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Clippers

Veteran NBA forward Semi Ojeleye has reached a two-year deal to play for Virtus Bologna in Italy, the <a href="https://www.virtus.it/news/semi-ojeleye-e-un-nuovo-giocatore-di-virtus-segafredo-bologna/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">team announced in a press release</a>.
Ojeleye was the 37th pick in the 2017 draft, playing his first four seasons in the NBA with the Boston Celtics. In 2021, he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks and was traded midseason to the Los Angeles Clippers before being waived.
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The 27-year-old has averaged 3.4 points and 2.2 rebounds in his five NBA seasons. He now joins the Virtus Bologna club that plays in Italy's LBA and the EuroLeague, a team that also includes former NBA players Marco Belinelli, Milos Teodosic, Nico Mannion, and Jordan Mickey.
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Veteran NBA forward Semi Ojeleye has reached a two-year deal to play for Virtus Bologna in Italy

Semi Ojeleye signs with Virtus Bologna on two-year deal

Serge Ibaka is staying with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks announced Tuesday that they have re-signed the 32-year-old center, who came to Milwaukee <a href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-los-angeles-clippers-sacramento-kings-nba-sports-5afdea183f8000fd6c8c972baf968f7c">as part of a four-team deal at the Feb. 10 trade deadline.</a> Terms of the deal weren't released.
&ldquo;Serge is an elite defender and shot blocker who will continue to add depth for us at center,&rdquo; Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. &ldquo;He was a valuable acquisition for us last season, and we look forward to having him back in Milwaukee.&rdquo;
Ibaka averaged 7 points, 5.3 rebounds and 17.8 minutes in 19 games with the Bucks last season.
The Bucks acquired Ibaka while starting center Brook Lopez was still recovering from a back injury that required surgery and caused him to play just 13 regular-season games this past season. Ibaka&rsquo;s playing time diminished after Lopez returned to action.
Milwaukee sent guard Donte DiVincenzo to the Sacramento Kings and forwards Rodney Hood and Semi Ojeleye to the Los Angeles Clippers in the deal that brought them Ibaka as well as a pair of second-round draft picks and cash.
Ibaka averaged 6.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 35 games with the Clippers before getting traded.
The three-time All-Defensive first-team selection <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/ibakase01.html">led the NBA in total blocks four straight seasons</a> while playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He led the league in blocks per game in 2011-12 and 2012-13. His 1,752 career blocks <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/blk_active.html">rank him second among all active players, behind only Dwight Howard.</a>

“Serge is an elite defender and shot blocker who will continue to add depth for us at center,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said.

Serge Ibaka staying with Bucks; agrees to terms on deal

Fresh off their first title in 50 years, the Milwaukee Bucks entered the season with a few questions.&nbsp;
There were big-picture unknowns surrounding the main cast. What would Giannis Antetokounmpo look like after getting the proverbial monkey off his back? Was it time to stop questioning Mike Budenholzer, who eventually finally found enough schematic answers en route to a title?
(If the latest episode of <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-dunker-spot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Dunker Spot</a> is any indication, the answer to the Budenholzer question is a resounding "No.")
And then, there was one bubbling underneath the surface: How would the Bucks replace PJ Tucker?
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Tucker was an integral part to the Bucks' title run. He brought value offensively as a screener, and, while his percentages were below his norm, he still made timely shots from the corners. He hummed around the dunker spot and gave Milwaukee extra possessions on the glass &mdash; ask the Atlanta Hawks how the "Hide Trae Young on Tucker" strategy worked for them.
More importantly, Tucker brought the goods defensively. His value was two-fold. Even at his age, he was able to slither over screens, slide with stars in space and hold his own when bigger players attempted to post him up. The star assignments were almost exclusively his to take. And because he took on those assignments, guys like Giannis and Middleton didn't have to.
Tucker wasn't and isn't as important as those two, but his departure to the Miami Heat &mdash; what a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/pj-tucker-the-ultimate-roll-player-miami-heat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">season he's had</a> &mdash; left a bit of a void.
The Bucks added Semi Ojeleye over the summer in hopes he could provide similar impact. Maybe Thanasis Antetokounmpo, as the endless ball of energy he is, could be enough of an irritant in spurts.
Neither thing happened.
They eventually went back to the veteran well on Dec. 3, signing the well-traveled Wes Matthews to a deal. The thinking was clear: We need a guy who can defend tough matchups and hit enough shots on the other end to keep teams honest.
Fast forward to the postseason, and Matthews has done just that.&nbsp;
He's knocked down 44.1% of his threes on nearly 4 attempts this postseason. He's been a help-off-him point for defenses much like Tucker, but the two differ in their shot profiles. Over 80% of Tucker's threes came from the corners last postseason; only 41.2% of Matthews' triples have come in those pockets.
You can still stash him in the strong-side corner and dare teams to help off of him there. You can still space him in the weak-side corner, and have another player cut or set a pin-in screen to free him.
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But because Matthews is better at &mdash; and more willing to take &mdash; above-the-break threes, he's a little easier to move around the chessboard. He can also chill above the break, acting as the one-pass-away outlet on Giannis post-ups or isolations.
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Defensively, it's hard not to marvel at the job Matthews has done. This is a 35-year-old, who's suffered a torn Achilles in his career, graciously taking on assignments like DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Despite being at a size disadvantage and athleticism disadvantage, Matthews has been able to hold his own. He's proven to be a high-level screen navigator at his big age, able to fight through picks and reattach to a star's hip to bother him. Even when he's hung up on a screen, he doesn't die. He finishes possessions with rearview contests, or at the very least funnels his man into Milwaukee's forest in the paint.&nbsp;
A drop-coverage scheme doesn't work without someone like Matthews. Asking any big man, no matter how good he is, to deal with elite scorers in space is typically unfair. Matthews is able to make life easier for his bigs, much like their size acts as a buffer in the event that Matthews gets beat.
It's been fun watching Matthews have to problem-solve in the first two rounds. He got the DeRozan match-up in Round 1, which meant dealing with the All-Star's superb footwork and herky-jerky style. Nikola Vucevic is one of the NBA's best screeners, so dealing with them in tandem is tough work.
Matthews had to fight over screens and duck under screens when Chicago went to its Double Drag looks. He had to ICE screens &mdash; attempting to keep the action on the sideline &mdash; while also worrying about DeRozan snaking picks and getting into the mid-range area. He's built the whole boat on mid-range buckets, so slowing him down is a lot easier said than done.
Yet, Matthews did a darn good job. He faced 104 picks while defending DeRozan in pick-and-roll, per Second Spectrum. The Bulls generated 0.66 points per posssession (PPP) on those trips &mdash; well&nbsp;below their regular-season mark (1.04 PPP).
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The expectation has changed a bit during the second round. He's gone from the guile and patience of DeRozan, to the more sudden and explosive natures of Tatum and Brown. It's been mostly Tatum, whose lack of comfort in the mid-range is countered by his willingness to pull from deep, as well as his downhill aggression.
But again, Matthews has mostly held his own. Possessions featuring Matthews defending a Tatum-led ball-screen have only generated 0.77 PPP. This may shock you, but that number is also below Boston's regular-season norms (1.00 PPP).
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Overall, Matthews has defended 195 on-ball picks &mdash; the fifth-highest mark of the postseason. He's one of 21 players to defend at least 100 of them. Of those 21 players, only two &mdash; Marcus Smart (119, 0.72 PPP) and Jae Crowder (115, 0.75 PPP) have allowed fewer points per possession on direct plays than Matthews (0.85 PPP).&nbsp;
Matthews is knocking down open shots from all over the floor. He's taking on star wing assignments so Giannis doesn't have to. He's also holding his own with said assignments.
Naturally, the Bucks are having a good time with Matthews on the floor.
In 259 minutes with Matthews on the floor, the Bucks have <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612749&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Playoffs&amp;PlayerIds=202083" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outscored opponents</a> by 8.4 points per 100 possessions. The defense is 2 points stingier with Matthews on the floor; the offense is almost 4 points better, thanks to pretty big gap in three-point shooting (37.6% with Matthews on, 30.7% with Matthews off).
In summation: Matthews deserves his flowers.&nbsp;
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Nekias Duncan breaks down the two-way impact of Wes Matthews for the Bucks this postseason.

