance a process.
Pun definitely intended, these Cavs will let you know, and fast. Jumping out to double-digit leads quickly. Punching you square in the mouth to close first halves. Putting you on the wrong end of the highlight reel. Not only do they feel like they belong, they expect to win.&nbsp;
No matter who they&rsquo;re up against. No matter who&rsquo;s on the floor for them. No matter the situation.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s giving us confidence just knowing we can beat some of the best teams in this league. I think we&rsquo;re one of &lsquo;em, to be honest with you,&rdquo; Darius Garland said after a win over the Chicago Bulls last week. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just got to bring that confidence, bring that intensity every game. Just stay with it, just keep being us. Bring the scrap every night, listen to the coaching staff and keep playing Cavaliers basketball.&rdquo;
There were times in the past few years when Cleveland looked like it began to put things together... in stretches. But an injury here, a setback there, an interruption, a roster change &mdash; it never sustained. At this point, we&rsquo;ve gotten a two-month sample size of this version of the team. It fights with the same vigor, the same self-belief and the same grit on a nightly basis.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about those guys in the locker room,&rdquo; Bickerstaff said. &ldquo;From day one &mdash; go back to September, they showed up the day after Labor Day &mdash; they were in the gym and working, and were committed to one another. And then their personalities, they genuinely all get along, they genuinely all like each other. They fight for each other. They support each other.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I go home and I watch the games over, and I spend so much time just watching our bench. There&rsquo;s body after body after body that&rsquo;s up celebrating, cheering, [and] guys that don&rsquo;t even sit down during the game. That&rsquo;s what does it, and it&rsquo;s that chemistry the guys have formed. They love to compete. These games, even games we&rsquo;ve lost, they&rsquo;ve laid it out there. We&rsquo;ve had leads versus really good teams because of the spirit that those guys have played with... Guys being committed to what you're trying to do, and committed to one another is the most important thing that you can have. And I think that's where we've seen the biggest leap.&rdquo;
Combine that consistent effort with otherworldly versatility, skill and attitude, and you&rsquo;ve got the recipe for a unique, killer concoction.&nbsp;
As muttered recently on a radio hit in Cleveland, it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to cover everything top to bottom in regards to what&rsquo;s going right for this team. But we&rsquo;ll give it a try.
<iframe src="https://omny.fm/shows/chico-after-dark/spencer-davies-new-look-cavs-are-here-to-stay/embed" width="100%" height="180px" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley (and Lauri Markkanen)
Coming into the season, everybody wondered how the duo of Allen and Mobley would coexist on the floor. The thought of Markkanen sharing the floor with both never crossed anybody&rsquo;s mind. And yet, here we are, talking about Tall Ball as <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-the-nba-length-matters-unedited" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the league's newest craze</a> that&rsquo;s thrown nearly every opponent for a loop.
Bickerstaff decided at the beginning of the season that he had to find a way to put his best players on the floor all at once, and for his team, that was through size and skill. We&rsquo;re seeing Cleveland reap the benefits of that on a nightly basis. It all starts on the defensive end.&nbsp;
You&rsquo;re seeing Allen and Mobley deny those bold enough to enter their territory. Allen is the anchor in the middle, timing his head-on challenges to near perfection, while Mobley is the weak-side insurance policy waiting to reject all comers who&rsquo;d initially believed there was a path to an easy bucket. The rookie covers some insane ground, by the way, with his long strides allowing for quick recovery if he ever overcommits or has to be the last line of defense at a certain spot. He&rsquo;s also insanely intelligent, keeping the ball in play whenever he blocks shots (or just blatantly ripping it out of somebody&rsquo;s hands).
The funny part is that the teams strategizing to get Allen and Mobley on perimeter switches don&rsquo;t fully comprehend that those two are hoping for such a plan. They are not going to be left in the dust in space, and no matter which one is tasked with defending a quicker guard, the other will have his back down low. The rotations are just incredibly crisp. Of the duos in the NBA that have played at least 500 minutes, the Allen-Mobley pairing is allowing just 95.9 points per 100 possessions. That is the top Defensive Rating in the entire league, if you&rsquo;re keeping count.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Also, their defensive prowess allows the Cavs&rsquo; perimeter defenders to put more pressure on the ball and gamble more due to the protection behind them. Which brings us to the third leg of the triumvirate&hellip;
Let&rsquo;s give credit to the unheralded contributions from Markkanen on this end of the floor too. Stride for stride, the Finnish 7-footer has been able to shuffle his feet laterally to contain his assignments rather successfully. He&rsquo;s not fouling, he&rsquo;s contesting the third-most shots on the team on average (8.3) and he&rsquo;s utilizing his length to make his man either give up the ball or force a shot attempt over a trio of towers. By no means is he the primary guy to highlight individually; however, considering past questions of how Markkanen would handle playing the 3 on the defensive side of the ball, the returns have been more than acceptable, particularly with how he&rsquo;s positioned himself. He&rsquo;s an integral part of this Cavs' frontcourt.
DG the PG
Where do you even start with Darius Garland?&nbsp;
Is it the way he picks his spots? How quickly he&rsquo;s processing his reads? His trickery with lobs? The fact that he's firing up shots without hesitation?
No matter which area of his game pops out to you, it&rsquo;s plain and obvious that Garland is making that all-too-familiar third-year jump from good to great. He&rsquo;s in complete control of the game with the ball in his hands, becoming the conductor of the (not-so) soothing Cavs symphony.&nbsp;
The 21-year-old is so agile and shifty that he has his defenders constantly asking for help, and what happens after that is up to him. He has shown a tendency to disguise the floater he used so often last year, which allows the aforementioned Allen and Mobley to capitalize with thunderous throwdowns. They are Garland&rsquo;s top two targets on the offensive end by and large, and Allen has a 62.8% field-goal percentage off those connections.
With his dribble penetration drawing more and more attention, opportunities are opening up for others. Garland puts a lot of heat on his pocket passes and quick shovel feeds, but his teammates are beginning to understand when and where to expect the ball, which has allowed for this Cleveland offense to thrive.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Asked Steph Curry about Darius Garland, and he gave his props to the third-year <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a> guard: "He's taking another step in that right direction." <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/071djCaBWJ">pic.twitter.com/071djCaBWJ</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1461716450301947906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

