Little Giants

LeBron James has once again caused a stir throughout the sports world.
No, I&rsquo;m not talking about his 42-point performance at The Drew League, or the rumors of him being in favor of a reunion with Kyrie Irving with the Los Angeles Lakers. Instead, I'm referencing the apparent outrage he caused for the city of Boston and its sports fan base
During the most recent episode of UNINTERRUPTED&rsquo;s The Shop, LeBron was asked, &ldquo;Why do you hate Boston?&rdquo; He responded, &ldquo;Because they&rsquo;re racist as f**k."
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Upon hearing news of LeBron&rsquo;s statement, many people didn&rsquo;t exactly consider this &ldquo;breaking news," as Boston has historically had a rich history of being exactly what LeBron described. However, there were a large amount of Boston fans who took to social media to take exception to LeBron&rsquo;s generalization of the entire city. But was he wrong?
You don&rsquo;t have to get Dr. Emmett Brown to fire up his <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjhoPPz5YL5AhUDhIkEHS9JCd4QwqsBegQIAxAB&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DI5cYgRnfFDA&amp;usg=AOvVaw3yzsh2Y3Z5nk0s22_1_2pU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DeLorean time machine with the 1.21 gigawatts</a> to revisit the 1960s, as Bill Russell has long described his racist encounters with Boston fans. And over time, plenty of professional athletes from every sport have made their racist encounters in Boston publicly known.&nbsp;
Let's look at some of those examples.
In his rookie season with the Celtics, Dee Brown was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/a34620ecfa0605c35908d7f1b858b427" target="_blank" rel="noopener">physically snatched out of his car and ordered to lay on the ground with a gun pointed at him by Boston police</a> while driving in a white neighborhood. The police later claimed that he &ldquo;resembled a suspect."
This falls right in line with <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2020/06/12/black-people-made-up-70-percent-of-boston-police-stops-department-data-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent data collected from the Boston Police Department</a> in June 2020. It unveiled that "70% of people stopped by Boston police officers through the department&rsquo;s 'Field Interrogation and Observation' program throughout were Black &mdash; even though Black residents comprise less than one quarter of the city&rsquo;s population."
In May 2014, Montreal Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban of the National Hockey League was vocal about <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/news/habs-bruins-denounce-fans-who-made-racist-comments-towards-subban-on-social-media" target="_blank" rel="noopener">racist tweets and comments from Boston fans on social media</a> after his double-overtime game-winning goal in a playoff win over the Bruins. This wasn&rsquo;t a case of fans simply being upset that their team lost; these were racial epithets being specifically targeted against a Black player.
Over in Major League Baseball, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones told reporters in May 2017 that Boston fans <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/05/01/orioles-adam-jones-berated-racist-taunts-fenway-park-peanuts/101187172/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hurled racial epithets at him for an entire game</a>.
&ldquo;A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,&rdquo; Jones said via <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/05/01/orioles-adam-jones-berated-racist-taunts-fenway-park-peanuts/101187172/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USA Today&rsquo;s Bob Nightengale</a>. &ldquo;I was called the N-word a handful of times tonight. It&rsquo;s unfortunate that people need to resort to those type of epithets to degrade another human being. I&rsquo;m trying to make a living for myself and for my family.&rdquo;
Former Celtic and current Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has been vocal about various encounters he has had with the fans of Boston. Irving didn&rsquo;t give any specific examples to reporters, but rather imported fans at TD Gardens to keep it &ldquo;strictly basketball."
Further, Celtics guard Marcus Smart seemingly supported Irving&rsquo;s comments. Back in October 2020, he <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/marcus-smart-nba-boston-celtics-covid-racial-injustice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">penned an article for The Players' Tribune</a>, detailing an encounter with a white woman in Boston.
Smart wrote about a time he attempted to be a good Samaritan and told a white woman, who was actually wearing a Celtics jersey, to be careful walking in the street as she was in the direct line of oncoming traffic. Instead of thanking him, the woman turned around and hurled a racial epithet directly at Smart.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard a couple of them,&rdquo; Smart <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=2ahUKEwj66pnd9IL5AhXskIkEHX_ECb0QtwJ6BAgcEAI&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DyE0VVQova78&amp;usg=AOvVaw0jg8MlJ31eU3VDMJsz0FAs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in the middle of the Celtics-Nets playoff series in May 2021</a>. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of sad and sickening because even though it&rsquo;s an opposing team, we have guys on your home team that you&rsquo;re saying these racial slurs and you&rsquo;re expecting us to go out there and play for you.&rdquo;
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So to those who were unaware, yes, racism is definitely alive and thriving in the city of Boston &mdash; but is it fair to label the entire city of Boston as racist?&nbsp;
I interviewed Celtics legend Bill Russell for <a href="http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/we-matter-athletes-and-activism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my book</a>, "We Matter: Athletes And Activism," to try to answer that question, and this is what he told me:
"Well, one thing you have to always remember is that the majority of the country are decent folks. The majority of white people are decent folks. And I was always very careful not to stereotype people based on the actions of a few, or a little more than a few, as was the case in Boston," Russell said. "... A lot of the stuff that went on, I knew they were individual acts and not a reflection of everybody in Boston. I see many people today who who really believe that Black folks are responsible for all of the actions of other Black folks, and that&rsquo;s just ridiculous. And it&rsquo;s just as crazy for me to think that all white people were responsible for the ones that treated me and my family so poorly, broke into my house and destroyed my property for no reason at all...
"But just because I said that I don&rsquo;t put all white people in the same boat doesn&rsquo;t mean I don&rsquo;t still recognize that too many white people looked at me as less than, and no matter what they thought, I wasn&rsquo;t about to allow them to treat me as less than."
Powerful words by a giant in NBA history and one of the great athlete-activists the game has ever seen.&nbsp;
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown has addressed Irving&rsquo;s comments as well, but also brought light to the fact that racism extends far beyond the borders of athletics in Boston. During Brown&rsquo;s media availability prior to Game 3 against Brooklyn in May 2021, he <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31529162/boston-celtics-jaylen-brown-spotlights-systematic-racism-says-bigger-basketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke about systemic racism in the city of Boston and, to Russell&rsquo;s point, that every Boston fan isn&rsquo;t racist</a>.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we should have to put up with that, and I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s okay," Brown said. "I think that racism should be addressed, and systemic racism should be addressed in the city of Boston and also the United States... The constructs of racism in our school system, inequality in education, lack of opportunity, lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable health care, tokenism &mdash; the list goes on.
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&ldquo;I know that every Celtics fan in our arena is not a racist. We have people of all walks of life, ethnicities, colors, that are die-hard Celtics fans. So I think painting every Celtics fan as a racist would be unfair. However, Boston, we&rsquo;ve got a lot of work to do, no question.&rdquo;
So, in conclusion, yes, Boston has a very long history &mdash; past and present &mdash; when it comes to racism, but it&rsquo;s not everybody.
Hopefully, the non-racist white people of Boston will be inspired to prove LeBron wrong, displaying the moral courage and feeling obligated to no longer remain silent in the face of being surrounded by prevalent racism (both systemically and on a personal level, such as Boston fans yelling racial epithets at players).
Hopefully, the non-racist white people of Boston will become agents of change, equality, justice and unity.
As Angela Davis said, &ldquo;In a racist society, it&rsquo;s not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Etan Thomas reacts to LeBron James' latest comments on "The Shop" about city of Boston and its sports fan base.

LeBron isn’t wrong about Boston fans' racist history — past or present

Over the past few years, nobody has been more vocal about Kyrie Irving than Stephen A. Smith.
&ldquo;Kyrie Irving is saying basketball is not a priority to me&hellip;..Kyrie Irving until you want to play, you should retire," Smith <a href="https://youtu.be/z81VQBtWnYU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on ESPN's First Take on Jan. 13, 2021</a>. "Forfeit every penny you make, retire and go do what you wanna do in regard to these issues that are clearly most important to you.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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&ldquo;We are witnessing one of the most delusional athletes in American history," Smith doubled down on April 29. "He&rsquo;s lost&hellip;What it comes down to Kyrie is you don&rsquo;t want to show up to work. You wanna do what you wanna do, when you wanna do it, how you wanna do it, and then you have your hand out for somebody else&rsquo;s money."
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These takes &mdash; which have been repeatedly expressed by Stephen A. and those of his ilk for the past few years &mdash; have sparked a nationwide demonization of Kyrie Irving.&nbsp;
To debate this and the ongoing rift between the NBA players and the media, I sat down with two media giants that I have a great deal of respect for in The Athletic's David Aldridge and Marc Spears of ESPN's Andscape. We discussed the contrast between the old media and new media, what the role of the media should be and what real effects talking heads like Stephen A., Skip Bayless, Nick Wright and those of their ilk have on the entire basketball world.
Although we disagreed for the majority of the discussion, this was a healthy debate with different perspectives presented &mdash; the way discussions/debates should be.
(Editor's Note: Watch the entire exchange below on BasketballNews' YouTube channel and subscribe to Etan's podcast "The Rematch.")
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Etan Thomas: I&rsquo;ll agree with both of you that the majority of the media, whatever bucket you want to include everyone in, does not conduct themselves like Stephen A. Smith, or Skip Bayless or Nick Wright or those of that ilk. But they are the loudest voices. And those are the voices that you hear everyday. And those loud voices drive not only the masses of sports fans, but it also impacts the way that journalists write their articles. 
Marc Spears: "Let me stop you right quick. You mentioned (Fox News) earlier &mdash; they present their misinformation as facts, whereas [Nick] Wright and [Stephen A.] Smith, they&rsquo;re just speaking on sports and giving their opinion."
Etan: But they are presenting their opinions as though they are facts. Honestly, Stephen A. Smith has the same power over the masses that Tucker Carlson has over the Right. They&rsquo;ll say all the time that Tucker Carlson is not a real journalist, he&rsquo;s not a real member of the media, but he still has the same media power over the minds of the masses&nbsp;
Spears: "Stephen A. doesn&rsquo;t conjur racism."
Etan: I&rsquo;m not talking about the topic, I&rsquo;m talking about the level of power and influence.&nbsp;
David Aldridge: "Etan for the sake of the discussion, I&rsquo;ll accept your comparison. If the argument is these people are on TV everyday (and) therefore, they have a lot of power, therefore, their opinions carry weight. But I will come back to again: With who? (Laughing) Who do they carry all of this weight with?"
Etan: With the entire sports world.
Aldridge: "But Etan, I would have to disagree with you because it&rsquo;s not the entire sports world. Because the entire sports world would include team owners, team general managers, head coaches, players. And nobody has gotten more bad criticism as of late than Kyrie. Let&rsquo;s use Kyrie Irving as an example.
"Kyrie just opted in for $37 million, and guess what? When he&rsquo;s a free agent next year, somebody else is going to give him a big contract. Might be Brooklyn, might not be. But somebody is going to give Kyrie some more paper to play."
Etan: You don&rsquo;t think the narrative that has been repeated by those like Stephen A. Smith and those of that ilk has hurt the entire image of Kyrie? Going from this past year, let&rsquo;s examine why he was sitting out. During the pandemic and he didn&rsquo;t want to take the vaccine. He was uncomfortable with the vaccine, which a large portion of the country was as well. I had a different conclusion than he had, but I respect his conclusion. Everybody was ok with it until... he started missing games. Then it was like, 'Wait a minute now, we can&rsquo;t have this.' Then, you had Stephen A Smith saying, 'Oh he doesn&rsquo;t want to play, oh he doesn&rsquo;t respect the game,' and that started creating a narrative where the entire pendulum started to shift completely on Kyrie. 
Aldridge: "Do you believe Etan, if I say I can agree with you on Stephen A. Smith voicing his opinion, do you think nobody on the Brooklyn Nets had the same opinion? Do you think the Brooklyn Nets were saying to themselves, 'Yeah, we would love for Kyrie to play, but we respect his position on the vaccine?'"
Etan: But nobody on the Brooklyn Nets was carrying the narrative publicly that he was abandoning his team. So once you have a Stephen A. Smith, who says that repeatedly, then you have journalists who start repeating what Stephen A Smith said in their articles. Then, you have an entire narrative that permeates throughout the entire country.
Aldridge: "Etan, I will humbly submit to you that there were a lot of people within the Brooklyn organization who had the exact same position."
Etan: I&rsquo;m not talking about that, I&rsquo;m saying they weren&rsquo;t saying it publicly.
Aldridge: "Their focus was they needed Kyrie to win. They were trying to win championships."
Etan: Of course. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Kyrie Irving is 100% correct and spot on with this and the media members who fall into this category will be quick to take offense because they know it applies directly to them <a href="https://t.co/ItgLF5N0eg">https://t.co/ItgLF5N0eg</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1520000279747387392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Aldridge: "Okay, so that&rsquo;s my point. They didn&rsquo;t want to say it publicly, but that didn&rsquo;t mean they didn&rsquo;t have the opinion. The inference is that only journalists had this opinion (and that) not a lot of people had this opinion. (The talking heads) said it (publicly), yes, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean that other people didn&rsquo;t have the same opinion."
Spears: "A lot of people had the same opinion, I just think Stephen A. was just probably loudest with it."
Aldridge: "So if lots of people had the same opinion..."
Etan: I think you&rsquo;re still discounting the power of the pen, whether it&rsquo;s the power of the pen or the microphone that Stephen A. Smith and those of that ilk have. There is power in it, so when you repeat something over and over again, there is power in it.
Aldridge: "Okay there&rsquo;s power in it; I&rsquo;m saying the impact of the power I believe is far less. And look, we all love sports &mdash; we all make our living in sports, all of us love writing, talking, thinking about sports, we&rsquo;re all fans of sports. But, it&rsquo;s not the same... I don&rsquo;t believe the power of say, the political media, the political press to shape agendas, whereas a legacy media like the New York Times has an outsized influence on the way the rest of the political press covers things, because people still read the New York Times everyday.
"That&rsquo;s way different than, I would suggest, any talking head on one of the sports debate shows. Do they have influence? Yes. Do they have some ephemeral type of power and influence over a certain segment of the population? I would agree. I would again say, 'What is the impact of that power on a player?' I would say, 'Does it help shape perception of a player?' Yes it does. I would agree with you. It does help shape perception of a player."
Etan: But you don&rsquo;t think the perception of a player has any impact on a GM, or a President or a team? That&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;re telling me?
Aldridge: "I would ask you, if you were talking about who has the worst reputation in pro basketball right now &mdash; I don&rsquo;t have an answer, I&rsquo;m asking you. Based on the 'media&rsquo;s' shaping of their perception, who has the worst reputation right now? Kyrie? Maybe it&rsquo;s Kyrie. Let&rsquo;s say for the sake of the discussion it&rsquo;s Kyrie Irving, because of people have killing him because of the vaccine and a lot of other things.
"Let&rsquo;s just say Kyrie has the worst reputation right now in the NBA. He&rsquo;s going to be a free agent next year. I defy you to tell me that he&rsquo;s not going to get paid next year, regardless of this perception of him. If you&rsquo;re gonna tell me that Kyrie is going to have to take the minimum next year, I would tell you that you are incorrect. Kyrie will not be playing for the minimum."
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Etan: That's fair enough, but if you tell me that if he was an unrestricted free agent this year and the narrative that has been created around him wouldn&rsquo;t have impacted what teams sign him for, I would have to respectfully disagree.
Spears: "If he can play, he can play and will get paid period."
Aldridge: "Talent wins out Etan, you know that."
Etan: But listen, Stephen A. Smith has been drumming, 'Only sign him for a year, one year contract, don&rsquo;t sign him long-term, teams beware,' etc. So you&rsquo;re gonna tell me that if Kyrie was an unrestricted free agent after hearing this (hot take) constantly from people like Stephen A Smith, that teams would not be a little more hesitant to sign him for a long-term deal than they would for a year? (Which Stephen A. Smith has been repeating over and over and over again.) That&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;re telling me? It would have no effect whatsoever?
Aldridge: "At some point Etan, the player has to have some responsibility. Yes, it&rsquo;s the vaccine this time, and I&rsquo;m not questioning his motivation or reasoning, but let&rsquo;s be honest: He took off games the year before. He just took games off. Now, maybe he needed to; I&rsquo;m not saying he&rsquo;s wrong to do it. I&rsquo;m just saying in the middle of the season, he said, 'I need to take a few games off.' Okay, that&rsquo;s fine, but there is impact with that Etan."
Etan: But you do understand the double-edged sword here when you have an NBA who is embracing mental health in certain aspects&nbsp;
Aldridge: "I&rsquo;m not saying he was wrong to do it."
Etan: But this is what I&rsquo;m saying: There&rsquo;s a narrative that is created by the media. If the narrative created was that Kyrie was a champion for mental health, and why it&rsquo;s so important to take care of your mental health to continue the longevity of your (career)... if that whole narrative was pushed that way, then the entire perception would&rsquo;ve been different around the games that he took off because he said he needed a break.
Aldridge: "But it works both ways Etan. When Kyrie said that we shouldn&rsquo;t go to the (Orlando) Bubble, I think a lot of people in the media applauded him for that. A lot of journalists applauded him for thinking about something other than basketball. He was saying we should use this platform that we have in the wake of George Floyd, maybe we should use that for something else other than playing games. Now, I&rsquo;m not saying that everyone agreed with that, but a lot of people in 'the media' as you put it, applauded him."
Etan: But also, a lot of people in the media &mdash; and I actually <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-rumors-boycott-stephen-a-smith-espn-etan-thomas-protest-kyrie-irving-avery-bradley-dwight-howard-charles-barkley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote about this</a> &mdash; but a lot of media talking heads called Kyrie dumb (and) said it was the stupidest thing they ever heard. And this is exactly what the players' issue is when they say 'new media/old media. It&rsquo;s the specific language that is used in order to critique someone.
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The Athletic's David Aldridge and Andscape's Marc Spears and Etan Thomas on the media's perception of Kyrie Irving and its effect.