Wes Matthews' two-way play deserves your attention

There wasn&rsquo;t exactly a consensus about how the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; season would end, but it&rsquo;s probably safe to say that nobody foresaw this.
On Tuesday night, the Lakers saw their bleak playoff hopes reduced to zero when the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Denver Nuggets, and immediately thereafter &mdash; and rightfully so &mdash; Frank Vogel, Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook were all in the news.
In the end, there&rsquo;s no single reason the Lakers turned in one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history &mdash; there&rsquo;s enough blame to go around.
What Rob Pelinka needs to figure out is how to fix it.
The answer, ironically, would probably be to start thinking small.
This past season, the team managed to find some serviceable pieces to augment the star-studded core, but only Davis, James, Talen Horton-Tucker and Austin Reaves are under contract next season. The Lakers hold a team option on Stanley Johnson and Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn both have player options they are likely to pick up.
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The official 2021-22 Kendrick Nunn highlight reel 🎥 <a href="https://t.co/wDPehJyqpN">pic.twitter.com/wDPehJyqpN</a>
&mdash; Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) <a href="https://twitter.com/LakersLead/status/1508967570560458762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Combined &mdash; thanks in large part to the commitments to Westbrook, James and Davis &mdash; the Lakers are in line to have about $148 million on their 2022-23 ledger, which is already about $26 million over the projected salary cap.
Said differently, outside of offloading one of Westbrook, James or Davis without taking much salary back in return, the team wouldn&rsquo;t be able to manufacture enough cap space to have a competent opportunity of improving via free agency. Obviously, the club could go the route it went this past season and hand out one-year, minimum salary contracts to aging veterans, but the players who could actually make a difference for the Lakers won&rsquo;t exactly be lining up to sign on the dotted line given the performance of this year&rsquo;s team.
To make matters even worse, the Lakers don&rsquo;t own a pick in this year&rsquo;s draft. Their first rounder was sent to New Orleans in the Anthony Davis trade, while their second-round pick is owned by the Spurs.
So how does a team with no cap space and no draft picks improve?
Simple: by thinking small.
Ask the Brooklyn Nets, and look toward the Miami Heat.
A historically frugal franchise, Miami has never necessarily found itself in the kind of salary cap hell the Lakers are in at the moment. Part of the reason why is because one of the constants during Pat Riley&rsquo;s tenure has been investing heavily in scouting and player development. The same rings true of most successful small market franchises.
Players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis may win you the championship, but throughout history, it&rsquo;s always been players like Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who get you there in the first place.
Contenders invariably unearth valuable and sometimes unknown role players and maximize those role players' talent. For example, this year's Miami team has enjoyed the combination of Tyler Herro, Max Strus and Omer Yurtseven combining to earn only about $7 million. That's about $3 million less than Talen Horton-Tucker alone. Strus and Yurtseven are far from household names, but Miami wouldn&rsquo;t be entering play on April 6 as the first seed out East without them, especially considering the injuries the team has dealt with this season.
Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn also go on a list that features the likes of Bam Adebayo, Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem as players drafted and developed by the staff in Miami.
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Some time ago, the Lakers had what looked like a competent core of young players. It&rsquo;s hard to imagine that just four years ago, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Jordan Clarkson were all teammates in Los Angeles. They&rsquo;ve all come and gone, most to facilitate the arrivals of LeBron, Davis and then Westbrook.
The Lakers do have a championship to show for that roster churn, but from this point forth, the way out might actually be to go back to the drawing board. Sean Marks and his Brooklyn Nets, another franchise that Lakers VP of Operations Rob Pelinka would be wise to mimic this summer, provide a blueprint for how to go about doing that.
When Marks took over the Nets in 2016, Brooklyn was not in a good place. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry had all come and gone, and the draft picks that became Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Collin Sexton were living their best lives elsewhere. The Nets had a bloated payroll, a team of scrubs and no future.
The NBA's Chicago Draft Combine was only two months after Marks was hired in Brooklyn, and despite not owning a first-round pick, he sent quite a contingent to the Windy City. Their directive was to do as much recon work as possible to find Marks some players who could help. Marks used Thaddeus Young to trade his way into the first round and came away from the draft with Caris LeVert and Isaiah Whitehead. Within the next six months, he signed two diamonds in the rough, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie.
One season later, Marks drafted Jarrett Allen and landed D&rsquo;Angelo Russell in a trade with the Lakers, and that was essentially the core that both got Brooklyn back on track and ultimately landed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
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Highlights Kyrie Irving &amp; Kevin Durant 🆚 Sixers<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetsWorld?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NetsWorld</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBATwitter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBATwitter</a> <a href="https://t.co/viw7ZzQQIZ">pic.twitter.com/viw7ZzQQIZ</a>
&mdash; Back2Back (@B2BFR) <a href="https://twitter.com/B2BFR/status/1502186067541307394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Obviously, that all took time to come to fruition, and time isn't something that LeBron James has. But the point is that no matter how daunting the situation, a competent NBA front office can build a team without having the most obvious assets readily available. That the Lakers have two superstars should actually make the task a bit less difficult.
In this league, there are generally two types of teams: those who rely on free agency and trades to build their contender, and those who build their programs organically, most often through the draft. Big-market teams tend to be the former, while small market teams usually go the other route.
If either Marks or Riley were put in charge of the Lakers&rsquo; front office, they would probably trade Horton-Tucker for draft capital after realizing he&rsquo;s not the right fit there. They&rsquo;d engage the Pelicans, Blazers, Thunder, Rockets, Pacers and Grizzlies &mdash; teams who may have multiple first-round picks &mdash; and find a way to come away from the draft with a young piece and at least one more promising player from the summer circuit. Only then would they go knocking on the doors of guys like Tristan Thompson, Semi Ojeleye and Victor Oladipo, all of whom could help and potentially be had for cheap.
By the time the 2022-23 season tips off, the team could be remade. Some names we&rsquo;d know, and many we wouldn&rsquo;t. But as we&rsquo;ve seen before, often, it&rsquo;s the names we don&rsquo;t know who end up making the biggest difference. Alex Caruso, anyone?&nbsp;
Neither DeMar DeRozan, Buddy Hield nor Kyle Lowry will be coming to save the day; Pelinka and James got themselves into their current mess, and they&rsquo;ll have to get themselves out.
With their season ending much sooner than anyone could have imagined, the Lakers will have plenty to address over their long summer.
But, at least in the NBA, small steps can lead to major strides.
With few options, the Lakers should be so wise.
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With the Los Angeles Lakers out of playoff contention, they must now focus on rebuilding like a small-market team.

Only fix for LeBron’s Lakers is to operate like a small-market team

According to <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewGreif/status/1507785685834481667" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Greif of the LA Times</a>, The Clippers are converting Amir Coffey to a standard NBA contract. To make room on the roster Semi Ojeleye is being waived. Xavier Moon will fill Coffey&rsquo;s place with a new two-way contract.
Coffey is averaging 8.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 62 games for the Clippers this season.
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Source: The Clippers are converting Amir Coffey to a standard NBA contract. To make room on the roster Semi Ojeleye is being waived. Xavier Moon will fill Coffey&rsquo;s place with a new two-way contract.
&mdash; Andrew Greif (@AndrewGreif) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewGreif/status/1507785685834481667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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ANALYSIS:&nbsp;Props to Coffey for impressing the Clippers enough to warrant a full-time deal. Everyone loves to hear stories like that. Sadly, this is bad timing for Ojeleye, as not only is he without a team, but he won't be playoff eligible if a playoff team signs him.

