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Bucks

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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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

It&rsquo;s not every day that a defending NBA champion loses its starting center and doesn't miss a beat, but like its superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks have long proven to be successfully unorthodox.
From the drama surrounding Ben Simmons and James Harden, to the struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, there have been a number of interesting storylines to focus on this NBA season.
The defending champs not skipping a beat, though? It&rsquo;s not a headline that would necessarily sell newspapers or drive clicks, so the Bucks have managed to somehow fly under the radar.
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So has the team&rsquo;s acquisition of Serge Ibaka.
Ibaka is obviously still trying to find himself after undergoing back surgery last June but, thus far, the returns have been positive. The Bucks hope it only gets better from here.
Last season, Milwaukee found success with Brook Lopez serving as the team&rsquo;s starting center &mdash; he started all 70 of his regular-season appearances and each of the club&rsquo;s 23 postseason contests. He&rsquo;s missed all but one contest this season yet, somehow, Milwaukee arrived at the 65-game mark this season at 40-25, just one game off of last season&rsquo;s 41-24 pace.
Slowly but surely, Lopez managed to make the adjustment that bigs like Roy Hibbert and even Dwight Howard were unable to &mdash; he managed to maintain himself as a low-post offensive threat while becoming a willing and respectable floor-spacer. While it may not be imperative for a team in the NBA to have a center who can shoot, it sure makes it easier to create problems for opposing teams &mdash; particularly when the team features a slasher like Giannis.
Giannis is obviously an all-world talent and all-time great player, but nobody&rsquo;s betting on him to overthrow Karl-Anthony Towns as the reigning best shooter among the league&rsquo;s big men. Lopez figured out how to thrive alongside Giannis and executed his assignment nearly flawlessly. The same can be said of Bobby Portis, who has emerged as one of the league&rsquo;s feel-good stories.
At 26 years old &mdash; now in his seventh year &mdash; Portis is playing for his fourth team. He was a key reserve on the Bucks&rsquo; title team last season and has responded to being nominated as Lopez&rsquo;s replacement in the starting lineup by putting forth career-best numbers.
In 57 appearances this season (including 52 starts), Portis is averaging 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, both of which are career-highs. He&rsquo;s also connecting on 41.5% of his three-point looks. His mark from distance is less than last season&rsquo;s 47.1%, but due to his career-high 28.9 minutes per game (and the additional reps he&rsquo;s getting as a starter), his shot volume from deep has more than doubled.
That he&rsquo;s been able to almost maintain his efficiency on more than double the attempts is an accomplishment.
Whether Lopez is able to completely return to form remains to be seen, but Ibaka is a hell of an insurance policy in case he can't.
Ibaka is still busting off some of the rust that accumulated after he &mdash; like Lopez, coincidentally &mdash; underwent back surgery last June. However, there&rsquo;s reason to believe that, in the long run, Serge will be able to return to being at least a proficient version of his old self. From a basketball standpoint, he provides many of the same gifts as Portis and Lopez, so it&rsquo;s no wonder the Bucks had interest leading up to the NBA trade deadline.
In nine appearances thus far in Milwaukee, he has shown flashes. Whether he can fully regain his footing is a question that will certainly have implications for the Eastern Conference championship, but Serge was actually showing signs of life even before the Los Angeles Clippers dealt him to the Bucks.
Since Jan. 1, Ibaka has connected on 37.5% of his three-point looks and has recorded three double-doubles. He&rsquo;s only started seven games in that timeframe, though, and few teams would argue that a reserve big man with championship experience and those attributes wouldn&rsquo;t be an asset.
Milwaukee did give up three players to land Ibaka &mdash; Donte DiVincenzo, Semi Ojeleye and Rodney Hood &mdash; however, DiVincenzo became somewhat redundant with Pat Connaughton and Grayson Allen each commanding playing time in the backcourt. (Connaughton suffered a significant injury after the trade, but the point stands). Neither Hood nor Ojeleye played heavy rotation minutes.
Together, none of the three necessarily addressed an area of need for the Bucks. The same couldn&rsquo;t be said of Ibaka.
In the end, the Bucks hope that they bought low as Serge rounds into form and channels the same energy he had as a member of the Raptors&rsquo; 2019 championship team.
Together, the hope is that he can help Portis and Lopez form a three-man platoon of veteran bigs who know what it takes to win a championship, but also possess the attributes necessary to excel alongside Giannis and Khris Middleton.
Thus far, in nine games, Ibaka is averaging 6.9 points and 6.0 rebounds in 20 minutes per game. More importantly, Milwaukee is 6-3 in those contests.
Through 65 games, although the personnel has changed a fair bit, the Bucks have pretty much looked like the team that they were last year. With Ibaka now in tow, they&rsquo;ve increased their odds of having this season end just as the last one did &mdash; with the Bucks on top.
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Moke talks about Serge Ibaka's likely fit with the Bucks, and gives his perpsective on the move.

Serge Ibaka: Underrated acquisition for the Bucks?