David Aldridge, Marc Spears, Etan Thomas on Kyrie Irving's demonization

It&rsquo;s been quite an unconventional season in Washington.
The summer in D.C. was drowned out by an onslaught of Bradley Beal trade rumors. Instead of discussion about Wizards president Tommy Sheppard&rsquo;s impressive offseason, questions like the ones below dominated the news cycle.
Could Beal be the missing piece for Golden State? What if Boston broke the internet to form an all-St. Louis duo with Brad and Jayson Tatum? Is this the Ben Simmons trade that&rsquo;s been sitting there underneath our noses?
Well, here we are. Seven months later, Beal is still a Wizard, and as it so happens, most of us missed the point. Washington has cobbled together a deep, impressive group of veterans, which <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/kyle-kuzma-montrezl-harrell-have-wizards-adopting-dog-mentality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hit the ground running with an Eastern Conference-leading 10-3 record</a> and the third-best defense in the entire league to start the season.&nbsp;
But then, the inevitable defensive regression hit like a <a href="https://www.mlb.com/video/miguel-sano-homers-22-on-a-fly-ball-to-center-field">Miguel San&oacute; deep-ball</a>; Washington has returned to its homey lair of a <a href="https://www.cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/summary?season=2021&amp;seasontype=regseason&amp;start=10/1/2021&amp;end=01/15/2022">bottom-10 Defensive Rating</a>, and the Wizards overall record has deteriorated in harmonious fashion, with the team going just 12-17 since Nov. 15. With Beal having a down year and the vaunted defense appearing... um, suddenly not-so-vaunted, Washington has since looked rudderless following the hot start.
That is, until Kyle Kuzma started averaging a cool 26 and 11 over the Wiz&rsquo;s last nine games.
His output has largely been a byproduct of circumstance. Seven Washington players entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols at the turn of the new year, forcing the Wizards to go the substitute-player route like most other ball clubs. This left a hefty load to shoulder for Washington&rsquo;s mainstays, and Kuzma, in particular, made quite the impression while eclipsing 39 minutes in three straight games to ring in 2022.
The plat principal of the Kuzma experience this season has been his inspiring commitment to rebounding. He&rsquo;s finally at his rightful position &mdash; the 4 &mdash; and has seen his overall rebounding average jump by a colossal 2.6 per game while inhaling a career-high <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced/?sort=GP&amp;dir=-1&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma">12.8%</a> of available boards.
As Washington&rsquo;s corps dwindled, Kuzma only dug deeper into the comfy niche he&rsquo;s settled into this season.
Kuz&rsquo;s rebounding rate has bumped all the way up to 14.5% since Dec. 27, when nearly half of his teammates entered protocols. He's keyed in on opponents&rsquo; misses with the hunger of Shaggy and Scooby Doo on a Whole 30 diet, his hands fastening onto the rock like a toddler leash. (Side note, who the heck uses those things?)
From there, Kuz is more than capable of initiating the offense in the open floor after ripping down a&nbsp; board, something he&rsquo;s been quite potent at as of late. No longer sharing the floor with LeBron James &mdash; whose resume alone obviously merits sole ownership of a fastbreak offense &mdash; Kuzma&rsquo;s now been empowered to push the pace like true-blue point-forward.
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But Kuzma&rsquo;s more than just a rebounder. He&rsquo;s a full-blown supersized slasher that knifes through coverages with X-Acto Blade precision, and he&rsquo;s only carved opponents up with more voraciously as Washington has suffered its availability crisis.
Kuzma&rsquo;s average drives per game have nearly doubled from 5.9 to 12.2 since December 27, and he&rsquo;s shot a supremely impressive <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives/?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;DateFrom=12%2F27%2F2021">63.5%</a> on those forays to the rim in that time (his accuracy on drives sat at just 45% beforehand). For context, the league leader in field goal percentage off drives is Giannis Antetokounmpo at 60.2%. So basically, Kuzma&rsquo;s been the personification of the &ldquo;He Don&rsquo;t Miss!&rdquo; meme when putting the ball on the floor in the Year 2022.
Perhaps it was out of pure necessity, but what&rsquo;s largely spearheaded Kuzma&rsquo;s torrential downpour of downhill scoring has been his aggression. He&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwZqaHipqs&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">playing through contact</a>, devising the necessary counters &mdash; like the occasional <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iANdyk_EHA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eurostep</a> &mdash; to leave opponents loopy in a drunken state. <a href="https://youtu.be/LXyy_Z8Zy5g" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The glass</a> is the 26-year-old&rsquo;s friend if needed, of course. And his fabled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkXmnXdURF4&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hook shot</a>, which earned him modest prominence during his rookie season, will peak through the blinds when applicable. (Rejoice, Laker fans, it&rsquo;s back!)
Most importantly, when he gets to that right hand, it&rsquo;s basically over. Kuzma&rsquo;s always been a sturdy at-rim finisher, and his <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4230#tab-shooting_accuracy">74% accuracy inside 4 feet</a> ties a career-high for the Flint native. His rim attacks have become a reliable source of renewable energy when Washington&rsquo;s bottom-tier offense trips up.
Here&rsquo;s a fun example of his decisiveness.
Washington sets up a pair of staggered screens for Beal, and Kuzma makes his move right when the help defender (Gordon Hayward) turns his head to bark out orders. Miles Bridges is left... miles behind (sorry) as Kuz stretches out for the layup.&nbsp;
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It&rsquo;s strange, but his size seems to stand out more now that he&rsquo;s a Wizard, no longer sharing the floor with a gaggle of giants in purple-and-gold threads. You really feel that Kuz is a full 6-foot-10 on his bull rushes to the rim. He's a towering thunderbolt of an athlete with G5 jets affixed to his highlight-blue sneakers.
Nothing is more emblematic of Kuzma&rsquo;s hot streak than his recent success from floater range. He&rsquo;s shot a hellacious <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4230?season=2021&amp;start=12/27/2021&amp;end=12/28/2022#tab-shooting_accuracy">55% on short-range middies</a> in his last nine games, a massive bump from the mere 36% he posted prior; it's also good for the 72nd percentile among his peers. Granted, it&rsquo;s unlikely that he&rsquo;ll maintain this level of preposterous efficiency on in-betweeners, as runners like the one below are a tricky diet to survive off of. But for now, I&rsquo;m sure he&rsquo;ll gladly take it.
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What makes all of this so impressive is that his handle &mdash; which can get a little rickety when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9t8NDEGJEE&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bothered by nearby helpers</a> &mdash; hasn&rsquo;t been especially fluid nor deceitful as of late. His vision has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmbA8HBzZl0&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">moments of genius</a>, though inaccuracy can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qmZXfjyI-Y&amp;ab_channel=MattBrooksNBA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plague him</a>. He grades out as a fairly average passer.
Most of all, his three-pointer remains a work in progress, and he&rsquo;s actually seen his efficiency from distance fall a percentage point to 33% during the recent hot stretch. He&rsquo;s pump-faking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CuZ0O8dJOw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defenders out their shoes</a> without the requisite long-range weaponry typically required to make the seas part and open up the rim.
Kuz made his bed as a defensive-minded grinder in Laker Land, and that calling card is still very much intact. As mentioned before, the dude&rsquo;s mobile and huge. It&rsquo;s tough as nails to score on him in isolation, where he ranks within the 75th percentile as a 1-on-1 defender.&nbsp;
Kuzma uses his body well to shield opponents away from the rim, with his 7-foot wingspan handling the rest. It&rsquo;s tough to get him in the air on pump-fakes. His body control is pretty exceptional, and here, he uses a 2-foot jump to slow down and leap with precise control while contesting Chuma Okeke.
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Recently, he&rsquo;s even had to pick up the slack and play some 5. Montrezl Harrell was one of the many players held out due to health and safety protocols, leaving the Wizards with only one available big man, Daniel Gafford. Playing Kuz in the middle allows the Wizards to switch pretty much everything, and he&rsquo;s had some super impressive reps against the likes of LaMelo Ball, Terrence Ross, Cole Anthony and Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, just to name a few. Certainly a varied cast of opponents.
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Failing to mention Kuzma&rsquo;s legend inside of five minutes would be a disservice, because, well, you&rsquo;ll hear about it on nearly every single Wizards broadcast. Only a handful of people in human history have shown more exuberance about anything&nbsp;than Washington&rsquo;s play-by-play crew when discussing &ldquo;Klutch Kuz&rdquo;: Anthony Edwards when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Y2P-BQP5w&amp;ab_channel=DaHoopSpotProductions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranking fast-food french fries</a>, JAY-Z the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aayZ9ybDTBw&amp;ab_channel=MardyMoves" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first time</a> he heard the &ldquo;Dirt Off Your Shoulder&rdquo; beat, and pretty much anyone who has ever done a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGJhjHw4sMM&amp;ab_channel=Whereuat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nardwuar</a> interview.
That&rsquo;s it. That&rsquo;s the list.
Having said this, it&rsquo;s easy to understand NBC Sports Washington's fascination with Kuz in crunch time. His <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-traditional/?sort=GP&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612764" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3.0 points</a> per game lead the Wiz in the clutch, and he&rsquo;s posting a <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/clutch-advanced/?sort=TS_PCT&amp;dir=-1&amp;Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612764&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*kuzma">70.6% True Shooting percentage</a> when it matters most. He&rsquo;s already nailed <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-cVQhyBvw0&amp;ab_channel=ChazNBA">not one</a>, but two game-winners as a Wizard, sending the Pistons' fans home with a cheery wave and a toothy smile after a cold-blooded three. Truly villainous stuff from the hometown kid, if I do say so myself.
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It&rsquo;s been quite the revenge tour for Kyle Kuzma this year. Dangled in trades for almost the entirety of last season, his former employer sent him to the nation&rsquo;s capital in the Russell Westbrook blockbuster. Shortly after, the Brooklyn Nets felt a trade exception (that will likely go unused) was more valuable than his services in the Spencer Dinwiddie sign-and-trade. In the moment, it seemed quite telling that two teams on the brink of a championship said, &ldquo;Nah, I&rsquo;m good&rdquo; to Kuz.
Now, I bet they&rsquo;d surely love a do-over.

Matt Brooks takes a deep dive into Kyle Kuzma's resurgence with the Wizards and his incredible production since Dec. 27.

Don't look now, but Kyle Kuzma is silencing the critics

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

NBA 'Sour' Rankings: Preseason Prelude

In today&rsquo;s NBA, the league is undeniably dominated by big men. 
The last five MVPs went to Giannis Antetokounmpo (two), Nikola Jokic (two) and Joel Embiid. Rookies Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren stand at a towering 7-foot-4 and 7-foot-1 respectively, and both are starting to make their mark in the NBA.
As the league embraces this new era filled with giants, it is awesome to see the two sub-6-foot guys match up against each other: New Orleans&rsquo; Jose Alvarado and Minnesota&rsquo;s Jordan McLaughlin.
Alvarado and McLaughlin, who are both listed as 5-foot-11 without shoes, have each carved out a role on their squad. The two provide different valuable skills off the bench, and they have been vital pieces to their team&rsquo;s success. 
Alvarado impacts the game on the defensive end by suffocating and pestering ball-handlers. He also comes up with his signature blindside steals, which earned him the nickname Grand Theft Alvarado (GTA). McLaughlin, on the other hand, is a crafty playmaker who sets up the Wolves' offense off the bench and serves as a reliable backup for Mike Conley.&nbsp;
In a league where there are 34 players who are 7-feet or taller this season alone, Alvarado and McLaughlin remain outliers and part of a dying breed.
There are only 12 players who are listed at 6-feet or below in the NBA this season, with the shortest being Markquis Nowell at 5-foot-7 and Jacob Gilyard at 5-foot-8. Together, they represent only 3% of the league population &ndash; which means small guards are largely going extinct in the NBA.
Unless you&rsquo;re an established point guard like Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry or Chris Paul, there has been little to no room for these shorter players on NBA rosters.&nbsp;
The current trend of positionless basketball and do-it-all forwards has certainly hurt these smaller guards. Whether it be less reliance on traditional point guards to set up an offense or getting hunted out for switches defensively, teams have been shifting away from said player prototypes. Even a former All-NBA teamer and super scorer like Isaiah Thomas was virtually driven out of the league mainly because of his unfortunate trait of getting exploited on defense due to his height.
Given this, it&rsquo;s impressive how Alvarado and McLaughlin are staying in the league. This could be attributed to their specific skill-sets. Both guys show that short players still have a place in the NBA as long as they provide value and play a certain role effectively and efficiently. In a league where height is often equated to success, it&rsquo;s refreshing to see two sub-6-foot players hold their own on the court.

As sub-6-foot players, New Orleans’ Jose Alvarado and Minnesota’s Jordan McLaughlin are the last of a dying breed.

Jose Alvarado, Jordan McLaughlin are the last of a dying breed

SlamBall co-founder Mason Gordon spoke to Alex Kennedy about the sport's return, the new season on ESPN and much more.

The return of SlamBall: Co-founder Mason Gordon discusses new season

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Fairleigh Dickinson brought down a giant.
Pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, the undersized, underdog Knights stunned top-seeded Purdue 63-58 on Friday night, becoming the second No. 16 seed to win a game in March Madness.
The shortest team in the tourney, the Knights (21-15) showed no fear in swarming 7-foot-4 All-America center Zach Edey from the start and simply outplayed the Big Ten champion Boilermakers (29-6).
&ldquo;If we played them 100 times, they&rsquo;d probably beat us 99 times,&rdquo; FDU coach Tobin Anderson said. &ldquo;Play them 100 times, we have one win. But tonight&rsquo;s the one we had to be unique, we had to be unorthodox. We had to make it tough on them, just be different.&rdquo;
Sean Moore scored 19 points to lead FDU and a relentless defensive charge &mdash; the Knight pressed most of the game &mdash; by a team that now has everyone&rsquo;s attention.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
No. 16 FDU pulls off the upset over No. 1 Purdue! <a href="https://t.co/TgqzuzTVmi">pic.twitter.com/TgqzuzTVmi</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1636898050625921030?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Five years ago, UMBC showed the way for the little guys by overwhelming Virginia in the first 16-over-1 victory after numerous close calls over the years. Still, No. 16s had a 1-150 record against No. 1s and were 1-151 overall before FDU&rsquo;s shocker.
After the final horn, FDU&rsquo;s players mobbed each other on the floor of Nationwide Arena, where the fans from Memphis and Florida Atlantic who were waiting for the day&rsquo;s final game joined forces in cheering on the Knights in the final, frantic minutes.
The Knights will now meet the Memphis-FAU winner on Sunday for a Sweet 16 berth and a trip next week to play at Madison Square Garden in New York &mdash; just a short drive from the private school&rsquo;s campus in Teaneck, New Jersey.
&ldquo;Man, I can&rsquo;t even explain it,&rdquo; Moore said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m still in shock right now. I can&rsquo;t believe it. It&rsquo;s crazy. But it feels amazing.&rdquo;
Fairleigh Dickinson didn&rsquo;t even win the Northeast Conference Tournament, falling by one point in the title game to Merrimack, which couldn&rsquo;t participate in the NCAA Tournament because of an NCAA rule that bars it from the postseason because it&rsquo;s still completing its four-year transition from Division II.
FDU held Purdue scoreless for more than 5 1/2 minutes down the stretch and moved ahead by five on a 3-pointer by Moore &mdash; who is from suburban Columbus &mdash; with 1:03 left.
The Knights held on from there, becoming the third straight double-digit seed to send the Boilermakers home. Purdue was a No. 3 seed when it lost to No. 15 seed Saint Peter&rsquo;s, another small New Jersey school, in the Sweet 16 last year. The Boilermakers were bounced in the first round by 13th-seeded North Texas in 2021.
&ldquo;Our job was just to come into the game and throw a punch,&rdquo; said FDU&rsquo;s Demetre Roberts, 20 inches shorter than Edey. &ldquo;We knew they would throw multiple punches. Just throw a punch back. We knew what type of game this was.&rdquo;
Edey finished with 21 point and 15 rebounds in what may have been his final college game, but the Knights were masterful against him in the second half. Edey didn&rsquo;t attempt a shot in the final nine minutes, and anytime he touched the ball there were Knights all around him.
&ldquo;A lot of times they would have one dude guarding from behind and one dude basically sitting in my lap,&rdquo; Edey said. &ldquo;They were full fronting the entire game. Made it very hard to get catches. Credit to them, they had a great game plan coming in. And they executed it very well.&rdquo;
When Purdue&rsquo;s late push fell short and its season ended, Edey squeezed the shoulder straps on his jersey and walked stone-faced toward Purdue&rsquo;s locker room.
The junior center is a possible NBA lottery pick, but the bitterness of this defeat could sway Edey to stick around for another year.
&ldquo;I have no opinion on that,&rdquo; Edey said when asked about his future. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll make my decision going forward.&rdquo;
The Knights&rsquo; two prior NCAA Tournament wins came in the First Four, including this year, when they drubbed Texas Southern 84-61. After that game, Anderson told his players he believed they could handle Edey and Co.
&ldquo;The more I see Purdue, the more I think we can beat them,&rdquo; Anderson said with a camera in the locker room.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
FDU Tobin Anderson called it! &ldquo;The more I watch Purdue, the more I think we can beat them. Let&rsquo;s go shock the world!&rdquo; No. 16 FDU did just that, beating No. 1 Purdue 63-58 in the NCAA Tournament. <a href="https://t.co/s3r9Wqoqny">pic.twitter.com/s3r9Wqoqny</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1636900043142602753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Some of Purdue&rsquo;s players said they felt disrespected by the comments, which turned out to be prophetic.
&ldquo;It was the right message, wrong audience,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;I would have said that with no camera in there. I didn&rsquo;t mean to get Purdue upset. That was not the idea at all. But that&rsquo;s got to be the message. We&rsquo;re trying to win the next game. We just can&rsquo;t be happy to be here.&rdquo;
&ldquo;And the guys gotta believe.&rdquo;
Just being in the tourney was quite an accomplishment for FDU, which went 4-22 a year ago.
This was Anderson&rsquo;s first season at the school, and after he landed the job in May, he held a practice the first night just so he knew what he had to work with from a team that had the second-worst record in the program&rsquo;s 58-year history.
It wasn&rsquo;t a lot, so he brought three players &mdash; Roberts, Grant Singleton and Moore &mdash; along with him from Division II power St. Thomas Aquinas.
Turns out, they&rsquo;re giant slayers.
And it was the Boilermakers, not the undersized Knights, who were scrambling from the opening tip.
Purdue may have had Fairleigh Dickinson outsized on the floor and in the stands as a boisterous group of Boilermakers fans gave their team what felt like a home-court advantage despite being 240 miles from West Lafayette, Indiana.
However, when the Knights&rsquo; Joe Munden drained a step-back 3-pointer in the first half, &ldquo;F-D-U!&rdquo; chants broke out inside the arena and it became obvious this small team had big dreams.
Without a player on its roster taller than 6-foot-6, Fairleigh Dickinson sometimes needed two players to guard Edey &mdash; one in front and one behind &mdash; and he missed his first three shots before a dunk.
Edey showed some frustration and at one point told one of the officials, &ldquo;Sir, he&rsquo;s holding my left arm.&rdquo;
Purdue eventually settled in and reeled off 11 straight points &mdash; four on Edey free throws &mdash; to take 24-19 lead. The Knights, though, responded with their own spurt and Heru Bligen&rsquo;s layup after a steal helped FDU take a 32-31 into halftime.
Roberts finished with 12 points and 6-4 forward Cameron Tweedy had 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting for FDU.

Pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, undersized, underdog FDU stunned top-seeded Purdue 63-58.

No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson stuns No. 1 seed Purdue in March Madness

Pat Riley remembers just about every detail surrounding the events of Dec. 29, 1961. It was a cold night in Schenectady, New York. A little snowy, the roads a little icy. And when the bus carrying the opposing team from New York City arrived, all of Riley&rsquo;s Linton High teammates peered out the window.
They saw a giant.
Long before Riley and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were winning NBA championships together as coach and player with the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s, they were opponents. Riley and Linton beat Power Memorial and Lew Alcindor &mdash; Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s name before converting to Islam &mdash; 74-68 that night.
Abdul-Jabbar, then a 6-foot-10 freshman, was held to eight points because he spent virtually the entire game in foul trouble. He has told Riley several times over the years that Linton won because Riley&rsquo;s father &mdash; a lifelong baseball man &mdash; had his umpiring friends refereeing the game.
&ldquo;Which we did,&rdquo; Riley acknowledges.
Riley knew it then and came to appreciate it even more years later &mdash; there were only a few ways to stop the player who would eventually spend nearly four decades as the most prolific scorer in NBA history. Abdul-Jabbar is on the verge of being passed by the Lakers&rsquo; LeBron James, the 38-year-old who was nearly nine months from being born when the unforgettable center made one of his signature sky hooks on April 5, 1984 to overtake Wilt Chamberlain and become the league&rsquo;s scoring leader.
&ldquo;Kareem was a guy that never had any potential. He just had greatness,&rdquo; said Riley, now the president of the Miami Heat and one of the few who has worked with both Abdul-Jabbar and James. &ldquo;You could see that. When you can bypass potential and you move right to greatness as a high school player, and then college and then the pros ... there are very few like him. There&rsquo;s a handful. Two handfuls, at the most.&rdquo;
James is one of them, going from high school straight to the NBA, and now in his 20th season, he is now just 63 points away from passing Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s record. The Lakers play Saturday at New Orleans.
The most realistic target for the record-breaker is Tuesday in Los Angeles against Oklahoma City or &mdash; perhaps symbolically &mdash; next Thursday in L.A. when the Lakers play host to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that Abdul-Jabbar started his NBA career with.
This past October, Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; on his Substack page where he discusses and offers opinion on a variety of topics, often nothing to do with sports &mdash; wrote that when James passed Kobe Bryant for No. 3 on the all-time scoring list in 2020, he &ldquo;knew it was just a matter of time before he passed me too.&rdquo;
Abdul-Jabbar added that every time a record is broken, all people are elevated.
&ldquo;When I broke Wilt Chamberlain&rsquo;s scoring record in 1984 &mdash; the year LeBron was born &mdash; it bothered Wilt, who&rsquo;d had a bit of a one-sided rivalry with me since I&rsquo;d started doing so well in the NBA,&rdquo; he wrote. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel that way toward LeBron. Not only will I celebrate his accomplishment, I will sing his praises unequivocally.&rdquo;
The relationship between Abdul-Jabbar and James seems complicated. Abdul-Jabbar was outside of the Cleveland locker room during the 2016 Eastern Conference finals as James was jogging by; the two embraced and shared a few kind words, prompting James to discuss the respect he has for Abdul-Jabbar and others who paved the way in his postgame remarks.
Abdul-Jabbar also has lauded James &ldquo;as a community leader and athlete.&rdquo; But he criticized James for not doing more with his platform to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And earlier this season, James said he has &ldquo;no relationship&rdquo; with Abdul-Jabbar.
There are ties that bind them, though. Both are champions. Both have worked to promote social justice and spoken out against racial inequality. Abdul-Jabbar played 20 years in the NBA; James is in Year 20. Abdul-Jabbar set the record while playing for the Lakers; James will do the same.
And If nothing else, James&rsquo; pursuit of the record may have exposed a generation or two that never saw Abdul-Jabbar play to how great he was.
&ldquo;We have to always acknowledge those who come before us, those who&rsquo;ve paved the way,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;You think of all those points Kareem scored and he had, what, one 3-pointer? You think about all of that, and these kids get to learn about a different era. It&rsquo;s high, high-level education in the game of basketball, particularly NBA basketball.&rdquo;
When Abdul-Jabbar broke the record, Riley said Magic Johnson &mdash; then the Lakers&rsquo; point guard &mdash; made sure he was the one who got the assist on the play. Johnson nearly put himself back into the game against Utah in Las Vegas that night when Abdul-Jabbar was two points away.
Years later, when the Lakers from those championship teams of that era gathered in Hawaii last summer for a reunion, Abdul-Jabbar was a day late because of personal matters. The Lakers in 2022 celebrated his arrival the same way they did the record-setter in 1984.
&ldquo;He felt special because he was special, because he is special,&rdquo; Riley said of the man who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder alongside an embattled Muhammad Ali during the boxing champ&rsquo;s legal troubles in the late 1960s, and counted Bill Russell &mdash; another basketball giant and social-change champion &mdash; as a mentor. &ldquo;He was treated as the patriarch by all the players. It was a great week for him. He was engaged, came to everything we did, gave some spontaneous talks. And he&rsquo;s a shy guy, but he felt very comfortable in his group.&rdquo;
Riley coached Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles and later lured James to Miami for a four-year run starting in 2010. He sees in James much of what he saw in Alcindor when that bus pulled into Schenectady in 1961.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all about LeBron right now, and it should be, with his unique career and unique opportunity to do this,&rdquo; Riley said. &ldquo;Training, travel, personal chefs, personal trainers, all that stuff has come into play since Kareem. I hope people realize Kareem&rsquo;s story as well and how different it was. He went to college for four years; LeBron came out of high school. But they both dominated from Day 1. They both turned potential into greatness from Day 1.&rdquo;

After LeBron passed Kobe in all-time scoring, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar "knew it was just a matter of time before [LeBron] passed me too.”

Pat Riley: Kareem never had potential, ‘only greatness’

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes Chauncey Billups' dual-threat nature and impact on the next generation of point guards.

Blazing the Trail: Chauncey Billups, the basketball cheat code

Nekias Duncan thoroughly breaks down all five teams in the Central Division ahead of the 2022-23 season.

2022-23 NBA Season Preview: Central Division

Nekias Duncan thoroughly breaks down all five teams in the Atlantic Division ahead of the 2022-23 season.

2022-23 NBA Season Preview: Atlantic Division

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes Penny Hardaway as a dual threat and how he stood out from other point guards.

Blazing the Trail: Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway, the floor giant

In his "Blazing the Trail" series, Mat Issa analyzes the offensive splendor of Dirk Nowitzki and the dramatic evolution of his career.

Blazing the Trail: Dirk Nowitzki, the unicorn that became world champion

Sometimes, the ideal scenario doesn't unfold the way you hope.
For Donovan Mitchell, the alternative could actually become the best-case solution for his career long-term.
Exiting the Utah Jazz's rebuild has now vaulted Mitchell into a position where he can reap the benefits in spades as the Cleveland Cavaliers' new star shooting guard flanked by multiple All-Star teammates.
During his <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-donovan-mitchell-intro-press-conference-cleveland-cavaliers-darius-garland-caris-levert-koby-altman-jb-bickertstaff-utah-jazz-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introductory press conference in Cleveland on Wednesday</a>, Mitchell opened up about the topsy-turvy period where his future was in limbo. Mitchell knew the writing was on the wall for months, but the end result certainly caught him by surprise, as the Jazz tore it all down in a full-scale rebuild. Both Mitchell and Rudy Gobert were shipped off for seven future first-round picks and a number of intriguing young players to develop under new head coach Will Hardy, whose vision is being put together in Salt Lake City.
&ldquo;Yeah, obviously all summer I didn&rsquo;t say much. But for me it was once Rudy got traded I kind of saw the writing on the wall. I think we all did. I think we understood we had a good run,&rdquo; Mitchell said. &ldquo;I kind of had a feeling that I was going to get moved. I thought it was New York, I&rsquo;m not going to lie to you all. Who doesn&rsquo;t want to be home next to their mom? I haven&rsquo;t lived at home since I was like in the eighth grade, I&rsquo;ve been in boarding school, it would have been nice.
"But for me, once I found out I got traded and what we&rsquo;re going into, that trumped everything for me. I&rsquo;m truly excited to be here, be part of this group, be part of this city. You saw I had the Cavs jersey on when I was like 5 or 6, whatever it was. I was a LeBron fan, but I was a Cleveland fan. My man&rsquo;s over there (PA announcer Ahmaad Crump) saying Cleveland Cavaliers; I was saying that at the house. It&rsquo;s crazy how life comes full circle. Being able to be a part of that, between the fire and the intros, I remember the little things, I love playing in this arena. So to be here, I&rsquo;m truly excited.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Mitchell's public peeling of the curtain for the first time since his departure brought forth some interesting details. Not only did Mitchell believe he was gone after Gobert&rsquo;s move to the Minnesota Timberwolves on July 1, but he&rsquo;s put in the hours of work to rebound from another unceremonious postseason exit.
&ldquo;Yes and no. I mean, I had a feeling,&rdquo; Mitchell said of his exit from Utah. &ldquo;You guys (the media) do what you guys do and there's always articles about it, about what could happen. No matter how much you try to ignore it, I'm not gonna be naive; we all have phones, we have technology, we have Twitter, we have Instagram. So we see it. But that wasn't a thought during the year. After we lost, that wasn't a thought for a little bit. Pretty much every question after we lost, I really wasn't thinking about it.
"But for me, I came into the summer... the last season for me wasn't my best. And no matter what situation, no matter where I was at, not matter how we were gonna go about it, I had to come back and be the best version of myself and just put that work in. Left the season healthy; I came in, my ankle's feeling good, and the thing for me, that was just a blessing itself being able to come into a summer ready to go. Obviously, it happened and things change, and I'm blessed.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Donovan Mitchell candidly said he thought he'd end up home in New York this offseason, but when he found out he was heading to the up-and-coming <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cavs</a>, he "couldn't be happier to be here." <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/QHWBPBsw2a">pic.twitter.com/QHWBPBsw2a</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1570141099825721344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2022</a></blockquote>

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With the Knicks always out in front of the Mitchell sweepstakes, the New York native was already having visions of playing inside Madison Square Garden for years to come. A homecoming for Mitchell remained at the forefront of his mind as he awaited his true fate, but the process leading him to an even more stacked roster with long-term sustainability instantly washed those feelings away of not ending up a Knick.
&ldquo;Yeah, so I honestly had no idea," Mitchell admitted. "AB (Mitchell&rsquo;s agent Austin Brown) called me on a Wednesday and said, 'You&rsquo;re going to Cleveland.' And like I said, my reaction was what it was. But all summer I really didn&rsquo;t say much, I just kind of let you guys do what you guys do and I thought for sure I was going back home, I&rsquo;m not going to lie about that.
"But when I found out where I was headed and who I was playing with, the group, the team, the coaching staff, I couldn&rsquo;t be more happier to be here, and be a part of this organization and be part of this group to join each and all of those guys, the attitude and I&rsquo;m truly excited about it... 
Now forming one of the most well-balanced starting units in the East, Mitchell and the Cavaliers are poised to make serious noise in 2021-22 and beyond. Cleveland knows the risk it took shipping off control of its drafts to Utah through 2029, but the investment into its young core adding in the star was too good to pass up on. A three-year recruiting pitch to Mitchell is well underway, and the win-loss results will be monitored closely until his player option decision arrives in 2025.
Until then, Mitchell knows what lies in front of him. This is a golden opportunity to boost his stock and become the missing element to a sleeping giant of a contender.
Now, the fun part starts beginning the next chapter of his career in Cleveland alongside Garland, Mobley, Allen and a roster ready to reach heights he and the Cavs hope could surpass what he accomplished in Utah.

Mitchell opened up about his offseason where his ideal outcome didn't come to fruition, but the long-term gains could be substantial.

Donovan Mitchell dreamed of the Knicks, but Cavs are best-case scenario

If the Utah Jazz want to keep Donovan Mitchell in Salt Lake City long-term, it seems more likely than not that Rudy Gobert will soon be shown the exit door. As the Jazz <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/an-awkward-offseason-looms-for-the-jazz-as-they-try-to-avoid-rebuild" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enter an awkward offseason</a>, the future of Gobert and Mitchell will be one of the NBA&rsquo;s top storylines until a resolution is finally reached.
If the Jazz want to build around Mitchell long-term and get younger, Gobert's days in Utah may be numbered. The Jazz identified Gobert's potential and helped him develop into a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, so parting ways won't be easy. However, it may be necessary in order to revamp the roster and best accentuate their other star player.
Gobert's value has taken a hit due to his recent super-max extension, which will pay him $169.7 million over the next four seasons. Although Gobert has an immense impact on the defensive end, there may be some executives who can't justify shelling out close to $200 million for him.
Gobert makes little to no sense on a rebuilding team or one that's just beginning their ascent up the standings. Instead, the market for Gobert will likely feature win-now organizations that believe he could be the final piece to the puzzle. And assuming Utah would prefer to move Gobert out of the Western Conference, the list of potential teams continues to shrink. If only there was an aggressive team that just took a major step forward and feels they are one piece away from contention entering this offseason...
&ldquo;The vision is to win the title,&rdquo; Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas said a few weeks ago. "I realized last year, this historic club deserves a better team.&rdquo;
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Insert Gobert within the Bulls' current ecosystem and this organization could absolutely take another leap in 2022-23. Chicago wants to compete for a championship within the reloaded Eastern Conference that's headlined by the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors. The Bulls got off to a hot start this season, but eventually tailed off due to injuries and inconsistent play. In the end, Chicago was quickly dispatched in the first round by the Bucks &mdash; once again signaling that the time is now to make improvements.
&ldquo;The current situation is not enough, and we need to create something better,&rdquo; Karnisovas said.
According to Bleacher Report&rsquo;s Jake Fischer and The Ringer&rsquo;s Kevin O&rsquo;Connor, Chicago has already inquired about Gobert. For both Gobert and the Bulls, this fit makes way too much sense from a timeline perspective. Gobert is in his prime and Chicago has all the pieces necessary to make a run. Zach LaVine, who is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/fischer-zach-lavine-expected-to-resign-with-chicago" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected to re-sign with the Bulls</a>, and DeMar DeRozan form a strong scoring tandem. Add in Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso &mdash; who would be the best perimeter defenders that Gobert has played with &mdash; and now Chicago is cooking with gas. This is a team that would be ripe for a deep postseason run next season.
The question is: what is Utah's asking price for Gobert? Any deal would likely involve two-time All-Star Nikola Vucevic. Fischer noted that former No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams has fans in the Jazz&rsquo;s front office. However, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/fischer-bulls-eyeing-rudy-gobert-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to Fischer</a>, "the Bulls do not appear willing to include Patrick Williams alongside Vucevic in a trade package for Gobert." Rightfully, Chicago should haggle over Williams&rsquo; inclusion and try to send out multiple draft picks instead.
However, if the Jazz are adamant that they need Williams back in order to deal Gobert to the Windy City, the Bulls should bite the bullet. A package centered around Williams and the expiring contracts of Nikola Vucevic and Coby White lines up almost identically salary-wise.
The time is now for this Bulls core to become a realistic title contender. With this current core centered around LaVine and DeRozan, Chicago&rsquo;s window to compete is over the next two or three years. Gobert would be a huge help against the East's giants such as Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Maybe Williams becomes a great player down the road, but it seems unlikely that this will happen within Chicago's current window to contend. And who knows if Williams will even realize his full potential? That's the risk in prioritizing a high-upside prospect over a win-now piece.
For Utah, this deal allows them to acquire an excellent long-term piece, shed a massive salary and add some expiring contracts (who could allow them to still be competitive next season). If the Jazz play their cards right around Mitchell in a post-Gobert world, they'd have an easy pathway to a max-salary slot too.
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We all know Gobert&rsquo;s immense impact on the defensive end, but his presence becomes an instant game-changer for the Bulls. Chicago already has a strong offensive core, so Gobert makes them a complete team that's very well-rounded. An elite rim protector anchoring one side of the court with two All-Star scorers keeping the offense afloat is a recipe for stacking up a lot of victories.
We saw it in Utah: a well-constructed team around Gobert can become a regular-season juggernaut. But the question becomes what happens during postseason play? Unlike the lack of defensive versatility surrounding him with the Jazz, Gobert would be playing alongside Ball and Caruso on the perimeter. It&rsquo;s easy to envision a scenario where the Bulls are a well above-average unit offensively and defensively with Gobert placed into the center spot.
Last season in Utah, the Jazz allowed 7.8 more points per 100 possessions in the minutes Gobert sat &mdash; a massive gulch that shows his transcendent ability to deter shots with ease. Gobert, Ball and Caruso will take pressure off of LaVine and DeRozan, allowing them to focus on the offensive end and be even more effective. The Bulls&rsquo; projected rotation with Gobert is eye-opening:
Starters: Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gobert
Second Unit: Ayo Dosunmu, Troy Brown Jr., Javonte Green, Marko Simonovic, Tony Bradley
Chicago knows that the time is now to push the right buttons in order to become a consistent threat in the East. Adding Gobert would give the Bulls a complete roster and thrust Chicago into contention in the East. Even if Chicago has to part with Williams, it&rsquo;s a necessary price to pay in order to maximize their window around LaVine&rsquo;s prime and DeRozan&rsquo;s final chapter of elite production.
In a perfect world, the Jazz don&rsquo;t make any changes and decide to make moves elsewhere on the roster in order to improve (such as moving Bojan Bogdanovic, Jordan Clarkson and Royce O&rsquo;Neale). However, the situation in Utah is far from perfect right now with their face of the franchise.
For a team like Chicago, they are well-positioned to pounce and become an instant title contender. As Karnisovas laid out, he realizes big changes could be necessary in order to return the Bulls to their glory years. Making an all-in move for Gobert could easily be the accelerant Chicago needs.
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Rudy Gobert seems poised to be traded this offseason. Evan Sidery explains why the Bulls should capitalize on this golden opportunity.