The Clippers will convert Amir Coffey's two-way contract to full-time and waive Semi Ojeleye to make room for him.

Clippers to convert Amir Coffey's contract, waive Semi Ojeleye

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?

Most Improved Player awards don't go to guys like Grant Williams. They're typically reserved for players making the leap to stardom, and Williams is still a bench player in a healthy Boston Celtics rotation.
So when I say that Williams is one of the NBA's most improved players, don't think of it in the same context. Williams has completely transformed his NBA impact this season on a Celtics squad that desperately needed some in-house transformation. His fit on the roster, and in the larger-league sphere, has gone from a question mark to a grinning smiley emoji.
A year ago, no one knew who Williams could be as an offensive piece. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-battles-to-watch-during-boston-celtics-training-camp-and-preseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I even thought Juan Hernangomez would replace him in the rotation</a>. Now, he's everything the Celtics need him to be, and might have even <a href="https://theathletic.com/3117052/2022/02/08/milwaukee-bucks-pursuing-celtics-grant-williams-what-im-hearing-about-the-nba-trade-deadline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taken himself out of run-of-the-mill trade talks.</a>&nbsp;
According to Cleaning the Glass, Williams averaged 109.5 points per 100 shot attempts in 2020-21, a dismal number in the 22nd percentile for his position. This year, he's at 133.4, in the 88th percentile among all bigs. That's nuts,&nbsp;especially for a big with less of a paint presence, and worth exploring.
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Obviously, we have to start with Williams' 44.6% three-point clip, which is currently second in the league behind PJ Tucker. He's maximizing on the gravity of guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown; 44.9% of Williams' field goal attempts are "wide open" threes (when a defender is at least six feet away), and he's hitting 48.8% of those looks. The 23-year-old has canned over half of his corner threes and also cranked up his above-the-break success from 33% (42nd percentile) to 39% (82nd percentile).
Williams is making quicker decisions to shoot. Over 85% of his field goal attempts come without holding the ball for more than two seconds, up from 72.6% last season. That seems partially due to confidence and more of a defined role as a corner spacer. He's averaging 1.51 seconds per touch when he gets the ball, which is the second-fewest in the main Celtics rotation behind only Robert Williams III.
To top things off, Williams' 89.8% free-throw clip represents an enormous 31% boost from last season. The shooting improvement appears to be here to stay.
But Williams' isn't just evolving as a shooter. I've been floored by his improved poise when he attacks closeouts. Look at this progression, courtesy of Second Spectrum/NBA Stats (note: mobile readers should scroll right).
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">Season</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">Drives/Game</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">FG%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">Pass%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">AST%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">TOV%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">2019-20</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">0.4</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">46.7%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">19.4%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">0.0%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">19.4%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">2020-21</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">1.1</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">37.9%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">34.7%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">13.9%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">11.1%</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">2021-22</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">1.2</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">55.0%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">51.5%</td>
<td style="width: 14.81%;">12.1%</td>
<td style="width: 14.8128%;">7.6%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Williams has hit the sweet spot. He's finishing tough on drives and is an equal threat to throw a quality pass out of an attack. Williams has made 75.0% of his overall at-rim attempts, per Cleaning the Glass, which is in the 84th percentile among bigs. His overall turnover rate is down from a ghastly 17.6% to a league-average 12.7%. Here are some of his high-level drive-and-assists, just for fun:
<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/s11x8m" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></div>
This newfound offensive arsenal almost distracts from why Williams is in the rotation in the first place: his defense. According to BBall Index, Williams ranks in the 99th percentile for "positional versaility" and the 92nd percentile for "role versatility." Those metrics estimate how evenly Williams guards various positions and player types on the court. He's a key cog in coach Ime Udoka's switch-heavy scheme, and it reflects in these numbers.&nbsp;
Boston has searched for this type of versatile, low-usage stretch forward for years dating back to the Jae Crowder days. The Celtics drafted Semi Ojeleye and added Marcus Morris, but neither of those moves worked out. Ex-president of basketball operations Danny Ainge <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-boston-celtics-danny-ainge-looking-to-use-trade-exception-shooting-with-size" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly said</a> he was looking to add "shooting with size" at the 2021 trade deadline.&nbsp;
If you buy the sample size of this season, Grant Williams appears to have fit the bill.
THE OUTLIERS (a.k.a. other random interesting numbers I find in the void):
<ul>
<li>This one comes from Nekias Duncan, who just <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-celtics-are-coming" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote a really fantastic piece</a> about Boston's recent surge: The Celtics average 1.23 points per possession when Marcus Smart is used as a screener. That's the best number among 164 players who have set at least 75 picks. It's been a super creative way to utilize a strong, physical guard.</li>
<li>Davion Mitchell is shooting 40% on pull-up threes over the past 10 games. That's an encouraging stretch for the Kings rookie. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/davion-mitchell-is-finding-balance-and-thriving-on-the-margins" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go learn more about him</a> from Mark Schindler.</li>
<li>Jackson Frank whipped out this impressive stat in his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/brandon-ingram-has-evolved-his-game-to-become-the-best-version-of-himself" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deep dive on Brandon Ingram:</a> "In 27 games since Dec. 3, he has an assist rate of 27.9% (96th percentile among forwards, according to Cleaning The Glass) and a turnover rate of 9.9% (59th percentile), both of which would be career-bests across an entire season. Throughout his first 17 games, those marks were 22.1% and 14.0% respectively." That's some growth.</li>
</ul>
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Grant Williams has gone from a negative on offense to one of the best low-usage players in the league.

Stats Notebook: Grant Williams has flipped the script

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

Grading every move from 2022 NBA trade deadline week

According to <a href="https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1491815664956612609" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1491814938914041866" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic's&nbsp;Shams Charania and Sam Amick</a>, the Bucks, Clippers, Pistons and Kings have completed a four-team trade.
In the deal, the Kings will acquire Josh Jackson and Trey Lyles from the Pistons and Donte DiVIncenzo from the Bucks. In return, Sacramento will send former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III to the Pistons.&nbsp;
Milwaukee will receive veteran big man Serge Ibaka from the Clippers. The Bucks are sending Rodney Hood and Semi Ojeleye to LAC in return. Additionally, Milwaukee receives two future second-round picks (from undisclosed teams) in the trade.

Sacramento will send former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III to the Pistons in the deal.