Channing Frye&rsquo;s 13-year career was successful by virtually any and all modes of measurement.
He averaged at least 10 points per game in four different seasons, shot 39% or better five different times (his highest clip at 43.9% during the 2009-10 season in Phoenix) and won an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, a series in which the team came back from a 3-1 deficit against the winningest team in league history, the Golden State Warriors.
So, it&rsquo;s mildly surprising to learn just how humble Frye is.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t necessarily want the attention for what I donate and who I donate to all the time,&rdquo; Frye told BasketballNews.com in a Zoom interview. &ldquo;I would like (to) and have seen great things come from the time or money I&rsquo;ve donated to the specific charities I have, and that&rsquo;s the greatest thing for me.&rdquo;
But while he may not want the attention, sometimes it&rsquo;s unavoidable. Frye recently partnered with Mobil 1 and Project Backboard to refurbish a basketball court at the Merrick House in Cleveland, Ohio as part of the broader Tune Up initiative.
&ldquo;When this partnership with Mobil 1 came on my desk, it seemed very authentic and something that hit home to my heart, &ldquo;Frye said.
&ldquo;To be able to give back to a community that gave so much to me also resonated,&rdquo; Frye continued. &ldquo;To be real, I didn&rsquo;t ask too many other details. I just needed to hear the story of why they were doing it and that was enough for me. So, I&rsquo;m trying to use my platform to bring more awareness to not only Merrick Houses, but also to the impact that changing and refurbishing a court can have on a community in a positive way.&rdquo;
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Frye&rsquo;s path to philanthropy was funded by a long and fruitful career in the NBA. After four successful years at Arizona, Frye was drafted eighth overall by the New York Knicks in the 2005 NBA Draft. Sure, he was viewed positively at the time; but his combination of size and shooting would have made him especially better suited for the modern NBA.
&ldquo;I initially started out guarding centers like Shaq [O'Neal] and Yao [Ming], and that helped me play the center position initially,&rdquo; Frye recalled. &ldquo;That helped me in guarding guys like Roy Hibbert, Tyson Chandler and Shaq (later in my career). In today&rsquo;s game I would have had to almost be a 3-man. I would have to be like Lauri Markkanen (who) plays for the Cavs and learn to dribble.&rdquo;
Technically, at nearly 7 feet tall, Frye could successfully play center today. And considering he shot 38.8% on three-point attempts for his career, he would be a challenging matchup. But playing in an era when big men rarely shot threes resulted in significantly fewer opportunities, especially earlier in his career; Frye averaged under one three-point attempt per game every season before arriving in Phoenix in his fifth year.
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Frye played for six teams over his NBA career, kicking things off with the New York Knicks at the height of their dysfunction. Frye was drafted by then-team president Isiah Thomas, who also coached New York in his sophomore season. The Knicks went 56-108 in Frye's first two years, and the team was fraught with controversy.
But Frye doesn&rsquo;t blame Thomas, who was the recipient of much of the blame. In fact, he reflects positively on his time with him.
&ldquo;I love Isiah Thomas to death,&rdquo; Frye explained. &ldquo;I still work with him at Turner. It was just a weird mix of personalities and where guys were off the court. We had the highest payroll in the league, but no one wanted to sacrifice for each other. You saw everyone had success after that. Sometimes in this league, less is more."
Frye didn&rsquo;t let a few losing seasons influence or define him though. He ultimately had success at most stops throughout his career, but he was still without a championship &mdash; until he joined the Cavaliers via trade in 2016.
The 2016 Finals resulted in quite possibly the unlikeliest of championships ever won, as the defending-champion Warriors entered the playoffs with the best regular-season record in Association history at 73-9.
&ldquo;Steph Curry and the Warriors changed the complexion of the NBA for so many years just by the way they played basketball,&rdquo; Frye said. &ldquo;And then there was our ragtag group of guys on the Cavs. Going down 3-1, we still had no doubt that we were going to come back and win. And we knew we just had to take it one game and one step at a time. That&rsquo;s really cliche, but I have never been so laser focused with a group of 14 other men and the staff.
"And we couldn&rsquo;t&rsquo; beat the Warriors (by) playing their style. We had to play our style and get gritty and take advantage of our opportunities; make them make mistakes and put pressure on them. Man, winning that championship, I&rsquo;m not gloating, but I think it is the greatest championship of all time. No team has done it, and I don&rsquo;t see another team doing it against (the caliber) of the team that we did. &ldquo;
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However, for all his successes, he has dealt with his share of challenges as well. Prior to the start of the 2012-13 season, during a routine team physical, Frye was found to have an enlarged heart, which can be fatal. As a result, Frye missed the entire season before rehabbing and returning the next season.
&ldquo;I went to get a routine check-up.,&rdquo; Frye explained. &ldquo;The heart guy told me to stop doing exercise because my heart is going crazy. (He) did all these measurements. I flew back and forth between Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Basically, the doctor said that I was going to die, that I had cardiomyopathy. I took six months off. I tried to really heal myself, being less stressed and more present &ndash; more yoga, played a lot of golf.
&ldquo;I went back to Johns Hopkins, I did everything they asked me to do to heal it. I had a tube put in a vein and they pumped my heart to 200 beats per minute. They said I was okay. I went back to the NBA, did all the tests all over again and I was told I was good. Then, that next season I didn&rsquo;t miss a game of practice and I played another five years.&rdquo;
Frye retired from the NBA following the 2018-19 season. He averaged 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds over his career across 890 career regular-season games.
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Channing Frye partners with Mobil 1 and Project Backboard to refurbish a basketball court in Cleveland.

Channing Frye gives back to Cleveland, reflects on 2016 NBA Finals

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. Last week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, is that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
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When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
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Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother having a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed, and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season.
In the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

The pandemic has resulted in over 100 G League players being called up this season. But some teams can't rely on their prospects.

