Ambassadors

The NBA is undergoing an epiphany on positional value, much like the NFL has begun to re-evaluate modern-day running backs. Since positions are becoming less and less important and versatility is the name of the game, what&rsquo;s next for NBA centers?
Centers are slowly but surely being phased out, aside from some rare exceptions. Long gone are the Roy Hibbert-archetype bigs who patrolled the paint with slow-footed speed. The upgraded version looks more like Rudy Gobert in Utah, producing at an even higher level. But even with Gobert, long-term questions have arisen due to his bloated super-max salary.
If Gobert&rsquo;s on-court value is diminishing as well, which bigs will be deemed worthy of a lucrative second contract? It&rsquo;s an elite club where the positional value more than outweighs the price tag: Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo top the list. For all other centers, will they be worth their price in the long run?
For the Phoenix Suns, a $100-plus million decision awaits on Deandre Ayton, their only No. 1 overall pick in franchise history. Does Ayton deserve to be mentioned among those names, or does he fall a tier or two below? Ayton is an anchor of the Suns&rsquo; historic defensive turnaround under head coach Monty Williams, plus his soft touch on the offensive end already brings super efficient scoring value too.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
The Suns and Ayton&rsquo;s representation are about to enter an awkward period, and it seems like the odds of Ayton playing elsewhere next season are increasing. Do the Suns believe Ayton is worth a max-level contract? Does Suns general manager James Jones believe Ayton can be on the same tier as an Adebayo or Gobert?
Based on Ayton's usage within Williams&rsquo; system (19.8% usage rate since 2020-21), Phoenix&rsquo;s need to reconstruct the roster for more wing-based scoring as well as the big man's own desire to be a more featured piece on offense (plus his desire for a max deal), I wouldn't be surprised if Ayton&rsquo;s days with the Suns are numbered.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yhnnV-cQRQc" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
One could argue that Ayton would be even more valuable if he were to leave Phoenix and sign elsewhere. In another situation &mdash; in Detroit with Cade Cunningham, for example &mdash; giving Ayton the max would be an acceptable allocation of resources that benefits both parties. However, in the Suns&rsquo; system, I don&rsquo;t believe Ayton is worthy of max-level money.
A fatal flaw that prevents Ayton from being mentioned in the top tier of big men is his lack of self-creation ability, which he's failed to develop throughout his first four seasons with the Suns. According to Cleaning The Glass, 74.8% of Ayton's shots have been assisted on in his career. Compared to his max-salary counterparts, Ayton is nowhere close on self-creation capabilities. And at this point, I have serious doubts that this will ever become a consistent part of his game during his upcoming prime years.
Percentage of FGs Assisted in 2021-22
Deandre Ayton: 81%
Rudy Gobert: 72%
Nikola Jokic: 62%
Karl-Anthony Towns: 62%
Bam Adebayo: 61%
Joel Embiid: 54%
Giannis Antetokounmpo: 43%
The NBA&rsquo;s elite big men buck the trend of super small-ball and three-point-shooting barrages because they bring unique traits to the table.&nbsp;Antetokounmpo and Embiid can simply punish any defenses that are thrown at them. Jokic&rsquo;s demigod-like ability to run an offense and be its primary scoring engine speaks for itself. Towns is one of the greatest perimeter-shooting bigs of all-time. Adebayo&rsquo;s defense and playmaking versatility, coupled with his recent development as an on-ball creator, raise his value. Gobert&rsquo;s price tag is a tough pill to swallow, especially later on, but he&rsquo;s one of the most impactful rim-protectors we&rsquo;ve ever seen (while also providing efficient scoring around the rim).
Ayton is a very good basketball player, but he fails to emphatically check any of the boxes that the other max bigs do. He brings immediate value as a scoring threat and rim-protector, with a rare ability to easily rack up 20-and-10 outings like it&rsquo;s nothing. His stat line shows that there&rsquo;s real promise if he is fed like a primary offensive hub, but that&rsquo;s not going to happen in Phoenix.
The Suns are moving away from the inside-out approach in favor of outside-in, a modern flip of the script that likely provides some insight into how they view centers. JaVale McGee was an excellent free-agent addition for Phoenix last summer, and he ended up putting up nearly identical numbers to Ayton on a per-36-minute basis:
Ayton: 21.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, 65.6 TS%
McGee: 20.9 points, 15.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.5 blocks, 65.1 TS%
McGee is another example where working within the Suns&rsquo; system, especially playing alongside Chris Paul and Devin Booker, brings immense improvement on the margins. From the Suns&rsquo; perspective, would they rather just pay McGee $5 million again and add a difference maker elsewhere for the same price as Ayton? For example, would it make more sense to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-deandre-ayton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bring aboard a unique modern fit in Jerami Grant via a sign-and-trade deal</a>? There&rsquo;s no doubt that these discussions are ongoing for the Suns, because this decision will decide what direction the team is heading in the post-CP3 era.
As a restricted free agent, Ayton is heading toward a negotiation standoff with Phoenix. If the organization doesn&rsquo;t view him as a max-level player, expect to see the Suns&rsquo; offer come in around a similar annual value as Al Horford ($27.8 million) or Nikola Vucevic ($25.0 million). John Collins provides a recent example of restricted free agency leading to a cheaper payday, as he signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 offseason.
For Ayton, it seems like a lock that he'll get a max contract from some front office. The Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers are all expected to show interest once free agency's moratorium period opens on July 1. Will Phoenix try to pull off a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-destinations-for-deandre-ayton" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign-and-trade to bring back some win-now pieces</a>? If another team extends a max-level offer sheet, would the Suns match it or let him walk? These are the big questions entering this offseason.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nDxAv1lcJcs" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Another angle that is falling under the radar is how the Suns view Ayton&rsquo;s motor. Will Ayton continue to improve his game or eventually become an albatross contract a few years from now?&nbsp;
&ldquo;Definitely getting to my second contract; that&rsquo;s my success,&rdquo; Ayton said before being drafted by the Suns.
Throughout Ayton&rsquo;s career in Phoenix, teammates like Paul, Booker and Mikal Bridges have had to keep him locked in throughout games to ensure he's playing at a certain intensity level. They have even mentioned it during press conferences. When Ayton is locked in, he&rsquo;s one of the most dominant two-way bigs in the NBA. The issue is his inconsistency and those moments where he loses focus. It's unclear why this occurs, but there are some games where it's apparent in the first few minutes whether it will be a positive or negative outing for the big man. If there are concerns about Ayton&rsquo;s motor, that will also enter this discussion.
Jones and Williams know more about Ayton's work ethic and motor than just about anyone given all the time they've spent with him behind the scenes, so we'll see if this factors in to their decision.&nbsp;
The drive to be great and the sheer will to refuse failure are what separate great players from good ones. Does Ayton possess this trait to become one of those exceptions to the rule for non-floor spacing bigs within the modern NBA?
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
This year&rsquo;s Finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics further paints a picture of spacing and wings/on-ball creators buttering the bread of success nowadays. For their bigs, the postseason usage rate is a tell-tale sign of letting the perimeter-oriented stars cook (Al Horford: 13.0 USG%, Robert Williams: 13.0%, Kevon Looney: 11.2%). Can the Suns rely upon Ayton to be a player who takes over 20% of their offensive possessions? If it&rsquo;s a hit-or-miss proposition in their eyes, Ayton will be looking for greener pastures within the next six weeks.
As an elite finisher around the rim who also excels in pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop situations, Ayton already brings a rock solid baseline for a floor. When you add in his supreme athleticism for his position, it brings even more intrigue as a two-way force. Entering into his age-24 season in 2022-23, what&rsquo;s the next step for Ayton? If there&rsquo;s not much room left for Ayton on the developmental curve, a max contract shouldn&rsquo;t be coming his way from Phoenix.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s so divisive here,&rdquo; Suns owner Robert Sarver told BasketballNews.com in April about Ayton&rsquo;s future in Phoenix. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s shown that he&rsquo;s improved each year, helps us both on the defense and the offense. I think offensively, you see this year he&rsquo;s taken another good step in terms of his touch and his ability to score around the basket. So, he&rsquo;s been a key part of what we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Ayton averaged 17.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.7 blocks for the Suns this past season. In an environment where he's more heavily featured, those numbers likely rise closer to 22-23 points and 12-13 rebounds per game. Is that the way to go though?
Welcome to the new evaluation process of great, non-transcendent bigs. Ayton is the first case study, and this expensive decision that's on the horizon is going to change the Suns&rsquo; future one way or another.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

With centers becoming the NBA's version of running backs, is Deandre Ayton worthy of a max deal? Evan Sidery explores.

Should Suns give Deandre Ayton a max deal? Positional value says no

The Tyrese Haliburton era is well on its way in Indianapolis, which means it&rsquo;s likely time to say adios to Malcolm Brogdon in an Indiana Pacers uniform. Brogdon is one of the more <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-nba-players-who-feel-destined-to-be-traded-this-offseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obvious trade candidates in the NBA this offseason</a> thanks to his consistent injury issues and Haliburton&rsquo;s quick emergence. Despite Brogdon's missed games, he will still attract interest from rival teams.
During Brogdon&rsquo;s three-year tenure with the Pacers, he averaged 18.9 points, 6.3 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 0.8 steals per game on a 55.3 True Shooting percentage. Brogdon always produced when he was on the court for Indiana, but his availability was an issue. Going forward, it&rsquo;s going to be hard for Brogdon to shed the &ldquo;injury prone&rdquo; label because it&rsquo;s been an issue dating back to his collegiate career at the University of Virginia.
Aside from injury concerns, Brogdon&rsquo;s market will be robust with playofff or championship-hopeful teams lining up for his services. As a versatile multi-positional defender, connective playmaker and secondary scorer, Brogdon can really help a team that's going in the opposite direction as the rebuilding Pacers.
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s go ahead and dive into the most realistic trade packages Indiana could expect for Brogdon this offseason. As Indiana turns the page to Haliburton, it&rsquo;s time to extract some value from a potential Brogdon deal.
Phoenix Suns
Pacers receive: Landry Shamet, Dario Saric, 2024 1st-round draft pick (lottery protected)
Suns receive: Malcolm Brogdon, 2022 No. 31 pick
Phoenix&rsquo;s lack of guard depth was exposed throughout the playoffs. They simply can&rsquo;t rely on Cameron Payne anymore, who was a DNP-CD when it mattered most in the Western Conference Semifinals. Phoenix flirted with the idea of chasing Brogdon before signing Ricky Rubio back in 2019. Three years later, bringing Brogdon to the Valley as the Suns&rsquo; short-term backup and long-term fit alongside Devin Booker is a home run transaction.
Also, there has been some buzz that the Suns are trying to get into the 2022 NBA Draft. They have met with multiple players projected to be selected in the mid-to-late first round, including LSU&rsquo;s Tari Eason, Ohio State&rsquo;s E.J. Liddell and Duke&rsquo;s Wendell Moore. Adding any of those prospects will be impossible without adding a pick. The Suns could always buy an early second-round pick for $3 million, but that&rsquo;s never been their way of thinking.
Is this where Suns GM James Jones could get creative to snag a championship piece at discounted value? Brogdon and Chris Paul sharing minutes is a dream scenario for Phoenix since all 48 minutes at point guard would provide well above-average production. Also, we could see three-guard lineups galore thanks to Brogdon&rsquo;s versatility.
In this scenario, Indiana would add a shooter in Shamet who only has two guaranteed years left on his extension. Maybe Shamet could be their Buddy Hield replacement if they also decide to trade him soon. Adding a future first for Brogdon is the right risk for Indiana to take as well.
Utah Jazz
Pacers receive: Mike Conley, Jared Butler, 2025 2nd-round pick
Jazz receive: Malcolm Brogdon
The Jazz desperately need to shake things up. Stagnation is on the horizon in Salt Lake City, if it hasn&rsquo;t reached that point already. Utah may blow it up this offseason, but even if they don't, they need to do something in order to keep Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert happy long-term.
As we saw during the Jazz&rsquo;s quick postseason exit, Conley seems like a shell of himself. Looking back on that trade now, Utah has to be kicking themselves for surrendering so much for the veteran point guard.
Utah needs to get creative to avoid moving one of Mitchell or Gobert soon, so Conley going back home to Indianapolis makes a lot of sense here. Brogdon is a huge upgrade over Conley, and he helps address a dire need of perimeter defense.
Indiana would add a veteran mentor for Haliburton to lean on for a year since Conley&rsquo;s contract isn&rsquo;t fully guaranteed in 2023-24. Adding a young scoring guard in Butler alongside a future second-round pick might not be enough for the Pacers, but it's at least enough to start negotiations.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Los Angeles Lakers
Pacers receive: Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker, 2023 2nd, 2025 2nd, 2027 1st (lottery protected)
Lakers receive: Malcolm Brogdon, Buddy Hield, Goga Bitadze
This only makes sense if the Pacers are willing to take on the final year of Westbrook&rsquo;s contract, which would have any team second-guessing themselves beforehand. Surprisingly enough, Indiana is actually the betting favorite to land Westbrook if the Lakers offload him this offseason.
The Pacers would need a hefty return in order take on Westbrook while also relinquishing Brogdon and Hield. Adding Horton-Tucker, two future second-round picks and the Lakers&rsquo; next available first-round selection gets the job done. Los Angeles would hate to part with THT and even more draft capital, but Brogdon and Hield are perfect pieces to place alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Who knows, maybe Bitadze slides into the Lakers&rsquo; rotation as the backup center?
Indiana is embracing a full-scale rebuild, and pulling off a move like this would be consistent with that approach.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Pacers receive: D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, No. 19 pick, No. 40 pick
Timberwolves receive: Malcolm Brogdon, Goga Bitadze, No. 31 pick, 2023 2nd (via San Antonio Spurs)
As <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-dangelo-russell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our Nekias Duncan recently wrote</a>, a D&rsquo;Angelo Russell departure from Minnesota feels imminent this summer. It&rsquo;s another unfortunate turn in the career for Russell, who continues to bounce around the Association, unable to find a long-term home. The fit in Minnesota alongside good friend Karl-Anthony Towns had its moments, but Russell&rsquo;s negatives popped up in the postseason when it mattered most. After being benched in crunch-time situations by head coach Chris Finch and not having his name mentioned in The Athletic&rsquo;s recent story on new executive Tim Connelly, it wouldn't be shocking to see Russell playing elsewhere in 2022-23.
Even with the Pacers already having Haliburton and Chris Duarte, this feels like a spot where they could take a year-long look at Russell as a potential long-term backcourt piece. As a former top-three pick, Russell would bring more fanfare to the Pacers&rsquo; rebuild. And if he meshes well alongside Haliburton, Russell could become a long-term piece in Indiana and finally find a home.
From the Timberwolves&rsquo; point of view, this makes a whole lot of sense. Brogdon is a much better fit alongside Towns and Anthony Edwards, as he's easily able to slide into the No. 3 scoring role while providing an ideal complementary low-usage skill set. Taking a flier on Bitadze, a former top-20 pick, is also interesting, and as he could back up Towns.
Miami Heat
Pacers receive: Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, 2023 1st (lottery protected)
Heat receive: Malcolm Brogdon
As we&rsquo;ve seen unfold late in the postseason, Miami needs to find another offensive creator. Simply put, the Heat need more weapons to compete with the NBA&rsquo;s current juggernauts. Luckily for Miami, some much-needed flexibility could be on the way.
The Duncan Robinson contract looks like a disaster, but what if they could use his bloated salary and some future draft capital to bring in an immediate impact piece? Brogdon feels like the perfect remedy for Miami since he can take playmaking pressure off of Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and Kyle Lowry. Brogdon and Lowry could split minutes, which is a huge benefit for both players and would help keep them fresh and out of the training room.
For Indiana, they could be comfortable taking on Robinson&rsquo;s contract with all of their salary-cap space currently available. Adding Strus and a draft pick could make this deal worth it for the Pacers.
All of a sudden, Miami is now in a strong position to make another deep postseason push with Brogdon onboard for 2022-23 and beyond.
***
Every team in the NBA needs shooting, defensive versatility and playmaking. Even with his injury history, Brogdon would be well worth the risk for any team looking to take the next step forward.
If Brogdon is able to stay healthy, adding him at this price could be a coup for whichever team is next after Milwaukee and Indiana.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

With the Tyrese Haliburton era blossoming for the Pacers, Malcolm Brogdon is one of the most logical NBA trade candidates.