Kings, Pistons, Bucks, Clippers complete 4-team trade

The Milwaukee Bucks haven&rsquo;t been quite themselves as they&rsquo;ve opened their NBA title defense.
Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has played in each of the Bucks&rsquo; first seven games, but many of his usual running mates have been missing. The impact of their absences was evident as the Bucks (3-4) dropped below .500 with a three-game homestand that included losses to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-milwaukee-bucks-khris-middleton-minnesota-379499248d2cfb2ac80671bb1e9e6713" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minnesota</a>, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-khris-middleton-milwaukee-milwaukee-bucks-fca8879272b9f2affa2f2f2b0fef9986" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Antonio</a> and Utah.
&ldquo;We are banged up, we&rsquo;re injured, but you&rsquo;ve got to go out and compete,&rdquo; coach Mike Budenholzer said after a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-milwaukee-utah-donovan-mitchell-5825aa2aa392d3fa4cb31015d4ad7593" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 107-95 loss to the Jazz </a> on Sunday. &ldquo;Nobody feels sorry for you. Nobody&rsquo;s going to worry about you. We&rsquo;ve got to keep playing, keep competing, keep growing and keep developing and hopefully get some of our guys back healthy.&rdquo;
Jrue Holiday has played in just two games and is dealing with a sprained left ankle. Brook Lopez hasn&rsquo;t played since a season-opening victory over the Brooklyn Nets due to a sore back. Donte DiVincenzo still hasn&rsquo;t made his season debut as he continues his recovery after <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fl-state-wire-miami-heat-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-d97279345dd2dc6a919c9e9705f7f824" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tearing a ligament in his left ankle in a first-round playoff series.</a>
The Bucks also were missing two-time All-Star Khris Middleton on Sunday because of an illness unrelated to COVID-19 &mdash; Editor's Note: Middleton was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/khris-middleton-enters-nbas-health-and-safety-protocols" target="_blank" rel="noopener">placed into the NBA's health and safety protocols</a> on Tuesday. Reserve forward Rodney Hood left the game with a bruised right hand. Budenholzer said afterward that Holiday was trending in a good direction but he couldn&rsquo;t say whether the veteran guard would play Tuesday at Detroit.
Holiday was a first-team selection on the NBA All-Defensive Team last season. Lopez was a second-team selection in 2020. Without them on the floor, the Bucks&rsquo; defense hasn&rsquo;t been nearly as stifling as usual.
&ldquo;I know how good of a defender Jrue is,&rdquo; teammate Grayson Allen said after the Jazz game. &ldquo;As a guard, though, I kind of feel, or at least miss, Brook&rsquo;s presence most. Especially with him usually kind of holding down that back line underneath the basket, cleaning up any mistakes. A lot of the stuff on the pick-and-roll, he can drop back and defend, too. He takes a lot of pressure off of us guards. He&rsquo;s definitely missed.&rdquo;
Defense hasn&rsquo;t been the only issue. The Bucks have shot just 27.5% (36 of 131) from 3-point range during this three-game skid.
Although Milwaukee kept most of its core together after winning its first title since 1971, many of the other players on the roster are new.
The Bucks brought back George Hill, who last played for Milwaukee from 2018-20. They added Hood, Allen and forward Semi Ojeleye. They&rsquo;re expecting 2020 second-round draft pick Jordan Nwora to have a bigger role.
Those changes could cause Milwaukee to need time to develop chemistry, particularly since some of the newcomers are playing more minutes than expected because of injuries elsewhere on the roster.
It&rsquo;s worth noting that while the Bucks posted the NBA&rsquo;s best regular-season record in 2018-19 and 2019-20, last year&rsquo;s squad had an up-and-down regular season and was just 16-13 after a five-game skid in February.
Perhaps this year&rsquo;s team also will need time to reach peak form.
&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s going to feel sorry for us,&rdquo; said forward Bobby Portis, who played in only his second game Sunday after dealing with a strained left hamstring. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re the defending champions. Everyone&rsquo;s going to try and give us their best shot.&rdquo;

The Milwaukee Bucks haven’t been quite themselves as they’ve opened their NBA title defense.

Injuries cause reigning champion Bucks to struggle early

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks didn't let the celebration of the franchise's first NBA championship in half a century distract them as they opened their title defense.
In his first game since scoring 50 points in a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-nba-milwaukee-bucks-phoenix-suns-64e76fe1b9f0851dbcf46ad66d90d6de">title-clinching Game 6 NBA Finals victory</a> over the Phoenix Suns, Antetokounmpo had 32 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Bucks to a 127-104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.
&ldquo;If you&rsquo;ve watched the NBA for a long time, this is not an easy night for the team that&rsquo;s set to receive their rings and have the banner,&rdquo; Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very pleased. We&rsquo;ve been talking about the focus in training camp, the focus in practice. The guys have been good.&rdquo;
Khris Middleton and Pat Connaughton each added 20 points to help the Bucks withstand the loss of Jrue Holiday, who sat out the second half with a bruised right heel after scoring 12 points. Budenholzer said MRI results on Holiday were encouraging.
Kevin Durant led the Nets with 32 points and 11 rebounds. Patty Mills scored 21 points and shot 7 of 7 from 3-point range. James Harden added 20 points.
"We weren't very good,&rdquo; Brooklyn coach Steve Nash said. &ldquo;If you're not playing at a high level against the champs, you're not going to win.&rdquo;
The Nets were missing star guard Kyrie Irving, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kyrie-irving-covid-vaccine-nets-dcd6d5c6d027934cf763dc167610ce58">who isn&rsquo;t with the team due to his refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine.</a>
A New York mandate requires professional athletes on local teams to be vaccinated to practice or play in public venues. Rather than using Irving exclusively in road games, the Nets decided he wouldn&rsquo;t play or practice with them at all until he could be a full participant.
After receiving their rings and raising a banner to celebrate their first NBA championship since 1971, the Bucks defeated the team that nearly eliminated them in the second round of the playoffs.
Milwaukee rallied from a 2-0 deficit and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-7c1e79825d167e686b9c132c0c8634e0"> won Game 7 at Brooklyn in overtime </a> after Durant&rsquo;s foot barely crept across the 3-point arc in the final seconds of regulation, turning a potential series-winning 3-pointer into a game-tying 2-point basket.
The Bucks went on a 21-4 run in the first quarter to extend a 10-8 advantage to 31-12. They got the lead back up to 19 again in the second quarter and were ahead 66-59 at halftime. The lead never dropped below seven the rest of the way.
Milwaukee outrebounded Brooklyn 54-44 and took 21 more shots than the Nets.
&ldquo;We were climbing uphill all game,&rdquo; Durant said.
Milwaukee got 15 points from Jordan Nwora and 10 from Grayson Allen.
FANCY RINGS
<a href="https://twitter.com/Bucks/status/1450598672018944012">Milwaukee's championship rings </a> include the messages &ldquo;Fear The Deer&rdquo; and &ldquo;Bucks In 6.&rdquo; The latter slogan has served as a rallying cry among fans ever since former Bucks guard Brandon Jennings used those words while incorrectly predicting the outcome of Milwaukee's 2013 first-round series with the eventual NBA champion Miami Heat.
Jennings and former Bucks guard Michael Redd were both in the crowd.
The rings, designed by Jason of Beverly Hills, have 360 diamonds on the top to represent the Bucks' total wins under current ownership. There are 16 emerald-shape diamonds on each side, symbolizing their 16 playoff wins last season and their 16 division titles in franchise history.
&ldquo;My first thought as soon as it was handed to me is this is the biggest ring I've ever seen in life, and there's a lot of diamonds in it,&rdquo; Nwora said.
Herb Kohl, the 86-year-old former U.S. senator who owned the Bucks from 1985-2014, also got a ring and received a standing ovation when he was announced.

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

TIP-INS
Nets: Mills had a brilliant Brooklyn debut after spending the last 10 seasons in San Antonio, but the Nets didn't get much else from their bench. Brooklyn's other reserves combined for just four points.
Bucks: Milwaukee was missing guard Donte DiVincenzo (ankle) and forwards Bobby Portis (hamstring) and Semi Ojeleye (calf). Budenholzer didn&rsquo;t have an estimate on when any of the three might make their season debut but said that Portis and Ojeleye will play before DiVincenzo, who tore a ligament in his left ankle during last season&rsquo;s playoffs.
UP NEXT
Nets: At Philadelphia on Friday.
Bucks: At Miami on Thursday.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The Milwaukee Bucks received their championship rings and raised their banner before routing the Nets 127-104 in the opener.