This season, we’re seeing the teams that trust their G League program

The NBA is often deemed a copycat league, and a trend doesn&rsquo;t truly become popular until it surfaces as a buzzword in our NBA lexicon.
When bully ball was deemed the route to success, big, bruising centers were at a premium. Centers like Roy Hibbert were highly coveted and &ldquo;verticality&rdquo; became the buzzword du jour. However, these centers were often too slow-footed to keep pace with the new era.&nbsp;
In fact, this next era demanded mobility. Pace-and-space came to be in direct response to the lumbering center, with the hopes of playing them off the floor.&nbsp;
This was spearheaded by the three-point revolution and the small-ball revolution (which are often conflated for one another).&nbsp;
The three-point revolution boils down to a simple math equation: 3 &gt; 2. The small-ball revolution exists to attack the limitations of a traditional roster construction. It does so by targeting a position that often struggles to guard in space: a plodding center.&nbsp;
Trends in basketball are no different than trends on the runway, in that they&rsquo;re cyclical and must come to an end (bye bye skinny jeans). While most teams are busy copying the latest fad, the most innovative teams are taking risks by developing their counters in search for the next trend.&nbsp;
The three-point revolution is unique in that the math makes it difficult to solve for. As long as a three-pointer is greater than a two, the NBA will never do away with a healthy reliance on the outside shot.
Small ball, however, is finally beginning to see it&rsquo;s counter. A new iteration of basketball is materializing, having been born out of a generation of big men who grew up watching the Golden State Warriors&rsquo; affectionately nicknamed &ldquo;Death Lineup&rdquo; make their traditional role obsolete.&nbsp;
To understand this next iteration of NBA basketball and the emergence of modern bigs, we must first understand the specific advantages that made small ball so successful and their necessary counters.&nbsp;
Small ball as a concept is easier to understand than to define. In the most simplistic terms, it is a style of play with a single big as opposed to two. A more granular definition is ripe with overlapping concepts that evolve with each new season. Buzzwords like &ldquo;positionless," &ldquo;5 out," &ldquo;pace-and-space&rdquo; and &ldquo;switchability&rdquo; have made up our understanding of small ball in recent years.&nbsp;
The base idea is by playing without a traditional two-big-man lineup, what you lose in size, strength and interior presence, you more than make up for in speed, agility and shooting. Seeing as centers are often the least mobile and fleet of foot, they&rsquo;re usually replaced by sliding a smaller player up.
For example, in 2012, while &ldquo;verticality&rdquo; was the buzzword that was taking the league by storm, Hibbert&rsquo;s Indiana Pacers faced the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. After Chris Bosh got injured, the Heat were forced to play 6-foot-8 Shane Battier, a career wing, in Bosh&rsquo;s place at the 4.&nbsp;
That nerdy love child of necessity and innovation gave way to big-time small-ball success. This would grow and take shape over the next decade, playing big men off the floor and reaching it&rsquo;s pinnacle with the Warriors dynasty.&nbsp;
Trading size and a domineering interior presence for shooting and speed is not a new concept. Offensively, it has not only existed but thrived for a long time, most notably with the 'Seven Seconds or Less' Phoenix Suns from the mid 2000s. However, for the better part of the last decade, we&rsquo;ve also begun to see it succeed defensively, and that&rsquo;s when teams all over the NBA started trying to imitate it. &nbsp;
As the old saying goes: Defense wins championships. Even the poster child of the NBA's small-ball era, the Warriors &mdash; who featured two of the greatest three-point shooters of all-time &mdash; won on the back of the most versatile defense in the league. The most successful small lineups aren't just a menace on the offensive end with their elite shooting; they must also wreak havoc defensively.
As teams in the three-point era attack with heavy diets of pick-and-roll, switching defenses became a necessity. On the flip side, traditional centers being switched onto crafty guards around the perimeter usually spells doom. And with an extreme emphasis on floor spacing and three-point shooting, this mismatch can do serious damage quickly. In order for small ball to succeed in keeping the big man off the floor, smaller defenders who can more than hold their own against bigger guys are essential (&agrave; la Draymond Green).
It&rsquo;s easy to understand why small ball took the league by storm. But while most teams have conformed, trying to play smaller with an emphasis on floor spacing, a few teams have gone in another direction: banking on length and hoping that "long ball" is the answer to the league&rsquo;s small-ball reign.
Though colloquially &ldquo;long ball&rdquo; refers to spacing the floor, in this case it refers to long players replacing small players to shrink the court. This next iteration features lengthy wingspans and wreaks havoc in the best way. It's built out of wings with the dimensions of a center (and centers who have ditched the weight room for a skills clinic). A perfect example is Anthony Davis.&nbsp;
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In 2020, the Houston Rockets took small ball to an extreme, trading away center Clint Capela and having no one taller than 6-foot-8 on their roster. In the regular season, they punished bigs by playing an inverted pick-and-roll, using guard James Harden as a screener and pretend big man Jeff Green as the ball-handler.
Though the experiment was successful in the regular season, it didn't work as well in the playoffs, as the Los Angeles Lakers eliminated the micro-ball Rockets in five games in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Lakers won because of Anthony Davis, who prefers to play the 4 but moved up to the 5 without fear of getting beat up down low. Unable to punish Davis in the pick-and-roll, Houston floundered.
Davis is unique in that he has the skills of a guard and the body of a big. This is because he was a 6-foot-3 guard <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-davis-growth-spurt-2014-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">up until his growth spurt</a> to 6-foot-11 over the span of a year-and-a-half.&nbsp;
And now, we have a whole generation of future centers who are training to be like Davis. This is the revenge of the bigs, who have heard take after take about how the NBA is disposing of them and seen one too many small guys replace their role. The once foundational piece to every team&rsquo;s wardrobe has been left to either adapt offensively (&agrave; la Davis and Nikola Jokic) or be relegated to rim-runner duties.
With this archetype of big man disrupting the advantages of small ball, the question that innovative teams are asking is: How would a team fare with multiple Anthony Davis types? How about multiple Giannis Antetokounmpos? Would several tall, long men whose wingspans eat up inches on the court be able to suffocate the dimensions and disrupt passing lanes?
The Cleveland Cavaliers are testing this question out with their extra tall lineup, which many are referring to as "tall ball." &nbsp; I&rsquo;m hesitant to call this tall ball, because it&rsquo;s not about height as much as it is length. The same can be said of the Toronto Raptors, who are also bucking the small-ball trend despite not having a single player who's taller than 6-foot-10 on their roster. Instead, Toronto has six players with a wingspan of 7-feet or greater.&nbsp;
Height doesn&rsquo;t matter; length matters because it measures how far out you can guard. Basketball isn&rsquo;t played on the ground or above your head, it&rsquo;s played in the space in front of you and what&rsquo;s necessary is the arm length to guard it.&nbsp;
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The unfortunately-named Ape Index measures your height minus your wingspan. The majority of us average citizens have a neutral Ape Index, meaning our height and wingspan are identical in length.&nbsp;
Most NBA players have a positive Ape Index. The Raptors' starting frontcourt of Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and rookie Scottie Barnes have an absurdly long Ape Index, with an average of +5. What they lack in height, they more than make up for in length.
While having a long wingspan has its offensive benefits &mdash; as it allows you to get your shot up and score over your defender with relative ease &mdash; the main benefits are seen defensively.
It&rsquo;s no surprise that big men are slower than smaller guards; just Imagine Kyrie Irving and Jonas Valanciunas in a foot race. Taller men also have slower reflexes. This is because our reactions stem from electrical signals that travel along our nerves to our brain and then back to muscle that reacts. The longer the distance, the slower our reaction time. This would explain why a big man can never keep up with a guard&rsquo;s first step.
What length provides is additional leeway &mdash; the extra inches help you recover from a slower response time. Longer limbs provide better lateral movement and, not to mention, it&rsquo;s easier to block and contest shots without ever moving your feet.
The Raptors&rsquo; length affords them the ability to gamble a ton on defense, as their long limbs allow them to recover quicker than most. Toronto leads the league in deflections per game (20.9). Gary Trent Jr. leads all NBA players with 4.4 deflections per game, while Fred VanVleet ranks third (3.9), Siakam comes in at 10th (3.3) and Anunoby is 12th (3.2). That&rsquo;s four of the Raptors' starting five currently placing in the top-12 of the NBA's deflections leaderboard.
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This is a direct result of the aggressive, blitzing style of defense that head coach Nick Nurse deploys, which uses a flurry of limbs to rattle opposing offenses. Toronto's defense is still a work in progress, but it shows great promise.&nbsp;
Curiously, the NBA doesn&rsquo;t measure the in-seam. With more and more teams looking for the next Giannis Antetokoumnpo, you'd think that most teams would want to know whether a prospect can dribble the length of the court in three giant leaps.&nbsp;
Contact length measures the space between each step. Usain Bolt is often thought to be the fastest man in the world because of how he towers over his competitors. More than his height, it&rsquo;s his long legs that give him an advantage. The longer your legs, the longer your gait. Bolt only <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2008/08/usain-bolt-takes-sprinting-to-new-heights.html#:~:text=Bolt%20takes%2040%20to%2041,9%20bronze%20medalist%2C%20takes%2047.&amp;text=If%20Bolt's%20long%20legs%20give,as%20a%20detriment%20to%20sprinting." target="_blank" rel="noopener">requires 40 strides to run 100 meters whereas his competitors require at least 45 strides</a>.&nbsp;
In the NBA, that translates to the distance you can cover and ground you can make up scrambling on the court. While small ball creates space, long limbs fill the gaps. Shrinking the court allows guys to close out with plenty of recovery time to spare. It can be the added advantage in beating your man out to loose balls, and it makes getting out in transition a breeze. The Raptors rank first among all teams in loose balls recovered (7.6) and fastbreak frequency (with 20.3% of their possessions in transition).&nbsp;
No position has seen a shift in duties quite like centers. Prototypical centers of the 2010s like Dwight Howard, Andre Drummond and DeMarcus Cousins had to shed weight to stay in the NBA and play in this pace-and-space era. And no team exemplifies this shift in duties for seven-footers more than the Cavaliers.
After a couple years of drafting up-tempo guards, Cleveland has gone all-in on big men, becoming home to the biggest starting lineup in the NBA. The Cavaliers start three near seven-footers Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen.
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What would once be considered an outdated and slow-footed trio is actually the most innovative starting lineup in the NBA. And it&rsquo;s all <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/evan-mobley-jarrett-allen-frontcourt-pairing-provides-unique-longterm-advantage-for-cavs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">centered around</a> the duo of Mobley (the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft) and Allen (the fifth-year center). Mobley is 6-foot-11, with a 7-foot-4 wingspan and +5 Ape Index. Allen, who stands at 6-foot-11, has an impressive +6 Ape Index, with a 7-foot-5 wingspan.&nbsp;
The third big man in this gargantuan lineup is Markkanen. Despite Markkanen&rsquo;s 6-foot-11 frame, he only has a 6-foot-10 wingspan, which is the shortest Ape Index on the roster at -1. Markkanen is also far and away the worst defender of the trio (mentioned solely to stress the correlation between wingspan and good defense).
The Cavaliers' starting lineup features all three modern-big-man archetypes. Markkanen is the three-point specialist who spaces the floor and prefers to play on offense like a wing. Allen is the prototypical big who's an elite rim protector and excellent on the boards. And Mobley is the unicorn who makes this all work as a Swiss-army knife that can guard multiple positions, including hanging with quick guards on the perimeter.
The Cavaliers have a top-five defense despite the fact that their starting five features three poor defenders. The length of both Mobley and Allen more than makes up for the defensive liabilities at the other three positions. With Allen protecting the rim and Mobley guarding the perimeter, the two have been phenomenal, proving that multiple bigs can be on the floor together. Their length and ability to recover quickly mean a lot fewer bail-out fouls too. And despite being able to get to the rim, teams are having a very difficult time scoring there, as they&rsquo;ll always run into a seven-footer.
The defensive rating for the Cavs with Mobley, Allen and Markkanen on the court is 99.0 through eight games, which would be good for second-best in the league behind only the Warriors. Teams are shooting 58.5% within five feet of the basket, which is good for fifth-best in the league, per NBA.com.
Since the dawn of NBA time, giants have ruled the game. From Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon, centers were the foundation of a franchise. Within the last decade, the small-ball revolution and three-point revolution have made them an afterthought. Even All-Star ballots did away with the position, opting to keep it open to any frontcourt player.
Meanwhile, a new generation of seven-footers have been waiting in the wings and they are finally emerging. These big men were taught the value of pace-and-space and trained to exploit the lack of size in small-ball lineups, while not giving up anything in terms of speed and quickness. And now these long-legged bigs are ready to step onto the runway, with teams like the Raptors and Cavaliers going all-in on them and playing several together for the first time in a long time.
This is an era where seven-footers are long, slender and skilled, and just as adept at guarding along the perimeter as they are at protecting the rim. A new era, where seven-footer is now defined by wingspan rather than height. It's also an era certain to dictate the next NBA trend because, in the NBA, size still matters.