Examining potential trade destinations for Malcolm Brogdon

Here&rsquo;s a bit of trivia for you: Which rookie from this <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/why-they-are-all-special-a-guide-to-the-best-rookies-of-the-2021-class" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stacked</a> 2021 NBA Draft class has played the most minutes in the Conference Finals?
Considering most of the top rookies didn't advance very far, surely the answer has to be the Golden State Warriors' heralded No. 7 overall pick, Jonathan Kuminga &mdash; the same player who earlier this postseason was <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/warriors-jonathan-kuminga-vows-learn-despite-historic-nba-playoff-game" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the youngest rookie to start a playoff game since 1971</a>, right?&nbsp;
Wrong!
The answer, with an impactful 64 minutes played over the course of five games, is none other than Golden State&rsquo;s other rookie: the No. 14 overall pick Moses Moody.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Our story begins in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, where a 104-76 score prompted both the Golden State and Dallas coaches to empty their benches for the home stretch of the blowout series opener.
In response, Reggie Miller on the call proclaimed: &ldquo;I have a sneaky feeling. I think these minutes are going to be important for [Nemanja] Bjelica and Kuminga because, at some point, those two guys are going to have to play significant minutes in this series.&rdquo;
Unbeknownst to him, he made a glaring omission in his statement; the player who really needed these repetitions was Moody. And during that seemingly meaningless stretch, Moody flashed two features that would prove useful to Golden State later in the series &mdash; his play-finishing and defensive versatility.
Play-Finishing&nbsp;
Nowadays, NBA offenses are so prolific that even the most venerable defenses can&rsquo;t eliminate every piece on the board. This leads to teams having to strategically <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-nba-playoffs-and-the-art-of-concessions-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concede</a> certain shots in order to hone-in on the player(s) they deem the most dangerous (see the Milwaukee Bucks' defense vs. the Boston Celtics in Round 2).
When you&rsquo;re going up against the Warriors, the Splash Trio receives the highest priority, and these standards lead to open looks for the group&rsquo;s least esoteric marksman.
As of this moment, Moody falls under this designation. And to his credit, he did an excellent job of burning the Mavericks for their negligence in defending him, draining 50% of his triples (albeit in a miniature sample size).
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/ae5swl" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Cutting and movement rule the day in Golden State's perpetual motion offensive system. Moody got the memo, and he did a great job of knowing when it was appropriate to shag back and maintain his spacing on the perimeter, and when it was time to fill the lane and shake the Golden Gate bridge with a <a href="https://streamable.com/k3xuy0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">seismic eruption</a> at the rim.
Defensive Versatility&nbsp;
As Seth Partnow noted in his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/seth-partnow-qa-a-sitdown-with-the-author-of-the-midrange-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent book</a>, "The Midrange Theory," versatility is the key to playoff success &mdash; the ol' Carlos Boozer and Robert Horry paradigm.
This maxim reigns especially true in defense, where we&rsquo;ve already seen multiple playoff runs abbreviated due to a lack of scheme versatility. (I hope the folks in Utah are doing well on this fine Friday afternoon.)
Moody was far from the anchor out there, but the Warriors&rsquo; defense stayed afloat during his minutes, partially because of his ability to wear multiple hats on that end of the floor.
We&rsquo;ll start with his off-ball work and this snag-tastic reception:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Moses Moody legit Odell Beckham-ed this ball. <a href="https://t.co/tC54YzUzhG">pic.twitter.com/tC54YzUzhG</a>
&mdash; Mat Issa (@matissa15) <a href="https://twitter.com/matissa15/status/1530189122886897664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Along with that reception, Moody deflected two additional passes in that very same quarter, prompting Warriors writer Marcus Thompson to cite Moody&rsquo;s contributions as an <a href="https://theathletic.com/3332392/2022/05/25/warriors-mavericks-young-game-4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">integral part of the team&rsquo;s Game 4 comeback</a>.
Despite only authoring 2 steals the entire series, spurts like the one he demonstrated in Game 4 leave room for potential growth into a future defensive playmaker.
Moody also did surprisingly well navigating the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/2-9-6fb93080023c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2.9 spot</a> as a low-man. He was well attuned to his positioning, consistently swaying in and out of the paint to avoid garnering a three-second call, while also timing his re-entries in a manner that enabled him to wall off forays at the rim when the moment presented itself.&nbsp;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/xhqc92" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Lastly, Moody even showed some chops as a man defender. On <a href="https://streamable.com/b6cjoa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this play</a>, he manages to stay attached to Jalen Brunson amid Jordan Poole&rsquo;s hedge endeavor, and then mirrors his movements before hindering his attempt at the rim.
Moody&rsquo;s point-of-attack prowess is more apparent when you understand the amount of leeway he was granted within the Warriors&rsquo; scheme. In my <a href="https://theanalyst.com/na/2022/05/western-conference-finals-can-the-golden-state-warriors-continue-to-slow-luka-doncic-and-the-dallas-mavericks/">recent article</a> on this series, I looked into how Golden State has specific principles for Luka Doncic ball screens. Well, Moody was one of the few players given the green light to switch onto him immediately.
He was also empowered by Steve Kerr to captain the ship of the Warriors' revered Box-and-1 alignment a few times during the third quarter of Game 3. And Moody even got the chance to moonlight as the team&rsquo;s defensive coordinator, <a href="https://streamable.com/a8geaq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling for a zone formation on defense</a> at one point in Game 4. (For the Warriors, you can tell it's a zone when the signal-caller executes a <a href="https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2022/5/21/23133463/warriors-mavericks-game-2-steph-curry-kevon-looney-luka-doncic-film-breakdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised double fist</a>).
To conclude our tale, let&rsquo;s take a gander at Moody&rsquo;s best two-way sequence of the series, where he blocks Doncic and then proceeds to commandeer free-throw attempts at the other end of the floor. A perfect encapsulation of his imprint on this series.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;" src="https://streamable.com/e/pwilkx" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Nice.
In a class as talent-laden and promising as the 2021 draft pool, who would have guessed that the player picked last in the lottery would be the last rookie standing.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Mat Issa gives props to Moses Moody for his finishing and defensive contributions to the Warriors when his number was called upon.

Moses Moody: The last rookie standing in the 2022 NBA Playoffs

The 2021-22 season wasn&rsquo;t supposed to end this way for the Phoenix Suns... not even close. After a shocking exit in the Western Conference semifinals, where do the Suns turn now? With how well-built Phoenix&rsquo;s roster is, there actually aren&rsquo;t many holes. However, the potential domino effects are franchise-altering and there are a number of different directions the team may go.
The future of Deandre Ayton is now <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/uncertain-future-of-deandre-ayton-becomes-top-topic-for-suns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">murkier than expected</a> following Phoenix's shocking Game 7 blowout defeat on its home court against the Dallas Mavericks. Ayton only played 17 minutes, which included a verbal skirmish with Suns head coach Monty Williams.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s internal,&rdquo; Williams said of why Ayton was benched in Game 7.
Ayton will be a restricted free agent after the Suns decided not to extend a five-year, rookie-scale max offer his way before the regular season began. He was the NBA's first No. 1 pick since Anthony Bennett to not sign a contract extension before entering the final year of his rookie deal.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
There&rsquo;s a potentially awkward dynamic on the horizon between Ayton and the Suns. Ayton wants the highest possible dollar amount, but Phoenix&rsquo;s stance at this point is unknown. ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski reported in October that the Suns didn&rsquo;t view Ayton as a max-level player who deserved a five-year contract. Is it possible that the Suns&rsquo; stance has changed after Ayton&rsquo;s 2021-22 campaign?
Suns general manager James Jones said Wednesday during his season-ending press conference that the team's main theme will be continuity, foreshadowing the likelihood of Phoenix running it all back with a core that set a new franchise record for wins.
&ldquo;We want to continue to keep our consistency, our continuity,&rdquo; Jones said.
Robert Sarver, the Suns' owner since 2004, also spoke on-record recently to BasketballNews.com about Ayton&rsquo;s future in Phoenix. It sure feels like Phoenix values the 2018 No. 1 overall pick, but at what cost?
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s so divisive here,&rdquo; Sarver told BasketballNews.com last month. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s shown that he&rsquo;s improved each year, helps us on both the defense and the offense. I think offensively, you see this year he&rsquo;s taken another good step in terms of his touch and his ability to score around the basket. So, he&rsquo;s been a key part of what we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Whichever direction the Suns decide to go with Ayton will have a significant impact on this offseason. It could be relatively boring summer in the Valley, or Ayton&rsquo;s value could be parlayed into going all-out for a superstar.
Expect to see the Suns let Ayton test the open market in July. If he receives a max offer sheet, that&rsquo;s when the clock officially begins to tick on how explosive Phoenix&rsquo;s plans could become.
Another housekeeping note for Phoenix related to contracts is a massive one set to be signed this summer. Once Devin Booker officially is announced on an All-NBA team, he will become eligible for a four-year, $211 million supermax contract. It&rsquo;s an easy decision for Booker and the Suns, so a hefty new contract for Booker will keep him in Phoenix through at least 2027-28.
2022-23: $33.8 million
2023-24: $36.0 million
2024-25: $47.1 million
2025-26: $50.9 million
2026-27: $54.7 million
2027-28: $58.5 million
Add in the Ayton situation on top of a looming Booker supermax, and Phoenix is ready to fully commit to paying deep into the luxury tax. Don&rsquo;t forget that Cameron Johnson is another significant piece to the puzzle for Phoenix and he could be signing his own extension this summer that keeps him in Phoenix long-term through his prime years.
Running it back with this core feels like the route that will be traveled, and you can't blame the Suns for that line of thinking considering their immense success over the last two seasons after toiling in obscurity.
&ldquo;As your team improves, typically your payroll increases,&rdquo; Jones said Wednesday when asked about potential luxury-tax issues.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eYJBdaBM-c8" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
As mentioned, this builds upon what Sarver already confirmed to BasketballNews.com last month. For the first time since 2009-10, Phoenix will be paying the luxury tax and continue to do so for the next few years, too.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying we&rsquo;re a market that can be in it for 10 years in a row, but when you get to a certain level where you have a chance to compete and you&rsquo;re a top-four, top-six, top-eight team, [you pay it],&rdquo; Sarver said. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re at that level where you have a legitimate chance to compete &mdash; get to your Conference Finals and maybe win a championship &mdash; then I think you go in the tax; you pay and you do what you gotta do.&rdquo;
Committing to being a full-time tax team is a huge change of pace from years past for the Suns, but the time is now to compete for their first NBA title.
Outside of the contractual angles that cloud the current in Phoenix, what moves need to be made in order to improve their roster?
After witnessing the failures behind Chris Paul and Booker in the backcourt &mdash; mainly from backup point guard Cameron Payne, who finished the postseason with a ghastly 35.2% True Shooting percentage &mdash; finding more creators is of the utmost importance.
The Suns had a golden opportunity at the trade deadline to acquire Eric Gordon, but haggling over a future first-round draft pick ended those discussions. It&rsquo;s hard to deny how much a player like Gordon would&rsquo;ve helped Phoenix&rsquo;s offense when it began to sink against Dallas. If the Suns had a competent starting-level third guard, there&rsquo;s a good chance they'd be playing the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals instead of the Mavericks.
Whether it be signing a free agent or utilizing the trade market, some potentially available backup guard options who could help Phoenix immediately include: Jordan Clarkson (trade), Eric Gordon (trade), Derrick Rose (trade), Terrence Ross (trade), Ricky Rubio, Dennis Schroder, Tyus Jones, Delon Wright and Goran Dragic.
The Suns&rsquo; roster is already filled with quality depth pieces, but how can this team take the next step? Will Ayton be part of their long-term vision alongside Booker and Mikal Bridges? Can the Suns take advantage of their flexibility with $30-plus million in expiring contracts? Is star-hunting actually in the cards?
Following one of the most disappointing playoff performances in recent memory, how the Suns respond moving forward will show how resilient this group truly is.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

After a shocking postseason exit for the Suns, what's next ahead? Evan Sidery previews an interesting offseason ahead.