Bucks begin title defense with 127-104 victory over Nets

It&rsquo;s not every season that the defending NBA champions fly under the radar, but the Milwaukee Bucks have managed to do exactly that.
On the eve of the team taking its talents to New York to do preseason battle with the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center, Giannis Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s name is not one that we&rsquo;ve seen called very much since the Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals.
Perhaps it&rsquo;s due to Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s extended absence from his on-court duties. The reigning Finals MVP only participated in his first practice of the offseason on Wednesday, as he&rsquo;s been recovering from the knee injury he sustained in the Eastern Conference Finals back in June.
Afterward, and before the team departed for New York, Antetokounmpo offered that he&rsquo;s &ldquo;getting back healthy&rdquo; and that he is &ldquo;feeling good.&rdquo; If he does play at all in the preseason, it is likely to only be for a cameo.
The Bucks, after all, can fully appreciate that being healthy in the end is much more important than it is in the beginning.
They are the defending champs, after all, even if we seem to have forgotten that.
Low key and working in stealth, it&rsquo;s perhaps fitting for a team that has been content flying under the radar for nearly the entirety of its existence as a contender in the East, and even now as champions.
Milwaukee is steadfastly preparing for what it hopes will be a successful title defense, and it&rsquo;s easy to imagine that the team is entering the 2021-22 season with a bit of a chip on its shoulder. Las Vegas has installed the Los Angeles Lakers and Nets as the betting favorites in their respective conferences, and a fair amount of people believe that the Bucks wouldn&rsquo;t have thwarted the Nets in the conference semifinals last season had it not been for the untimely injuries of both James Harden and Kyrie Irving.
Quietly, though, Milwaukee spent the offseason bolstering its platoon, recovering from the loss of P.J. Tucker by re-signing Bobby Portis and walking away from free agency with the services of Rodney Hood, Semi Ojeleye and George Hill.&nbsp;
For Hill in particular, it will be his second stint with the Bucks, and the veteran will provide a steady hand as a reserve playing behind Jrue Holiday. The club was without Donte DiVincenzo for all but three playoff games last season, so his return to the lineup with only help Milwaukee in its title defense.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Aside from asking why nobody is talking about the Bucks, another appropriate question is whether or not they&rsquo;re a deeper team who will be emboldened by last year&rsquo;s successful title run.
For what it&rsquo;s worth, <a href="http://NBA.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA.com</a> has undertaken the very interesting exercise of polling the league&rsquo;s general managers, and getting their predictions on what will transpire over the course of the coming season. In this year&rsquo;s poll, 72% of the league&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-gms-predict-kevin-durant-to-win-mvp-nets-to-win-the-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GMs predicted that the Nets would walk away with the Larry O&rsquo;Brien trophy</a>, while 17% predicted that it would be the Lakers. The Bucks finished third with 10% of the vote.
Similarly, 83% of respondents predicted that the Nets would be the East&rsquo;s top team this coming season, with 17% believing that the Bucks would earn that honor.
In MVP voting, Kevin Durant and Luka Doncic earned 37% and 33% of the vote, respectively, with Giannis placing third at 13%.
Interestingly enough, the Bucks received a lot of love in the survey when it came to their defensive prowess. Antetokounmpo, for example, received the most votes for both the best defensive player in the NBA, as well as the most versatile defender in the NBA. Jrue Holiday was declared the best perimeter defender in the league, while the Bucks also won the poll for being the best defensive team overall.
It&rsquo;s hard to argue with those conclusions, but also interesting to note that &mdash; at least among the league&rsquo;s general managers &mdash; being the top defensive team in the league isn&rsquo;t believed to be enough.
That&rsquo;s why they play the games, though, and as has become commonplace under Mike Budenholzer, Milwaukee will certainly believe in its ability to defend its championship &mdash; even if nobody else does.
Around the league, plenty of teams have become stronger. In the East alone, Kyle Lowry&rsquo;s addition to the Miami Heat will <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/kyle-lowry-makes-early-impact-in-miami-heat-debut" target="_blank" rel="noopener">give the team another All-Star caliber performe</a>r who is no stranger to big games and big moments. The Chicago Bull have added the likes of Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso to what was already a promising young core. The New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics will each be looking to build upon last season&rsquo;s success, and it&rsquo;s fair to conclude that the conference is getting stronger.
Despite that, though, as the reigning MVP boards his flight to head back to Barclays Center for the first time since the Bucks defeated the Nets in Game 7 of last postseason&rsquo;s semifinal series, Milwaukee is wiser, more steadfast and emboldened.
More importantly, they&rsquo;re champions. And as we prepare for the 2021-22 season to begin and make predictions for what lies ahead, we should all remember that fact.

The Lakers and Nets have stolen the headlines this offseason, but the Bucks could still potentially be the last team standing in the end.

Bucks may be first defending NBA champion to fly under the radar

Giannis Antetokounmpo says he feels fine as he prepares for the Milwaukee Bucks&rsquo; title defense but will be careful with the left knee that he hyperextended during the championship run.
Antetokounmpo missed the final two games of the Eastern Conference finals after hurting his knee but returned to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-nba-basketball-milwaukee-bucks-atlanta-hawks-477d3e4a0a7cf768cf2ab47ce24a5aa7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earn MVP honors in the NBA Finals. </a> He scored 50 points in a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-nba-milwaukee-bucks-phoenix-suns-64e76fe1b9f0851dbcf46ad66d90d6de" target="_blank" rel="noopener">title-clinching Game 6 victory over the Phoenix Suns.</a>
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m good to go,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said Monday. &ldquo;But if I feel like I&rsquo;m in pain again or whatever the case might be, I have to listen to my body. When you feel pain, it&rsquo;s your body telling you that it&rsquo;s protecting you, that you can&rsquo;t go anymore. I&rsquo;ve played through pain. I don&rsquo;t think now is the time to risk that. It&rsquo;s too early in the season.
"But at the end of the day, I feel good physically, mentally. I&rsquo;ll do whatever I have to do to be 100%.&rdquo;
The two-time MVP says he still has plenty of incentive even after leading the Bucks to their first championship since 1971.
&ldquo;Are we satisfied?&rdquo; Antetokounmpo asked. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not satisfied. I&rsquo;m not even close to being satisfied. That&rsquo;s the tone we&rsquo;ve got to set as a team. And as a leader of this team, that&rsquo;s the tone that I&rsquo;m going to set. We understand that teams are coming for us, but we&rsquo;re going to be ready.&rdquo;
Milwaukee won that elusive title by continually responding to adversity.
The Bucks rallied from 2-0 deficits in the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-7c1e79825d167e686b9c132c0c8634e0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eastern Conference semifinals against Brooklyn </a> and the NBA Finals against Phoenix. They responded after <a href="https://apnews.com/article/milwaukee-bucks-atlanta-hawks-nba-sports-83dc76b25e0f5d1367fbfa7716bd0d46" target="_blank" rel="noopener">losing Game 1</a> at home to Atlanta in the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-hawks-phoenix-suns-milwaukee-bucks-nba-finals-nba-86a45418b2bf41ffcd7e53a00e0f7044#:~:text=Khris%20Middleton%20scored%2032%20points,the%20first%20time%20since%201974." target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Eastern Conference finals.</a>
Milwaukee wants to maintain that drive this year while returning from a short but eventful offseason in which guard Jrue Holiday and forward Khris Middleton followed up their NBA championships by winning gold medals with the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-sports-nba-tokyo-milwaukee-bucks-8ef2aac27c0efe79452614a989af8316" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Olympic team. </a>
Middleton said Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer made that point clear in a Monday morning meeting. Budenholzer's message to the team was straightforward: Do it again.
&ldquo;What we did last year, they can&rsquo;t take that away from us at all,&rdquo; Middleton said. &ldquo;But we still have to be motivated. We have to stay hungry and try to find a way to do it again.&rdquo;
The Bucks return most of the nucleus from their championship team, with a couple of exceptions. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-lifestyle-milwaukee-bucks-houston-cfdf9c93a937a10201923495443db394">P.J. Tucker, </a> a midseason acquisition who started each of the final three playoff series while providing defense and 3-point shooting, left for the Miami Heat. Bryn Forbes, a quality 3-point shooter in the regular season who fell out of the rotation in the latter stages of the playoffs, rejoined the San Antonio Spurs.
Milwaukee brought back guard George Hill, who played for the Bucks from 2018-20. The Bucks also acquired Grayson Allen from Memphis and signed former Celtics forward Semi Ojeleye.
&ldquo;I believe we&rsquo;re better in a different way,&rdquo; general manager Jon Horst said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll find out. If not, we have options and abilities to adjust and pivot as we always have.&rdquo;
The Bucks also should get a boost from the comeback of starting guard Donte DiVincenzo, who hasn&rsquo;t played since <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fl-state-wire-miami-heat-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-d97279345dd2dc6a919c9e9705f7f824" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> tearing a left ankle ligament </a> in the Bucks&rsquo; first-round series with Miami. DiVincenzo said Monday he isn&rsquo;t yet participating in five-on-five workouts.
The Bucks vow complacency won&rsquo;t be an issue.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not how this group is,&rdquo; center Brook Lopez said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not in this group&rsquo;s DNA.&rdquo;