NBA teams like the Raptors and Cavaliers are ushering in a new era where length is valued above all else, writes Imman Adan.

Length matters: The NBA's long-ball revolution may be coming

The Indiana Pacers are at a crossroads, with the 2021-22 season looking like their final opportunity to make significant noise with this current core. On paper, Indiana&rsquo;s roster is strong, especially with their projected rotation of Domantas Sabonis, Caris LeVert, T.J. Warren, Myles Turner, Malcolm Brogdon, T.J. McConnell, Justin Holiday, Chris Duarte and Torrey Craig.
But it&rsquo;s led to little success in recent years. The Pacers created one of the Association&rsquo;s best rivalries with the Miami Heat, with Paul George, Roy Hibbert, David West and Lance Stephenson leading the charge versus LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Ever since those days, Indiana has struggled to be competitive in a playoff series.
As long as the Simon family owns the Pacers, Indiana will never hit the reset button completely. It&rsquo;s why they traded George to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo and Sabonis instead of accepting a draft-pick-heavy package from another team. Indiana later shipped off Oladipo for Caris LeVert in the massive James Harden trade early last season.
Although Indiana is a smaller market, and tanking would probably be their best bet to ensure long-term success, the franchise has made a living off of finding these win-now deals and making playoff appearances. For small-market teams, playoff revenue matters. The Pacers are the perfect example of this, especially since they&rsquo;re so against selling off any of their core players for picks.
The Nate Bjorkgren experience was disastrous for the Pacers, as the first-time head coach not only failed to connect with the locker room, but his style of play also did not fit Indiana&rsquo;s personnel. It was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Enter one of the league's best head coaches in Rick Carlisle, who used to coach Indiana before his decade-plus stint with the Dallas Mavericks. The Pacers coughed up a pretty penny to land Carlisle (over $7 million) in hopes that he can help this roster jell together and climb the Eastern Conference standings.
Carlisle was the Pacers' big offseason addition. He's viewed as their saving grace &ndash; someone who can potentially turn the team around without drastic changes (health-permitting). If Carlisle isn't able to deliver, it may be time for Kevin Pritchard and Chad Buchanan to seriously assess what happens next in the Hoosier State.&nbsp;
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Warren is entering the final year of his $50 million extension and if he's anywhere close to the player we saw in the Bubble, he could be headed for <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/a-100-million-payday-awaits-tj-warren-if-he-continues-to-silence-the-critics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a potential $100 million deal next offseason</a> since he projects to be one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/after-years-of-star-movement-2022-offseason-is-shaping-up-to-be-the-opposite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">best scorers available</a>. Meanwhile, LeVert, Turner and Brogdon each have two years remaining on their deals. Sabonis is the only core piece whose contract extends past the 2022-23 season. The window for this Pacers group is right now, and it may only be open for another year or two.
Since 2015, the Pacers&rsquo; draft history has been gruesome. Outside of Turner, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/can-rick-carlisle-make-a-domantas-sabonis-myles-turner-pairing-work-for-the-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who very well could be entering his final season in Indiana</a>, the front office has failed to find long-term answers. After Turner, Indiana&rsquo;s first-round draft picks have been T.J. Leaf (18th), Aaron Holiday (23rd), Goga Bitadze (18th) and, most recently, Chris Duarte (13th) and Isaiah Jackson (22nd). The 24-year-old Duarte certainly showed flashes during NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and he may be able to make an immediate impact since he's widely regarded as one of the most NBA-ready prospects in this class.
It remains to be seen what Duarte and Jackson will do, but Leaf and Holiday are already off the roster. Bitadze has failed to develop past a 10-to-15-minute-per-game role, and his playing time could stagnate even further with Jackson&rsquo;s arrival. Also, the Pacers have continuously missed on second-round picks in recent years. (In 2010, Lance Stephenson was a solid find at No. 40, but that was the previous regime.)
With missed opportunities in the draft and ownership that's completely against losing revenue, Indiana is constantly a fringe playoff team &ndash; stuck in the middle of the pack. It helps the bottom dollar, sure, but where does it get the organization in the end?
The 2021-22 season is a fork-in-the-road moment for Indiana. If the Pacers miss the playoffs or just barely squeak in with everyone healthy and Carlisle running the show, massive changes should ensue. Breaking up <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/can-rick-carlisle-make-a-domantas-sabonis-myles-turner-pairing-work-for-the-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the jumbo-big duo of Sabonis and Turner</a> should be in the cards. Warren could leave for nothing as an unrestricted free agent in <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/after-years-of-star-movement-2022-offseason-is-shaping-up-to-be-the-opposite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a barren 2022 free-agent market</a>. Brogdon and LeVert would enter contract years of thier own the following season.
Is it realistic to expect the Pacers to make a serious leap up the East standings? The defending champion Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets are not vacating the top spots. The Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls have all potentially leapfrogged them in the hierarchy. Unless we see a magical season in which everything falls perfectly into place, Indiana&rsquo;s ceiling looks to be around the No. 6 seed. It's possible they'll make another appearance in the play-in tournament.
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Although Indiana's collection of talent keeps them around the playoff picture each year, is it really worth it if they keep getting bounced in the first round every single season? Bringing Carlisle onboard signals that the Pacers know the time is now to show how competitive they truly are. However, the hourglass may have already run out, as the expiration date with their current core seems to be fast approaching. Outside of Sabonis, LeVert and rookies Duarte and Jackson, everyone else could potentially be available come February&rsquo;s trade deadline or next offseason.
It takes such a delicate balancing act for small-market teams to compete nowadays. You have to luck into drafting a superstar or consistently hit home runs with signings and trades. When Indiana was at the peak of its powers and giving Miami's Big Three a run for their money, the franchise had an ascending superstar in George. However, as we all know, that relationship soured over time and they shipped him off to Oklahoma City. Now, it seems like the Pacers are betting on Sabonis to become a Nikola Jokic-type player or for LeVert to take a massive all-around leap that puts him the Most Improved Player discussion.
However you want to slice it, it&rsquo;ll be tough sledding for the Pacers moving forward. If everything coalesces under Carlisle, he could help make them a sleeper contender in the East. If the pieces fail to come together, Indiana could potentially blow it all up within the next calendar year. The stakes are raised, and it&rsquo;s time to either double-down or fold the hand with this current roster.