2022 NBA offseason preview: What's next for the Phoenix Suns?

Following one of the most shocking postseason exits in recent memory, the No. 1 seed Phoenix Suns have to somehow regroup after another 2-0 series collapse. Instead of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks being the Suns&rsquo; kryptonite, Luka Doncic <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/luka-doncic-enters-into-next-tier-of-nba-superstars-following-western-conference-semifinals-comeback" target="_blank" rel="noopener">played spoiler</a> well ahead of schedule for a team many believed was finally going to win its first-ever NBA championship.
The way it all ended for Phoenix in Game 7 brings up a lot of questions, one of which revolves around the future of Deandre Ayton, who was a no-show in the Suns&rsquo; final contest with 5 points in 17 minutes. Against the small-ball Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix and Ayton failed to capitalize on countless opportunities to get the Bahamian big man going around the paint with his elite touch. It was a disappointing downward slope for Ayton as the Western Conference semifinals progressed, and now there are rightfully questions as to where the two sides go from here.
Once thought to be a shoo-in for a rookie-scale max extension following Phoenix&rsquo;s miraculous Finals run last season, Ayton now enters a potentially awkward summer with the team who drafted him No. 1 overall in 2018.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
According to ESPN&rsquo;s Adrian Wojnarowski, Ayton did not feel valued by the Suns, as he didn't receive what he believed was a well-deserved max-deal offer. Wojnarowski also reported in October that Ayton&rsquo;s representation was told by ownership that the 7-footer doesn&rsquo;t deserve to be in that max-level conversation.
In an exclusive sit-down with BasketballNews.com last month taking <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/suns-series-monty-williams-james-jones-robert-sarver-turnaround-phoenix-arena-facility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a deeper dive into the Suns&rsquo; organization as a whole</a>, team owner Robert Sarver showed belief in the former University of Arizona product long-term.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s so divisive here,&rdquo; Sarver told BasketballNews.com last month when asked about Ayton&rsquo;s uncertain future. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s shown that he&rsquo;s improved each year, helps us on both on the defense and the offense. I think offensively you see this year he&rsquo;s taken another good step in terms of his touch and his ability to score around the basket. So, he&rsquo;s been a key part of what we&rsquo;re doing.&rdquo;
Ayton finished his fourth season in Phoenix averaging 17.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.7 blocks on a career-high 65.6% True Shooting percentage. Certainly <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-are-no-good-answers-for-the-chris-pauldeandre-ayton-duo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">benefiting from Chris Paul's brilliance</a> over the last two years, there's always been an interesting discussion regarding how Ayton would function outside of the Suns&rsquo; system in a higher-usage role.
However, as Sarver pointed out, Ayton has continued to make improvements on both ends of the court under Suns head coach Monty Williams&rsquo; guidance. Completely buying into a complementary role alongside Paul and Devin Booker, Ayton&rsquo;s importance can&rsquo;t go unnoticed considering Phoenix's franchise-record-setting, 64-win campaign.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yhnnV-cQRQc" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Having added a patented hook shot to his game while also showing versatility on the defensive end &mdash; which has become more refined in a winning environment &mdash; what could the next steps look like for Ayton with his second contract? Whether it be in Phoenix or elsewhere, Ayton&rsquo;s market will reportedly be robust. Wojnarowski said on Monday that teams are preparing to try to get into the mix for the Suns&rsquo; versatile big man.
Since the Suns have not dipped into the luxury tax since the 2009-10 season &mdash; and the Joe Johnson situation in 2005 still hovers over the organization (<a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2014/09/27/phoenix-suns-owner-robert-sarver-applies-lessons-learned-years/16344759/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">and Sarver</a>) &mdash; many have wondered whether Phoenix will feel comfortable paying into the tax for a significant amount.
But when it comes to Sarver's stance on the tax now, it's completely different this time around. Not only are the Suns comfortable paying the bill, but they realize their window to win is right now.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying we&rsquo;re in a market that can be in it 10 years in a row. But when you get to a certain level where you have a chance to compete and you&rsquo;re a top-four, top-six, top-eight team, if you&rsquo;re at the level where you have a legitimate chance to compete &mdash; get to your Conference Finals and maybe win a championship &mdash; then I think you go in the tax, you pay and you do what you gotta do,&rdquo; Sarver told BasketballNews.com.
While the goal of a repeat Finals trip wasn&rsquo;t in the cards for Phoenix in these playoffs, an interesting offseason is now set to ensue. After such an ugly loss in Game 7 at the Footprint Center, can Phoenix actually feel comfortable running it back? The looming decision on Ayton&rsquo;s future now becomes the hot topic in the Valley for the foreseeable future.
&ldquo;You look at Cam [Johnson], Mikal [Bridges], Deandre [Ayton] &mdash; we&rsquo;ve got some really good players that have made tremendous steps,&rdquo; Sarver stated in April to BasketballNews.com. &ldquo;I thought they showed that last year in the playoffs that they&rsquo;re ready to compete at the highest level.&rdquo;
Will an abrupt ending change the Suns&rsquo; internal tune on how they view Ayton? We&rsquo;ll see, but the early indications are that they are ready to commit to winning at the highest level for the long-term. Whether Ayton is part of that puzzle or used to acquire another star player via sign-and-trade this offseason will now be a discussion that has to be had internally.
Phoenix already is up to $128.8 million committed in salary for next season. If the Suns re-sign Ayton to a lucrative contract, plus keep some key depth pieces around, they will be absorbing the highest luxury-tax bill in the NBA.
Another angle to consider here is Devin Booker&rsquo;s forthcoming third contract, which will be his biggest cash-in yet on a supermax scale. Once Booker is named to an All-NBA team, he&rsquo;s eligible to sign a four-year, $211 million extension. No question about it, that will be done in short order with the way Phoenix views Booker as their face of the franchise.
Circling back around to Ayton, the market for him could actually present a max offer from one of the few teams with the necessary cap space. Big-needy teams such as the Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers can easily make an Ayton offer sheet happen, immediately putting pressure on the Suns. If the Suns and Ayton are instead heading their separate ways, a sign-and-trade is the most realistic route to recouping some assets for the former No. 1 pick.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s internal,&rdquo; Williams sternly said after Ayton only played 17 minutes in Game 7.
How the Suns view Ayton internally will determine whether he&rsquo;s viewed as a player deserving of a lucrative max-scale payday in a few months.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

After an ugly ending, the Suns' offseason could bring about massive changes. How do the Suns view former No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton?

Deandre Ayton's uncertain future becomes hot topic for Suns

PHOENIX (AP) &mdash; The NBA's long regular season can be tedious, but make no mistake, it matters.
Just ask the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns &mdash; two teams who have home-court advantage in Game 7 of their respective second-round NBA playoff series on Sunday thanks to superior regular-season records.
The Celtics host the Milwaukee Bucks a few hours before the Suns host the Dallas Mavericks in what could be a drama-filled day.
&ldquo;It means everything," Celtics forward Jayson Tatum said of getting Game 7 in Boston. "The best atmosphere in the NBA. Game 7s are the biggest and best games. Looking forward to it, truly.
"It&rsquo;s basketball &ndash; biggest moments, biggest stage. What it boils down to is now go out there and just have fun.&rdquo;
Suns All-Star guard Devin Booker echoed those sentiments.
&ldquo;We worked all season to have home-court advantage and get the last game in our house,&rdquo; Booker said. &ldquo;It's exciting. It's Game 7. I've never been in a Game 7, so this will be fun.&rdquo;
The Mavericks have a particularly difficult task in their game against the Suns. The home team has won each of the first six games of the series, and many of those games have been blowouts.
&ldquo;Our fan base is great for us, their fan base is great for them,&rdquo; Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson said. &ldquo;Home-court advantage is a real thing. Respect to both fan bases making it difficult for the away team.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s the second consecutive year the Mavericks have played a Game 7. Dallas lost to the Clippers in Los Angeles in last year's contest after the visiting team won the first six games of the series.
The Celtics and Bucks have alternated victories throughout their series. By that pattern, it should be the Bucks' turn to get the win. But there's little doubt Boston's home court will be loud and hostile on Sunday.
&ldquo;For me, I&rsquo;ve just got to go play," Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said. "I want my teammates to enjoy the moment.&rdquo;
BUCKS AT CELTICS
Series tied 3-3. Game 7, 3:30 p.m. EDT, ABC
&mdash;NEED TO KNOW: These teams have alternated victories throughout the series, with the Bucks winning the odd-numbered games and the Celtics taking the even-numbered ones. The road teams are 4-2 and have won each of the last three games. Boston&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo have been spectacular. Antetokounmpo is averaging 35.3 points, 13.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists in this series, while Tatum is averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5 assists. Tatum had 46 points and Antetokounmpo 44 in the Celtics&rsquo; 108-95 Game 6 victory in Milwaukee, marking just the fifth time opponents have scored at least 44 points in the same playoff game. The Celtics are 24-9 all-time in Game 7s, compared to 3-8 for the Bucks.
&mdash;KEEP AN EYE ON: The 3-point comparison. In Boston&rsquo;s three victories, the Celtics have shot 41.5% from 3-point range and have outscored the Bucks 153-57 from beyond the arc. In the Celtics&rsquo; three losses, they have a much narrower 111-102 advantage from 3-point range and have made just 32.5% of their attempts.
&mdash;INJURY WATCH: Bucks F Khris Middleton has missed nine straight playoff game with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. Celtics F/C Robert Williams III has missed three straight games with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee and is questionable for Game 7. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pain-tolerance thing,&rdquo; Boston coach Ime Udoka said. &ldquo;Soreness, swelling is down. It&rsquo;s just a matter of extension, inflexion and if the pain is gone basically with the bone bruise. Nothing structural. It&rsquo;s legitimately day to day.&rdquo;
&mdash;PRESSURE IS ON: Bucks G Grayson Allen: After delivering a 22-point outburst and a 27-point performance in back-to-back games when the Bucks beat the Chicago Bulls in the first round, Allen hasn&rsquo;t been nearly as effective in this series despite moving into a starting role in Game 3. He has scored a total of 23 points over his last five games and has shot 2 of 14 from 3-point range during that stretch. Allen shot 1 of 7 overall and scored three points in Game 6.
MAVERICKS AT SUNS
Series tied 3-3. Game 7, 8 p.m. EDT, TNT
&mdash;NEED TO KNOW: The home team has won each of the first six games in this series, which now moves back to Phoenix for the final game. Though the series has been close, the individual games often have been blowouts: Three of the six have been decided by at least 20 points. Mavs star Luka Doncic has averaged more than 32 points per game in the series despite shooting just 29.6% from 3-point range. Doncic has been productive, but his supporting cast has struggled on the road against the Suns. Phoenix is shooting nearly 50% for the series but has struggled with turnovers. Devin Booker leads the Suns with 25.5 points per game.
&mdash;KEEP AN EYE ON: Suns PG Chris Paul. The 12-time All-Star is having a difficult series, averaging just 6.5 assists, which is well below his regular-season average. The 37-year-old has had a handful of spectacular performances in the postseason over the past two years and the Suns might need another one on Sunday.
&mdash;INJURY WATCH: Doncic appears to have a left thigh injury but he has downplayed the severity. It's something that bears watching in Game 7. Said Doncic: &ldquo;I just felt like a little pop in the beginning and then when I was warming up it was kind of OK. Now it&rsquo;s a little bit worse. But it&rsquo;s nothing serious.&rdquo;
&mdash;PRESSURE IS ON: Suns. Phoenix is trying to make it back to the NBA Finals for a second straight season and had the league's best regular-season record. Losing in the second round of the playoffs would be a major disappointment. Dallas doesn't have nearly as great expectations.

On Sunday, four teams play in two huge Game 7s to round out the competitors for this year's Conference Finals.

Pair of Game 7s: Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns happy to be home

After advancing to the 2021 NBA Finals and winning an league-high 64 games this year, the Phoenix Suns are a legitimate championship contender.
With Deandre Ayton and Cameron Johnson due for lucrative paydays in the near future, many Suns fans are curious whether ownership is willing to pay the luxury tax.
Our Evan Sidery recently <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/suns-series-monty-williams-james-jones-robert-sarver-turnaround-phoenix-arena-facility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke to several of the Suns' decision-makers</a> and got a behind-the-scenes look at the organization. Suns owner Robert Sarver said that he is open to paying the luxury tax going forward.
&ldquo;My position for a market like us with the tax is, if you get yourself where you can compete at the highest level, then you pay it and you go for it,&rdquo; Sarver <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/suns-series-monty-williams-james-jones-robert-sarver-turnaround-phoenix-arena-facility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told BasketballNews.com</a>.
"You just can&rsquo;t take success for granted. It can come and go."&nbsp;
With Chris Paul still playing at a high level, Devin Booker entering his prime years and key pieces like Ayton, Mikal Bridges and Johnson continuing to improve, Phoenix is firmly in that &ldquo;go-for-it&rdquo; window.

Suns owner Robert Sarver told BasketballNews.com's Evan Sidery that he's open to paying the luxury tax.

Robert Sarver: Suns are willing to pay luxury tax and 'go for it'

The Phoenix Suns gave Evan Sidery a behind-the-scenes look at the their organization and what it takes to run an NBA franchise.

Inside look at the Suns' rise: The making of an elite NBA organization

With nearly a full month of NBA playoff action in the books, we've witnessed a handful of players surprisingly exceed expectations and drive their league-wide value to increasingly high levels. On the other end of the spectrum, several stars have seen their market price dip quite a bit.
So whose stock has soared? Whose has plummeted? Let's dive in with an in-depth breakdown.
Stock Up
Jalen Brunson, Dallas Mavericks
Heading into the 2021-22 season, the Dallas Mavericks could have signed Jalen Brunson to a four-year, $56 million extension. However, <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33801390/nba-playoffs-2022-jalen-brunson-star-turn-dallas-mavericks-massive-free-agency-implications" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Tim MacMahon</a> reported that the Mavs chose not to make an offer and didn't even engage in negotiations with Brunson's representatives. You have to assume Dallas is now regretting that decision.
After averaging career-highs in scoring (16.3 points), assists (4.8), rebounds (3.9) and steals (0.8) during the regular season, Brunson has taken his game to another level in the playoffs. With Luka Doncic sidelined early on in the Mavs' first-round series vs. Utah, Brunson got off to a scorching hot start, tallying 96 points, 16 rebounds and 16 assists over the first two games. He became just the third player in NBA history to tally at least 70 points and 10 assists while committing fewer than 2 turnovers over a two-game span in the postseason. Incredibly, Brunson led all players in total points scored in the first round (167).
After struggling a bit in the first two games of Dallas' first-round series vs. Phoenix, Brunson was again a crucial factor in the Mavs' victories at home in Games 3 and 4 over the weekend.&nbsp;
Through 10 postseason contests, Brunson is averaging 23.5 points, 4.6 boards and 3.9 dimes per game. He's done most of his damage by relentlessly attacking the rim. Among all postseason performers, Brunson ranks third in drives per game (behind only Ja Morant and Doncic) and third in points scored off drives.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
WHAT A NIGHT FOR JALEN BRUNSON! 🔷 Career-high 41 PTS 🔷 6 3PM 🔷 8 REB 🔷 Gets the W in Game 2 <a href="https://t.co/GixvrcCqIM">pic.twitter.com/GixvrcCqIM</a>
&mdash; NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1516250998607540229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