Giannis Antetokounmpo says he feels fine as he prepares for the Bucks’ title defense but will be careful with his left knee.

Bucks' Antetokounmpo feeling fine but monitoring his knee

Nekias Duncan previews the Central Division for the 2021-22 NBA season.

2021-22 NBA Season Preview: Central Division

The Milwaukee Bucks are still riding their "championship high" for good reason. Thanks in large part to a perfect storm revolving around global superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee won the NBA title for the first time in 50 years.
In Game 6, Giannis put together arguably the greatest individual performance in NBA Finals history with a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/battle-tested-milwaukee-bucks-find-redemption-from-past-with-nba-championship-gold" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50-point masterpiece</a>. Such a moment was a rubber-stamped seal of approval, especially after Giannis committed to Milwaukee for five more years by signing his supermax extension moments before the 2020-21 season began. Going all-in around Giannis with a top No. 2 option in Khris Middleton, plus Jrue Holiday and copious amounts of three-point shooters, worked out beautifully.
Now, entering the 2021-22 campaign, expectations are through the roof for an encore. With Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s metamorphosis into one of the most dominant forces in the league, Milwaukee will always be a top contender to make another deep postseason run. This could be the beginning of Giannis' reign in the Eastern Conference, even with the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nets-ready-to-flex-their-muscles-as-nba-alpha-dog-throughout-2021-22-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">juggernaut superteam based in Brooklyn</a> as the Bucks' top competition. Giannis is running roughshod through defenses <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-new-superman-giannis-antetokounmpo-is-the-modern-shaquille-oneal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">similarly to Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal</a> &mdash; dominance with sheer force. Since 2017, his playoff averages (27.3 points, 12.1 rebounds, 9.6 free throw attempts, 5.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, 1.2 steals per game) show he&rsquo;s nearly scheme-proof, and he&rsquo;s just now entering his prime years at 26 years old.
Giannis entered the league as a scrawny, unknown prospect from Greece. Now, he&rsquo;s a physical Adonis with one of the most impressive individual resumes at this stage of his career in NBA history.
Once Giannis added "NBA champion" to his resume, I posed a question about whether Milwaukee should embrace him becoming a full-time center. O&rsquo;Neal donned him the new Superman, and the comparison is certainly valid. When diving into the advanced metrics for lineups featuring Giannis at center, Milwaukee was dominating its competition. During the Bucks&rsquo; run to the Larry O&rsquo;Brien trophy, Giannis' minutes at the 5 had resounding success.
The two most-used lineups for jumbo-Giannis lineups carried a plus-32.5 and plus-18.0 net rating in 127 total minutes. And looking back to regular-season action, some lineups simply ran teams off the court. For example, in 41 minutes, the following combination carried an absurd plus-48.3 NET: Jrue Holiday, Donte DiVincenzo, Pat Connaughton, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
When the Phoenix Suns exploited the Bucks in the Finals and took a 2-0 series lead, the main adjustment was more minutes for Giannis at the 5. The end result was Milwaukee bulldozing through Phoenix for four consecutive games. He likely won't become the permanent, full-time 5-man as long as Brook Lopez remains under contract, but the next evolution for Giannis will be to embrace a Shaq-like role. Once that goes into full motion, Milwaukee&rsquo;s dominance could reach even higher levels than we&rsquo;ve already experienced.
How the Bucks have built their roster around a freakish talent such as Antetokounmpo is marvelous. Middleton and Holiday are the ideal secondary options who can hold their own on each end of the court at an above-average level. Meanwhile, everyone else within the Bucks&rsquo; rotation is a legitimate threat from three-point range to optimally space the floor for Giannis to cause his game-by-game reign of terror on opposing teams.
Looking over the Bucks&rsquo; 2021-22 rotation, there are three notable differences. PJ Tucker, Bryn Forbes and Jeff Teague are now out of the picture, and Semi Ojeleye, Grayson Allen and George Hill are taking their places. It&rsquo;s an upgrade at the reserve guard spot, but the jury is still out on whether Ojeleye can thrive within a Tucker-esque bench role of consistently hitting threes and defending bulky wing scorers.
The ecosystem Giannis will once again thrive within has eight players who can knock down the deep ball. It will allow Antetokounmpo to focus on what makes him one of the most decorated players in the Association. Take a look at Milwaukee's players in 2021-22 who were plus-37% three-point shooters in catch-and-shoot situations.
Bobby Portis (46.7%), George Hill (43.6%), Khris Middleton (43.1%), Grayson Allen (39.9%), Pat Connaughton (38.4%), Donte DiVincenzo (38.2%), Semi Ojeleye (37.6%), Jrue Holiday (37.2%)
The system head coach Mike Budenholzer has put into motion is built around elite floor-spacing with an MVP candidate doing everything within the three-point line. Add in Middleton and Holiday, who can go off at a moment&rsquo;s notice, and the Bucks have a formula in place that can reach unstoppable moments. It&rsquo;s why the Bucks are not moving off the top-tier of the East anytime soon. As long as Giannis is being Giannis, Milwaukee is a championship threat every single season.
Previewing the 10-man rotation for the Bucks, it&rsquo;s a well-balanced attack with very few holes to expose:
Starters: Jrue Hoilday, Donte DiVincenzo, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez
Second Unit: George Hill, Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton, Semi Ojeleye, Bobby Portis
DiVincenzo is a major X-factor who figures to take another leap forward. Middleton and Holiday are 20-point per game scorers who flash star-like qualities. The second unit is well-balanced with ample amounts of three-point shooting. When you put everything under the lens, Milwaukee is poised to have a huge 2021-22 season. Giannis will continue to evolve, which is such a scary thought considering what his true ceiling could eventually become.
Ho-hum, another 55-60-plus win season with Giannis Antetokounmpo being a top name in the MVP race once again. It's the new normal for Milwaukee, and what a time it is for us to watch one of the best-constructed environments for a superstar to thrive within.

After winning their first NBA championship in 50 years, the Bucks are going nowhere. They're here to stay atop the NBA's hierarchy.