The Indiana Pacers will either take the much-needed leap forward in 2021-22 or major changes could be coming for the organization.

Pacers' roster faces make-or-break 2021-22 season

With each of his 36 minutes appearing to be taking its toll, miss after miss, Joel Embiid trotted back up the floor, sputtering like an old Honda Civic.
By the time his night had ended, his Philadelphia 76ers found themselves on the wrong side of a 103-100 decision against the Atlanta Hawks. The Eastern Conference&rsquo;s top-seeded team was suddenly locked in a best two-out-of-three now.
I couldn&rsquo;t help but think of what was going through Ben Simmons&rsquo; mind.
Sure, Philadelphia was one Seth Curry three away from forcing overtime, and yes, the club had plenty of opportunities to make plays down the stretch and escape from Atlanta with a 3-1 series lead. But behind a miserable 0-for-12 shooting performance in the game&rsquo;s second half, Embiid couldn&rsquo;t get his team across the finish line.
The outcome shouldn&rsquo;t have been that much of a surprise, though. After all, Embiid looked like he could barely get himself across the finish line.
Mentally tough as they come, Simmons &mdash; somewhat similarly to Lonzo Ball &mdash; has never been overly concerned with living up to the expectations that others may have had for him. To his credit, the criticism rolls off his back so smoothly that a duck would be in awe.
So make no mistake about it: Simmons cares not about your critiques. He worries not of your puny expectations. Admirable in some ways, though, it makes you wonder what kind of expectations he has for himself.
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In an NBA where plodding, slow-footed centers like Brook Lopez had to evolve (which he did) or get lost (like Roy Hibbert did), we&rsquo;ve been force-fed the narrative that success in the league today requires a big that&rsquo;s able to &ldquo;space the floor&rdquo; and at least pose a credible threat from outside of the paint.
Truth be told, the expectation and the modern superstar&rsquo;s pursuit of the standard has given us the league&rsquo;s reigning MVP in Nikola Jokic.
With respect to Embiid, it is his own refusal to be put into a box and play the game the way centers of yesteryear did that has made him a superstar. Built like a dump truck, Embiid&rsquo;s agility, proficiency from the field and audacity to take big shots has brought these Sixers to the top of the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s regular-season mountain. Aside from his own mortality, his imagination is his only limiter.
We watched and criticized LeBron James for not having a jumper. We roasted Russell Westbrook for his inefficiency, dismissed John Wall as a difference-maker and rolled our eyes when Giannis Antetokounmpo embarrassingly misses pull-up three-pointers.
Yet many &mdash; including his own head coach in Doc Rivers &mdash; sit back and allow the application of an obvious double-standard.
As Embiid dragged his one good knee up and down the court against the Hawks on Monday night, more and more, he looked like he was running in cement. The body language was clear; Embiid was begging for someone to help him &mdash; help the team. He needed a Robin, but Simmons was satisfied being The Joker.
Simmons failed to register a single shot attempt in the fourth quarter, as Philadelphia shot just 4-for-16 in the game&rsquo;s final frame. Meanwhile, Trae Young and Nate McMillan decided the trip back up the I-95 North to Philly would be more pleasant if the series were tied as opposed to being on the brink of elimination.
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In the end, Simmons is a great player with tantalizing potential. But at a certain point, he needs to take the challenge upon himself to be a plus in an area where he&rsquo;s been a big, fat minus.
It&rsquo;s ironic that Embiid, a player who has dedicated his existence to bucking the norm of what we&rsquo;ve come to expect from a big man, is flanked by someone whose refusal to expand his offensive versatility is perhaps what's limiting the Sixers&rsquo; potential the most.
Perhaps it&rsquo;s because he&rsquo;s relatively low-key. Maybe it&rsquo;s because the cockiness and outspokenness of Embiid provides enough of a shield for Simmons to maintain a low profile. But after four years in the league, according to Basketball-Reference's shot-tracking data, 98.9% of Simmons&rsquo; career shot attempts have been from two-point range.
That&rsquo;s probably about the same odds of this version of the Sixers falling short of winning a championship.
The belief in the modern NBA is that you can&rsquo;t win with centers who can&rsquo;t guard the three-pointer or spread the floor.
But since when have point guards who can&rsquo;t shoot been the key to carrying home the Larry O&rsquo;Brien trophy?
Whether they manage to get past Atlanta or not, the Sixers will only go as far as Joel Embiid is able to carry them, and unfortunately, only as far as Ben Simmons will allow him to.
If I&rsquo;m Doc Rivers, at this point, that&rsquo;s exactly what I&rsquo;m afraid of.