It could be argued that no player has boosted his stock more over the past few weeks than Brunson. And it couldn't come at a better time for the versatile combo guard, who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. We know the New York Knicks are interested in making a run at Brunson, and <a href="https://marcstein.substack.com/p/a-slow-spinning-coaching-marketplace-1ce?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo0MDU5OTIyOCwicG9zdF9pZCI6NTMyMjYzMDQsIl8iOiJscTRCVSIsImlhdCI6MTY1MTUyMjAxMywiZXhwIjoxNjUxNTI1NjEzLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMzkyMjA1Iiwic3ViIjoicG9zdC1yZWFjdGlvbiJ9.Tiw_7fovr2Ot5a6LeR_ujN2MyJCkgAuKahkQLnMBOMU&amp;s=r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Marc Stein</a>, Detroit and Indiana have shown interest as well. However, Mark Cuban has stated publicly he plans to re-sign Brunson &mdash; even if it has an outsized impact on Dallas' luxury tax bill.&nbsp;
Victor Oladipo, Miami Heat
Due to a slew of serious injuries that limited him to only 88 games over the past three seasons, Victor Oladipo was forced to settle for a one-year deal with Miami on the veteran minimum back in August. The hope was he'd be able to show teams during the 2021-22 campaign that he was finally fully healthy. Unfortunately, Oladipo was sidelined for nearly all of the regular season as he recovered from a debilitating right quadriceps injury. 'Dipo didn't make his season debut until March 7.&nbsp;
After playing sporadically in late March and early April, Oladipo exploded for 40 points in the Heat's regular-season finale. Yet, he was a DNP-CD in each of Miami's first three playoff games. However, with both Jimmy Butler (knee) and Kyle Lowry (hamstring) ruled out for Game 5 of the Heat's first-round series vs. the Atlanta Hawks, Oladipo slid into the starting lineup. He finished that contest with 23 points (8 of 16 from the field, 4 of 4 on free throws), 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 triples in 36 minutes. Needless to say, 'Dipo has been a part of the Miami rotation since. In Game 2 of Miami's second-round matchup vs. the Philadelphia 76ers, he tallied 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 triples. He also chipped in 15 points off the bench in Game 4.&nbsp;
Oladipo will undoubtedly have plenty of interest on the free-agent market this summer.
Al Horford, Boston Celtics
Al Horford's 2022-23 salary is only partially guaranteed. And when the Celtics initially acquired Horford last summer in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder, some pundits speculated that Boston might look to get out from under the $26.5 million owed to Big Al next season.&nbsp;
But with as well as he has played this postseason, that will no longer be a consideration. Horford has been a godsend for Boston, averaging 15.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 blocks per contest through the Celtics' first eight playoff games. In Game 3 vs. Milwaukee on Saturday, Horford became the first player in Boston's franchise history with at least 20 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 made three-pointers in a single playoff game. Then, in Monday's Game 4 victory, he exploded for 30 points, 8 rebounds, 5 triples and 3 assists.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Stock Down
Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Rumors of a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/expect-the-knicks-to-make-a-real-run-at-donovan-mitchell-this-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rocky relationship between Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert have been swirling for years</a>. Unfortunately for Utah, it appears the team will be forced to trade one of its two best players at a time when their respective values have depreciated.
The two pillars of the Jazz franchise played relatively well during the regular season, but the rumblings of toxicity in Utah grew louder as the year dragged on. Mitchell not sharing the ball with Gobert has become a topic of conversation in early April. Shortly thereafter, Gobert called out his teammates for not wanting to play physically and "<a href="https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2022/03/30/triple-team-jazz-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">get our hands dirty</a>." When asked about the perceived finger-pointing, Mitchell characterized it as "<a href="https://www.sltrib.com/sports/jazz/2022/04/01/utah-jazz-vow-not-fall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">childish</a>."&nbsp;
Utah backed into the playoffs after losing five straight games in late March, but was hoping to take advantage of a Mavericks team playing without its best player, Doncic, who was sidelined by a calf injury for the first two contests. However, the Jazz lost Game 2 and lost the series in six games.
Over the six-game series vs. Dallas, Mitchell averaged over 22 field-goal attempts per contest, but shot just 39.8% from the floor and 20.8% from downtown. He became the first player in league history to attempt more than 20 field goals but shoot below 40% from the field and under 21% from three-point territory over a postseason run. And Mitchell's poor defense was arguably more problematic than his offense. Utah allowed over 115 points per 100 possessions vs. Dallas with Mitchell on the court. That number dropped to 104.5 with Mitchell on the bench.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-theme="dark">
Here&rsquo;s video of Rudy Gobert talking about the defensive improvements he&rsquo;s seen from Devin Booker on January 14th&hellip; As well as the Donovan Mitchell responses to 2 separate questions a day later: <a href="https://t.co/irKTufQJ1L">pic.twitter.com/irKTufQJ1L</a>
&mdash; Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) <a href="https://twitter.com/TomerAzarly/status/1520538333482749952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Gobert averaged just 12.0 points per game on 5.5 attempts per game (a career-low in his six postseason appearances) and blocked a total of 6 shots in the six-game series. It was the first time in his career he averaged more turnovers than blocks and steals combined. The Mavs often attempted to take advantage of Gobert's difficulty covering the perimeter by going small and spreading the floor.&nbsp;
Dating back to the 2021 postseason (when they dropped four straight to a shorthanded Clippers team that lost Kawhi Leonard to an ACL tear), the Jazz have lost 8 of their last 10 playoff games. With Gobert, Mitchell, Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson and Royce O'Neale locked into contracts that will pay them north of $133 million in guaranteed money next season, Utah won't be able to make any significant upgrades via free agency.&nbsp;
Last week, <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/jazz/news/rudy-gobert-him-or-me-ultimatum-donovan-mitchell">it was reported</a> that Gobert had reached a "him or me" point with Mitchell and would demand one of the two be traded this summer. It's difficult to envision the Jazz entering the 2022-23 season with both <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gobert</a> and <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-desinations-for-donovan-mitchell-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mitchell</a> on the roster.
Duncan Robinson, Miami Heat
As noted above, Oladipo has stepped in and stepped up for the Heat over the past two weeks. On the flip side of the coin, we have Duncan Robinson, who has gone from a crucial contributor to a non-factor.&nbsp;
Robinson started all 72 games for Miami in 2020-21, averaging 13.1 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 40.8% from beyond the arc (on 8.5 three-point attempts per game). The Heat rewarded him with a five-year contract worth $90 million. However, Robinson regressed during the 2021-22 regular season, as his production and percentages dipped. After starting 68 of the team's first 72 games, he was bumped to the bench in late March. Following a solid outing in Game 1 vs. Atlanta, coach Erik Spoelstra clearly didn't feel comfortable trusting his sharpshooter. Robinson averaged just 2.3 points in 10.7 minutes per contest in the final four games of the first round.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Remarkably, Robinson has logged a total of just 55 seconds thus far in Round 2, and has been a DNP-CD in 3 of the 4 contests. This is obviously not what Pat Riley and company had in mind when they ponied up $90 million less than nine months ago.
With $74.5 million still owed to Robinson over the next four years, will Miami look to dump his contract this summer already?&nbsp;
Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/why-the-nets-should-part-ways-with-kyrie-irving" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As I detailed in this space last month</a>, the Nets are on the precipice of a difficult decision.&nbsp;
Kyrie Irving has a player option worth $35,328,700 for the 2022-23 campaign. If he declines his option, he would be eligible to sign a new five-year deal with Brooklyn worth up to $248 million. While Kyrie is still capable of playing at an incredibly high level, the Nets have to decide how much he's worth considering his injury history (since signing with Brooklyn in 2019, Irving has appeared in just 103 of 216 regular-season games) and the off-court drama he brings to the table.&nbsp;
In the three years since Brooklyn added Kevin Durant and Kyrie, the Nets have won just one playoff series. This past season, Nets owner Joe Tsai spent $266 million in salary and luxury tax payments, the second-highest amount in league history. The Nets don't have a single playoff victory to show for it.
And over the team's final three games in the first round, Irving averaged just 15.3 points while shooting a putrid 37.2% from the floor and a frigid 18.2% from downtown.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Whose stock in the NBA Playoffs has soared before this offseason? Whose has plummeted? Tommy Beer dives in.

Stock Up, Stock Down: NBA Playoffs edition

In the 2020 Summer Olympics, which took place in 2021 due to COVID, France matched up with Team USA in the men&rsquo;s basketball gold-medal game for the third time.
The first gold-medal meeting between the two nations took place was in 1948, with France <a href="https://www.usab.com/history/national-team-mens/games-of-the-xivth-olympiad-1948.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">losing 65-21 in that final</a>.
Despite having been historically good since then, it took another 52 years for the Frenchmen to return to that stage for a second time; unfortunately, Team USA awaited again. The game was much closer in 2000 than in 1948, but the Americans &mdash; led by Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning and Ray Allen among others &mdash; outlasted Antoine Rigaudeau, Laurent Sciarra, Frederic Weis and France, 85-75.
(No, that wasn&rsquo;t the game Carter <a href="https://youtu.be/WihbbVEmppI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dunked on Weis</a>; that was earlier in The Games.)
And in last year&rsquo;s gold-medal game, in the countries' third meeting on that stage, France <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-olympics-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401347899" target="_blank" rel="noopener">got even closer</a>.
France's best Olympic team ever was defeated by the Americans, 87-82. Team USA started Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bam Adebayo, answering the French quintet of Nando De Colo, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Guerschon Yabusele and Rudy Gobert.
Contributions from the U.S. bench came from Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine, Draymond Green and Khris Middleton, while Timoth&eacute; Luwawu-Cabarrot, Frank Ntikilina, Thomas Heurtel and Moustapha Fall were key components of France's second unit. The Frenchmen trailed by as little as 3 points with just eight seconds remaining before Durant iced the game with two free throws.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8YSrNfcKvA0" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Now imagine that game with Joel Embiid... playing for France.
The 28-year-old NBA MVP candidate, who was born and raised in Cameroon and has never played for his home national team (despite <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/things-to-monitor-as-the-next-fiba-world-cups-next-qualifying-window-arrives">coming close in 2017</a>), is reportedly <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/05/02/joel-embiid-could-change-nationality-play-french-national-team-report">eyeing an opportunity to suit up for France</a>.
Embiid has family in France, and is <a href="https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/basket/basket-joel-embiid-superstar-de-nba-se-rapproche-de-l-equipe-de-france_AV-202205020664.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considering changing his nationality</a> in order to play for the Frenchmen in the 2024 Olympic Games, where they&rsquo;d enter as one of the favorites to challenge Team USA again for the gold. According to French basketball general manager Boris Diaw, Embiid is <a href="https://actucameroun.com/2022/05/03/boris-diaw-manager-general-de-lequipe-de-france-confirme-les-demarches-entamees-par-joel-embiid-pour-jouer-avec-les-bleus-en-vue-des-jo-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taking the necessary steps</a>.
(Looks like we won't ever see the Embiid-Pascal Siakam tandem for Cameroon, unfortunately.)
In FIBA, each team is allowed one naturalized player on its roster. Current and recent instances of this include American-born players to suit up for different countries, such as Javonte Green (Montenegro), Matt Costello (Ivory Coast), Anthony Randolph (Slovenia) and Andray Blatche (Philippines). Non-American examples include Congolese center Serge Ibaka playing for Spain, Cuban native Ismael Romero playing for Puerto Rico and French-born Aaron Cel playing for Poland. Another famous occasion where this occurred saw Hakeem Olajuwon playing with Team USA in the 1990s.
Regarding American-born WNBA players, known examples include Bria Hartley representing France, Becky Hammon representing Russia and Leilani Mitchell representing Australia. Non-American examples in the women&rsquo;s game include Bahamian Jonquel Jones playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Senegal native Astou Ndour playing for Spain.
Now, it may be long before we see Embiid actually playing for France if this process gets finalized, or less than we think if he decides not to wait for the Olympics.
The next major European basketball tournament is EuroBasket 2022, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2022">which will run from Sept. 1-18 later this year</a> across Italy, Germany, Georgia and the Czech Republic. France will be one of 24 teams competing, but seeing Embiid there would be surprising.
The 2023 FIBA World Cup, which France is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/where-things-stand-after-the-second-window-of-fiba-world-cup-qualifiers">currently attempting to qualify for</a>, will take place from Aug. 25 through Sept. 10, 2023. Qualifying for the World Cup will run through next February before the final pool of 32 teams gets decided.
And the 2024 Summer Olympics, assuming we avoid another global pandemic, is expected to actually run that summer. The host of the Games? France, who will automatically qualify for the tournament <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/pr-n34-brazils-national-teams-granted-automatic-places-at-2016-olympic-basketball-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by rule</a>. Embiid will be 30 years old by the next Olympics.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Since Embiid is reportedly targeting the 2024 Games, let&rsquo;s look at some players who might be his teammates.
The oldest players from the silver-medal-winning squad last summer were De Colo and Batum, who&rsquo;ll be 37 and 35 by the 2024 Games, so expect many of the same players to run it back if possible. One name that could join the fray is Boston Celtics second-round pick Juhann Begarin, who is just 19 years old and was the No. 45 overall selection last summer. Isma&euml;l Kamagate and Hugo Besson, both of whom are 21, are in the 2022 NBA Draft pool; the same goes for 18-year-old Ousmane Dieng, who is quickly rising up draft boards. There's also plenty of hype surrounding fellow 18-year-old, ASVEL star and 7-foot-2 sensation Victor Wembanyama &mdash; a lock to be a high draft pick in 2023.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft">BasketballNews.com Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock</a> has Dieng going No. 21 overall, Kamagate at No. 40 and Besson at No. 51.
But really, there&rsquo;s one question we need to answer, and it has to do with a three-time Defensive Player of the Year already on the roster who holds down the 5 position. Could an Embiid and Gobert frontcourt lead France over Team USA?
If you haven&rsquo;t realized, the American pool of bigs is slighter than you think.
Many of the best centers in the NBA aren&rsquo;t American and don&rsquo;t represent America internationally. Examples include Embiid, Gobert, Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Nikola Vučević (Montenegro), Kristaps Porziņģis (Latvia), Clint Capela (Switzerland) and Jonas Valančiūnas (Lithuania).
The best centers that have represented Team USA, and/or have Team USA eligibility, have been Adebayo, Green, Jarrett Allen and JaVale McGee. Deandre Ayton (Bahamas) is a player to watch <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2021/06/22/suns-big-deandre-ayton-ideal-team-usa-2024-summer-olympics-paris/5307682001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who could represent Team USA in the future</a>, along with younger bigs like Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren.
Assuming health, so the 2024 American team could start either Adebayo, Ayton or Allen, if not 2 of the 3. Team USA is generally harder to guess in advance, but your starting lineup could look like some combination of Ja Morant, Anthony Edwards, Booker, Tatum and Adebayo. Maybe, to match size, Ayton gets in there instead of Edwards.
Maybe a Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Bradley Beal, Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell sneak into the backcourt instead. Maybe someone we&rsquo;re not projecting to make another huge leap does &mdash; like Jordan Poole, Tyler Herro or Tyrese Maxey &mdash; or maybe Jaden Ivey or Jabari Smith are more ready than we think by 2024. Even so, you&rsquo;d throw, at best, Adebayo, Ayton, Allen, and Mobley at the Embiid-Gobert combo, and that tandem could be backed up by Dieng, Yabusele, and Vincent Poirier for France.
It&rsquo;s a lot to project, no doubt, but giving <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/rankingmen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the No. 4 team in the world</a> a top-four player in the world could be what it takes for someone to snatch the gold medal away from Team USA in the Olympics for the first time since 2004.
But a lot can happen in two years, so we'll table this... for now.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Bryan Fonseca looks at the potential of Joel Embiid joining France in international competition.