Bucks, Giannis prepared to continue their reign of terror on NBA

The Boston Celtics haven't had a news day like this since August 2017, when Isaiah Thomas was dealt in exchange for Kyrie Irving.&nbsp;
Everyone in the Boston sports landscape knew something had to change after a <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/in-a-cursed-nba-year-boston-celtics-fans-should-blame-anyone-except-the-players-jayson-tatum-jaylen-brown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">frustrating, cursed year</a> ended with the Celtics losing in the first round to the superior Brooklyn Nets. But fans complain about the head coach and front-office leader. How often do changes actually happen, especially like this?
Brad Stevens is shifting from his role as steward of the post-Big Three roster to President of Basketball Operations. Danny Ainge, who has served as a Celtics executive since 2003, is dropping out -- right as his eight-year plan to stockpile draft picks finally lays itself out. It's a rare move for a head coach to give up his job and move directly to a front-office position -- something Ainge himself once did when he moved from coaching the Phoenix Suns in the late '90s to his role in Boston's front office years later.
But Stevens' transition is much different. He is staying with the same franchise and embracing a larger view of the Celtics, mere days after being on the court with his players. And unlike Tom Thibodeau, who was once head coach and general manager with the Minnesota Timberwolves at the same time, Stevens will no longer be a voice on the sidelines. He'll be leading the search for a new head coach.
According to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/celtics-expected-to-consider-jason-kidd-lloyd-pierce-for-head-coach" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports</a>, Los Angeles Lakers assistant Jason Kidd and former Atlanta Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce are expected to be candidates for the job.
The decision puts a tremendous amount of faith in Stevens' chops as a decision-maker. On one hand, it makes sense. Who better understands the team chemistry, needs, strengths and weaknesses than the recent head coach? Stevens knows what makes his players tick, what systems they would thrive under and what type of personality would bring out the best in young stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
The 44-year-old Stevens also appears to be in better touch with the roster's expectations than his predecessor. Ainge consistently piled onto the negativity surrounding the fifth-youngest roster in the NBA, often implying win-now expectations while <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ainge-on-celtics-struggles-im-putting-it-on-my-players-shoulders-right-now" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly blaming his players</a> for the rough patches in the season. While Stevens did not shy away from criticism, he <a href="https://nesn.com/2021/06/brad-stevens-knows-celtics-need-for-improvement-after-game-5-loss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accepted the reality of an unusual year headlined by injuries and COVID-19.</a>&nbsp;
Players have always been positive about their relationship with Stevens... but that now becomes a double-edged sword. With such an immediate move to a very powerful position, is he prepared to make the tough choices regarding roster construction? Will he be hesitant to make a necessary move because of the potential impact it has on the locker room? What if he does make that controversial, Isaiah-Thomas-like trade -- will that sour the players on management?
The questions only abound. What happens to assistant general manager Mike Zarren? Zarren has long been considered the right-hand man to Ainge and a key player behind the scenes during many of Boston's money moves. Is he staying with the team to guide Stevens, or heading to a promotion somewhere else?
On the players' side, this is an enormous transition for Tatum, Brown and the rest of the Celtics. Unlike many other young, impatient franchises, the Celtics have stuck it out with Stevens for eight years, allowing their two franchise centerpieces and the rest of the group to get comfortable with one leading presence and one system. No one on the Celtics was around in the Doc Rivers days. If a new coach comes along, how will they adapt?
It's a confusing, electric time for a franchise that seemed to hit a wall in the recent loss to Brooklyn. This groundbreaking move feels like a collective "you asked for it" directed at Celtics fans and media.
Boston doesn't have to change its identity. Only three players are hitting unrestricted free agency: Evan Fournier, Luke Kornet and Semi Ojeleye (plus two-way contract players Tremont Waters and Tacko Fall). But no one knows Stevens' tendencies as an executive, and no one knows how much pressure he faces to continue shaking things up.&nbsp;
All we currently know is that the futures of the roster, the coaching staff and the Celtics at large currently hinge on the 2021 offseason -- and one Brad Stevens.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Ethan Fuller dissects the surprising news of Brad Stevens transitioning into his president of basketball operations role with the Celtics.

Celtics' unprecedented front-office overhaul hands keys to Brad Stevens

Nekias Duncan breaks down the battles that could swing each first-round series of the NBA Playoffs.