These Sixers won't be able to win a championship unless Ben Simmons becomes a credible shooter, writes Moke Hamilton.

Joel Embiid can only carry Sixers as far as Ben Simmons will let him

Swan song.&nbsp;
The legend, as he'd done for the duration of his 20-year career, commanded all eyes.&nbsp;
As Kobe Bryant prepared to host Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder at home for the last time in the final season of his storybook career, all eyes were on him.
Throngs of media followed him in and around the bowels of Staples Center. In and out of the trainer&rsquo;s room, back-and-forth from the locker room, with bandages on his ankle and a tightly-wrapped icepack on his ailing right shoulder, an at-peace Bryant exchanged pleasantries.
Meanwhile, on the floor, before the television cameras started rolling and before fans began streaming into the building, Julius Randle was quietly and meticulously plying his trade.
Working in the background while the television cameras and news reporters were focused elsewhere has become Randle's personal story. Squeezed between the margins over the first six years -- by Kobe, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and even Zion Williamson -- in New York, Randle has captured the full imagination of a franchise he hopes to call his own.
Bridesmaid no longer, with an enclave of supporters on the bench and within the organization, Randle is finally playing like someone who&rsquo;s found what he&rsquo;s been searching for since he was drafted in 2014: purpose.
All-Star or not, the Knicks would be wise to consider the improbable; perhaps he is indeed capable of helping to carry the franchise forward.
* * *
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers seventh overall in the 2014 NBA Draft, Randle was one of a group of young players believed to be the nexus between the era of Bryant&rsquo;s championship-contending squads and a future generation of greats.
Perhaps an omen of what was to come for him in purple and gold, Randle&rsquo;s rookie season lasted just 13 minutes. In a meaningless play in a blowout loss to the Houston Rockets -- in the first game of the season, nonetheless -- Randle broke his right tibia. His freshman year ended before it even began.
While battling the likes of Roy Hibbert, Brandon Bass, Larry Nance Jr. and Luol Deng for minutes, Randle steadily improved, but when LeBron James took his talents to Los Angeles, he realized the opportunity to spread his wings wouldn&rsquo;t be found playing court jester. After requesting the Lakers renounce his rights, Randle sought the opportunity to soar with the Pelicans in New Orleans. After less than one season, though, any thoughts of a long-term partnership with Anthony Davis were dashed. Ironically, Davis wanted to form his own partnership with LeBron.
Coming off of a career-year in New Orleans, Randle seemed destined to assume the vacated front court in New Orleans, but an improbable lottery victory meant he would have to compete with Zion Williamson for minutes and repetitions. Not ideal.
Know this: the majority of NBA players are competitive junkies who spend their formative years succeeding on the basketball court. Their hope, mostly, is to have their names mentioned among other greats. At various junctures, a player has to consider whether they&rsquo;re happy with their situation, their career and their legacy. They can either settle with where they are or pursue more elsewhere.
Randle was not unique when his time came, but when the roads diverged for him, he chose the one that led to New York. The former Wildcat made the decision that many before him didn&rsquo;t; he opted to try to fulfill his mighty potential under the bright lights and intense scrutiny of Gotham City.
When the Knicks signed Randle to a three-year, $62 million deal in July 2019, the rationale behind the decision was easy to accept. He was a 24-year-old big man who was coming off of the most productive season of his young career with per-game averages of 21.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists. His ascension was especially noteworthy considering his opportunities, to that point, had been limited. He was never given the minutes, repetitions or trust of a cornerstone. In both Los Angeles and New Orleans, he was believed to be a supporting player, at best.
To the Knicks&rsquo; benefit, that belief may have been incorrect.
Producing wins and leading a young team on his broad shoulders, there&rsquo;s one truth that can already be drawn from Randle&rsquo;s production in New York; he&rsquo;s not exactly the kind of player that smart NBA teams would be quick to trade -- he&rsquo;s the type that would be built around.
* * *
With the Knicks&rsquo; front office reportedly fixated on playoff contention this season, the decision-makers have been proactive in ascertaining the availability of impact players including Buddy Hield, Victor Oladipo and Bradley Beal.&nbsp;But word to the wise: it&rsquo;s been 10 years to the day that the Knicks traded their farm for Carmelo Anthony.
Although Anthony was the most talented player dealt in the 2011 trade that saw he and Chauncey Billups land in New York, the sum of the pieces sent out by New York, it could be argued, were more than the product of Anthony's tenure. In other words, reasonable minds may come to different conclusions when determining whether the trade was worth it. And therein lies the lesson.
Basketball isn&rsquo;t a game played on paper, and success in the NBA isn&rsquo;t simply about putting a collection of players together who can get buckets. To a large extent, a player's individual success hinges on their ability to develop trust in their coaching staff and front office and their ability to find a sense of fulfillment in their work.
Before considering whether Randle should be peddled to help the team acquire a player whose perceived value is higher, team president Leon Rose and general manager Scott Perry should think long and hard about how a young and impressionable team would handle seeing Randle&rsquo;s strong play rewarded by a trade.
When players begin seeing the NBA as merely being a business, it&rsquo;s often detrimental to their ability to invest in the success of their team. Doing so often requires not only sacrifice, but a belief in something bigger than themselves. When players see other players they&rsquo;ve grown fond of rewarded by being traded against their will, it sends an unmistakable message that, at the end of the day, everyone needs to look out for themselves.&nbsp;
In terms of culture and team-building, the most important thing that a front office can provide a collection of young players is a sense of direction and a feeling of belonging. If the plan changes every season, or if new players are continually cycled in and out of the locker room, it only takes so long before the message is received by the players: New York isn&rsquo;t your destination, it&rsquo;s only your connection point. Inflate your numbers here as best you can to get yourself another payday when your time is up.
It&rsquo;s the attitude that was developed by a fair amount of players who have come and gone because, as stated by Carmelo Anthony himself, there was a new team every year.
Learn from the past or be doomed to repeat it. You can only sail so far on a rudderless ship.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s been just 30 games since Julius Randle began playing for Tom Thibodeau. And after seven years, the 26-year-old is finally playing like someone who&rsquo;s not only found his calling, but someone who&rsquo;s capable of helping to lead a franchise out of the doldrums.
Perhaps in New York, Randle can finish what he began in Los Angeles and New Orleans.&nbsp;
Overlooked as a spare tire, maybe, just maybe, the Knicks were right about Julius Randle. Maybe, just maybe, he has the potential to be the main event.
To this point, after six years of searching, in New York, he&rsquo;s earned the opportunity to find out. It's been 10 years since the Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that, in it all, lessons abound.