We’re not talking enough about Joel Embiid possibly playing for France

It&rsquo;s impossible to watch the NBA Playoffs and not be impressed with the talent level of the league&rsquo;s stars.
Chris Paul and Steph Curry have been doing it for a minute, but in recent years, we&rsquo;ve gotten to see some newer faces on the playoff stage show that they&rsquo;re not afraid of the big moments... Guys like Devin Booker, Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant and now, even Anthony Edwards.
But the more I watch those guys, the more I have to respect the guys whose job it is to stop them. It might be clich&eacute;, but defense really does win championships. At this point, there&rsquo;s only eight teams left in the playoffs, and it&rsquo;s no coincidence that guys like Matisse Thybulle, Draymond Green, Mikal Bridges and Bam Adebayo are still alive.
There can only be one Defensive Player of the Year, though, and this year, he happens to play in Boston.
Marcus Smart sure is deserving.
I obviously have a little bit of a soft spot for the Celtics, but over the years, as I&rsquo;ve watched Marcus, I always felt like he was exactly the kind of player I would want on my team. He has skills on both sides of the ball, but defensively, he&rsquo;s not willing to give even one inch to his opponent, and that&rsquo;s exactly why he&rsquo;s become such a favorite in Boston.
The very first conversation I had with Gary Payton once we became teammates in Miami, GP complimented me because, according to him, I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to get up in another dude&rsquo;s face. To be honest, I was a little surprised that he even knew who I was, but he always told me that real recognize real, and today, that comment has newfound meaning to me.
When I look back at my career, I give thanks for all that I was able to accomplish and for the fact that I was able to win at the highest level. It&rsquo;s hard for me to look back on it and say I have any regrets, but I can&rsquo;t lie... As someone who was regarded as a great 3-and D guy, it would have been nice to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award. If you&rsquo;re someone who takes pride in your ability to lock other guys up, that&rsquo;s sort of the pinnacle of the profession.
Even though we were only together in Miami for a short time, I learned a lot about defensive principles and technique from GP, and we took a special pride in defending our opponents and making things difficult for them.
So for me, it all comes full circle in a way; Marcus became the first guard since GP to win the Defensive Player of the Year Award.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Gary Payton pulled up to surprise Marcus Smart winning DPOY 👏 <a href="https://t.co/FrGtxLWEsR">pic.twitter.com/FrGtxLWEsR</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1516195034361577472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

GP was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 1995-96 season. Since then, of the next 25 seasons the award was given out, it went to a center 19 times. The other six times, the award was won equally by small forwards and power forwards.
The fact that almost 30 years went by before a backcourt player won the award again is crazy. If anything, the award should go to guards more often than anyone else.
What we have seen over history is that, for the most part, centers get the credit for anchoring a team&rsquo;s defense. And in most cases, they do deserve the credit, because being the last line of defense is a huge responsibility. But centers usually have a size advantage and play closer to the rim. In many instances, their primary responsibilities are to block or change shots, and rebound, but they usually have more of an opportunity to make plays on the ball and attract attention since they usually play at the rim.
Having a good anchor is obviously an important part of any championship-level defense, but not even guys like Rudy Gobert or Dikembe Mutombo can patch every hole in bad defense.
When you have a five-man unit on the floor, they are really only as strong as the weakest link, and if the backcourt can&rsquo;t defend, the team is toast.
Think about it. In most cases, unless you&rsquo;re playing a triangle offense or something like that, an offensive attack begins with a point guard. If he&rsquo;s easily able to beat his man off the dribble, it compromises the entire defense. When it comes to playing straight up, man-to-man defense, guards have to be top notch in order to not be a liability for their team.
Today, the game is so spaced out; it&rsquo;s definitely become more difficult for centers, but perimeter players have to guard pick-and-rolls, chase over screens, keep assignments in front, contain the dribble in front of them and just overall have more of a responsibility.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
In the league today, things are that much tougher because pretty much every team plays pick-and-roll basketball. So again, the perimeter defenders not only have to play good on-ball defense, but they also have to know when to switch and know how to read coverages in certain situations. They have to close-out on shooters, recover and know their rotations. The job was hard when GP was doing it back in the 1990s, and it&rsquo;s only gotten more difficult in recent years.
To be honest, it feels a little weird arguing this point, because Draymond Green and OG Anunoby are two of my favorite guys to watch on the defensive end. I respect the hell out of Gobert and Adebayo, and I think that Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen are some of the best defenders ever. None of those guys are backcourt players. What they do have in common, though, is their versatility. And that&rsquo;s what made Marcus Smart deserving of winning the award this year.
Maybe the solution is for the league to separate the Defensive Players of the Year, and to give out the award to the best backcourt defender and the best frontcourt defender. That would probably take a little of the prestige away from the honor, but the truth of the matter is that bigs and guards have very different responsibilities to a team&rsquo;s defense &mdash; it&rsquo;s just really hard to compare those contributions directly.
But this year, at least, it&rsquo;s nice to see that Marcus ended the drought. It&rsquo;s been a long time coming. It&rsquo;s not every day that you find a guard who not only accepts every challenge that comes his way, but also exceling at it. Smart can effectively guard all five positions, which is not something you see every day.
With the Bucks standing between them and a chance to get to the conference finals, Boston has its work cut out for it in the Eastern semis. Giannis and the Bucks are trying to go back-to-back.
But one thing for sure, is that Boston is going to fight, and I know that Marcus Smart is going to be battling every possession he&rsquo;s out there. And even if he&rsquo;s not 100%, his fingerprints are going to be all over the game.
He deserves more than just credit for that. He deserves to be the Defensive Player of the Year, and honestly, it&rsquo;s long overdue.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

James Posey offers praise for Marcus Smart's tenaciousness and shares his thoughts on the DPOY award moving forward.

Guards like Marcus Smart should always be Defensive Player of the Year

In spite of Luka Dončić only playing half of the series, the Utah Jazz have been eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs, which can only mean it&rsquo;s time to blow them up!
Okay, not really... but maybe? Virtually everyone is expecting organizational changes given the team's recent underachievement in the playoffs stemming from successful regular seasons. This incarnation of the Jazz was established in 2017-18, behind then-rookie Donovan Mitchell&rsquo;s quick rise to stardom and Rudy Gobert&rsquo;s emergence as an annual Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
That season, Mitchell &mdash; filling the void left by Gordon Hayward &mdash; finished his first season as a 20-point-per-game scorer despite being picked No. 13 overall and averaging just over 14 points per game in his first 19 appearances. Gobert, even having played only 56 games, was awarded his first of now three DPOY awards.
In these five years, there have been as many playoff trips &mdash; three as the No. 5 seed (including this season), one as the No. 6 in the Orlando Bubble, and another as the top overall seed in the Western Conference last year.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
In 2017-18, the Jazz overachieved, taking down the Russell Westbrook-Paul George-Carmelo Anthony-led Oklahoma City Thunder in six games before losing to the No. 1 seed Houston Rockets in five contests.
In 2018-19, Utah lost to the Rockets again in five, this time in the first round, and Houston even led 3-0 with a +55 scoring margin before dropping Game 4.
In 2019-20, the Jazz squandered a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets, losing Game 7 in the final seconds of the opening round.
Last season &mdash; despite the Los Angeles Clippers losing Kawhi Leonard to a torn ACL (that he&rsquo;s still not back from) &mdash; the Jazz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2yBy-EqnU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost in six games to the Clippers</a> in the West semifinals, and Gobert was dunked on by both Terance Mann and social media in the ending.
And finally, this postseason &mdash; in a series with Dončić missing the first three games with a calf injury, in which Utah still trailed 2-1 upon his return &mdash; Utah lost on yet another last-second heartbreaker.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
THE PLAYOFF DROUGHT IS OVER. THE DALLAS MAVERICKS ADVANCE TO THE SECOND ROUND SINCE 2011!<a href="https://twitter.com/dallasmavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dallasmavs</a> | 📺 BSSW | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dALLasIN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dALLasIN</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBAPlayoffs</a> <a href="https://t.co/VcWGAdSOL4">pic.twitter.com/VcWGAdSOL4</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsSW/status/1519896562079518727?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Given <a href="https://twitter.com/tribjazz/status/1482077811019902980">the sniping back-and-forth between Mitchell and Gobert</a>, the Jazz's inability to break through and how far behind they appear from the top teams in the West, this seems like the summer where sizeable moves will be coming.
Personally speaking, it feels like we&rsquo;re heading toward Mitchell requesting a trade and moving on, but either way, one of Mitchell or Gobert &mdash; perhaps both &mdash; may be on the move in the coming months. Our Evan Sidery <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently looked at five trade ideas involving Gobert</a>.
Today, let's look at where Mitchell could end up, <a href="https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">using this trade machine</a>.
Mitchell is due $30.3 million next year, $32.6 million in 2023-24, $34.9 million in 2024-25, and has a player option for $37 million in 2025-26. Keep that in mind as we embark on this journey together. (Why did I sound like Professor Oak there?)
New York Knicks
Mitchell&rsquo;s father, Donovan Sr., works with the New York Mets organization. The 25-year-old Mitchell himself is a native of Elmsford, New York. Naturally, with the New York Knicks, there will be Mitchell smoke until a deal (or something else) actually happens. Because Tommy Beer already <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/expect-the-knicks-to-make-a-real-run-at-donovan-mitchell-this-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke down the possibility of a Mitchell-to-New-York trade</a>, we won&rsquo;t stay here too long.
Regarding the Knicks&rsquo; actual proposal, the first look would be to RJ Barrett, who is extension eligible this summer, entering year four and making $10.9 million next year. The idea, for New York, should be to team Barrett and Mitchell together. If that&rsquo;s not possible, and the Mitchell deal were to have to get done, Barrett is your chief trade chip, along with first-round draft picks. The Knicks have all their own first-rounders as of this writing.
Usable salaries for the Knicks next year include Evan Fournier, who&rsquo;ll be at $18 million, Derrick Rose at $14.5 million, Alec Burks at $10 million, Nerlens Noel at $9.2 million and Kemba Walker at over $9.1 million. Rose, Burks and Noel all have team options for 2023-24, so they have ostensibly expiring deals. Walker&rsquo;s next season is his last under contract, and Fournier is signed through 2025, but that also includes a team option. Cam Reddish and Taj Gibson also enter the last year of their respective deals, at about $6 million and $5.1 million each, respectively.
The contract elephant in the room is Julius Randle&rsquo;s, which is a four-year, $117 million extension that begins next season at $26.1 million. It&rsquo;ll gradually increase until his player option for $32.4 million kicks in for 2025-26. The Knicks might try to move Randle instead, but what sense does that make for Utah? And if Utah isn&rsquo;t getting Barrett, would they want a package of the aforementioned veterans (say, Fournier and Burks), along with one or two of Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, or Miles McBride (who make between $1.6 and $2.3 million next year) and picks?
It&rsquo;ll be hard to do without Barrett, and maybe Randle gets involved in a three-team deal, but the Knicks have the picks, salaries and prospects to make it work, if that&rsquo;s the route the Jazz want to go.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons seem like a team that could be a version of this past season&rsquo;s Cleveland Cavaliers &mdash; not in terms of play style or once being a top-four team in the Eastern Conference standings necessarily, but from the standpoint of being competitive a year sooner than we think and playing meaningful games down the stretch (like one or two in the Play-In Tournament).
Given that 20 of 30 NBA teams will have games beyond the regular season, the Pistons may (should) attempt to get one of those spots.
Last year&rsquo;s No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham is <a href="https://youtu.be/I9OLPXxgYWk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">someone you can build with</a>. Saddiq Bey should be a more efficient scorer with more experience and better teammates. Most of the rest is to be determined, but Detroit can start by using Jerami Grant&rsquo;s near $21 million expiring deal next summer.
What comes next depends on what stage the Jazz want to be closer to. If this is a rebuild, you can ask for a combination of Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo (both of whom make over $5 million next year), for example, and Hayes has a $7.4 million team option for 2023-24. If not, Kelly Olynyk has $12.8 million coming to him next year that&rsquo;s usable. Utah can in throw in, hypothetically, Royce O&rsquo;Neale&rsquo;s $9.3 million deal next year and get Olynyk anyway.
So the player framework can look something like:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Jerami Grant and Kelly Olynyk</li>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Jerami Grant, Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo</li>
<li>Donovan Mitchell and Royce O&rsquo;Neale for Jerami Grant, Killian Hayes, Hamidou Diallo and Kelly Olynyk plus a sh*t ton of draft picks. The Pistons would be moving something like three first-rounders in the deal, and potentially multiple first-round pick swaps.</li>
</ul>
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Miami Heat
I brought this up during <a href="https://youtu.be/XBQwn0pOAa4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's NBA Trade Deadline stream</a>.&nbsp;
The Heat didn&rsquo;t do it then, but it might still be on the table depending on how these playoffs go. The Heat might not offer the best return package because of their draft picks, but they did unlock additional firsts by moving KZ Okpala to Oklahoma City in February. And, for Miami, we&rsquo;re mainly talking about one package. But again, it depends on the results of this postseason.&nbsp;
Currently, the Heat are getting ready to face the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, a matchup they&rsquo;re favored to win (albeit narrowly). If they lose this particular series, or if they win and Tyler Herro continues to struggle in the playoffs, or even if Miami makes a deep run and Herro elevates from a slow start, he&rsquo;d be the primary chip in a Mitchell deal. Furthermore, the <a href="https://twitter.com/GregSylvander/status/1482101290964504580" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heat are on Mitchell&rsquo;s shortlist</a>, according to Greg Sylvander of Five Reasons Sports.
The deal, as I mentioned on our stream, would include Herro &mdash; who is still on a rookie-scale contract ($5.7 million next year), but is extension-eligible this summer and wouldn&rsquo;t kick-in until 2023. Then comes Duncan Robinson, who&rsquo;ll enter the second year of a five-year, $90 million deal next season, which bookends with a near $20 million player option and rises to $16.9 million next season.
According to the trade machine, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s $1.7 million next season makes the math work, and would give Utah a Gobert backup who&rsquo;ll, if nothing else, get you 10 rebounds in 15 minutes on occasion. Would the Heat have to throw in at least one of Gabe Vincent, Max Strus or Haywood Highsmith (all of whom make between $1.7 and $1.8 million next year)? Perhaps. And from there, Miami has tradeable first-rounders in 2022, 2024 and 2026. So, in summation, it could look like this:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Omer Yurtseven, one of Gabe Vincent/Max Strus/Haywood Highsmith, draft capital</li>
</ul>
But if Herro has a big playoff run moving forward, the Heat may instead opt to move Robinson in a separate, smaller deal for a worthy big man in their rotation, and mostly run it back otherwise.
Atlanta Hawks
Alright, now you saw what the Heat did to Trae Young in the first round. The Hawks clearly are not only poised to get Young some help, but make a 3-for-1-ish deal to consolidate some depth into a higher-end starter &mdash; or in the case of Mitchell, a fellow offensive starter. His teammate, Gobert, is probably the better fit, but one, I&rsquo;m not writing about Gobert (our Evan Sidery will handle that) and two, if Gobert is frustrated with Mitchell&rsquo;s defense...
But anyway, you gotta start somewhere. And for Atlanta, part of why the Heat neutralized Young is their malleability defensively, but also, the Hawks don&rsquo;t have another true star to account for on the perimeter. Mitchell would give Young a viable tag team partner offensively to spread the defensive focus. To do so, the Hawks could play this a few different ways.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qjRmo0TbD20" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The obvious trade chip is John Collins, and there could be questions about his fit next to Gobert, but it&rsquo;s not a bad place to start if you&rsquo;re moving someone of Mitchell&rsquo;s caliber. Collins will make $23.5 million next year, and between $25.3 and $26.6 million through 2025-26. Collins has had rumored friction with Young, though they&rsquo;ve downplayed it over the years. From there, if you use Collins in a possible deal, it gets interesting.&nbsp;
De&rsquo;Andre Hunter &mdash; who makes $9.8 million next year in the last season of a rookie deal and is extension-eligible this summer &mdash; seems logical for both the Jazz to want and the Hawks to keep. Hunter was Atlanta's best player against the Heat, and has been a quality two-way wing when healthy. Is a framework of Collins and Hunter for Mitchell straight up enough of a deal for both sides? Sheeeeeiiiiit, ask them, but it sounds good to me!
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for John Collins and De'Andre Hunter</li>
</ul>
No Collins? Okay. You&rsquo;re not moving Clint Capela&rsquo;s long-term deal for Utah in a Mitchell move, so that&rsquo;s out of the picture. Kevin Huerter would absolutely have to be part of this, and no, that&rsquo;s not a white Utah joke. Hu-why would you think that?&nbsp;
Huerter begins his $65 million extension next year, the first of four, banking $14.5 million in 2022-23. Hunter probably stays in the deal because Utah has to get something really good, and the Hawks simply can&rsquo;t extend everyone. Again, Atlanta should want to keep Hunter, but this is the price of doing business. But if you&rsquo;re throwing in Huerter instead of Collins (which does work on the trade machine since different rules apply in the offseason than in-season), you&rsquo;ll need multiple first round picks &mdash; of which the Hawks have all their own &mdash; so that could get done.
Could Utah also want Onyeka Okongwu? Sure, but he seems like Atlanta's 5-man of the future, and a separate deal moving off Capela might be more likely. So the second proposal could look like this:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for De'Andre Hunter, Kevin Huerter, draft capital</li>
</ul>
Now, the Hawks would still need to figure some things out defensively, seeing as how they&rsquo;d be led by two 6-foot-1 scorers in the backcourt. They could just became the new Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to some extent, but <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/a-salute-to-the-defiance-of-damian-lillard-and-cj-mccollum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Portland Trail Blazers are as much to blame for that &ldquo;not working,&rdquo;</a> and the Hawks can learn from those team-building mistakes.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Bryan Fonseca takes a look at four logical landing spots for Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell.