The Chicago Bulls should make an all-in move for Rudy Gobert

I'll never forget Game 5 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Finals.
On a personal note, it was one of the best days of my professional life. The arena itself was buzzing in anticipation of a series-shifting game. For a fan base that's (mostly wrongfully) berated for not being on time, the arena filled up pretty quickly with Miami Heat fans.
Before the game, I got to meet the legendary duo of Doris Burke and Mark Jones, Yahoo's Chris Haynes and other giants in the industry. It was a surreal stretch of meet-ups considering my wild journey to this point.
And then there was the game itself: a knock-out, drag-out fight until the Boston Celtics turned up the sliders late in the third quarter. A 59-58 Celtics lead with 2:44 left in the third turned into a 77-60 lead with 9:35 left in the fourth. A work of mid-range mastery from Jayson Tatum pushed the lead to 17, forcing Erik Spoelstra to call timeout at the 9:35 mark. Poor Max Strus couldn't do much about it.
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I found myself marveling at Tatum's game that night. It wasn't his most efficient scoring outing; he finished with 22 points on 20 shots (5-of-12 from two, 2-of-8 from three). He coughed up the rock five times &mdash; two offensive fouls, two (tough) passes that went out of bounds, and a live-ball turnover where he tried to thread a needle into paint congestion.
But I quickly found the fun of a young superstar figuring things out on the fly against an elite defense.&nbsp;
Here was Tatum, a natural bucket-getter, not just being forced to make playmaking reads. No, no, no. He had to set up the chessboard. Because of the Heat's personnel, and because of their aggressive help principles and occasional pre-switches, Tatum was often tasked with setting up a pick-and-roll before actually running what he wanted.
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Tatum starts the possession defended by Caleb Martin. A handoff between Tatum and Jaylen Brown invites Jimmy Butler into the fray. A ball screen, this time with Al Horford, calls up Bam Adebayo. Tatum calls for&nbsp;another&nbsp;ball screen to target Duncan Robinson, his ultimate goal from the beginning.&nbsp;
The Heat don't want to switch this one, so Robinson executes a show-and-recover. Derrick White slips into open space with Robinson and Adebayo focused on Tatum. But because Adebayo is involved above the break, the Heat's backline help is pretty small.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_06_18_18_43_09_690w.png" alt="" width="578" height="325" />
Butler is an All-World defender, but he's stuck between two players in the paint. Robinson hasn't gotten back to White, so Butler has to hold. The issue becomes Horford. Martin can't drop down to pick up Horford like he normally would because Brown is in the weakside corner.
Tatum simply waits to see who Butler commits to. Butler drops back to Horford once he senses Robinson is nearly back to White; in that moment, Tatum fires a bounce pass to White for a layup.
All of that happens within an eight-second span.&nbsp;
To be frank, Tatum wasn't nailing&nbsp;all of that,&nbsp;to this degree, at the beginning of the season. He certainly wasn't doing it with a level of consistency last year. But strides have continued to be made. Even when the result wasn't great, you could see the process improve. He became smarter. The decisions were made quicker, and with more nuance.
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Tatum had seen a little bit of everything through that Game 5. He saw a version of that switch-with-help-behind-it defense during his first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets. In the next round, the Milwaukee Bucks flowed between sending two to the ball and daring Tatum to beat them in drop coverage.
The drop coverage bet was a poor one on the surface &mdash; Tatum is a dynamite pull-up shooter &mdash; but the Bucks knew there was refinement needed from Tatum inside the arc.
The floater wasn't consistent yet. If the easy pull-up wasn't there, Tatum sometimes struggled with driving&nbsp;too&nbsp;deeply into the pocket, either turning drop coverage into a late switch or allowing his own defender to recover. That led to some ugly late-clock possessions.
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The Heat were a juiced-up version of both. They occasionally rushed Tatum with two defenders like the Bucks did. They gave up switches, but packed the paint with helpers like the Nets attempted to do. Through the mix of coverages, Tatum thrived, struggled, and ultimately thrived again.
I asked him about his comfort level against, well, everything after that Game 5 against Miami.
"Comfort level? From a scale of 1-to-10?" Tatum quipped with a smile before answering. "I'm very comfortable. Each series presents different challenges. Miami guards differently than Milwaukee did. Watching film from game to game, that's the key. Seeing what you did well, what you can improve on, what adjustments they might make and seeing what to be ready for."
Tatum couldn't quite crack the final boss in the Golden State Warriors.
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His series averages were fine &mdash; 21.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.7 blocks &mdash; but not up to superstar standards. For every bonus, there seemed to be an annoying negative. Seven dimes from your star wing is dope, but nearly four turnovers a game isn't what you want. He shot a robust 45.5% from three on 7.3 attempts per game, but those inside-the-arc struggles &mdash; 31.6% from two on 12.7 attempts &mdash; popped up in a big way.
The Warriors deserve credit for never letting Tatum get comfortable. They made sure he saw a healthy dose of switches (74 picks), drop coverage (45 picks), and a mix of hedges and blitzes (42), per Second Spectrum. And regardless of what the initial coverage was, the Warriors had a way of varying their help defense behind it.
Sometimes, they'd pinch the help in early to restrict driving lanes. Other times, Tatum would have early access to the rim, only to be met by late helpers converging into the paint. That cat-and-mouse game ultimately decided the half-court battle in this series.
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Add in the bodies he saw &mdash; Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, Gary Payton II and others got a taste of the Tatum assignment &mdash; and it should come as no surprise that this was Tatum's worst playoff series as a driver. On possessions where Tatum shot or passed to someone who shot after a drive, the Celtics generated 0.77 points per possession (PPP). It ended a streak of stark improvement from Tatum in that area:
<ul>
<li>Brooklyn: 0.89 PPP on 52 direct drives</li>
<li>Milwaukee: 0.96 PPP on 74 direct drives</li>
<li>Miami: 1.08 PPP on 64 direct drives</li>
<li>Golden State: 0.77 PPP on 77 direct drives</li>
</ul>
It wasn't always pretty. Not that they need&nbsp;my&nbsp;permission, but Celtic fans and NBA enthusiasts are within their right to be disappointed in Tatum's output during the Finals.
All I ask is that we don't lose the plot.&nbsp;
Tatum didn't struggle on his own; remember, before Draymond Green missed a chunk of games during the regular season, it was the Warriors who held the NBA's best defensive rating. They pinpointed what Tatum's weaknesses were and poked at him. And this is on top of what Tatum was asked to do defensively &mdash; often navigating the Green assignment so he could switch onto Stephen Curry when necessary, or dealing with drives from Wiggins on the ball.
Beyond that, look at the growth Tatum has made as a scorer and playmaker over the past year-and-a-half. Heck, look at the growth he made this postseason. Defenses keyed in on him, threw different schemes at him within the same&nbsp;quarter,&nbsp;and he was mostly able to figure it out.&nbsp;
This is a sour end to the season, but it's a season in which Tatum was an All-Star once again, earned All-NBA First Team honors, finished sixth in MVP voting and led his team to the NBA Finals for the first time.
This was a darn good year, and now Tatum has to stew in this Finals loss for a bit. His history already suggests he'll get better heading into next season; with this frustrating finish, I'd bet the house on Tatum making a substantial leap over the summer.
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Nekias Duncan reflects on the improvement that Jayson Tatum showed throughout the season and postseason.

Enjoying the journey, through the lens of Jayson Tatum

With the 2022 NBA Draft less than a week away, our Senior NBA Draft Analyst shares his updated his 2022 NBA Mock Draft.

2022 NBA Mock Draft: 6/17/22

In a game defined by its giants, being a big man has always carried a certain level of expectation.&nbsp;
And arguably no NBA franchise has this expectation looming more than the San Antonio Spurs.&nbsp;
From the early days of Artis Gilmore, to the "The Admiral" David Robinson's stint commanding the watchtower, to Tim Duncan&rsquo;s subtle dominance, to LaMarcus Aldridge&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense-dash-lt6/?Season=2017-18&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Aldridge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surprisingly effective</a> repellent nature, the Spurs have always fielded an elite defensive big man.
And that makes Jakob Poeltl the perfect successor to this chain of iconic anchors.
This season, the human fly swatter is contesting shots at a <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hustle/?sort=CONTESTED_SHOTS&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">higher rate</a> than anyone in the league, while also holding opponents to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defense-dash-lt6/?Season=2021-22&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*Poeltl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over eight percentage points</a> below their usual average.&nbsp;
Along with his eye-popping numbers, the sophisticated beauty of his game has been easy to admire year after year (even having said he was playing on one of the most <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/matissa/2022/02/05/why-jakob-poeltl-is-a-giant-bargain-for-the-spurs/?sh=1d90fdefeb12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">valuable</a> contracts in basketball).
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So, it was time to get inside the mind of one of the league&rsquo;s best defenders.
During training camp, Poeltl made it known that San Antonio's massive roster turnaround meant he needed to be more vocal, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. And considering <a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba/news/hidden-gems-jakob-poeltl-is-the-best-center-that-nobodys-talking-about/1acr9r7wz5mg913hug0jnr42sk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">renowned analysts</a> are praising his communication skills, it&rsquo;s safe to say his mission has been accomplished.
&ldquo;First of all, [communication] is one of the biggest parts of being a big man in the NBA.&rdquo; Poeltl told BasketballNews.com in a phone interview. &ldquo;If you are not good at communicating, your guards are going to keep running into trouble over and over again.&rdquo;
Here is a perfect example of his articulation skills at work.
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Turning up the volume is recommended here; if you listen closely, you can hear Poeltl instructing nearby help defenders to &ldquo;stay&rdquo; back on their man because he&rsquo;s going to offer the necessary backline support himself. This forces Steven Adams to make the weak-side corner pass (an easier pass for the defense to close-out on), and ultimately, Poeltl's reassurance results in a missed shot.&nbsp;
Then, Poeltl dove a little deeper into specific coverages. Being the mad scientist he is, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich loves throwing a good ol&rsquo; zone at opposing offenses.
Listen to this next clip to hear Poeltl break down what&rsquo;s going through his mind in these situations.
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&ldquo;[It] comes down to a lot of communication as well," Poeltl said. "The offense is going to try and exploit weak spots. I&rsquo;m just constantly on the lookout for what they are possibly trying to set up. And telling those guys around me to move over, overload one side, whatever it might be.&rdquo;
Poeltl also emphasized the importance of ball-screen coverage in today&rsquo;s constantly evolving pick-and-roll ecosystem.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot of pick-and-rolls in this league because it&rsquo;s so efficient and you're creating a lot of 2-on-1 situations," he said.
As the big man who has handled the <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/roll-man/?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TypeGrouping=defensive&amp;sort=POSS&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fourth-most</a> ball-screens in the NBA, Poeltl knows his way around these spots.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really just trying to keep the offensive players guessing," he said. "And at the end of the day, play the percentages.&rdquo;
The next clip provides a prime example of what he&rsquo;s talking about:
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Poeltl intentionally sags off of Mike Conley because, while he&rsquo;s a good short mid-range shooter (<a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/695#tab-shooting_accuracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45%</a>), he&rsquo;s a slightly better finisher (<a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/695#tab-shooting_accuracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">53%</a>). But even more important, by accounting for the roller, Jakob avoids Rudy Gobert&rsquo;s lob-finishing wrath (<a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/1310#tab-shooting_accuracy">77%</a>).
"Playing the percentages" became a recurring theme throughout this conversation, and Poeltl's appreciation of the mathematics of the game bears resemblance to another defensive tactician &mdash; Bill Russell.
Like Russell, Poeltl makes himself familiar with his opponent&rsquo;s moves and tendencies in order to lure them into their least efficient spots on the court.
&ldquo;I try to play [their] tendencies," Poeltl said. "I know which moves [they] like, which moves [they] might like a little less. I try to make [them] take lower percentage shots.&rdquo;
And his astuteness appears to be paying dividends, as Poeltl has held some of the best low-post bigs in the league to numbers below their usual outputs.
Poeltl Matchup Data (2021-22)
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<tbody>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 19.5822%; height: 54px;">
Player 
</td>
<td style="width: 25.718%; height: 54px;">
Partial Possessions*
</td>
<td style="width: 21.4783%; height: 54px;">
FG% vs. Poeltl*
</td>
<td style="width: 22.7776%; height: 54px;">
Season FG%*
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 19.5822%; height: 54px;">
Valanciunas&nbsp;
</td>
<td style="width: 25.718%; height: 54px;">
146.8
</td>
<td style="width: 21.4783%; height: 54px;">
52.9%
</td>
<td style="width: 22.7776%; height: 54px;">
54.3%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 19.5822%; height: 54px;">
Gobert
</td>
<td style="width: 25.718%; height: 54px;">
93.8
</td>
<td style="width: 21.4783%; height: 54px;">
54.5%
</td>
<td style="width: 22.7776%; height: 54px;">
71.3%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 19.5822%; height: 54px;">
Embiid
</td>
<td style="width: 25.718%; height: 54px;">
76.7
</td>
<td style="width: 21.4783%; height: 54px;">
42.9%
</td>
<td style="width: 22.7776%; height: 54px;">
49.6%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 19.5822%; height: 54px;">
Ayton
</td>
<td style="width: 25.718%; height: 54px;">
75.4
</td>
<td style="width: 21.4783%; height: 54px;">
46.7%
</td>
<td style="width: 22.7776%; height: 54px;">
63.8%
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 54px;">
<td style="width: 19.5822%; height: 54px;">
Vucevic
</td>
<td style="width: 25.718%; height: 54px;">
74.7
</td>
<td style="width: 21.4783%; height: 54px;">
46.7%
</td>
<td style="width: 22.7776%; height: 54px;">
47.4%
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
(Mobile users scroll right to view full table)
Poeltl's work against current MVP candidate Joel Embiid deserves further examination. Poeltl is holding Embiid to 42.9% from the floor on 35 shot attempts. But what&rsquo;s more, he&rsquo;s only allowed Embiid to take 6 free throws during the nearly 77 partial possessions he&rsquo;s spent on him. This is a far cry from the <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/embiijo01.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">17.4 free throw attempts</a> Embiid typically averages per 100 possessions.
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Poeltl does two things well while guarding Embiid:
<ol>
<li>He baits him into taking a bevy of mid-range jumpers (the least efficient shot in Embiid&rsquo;s illustrious shot profile).</li>
<li>He avoids getting handsy with Embiid and falling prey to his infamous <a href="https://twitter.com/rich_hofmann/status/816337297910153216?s=20&amp;t=IZbWympJN3SijK8xXTdMWw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rip-through</a> maneuver.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
And like Hakeem Olajuwon, Poeltl is a master at navigating the <a href="https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/2-9-6fb93080023c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2.9</a> position of the paint without getting called for a defensive three seconds. (Turn your volume up.)
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&ldquo;I think that has a lot to do with reputation as well, where just being around for a long time, you figure out these little things," Poeltl said. "I remember my first couple seasons in the NBA &mdash; first of all, I was a lot more paranoid to get called for defensive three seconds, and I probably actually was getting called on it a lot more as well. So, I think the biggest thing there that I had to figure out over the years is the timing of it. Like, being in the paint at the right moment when an offensive player &mdash; like a guard or somebody &mdash; is trying to attack. Not wasting those three seconds. Like, standing in there when there is nothing happening.
"Then, I have to go out [of the paint] to clear myself, and in that moment somebody starts driving, and then I&rsquo;m late for the rotation. So, again, it comes down to timing it well, [and] trying to read what the offense is trying to do.&rdquo;
In staying with the topic of great defenders, the best not only omit shots as they come, but also deter would-be trespassers from entering their hunting grounds entirely. Poeltl looks like he&rsquo;s trending towards no-fly-zone territory.
After peaking in January, his number of contests per game has gone downward &mdash; an indication that offensive players may have finally learned their lesson.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2022-04-08-at-11-03-22-am_lg.png" alt="" width="584" height="348" />
*Data Provided by NBA.com
Poeltl's presence on the interior is almost reminiscent to that of the Dark Knight in Gotham City. Both Batman and the Spurs' rim-protector serve as a cautionary symbol of what will happen when you cross the line.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;d call myself a vigilante.&rdquo; Poeltl joked. &ldquo;I pretty much always try to make the paint look as crowded as possible. Try to discourage the other team from driving in there. At the end of the day, contesting a shot is good, but if I can make it look crowded in the first place and discourage them from coming in the paint, that&rsquo;s already a win in my book.&rdquo;
With shades of the various all-timers painted all over his game, is there a particular player that Poeltl has consciously modeled his game after?
&ldquo;Not really, to be honest," Poeltl said. "I always tried to feel the game out for myself. I always tried to find my own way.&rdquo;
Stating that he&rsquo;s just trying to find his way is an undersell.
In fact, Poeltl has more than found his own way. He&rsquo;s an elite shot-blocker, a vocal defensive quarterback and a serious contender for an All-Defensive Team nomination.&nbsp;
But most important of all, he&rsquo;s San Antonio&rsquo;s newest watchful protector &mdash; the franchise's next great defensive big man.
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Mat Issa goes one-on-one with Jakob Poeltl to discuss his defensive prowess and break down his film deterring the NBA's best.