He&rsquo;ll also get his own shot going when he sees an opportunity, and those attempts are coming at all three levels of the floor. Not many point guards around the league can match his production. According to Basketball-Reference, Garland&rsquo;s shooting percentages across the board are as follows: 63.2% from 0-to-3 feet, 46.3% from 3-to-10 feet, 49.2% from 10-to-16 feet, 52.6% from 16 feet to the three-point line and 38.9% from beyond the arc.
Garland has been able to play off the ball as well, with Ricky Rubio as a ball-handler. He&rsquo;s been able to catch the opposition sleeping on a number of cuts, and is making them pay as a catch-shooter on the outside to boot. He&rsquo;s got synergy with the bigs coming off dribble handoffs. It&rsquo;s just all clicking for him right now. (Spoiler Alert: Our own Nekias Duncan will have more on Garland in the future.)
Veterans Matter
Without Rubio, who knows if Garland reaches this level of success? The Spanish guard has been a mentor and a maestro in his own right for this young team. As adamantly stated by several Cavs, he is a starting point guard in the NBA, yet he is propelling a uniquely productive bench alongside Kevin Love.&nbsp;
Both are buying what Cleveland is selling, and have become a crucial part of not only the development of this inexperienced bunch, but also the contributions toward its winning ways. The inherent unselfishness has permeated throughout, which is allowing for the production we&rsquo;ve seen.
Rubio has been the Cavs&rsquo; iron man, having played all 30 games and making an impact in whatever way is working that night &mdash; turning the corner, shooting the basketball at a 34% perimeter clip, pushing the offense in transition. In addition to all of this, he recently surpassed the 5,000-assist mark, backing up the importance of moving the ball. It was the team's No. 1 goal coming into the campaign, and thanks to Rubio&rsquo;s IQ, there&rsquo;s been a domino effect.
Love has rediscovered the fun of &ldquo;the chase&rdquo; with Cleveland, and it&rsquo;s shown with his performances. As a super-sub this season playing a tad under 20 minutes per night, the former All-Star is averaging 12.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per contest, while nailing 41.2% of his triple tries. Albeit on a low amount of attempts, Love is leading the NBA at 96.4% from the free-throw line.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"You don't get this often." No lip service when Kevin Love talks about *these* <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a>. He's saying this team has something "bigger than ourselves" and "truly celebrate each other." <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/MJIf43fdLW">pic.twitter.com/MJIf43fdLW</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1470597707341479941?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 14, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

These two deserve a boatload of credit for the sacrifices they&rsquo;ve made knowing where they&rsquo;re at in their respective careers, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve embraced the roles fully demonstrates their professionalism.
Those are the vets who see consistent playing time. There&rsquo;s another who doesn&rsquo;t receive quite as much love because his impact is not as obvious, and that&rsquo;s Ed Davis. Bickerstaff went to bat for the seasoned big man to occupy Cleveland&rsquo;s final roster spot for locker-room and mentorship purposes, and thus far, it&rsquo;s been a home run. Davis knows why he&rsquo;s here, and he&rsquo;s more than willing to hold up his end of the bargain. And in cases where Allen and/or Mobley aren&rsquo;t available, he&rsquo;s able to slot in and do his job.&nbsp;
The &ldquo;others&rdquo; that really aren&rsquo;t the others
It&rsquo;s unfortunate that Isaac Okoro just got placed into the NBA&rsquo;s health-and-safety protocols, because he is the backbone of the Cavs&rsquo; perimeter defense. He&rsquo;s constantly taking on the opponents&rsquo; toughest offensive players, chasing guys all around the half-court to deny them the ball, defeating screens to stick on them when the ball is in their hands and forcing them into awkward positions.
Offensively, Okoro is beginning to find his footing from the corner. It&rsquo;s not just the three-point shot &mdash; where 61.6% of his perimeter tries have come from &mdash; it&rsquo;s the way he&rsquo;s making defenses pay when they close-out too hard. He&rsquo;s putting the ball on the floor, going into contact and, in some cases (as seen against Houston), bruising the rim. Okoro&rsquo;s got a hell of a layup package too, and in transition, he&rsquo;s a load to handle.
Cedi Osman&rsquo;s hot start to the season has tailed off a bit; however, with a defined role as a part of the second unit, you can see how relaxed he&rsquo;s playing. Defensively, he&rsquo;s been swiping away steal after steal, and in the open floor, he&rsquo;s been in attack mode. He&rsquo;s also hoisting threes on the move and standstill like we&rsquo;ve never witnessed before. There is no lack of confidence there.
Maybe the most underappreciated player the Cavs have is Dean Wade, who, whether in the starting lineup playing 30 minutes or with the reserves in garbage time, constantly brings the same effort on both ends no matter the circumstance. He&rsquo;s able to stretch the floor as a long-range sniper, and he is Bickerstaff&rsquo;s sneakiest contingency plan on the defensive end.&nbsp;
Speaking of which, Lamar Stevens is the man Cleveland goes to when it needs a shot in the arm. He&rsquo;s got a bulky frame and matches up well 1-through-4. There have been numerous occasions when the team has gone to him and found the energy it needed from only his presence on the floor. He won&rsquo;t take many shots, but he&rsquo;ll prevent quite a few.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
The core of what makes the Cavs such a dangerous team is their box-score balance. Every night, you&rsquo;ll see six or seven players in double figures, assist figures in the mid-to-high 20s and 30s and modest (or poor) opponent field-goal percentages.
In every sense of the word, Cleveland is playing team ball. The NBA challenged the organization with eight out of 11 on the road to begin the season &mdash; including a grueling West Coast trip &mdash; and the wine-and-gold passed that test with flying colors. (They&rsquo;re one of the best away teams in the league at 9-5.) Now, whenever the Cavs are playing a team that isn&rsquo;t a playoff contender, they&rsquo;re demoralizing them and steamrolling them. The tough love has paid off in a major way.
No, they&rsquo;re not a finished product. They're even missing their leading scorer from a season ago (here's to hoping for a speedy recovery for Collin Sexton). They&rsquo;re not close. There haven't been nearly enough 48-minute games, and the hunt for a &ldquo;signature win&rdquo; is still on.
With that said, the Cavs have consistently brought it every single night, and teams that haven&rsquo;t taken notice are in for a hard, painful lesson once that ball tips off.
The warning sign is right in front of them: Beware of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiC_7ut0-v0AhWHkIkEHe4rAFUQFnoECAMQAQ&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cleveland.com%2Fcavs%2F2021%2F11%2Fcleveland-cavaliers-have-adopted-underdog-mentality-complete-with-new-barking-celebration.html&amp;usg=AOvVaw1bAEDy2vYzH4odGmLpFcU0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Junkyard Dogs</a>.