Julius Randle has quickly reminded us all of his forgotten potential.

On Julius Randle, his rise in New York and the audacity of hope

Two-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion David West was a guest on <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1314784812490727427" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's Virtual Watch Party</a> for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. During the wide-ranging, three-hour conversation, former NBA veteran Etan Thomas asked West about his Indiana Pacers teammate Roy Hibbert and the struggles that prematurely ended his career.
During the first half of the 2013-14 season, Hibbert averaged 11.8 points (on 46.4 percent shooting), 7.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. He was selected as an All-Star and was the favorite to win the NBA&rsquo;s Defensive Player of the Year award.&nbsp;
In the final month of the season, his numbers dipped to 5.3 points (on 23.5 percent shooting), 3.2 boards and 1.2 blocks. That postseason, Hibbert became the first All-Star in NBA history to have four scoreless playoff games and he averaged just 5.3 points (on 28.7 percent shooting), 3.7 boards and 1.3 blocks during Indiana&rsquo;s first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks.&nbsp;
Hibbert's struggles became a big story, which only seemed to make matters worse. From that point on, his numbers continued to decline and he was out of the NBA at 31 years old. West shared his thoughts on the situation and what went wrong for Hibbert:
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;What happened with Roy Hibbert? He was doing well and then it just went south.&rdquo;&nbsp;
David West: "It was a mental thing. It was all mental. Roy played basketball a lot of years because he was big. He was made to play, and then he developed a love for the game much later -- and actually, it wasn't until he was in the NBA that he really got a love for the game. In Indy, we had it situated perfectly. And for him, Frank [Vogel] is the most positive [person]; he's gonna coach you up regardless of what you&rsquo;re doing. He's gonna coach you up, and that's what Roy needed. He had Roy playing the best basketball of his career, and that was all Frank. Because there were games where big fella was out of it; his timing was off and he got into a couple bad funks, but Frank was able to keep him steady.&nbsp;
"And again, for the years we were in Indy, he was solid for us. We just made some moves that didn't show a lot of confidence in him, which came back to bite us. And then, the game started changing. These teams started playing small, firing threes, and Roy was a traditional drop (coverage) big man. He couldn't leave the paint, he wasn't switching and the NBA just moved past where he could be effective."
Alex Kennedy: Do you think social media was a part of that?
David West: "Yeah. I used to be on him about that sh*t. Like, 'Yo, don't even look at that sh*t.' But it was hard because at the same time... one thing that I will say about social media is as much as you have to, as a player, ignore it, everybody else is telling you, &lsquo;This is where you've gotta market yourself! This is where you've gotta brand yourself.&rsquo; Your agent, your marketing people, the teams are telling you that you have to have a presence on social media, but then [they&rsquo;re also] like, 'Ignore what's being said on social media.' It's a very tough balance for players to deal with. 
"I used to be like, 'Roy, we don't even know who these people are. It's fine. Let them say what they say.' But, those things wore him down. And then we had this weird situation with Andrew Bynum that I will never understand. We had a six-game lead on the Heat [in the standings]. There was no need to change our team."
[Editor&rsquo;s Note: The Pacers signed Bynum in February of 2014. But after playing in just two games, he was ruled out indefinitely with swelling and soreness in his right knee. Still, the fact that Indiana signed Bynum at all really affected Hibbert's confidence.]
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Ryan Hollins: "Roy Hibbert was one of the few players in the league where I knew I couldn't guard him to save my life, if he had his stuff together. He had the right-hand hook, the left-hand hook and he'd throw that bad boy [down] from outside the box. If you front him, he'd put that long wingspan up and dunk on you. And if you get behind him, he's got both hands."
David West: "Etan, to your point earlier, Roy probably listened to some folks too much. His best weight was when he was 280-plus, when he was just big and heavy. But the coach in Indy who was there before me, [Jim O'Brien], had made this dude lose like [40 pounds]! He was down to 240. It was crazy, man. Like, who the hell told you to do this?! He was skinny, man. Roy was small. And then I'm like, &lsquo;Why would you change who you are? For what? You think you gonna be shooting pick-and-pop threes? What are you doing? You're big! You're an inside big guy.&rsquo; So, when I got there, everything was different. It was, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re gonna hit the weight room, we&rsquo;re gonna be big and strong.&rsquo; I gained like 20-something pounds going to Indy. It was a different feel."
Hibbert retired shortly after the 2016-17 season and he has since transitioned to coaching, becoming a player development associate with the Philadelphia 76ers. Last month, <a href="https://twitter.com/Roy_Meets_World/status/1308821114676633600">he teased</a> the possibility of returning to Indiana as an assistant coach.&nbsp;

David West opened up about his Indiana Pacers teammate Roy Hibbert and the struggles that prematurely ended his NBA career.

David West opens up about Roy Hibbert's struggles: 'It was all mental'