Examining potential trade desinations for Donovan Mitchell 

Every day, BasketballNews.com gives you NBA betting analysis before tip-off. Make sure you subscribe to our daily podcast, &ldquo;Nothing But Bets&rdquo; on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nothing-but-bets/id1589799249" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apple Podcasts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6zNxt0NQXPmKuryAdz89m0?si=1038d121100444fd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a>&nbsp;or wherever you listen to podcasts.
<iframe src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=BNI9213996071" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s dive into our favorite NBA spread bets for the night portion of Thursday's postseason slate.
Utah Jazz (-7.5) vs. Dallas Mavericks
The pessimism surrounding Luka Doncic&rsquo;s immediate playing time is obvious from Dallas. Reading the tea leaves, Doncic will probably be out for Game 3 due to a calf strain suffered in the Mavericks&rsquo; regular season finale. Jalen Brunson has <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-stats-notebook-jalen-brunson-is-in-the-drivers-seat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">put on a show</a> in Doncic&rsquo;s place, but this series flipping back to the raucous environment in Salt Lake City could change things up.
Donovan Mitchell is poised for a big breakout performance, plus Rudy Gobert&rsquo;s defensive dominance is always a looming factor. In the end, hammer the Jazz to cover -7.5 over Dallas as a Best Bet.
Pick: Jazz -7.5
Player Props: Donovan Mitchell over 29.5 points, Jalen Brunson over 24.5 points, Rudy Gobert over 15.5 rebounds, Spencer Dinwiddie over 6.5 assists
Denver Nuggets vs. Golden State Warriors (-2.5)
Similar to the Suns series last season, the Nuggets are simply too outmatched here. Golden State&rsquo;s offense has exploded behind a new modern-ady death lineup: Stephen Curry, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green. With an absurd Offensive Rating above 200 right now, Denver doesn&rsquo;t stand a chance against the Warriors
And with Devin Booker&rsquo;s hamstring now playing a major factor in the Western Conference playoff storylines, Golden State might have a clearer Finals path. Behind a big game from Curry, hammer the Warriors to take the commanding 3-0 series lead.
Pick: Warriors -2.5
Player Props: Nikola Jokic over 29.5 points, Jordan Poole over 22.5 points, Aaron Gordon over 5.5 rebounds, Stephen Curry over 3.5 threes
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Who are the best bets for Thursday night's NBA playoff games? We've got you covered!

Best Bets: BasketballNews' picks and fantasy advice for 4/21/22

The NBA Playoffs can initially seem like a statistical nightmare littered with small sample sizes, outlier performances and a lack of context. Those challenges also make the postseason one of the most exciting sandboxes for analysis &mdash; a place to marvel at a player's career-defining games and wonder: Is this replicable?
That's what I thought as I watched Jalen Brunson's dynamic 41-point explosion unfold in Monday's 110-104 win over the Jazz in Game 2. Brunson was simply unstoppable, stepping up in the absence of Luka Doncic to turn a series that felt like a lost cause into a very winnable matchup. He's currently tied for the second-highest scoring outing in the 2022 playoffs with DeMar DeRozan.
More interesting to me, though, are Brunson's two games in attack mode. His mark of 24 drives to the basket per game leads all postseason players, and his average of 13.5 field goal attempts per game via drives ranks second behind Donovan Mitchell. Brunson toasted a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/utah-blues-whose-fault-is-it-anyway-jazz-fourth-quarter-game-2-mavericks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disjointed Utah defense</a> in Game 2, blowing by opponents 1-on-1 and dissecting them with his shifty ball-handling.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/xow3ag" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
So to my question: Is this sustainable enough to propel the Mavericks to the next round, with or without Doncic? Though 40-point games might be a tall ask, Brunson has already proven himself to be one of the premier driving threats in the entire NBA.
Let's travel back to the regular season. According to Second Spectrum, Brunson drove toward the basket 13.6 times per game, good for 17th in the NBA but well under his current playoff pace. However, Brunson was not the lead ball-handler or driving catalyst for most of the season. Those responsibilities belonged to Doncic, who was second at a whopping 22.2 drives per game.
That being said, Brunson's 13.6 drives were the second-most in the league among secondary options, behind only Caris LeVert, who split time with the Pacers and Cavaliers. So he did attack with high frequency relative to his role, and when Brunson did, he was extremely effective.
The 25-year-old drilled 56.7% of his driving field goal attempts, eighth among 112 players averaging at least 5 drives per game. His 4.5% turnover rate was the seventh-lowest in that group.&nbsp;
What makes Brunson so successful? Though he doesn't get all the way to the rim very often (40th percentile at his position), he is simply an elite finisher around the basket. This regular season, the 6-foot-3-inch combo guard finished 68% of his attempts within 4 feet of the cup, per Cleaning the Glass &mdash; fourth among all guards.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/cl5fly" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Brunson's acceleration and deceleration skills are eye-catching. He can use a quick crossover or between-the-legs dribble to instantly get up to speed and blow past defenders. Then, he gets the ball high early on his layup attempts, and has the strength to deal with contact from contesting opponents. There's nifty footwork in the above clips too, reinforcing that Brunson is not just a straight-line player.
While Brunson is strong at the rim, he is&nbsp;lethal&nbsp;just beyond it. A whopping 36% of his field goal attempts came in the "short mid-range" area between 4 and 14 feet from the basket. He knocked down 51% of those attempts, which is fifth among guards with at least 800 minutes played, per Cleaning the Glass.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/xztzii" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Here, you see the same on/off-speed changes, plus a methodical probing of the defense to find floaters and mid-range pull-ups.&nbsp;
These are some of the plays that stood out to me from the first two playoff games. Not all of the shots go in, but they demonstrate the confidence Brunson has in his ability to generate open looks. Brunson can turn the corner on opponents who switch or show aggressively on ball-screens, and pin defenders on his back and rock into a floater. He also has flashed a liking to attacking Rudy Gobert in deep drop coverage, getting the center on his heels and pulling back out for a mid-range jumper.&nbsp;
Utah can't really counter. Gobert is going to be a drop defender for the rest of the playoffs, and defenders like Mitchell, Jordan Clarkson, Royce O'Neale and Bojan Bogdanovic just don't seem to have the strength or lateral quickness to keep Brunson in front. That's especially devastating in pick-and-roll actions, where Brunson was frankly dominant in the regular season. Take a look at his numbers among the 99 players who logged at least 150 possessions as a pick-and-roll ball-handler:
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.03%;">P&amp;R Stats</td>
<td style="width: 6.61578%;">Playtype Freq.</td>
<td style="width: 11.1552%;">Points Per Poss. </td>
<td style="width: 7.49058%;">eFG%</td>
<td style="width: 10.8284%;">TOV%</td>
<td style="width: 11.4959%;">FT Rate</td>
<td style="width: 14.9672%;">Score Freq.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.03%;">Number</td>
<td style="width: 6.61578%;">32.4%</td>
<td style="width: 11.1552%;">1.06</td>
<td style="width: 7.49058%;">54.3%</td>
<td style="width: 10.8284%;">9.2%</td>
<td style="width: 11.4959%;">9.2%</td>
<td style="width: 14.9672%;">51.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 12.03%;">NBA Rank</td>
<td style="width: 6.61578%;">39th</td>
<td style="width: 11.1552%;">T-1st</td>
<td style="width: 7.49058%;">7th</td>
<td style="width: 10.8284%;">6th (Best)</td>
<td style="width: 11.4959%;">39th</td>
<td style="width: 14.9672%;">3rd</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Mobile users scroll right to view full table
*Data via Synergy
Brunson is a poster child for reliability and soundly moves the ball, boasting an assist rate of 23.8% (75th percentile at his position) and an overall turnover rate of 9.4% (77th percentile). But that often overshadows his untapped upside as a scoring engine, which we saw in Game 2. Brunson did knock down 6 of his 10 pull-up attempts from long range in the victory. That likely won't sustain; he shot just 31.0% on pull-up threes on low volume in the regular season.
If Doncic returns soon, Brunson's life as a driver should become easier with the defense's focus shifted towards the Mavericks' superstar. Until then, Brunson has shown he's more than capable of holding down the fort as the top scoring option. Hopefully, offseason spenders recognize Brunson's malleability and pay the upcoming free agent accordingly.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I found in the void):
<ul>
<li>I'm going to throw some more super-small-sample early playoff stats at you that are nonetheless interesting. First: Pascal Siakam is leading the postseason in passes per game (69.3) and is second in touches per game (95.0).</li>
<li>Jayson Tatum (5.0) and Jaylen Brown (4.5) both rank in the top-five in deflections per game so far. Tatum in particular stood out to me as an individual and team defender in Boston's Game 2 victory.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/with-no-devin-booker-the-phoenix-suns-will-need-a-lift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">As our Nekias Duncan wrote</a>, the Phoenix Suns generated 1.5 points per possession on plays with Chris Paul utilizing a ball screen in Tuesday's loss to the Pelicans. CP3's pick-and-roll mastery will be a focal point for the Suns offense without Devin Booker.</li>
</ul>
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Jalen Brunson's 41-point game Monday highlighted his prowess as a driver and pick-and-roll playmaker.