Pressure points: Battles that will decide the first round of the NBA Playoffs

Hi, hello, and welcome to yet another edition of Roaming The Baseline! This will be a weekly endeavor where I point out some things that caught my eye: a hot or cold streak from a player, a developmental flash, a well-run play, a funny tweet, who knows? There will be film -- it&rsquo;s me, so of course there will be film -- but this will also be a bit looser. It&rsquo;s an extension of my Twitter feed, if you will.&nbsp;
With that said, let&rsquo;s roam the baseline.
DEMAR DEROZAN IS LEADING THE CHARGE
The Spurs kicked off April with a five-game losing streak. A post-All-Star break slide was somewhat expected due to the strength of their schedule. A 26-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, however, wasn't part of the plan.
So there they were, reeling in the middle of a tightly contested play-in battle. And here they are now, winners of seven of their last 10 games. They're closer to the sixth seed (2.5 games back) than they are to 11th (4.5 games ahead).
If you're doling out praise, it has to begin with DeMar DeRozan. He's been playing All-Star-caliber basketball all season long, providing his usual brand of mid-post purity and rim attacking. He's especially perked up during this 7-3 stretch for the Spurs, averaging an efficient 25 and 8.
He marches to the beat of his own drum, offering up-fakes and pivots whenever the song needs a little juice.
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The combination of touch and footwork are only rivaled by a handful of players in the league. He has all the tricks of the foul-drawing trade. And because he's such a threat inside the arc, defenses have to shift to cut off his space.&nbsp;
What do you do when your counters are countered? Well, you counter those countered counters.&nbsp;
For DeRozan, that means making a leap as a playmaker for the third or fourth year in a row. He may not cause perimeter jump-outs as often as the Steph Curry/Damian Lillard/Trae Young division, but he's able to leverage his driving prowess to create similar passing windows.
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The glass ceiling on a primary that doesn't threaten from deep has been talked about ad nauseam. I've been guilty of it. We get it.
Let's just get back to basics with DeRozan: this dude is really freaking good at basketball.
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DARIUS GARLAND, PULLING UP
Young man's got some sauce to him.
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This feels straight out of Madden '07 to me. Instead of putting Ryan Arcidiacono on his hip, Garland slithers under him like he flicked "up" on the Highlight Stick. <a href="https://youtu.be/JYotsNmfM3g?t=22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You know the animation</a>. With Arcidiacono's momentum carrying him forward, Garland decelerates while retreating with a behind-the-back dribble, then flows immediately into a triple.
This. Is. The. Way.
Since the All-Star break, Garland is averaging a shade under 20 points while posting a 57.8 True Shooting percentage. The aggression has been the big key for him. He's taken 126 threes in 23 games since the All-Star break; he took 125 in the first 28 games of the season. A 43% clip on 5.5 attempts is dope for a 23-game sample. The funny part is that he's still&nbsp;leaving some food on his plate.
With Garland more willing to fire, defenders are creeping up a tad bit more. That's allowing him to get into the paint more often. Those paint touches are allowing his passing chops to shine through more clearly.
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This campaign has been a bit of a mess for the Cavs because of their injuries (and the occasional <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-something-has-got-to-give-with-kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers-koby-altman-discipline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kevin Love lash-out</a>), but Garland figuring out that he can get to his shot just about whenever he wants may be the biggest development of their season.&nbsp;
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THE OTHER SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE
Joe Ingles is not having a very fun stretch. Over his last three games, he's shooting 32.4% from the field (1-of-5 from two, 10-of-29 from three). He's taken four free throws in that stretch, making half of them.
Meh.&nbsp;
With that cold patch, Ingles now has a True Shooting percentage of... wait, hold on... am I reading this correctly?
Ingles IS STILL POSTING A 70.0 TRUE SHOOTING PERCENTAGE. That's No. 1 among all players, and there's a significant gap between Ingles and runner-up Jarrett Allen (68.4).
Jordan Clarkson has felt like the frontrunner for the Bench Scorer of the Year Sixth Man of the Year award all season. I'd simply like to pose this question to you: why?
Clarkson has been a tremendous spark off the bench, though he's started to slide a bit with his jumper. Ingles has been lighting it up from beyond the arc all season, while also adding value as a passer and multi-positional defender. He can fill gaps -- on both ends of the floor -- in a way that Clarkson flat-out can't.&nbsp;
12-4-4, a 70 TS%, and solid defense across two-and-a-half/three positions on the best team in the league. What's not to like? What is the case against Ingles aside from points?
It is 2021, man. I think we should be a little past sorting the points-per-game section for bench players and handing out the award that way.&nbsp;
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THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO "HMMMM"
<ul>
<li>Let's continue to keep an eye on Luka Doncic in one-on-one situations. We know he loves the stepback, and how hot-and-cold it has run throughout his career. He's leaning more into his post game, a fun counter when he's matched up against like-sized or smaller defenders. He's generating 1.13 points per possession on post-ups (passes included) this season, the seventh-best mark among 49 players with at least 75 post-up possessions.</li>
<li>Ja Morant is shooting 41.4% from three-point range on moderate volume in April. He ain't that, but as my podcast co-host <a href="https://twitter.com/stevejones20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steve Jones Jr.</a> pointed out on this week's episode of "<a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1386679481709080576?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Dunker Spot</a>," he does look a lot more comfortable navigating against "under" coverage. Give any player with that level of IQ the same look over and over, and he's bound to beat it.</li>
<li>Guess who leads the Raptors in fourth-quarter scoring over the past two weeks? If you guessed any of the usual suspects -- Pascal Siakam (5.4), OG Anunoby (3.6), Fred VanVleet (2.0), or Kyle Lowry (1.3) -- you'd be wrong. The rookster Malachi Flynn is not only leading them in scoring (5.8), but he's doing so efficiently (47/46/92 shooting split). Another "got some sauce to him" guy to keep an eye on moving forward.</li>
<li>Kendrick Nunn (and just about every other guard) missed Monday night's loss to the Chicago Bulls, but the Heat have been getting the goods from Nunn as of late. He's averaging 16-4-3 while shooting 42% from deep since Victor Oladipo has been out. There's a real argument to be made that he's been Miami's best guard this season; you can quibble about what that means for Miami, but it's a timely development for Nunn as he enters an offseason where he <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/several-teams-tried-trading-for-kendrick-nunn-prior-to-deadline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">may be pretty coveted</a>.</li>
<li>The Warriors are 2-2 and have been outscored with Stephen Curry on the court since <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/steph-curry-on-if-hes-the-mvp-i-gotta-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he said he should be the MVP.</a> He's still played pretty well (28.5 points with a 46/39/87 split), but the timing of the dip is pretty funny.</li>
</ul>
PLAYS I LIKED
Hit 'Em With the Flex
It's always a good time when teams flow out of Elbow Series. Toss the rock to your high-post hub and let him play quarterback. It's a LeBron staple, a Jokic staple -- really any frontcourt player who can hit a cutter. This was a fun one from Toronto.
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Just tremendous work on the flex action from OG Anunoby and Fred VanVleet. Anunoby sets up RJ Barrett with a filthy juke; VanVleet lays the lumber and&nbsp;hooooolds it,&nbsp;freeing Anunoby for the flush.&nbsp;
Going Wide in Brooklyn
An effective way for teams to get busy in (early) transition is to have a big set a high, off-ball screen around the middle of the floor. It's tough enough for defenses to match up in transition; doing so while trying to navigate a screen and a player flying downhill off the catch can be darn-near impossible at times.
I always think of the Milwaukee (Khris Middleton, specifically) when I see these early screens, but this was a good rep from the Nets.&nbsp;
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The Suns are in drop coverage due to Frank Kaminsky being their 5. They don't want to switch him, so he's hanging back while eyeing Blake Griffin. Griffin sets the screen for Kevin freakin' Durant; it's fair to say the Suns have no intention of switching Kaminsky onto him.
That leaves four eyes on Durant and a whole lot of space for Griffin to pop into. Easy money (sniper).
Early Chaos
Nothing says "we're young" like doing just about everything at 150 MPH. They turn a simple HORNS Flare look into a scramble drill.
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There is&nbsp;a lot&nbsp;going on here. Darius Bazley (#7) essentially ghosts the initial screen as Theo Maledon pivots to his right. The Celtics switch that ghost screen, but still find themselves trailing the action due to how quickly the Thunder are moving.&nbsp;
We get a quick pitch from Maledon to Aleksej Pokusevski, all while Moses Brown is "chasing" the ball to flow into a quick-hitting pick-and-roll. The Celtics can't switch&nbsp;that&nbsp;one -- Semi Ojeleye gets bumped by Brown -- and that allows Poku to waltz into a pull-up.
THE READING LIST
There is plenty of high-level basketball content out here if you know where to look. I wouldn&rsquo;t be where I am as a writer without reading a ton of Zach Lowe or Chris Herring or Caitlin Cooper or Mirin Fader or, well, you get the point.&nbsp;
Anyway, here are some -- not all, but some! -- of the stories I&rsquo;ve read this week that I think you should check out. Their Twitter handles will be linked under their names, so click and follow if you don&rsquo;t already.
<a href="https://twitter.com/AlexmRegla" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alex Regla</a> on Talen Horton-Tucker's <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexmRegla/status/1385250226638770178" target="_blank" rel="noopener">downhill dynamism</a>.
<a href="https://twitter.com/FredKatz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fred Katz</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/davidaldridgedc">David Aldridge</a> tag-teamed on a <a href="https://twitter.com/FredKatz/status/1386687635364753412?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robin Lopez breakdown</a>.
<a href="https://twitter.com/seeratsohi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seerat Sohi</a> waxes poetic on how <a href="https://twitter.com/seeratsohi/status/1385321563159810054?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Steph Curry's magical run makes us feel</a>.
<a href="https://twitter.com/RobMahoney">Rob Mahoney</a> on why the Milwaukee Bucks <a href="https://twitter.com/RobMahoney/status/1385234420555124736?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shouldn't be slept on</a>.
<a href="https://twitter.com/MirinFader" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mirin Fader</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/MirinFader/status/1385237454894952450?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a tremendous feature</a> on Rockets rookie Jae'Sean Tate.

In Nekias Duncan's weekly notebook, he shares things that have caught his eye. He breaks down players, teams, plays, stats, etc.

Roaming the Baseline: DeMar DeRozan, Darius Garland, Joe Ingles, more

After initially listing Evan Fournier as Questionable, the Celtics announced that the newly-acquired guard is available to play tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans.&nbsp;
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEBHInjuryReport?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NEBHInjuryReport</a> update: Evan Fournier - AVAILABLE
&mdash; Boston Celtics (@celtics) <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1376574266909593608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Fournier could make his Celtics debut after coming over from the Orlando Magic at the trade deadline. The Celtics dealt two second round picks and Jeff Teague to Orlando for the 28-year-old guard. Fournier was averaging a career-high 19.7 points per game with the Magic.&nbsp;
The team also announced earlier in the day that Jaylen Brown is out of the lineup with a hip contusion.&nbsp;
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NEBHInjuryReport?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NEBHInjuryReport</a> update: Jaylen Brown (left hip contusion) - OUT Evan Fournier (Health &amp; Safety Protocols) - QUESTIONABLE Romeo Langford (Health &amp; Safety Protocols) - OUT Semi Ojeleye (left side strain) - OUT Tristan Thompson (Health &amp; Safety Protocols) - OUT
&mdash; Boston Celtics (@celtics) <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1376560378675662853?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Fournier could make his debut with the Celtics on Monday.

Evan Fournier available to play for Celtics vs. Pelicans, Jaylen Brown out

Ethan Fuller ranks NBA teams by their success plans, with loads of parity through three weeks of action.