I had a special relationship with Hall-of-Fame coach John Thompson, and it all started when he chose not to recruit me.&nbsp;
Anybody I grew up with will remember that I always wanted to go to Georgetown; Syracuse was actually my second choice. I remember my high school teammate, Ryan Humphrey, saying that I was like the kid in the movie "Rudy" who always wanted to go to Notre Dame. That was actually pretty accurate.&nbsp;
See, I grew up admiring Coach Thompson ever since I heard him speak out about the racism of the NCAA. I remember him being asked how it felt to be the first Black coach to reach the NCAA Final Four and he replied, "I resent the hell out of that question if it implies I am the first Black coach competent enough to take a team to the Final Four. Other Blacks have been denied the right in this country; coaches who have the ability. I don't take any pride in being the first Black coach in the Final Four. I find the question extremely offensive."
I remember reading about how Coach Thompson specifically recruited inner-city Black players and molded them, both on and off the court.
He focused on their education, enforced discipline and structure, and educated them about society and being a Black man in America. He was a father figure in that he actually cared about his players far beyond wins and losses (although he definitely wanted to win). He made sure he stressed that his players graduate and not squander their time allowing the system to use them. Of course that was the coach and program I wanted to be a part of.&nbsp;
Also, he coached one of my favorite players, Alonzo Mourning - someone who I wanted to pattern my game after. He also coached Patrick Ewing, one of my favorite players growing up (as a New York Knicks fan). I wanted to be able to block shots like Dikembe Mutombo and have defenses literally draw plans to avoid bringing the ball inside. I wanted to carry on the tradition and wear No. 33 at Georgetown (which is one of the reasons why I wore No. 33 at Syracuse, but I&rsquo;ll explain that later).
I even went to Georgetown's basketball camp when I was in the eighth grade. I remember reading about the next center who was going there, Othella Harrington, and seeing pictures of Coach Thompson with his arm around all of the aforementioned men. I dreamed of seeing myself in that same picture, in that same pose, alongside the great centers of Georgetown at the end of that line.
In the summer of my junior year, I was being recruited by every major program in the country except Georgetown. Coach Thompson called me and told me that they had a lot of big men, naming off five: Jamel Watkins, Boubacar Aw, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje, Jahidi White and Ya-Ya Dia, so they really didn&rsquo;t need any more bigs. I was heartbroken, to be honest. I may have even shed a few thug tears, but I vowed to terrorize Georgetown for my entire college career and picked their biggest rival, Syracuse University.&nbsp;
Fast-forward to Feb. 8, 1997, during my freshman year at Syracuse. That day, we faced off against Georgetown. Syracuse fans remember this as the "Donovan McNabb game" since the star quarterback and two-sport athlete ignited the Carrier Dome with an electrifying performance en route to a win over the Hoyas. Meanwhile, as a young freshman who didn&rsquo;t receive much playing time after the beginning of the season - I was playing behind and learning from the great Otis Hill - I had one of the worst games of my career. I set a Syracuse record for the <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2013/02/syracuses_1997_win_over_george.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quickest foul out by a player in school history</a> (and maybe even Big East history).
After not playing for a long stretch, I was put into one of the biggest games of the season due to Hill's foul trouble. I found myself in the unfortunate position of having to guard an explosive, quick-off-his-feet, 300-pound monster named Jahidi White, who could have been called the Shaq of the Big East.&nbsp;
As soon as I checked into the game, Coach Thompson ran every single play for White - and apparently told him to dunk on me every play. Well, I had too much pride for that, so I fouled him every time he tried it. I attempted to block the first few dunks and almost got my arm ripped off in Jahidi&rsquo;s Shaq-like power moves to the rim. So the next two times, I just fouled him.
I ended up fouling out of the game after seven minutes in front of 30,000 people at the Carrier Dome in one of the biggest games of the year. I remember looking at Coach Thompson as I was walking to the bench. He gave me a little nod that said, to me, "That&rsquo;s why I didn&rsquo;t recruit you." I was destroyed inside. I wanted to head straight to the locker room and hide in the closet until everyone left.&nbsp;
After the game, a ball boy gave me a note from Coach Thompson that simply read, "Keep working, keep your head up, you&rsquo;ll be fine."
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My sophomore year was really my breakout year, and one of the games I had circled on my schedule was the Georgetown game. I had a <a href="https://www.syracuse.com/orangebasketball/2013/01/in_1997-98_season_syracuse_get.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monster night</a> - 23 points, seven rebounds, six blocks - and I was throwing down thunderous dunks, beating my chest, swatting shots into the stands and screaming into the crowd. I was so hyped, I couldn&rsquo;t even calm down to shoot on the free-throw line.
At the sound of the buzzer, my first thought was to run up to Coach Thompson. I shook his hand, looked him in the eyes and said, &ldquo;You could&rsquo;ve had me.&rdquo;
And he replied with a big smile: &ldquo;Yeah, I know."
That was the start of our relationship of mutual respect and support that spanned for two decades.&nbsp;
I came to D.C. in 2000 with the Washington Wizards. Coach Thompson would have me on his show and support my events around the city. He would offer advice, encouragement, chastisement and praise by call or text.
<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2007/09/etans_antiwar_speech.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shortly after the invasion of Iraq</a>, I spoke at a big <a href="http://politicalaffairs.net/the-speech-everyone-is-talking-about-etan-thomas-electrifies-anti-war-washington/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">anti-war rally</a> in D.C. Coach Thompson called me afterwards and said, &ldquo;You have no idea what you just stepped into young man, do you?&rdquo;&nbsp;
And honestly, I truly didn&rsquo;t. I had been speaking all over D.C. about the war. I wrote three different poems and two different speeches against the war all from my first poetry book, "<a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/561-more-than-an-athlete" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More Than An Athlete</a>."
&ldquo;You are lucky you play for [Washington Wizards chairman] Abe Pollin because if you didn&rsquo;t, this could be very bad for your professional career," Coach Thompson said to me. He also told me that he had the utmost respect for me, and if I needed some support when I felt the wrath of America after that speech, he was there for me.&nbsp;
For many years, I would have events around D.C. and when I looked into the crowd, I'd see Coach Thompson right there in the front row with his arms folded.&nbsp;
At Georgetown University, I had a debate with Bill Rhoden about his book, "40 Million Dollar Slave." Coach Thompson brought his entire team there - including a young Roy Hibbert, Jeff Green and Patrick Ewing Jr. - and had them all taking notes.
In my book, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fatherhood-Ultimate-Challenge-Etan-Thomas/dp/0451414896/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1523315169&amp;sr=1-3&amp;keywords=etan+thomas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge</a>," Coach Thompson wrote: &ldquo;In my life, I&rsquo;ve been fortunate enough to meet presidents, senators, congressmen, CEOs of major companies, cardinals of churches, heads of states from several countries and some of the finest athletes and coaches this world has ever known. I&rsquo;ve learned to respect them all and admired their accomplishments, but I&rsquo;ve never met a man who accomplished so much with so little as my dad. And I have come to realize that nothing has more meaning to me than the honor of being named after the finest man I have ever met, my Dad, John Robert Thompson.&rdquo;&nbsp;
I had never even heard him tell that story before and was honored by the fact that he felt comfortable telling me this for my book.&nbsp;
This past winter, I was watching a high school tournament at Wise High School and doing some recruiting for my AAU team, FBCG Elite Dynamic Disciples. Coach Thompson saw me before I saw him. He had someone chase me down and bring me to him. He said, "You better come over here and say hi to me."
He was in obvious pain with his walker, and I asked him how he was feeling. He smiled and said, "Just old, but you keep doing what you&rsquo;re doing."
I said, "Yeah, I'm looking at some players for my team." He responded, "That&rsquo;s great, but that&rsquo;s not what I&rsquo;m talking about. You keep using your platform and speaking and writing truth. I may not get around like I used to, but I&rsquo;m always watching you and I'm proud of you. Now move out my way, I gotta get out of here."
He left before I could even get a picture with him and my son Malcolm, who came up after the conversation. Afterwards, Malcolm asked me who the man in the walker was.
"One of the best coaches to ever walk the planet," I told him.
Rest In Peace, Coach John Thompson.

Etan Thomas looks back on his unique relationship with the late, great John Thompson.

My special relationship with the late, great John Thompson

Here is the latest news on the Top 25 Free Agents in the NBA for the 2014-15 season, as ranked by Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.