Jakob Poeltl: The San Antonio Spurs' newest watchful protector

After an eventful start to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the Sweet 16 tips off on Thursday. While some top 2022 NBA Draft prospects have already been eliminated &mdash; such as Auburn's Jabari Smith, Iowa's Keegan Murray and Memphis' Jalen Duren &mdash; there are still quite a few upcoming draft picks worth watching.
Our Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock has been scouting these players for years, so he helped put together this guide of 2022 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the Sweet 16. This list only includes prospects who are expected to enter this year&rsquo;s draft and who are currently included on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 NBA Draft Big Board</a>.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaden-ivey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaden Ivey, Purdue &mdash; No. 2 ranked prospect</a>
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This season, Ivey shot career-highs across the board and propelled himself into top-3 consideration. Ivey is a phenomenal athlete and a promising on-ball defender who has flashed great potential on the defensive end of the floor. His offense has taken a huge leap, as he's shown the ability to create space for himself, score on multiple levels and attack the rim at an elite level. Purdue is one of the best teams in America, and Ivey is a huge component of their success. He's one to keep an eye on near the top of the 2022 class.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/chet-holmgren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga &mdash; No. 3 ranked prospect</a>
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At 7-foot tall with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, Chet Holmgren is a playmaker on both ends of the floor. He is comfortable with the ball in his hands, is a reliable shooter, and he can score on all levels. On the defensive end, Holmgren greatly affects the game as a rim protector. He will need to add weight to maximize his potential, as he is rail-thin, but he is one of the most unique prospects we've ever seen nonetheless. Holmgren is projected to be a top-five pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/paolo-banchero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paolo Banchero, Duke &mdash; No. 4 ranked prospect</a>
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At 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, Paolo Banchero is incredibly versatile. He excels in the post, can create off the dribble and continues to improve as a face-up shooter from deep. He lacks elite athleticism on the defensive end, but has flashed a great feel and discipline to counter that. Players with his build and skill set don't come around very often. Banchero is widely considered as a top-four pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/aj-griffin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AJ Griffin, Duke &mdash; No. 7 ranked prospect</a>
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AJ Griffin is 6-foot-6 and possesses a 7-foot wingspan. He is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-nba-draft-prencaa-tourney-look-at-dukes-aj-griffin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a powerful and versatile wing</a> with a tremendous physical profile and promising skill set. Griffin has also shown the ability to create for both himself and others. After missing the early part of this season due to injury, he has solidified himself as one of the best shooters in the country. AJ is the son of former NBA player and current Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin, and he has made a case for himself to become a top-10 pick.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/bennedict-mathurin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona &mdash; No. 9 ranked prospect</a>
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After a strong freshman campaign for the Arizona Wildcats, Bennedict Mathurin has made a jump in his second year in Tucson. Mathurin's size, athleticism, defense and shot-making ability make him an intriguing NBA prospect. Standing at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, he is an explosive athlete and a capable slasher and finisher. Mathurin has solidified himself as one of the best wings in the 2022 NBA Draft and continues to make his case as a top-10 selection.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/ochai-agbaji" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ochai Agbaji, Kansas &mdash; No. 14 ranked prospect</a>
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Ochai Agbaji is a versatile wing who has shown promise as a defender, slasher and shooter. Early in his career, he was known for his athleticism and defense. However, this season, he has emerged as one of the best shooters in America, making giant leaps as a scorer in both volume and efficiency. Agbaji has solidified himself as a viable 3-and-D option at the NBA level and is a candidate for National Player of the Year.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/mark-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Williams, Duke &mdash; No. 18 ranked prospect</a>
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Mark Williams is one of the best shot-blockers and inside scorers in the country. Utilizing his size, length and interior presence, Williams shows flashes of dominance on both ends. This season, he has been solid for Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils, which could lead to him being a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/wendell-moore-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wendell Moore Jr., Duke &mdash; No. 31 ranked prospect</a>
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Moore is having a breakout season, finally coming into his own during his junior year. At 6-foot-5, he has good positional size, strength and athleticism at guard. While Moore remains streaky as a three-point shooter, he has proven to be a reliable three-level scorer this year for the Blue Devils. He will still be 20 years old on draft night with more room to develop, making him a solid option this June.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/trevor-keels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevor Keels, Duke &mdash; No. 33 ranked prospect</a>
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A physical and slashing guard capable of shooting the ball from outside, Trevor Keels came to Duke after being a consensus five-star high school recruit. His physicality and natural ability to score the ball should generate interest from NBA teams. Although he can be streaky as a shooter, he has a beautiful release and has proven to be a tough shot-maker. With positional size and a knack for scoring, Keels is one to follow.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/christian-braun" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Braun, Kansas &mdash; No. 35 ranked prospect</a>
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At 6-foot-6, Braun has positional size and has shown the ability to score from anywhere on the floor. He has a smooth release from three and can pick his spots off the dribble. He is reliable on and off the ball on offense, while providing intelligent defense on the other end. Braun is a well-rounded player and makes a strong case for the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/christian-koloko" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Koloko, Arizona &mdash; No. 36 ranked prospect</a>
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One of the best rim-protectors in the country, Christian Koloko can anchor a defense in the half-court. As much as his 7-foot-4 wingspan helps on defense, it also allows him to be effective on the other end. His hands, post moves and awareness continue to improve, and he is an efficient finisher in the dunker spot. While his role won't ever be to carry a large load on offense, he can still make a significant impact as a rebounder, shot blocker and rim runner.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/trevion-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevion Williams, Purdue &mdash; No. 42 ranked prospect</a>
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Trevion Williams may be the best low-post scorer in the country. He has incredible footwork and craftiness at the rim, and he is always thinking a step ahead with the ball in his hands. He is also an impressive athlete at 255 pounds, as he's quick off the ground and runs the floor well. Williams is old-school in the way he provides points, but he does the little things well. He has good vision out of the post, plays with a great motor and is the kind of player you want in your locker room. Williams has a great chance of earning a shot at the NBA level.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/johnny-juzang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Johnny Juzang, UCLA &mdash; No. 47 ranked prospect</a>
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After a stellar NCAA Tournament run last season, Johnny Juzang tested the NBA Draft waters, but ultimately returned to UCLA for his junior season. At 6-foot-7, Juzang is an exceptional outside shooter, especially off the dribble in the half-court. He has continued his efficient scoring as a shot creator and cutter this season. He projects as a wing shooter and capable facilitator at the next level, and will be considered a solid option for teams picking in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaime-jaquez-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA &mdash; No. 49 ranked prospect</a>
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Jaime Jaquez Jr. is intelligent and crafty, using defensive manipulation and footwork to create for himself and others. He excels in the post against smaller defenders, and can stretch the floor as a reliable shooter from three-point range. In addition, Jaquez is a hard-nosed competitor, and also provides adequate defense and rebounding. He continues to build on the momentum he established last March during UCLA's impressive tournament run, and he's proving to be a consistent three-level scorer and a viable option in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/drew-timme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drew Timme, Gonzaga &mdash; No. 53 ranked prospect</a>
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If there's anyone who can give Trevion Williams a run for his money as the best-low post scorer in the nation, it's probably Drew Timme. With tremendous footwork, touch and an ability to manipulate defenders, Timme was dominant last season and has been highly effective again as a junior. He needs to improve his lateral quickness and pick-and-roll defense, as he can often get taken out of the play with ease on the perimeter. If he is able to address some of those concerns, he could solidify himself a solid draft pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/collin-gillespie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Collin Gillespie, Villanova &mdash; No. 58 ranked prospect</a>
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Collin Gillespie will enter the 2022 NBA Draft as one of the more accomplished college players in the class. He already has three Big East Championships and a national championship on his resume, and he'll look to duplicate that success at the NBA level. At 6-foot-3, he is intelligent on and off the ball, and is a reliable scorer at multiple levels. He's also disciplined and instinctual on defense, providing real value on both ends of the floor. Gillespie has the tools to be a backup point guard at the next level, so it will be interesting to track if an organiziation gives him that opportunity.
Be sure to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check our complete 2022 NBA Draft Big Board and click each prospect's name for more info</a> (including their highlights, measurements, projected role and more).
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Who are the notable 2022 NBA Draft prospects to watch during the Sweet 16? Here is a guide, with a scouting report for each player.

March Madness: 16 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the Sweet 16

Who are the notable prospects to keep an eye on during the 2022 NCAA Tournament? Here's a complete guide with scouting reports.

NBA Draft guide to March Madness: Notable prospects to watch

When the Phoenix Suns and 2018 No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton failed to agree on a rookie-scale maximum contract extension leading into the 2021-22 season, it surprised everyone throughout the NBA. What was believed to be a no-brainer following Phoenix&rsquo;s miraculous Finals run turned into a stalemate on perceived value between player and organization.
From the beginning of negotiations, which saw little to no room for budging on either end, Ayton and his representation rightfully viewed him in the same tier of player as his fellow draft classmates who received long-term, big-money deals (Luka Doncic, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Michael Porter Jr.). On the other end of the bargaining table, the Suns&rsquo; front office never viewed Ayton as someone deserving of a five-year, $172.5 million extension.
Throughout this season, Ayton has not let his lack of long-term clarity get in the way of his on-court performance. As was the case during the Suns&rsquo; resurgent first season with Chris Paul running the offense, Ayton is still maintaining his elite two-way efficiency. There have been some bumps in the road with consistency, but they don&rsquo;t show up as frequently for Ayton as they did earlier in his NBA career.
For the 51-13 Suns, who own the league&rsquo;s best record by a considerable margin, Ayton is doing everything asked of him to keep the operation afloat. And most recently without Paul (avulsion fracture) and Devin Booker (COVID health and safety protocols) in Phoenix&rsquo;s starting lineup, Ayton has proved to be capable of having the offense run through him when necessary, pouring in a season-high 30 points in a close loss against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.
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Averaging 16.6 points, 9.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game on an outstanding 66.0% True Shooting percentage, Ayton has already cemented himself within the above-average tier of starting-quality bigs. Ayton taking massive strides as a rim-protector helps project what could be the next level of production during his expensive second contract that looms. Only five centers in the NBA are allowing less than 45% of the shots they defend to end in points (minimum 15 shots per game): Rudy Gobert, Jarrett Allen, Anthony Davis, Evan Mobley and Ayton.
While Ayton is building upon a rock-solid foundation around the rim on both ends, he has shown that he can already make an eye-opening impact on the NBA's biggest stage. The question for Phoenix and the 7-foot Bahamian product is how his long-term market shakes out within the next few months.
At this point, it seems like a plausible reality that the Ayton many hoped to see when he entered the draft from nearby University of Arizona would appear. Playing out of position in college as a power forward, Ayton was laying waste to Pac-12 defenses thanks to his athletic profile &mdash; more so fit for a wing than a big. From the very beginning, Ayton was seemingly labeled in the wrong category. In some people&rsquo;s eyes, Ayton could become Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson or Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal 2.0, bullying defending giants with reckless ferocity. That certainly hasn't happened with the Suns during his four seasons; however, the 23-year-old has transformed into a more than serviceable pillar piece.&nbsp;
Ayton isn&rsquo;t going to wow the general basketball fan with high-flying dunks and blocks, but what he will do is run the floor like his life depends on. The Suns&rsquo; center will seal and screen for his teammates, providing ample room for his superstar backcourt to operate within. And when he rolls to the rim, Ayton has already become one of the NBA&rsquo;s most dangerous pick-and-roll threats when being set up by Paul or Booker. Ayton isn&rsquo;t able to create offense for himself, which knocks him down a peg from the modern, demigod big-man scorers like Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Karl-Anthony Towns.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
I'll live with a few more 5 TO games from Deandre Ayton if he keeps developing this type of purposeful aggression out of PnR as a result. <a href="https://t.co/9wCMipb6D4">pic.twitter.com/9wCMipb6D4</a>
&mdash; David (@theIVpointplay) <a href="https://twitter.com/theIVpointplay/status/1468169076555927555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

The thing is, even if Ayton isn't a top-15 or 20 player, he can still make a gigantic impact on and off the stat sheet. Ayton is beginning to explore once more with his three-point shot, an area that was left alone for the last few seasons. If he can continue to expand his offensive profile to be a consistent threat from beyond the three-point line, it brings his value to even higher levels.
What has to be noted, though, is that Ayton is already a special scorer. With some of the best footwork around the basket I&rsquo;ve seen, Ayton is like a dancing bear on the block who can quickly create a shooting pocket with spins to his patented hook shot. Ayton stepped into the NBA as an elite big from an efficiency standpoint, which has only grown in Year 4.
When looking through his overall shot profile for conversion rates, it&rsquo;s hard to find a blemish on Ayton&rsquo;s resume:
Restricted Area: 75.2% on 4.7 FGA
In The Paint: 60.8% on 4.7 FGA
Mid-Range: 47.3% on 1.3 FGA
Above-The-Break Three: 38.5% on 0.3 FGA
It&rsquo;s an obvious plus when Paul and Booker are the ones setting up Ayton consistently, but this great touch has been there since the big man was dominating his competition in high school and college. The offense isn&rsquo;t run through Ayton &mdash; which is the smart choice in today&rsquo;s pace-and-space game &mdash; but he serves as a lifeline for the Suns' offense when everything else fails. If the Suns throw a pass down on the block to Ayton, more often than not it&rsquo;s going to end with him converting a highly efficient opportunity.
The on-court value of Ayton has fallen a little under the radar with the Suns stacking together wins. While he&rsquo;s not going to break the internet and deliver nightly SportsCenter highlights, Ayton is a valve in the Suns&rsquo; system and he's crucial to their success now and in the future.
Entering this offseason as a restricted free agent in a historically bad class, a team looking to make a splash is going to offer the big bucks to Ayton. The question is: What will the Suns&rsquo; front office do when Ayton eventually signs a four-year max offer sheet elsewhere? This is a foregone conclusion, the only question is: Which team? The Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs all make sense as teams who should aggressively pursue Ayton on the restricted market. This could be those teams' only opportunity to coax a max-level player into signing the dotted line for their respective organizations, which again brings us back to Phoenix&rsquo;s perspective.
Suns general manager James Jones has remained relatively coy on the subject of Ayton&rsquo;s annual value since no deal occurred back in October. Once the calendar hits July, how will Jones and Co. view Ayton from a monetary perspective? Since Ayton is a restricted free agent, the ball is essentially in the Suns&rsquo; court. If Phoenix was so hesitant to pay Ayton last offseason, how will the Suns feel after another season of similar production? If you compare Ayton&rsquo;s numbers from this season to his 2020-21 stats, they are very similar.
2020-21 Ayton: 14.4 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, 65.3 TS%
2021-22 Ayton: 16.6 points, 9.7 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 66.0 TS%
So, what must happen for the Suns to cough up what Ayton rightfully believes he deserves this summer? As is the case with most restricted-free-agent stories, this could soon become worse before it&rsquo;s better. John Collins and the Atlanta Hawks are a perfect example from last offseason, which saw a stalemate eventually end in a five-year, $125 million mutual agreement. Collins was holding out for max or near-max money, but the closest he could get was $25 million annually. It also doesn&rsquo;t help Ayton&rsquo;s case that Cleveland Cavaliers big man Jarrett Allen is producing a career-best season after signing a new four-year deal paying him $20 million annually.
Zooming out on the situation, it seems very clear that we&rsquo;re heading for a good ol' fashion standoff between Ayton&rsquo;s representatives and the Suns. Phoenix will likely begin negotiations in the Allen/Collins range of money, but Ayton&rsquo;s camp will hold firm on a max offer &mdash; from the Valley or elsewhere.
Ayton hasn&rsquo;t become a transformative player for the Suns, but he&rsquo;s one of the main reasons why the Suns went from bottom-feeder to juggernaut. With a moldable game that fits within their system well, Ayton is once again showing why he deserves a pay day.
&ldquo;Deandre Ayton, we&rsquo;re going to get him a bag this summer,&rdquo; Paul said after the Suns&rsquo; Game 4 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2021 Western Conference Finals.
A year later, we will find out exactly how Ayton and the Suns will move forward together.
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Will Deandre Ayton get the max-contract pay day that he desires? Evan Sidery looks ahead to the Suns' big offseason decision.

Will Deandre Ayton eventually get his bag from the Suns?

Take a look at the top-10 in Defensive Rating this season, and most of the names will make sense.&nbsp;
The Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns, headlined by elite talent (Draymond Green, Mikal Bridges), top the list. Surprise fixtures like the third-ranked Cleveland Cavaliers (Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley) and the 10th-ranked Minnesota Timberwolves (Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaden McDaniels) are able to length-and-chaos their way into high-level units.
Miliwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat? Elite personnel and coaching. Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers? Ty Lue's a madman and Ime Udoka has a stellar defensive background, and both rosters navigate switches at a high level. The Memphis Grizzlies? They were good last year, and Jaren Jackson Jr. is having a fringe All-Defensive Team season.&nbsp;
And then, there are the Dallas Mavericks. They rank fourth in DRTG (106.4) this season, and easily hold the best defense (97.7 DRTG) in the league since the turn of the calendar.
Look at the Mavs' roster and point me to their middle linebacker like Draymond. Show me their elite point-of-attack guys like Bridges, or Jrue Holiday. Their toss-him-on-everything guy like a PJ Tucker or Marcus Smart. Fly-around-and-plug-holes guys like Vanderbilt or Nicolas Batum. Versatile rim-protectors like JJJ or the Twin Towers in Cleveland. (Fro Bros? Grow it out, Evan, so we can make this happen!)
You really can't, and that's what makes this Dallas team fascinating. There isn't an elite guy on the roster; heck, their most reliable wing defender over the past few seasons is <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2952421-latest-nba-trade-intel-how-will-dame-lillard-surgery-impact-ben-simmons-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly on the trade market</a>.&nbsp;
How in the name of all that is holy are they pulling this off? Are we all living in a simulation?
(Yes, actually. Life is a giant Black Mirror episode; I've been screaming about this <a href="https://twitter.com/NekiasNBA/status/1192868857691721730?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">for years</a>.)
Oddly enough, it begins with their offense.
When you hear of a good offense leading to a better defense, it's generally within the context of made baskets. If your opponent is constantly taking the ball out of the basket, it's typically easier to set up your half-court defense.&nbsp;
That's true for the Mavericks, who rank No. 3 in points per possession allowed following a made basket (0.99 PPP), <a href="http://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/ssnTeamPoss.php?season=2021&amp;po=0&amp;frdt=2021-10-19&amp;todt=2022-01-18&amp;view=def&amp;sort=adeffmk&amp;order=ASC" target="_blank" rel="noopener">via Inpredictable</a>. Beyond that, I think it's worth noting how their offensive approach helps their defense.
The boring answer behind the Mavericks' defensive leap? They're doing a much job of navigating transition opportunities.
Per Cleaning The Glass, the Mavericks allowed 128.3 points per 100 transition plays last season. That's down to 117.7 this year &mdash; nearly a 10-point decrease, and a shift that took them from 21st to seventh.&nbsp;
Effort and awareness play into that, of course. It's been a pleasure watching Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson high-tail it from the corners in order to match up with guys after misses.
Here's something I'm trying to work through: How much of a head start do the Mavericks get due to their offensive alignment?
They run over 39 spread (5-out) pick-and-rolls per 100 possessions, the third-highest rate in the league per Second Spectrum. They're also posting up more than they did last year (6.6 to 8.0); Kristaps Porzingis is posting slightly more, and Luka Doncic has nearly doubled his rate from the year before.
Because of the shots they get, and because of how their players space the floor &mdash; they almost always have two players stationed high on the floor as kickout options &mdash; it's easier to get back. Here's a quick stillshot of a Luka post-up just to get a visual.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot_2022_01_19_11_40_33_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="366" />
Dorian Finney-Smith is roaming the dunker spot (<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dunker-spot/id1547857052" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subscribe!</a>), but the point remains. Both Brunson and Porzingis are spacing well beyond the three-point arc. They're good enough shooters to stress defenses from that range. But within this context, it won't take much for them to get back on defense because of where they're located.
As far as their half-court defense, the Mavericks don't do anything too crazy. They're primarily a drop coverage team with a hankering for late switching. Their defensive shot profile has improved because of this; they're allowing a lower share of threes and&nbsp;shots at the rim than last season, per Cleaning The Glass.
Porzingis is protecting the rim at a high level; opponents are only converting <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defensive-impact/?sort=BLK&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">half of their shots</a> against him, though he's contesting fewer shots than last season.
With that, it's worth noting that Porzingis is playing a step or so higher in his drop than he did last year, making it a little more difficult for ball-handlers to build momentum.&nbsp;
The Mavs are doing this thing where, if the ball-handler's defender can't stay attached cleanly over a screen, they'll pass off their man to Porzingis in the 14-to-16 foot range. He isn't a switch big in the Bam Adebayo mold, but he can use his length to navigate closer quarters.
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The Mavs switch more frequently and effectively with Porzingis off the floor, per Second Spectrum. Having Maxi Kleber (looking good again!) or Dwight Powell at the 5 gives them more mobility, thus allowing them to flatten out offensive actions a little easier.&nbsp;
Head coach Jason Kidd hasn't quite gone into his Milwaukee bag in terms of ball pressure, but he'll sprinkle in some tricks. A funky counter they threw in their recent outing against the Oklahoma City Thunder was a hard double following a switch. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander simply wasn't prepared for it.
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Beyond that, the Mavericks are just kinda working hard and nailing the little things. This is a group that talks, points and moves with a purpose. Rotations are tighter; scram switching feels like less of an adventure.
Brunson's fighting at the point of attack despite his size limitations. Hardaway hasn't allowed his shooting to affect his defensive effort. Frank Ntilikina and Josh Green (keep an eye on him) are bringing youthful exuberance. Even Luka is giving more effort on the weak side of actions, even if he gives me Harden vibes.
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(Seriously, he reminds me a bit of how James Harden has been used the last few seasons. They park him in an area, and switch just about any direct action involving him to keep him in said area.)
There are still holes to pick at within a playoff context.
Brunson can be hunted on switches; Porzingis still struggles against stretch bigs. Luka has switched more screens than any other Maverick, per Second Spectrum, and that's mostly because screen navigation is a chore for him.&nbsp;
But for now, the Mavericks are locked in. They're "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" personified. If they can replicate most of this during postseason play, we may have to rethink their ceiling.