Spencer Davies breaks down the Cavaliers' unexpected start to the season and why they're having so much success.

From lovable underdog to unforgiving bully: How the Cavs got here

Everyone who works here at BasketballNews.com has a crystal ball. And an opinion. On Saturday, after asking several of our writers to make an NBA Finals MVP pick and explain their choice, this columnist drove across the New York/New Jersey border and placed $10 wagers for each staff member.
Sadly, Patrick Beverley of the Clippers was not on the board at any of the big U.S. sportsbooks, nor was Kawhi Leonard. Fortunately, neither player was picked by our writers.
I took Jrue Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks, because I have a thing for glue guys who play great defense under Adam Silver&rsquo;s new and, ahem, improved rules. If the Bucks get past the Hawks, somebody is going to have to defend Chris Paul or Devin Booker or whoever has the hot hand at guard for the Clippers.
And since defense wins championships, and since Holiday was 38-1, and since short odds do not exactly do it for me, I took the guy who most certainly won&rsquo;t have the jitters from the free throw line if the NBA Finals comes down to a Game 7.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is my colleague Nekias Duncan, who also loves great defenders and went with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
"I think I'm going to roll with Giannis here,&rdquo; Duncan said. &ldquo;There isn't a great option to throw at him from either West team, though Deandre Ayton (if the Suns make it) might have the best shot. His offensive prowess, combined with his defensive versatility, should make it easy for him to make a tangible impact on both ends. Great &lsquo;overcame-adversity&rsquo; narrative too.&rdquo;
Not a bad pick, as Giannis is the national favorite at odds of +115. Problem is, if Nekias wins his $10 wager, his winnings are $1.50. Years ago, 150 cents was worth a whole heck of a lot at the candy story. Today, it&rsquo;ll get you a Mars bar.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
The boss, Alex Kennedy, was initially tempted to go with Giannis, too. But Alex does not run with the pack, which is why he had more Twitter followers before he turned 21 than many celebrities have after a half-dozen major motion pictures. He has more contacts in his phone than an optician has in his shop.
&ldquo;Give me Devin Booker,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;I think the Phoenix Suns have enough to win it all, and Booker has been incredible this postseason. I can see him shining on the Finals stage, scoring a ton of points and creating for others -- all while talking trash and winning over more fans with his brash personality. Prior to this season, Booker was often characterized as someone whose empty stats didn't translate into wins, and now it feels like he's taking out five years of pent-up frustration on his playoff opponents.&rdquo;
Booker is the second choice on the board at FanDuel, so Kennedy&rsquo;s $10 could turn into $32, enough to purchase a half-dozen frappuccinos at Alex&rsquo;s local Starbucks outside of Orlando.
Matt Babcock, our draft guru who is working the NBA draft combine in Chicago, went with Giannis, too -- apparently because Matt believes that airballs from the free throw line are merely a hazard of the business. (Just messin&rsquo; with you, Matt.)
&ldquo;At this point, I believe the Milwaukee Bucks are the front-runner to win the championship, making it a natural decision to pick their top player,&rdquo; Babcock explained. &ldquo;Also, with how much the Bucks depend on Giannis to carry such a heavy load for them, that&rsquo;s another reason as to why he is the natural choice.&rdquo;
In Chicago, Matt&rsquo;s $1.50 won&rsquo;t go as far as Nekias&rsquo; $1.50, but at least that buck-and-a-half will get Matt four slices of pepperoni at the original Uno&rsquo;s (but not an entire deep-dish pizza).
Columnist extraordinaire Moke Hamilton is a practicing attorney when he is not talking and writing hoops, so his decisions go through an IQ filter that the rest of us can only wish we had. He is also a non-insufferable New Yorker, which makes him an outlier &ndash; even if his pick is not.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take a flier on Chris Paul,&rdquo; Hamilton said. &ldquo;If he is able to help the Suns get past his old team, I think he&rsquo;ll take advantage of the opportunity to win his first Finals. I also liked him for regular-season MVP, but obviously fell short there. Maybe second time is the charm.&rdquo;
Paul&rsquo;s odds are +440, and if Hamilton wins, he can take that $44 to a Brooklyn Nets game next season and get a cheeseburger and a water and still have $15.32 cents left over. (Yes, a cheeseburger and water at Barclays Center costs $28.68. And no fries are included). But Hamilton will have to put that money into plastic form, because concession stands at the Nets home area do not take cash.
Last but not least is our own Hartenstein, Spencer Davies, who is counting down the decades until the Cavs are an NBA Finals team again.
Davies went with Paul George.
&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be bold, shall we? If the Clippers continue to display the resilience they have through being battle-tested, what about Paul George? This is a man in the midst of an underappreciated playoff run,&rdquo; Davies said. &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s looking at the shooting numbers from deep, but George&rsquo;s mentality to put his head down and get to the rim has really opened up things for Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard and company to fire away. That is how you impact the game, by drawing multiple defenders and making plays for your teammates, especially when your team is missing a former Finals MVP in Kawhi Leonard.
&ldquo;Defensively, he&rsquo;s been effective with deflections and multiple efforts as well. George has continued to answer the bell (aside from the two missed free throws in Game 2) when called upon, and it would be incredible to see him win the 2021 Finals MVP in a bounce-back postseason from the Bubble less than a year ago.&rdquo;
Davies&rsquo; wager is priced at +700, and if Davies wins, he can take that $70 and drive down to Dan Gilbert&rsquo;s casino across from the Cavs&rsquo; arena and play blackjack with house money. With a good run, Davies can have enough dinero to take Hartenstein out for dinner.
But it would have to be a heck of a blackjack run. Hartenstein, rumor has it, can put down a lot of food.
For help placing NBA bets, check out <a href="https://betql.co/nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BetQL</a>. And as a BasketballNews.com reader, you can get access to BetQL for 30% off when you use the code BBN30.