NBA Stats Notebook: Jalen Brunson is in the driver's seat

NBA playoff basketball is finally here! With things kicking off on Saturday, I decided to highlight an X-factor I'll be keeping tabs on for each first-round series. Let's dig in, shall we?
(For deeper thoughts on each series, listen to <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Part I</a> and <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/play-in-weigh-in-part-two/id1547857052?i=1000557698545" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Part II</a> of our series previews at <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dunker-spot/id1547857052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Dunker Spot</a>.)
(1) HEAT VS (8) HAWKS: STAR SWITCH BATTLE
Any hope of an Atlanta Hawks upset begins with the virtuosic creation ability of Trae Young. He's one of the NBA's best pick-and-roll creators, blessed with the ability to bend defenses to his will with a blend of pull-ups, floaters, stop-on-a-dime foul-drawing and every pass in the book.
Enter the Miami Heat, who do a tremendous job of flattening out offenses with switches. And that&nbsp;discussion begins with the versatility of Bam Adebayo.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/njfr19" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
The Hawks score on this possession, but look at how much work it takes. Double drag? Nope. Running to a handoff to create an advantage? Nope. Forcing a favorable switch (Tyler Herro will have his work cut out for him) and hoping to attack? Nope, here comes a double.
Only two teams &mdash; the New Orleans Pelicans (0.847 PPP) and the Sacramento Kings (0.722 PPP) allowed fewer points per possession against Young-led ball screens than the Heat (0.851 PPP), and Miami faced more picks (182) than those two teams combined (119).&nbsp;
There's a reason for that. The Heat have the personnel and scheme versatility to make Young's life difficult.
(2) CELTICS VS (7) NETS: BRUCE BROWN'S PLAYMAKING
"We got to be physical with them. Now they don&rsquo;t have Robert Williams, so they have less of a presence in the paint. We can attack Al Horford and [Daniel] Theis. Them not having Rob Williams is huge.&rdquo;
That was Bruce Brown following the Brooklyn Nets' victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Round 1 of the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday night. Kevin Durant had to put out the fire shortly after, but the message rang loud: We think we have another avenue to attack your defense.
I think a lot about this possession from their most recent outing.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/qnbufa" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
The Nets opened the quarter with Spain pick-and-roll (!!!) and Boston switched every bit of it. That led to an Al Horford-Kyrie Irving matchup, but Williams felt comfortable trapping Kyrie to get the ball out of his hands. Brown has been making hay as a short-roll threat in 2022, and does so here by nailing a floater.
How often will those advantages be there for Brown? With no Williams, the Celtics will have to decide which of their frontcourt guys &mdash; Horford or Theis &mdash; will take the Brown assignment. And from there, what coverage will they go with? Will they switch, possibly throwing Horford or Theis on Kyrie or Kevin Durant in space? WIll they trap from there?
If so, the Nets may have a way to create some advantage situations aside from their stars.
(3) BUCKS VS (6) BULLS: KHRIS MIDDLETON LEADING THE DANCE
This doesn't seem like a great series for the Chicago Bulls. Quick hat tip to <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Moore</a> for detailing just <a href="https://twitter.com/HPbasketball/status/1515199182641926145?s=20&amp;t=9hbXMskZXIW6rvu06kVdpQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how much of a mismatch</a> &mdash; on paper, at least! &mdash; this matchup projects to be.&nbsp;
If there's a Milwaukee Bucks thing to keep an eye on, it's the Khris Middleton-led stuff. The Bucks swept the season series, but Middleton wasn't his best self. He shot a shade under 28% from three and, for the purposes of this section, averaged nearly 4 turnovers per contest.
For the brilliance that Middleton can provide with his shot-making, his handle has long been a weak point against the peskiest of defenders. He's likely to see a steady dose of Ayo Dosunmu and Alex Caruso, guards who don't mind getting in his jersey.&nbsp;
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/97dfi9" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
If Middleton isn't able to get to his spots comfortably &mdash; or worse, turns the ball over &mdash; the Bulls may have an avenue to junk up the Bucks' half-court attack.
(4) SIXERS VS (5) RAPTORS: JAMES HARDEN'S STEPBACK
I think James Harden's hamstring has been talked about enough. I'm not a doctor; I simply hope he's good to go because he's freaking awesome when he's healthy. It unlocks the full breadth of his game.
Regardless of which version of "Harden, The Driver" we get, he's going to need this shot.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/9bq5ke" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Harden made one of his eight stepback-three attempts against Toronto this season, and has converted just 31.6% of his stepback threes this season (roughly 4.0 attempts per game) via InStat tracking. That's a wild dip from last season (36.7% overall on 4.3 attempts) and the year before that (34.7% on 6.5 attempts).
I don't have to explain why shooting under 32% on an already-tough shot isn't ideal. The layer beyond that shot is the real issue; the nature of the shot, and location of the shot, makes Harden one of the last lines of defense in transition. The Sixers have been bad at getting back &mdash; they rank 20th or worse in every transition defense stat, per Cleaning The Glass &mdash; while the Raptors have been incredibly fruitful when they're able to run.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
(1) SUNS VS (8) PELICANS: WHO DEFENDS CHRIS PAUL?
Herb Jones is one of the best defenders in the sport. My pals and I landed on him as the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/defensive-awards-and-a-celebration-of-defense" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA's best screen navigator</a> already. His nimbleness and persistence will bother someone in this series.
That's the thing though: He's only one dude.
If Jones gets the Devin Booker matchup (a reasonable guess), who's defending the other All-NBA caliber guard for Phoenix? That might land on nominal point guard CJ McCollum, who hasn't had the best luck at defending Paul.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/uziglr" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
Paul-led pick-and-rolls with McCollum as the primary defender have generated well over 1.5 points per possession over the last three seasons, per Second Spectrum. That number drops to the 1.3 PPP range when filtered for drop coverage, but, like, that's still pretty absurd.
The Pelicans will have some options. Chief among them: Switching screens between Paul and Deandre Ayton, then tasking Jaxson Hayes (likely to defend Jae Crowder) with saving McCollum by executing a scram switch.
Of course, the Suns have counters to that counter; don't be surprised if Crowder is used as an off-ball screener to occupy Hayes' attention.
(2) GRIZZLIES VS (7) TIMBERWOLVES: WHERE IS JAREN JACKSON JR.?
Let's take a look at two possessions. Ja Morant-led pick-and-rolls, the Minnesota Timberwolves in their base "two to the ball" pick-and-roll coverage. Two missed shots. Keep an eye on Jaren Jackson Jr. for both.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/keoife" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
That's JJJ chilling at the left wing, with Jarred Vanderbilt stunting at the roll from Steven Adams before retreating. D'Angelo Russell is now tasked with making the rotation as the low-man.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/7otf7v" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
On this one, Jackson is chilling in the dunker spot after clearing the left side of the floor. The Memphis Grizzlies are setting up a screening action for Desmond Bane &mdash; a smart counter to the Wolves sending two players to Morant &mdash; but look at Vanderbilt. He's able to peel over early while Karl-Anthony Towns works his way back to Adams. Russell tasked with dropping down to Jackson if a full rotation from Vanderbilt is needed.
When I say "Where is JJJ.?", you can take that in a "Will he show up?" context. He will need to knock down threes, and his mobility will be needed against Towns in space when he's asked to play the 5.
But it's important to note Jackson's literal location on the court. Where he's stationed can lead to some tough rotations for the Wolves if they continue to defend aggressively.&nbsp;
(3) WARRIORS VS (6) NUGGETS: FINDING THE BLEND WITH NIKOLA JOKIC
Nikola Jokic has improved quite a bit as a defender over the past three seasons. He's firmly good as an at-the-level defender, and he made real strides as a drop defender this season. Arguing for an All-Defensive team selection is a bridge (or two) too far, but the liability talk should've died a while ago.
With that being said, the Golden State Warriors pose some real trouble for him. The Stephen Curry-Jordan Poole-Klay Thompson triumvirate has the pull-up chops to abuse drop coverage. Kevon Looney screens and hand-backs could also create open threes.
With Draymond Green (or Gary Payton II when he's out there), the Warriors have the short-roll playmaking chops to beat a two-to-the-ball scheme.
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; overflow: hidden;" src="https://streamable.com/e/9an8tq" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
We get both coverages from Jokic on this possession. He starts in drop, with Monte Morris doing a fine-enough job staying attached to Poole. The ball swings to Thompson, and Jokic plays higher up. Two screens, two coverages, two solid results for Denver.
Then the&nbsp;third&nbsp;action happens, which also coincides with Poole jetting to the right corner and Aaron Gordon being occupied with Andrew Wiggins. Jokic is in another drop but he can't beat Thompson to his spot, nor does he have help on the backline.
What do you do with that?
Probably not drop.&nbsp;
The Warriors generated north of 1.3 points per possession (!!!) when facing Jokic in drop coverage during their regular season meetings, per Second Spectrum. Playing Jokic to the level will be a tough task, especially considering the offensive workload he'll have to carry, but that may be the easier poison to deal with.&nbsp;
(4) MAVERICKS VS (5) JAZZ: SPENCER DINWIDDIE'S DRIVES
With no Luka Doncic for at least Game 1, more offensive responsibility will fall into the hands of Spencer Dinwiddie.&nbsp;
He's been a godsend for the Dallas Mavericks, averaging 16-3-4 while shooting over 40% from three since joining the team. He's been a great complement to Doncic; naturally, some of Dinwiddie's success is due to Doncic drawing the best perimeter defender on the opposing team.
That may shift to Dinwiddie now &mdash; I doubt we're going to see, like, Royce O'Neale on Jalen Brunson for extended stretches. It'll be up to Dinwiddie to puncture defenses and start the chain of rotations. He hasn't had much success against Utah this season; he's shooting just 44.4% off of drives against the Jazz, and he's paired that with a paltry 8.5% assist rate.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Nekias Duncan breaks down a key factor for each first round series of the 2022 NBA Playoffs.

Pressure points: Critical first-round battles in the 2022 NBA Playoffs

Jackson Frank breaks down the film and collaborates with Nekias Duncan and Mark Schindler to pick the 2021-22 All-NBA teams.

2021-22 All-NBA Teams: Praising this season's 15 best players

When canvassing the Western Conference standings, an overall ideology is beginning to crystalize on potential deep postseason runs. At the moment, it looks like a one-team race with a few others having an outside shot. (For our Eastern Conference outlook, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/betting-the-east-possibilities-are-endless-for-nba-finals-contenders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.)
From a betting perspective, sportsbooks are in consensus that the Phoenix Suns are far and away the best team in the West. And when you see the odds discrepancies, it&rsquo;s really not even close. Thanks to the odds, we&rsquo;re able to break down the West into four realistic tiers for who will come out on top and represent the conference in the NBA Finals.
Tier 1: Phoenix Suns +115
If all goes to plan for the Suns, this should be a relatively easy repeat run back to the NBA Finals. Somehow, some way, national pundits actually believed Phoenix couldn&rsquo;t build off last year&rsquo;s jaw-dropping postseason performance. On the way, the Suns&rsquo; chemistry has blossomed alongside adding much-needed depth pieces to fortify the second unit.
When looking through the Suns&rsquo; roster, it&rsquo;s honestly hard to find any holes. Devin Booker and Chris Paul have proven to be a historically lethal backcourt, especially when the game is on the line. Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson have taken leaps to form a seamless wing duo and complement each other well. Deandre Ayton is proving yet again that he&rsquo;s an anchor to Phoenix&rsquo;s system providing plus-two-way efficiency on both ends of the court.
Injuries (knock on wood) are the only roadblock standing in front of Phoenix. Loaded to the gills with championship-level contributors, betting on the Suns is a wise investment in the West.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Tier 2: Golden State Warriors +440, Memphis Grizzlies +600
At this point, it&rsquo;s surprising that Tier 2 hasn&rsquo;t seen the odds flip between both teams represented. After a red-hot start to the season, the Warriors have fallen off a cliff thanks to injuries and overall inconsistencies. No surprise, but Golden State looks lost without Stephen Curry on the court. Thanks to Curry, Vegas still believes the Dubs have the second-best odds to make the 2022 NBA Finals, but do they really hold multiple advantages against a resurgent Grizzlies group?
Even without Ja Morant, the Grizzlies continue to prove they are a legit force to be reckoned with. Armed with a young superstar and ideal complementary pieces across the board, Memphis looks the part of a finally awakened sleeping giant. Morant should be able to go toe-to-toe against Curry if Memphis and Golden State square off in the playoffs. Also, I favor the Grizzlies&rsquo; depth compared to the Warriors.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G9RcQhctmQY" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Curry is the ultimate trump card, which shows in the odds, but the Grizzlies feel like the perfect flier at +600 odds to be this year&rsquo;s version of the 2021 Suns. All of a sudden, Memphis feels like a strong championship contender.
Tier 3: Utah Jazz +950, Dallas Mavericks +1000, Denver Nuggets +1100
Now we&rsquo;re entering into the portion of the conference where odds really begin to dwindle. Phoenix, Golden State and Memphis all have the goods to make a Finals push. Outside of those three teams, many questions loom around the West.
Doesn&rsquo;t it feel like the title window has already closed on the Jazz? A regular-season juggernaut over the last few years, Utah&rsquo;s inconsistencies are beginning to raise serious long-term roster questions. Will Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert be traded if the Jazz have an early postseason exit? That idea feels more plausible than skeptical, which says a lot about where Utah&rsquo;s mindset currently is.
Luka Doncic is single-handedly carrying the Mavericks to the postseason, this time without a secondary star alongside him. After Dallas traded Kristaps Porzingis, Doncic has taken on a James Harden-esque usage level and thrived. Fatigue will surely play a factor down the road with Doncic, but, in the meantime, it&rsquo;s an uneasy feeling to wager against Dallas. If Doncic catches fire in the playoffs, who&rsquo;s to say the Mavericks can&rsquo;t make a shocking run to the West Finals?
Denver is in the exact same position as Dallas, but instead it&rsquo;s Nikola Jokic once again proving why he should be the back-to-back MVP. Without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., Jokic is putting up historic numbers keeping the Nuggets afloat. It&rsquo;s unlikely either of Denver&rsquo;s co-stars return to help Jokic, but what happens if they draw a favorable postseason matchup? Denver feels like a team who could make some early noise, but fizzle out once they run into the West&rsquo;s top tier.
Amongst this group, throwing a dart on Denver at +1100 odds because of Jokic&rsquo;s brilliance seems like the wisest strategy.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Tier 4: Minnesota Timberwolves +2200, Los Angeles Clippers +2500
Rounding out the West&rsquo;s most realistic postseason contenders, the Timberwolves and Clippers feel the same. No wonder why they&rsquo;re odds are nearly identical, especially in the bottom tier of the West&rsquo;s true title hopefuls.
It&rsquo;s been awesome to watch Minnesota this season, especially when the team gets cooking on both ends of the court. Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell is a fun trio, plus complementary pieces like Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaden McDaniels have shined at different portions of the 2021-22 campaign. Poised for the Play-In Tournament, how will Minnesota function being on the doorstep of the postseason for the first time since the Tom Thibodeau/Jimmy Butler era?
Paul George is back for the Clippers, which should honestly change the whole calculus here. As we saw last season, Los Angeles can more than hold its own in the postseason &mdash; even without Kawhi Leonard. If George gets hot again, the Clippers could truly shock the world in the first round with an upset; it&rsquo;s probably not wise to bet on that though. Still, with more postseason experience where live bullets are flying, the Clippers feel like the safer choice here.
As you can see, the Western Conference feels like it&rsquo;s settling in, and we're getting a better vision of how the postseason could play out. Phoenix as the heavy favorite, almost at even odds to make the Finals, honestly feels right on the money. Golden State and Memphis are the two sleepers, but this is truly the Suns&rsquo; conference once again.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

With the NBA postseason drawing near, which teams have the best odds to come out of the Western Conference?

Betting the West: Suns favorites to represent conference in NBA Finals

Every day, BasketballNews.com gives you NBA betting analysis before tip-off. Make sure you subscribe to our daily podcast, &ldquo;Nothing But Bets&rdquo; on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nothing-but-bets/id1589799249" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apple Podcasts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6zNxt0NQXPmKuryAdz89m0?si=1038d121100444fd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spotify</a>&nbsp;or wherever you listen to podcasts.
<iframe src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=BNI3417889525" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Without further ado, let&rsquo;s dive into our favorite NBA spread bets for Tuesday's slate.
Indiana Pacers vs. Philadelphia 76ers (-11)
This is one of the easiest bets for Tuesday&rsquo;s loaded slate. Philadelphia is going to massacre Indiana on its home court. Outside of Tyrese Haliburton, nothing is going right at the moment for the Pacers. Expect Joel Embiid and James Harden to dominate throughout, which will eventually lead to an easy cover for the Sixers. Don&rsquo;t be surprised if Embiid has one of those performances where he puts the NBA on notice for the MVP race.
Pick: Sixers -11
Utah Jazz (-5.5) vs. Memphis Grizzlies
<blockquote class="q4-performance" data-sport="basketball" data-q4="cf8bc784-fbe4-3f73-a350-04d1ae04a041" data-gid="6167e6b9-6a64-473b-90f3-9af2af05e8b3" data-server="api.quarter4.io">
&nbsp;
&mdash; Tuesday, April 05th Memphis Grizzlies @ Utah Jazz</blockquote>
Rumors continue to swirl around the Jazz looking past this season. If there&rsquo;s more postseason failure ahead for Utah, the general consensus seems to be blowing it all up. Will the Jazz have a new head coach? What about moving off one of Rudy Gobert or <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/expect-the-knicks-to-make-a-real-run-at-donovan-mitchell-this-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donovan Mitchell</a>? Honestly, any scenario should be on the table for Utah. Looking towards Tuesday&rsquo;s matchup with the Grizzlies, though, Utah is in a favorable spot. If Mitchell and Gobert control both ends of the court, the Jazz should roll here, utilizing the outside noise to their advantage. Hammer a 5.5-point cover here for Utah.
Pick: Jazz -5.5
Phoenix Suns (-13.5) vs. Los Angeles Lakers
This is a monster spread, but it&rsquo;s the most confident play of the day. Phoenix is coming off an embarrassing loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Meanwhile, LeBron James is out Tuesday night, as the Lakers look could fall short of the postseason in perhaps their most disappointing year in franchise history. With no LeBron, plus a motivated Suns squad, this game won&rsquo;t be close. Devin Booker and Chris Paul will dominate the Lakers&rsquo; backcourt. Also, Deandre Ayton should be able to hold his own against Anthony Davis. The Suns roll here behind a charged-up, playoff-like atmosphere inside the Footprint Center.
Pick: Suns -13.5
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Who are the best bets for tonight's NBA games? We've got you covered!