Nekias Duncan breaks down the surprisingly good defense of the Dallas Mavericks.

Without a true anchor, how do the Mavs have an elite defense?

BOSTON (AP) — Basketball Hall of Famer Sam Jones, the Boston Celtics' “Mr. Clutch” whose sharp shooting fueled the league's longest dynasty and earned him 10 NBA titles — second only to teammate Bill Russell — has died, the team said. He was 88.
Jones died Thursday night in Florida, where he had been hospitalized in failing health, Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss said. 
“Sam Jones was one of the most talented, versatile, and clutch shooters for the most successful and dominant teams in NBA history," the team said in a statement. 
“His scoring ability was so prolific, and his form so pure, that he earned the simple nickname, ‘The Shooter,’” the Celtics said. “The Jones family is in our thoughts as we mourn his loss and fondly remember the life and career of one of the greatest champions in American sports.”
The Celtics paused for a moment of silence before Friday afternoon’s game against the Phoenix Suns, showing a video tribute on the screen hanging among the championship banners above the parquet floor at the TD Garden. His No. 24, which was retired by the Celtics in 1969 while he was a still an active player, also was displayed on the monitor in the hushed arena before a still photo of him in a suit and the words “Sam Jones 1933-2021.”
“Another one of my dear friends lost,” Celtics broadcaster Cedric Maxwell wrote on Twitter. “Well, the banks are open in heaven this #NYE.”
Often providing the offense while Russell locked things down at the other end, Jones averaged 17.7 points per game over 12 seasons. The number went up in the postseason, when he averaged 18.9 points and was usually the No. 1 option for the game's final shot for the teams that won 10 titles from 1959-69.
“We never flew first class in my 12 years of playing basketball,” Jones told The Associated Press this fall <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ahmaud-arbery-nba-sports-boxing-race-and-ethnicity-316cc3269afbcaf80a42c31ef6661ebe">in an interview for the league's 75th anniversary</a>. “But we always won NBA championships.”
In 1964, Jones was a member of the NBA's first starting lineup to include five Black players, joining Russell, Tom “Satch” Sanders, K.C. Jones and Willie Naulls. Although coach Red Auerbach maintained he was thinking only of his best chance to win, the lineup broke with an unwritten rule that pressured teams to have at least on white player on the floor. 
Sam Jones, a North Carolina native who served two years in the Army before returning to college, told the AP that the NBA of the 1960s was little different than the segregated South where he grew up and went to school.
“I’m fighting for the freedom of everybody here in the United States. And when I come back, I still got to fight for my freedom,” Jones said. "Something is wrong with that, and has always been and is happening even today.” 
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Jones will be remembered as “one of the most prolific champions in all of professional sports.”
“His selfless style, clutch performances and signature bank shot were hallmarks of an incredible career," Silver said. "Sam was a beloved teammate and respected competitor who played the game with dignity and class. We mourn the passing of a basketball giant and send our deepest condolences to Sam’s family and the Celtics organization.”
Born in Wilmington, Jones attended North Carolina Central, a Division II, historically Black university in Durham. Auerbach first heard of Jones when he went to North Carolina to scout the national champion Tar Heels and was told that the best player in the state was actually at Central playing for Hall of Fame coach John McLendon. 
Auerbach selected Jones in the first round of the 1957 draft, eighth overall, despite never seeing him play.
“Russell and I are the most successful players in winning championships in the NBA. Yet he never saw us play a game because they had no scouts,” Jones told the AP. “The coaches called other coaches to see how other players were playing. They took their word for it.” 
Jones led the Celtics in scoring five times — including the 1963 champions, when he was one of eight future Hall of Famers on the roster. When he retired in 1969 at the age of 36, Jones held 11 Celtics records and was the only player in franchise history to score more than 50 points in a game.
“You look at the championships and what he did, it’s obviously a big loss for the community here," Celtics coach Ime Udoka said before Friday's game.
Using a bank shot that was unconventional even then, Jones came to be known as “Mr. Clutch” after a series of game-winners, including a buzzer-beater to clinch the 1962 Eastern Conference finals. He hit an off-balance, wrong-footed jumper to win Game 4 of the ‘69 Finals; instead of heading to Los Angeles trailing 3-1, the Celtics tied the series against the Lakers at two games apiece and went on to win in seven.
Jones retired after that title, having won his 10 championships in 12 seasons. A five-time All-Star, he was was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984.
Jones was named to the NBA's 25th, 50th and 75th anniversary teams. His death comes a year after teammate Tommy Heinsohn and 13 months following the death of K.C. Jones. 
___
AP freelancer Doug Alden contributed to this story.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

NBA hall-of-famer and Celtics legend Sam Jones has passed away at the age of 88 years-old.

Hall of Famer Sam Jones, winner of 10 NBA titles, dies at 88

Bobby Portis says he turned down more lucrative offers to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks in the offseason because he wanted to play for a winner and experience a deep playoff run.
The reassurance that he made the right decision came every time a frenzied Fiserv Forum crowd chanted his name Thursday night.
Through the first five seasons of his career, Portis appeared in only one playoff series. Now he's a win away from the NBA Finals.
&ldquo;Coming here was one of the best decisions for my career,&rdquo; Portis said.
(Editor's Note: Spencer Davies <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-bobby-portis-spark-plug-off-bench-milwaukee-bucks-mike-budenholzer-donte-divincenzo-khris-middleton-dj-augustin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">profiled Bobby Portis and how he was Milwaukee's spark plug</a> earlier this season, and Alex Kennedy <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-alex-kennedy-podcast/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-19-bobby-portis-on-joining-the-milwaukee-bucks,-taking-less-money-to-play-on-a-contender,-his-growth-in-recent-years-ep-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had Portis on his podcast to talk about more of the same</a>.)
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
🗣 BOBBY 🗣 BOBBY 🗣 BOBBY <a href="https://t.co/kLjsJ0aDIP">pic.twitter.com/kLjsJ0aDIP</a>
&mdash; Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bucks/status/1410814398088757249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2021</a></blockquote>

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

Portis took injured two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s spot in the starting lineup and scored 22 points in a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/atlanta-hawks-milwaukee-bucks-nba-sports-dcb2ae0059160674a385f933240b699a">123-112 Game 5 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.</a> That gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
With every big play Portis made, the chants of &ldquo;Bobby! Bobby!&rdquo; grew louder. Portis had a simple explanation for why he&rsquo;s become such a fan favorite his first year in Milwaukee.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a blue-collar city,&rdquo; Portis said, &ldquo;and I&rsquo;m a blue-collar player.&rdquo;
This has been an immensely satisfying season for Portis after he didn&rsquo;t experience much winning earlier in his career with the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and New York Knicks. His only previous postseason experience was Chicago&rsquo;s first-round loss to Boston in 2017.
&ldquo;When you first come to the NBA, you don&rsquo;t really understand the journey,&rdquo; Portis said. &ldquo;You just come from college. I was the best player on my team, (Southeastern Conference) player of the year, All-American, All-American high school, so when I first got to the league, I wasn&rsquo;t playing a lot. Didn&rsquo;t really understand and kind of lost myself a little bit, but I fought my way in.&rdquo;
Portis said a turning point came last year. He was playing for the New York Knicks when the pandemic shut things down. When the season finally resumed, the Knicks didn&rsquo;t get to the Walt Disney World bubble because they were too far out of the playoff picture.
He spent more time with his mother and worked on his game but acknowledged that it hurt not being a part of that playoff setup. It made him that much more eager to play for a contender.
&ldquo;I finally found peace, man,&rdquo; Portis said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m at peace with myself and at peace in my life and at peace with everything going on around. I was just always trying to find it again, and really couldn&rsquo;t find it. But having great teammates and great coaches. And the pandemic, like I said, really helped me find out more about myself more than anything.&rdquo;
Portis averaged 11.4 points and 7.1 rebounds during the regular season as a key player off the bench. He&rsquo;d put up bigger numbers earlier in his career, but this time his contributions meant more because he was playing for a contender.
He had eight rebounds, three steals, three assists and numerous hustle plays to move the Bucks a giant step closer to their first NBA Finals appearance since 1974.
&ldquo;More than anything, it&rsquo;s the intensity, his passion for the game,&rdquo; Hawks forward John Collins said. &ldquo;He plays the game hard and gives the team spark and energy.&rdquo;
Portis&rsquo; emergence in this series is somewhat surprising because he didn&rsquo;t play at all in the final three games of Milwaukee&rsquo;s second-round series with Brooklyn.
But he has become a major factor against Atlanta, averaging 12.6 points. The &ldquo;Bobby&rdquo; chants started in Game 2. They got louder and more frequent Thursday.
&ldquo;I think his passion is infectious,&rdquo; Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said. &ldquo;His teammates love him. The fans love him. He brings that passion for the game, for life. He&rsquo;s fun to be around. I think the crowd can feel that. His teammates can feel that.&rdquo;
His teammates back that up.
&ldquo;He brings this energy that nobody else could bring,&rdquo; guard Jrue Holiday said. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter how he&rsquo;s playing, but he&rsquo;s going to muck it up, he&rsquo;s going to fight, he&rsquo;s going to talk, and everybody loves when somebody talks. He knows that we got his back.&rdquo;
Portis figures to stay in the Bucks&rsquo; starting lineup until Antetokounmpo returns from a hyperextended left knee. The guy who was stuck at home for the postseason last year could find himself starting in an NBA Finals game later this month.
&ldquo;The journey is what makes it sweet, man, in the NBA,&rdquo; Portis said. &ldquo;You really can&rsquo;t put a tab on that. Coming here, man, was the best decision, like I said, of my career.&rdquo;

“Coming here was one of the best decisions for my career,” Bobby Portis said of joining the Bucks in Milwaukee.

Bobby Portis emerges as Bucks fan favorite with blue-collar style

With Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets and their embarrassment of riches may one day rule not only New York City, but the NBA.
That day, however, is not today. And believe it or not, the NBA is better for it.
For as long as we can remember &mdash; whether it was the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls or Golden State Warriors &mdash; the NBA has been ruled by a super-team. Generally good for business, the super-teams were viewed as villains by many, but everyone watched with glazed-over eyes.
We wanted to see how long a dynastic team&rsquo;s reign could last.
Indeed, for the NBA, the existence of the super-team is nothing new, only the way they&rsquo;ve been constructed.
From the time LeBron James got ESPN to follow St. Vincent-St. Mary &mdash; from the time he was driving around in a 2003 Hummer H2 &mdash; he understood his power. In 2010, he used it to his advantage.
On July 8 of that year, the young king summoned everyone he could to Connecticut to reveal that he was opting for a secondment in Florida. He rocked the boat, and since then, the NBA&rsquo;s owners have been struggling to not capsize.
James willfully sacrificed money, opted for short-term contracts and did all he could to apply pressure to the front offices for which he worked. In 2010, he flexed his muscles, grabbed his future and used his mighty size 15 Nikes to kick down the door that fellow stars such as Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis would later use to make daring escapes.
About 11 years later, James Harden would follow.
Contract be damned, after eight years in Houston, Harden saw the world around him change yet again and decided he no longer wanted to continue the good fight without Daryl Morey and Mike D&rsquo;Antoni. Yet another sidekick in Russell Westbrook came and went, so Harden decided he would, too.
All things considered, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why Harden would want out.
It&rsquo;s also easy to understand why, given the circumstances behind his exit, the Basketball Gods couldn&rsquo;t in good conscience reward the Nets with a championship. Not in Year 1, anyway.
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When Sean Marks took residence in Brooklyn in 2016, the franchise was coming off of a 21-win campaign. Future draft picks were still owed to the Boston Celtics for the Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trade and the Nets were deemed to have no future.
Marks changed that almost immediately.
He turned over every stone, using some to lay a foundation and others to build walls. D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris, Rodions Kurucs &mdash; Marks found players, harnessed their talents and eventually watched Kenny Atkinson push his misfits to 42 wins. It took three seasons for the Nets to go from a laughingstock to the team that Irving and Durant wanted.
What was always sad about the acquisitions of Irving and Durant, though, was the fact that sacrifices had to be made.
Russell &mdash; a player who had come into his own in Brooklyn, growing and maturing into a franchise player &mdash; had to be let go to clear cap space. Wanting to do right by him, the Nets were just as motivated as the Warriors and Russell were to get a double sign-and-trade done for Durant, and that was that.
Irving is a superstar and a champion. He's an obvious upgrade over Russell, but the lefty grew in Brooklyn, and seeing him jettisoned hurt.
And that was just the beginning.
Irving didn&rsquo;t necessarily endear himself to his teammates in his first year in Brooklyn, and after an 11-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, he famously opined that the players that comprised the team&rsquo;s roster simply <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28493556/kyrie-irving-says-team-needs-glaring-nets-fall-76ers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weren&rsquo;t good enough</a> to win. Not even two months later, Coach Atkinson was fired. And in the not-too-distant future, for Harden, the Nets sacrificed most of the remaining players who built the culture that seemed to attract Irving and Durant in the first place.
Seeing Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen traded to bring in Harden, again, made sense from a basketball-talent standpoint. But there&rsquo;s no denying that along with Coach Atkinson, Russell, LeVert and Allen were the three players who the gave the team&rsquo;s fans the most pride. They were Brooklyn&rsquo;s own.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/levertallen_lg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="401" />
In no time at all, it seemed, the Nets went from a young core with pure intentions to one ruled by three superstars, each with their own baggage, each motivated to win a championship not for the franchise or the city, but for their individual legacies. The Nets happened to be a convenient place to accomplish their individuals goals.
And when Brooklyn was presented with a proposition from a supermodel, it dumped its high school sweetheart that stuck with it through thick and thin.
All the while, Giannis Antetokounmpo, secretly, was shopping for engagement rings.
With admirable humility, those who know Giannis well and have watched him grow will tell you that deep down inside, he believes he owes Milwaukee for giving him a shot. He could&rsquo;ve opted to chase a championship anywhere &mdash; Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami &mdash; but he seemingly learned from Durant&rsquo;s experience. No matter where he went, a championship wouldn&rsquo;t have felt the same if he was wearing a different jersey and celebrating with a new fan base.
Along the way, Antetokounmpo came to realize that he was a part of something &mdash; a team, an organization, a fraternity&hellip; A community. So with no promise and no guarantee, he doubled-down on his commitment and decided that he would dedicate himself to not only winning a championship, but winning one in Milwaukee.
So when his Bucks trailed by two points in Game 7, after they&rsquo;d gone the first four minutes of overtime without a basket, Giannis received a pass in the pinch-post and felt Durant on his hip. The Greek Freak had longed for an opportunity for redemption, and it came in the form of a soft sky hook that slowly fell through the net after meekly bouncing on the rim three times.
&ldquo;It was definitely exhausting, but it was worth it,&rdquo; Giannis said after Khris Middleton&rsquo;s game-winner helped the Bucks walk out of Barclays Center with their heads held high.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s gonna hurt a little bit if you want to be great,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I know that.&rdquo;
Now the Nets do, too.
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Brooklyn will be back. One year from now, they&rsquo;ll be wiser, they&rsquo;ll have better chemistry and, we can assume, they&rsquo;ll be healthier. They'll also be an attractive destination for ring-chasing veterans. Collectively, they&rsquo;ll now have this painful experience to fuel them, and they&rsquo;ll be better for it.
And that&rsquo;s the way it&rsquo;s supposed to be.
Whether you believe in the Basketball Gods or not, winning a championship shouldn&rsquo;t be something that players can just show up and be able to do. It should require trials and tribulations. It should require painful growth and adversity. It should require sweat, sacrifice and tears.
As a unit, the Bucks have paid those dues, as have scores of other teams. The Nets got caught trying to jump the line.
For the league&rsquo;s teams that are not in sexy markets &mdash; the Portlands, the Denvers and, yes, the Milwaukees &mdash; forming a perceived super-team is largely unrealistic. Outside of places like Los Angeles, Boston, Miami and New York, it&rsquo;s difficult to imagine a team assembling a roster with as much star power as Brooklyn did this past season.
With its core playing just eight games together and its head coach having zero experience, seeing the Nets win this season would&rsquo;ve hurt the morale of the dreamers. Seeing them fall short in their first year together, as harsh as it may sound, will be viewed as a just outcome for the 29 other teams. That&rsquo;s true, regardless of whether they admit it.
In the end, competition is what professional sports are all about. No matter how mighty Goliath appears to be, David has to pick up his slingshot.
The Bucks, in defeating the undermanned Nets, have provided Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell and their ilk with some hope. Under the right set of circumstances, it&rsquo;s still possible to slew a giant.
Perhaps the Bucks only delayed the inevitable. It&rsquo;s hard to imagine Irving, Durant and Harden not finding a way to succeed together in Brooklyn.
But before a team has earned the right to be called champions, they're supposed to traverse a road that's littered with the bones of dashed hopes and painful heartbreak. The journey that a team takes together is just as meaningful and important as the final stop atop the podium in June.
Had the Nets managed to put it all together this season, especially had they defeated the Bucks and the Phoenix Suns along the way, we may have forgotten that. We may have lost sight of what truly makes success at the highest level glorifying.
Thankfully, the Basketball Gods made sure we were reminded.