The BasketballNews.com writers make their early Finals MVP picks, and we put our money where our mouth is.

BasketballNews.com writers make early NBA Finals MVP bets

There is never a dull moment when it comes to the NBA or the conversations surrounding it. However, the loudest arguments have become the most tiresome.
Here we are once again, discussing the subject of &ldquo;super-teams.&rdquo; This is on the heels of Andre Drummond signing with the Los Angeles Lakers after getting his contract bought out by the Cleveland Cavaliers, as well as Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge joining the Brooklyn Nets in a quest for a title. The big-man buyout market was plentiful following this season&rsquo;s trade deadline, and each prominent player has now found a home.
Scrolling through social media, you&rsquo;ll see all sorts of opinions regarding a lack of parity among teams and guys not wanting to earn it anymore. However, this year has been unlike any other, and considering the wear and tear that Griffin and Aldridge have on their legs, why wouldn&rsquo;t they pick such an opportunity? It&rsquo;s not as if these two are in the middle of their prime and playing at an All-Star level; they&rsquo;re going to be playing 20-25 minutes at most and are on the back nine of their careers. (Aldridge did look great in 29 minutes of action in his Nets' debut, though).
Drummond is a unique case study when you think about his dwindling market value, though with a starting spot wide open at center and an opportunity to play with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the defending champions, it&rsquo;s hardly a surprising choice to go with the best fit over the money in the short-term. He&rsquo;s betting on himself to produce at a high level and maximize his status going into a dried-up 2021 free-agent class.
Aside from the peculiar scenarios that have unfolded throughout the league during this particular campaign, there has clearly been an increase in these kinds of breakups recently, and they have become more common; some are mutual, some can be ugly. It all seems to tie into one giant, ugly debate that surfaces every time significant transactions are made. Believe it or not, there is a nuanced way to look at this from both angles.
Let&rsquo;s start with player empowerment. It is a good thing, no question. There's no reason why a player can&rsquo;t go where he wants when given the chance to choose a new home. Also, we don&rsquo;t always fairly look at organizational loyalty as a two-way street, tarnishing a player over his desire to change teams much more often than we criticize an organization that may have failed him. Draymond Green made this excellent point (albeit using a poor example with Drummond in Cleveland) regarding the rules surrounding trade requests and how they are handled differently when it comes from a player versus a team.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
On the flip side, just as those players have the right to move on, fans and media alike have the right to question their mindset, as long as it is on a case-by-case basis and it is fair and respectful. It is becoming increasingly common for fans to be attached to one specific player rather than one particular franchise. It seems the number of fans who are loyal to an organization is waning.
While there are teams with an identity and familiarity that do stay intact for more than a year or two, the constant shifting of talent is making them somewhat of an exception to the rule. Diehard fans in certain cities are gradually becoming turned off by the product because of that actuality.&nbsp;
Super-teams are good for the NBA if you&rsquo;re strictly talking about ratings and entertainment. They&rsquo;re not good for the 20+ other teams in the league that are left on the outside looking in. Again, sometimes these franchises have to look themselves in the mirror and ask what they could have done better. Other times, they fall victim and lose their best players to the immediacy demanded by not only an impatient league audience, but also the mentality of those players who adopt that line of thinking.
It goes back to this nonsensical &ldquo;rings&rdquo; culture and how many media members and outlets define a &ldquo;legacy.&rdquo; Of course these guys want to win a championship -- not everyone goes about it the same way, though. We get so stuck on what &ldquo;X&rdquo; would look like as a teammate with &ldquo;Y&rdquo; because the fantasy is usually close to the reality. Hell, look at the pairing of LeBron and AD, or the Nets&rsquo; Big Three of James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. There is good reason for that; the flaw lies in believing that every single player has the same mindset.&nbsp;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/lillardbeal_lg.jpg" alt="" />