Best Bets: BasketballNews' picks against the spread for 4/5/22

Here&rsquo;s a short list of NBA players who were born since the last time a guard won Defensive Player of the Year: Devin Booker, Dejounte Murray, Donovan Mitchell, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo and Brandon Ingram. Hold that thought &mdash; you can bet your life savings we&rsquo;ll get back to it.
We can do the heavy analytical dissection, but if we&rsquo;re being honest, advanced metrics haven&rsquo;t appropriately caught up to or captured how we watch defense, specifically on the perimeter.
This isn&rsquo;t going to be anti-film or anti-analytics; it's just that, sometimes, you gotta throw that sh** out the window and just make your points. You should still sound reasonable and informative while doing it &mdash; not just hot-taking for the sake of it &mdash; but even Kevin Durant famously said, &ldquo;<a href="https://twitter.com/kdtrey5/status/1184140634208329728?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Who the f*** wants to look at graphs while having a hoops convo?</a>&rdquo; While many of you might not agree, there&rsquo;s at least a time and place to put this into practice. Now&rsquo;s that time.
The Boston Celtics were 25-25 on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 29. It was the day Marc Gasol turned 37, the day <a href="https://www.weather.gov/safety/winter-noreaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a number of us experienced a Nor&rsquo;easter</a> and the day the C's beat the New Orleans Pelicans 107-97. Boston got a combined 69 points from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Some would call it a nice win.
But that day also marked the beginning of what is now a two-month Celtics run of Oscar-smacking the piss out of teams, riding a record of 47-29 ahead of their showing Wednesday night against the Miami Heat &mdash; another Eastern Conference contender.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Oh yeah, we generally weren&rsquo;t calling Boston a contender two months ago &mdash; some weren&rsquo;t positive the team would totally avoid the Play-In Tournament. If you&rsquo;re keeping score at home, the Celtics have won 22 of their last 26, holding opponents under 100 points (in this NBA) 12 times &mdash; almost half of the time &mdash; and winning 15 of those games by 10 or more points.
The Celtics, right now, have the league&rsquo;s best defense. They&rsquo;ll experience some drop-off with Robert Williams out due to a torn meniscus, and even if we do see him again this season, he&rsquo;ll likely be less than 100%. That&rsquo;s unfortunate, but Boston should still be elite on that end, especially on the perimeter.
In 2022, we&rsquo;d like to think we&rsquo;re too sophisticated to use opposing points per game, but it bares mentioning that the C&rsquo;s are first in the league, <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2022_games.html">allowing just 104.0 points per game</a>. <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense/?sort=DEF_RATING&amp;dir=-1">They&rsquo;re also first in Defensive Rating at 105.9</a>.
Basic stuff, right? Yeah, I know. But if you keep going through defensive metrics, you&rsquo;ll find the Celtics at or near the top of many key statistics.
Now, go and look at Marcus Smart&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smartma01.html">Basketball-Reference page</a>, and we&rsquo;ll be here when you get back...
Did you know Smart has only been on an All-Defensive Team twice in his eight-year career? Surely, we can expect a third appearance this season, but still... that&rsquo;s it? (Note: Yes, this is also a case for three All-Defensive Teams for those of us who value that 50% of the game.)
When were those two All-Defensive years? The 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, where Smart cracked the First Team in back-to-back campaigns. We&rsquo;ve lauded his defense for years, and rightfully so. He&rsquo;s one of the best perimeter defenders you may have ever seen &mdash; definitely over the last 10 years. Advanced numbers don&rsquo;t always benefit perimeter defenders; in fact, they favor bigs all the time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
🗣 Marcus Smart is the DPOY <a href="https://t.co/XVJFmYKbn2">pic.twitter.com/XVJFmYKbn2</a>
&mdash; Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) <a href="https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1508617595179585537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Smart&rsquo;s been amazing on defense this year. He&rsquo;s been as good as anyone on the perimeter, but even so, <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2022_leaders.html">he&rsquo;s only 20th in DRTG</a>, per Basketball-Reference. Wanna guess the positional breakdown of the 19 ahead of him?
There are nine centers, and six guys who play power forward. All but one, Jae Crowder, are considered bigs. Only three are considered guards: Chris Paul, De&rsquo;Anthony Melton and Luka Dončić. Would you say any of them, as good as they&rsquo;ve been, have been better than Smart defensively this year with a straight face?
(By the way, Smart is fourth on his own freaking team behind Williams [first], Al Horford [fourth] and Tatum [15th] somehow.)
Smart&rsquo;s tied for 11th in Defensive Box Plus-Minus. Wanna play the positional breakdown game again? No need. Only one guard is ahead of him, and that&rsquo;s Paul, who&rsquo;s on the best team in the league &mdash; the rest all play the 3, 4 or 5&mdash; especially the latter two.
Defensive Win Shares? Smart&rsquo;s 12th. Wanna do it again? All bigs except for Dončić and his teammate Tatum, who actually leads the league.
This isn&rsquo;t to say that these metrics (and ones that are alike) have been the only thing to influence voting throughout the DPOY award&rsquo;s history, but the award itself basically crowns whoever voters think is the best defensive big man. Sometimes you can crunch numbers, other times you can compare charts, but all in all, you still need to watch the m*****f*****. From there, it&rsquo;d be nice to recondition your thinking so we don&rsquo;t wind up in the same place all the time.
No guard has won DPOY since 1995-96, and that was Gary Payton &mdash; one of the best to ever do it. The most recent guard before Payton was Michael Jordan in 1988. That&rsquo;s two guards that have won DPOY since Mike Conley was born, and he&rsquo;ll turn 35 in October.
We don&rsquo;t even need to do the positional breakdown. We can do it like this: the last non-big to win DPOY was Kawhi Leonard in 2016 &mdash; the second season of back-to-back award wins. The last non-big before him? Ron Artest in 2004. And before that? Payton in &rsquo;96, then Jordan in &rsquo;88.
That&rsquo;s five DPOY Awards to non-bigs over the last 34 seasons, not including this year, where I&rsquo;m bracing for the voters to give it to Rudy Gobert a fourth time.
Smart&rsquo;s awesome, but even just on principle, just give the award to a (insert expletive here) guard. This is a guard- and wing-driven league offensively and Smart defends all those dudes, putting the clamps on several &mdash; and he's done this since being drafted in 2014. He&rsquo;s the best perimeter defender &mdash; arguably best, period &mdash; on the league&rsquo;s best defensive team. As the longest-tenured Celtic since 2017, this team has taken on his identity. Without Smart &mdash; even with Williams, Tatum, Brown, Horford and Derrick White &mdash; the Celtics wouldn&rsquo;t be this. His point-of-attack defense, switchability and leadership are immeasurable.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4IgtAFqtvYQ" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
And to the voters &mdash; y&rsquo;all are media members, many of whom grew up admiring the Celtics (let&rsquo;s keep it real, it&rsquo;s why we haven&rsquo;t stopped hearing about this run since it began) &mdash; so you know Smart&rsquo;s been as good as anyone. And if you&rsquo;re not going to give it to Mikal Bridges for his awesome work defensively on the NBA&rsquo;s best team, or Bam Adebayo for being the most versatile clamper in the league (<a href="https://twitter.com/BryanFonsecaNY/status/1503811583067271176" target="_blank" rel="noopener">games missed don&rsquo;t matter</a>), then give it to Smart.
He&rsquo;s earning it, he&rsquo;s deserving of it, and y&rsquo;all just need to do something different.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Bryan Fonseca shares the history of the NBA DPOY award in reference to guards and believes Marcus Smart should win it.

Give Marcus Smart the damn Defensive Player of the Year award

Some years, the NBA MVP is unmistakable.
It's when voters, fans, coaches and pundits everywhere unite in agreement that one player has proven himself more valuable than all others. For instance, Shaquille O'Neal fell one vote shy of being the first-ever unanimous MVP in 2000. In 2013, LeBron James received 120 of the 121 first-place votes cast, and a short three years later in 2016, Stephen Curry became the first player ever to receive the MVP award via a unanimous vote.
This year is NOT one of those years, one where voters could make a compelling, cogent and convincing argument for several different players to take home the league's most prestigious individual award. It seems possible that the 2021-2022 season could gives us the closest vote in NBA history.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
So after plenty of deliberation, here's how my ballot would look.
MVP Ballot
1. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Put simply, Nikola Jokic is in the process of authoring one of the greatest statistical seasons the NBA has ever witnessed. He is averaging a mind-boggling 26.3 points (on 57.6% shooting), 13.6 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks in just 33.2 minutes per game. He leads the Nuggets in each of those statistical categories, and is on pace to become just the fifth player in league history to finish a season ranking in the top 10 in points, boards and dimes. (The other four are Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson and Russell Westbrook.)
Despite playing without star guard Jamal Murray and forward Michael Porter Jr., the Nuggets are currently 14 games above .500. The team's second-leading scorer is Will Barton. Monte Morris is second on the team in assists. Aaron Gordon is Denver's second-best rebounder. Yet, thanks to Jokic's all-around brilliance, the Nuggets trail the Northwest Division's first-place Jazz by just a half-game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Nikola Jokic dropped his 19th triple-double of the season to propel the <a href="https://twitter.com/nuggets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nuggets</a> to the win! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MileHighBasketball?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MileHighBasketball</a> 🃏 26 PTS | 19 REB | 11 AST | 2 STL <a href="https://t.co/bTAQyRvwxD">pic.twitter.com/bTAQyRvwxD</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1508650095620898818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

When it comes to advanced metrics, Jokic's production is even more prolific. He leads all players in RAPTOR, LEBRON and ESPN's RPM this season. Oh, and he's on track to record the highest single-season PER (32.68) and best Box Plus-Minus (13.83) in NBA history.
To help put Joker's 2021-22 stats in context, consider this:
<ul>
<li>He is averaging more rebounds than Tim Duncan or Hakeem Olajuwon in their MVP seasons.</li>
<li>He is averaging more assists than Stephen Curry or Derrick Rose in their MVP seasons.</li>
<li>He is averaging more points than Charles Barkley or Julius Erving in their MVP seasons.</li>
<li>He is shooting a higher percentage from the floor than Shaquille O'Neal or Moses Malone during their MVP seasons.</li>
<li>He is shooting a higher percentage from three-point range than LeBron James in either of his first two MVP seasons.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
2. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Make no mistake, Joel Embiid is worthy of winning the MVP Award. The Sixers were seemingly skidding out of control in the weeks and days leading up to the start of the 2021-22 campaign, all due to the drama and uncertainty surrounding the Ben Simmons saga. But , Embiid put the team on his back and got them off to a good start, and they haven't looked back.
The big man's overall numbers are jaw-dropping: 29.9 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.5 blocks and 1.3 made three-pointers per game. He currently ranks second in the league in scoring (just 0.2 points per game behind LeBron James), and Philly is just a game behind the Heat for the best record in the Eastern Conference. (Each of the last four players to lead the NBA in scoring on a team that finished the year with the league's best record went on to win MVP that season: Curry, James Harden, Shaq and Michael Jordan.)&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
🔔 35 PTS, 16 REB, 7 AST, 2 BLK 🔔 Down by 12 points at the half, <a href="https://twitter.com/JoelEmbiid?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JoelEmbiid</a> led the <a href="https://twitter.com/sixers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sixers</a> to a comeback pouring in 23 points in the second-half &amp; OT! <a href="https://t.co/HRQYxhskAF">pic.twitter.com/HRQYxhskAF</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1503355378846904321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Like Jokic's Nuggets, the Sixers are wholly dependent on Embiid to carry them each night, as evidenced by Philly's 6-11 record when he sits or scores fewer than 18 points. The team averages 114.4 points per 100 possessions when he is on the floor, and that number plummets all the way down to 106.8 when he is on the bench.
It's also crucial to note that Embiid has been at his best in big moments. According to NBA.com, he leads the NBA in total points (147) scored in the clutch this season (Jokic ranks second). In crunch time, Embiid is shooting 48.9% from the floor and a scorching 45.5% from downtown.&nbsp;
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Giannis Antetokounmpo has seemed to fly under the radar this season. That may be because he is just a year removed from winning back-to-back regular-season MVPs, and less than 10 months removed from capturing NBA Finals MVP for his otherworldly performance that led Milwaukee to its first title in 50 years. However, let's not take for granted the fact that this man is averaging a career-high 29.7 points on 55.0% shooting to go along with 11.6 boards, 5.8 dimes 1.1 treys, 1.4 blocks and a steal per contest. He's on pace to become the first player in over 30 years to average more than 29 points while shooting above 55% from the floor and 70% from the free-throw line.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Giannis scored 20 of his 30 points in the second half tonight &amp; tied a season-high with 4 blocks. 30 PTS | 11 REB | 4 AST | 4 BLKS <a href="https://t.co/ZPdhuJv4VR">pic.twitter.com/ZPdhuJv4VR</a>
&mdash; Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bucks/status/1507918078180413441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 27, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

And as we know, Giannis is also dominant on the defensive end. In fact, he's currently ranked No.1 on NBA.com's latest ranking of the league's top defenders. The only players to ever finish in the top-three in scoring and win the Defensive Player of the Year in the same season were Hakeem Olajuwon (during his MVP campaign in 1993-94) and Michael Jordan (during his MVP season in 1987-88). In most other years, Giannis would be a heavy favorite to take home the hardware.&nbsp;
4. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
The Celtics were sitting at .500 in mid-January, but Jayson Tatum has played at an MVP-caliber level in the three months since, catapulting Boston up to the No. 1 seed in the East for a brief moment this past weekend. During this 30-game stretch, he has averaged 29.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.7 made triples, while slashing .495/.394/.880.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Jayson Tatum is a scoring machine, he dropped 44 points to log his 4th-straight game with 33+ points, and lift the <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@celtics</a> to their 4th-straight win! <a href="https://twitter.com/jaytatum0?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jaytatum0</a>: 44 PTS, 5 REB, 3 STL, 6 3PM <a href="https://t.co/hIgVphSaWp">pic.twitter.com/hIgVphSaWp</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1501924597440131078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 10, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

On the season, the Celtics have outscored their opponents by 608 points with Tatum on the floor, which is the highest individual plus/minus in the entire league. On Monday, he was named the East's Player of the Week for the third time in March. The only other player in NBA history to win the award three times in the same month is LeBron James in January 2012.
5. Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
After a slow start to the season for both Doncic and Dallas, Luka has been a beast, and the Mavs have climbed up to fourth place in the Western Conference standings. Dating back to late December, Dallas has won 30 of its last 41 games, and is 17 games above .500. Since New Years, Luka has averaged 29.2 points, 9.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists per contest.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/luka7doncic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@luka7doncic</a> drops 32 PTS as Dallas moves 2 games behind Golden State for the West&rsquo;s 3rd seed! ✨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA75?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA75</a> <a href="https://t.co/cEM4sml4Eb">pic.twitter.com/cEM4sml4Eb</a>
&mdash; NBA Philippines (@NBA_Philippines) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA_Philippines/status/1508339338689794048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

He has led the Mavericks in points, rebounds and assists in the same game 28 times in 2021-22. Although he'll likely finish outside the top three in MVP voting this season, Doncic continues to establish himself as one of the most prolific young players the league has ever seen.&nbsp;
Just Missed the Top 5 
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Good tidbit via StatMuse: Devin Booker is on pace to become just the 10th player in NBA history to average 25/5/5 on a team that finishes a season with a winning percentage above .800. Eight of the previous nine players in the exclusive club went on to win the MVP.
Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
Ja Morant has posted dazzling numbers whenever he's been on the floor. The fact that he leads the NBA in points in the paint this season is almost unimaginable. And the Grizz have been arguably this season's most pleasant surprise. However, Morant has missed 20 games, and Memphis is 18-2 (!!) without him in the lineup.
Best of the Rest: Kevin Durant, Karl-Anthony Towns, DeMar DeRozan, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Trae Young, Chris Paul
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com. <a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

With the NBA season coming to a close, Tommy Beer shares his ballot for the league's 2021-22 MVP.