While the Brooklyn Nets hope for better luck next year, the NBA's small-market teams are probably breathing a sigh of relief.

The Brooklyn Nets fell short, and the NBA is better off because of it

The following is an excerpt of L. Jon Wertheim's book, &ldquo;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Days-Changed-Culture-Forever/dp/1328637247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever</a>,&rdquo; which is out today <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Days-Changed-Culture-Forever/dp/1328637247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on Amazon</a>. 
In Indianapolis, a popular 1984 parlor game entailed coming up with the best comparison for the Hoosier Dome, the white monstrosity that had sprouted to blight the city&rsquo;s skyline. It&rsquo;s like a giant biscuit made from scratch. No, it looks more like a giant pile of white deer crap. The indoor venue was built with the intent of enticing a professional football team to relocate to town&mdash;and on those grounds, it was stunningly successful. On March 28, 1984, the Colts organization had loaded up a fleet of moving vans, left Baltimore under cover of darkness, and decamped to Indianapolis.
But with the 1984 NFL season still weeks away, the first event held inside the Hoosier Dome was, appropriately, a basketball game. As Bob Knight, the unofficial emcee, told the crowd that night, July 9, 1984, &ldquo;I heard today that basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, and that is true.&rdquo; (Pause for effect.) &ldquo;God had it invented there so we could import it to Indiana.&rdquo; Deafening applause followed.
Knight and his minions had come to Indianapolis as part of a pre-Olympic summer barnstorming tour. In order to help the team coalesce into a unit, in order to simulate real competition under international rules&mdash;and in order to get them the hell out of southern Indiana in the summer&mdash;USA Basketball had arranged for a series of games against makeshift teams of NBA players. Like a summer concert tour, the circuit threaded its way through an assortment of cities, some (Minneapolis) more logical than others (Iowa City?).
Apart from offering an entertaining summer basketball exhibition, the games doubled as an exercise in patriotism. Knight had already stressed this aspect with his players. Time and again, he reminded them that they were playing as representatives of America, which, as the coach put it, was one of the great civilizations in world history. Knight also constantly reminded them of recent Olympic basketball history. Though 12 years had elapsed, Knight often invoked the gold-medal game in the 1972 Olympics, when the Russians &ldquo;won&rdquo; an atrociously officiated contest 51&ndash;50, the outcome so dubious and controversial that the American players never accepted their silver medals.
With the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Games, there would be no Cold War flashpoint or baked-in rival this time. Still, these were our boys&mdash;the same age as soldiers&mdash;going off to do battle in an international theater, representing their country and wearing uniforms emblazoned in red, white, and blue.
This patriotic strain was especially vivid in Indianapolis on this night. It was the Monday after Fourth of July weekend. And the unit was led by Knight, a man nicknamed the General, who had started his coaching tour of duty at West Point and fancied himself a military historian. The ragtag mix of NBA players forming the opposition were coaxed into interrupting their summer on the grounds that they were fulfilling a patriotic duty, serving as sparring partners for the American unit.
At the entrance to the Hoosier Dome, local Girl Scout troops handed out miniature American flags to the 67,596 fans who attended, at the time the largest crowd ever to watch a basketball game indoors. During the pregame ceremonies, Knight welcomed the crowd and then handed the stage over to none other than Ronald Reagan. The president had taped a message that played on the video board, declaring that Knight&rsquo;s collection of players was &ldquo;not just a team. They&rsquo;re the American team.&rdquo;
Amid all this patriotic (jingoistic?) fervor, few fans noticed a small interlude on the court. During the pregame warm-up, Michael Jordan, shod now in the Fastbreak model by Converse, the sponsor of the Olympic team, unspooled a series of jump shots. After one errant attempt, his ball squirted away from him, crossed the DMZ of half-court, and bounded into enemy territory, the opponent&rsquo;s side of the floor.
It found its way into the hands of Larry Bird. Fresh from winning the NBA title a few weeks earlier, Bird had, somewhat grudgingly, paused his off-season ritual&mdash;consisting mostly of beer drinking and fishing&mdash;to take part in this exhibition, a few hours&rsquo; drive from his famed hometown of French Lick, Indiana.
For Bird, though, there were no exhibition games. Only competitions. Jordan wore a sheepish, congenial My bad, Larry, smile as he came to retrieve his ball. Bird, the NBA&rsquo;s reigning MVP, was less congenial. Sneering dismissively, he kicked the ball over Jordan&rsquo;s head and back to the other end of the court, the indoor equivalent of Get off my lawn, kid. Jordan walked back, shaking his head, interpreting it as a bit of validation. He was already worthy of Larry Bird&rsquo;s mind games. See you in the NBA, pal.
That night, the U.S. women&rsquo;s basketball team served as something of a warm-up act. Led by Cheryl Miller&mdash;whose kid brother Reggie would be drafted by the Indiana Pacers three summers later and leave as the franchise&rsquo;s most decorated pro basketball player&mdash;the U.S. women cruised to a 97&ndash;54 win over a patchwork team of former college players. &ldquo;Not much to complain about,&rdquo; said the coach, Pat Summitt, who had turned 32 a few weeks before.
As for the main event, the men&rsquo;s game, Bird tricked Jordan into a pair of quick fouls and the NBA All-Stars&mdash;featuring most of Bird&rsquo;s Celtics teammates as well as the Detroit Pistons&rsquo; star guard Isiah Thomas, who had played for Knight at Indiana&mdash;took a 16&ndash;10 lead. But then the Olympians took over, benefiting from superior depth, cohesion, and ambition. They pulled away in the second half and won 97&ndash;82. Bird had 14 points. Jordan had 12. Seven months later, when Jordan next appeared at the Hoosier Dome, he and Bird would be on the same side of the court, teammates representing the Eastern Conference at the NBA All-Star Game.
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Apart from simulating battle, the barnstorming tour gave rise to a certain esprit de corps, a chemistry among the unit. Knight experimented with lineups and was intentionally vague and erratic about his rotation.
Players also experienced Knight&rsquo;s brutal, military-style authority. Within a few years, autocrats like Knight would be subject to the equivalent of court-martial&mdash;&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t handle the truth!&rdquo; we might have later said&mdash;for breaches of basic human decency. But in 1984, Knight&rsquo;s M.O. was still acceptable, perhaps especially heading into an international competition.
For Knight, basketball was never about missed shots or made shots. It was about manifestations of character. Were you tough and durable and courageous and unswerving in your convictions? Or did you play with what Knight perceived to be the twin curses of softness and indecision?
Some players recoiled from Knight&rsquo;s style. (That included Larry Bird, who, recruited by Knight in the mid-seventies, had gone home after a homesick month on campus in Bloomington and then transferred to Indiana State.) Others responded to it. Jordan was not merely unbothered by Knight; he warmed to his discipline and his combustible personality and saw value in both. It was all in service of winning. And what&rsquo;s wrong with the alpha acting like the alpha?
Patrick Ewing would later tell the story that one night he and Jordan began play-wrestling in the living quarters. Nothing malicious, just two bored and athletic kids fooling around. Though Jordan spotted Ewing six inches and perhaps 50 pounds, he got his man in a headlock. Ewing capitulated. Neither thought much of it, but the next day Ewing couldn&rsquo;t move his neck.
Worse, he had to tell Knight what had happened and that Jordan had been the culprit. &ldquo;Coach Knight was mad,&rdquo; Ewing recalled to the writer Jack McCallum in his excellent book Dream Team. &ldquo;But only at me. Michael? Nothing happened to him. Nothing ever happened to Michael.&rdquo;
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Which wasn&rsquo;t entirely true. Knight went after Jordan plenty. But sometimes it was to test Jordan&rsquo;s resolve. Other times it was to send a message: No one is above the law. (On these occasions, Knight would sometimes warn Jordan what was coming.)
Jordan&rsquo;s college coach, Dean Smith, was a strong authority figure who brooked no bullsh**. But this was at an entirely different level. Which was fine by Jordan. Asked&mdash;as he invariably was throughout the tour&mdash;to compare coaches, Jordan smiled and offered a winning line: &ldquo;The only different thing is the vocabulary. From Coach Smith I learned the four-corner offense. From Coach Knight I learned the four-letter word.&rdquo; (Wait for laughter.) &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard some of the words before that he&rsquo;s used, but never from a coach.&rdquo;
Referring to Knight by his first name, he continued, &ldquo;Bobby doesn&rsquo;t scare me. I&rsquo;m taller than him.&rdquo; (Wait for more laughter.) &ldquo;But I see what gets him mad, and I make sure I don&rsquo;t do it. He&rsquo;s taught us all a lot, and his way of getting a point across doesn&rsquo;t take the fun out of this. Now, if you ask me whether I&rsquo;d want to play for him for four years, I&rsquo;d have to think about it.&rdquo;
Jordan was more amused than anything else by Knight&rsquo;s eruptions. He often confided in [George] Raveling&mdash;who had known Knight since the late 1960s and counted him as a friend&mdash;jokingly referring to Knight as &ldquo;your boy.&rdquo; As in: You&rsquo;re never going to believe what your boy did today. Or: Check out what your boy called me this morning.
All bullies, though, need a target, and Wayman Tisdale, a silky lefty forward from Oklahoma, was a particular victim of Knight&rsquo;s. Confidants of Knight&rsquo;s explain that he didn&rsquo;t hold Tisdale&rsquo;s college coach, Billy Tubbs, in especially high esteem. Tubbs&rsquo;s teams played a high-scoring, defense-free style, absent of structure. (By received wisdom, Tubbs played comparably fast and loose with the NCAA rule book.) Knight was going to impose discipline and, by proxy, repudiate Tubbs and his slapdash approach to basketball.
During a practice before an exhibition in Greensboro, Knight stopped the session and demanded a black Magic Marker. He then bent down, wrote an X on the floor, and added a date. As Knight knelt on the court for this art project, the players exchanged quizzical looks. When the coach finished, he declared, &ldquo;I just wanted to mark the time and place that I first saw Wayman Tisdale take a charge.&rdquo; More than once, the General kicked Tisdale out of the gym, leaving the player in tears. Asked what he thought of Knight&rsquo;s methods, Tisdale would say, &ldquo;When I go back to Oklahoma, I&rsquo;m gonna find everyone I used to think was mean, and I&rsquo;m gonna hug &lsquo;em.&rdquo;&nbsp;
While it wasn&rsquo;t quite the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals, with scripted outcomes and storylines, everyone knew the rules of engagement for these exhibition games. The NBA players were expected to try hard, but not their hardest, and keep the games close. They were not supposed to win. So they didn&rsquo;t. But the games were often competitive, sometimes intensely so.
On July 12, the Olympians played an exhibition game in Milwaukee. Before the game, Tim Hallam, a young staffer in the Bulls&rsquo; public relations office, drove up from Chicago with a photographer. His task: get Michael Jordan to pose for a portrait photo in a Bulls uniform. Hallam introduced himself to Jordan for the first time and was impressed when the kid smiled, looked him in the eye, and seemed to grasp the exercise. Hey, a team needs to sell tickets. I&rsquo;m the new draft pick. This comes with the territory.
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But with tip-off looming, there was no time to set up proper lighting. So there, in the middle of the locker room in Milwaukee, surrounded by teammates, Jordan changed out of the Olympic uniform and into the Bulls uniform and sat for the damn photo. While he would later razz Hallam about this imposition on his time&mdash;this, the very first of countless requests the Bulls&rsquo; public relations staff would make over the years&mdash;on this night, Jordan could not have been more accommodating.
While Jordan was posing for the photo shoot, Knight was in the other locker room, encouraging two of the NBA stars, Mike Dunleavy and Doc Rivers, to knock his players around a lot. They obliged. So did their teammate, Mickey Johnson, of the Golden State Warriors, who took advantage of the tour&rsquo;s unlimited fouls policy, committing 13 infractions. But when the game turned from physical to violent, Knight reconsidered, screaming at the referees to get control of the game: &ldquo;Too much is at stake.&rdquo;
In the second half, Jordan went in for a breakaway dunk. Dunleavy swooped in, extended his right hand, and raked Jordan across the face. After thudding to the ground, Jordan popped up like a jack-in-the-box, glowering and looking to fight Dunleavy. By the time he was restrained by teammates, he was already cocking a fist. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come out here to not play hard,&rdquo; Dunleavy said. &nbsp;(Seven summers later, Jordan would get his revenge, winning his first NBA title in 1991 as the Chicago Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, a team coached by&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Mike Dunleavy.)
After the game in Milwaukee, Knight was still hot. He declared Charley Vacca, a college official, &ldquo;the most incompetent sonofabitch I&rsquo;ve seen referee. . . . What do you want me to do, sit on my ass and let a million-dollar player&rsquo;s career be ruined by some a**hole with a whistle?&rdquo;
Apart from a**holes with whistles, the tour was a smashing success that achieved its goal. Some games were blowouts, the team playing in harmony. Other games were close, and the Olympians were forced to show some mettle, scoring baskets and making critical stops on defense. But the Olympians played against the best and brightest in the NBA (Bird in Indianapolis; Magic Johnson in Minneapolis; Clyde Drexler in Iowa City; Alex English and Kiki Vandeweghe in Phoenix). In the end, the Olympians won all eight games; roles and responsibilities became more clear; collectively and individually, confidence swelled.
But the tour also did something else: it highlighted the lavish skills of Michael Jordan. The games foreshadowed just how seamlessly Jordan&rsquo;s game, his explosive athleticism, his position&mdash;for that matter, his disposition&mdash;would translate to the NBA.
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Jay Bilas had finished his sophomore year at Duke and played sporadically on the basketball team. He&rsquo;d harbored interests beyond basketball and that summer served as a production assistant for ABC for Olympic basketball telecasts. While most of his work came at the L.A. Games, Bilas was also assigned to work some of the exhibition games between the Olympians and the NBA players.
Having played against Jordan at the rival school less than half an hour away, Bilas had seen Jordan put up 20 points a game in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was unsurprised when he attended a pregame practice in Minneapolis and it was abundantly obvious that Jordan was the best player on the team.
But then the game started. Jordan was competing against the likes of Magic Johnson, Kevin McHale, Isiah Thomas, and Mark Aguirre. &ldquo;He was still the best player&mdash;by far,&rdquo; says Bilas. &ldquo;It was pretty clear that there wasn&rsquo;t anybody in the NBA or internationally that could hang with him. Jordan did stuff where it was like Are you kidding me? And I saw him do it in college a little bit, but this was a different level. I remembered, as a kid, people used to say that when Mickey Mantle made contact, his bat made a different sound from everyone else&rsquo;s. It was like that. He was making moves and you were like It&rsquo;s just different. No one else is doing that.&rdquo;
Toward the end of the tour, the U.S. team played a collection of All-Stars in Phoenix. After Jordan dropped 27 points and the Olympians won their eighth-straight game, 84&ndash;72, the opposing coach was visibly slack-jawed. How good was Jordan? &ldquo;He&rsquo;s as gifted a player as any I&rsquo;ve ever seen play ball,&rdquo; responded Pat Riley, the Lakers&rsquo; coach&mdash;who was, bear in mind, just a few weeks removed from watching Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar duel for seven games in a classic series. &ldquo;What happened here and then through the Olympics will only make him better. I don&rsquo;t think he realizes how good he really is.&rdquo;
<a href="https://twitter.com/jon_wertheim" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow L. Jon Wertheim on Twitter: @jon_wertheim</a>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Days-Changed-Culture-Forever/dp/1328637247" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buy this book on Amazon: Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever</a>
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Jon Wertheim details the ascent of Michael Jordan, who was no longer a college player and not yet a pro, in the summer of 1984.

How the summer of 1984 foreshadowed Michael Jordan's NBA greatness

Jordan Poole hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:43 left, Andrew Wiggins scored the next time down and finished with 38 points, rallying the Golden State Warriors past the Phoenix Suns 122-116 on Tuesday night.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
BIG-TIME BUCKETS FROM ANDREW WIGGINS IN THE <a href="https://twitter.com/warriors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@warriors</a> W 💥 38 PTS (13 in 4th) | 7 REB | 52.9 FPTS <a href="https://t.co/KHJXZZMjiI">pic.twitter.com/KHJXZZMjiI</a>
&mdash; NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBAFantasy/status/1392336463761707014?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Draymond Green notched his sixth triple-double of the season and 29th of his career with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds as the Warriors made it two wins in as many nights against two top teams in the Western Conference.
Stephen Curry made a 9-foot jumper with 45 seconds left while falling to the floor, a bright finish to his 21-point performance on another tough outing for him shooting 3-pointers.
Golden State secured a spot in the play-in tournament with Monday's 119-116 win against the Jazz then held on against a talented Suns team.
Devin Booker scored 34 points and knocked down a key 3-pointer with 5:25 left for Phoenix and Paul added 24 points, but the Warriors delivered all the key plays down the stretch.
Poole hit a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left in the third to get Golden State within 93-88 &mdash; a night after his successful half-court heave at the third-quarter buzzer against Utah. The Warriors trailed 98-92 Tuesday to begin the fourth and Poole hit another 3.
Golden State needed his hot hand given Curry's struggles from deep for a second straight night.
Curry had a 49-point performance with 11 3-pointers in Saturday&rsquo;s 136-97 thumping of the Thunder, but has been off from long range in two games since: going just 4 for 24 on 3s &mdash; 1 for 11 Tuesday and 3 of 13 on Monday.
Poole scored 20 points to wrap up Golden State&rsquo;s final set of back-to-backs as the Warriors won their fourth straight at home.
Phoenix led by as many as 16 and began a sizzling 18 for 26 making 7 of 10 3s to build a 43-30 advantage.
LUCKY RABBIT'S FOOT
Alex, a sweet therapy bunny that became a social media hit last month attending a Giants baseball game, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-phoenix-suns-health-coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-0024bf26f549e0384e8f0fa0839e23ba">made it to Chase Center by season's end to cheer on the Warriors</a>.
Owner Kei Kato and her fianc&eacute;, Josh Row, had their seats upgraded to the lower bowl as the team made a special exception so the bunny could attend &mdash; saying the bunny was their &ldquo;lucky rabbit's foot&rdquo; for the playoff push because rabbits aren't typically allowed in the arena.
He <a href="https://twitter.com/JanieMcCAP/status/1392303893468516361">received a big screen bunny welcome</a> from the Warriors during a first-quarter timeout.
&ldquo;Just to give back and make everybody happy makes us happy,&rdquo; Kato said. &ldquo;We want to share him with the world.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Suns: PF Cameron Johnson missed his third straight game with a sprained right wrist. ... The Suns won the first two matchups of the season by 20 or more points, 120-98 on March 4 and 114-93 on Jan. 28. ... The Suns were 10 for 18 on 3s in the first half. ... Phoenix surrendered 62 Warriors points in the paint.
Warriors: F Damion Lee did more court work a day after shooting for the first time since contracting COVID-19 despite being vaccinated. Coach Steve Kerr spoke to Lee and &ldquo;he&rsquo;ll ramp it up a little bit today.&rdquo; F Eric Paschall, still sidelined by a strained left hip flexor, played in another three-on-three game as he has been doing in recent days. The hope is he will be ready to return either Friday or in Sunday's regular-season finale against Memphis.
UP NEXT
Suns: Host Portland in their final home game Thursday before finishing with back-to-back games at San Antonio on Saturday and Sunday.
Warriors: Host the Pelicans on Friday night having won 13 of the last 15 at home vs. New Orleans.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Jordan Poole hit a go-ahead three with 1:43 left, Andrew Wiggins scored the next time down and finished with 38 points, rallying the Warriors past the Suns.