Look at Damian Lillard and Bradley Beal. Some fans see them as foolish for not wanting to move on from the organizations that drafted them. Besides the fact that the former has gotten a little further in the playoffs than the latter, there&rsquo;s not much of a difference in the greatness each individual possesses. Their teams haven&rsquo;t gotten the job done yet to this point, but it&rsquo;s not stopping either of them from continuing to perform at an MVP level. Question their priorities, their ways of handling their business and refusal to attempt to join or form a super team as much as you want, it&rsquo;s likely not going to change their mindset at this point. That&rsquo;s true -- no matter how much the public attempts to goad them.&nbsp;
Many people are searching for what will happen in the future instead of enjoying and living in the present. Have you heard Giannis Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s name lately? Even though he&rsquo;s having a spectacular season, you probably haven&rsquo;t, more than likely because he inked a super-max contract extension with his Milwaukee Bucks this past December. Once pundits couldn&rsquo;t ponder his once-assumed free-agent decision in the summer of 2021, the Greek Freak (ridiculously) became somewhat of an afterthought.&nbsp;
Basketball fans should be plenty aware of the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns, the top two teams in the Western Conference, yet you&rsquo;ll barely hear a peep about them. Instead, the latest topic of discussion floating around is Zion Williamson... and it's not about his dominance right now (unless you read our Nekias Duncan&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/zion-williamson-is-breaking-basketball-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amazing film study of his breakout</a>) -- but rather because radio and television hosts are already looking ahead to when Zion becomes a free agent in freaking 2023, because how can Zion be seen unless he&rsquo;s in a big market? (*Looks up the 2020-21 NBA national television schedule... sees 28 games featuring the New Orleans Pelicans*).&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s almost a guarantee that the same conversations will happen with Luka Doncic, Ja Morant and every other promising youngster that emerges.
(Sidenote: At the risk of being that person who complains about a team not receiving enough love, somebody has to stand up for the little guys, a.k.a. the smaller-market ballclubs. There are 30 teams in this league. Why should only one-fifth of those matter, especially when half of the top-10 teams in the league play in a small market?)
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
This is the very kind of nonsense that ties into the exhaustion of having the same discourse over and over and over again. It&rsquo;s repetitive, played out, unoriginal and lazy -- and yes, this article is proof that the strategy to elicit a reaction worked; still, the point remains.&nbsp;
Different sports are talked about in a number of ways, but none of them are more transactionally focused than the NBA.&nbsp;
<div>
<div>
<div id="tweet-text" dir="auto" lang="en">The reality is that as long as "rings culture" continues to be the driving force behind how players are viewed, many players are going to continue prioritizing titles and doing whatever it takes to avoid being labeled as a failure, as unfair as that criticism can be.&nbsp;</div>
</div>
</div>
Looking on the other side of the coin, it&rsquo;s just as unreasonable to call out the players who gave their all to an organization and want to turn to the next chapter of their careers. (How it's handled can be a topic another day, and again, should be looked at on a case-by-case basis, not generalized). Like it or not, a change of scenery is necessary in more situations than you&rsquo;d think. The same goes for the organizations that benefit from these players being available -- what on Earth should be holding them back?
As much as people kick and scream about the same things like a broken record, it&rsquo;s probably not going away anytime soon because that&rsquo;s the place we&rsquo;re in today. It&rsquo;s only going to get louder, really.
The truth is, every player is free to decide where and under what circumstances they want to pursue their championships. Teams are free to choose to cut bait with a player and move in another direction, but at this point, it&rsquo;s getting harder to ignore the fact that &ldquo;rings" culture and the unfair labeling of players as failures for not winning championships is as much to blame for the formation of super-teams as players simply looking to take the &ldquo;easy way&rdquo; out.
Something does need to change, but maybe we &ndash; fans and media alike &ndash; are at least partially responsible for what we&rsquo;ve been seeing. &nbsp; Maybe, at least to some extent, we should be looking in the mirror.

The way fans and media perceive stars absolutely affects players' decision-making, writes Spencer Davies.

The discourse around NBA stars and super-teams is tiresome

Prior to this year's NBA Trade Deadline, BasketballNews.com rounded up its writers and asked them to share their thoughts and predictions ahead of Thursday's flurry of moves. Over the next few days, we'll be dropping a number of these Roundtable articles. Today, we asked our staffers:&nbsp;
Which team should be a seller?
Nekias Duncan: Aside from Toronto, it would be nice to see the Orlando Magic finally sell off some stuff. Aaron Gordon isn&rsquo;t a long-term fit, nor is Terrence Ross, Evan Fournier, Khem Birch&hellip; you get my drift. It&rsquo;s time to make some moves so that a long-term vision for this roster can become clear. Right now, there&rsquo;s no telling what the Magic are even trying to do.
Alex Kennedy: The Detroit Pistons have the second-worst record in the NBA at 12-31, and the team clearly isn't going to be competing for a playoff spot in the near future. With that in mind, I'd be looking to move veterans like Wayne Ellington (33 years old), Mason Plumlee (31) and Rodney McGruder (29) for young players and draft picks. Moving Derrick Rose for Dennis Smith Jr. and a second-round pick was smart; that's exactly what this team should be doing. I loved the addition of Hamidou Diallo too. We'll see if Detroit continues to make these kinds of moves on Thursday.
Spencer Davies: You almost have to preface that question with its own question: &ldquo;Who has assets?&rdquo; It&rsquo;s no secret that the Houston Rockets want to get the most they can for Victor Oladipo. We&rsquo;ve heard the rumblings surrounding the Orlando Magic with Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier, as that era is likely coming to an end. Are the Sacramento Kings going to continue on that same path? Because Buddy Hield and Harrison Barnes are good pieces that could return some value. It also wouldn&rsquo;t be surprising to see the Toronto Raptors cash in on Norman Powell&rsquo;s career season, as he&rsquo;s going to look for a big pay day in the summer.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Chris Sheridan: The Orlando Magic. John Hammond needs to keep Nikola Vucevic and get whatever he can for Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier to engineer a quick rebuild built around Vuc, Jonathan Issac and Markelle Fultz. The Magic were a Murphy's Law victim this season, but even at full strength were never going to be a championship contender. They need one or two good, young coachable wing players and an extra first-round pick. Gordon is in demand, and I expect Hammond to be able to get good value in return -- the type of value that enables a quick turnaround.
Moke Hamilton: If you&rsquo;re a team that&rsquo;s under .500 without at least one young superstar-caliber player who can conceivably lead you to the playoffs, then you should be a seller. The Rockets seem to qualify, as do the Wizards and Magic. If I had to pick one, I&rsquo;d probably go with the Magic, though. You can only try with Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon for so long before you decide to go in another direction, and each have enough value to get a decent return back in a potential deal. The Wizards at least have Brad Beal (and Russell Westbrook), while Houston has assembled a nice collection of future draft picks in recent months. It might be time for Orlando to embrace rebuilding (again) around Markelle Fultz and whichever of Cole Anthony, Jonathan Isaac or Mo Bamba gives them the look and feel of a cornerstone.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/uj_lg.jpg" alt="" />
Jannelle Moore: I think the Toronto Raptors should sell. Kyle Lowry will be a unrestricted free agent after the season and their best bet is trading him now to get a player (and picks) to help them rather than letting him walk in the offseason without getting anything in return.&nbsp;
Ethan Fuller: This might be an off-beat pick, but the Indiana Pacers should absolutely sell. They are another East contender under .500, but don't have the star power to inspire confidence. What they do have are a number of solid rotation pieces (Myles Turner, Doug McDermott, Jeremy Lamb, Justin Holiday, T.J. McConnell and more) who could help teams chasing a title. It's time for Indiana to reload the prospect chest and raise the franchise's ceiling.
Danny Cunningham: The Toronto Raptors should be sellers this year, although it&rsquo;s unlikely that will actually happen. Banners hang forever, and that franchise will always have the magical playoff run of 2019, but it&rsquo;s probably time for Masai Ujiri to examine what the future of the team looks like and put in place building blocks around Pascal Siakam to try and open up another window of contention, because this just isn&rsquo;t their year.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Jonathan Concool: The Orlando Magic. It&rsquo;s time to move on from Nikola Vucevic and Aaron Gordon. These guys are far too talented to be wasting their primes on a team that hasn&rsquo;t won a playoff series since 2010. Orlando could get real assets in return and start rebuilding from scratch, as a fresh start is desperately needed down in Central Florida.
Sharon Brown: I believe the San Antonio Spurs might be sellers and will finally get with the youth movement. LaMarcus Aldridge already isn't with the team. Is it possible that we could see them part ways with DeMar Derozan, Rudy Gay and/or Patty Mills next?
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1habvwh r-eqz5dr r-11rk87y r-1dye5f7 r-m611by r-13qz1uu">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-eqz5dr r-glunga r-13qz1uu">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-13qz1uu">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-eqz5dr r-glunga r-13qz1uu">
<div>
MORE ROUNDTABLES:&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-deadline-roundtable-will-this-be-an-active-trade-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Will this be an active trade deadline?</a>&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-deadline-roundtable-who-is-the-biggest-name-that-will-be-moved" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Who's the biggest name that will be dealt?</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-18u37iz r-1w6e6rj r-1h0z5md r-1yzf0co">
<div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1habvwh r-i023vh"><a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-deadline-roundtable-which-team-is-in-desperate-need-of-a-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Which team desperately needs a trade?</a></div>
</div>

As the NBA trade deadline approaches, which teams should be sellers? BasketballNews.com's staff shares their thoughts!

NBA Trade Deadline Roundtable: Which team should be a seller?

Ethan Fuller resets the NBA landscape at the season's midway point.

NBA Sour Rankings: Setting second-half expectations

LaMarcus Aldridge&rsquo;s time in San Antonio is over.
With the second half of the season underway, and the trade deadline approaching, the Spurs and Aldridge have <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-san-antonio-spurs-lamarcus-aldridge-mutually-agree-to-look-for-opportunities-elsewhere-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mutually agreed to part ways</a>.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been a great teammate. There&rsquo;s no problem there,&rdquo; said Gregg Popovich. &ldquo;We just think this is a win-win for the club.&rdquo;
According to ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Spurs have been &ldquo;engaged on several fronts&rdquo; for an Aldridge deal. They&rsquo;d obviously prefer to move him for something -- a draft asset, &nbsp;a young piece, or at least a competent role player to complement the youth -- rather than agree to a contract buyout.
WHAT&rsquo;S THE SCOUTING REPORT ON ALDRIDGE?
Aldridge is a shell of his All-Star self, which is to be expected at this stage of his career. There is utility present; he&rsquo;s drained roughly 38 percent of his threes over the past two seasons on modest volume. He&rsquo;s converted around 46 percent of his two-point jumpers over that same stretch, <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/season-stats/nba?EntityType=Player&amp;EntityId=200746" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per PBP Stats</a>.&nbsp;
Even at this stage, Aldridge can serve as a relief valve against drop coverage due to his ability to space the floor.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/aldridge-pick-and-pop-3.gif" alt="" width="704" height="AUTO" />
The regression is also visible on both ends. He isn&rsquo;t able to establish the sort of deep-post positioning that helped him complement his turnaround jumpers with effective jump hooks. To that point, Aldridge&rsquo;s post-up efficiency has declined in each of the past three seasons, per Synergy.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/aldridge-fail-vs-xts.gif" alt="" width="704" height="AUTO" />
Defensively, Aldridge is sound in theory but not in practice. Put another way: he knows where he&rsquo;s supposed to be, but isn&rsquo;t physically capable of getting to those spots on a consistent basis. The team that acquires him will likely be hamstrung to a deep drop coverage; strong perimeter defenders will be needed to help limit his responsibilities.
That leaves Aldridge as a player that can only help in certain contexts. Add in his $24 million salary -- though teams only need to hit around $19 million to complete a legal trade, <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1369817550117277699?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per ESPN&rsquo;s Bobby Marks</a> -- and it&rsquo;s easy to see why trade options may be a bit limited.&nbsp;
There are teams that make sense for his services, however. Let&rsquo;s take a look at three of them.
Note: All trade ideas have been checked on <a href="https://tradenba.com/trade-machine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TradeNBA.com</a>.
TRADE TARGETS
CHICAGO BULLS
Even after a loss to the star-less Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night, the Bulls find themselves firmly in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. At 16-19, they&rsquo;re tied with the 10th-seeded Indiana Pacers, and are only two games out of the No. 4 spot. If a playoff push is in the cards, they could talk themselves into a frontcourt upgrade.
Sam Amico of FortyEightMinutes.com <a href="https://fortyeightminutes.com/heat-bulls-lamarcus-aldridge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has linked the Bulls to Aldridge</a>, and mentioned a potential expiring swap between him and Otto Porter Jr. The money matches up pretty cleanly, and the on-court case is clear.&nbsp;
The Bulls would get a stretch big that could absorb the Luke Kornet minutes, and would make it easier to ease Lauri Markkanen back into the action. The Spurs would get a true, high-volume shooting threat at the 4 that would allow them to maintain their uptick in pace and switching.
NEW YORK KNICKS
The Knicks are ahead of schedule right now, currently sitting at No. 7 in the East with a 19-19 record. They&rsquo;re headlined by a top-five defense and held back by a bottom-10 offense.&nbsp;
Aldridge represents a near-perfect storm as a potential trade target: he&rsquo;s a name, fills a need (frontcourt spacing), wouldn&rsquo;t cost a core piece, wouldn&rsquo;t cut into future cap space and could make life easier on the young players that matter.
An idea worth exploring: a Nerlens Noel/Aldridge swap. The Knicks would have to add slight filler to make things work -- Ignas Brazdeikas&rsquo; $1.5 million would do -- but that shouldn&rsquo;t be difficult to accomplish.&nbsp;
Aldridge would operate as the back-up 5, spacing the floor and allowing rookster Obi Toppin more room to flourish as a roll threat in pick-and-roll. Giving RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley a pop threat would make their lives so much easier in the half-court.&nbsp;
There would be a hit defensively, at least in the short term. Aldridge isn&rsquo;t in the same galaxy as Noel on the interior or perimeter, but the hope would be to mitigate that gap in a bench role once Mitchell Robinson returns. Robinson has matured on that end, chasing blocks and fouling at a much lower rate than seasons past. You can live with, say, a 30/18 minute split at the 5 between those two.&nbsp;
MIAMI HEAT
The Heat are in the market for frontcourt depth; the jury is kinda out on what type of frontcourt depth they&rsquo;d prefer.
They&rsquo;ve been linked to bigs like Nikola Vucevic and Aldridge, both of which profile as 5s that can space the floor for All-Star Bam Adebayo. They&rsquo;ve also been linked to PJ Tucker and Aldridge&rsquo;s teammate Rudy Gay, both 4s that would allow the Heat to maintain their switching principles.
The common denominator is an ability to shoot, and Aldridge can do that. The Heat have enough mid-tier salaries to cobble together a multi-player, flip-them-later-if-you-want package -- think Meyers Leonard (who would certainly be waived), Avery Bradley (could be rerouted), Mo Harkless and the rangy ball of clay known as KZ Okpala.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s also room to go simpler by swapping out Bradley and Leonard for Andre Iguodala. The Spurs could then use Iguodala as a glue guy and mentor for their wing department, or reroute him elsewhere -- Boston has a hefty trade exception, for example.
In Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, the Heat have the sort of defensive star power to help cover for some of Aldridge&rsquo;s limitations. Head coach Erik Spoelstra isn&rsquo;t just one of the most effective defensive coaches in the league, he&rsquo;s among the most versatile. He won&rsquo;t mind getting wonky -- mixing in zone principles, for example -- to make the Aldridge minutes work.

Nekias Duncan takes a look at three teams that could make sense for LaMarcus Aldridge and what the veteran big man can offer.

Examining potential landing spots for LaMarcus Aldridge

Ethan Fuller gauges which NBA teams should be zeroing in on Cade Cunningham.

NBA Sour Rankings: Cade-O-Meter 2.0

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.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/kat-blind-pig.gif" alt="" width="706" height="AUTO" />
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.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/kat-bad-drop.gif" alt="" width="706" height="AUTO" />
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.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/mcdaniels-swat.gif" alt="" width="706" height="AUTO" />
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.

Reshaping the Timberwolves in Karl-Anthony Towns' image

Ethan Fuller breaks down the general direction of all 30 NBA teams in his weekly Sour Rankings.

NBA Sour Rankings: New Year, New Problems

Ethan Fuller breaks down the state of each NBA franchise and ranks the most frustrating teams ahead of the 2020-21 NBA season.

NBA 'Sour' Rankings: Preseason Prelude

In today's NBA, there's a ton of player movement and the rumor mill is always churning. Last July, we saw Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Chris Paul, D'Angelo Russell, Mike Conley and Al Horford (among others) change teams over the course of 23 days.&nbsp;
Which NBA star will be traded next? We asked a number of NBA writers/analysts to weigh in:
Victor Oladipo: &ldquo;This is a tough one. My first thought was to go with either Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons, but I think the Sixers will see if they can find a coach who can make it work before they split that pair. So, in that case, I'll go with Victor Oladipo. The Pacers kind of got used to life without him for a few months and it wasn't all that bad. With the sides unable to reach an agreement on an extension before this season, and his free agency approaching in 2021, Oladipo looks like the most getable star who&rsquo;s available for teams (cough, Miami) seeking another piece to push them forward.&rdquo;
-&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MrMichaelLee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Lee</a>, <a href="https://theathletic.com/author/michael-lee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic</a>
Victor Oladipo: "The Indiana Pacers are in a difficult position, not dissimilar to where the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans found themselves with Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis, respectively. They have an All-Star who can opt out of his deal after the coming season, potentially leaving as a free agent. The Pacers are heavily invested in players like Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. They're not likely to spend into the luxury tax and since Oladipo is a significant flight risk, they need to look to get the best value they can in return before he leaves them high and dry. That Oladipo can scare off other suitors with the threat of free agency is a potential problem the Pacers may need to navigate through." -&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/EricPincus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Pincus</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://bleacherreport.com/users/7951339-eric-pincus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bleacher Report</a>
Victor Oladipo: "There&rsquo;s been way too much smoke with Victor Oladipo to think he&rsquo;ll finish his tenure in Indiana. The will-he-won&rsquo;t-he element of his bubble involvement was odd to say the least. Once you add in all of his connections to Miami -- he&rsquo;s a part-owner of a gym there, he rehabbed there and he is pretty close with Heat legend Dwyane Wade -- it&rsquo;s not hard to put two and two together and get four."
-&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nekias Duncan</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.basketballnews.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com</a>
Jrue Holiday: &ldquo;This is a tough call, as no one star seems likely to be traded this offseason. Jrue Holiday seems the most likely to me if he and New Orleans can't agree on an extension, since he can be a free agent in the summer of 2021 and he's older than New Orleans' core players.&rdquo;
-&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/NateDuncanNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nate Duncan</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/duncd-on-basketball-nba-podcast/id986901174" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dunc&rsquo;d On Podcast</a>
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/Beal5_lg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="AUTO" />
Bradley Beal: "Beal's name has been surfacing in trade rumors for quite some time, although the reports died down a bit since he signed a two-year, $72 million extension with Washington in October of 2019. However, coming off of a monster year in which he averaged career-highs in points (30.5), assists (6.1) and threes (3.0), Beal&rsquo;s trade value has increased. At 27 years old, Beal is several years older than the Wizards&rsquo; young core, which consists of Troy Brown Jr. (21 years old), Rui Hachimura (22), Thomas Bryant (23) and Moritz Wagner (23) among others. It&rsquo;s possible that Washington will keep Beal and hope that John Wall&rsquo;s return could lead to a playoff berth next year. However, many teams will be calling about Beal and Washington may decide to deal him for more young players and draft picks (especially if they get off to a slow start in 2020-21).&rdquo;
- <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA">Alex Kennedy</a>, <a href="BasketballNews.com">BasketballNews.com</a>
Bradley Beal: &ldquo;Of course, everyone seems to think that Bradley Beal will be the next star player who gets traded. For his sake, I hope so. He&rsquo;s too good to waste his career losing big in Washington.&rdquo;
- <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard">Chris Broussard</a>, <a href="https://foxsportsradio.iheart.com/featured/the-odd-couple-with-chris-broussard-rob-parker/">Fox Sports</a>
Chris Paul: &ldquo;Devin Booker and Bradley Beal would both be attractive choices here for obvious reasons, but neither has been reported to be anything but committed to their team. Plus, in the case of Booker, there's excitement about continuing to build in Phoenix with the obvious culture change that's transpired. I'll caveat this by saying that the trades that usually happen are the ones we don't see coming. We were all floored by Russell Westbrook being traded to Houston, just as nobody foresaw Kawhi Leonard landing in Toronto, Kyrie Irving heading to Boston or Jimmy Butler ending up in Philadelphia. Call me crazy, but I think Chris Paul is a good trade candidate, despite the Thunder far surpassing all preseason expectations. Despite overachieving, the Thunder are a team fixated on their future, and Sam Presti has always been proactive with respect to moving out players if there are doubts about their long-term future with the team. Kevin Durant is the obvious exception, and I think he's too smart to let something like that happen again. Truth is, the Thunder probably would've dealt Paul this past season if he wasn't regarded by the rest of the league as damaged goods. He's proven everyone wrong and his value probably won't get any higher. Dennis Schroder is just 26 years old and the progression of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could make moving Paul the right choice if OKC can get some value (see: draft capital) in return.&rdquo;
-&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MokeHamilton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moke Hamilton</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://theathletic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic</a>
C.J. McCollum: &ldquo;Star player movements can be hard to predict, but I'm going to go with C.J. McCollum. The Blazers' bubble run has been impressive and if they are all healthy, they are clearly a better team than their eighth-place finish suggests. However, an exit in round one might still necessitate a change. Damian Lillard is a bonafide star who has stuck it out in Portland and, at 30 years old, the clock may already be ticking. If the Blazers are going to give him a chance to win a championship, it has to happen right now, which means shipping off McCollum for someone who's a better fit alongside Lillard has to be on the table.&rdquo;
-&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Trevor_Lane" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevor Lane</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://lakersnation.com/author/trevor-lane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lakers Nation</a>
LaMarcus Aldridge: &ldquo;I think the next star player who will be traded is LaMarcus Aldridge. San Antonio missed the playoffs for the first time since 1997. Aldridge, 35, could be a missing frontcourt piece for a contender. DeMar DeRozan will likely exercise his $27.7 million player option for next season. If he doesn't, it will hasten a full rebuild in San Antonio. With Aldridge going into the final year of his contract at $24 million, trading him for assets now is the prudent decision if he won't be a part of San Antonio&rsquo;s long-term future. The Spurs can compete for one of the final playoff spots in the West if they keep Aldridge, but the upside is limited beyond that.&rdquo;
-&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MikeAScotto" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Scotto</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://hoopshype.com/author/michaelascotto/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HoopsHype</a>&nbsp;

Which star player will be traded next? BasketballNews.com asked a number of top NBA writers/analysts to weigh in.

Lazar