Warriors rally for second straight night, beat Suns 122-116

Chances are if you&rsquo;re a diehard NBA fan, you&rsquo;re well aware of the bromance between Boban Marjanovic and Tobias Harris. From the viral videos and the mini-series vlog, to their chemistry on the court with three different teams, we&rsquo;ve seen them go from two guys on the same squad to a dynamic duo whose friendship captivates basketball fans across the world.
Split since the 2019 offseason, they haven&rsquo;t been teammates for two seasons, but the infamous pairing has joined forces once again in a campaign for Goldfish crackers. Though the snack company has already rolled out different commercials featuring Boban and Tobias and their usual shenanigans, that&rsquo;s not all!&nbsp;
Beginning Tuesday, Goldfish is holding a competition called the #GoForTheHandful challenge, where fans will utilize TikTok to record themselves attempting to grasp as many crackers as they can in one hand to try to beat Boban, whose massive mitt scooped up 301 in one try.
&ldquo;And they can fit more! I don't know how you guys do it, but it's up to you,&rdquo; Boban told BasketballNews.com in an exclusive interview via Zoom. &ldquo;We had a lot of fun there counting these fish.&rdquo;
&ldquo;So obviously, when you shake Boban's hand, it's like your hand is getting swallowed,&rdquo; Tobias told BasketballNews.com in a separate interview. &ldquo;I've always known that Boban has the biggest hands ever, but when I went from my handful and got my 73, I was like really hyped and ecstatic, 'There's no way Bobi's gonna get more than me.' And then when he did his and they got his official count, I was just like, 'That's impossible.' I don't know if anyone can beat that, but I do want to see [it]...I would say shoot for trying to beat my 73.&rdquo;
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According to Goldfish, the 25 most creative and entertaining videos will be awarded a special edition autographed &ldquo;Boban Size&rdquo; giant bag, and one lucky TikToker will become the Goldfish &ldquo;Spokeshand.&rdquo; The contest closes on Sunday, April 25.
While shooting the commercial over the All-Star break was a fun experience for both, it was obvious who had been in front of the camera more than the other. Boban quips that he&rsquo;s the better actor &ldquo;easy,&rdquo; and Tobias agrees. The process went swimmingly for all involved, even with the first take getting off to a messy start.
&ldquo;I really broke [the bag] like that! I didn&rsquo;t expect it,&rdquo; Boban laughed. &ldquo;I was like, 'Oh, sorry! There's a lot of Goldfish on the floor!' I tried to clean it. This is #GoForTheHandful. It's so cool. I know Tobias was laughing the first time. We both started laughing at how I broke that bag.&rdquo;
Tobias couldn&rsquo;t control his real-life reaction.
&ldquo;The director was like, 'Hey Tobias, we don't need you laughing on this one,'&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So I was like, 'Alright!' But I just started laughing 'cause I was just like, 'Come on, Bobi. What are you doing here?' It was all fun and games, and [then] I also had to realize, 'Oh, we are shooting a commercial, too.'
&ldquo;Bobi's actually been a real actor, so for him, this was something he was used to. I think it was like the first time in my life that Bobi was schooling me on things to do, or how to act as if I'm an actor. I had to put him in his place, and I was like, 'Bobi, all you did was get your ass kicked by John Wick. You had to keep it moving.' (Laughs) But nah, he knew this person's this person and this person does this and this person...cut, speed, all that stuff -- he was all about it. But for me, it was an incredible experience. We were on set, I had my own trailer van, Bobi had his own, and I was just like, 'Dang, they're really treating us like we're real actors here!' So it was dope.&rdquo;
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Boban and Tobias&rsquo; relationship began in 2016 when the former signed with the Detroit Pistons. On day one of individual workouts, Harris was the first to approach the other and told him that he was a really good player. Little did he know that Boban was unhappy with him because he wouldn&rsquo;t pass him the ball, and also said that he thought that Tobias was a cocky player. However, Boban thanked him after the exchange and the two would get on the same page quickly thereafter.
&ldquo;I'm a big music guy, so we'd play a lot of music. I always used to see Boban in the weight room dancing to the music, and I would have to show him some moves, so that just like increased our bond,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;One day, he was over at my house and we were just hanging out, and I was showing him like a couple of dances. The song Chicken Noodle Soup came on, and I was showing him how to do the Chicken Noodle Soup dance. From there, that hit the internet and it just went crazy, and people loved it.
&ldquo;(Laughs) And I thought it was so funny because you see this guy, Boban, everyone knows him. He's such an amazing person and people love his character and who he is, and then you get to see him in the element of being a kid -- and I think that's what people take in the most. It was awesome. So I kinda like made Bobi famous by showing him the Chicken Noodle Soup...more famous.&rdquo;
Boban chuckles at the way it all began.
&ldquo;We were in the locker room and he sat in front of me on the other side of the room, and I said, 'Tobias, I don't like you.' He was like, 'Wow, what?'&rdquo; Boban reminisced. &ldquo;Now, I can't say that anymore. It's not allowed! We were joking around [back then], and he said, 'I have a song for you.' It was the song, Chicken Noodle Soup. This is how everything started. I hope our next commercial will be a soup commercial."
Boban and Tobias rapidly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd1a3Yngpv_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">became internet sensations</a>. No matter where they went, a loyal fan base followed. When the two were traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in the Blake Griffin deal, it didn&rsquo;t take long for their popularity to capture a wider audience. They started up &ldquo;Bobi + Tobi,&rdquo; a three-episode mini series in the 2018 preseason based on the pair&rsquo;s combined nickname.
&ldquo;We wanted to match,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;But now, we have that thing -- who wants to be first? Bobi and Tobi, or Tobi and Bobi? I was for Tobi and Bobi, and Tobias was for Bobi and Tobi. We stuck with Bobi and Tobi because he's the brain of the operation (laughs).&rdquo;
Despite hesitation to shorten his name, Tobias hatched the idea and created the popular tag.
&ldquo;As a kid, people would try to call me Tobi, but I hated the name Tobi...I suck it up now,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;In the beginning, people in LA used to be like, 'Tobi! Tobi!' And I used to be like, 'That's not my name.' And I then I had to realize, this is your actor name, so you're gonna have to get used to it. So then, I'm now used to it. It doesn't bother me. I am [leaning into it].&rdquo;
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Bobi and Tobi would roam the streets of Hollywood, with plenty of social media virality surrounding them. Most of their stories have hit the worldwide web; Tobias cracks a smile and declines to tell the ones that haven&rsquo;t. When asked to share their favorite moment, both pointed to a hilarious encounter in LA.
&ldquo;We had just finished going out to eat somewhere. After, he's just in his car playing Bodak Yellow,&rdquo; Tobias recalled. &ldquo;Cardi B's part [comes on] and he pulls out his red slippers, 'cause she was like, 'I got bloody shoes,' so he pulled out his red slippers. I was like, 'Where did this process for you to do that?' You had to listen to that song over 50 times to actually think that on the fly.&rdquo;
&ldquo;(Laughs) Going out, he was like, 'Show 'em your flip-flops, show 'em your flip-flops!' And I showed him the flip-flops,&rdquo; Boban snickered. &ldquo;&lsquo;This is red bottoms!'"
Tobias admits one of his favorite things about hanging out with Boban is walking behind him to see everybody&rsquo;s reactions, often being his personal photographer when the fans approach.
The second time the duo got moved was in a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers. On an airplane with Mike Scott and then-former assistant Sixers general manager Marc Eversley, Tobias vividly remembers a not-so-fun trip for his buddy Boban.
&ldquo;We were on a private jet -- but Boban's head is literally hitting the ceiling, and he hates planes and turbulence,&rdquo; Tobias described. &ldquo;So this whole flight, I'm just like, 'Oh my gosh.' I can't even close my eyes 'cause he's gonna be like, 'Tobias, turbulence, turbulence!' And that's just what he does [on planes]. So I think seeing him on this private jet and his head literally at the top of the ceiling, I was like, 'Man, I feel bad for Bobi right now. This is a bad flight for him to be on.' That was one of the moments I was like, 'Man, it must suck to be a giant' (laughs).&rdquo;
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When the 2018-19 season came to an end, so did Boban and Tobias&rsquo; time as teammates. The towering big man&rsquo;s contract expired that summer, and he ended up inking a two-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks with his partner continuing his career in Philly. It was the first time they were separated since they met in Motown.
&ldquo;Yeah, it was tough. At first, I was like, 'Man...' When he was signing with Dallas, I was like, 'Dang.' But I was also happy because I wanted him to be in a good situation, and as a friend, I wanted him to be somewhere where I knew he was gonna be comfortable,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;He was a little nervous going there, but I said, 'People will love you wherever you go. You just have that impact on teams and a locker room and everything, so I wouldn't be nervous or nothing.' I was sad, though, that we weren't playing together just because that's been my dawg for like four years, since we were together in Detroit. Hopefully, the stars align and we'll get back together somehow, some way."
"It's being professionals and it's business. Everybody has their own way and what way they are going,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;We're still friends, we're still good and I'll still be there for him [with] whatever he needs. This is what friends do. If he changes a team, we didn't change our phone numbers. I still support him. I still text him when he has a great game. He's playing great and I wish him to continue that. I'm proud of him.&rdquo;
Boban hopes to see Tobias as an All-Star next year, even offering to be his friend&rsquo;s personal prop in the case that the former participates in the Slam Dunk contest; Tobias burst out in laughter at that second notion.
&ldquo;Hey, if they put me in the dunk contest, then we will NOT have a good dunk contest (laughs),&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;Hate to break it to ya! But that would be the best plan of action."
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Whoever has followed these two from the moment their bromance became public understands that it is hilarious, yet extremely genuine.
&ldquo;We're different, but we're the same, you know?&nbsp; If you ask me why [we get along so well], this is the same [in regards to] the relationship with my wife,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;We don't watch the same movies, we don't listen to the same music, but we have something in common where, together, we make one great person. This is the same with Tobias. I don't know why I listened to different music and he listened to different music, but at the end of the story, we started listening to the same music, he'd send me some TV shows, I would send him some TV shows. It was cool. I miss it!&rdquo;
&ldquo;Why do we get along? I would just say it's like two people with caring hearts for other people. It's also like a culture dynamic, too, where he's somebody that's from a totally different country or upbringing and all the way down the line than myself,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;And like, when I see Bobi and I think why everyone gets along with Bobi is he's just a free-spirit person that loves to be around positive people, good people that embrace life, people that have a lot of personalities that are in line. Boban's such a caring person -- cares about his family, cares about really anybody that he meets; he wants to make sure that they left better than they were when they met him.&nbsp; I think, for me, I'm kinda the same way. When I first started hanging out [with him], I was like, 'Man this dude never has a bad day.' He's somebody that brings joy to your own day because you realize his positive energy is just a real thing. When we were hanging out, it made me appreciate my life and the things that I get to do just by seeing his type of energy.&rdquo;
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When Tobias saw the public&rsquo;s response to the pair&rsquo;s commercial, he texted Boban: Bobi, the people love this commercial.&nbsp;
Boban replied: The people right now need to love in the world.
Tobias sent another message back: That's true, and they're getting it.
&ldquo;He said back to me, 'I love when people text me and tweet me saying that commercial has brought them joy.' He really means that,&rdquo; Tobias said. &ldquo;I wrote him back and I was like, 'Man, you're an impactful dude' because when you think like that, it puts everything in perspective, and he means it. Even when we were doing the commercial, he was like, 'It needs to be fun and it needs to be loving.' He'd keep saying that on set: 'There needs to be more love. More love. People need to see it and smile.' And I'd say, '[You're] exactly right.' That's kinda how like...we just vibe with a lot of our ideas and creations that we get into, and this one was an amazing production by Goldfish to showcase that."
Boban was excited to bring smiles to people's faces with this commercial, but nobody more than his 4-year-old and 9-year-old sons, Petar and Vuk.
&ldquo;This isn't for me to judge, but I think we did a great job. We really did a great job. It was a lot of stuff...I'm so happy because I make my kids proud, and to be like a role model,&rdquo; Boban said. &lsquo;This is what Goldfish and Tobias helped me to be what everybody wants to be in kids' eyes, something special. And I think I've done it.
&ldquo;I feel amazing [about the reaction]. When people write, 'I love what you do. I love your skills. I love your friendship with Tobias,' how can you feel? You can't say anything else,&rdquo; Boban said. &ldquo;Take [last Wednesday]. We played against the Boston Celtics. I didn't go in the game, but I had a big, huge sign: 'I Love Boban.' A lot of people were chanting my name, 'Boban! Boban!' They weren't like all Dallas fans, they were Celtics fans, but they [were] Boban fans. I like how they say my name, want me to show my heart. It's an amazing thing. I feel proud of myself and I feel proud of my parents because they raised me to be a nice guy and just make other people happy, too.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies speaks to Bobi and Tobi about reuniting in a Goldfish commercial and their close relationship.

Reunited and it feels so good: Boban Marjanovic, Tobias Harris open up on friendship

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

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

The discourse around NBA stars and super-teams is tiresome

With 4:44 left in the first quarter against the Brooklyn Nets, Bam Adebayo catches an entry pass on the left high-post from Goran Dragic. Adebayo faces up, stares down Jeff Green, then hits him with a pump fake. Green bites. Adebayo brings the ball back down for a jab to generate a little more space. Green reacts to that, retreating ever so slightly. Adebayo takes the opening and fires a jumper. Splash.
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It&rsquo;s a relatively nondescript play on the surface. This is why it matters: it was Adebayo&rsquo;s seventh shot attempt of the quarter. He would go on to take two more shots before subbing out with under a minute to go. This nine-shot first quarter was the most voluminous of his career. It also marked the third-straight game in which Adebayo took six or more shots in the opening frame.&nbsp;
All of that seems pretty random, but it speaks to a larger theme with Adebayo. He&rsquo;s starting to force the issue, early and often. The aggression is there. He&rsquo;s <a href="https://twitter.com/BradyHawk305/status/1353195652830912513?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">keeping his word</a>.
Adebayo finished with 26 points on Monday night, two days after pouring in a career-high 41 points against this same Nets team. Both games resulted in losses -- the Nets&rsquo; three-headed monster is tough to deal with, especially when your best running mate (Jimmy Butler) is unavailable -- but it&rsquo;s hard not to come away impressed. Not only did Adebayo further prove he&rsquo;s really freaking good, it seems like he&rsquo;s starting to believe he&rsquo;s really freaking good.
HIGH-POST HUB
Like last year, a high percentage of Adebayo&rsquo;s possessions kick off around the perimeter. The Heat trust him with touches, allowing him to toggle between handoffs and drives against slow-footed giants.&nbsp;
Duncan Robinson and Adebayo remain the NBA&rsquo;s most dangerous handoff combo. Per a source with access to Second Spectrum tracking data, 66 combos have hooked up for at least 100 dribble handoffs since the beginning of last season. None of them eclipse the 1.27 points per possession mark that the Robinson-Adebayo duo generates.
Robinson is able to fire if given any sliver of space. The threat of that shot enables Adebayo to flourish in space. He&rsquo;s able to abuse defenses in short-roll situations, or fake the handoff and take matters into his own hands.
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It&rsquo;s subtle, but watch how Mason Plumlee opens up and slides to his left to prepare himself to &ldquo;show&rdquo; on the Robinson handoff. Adebayo uses that shift against him, immediately driving left before stopping on a dime for the pull-up jumper. Speaking of which...
INTERMEDIATE SCORING
If you haven&rsquo;t noticed, Adebayo is a lot more comfortable operating in the mid-range area now. Nearly a quarter of his shots are coming from the 10-16-feet range, per Basketball-Reference, roughly 10 percentage points higher than his mark last season. He&rsquo;s also hitting those at an insane 58.5 percent clip. That number is going to come down, but it&rsquo;s encouraging to see the willingness and diversity of his middies.
The stationary shot is there. What really stands out is Adebayo&rsquo;s ability to square himself from different angles.
He&rsquo;s able to flow into pull-ups with ease:
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He can cut left-side drives short and pull:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/bam-fading-left.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" />
He can do the same going to his right, a less natural motion:
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He&rsquo;s even flashed fluidity on a number of stepbacks this season.
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His ability to fill it up off the bounce has taken his game to a new level. Per Synergy, Adebayo ranks in the 93rd percentile on shots off the dribble. He&rsquo;s a 96th-percentile isolation scorer, mostly off the strength of his off-the-bounce jumper (10-of-11 in isolation situations, per Synergy).&nbsp;
KEEP IT ROLLING
Adebayo&rsquo;s jumper becoming a legitimate weapon is huge for his offensive value. It&rsquo;s still important to frame his jumper as a counter more than a go-to at this stage. He&rsquo;s still at his best when he&rsquo;s able to gain a head of steam. This is most apparent when he&rsquo;s operating in pick-and-rolls.&nbsp;
Adebayo toggles between bone-crushing picks and early slips, depending on the defensive coverage. His roll speed shifts with the ball-handler he&rsquo;s working with. He&rsquo;s developed a nice mind-meld with Goran Dragic over the past couple of seasons.&nbsp;
He&rsquo;s much more willing to slip and roll hard with Dragic, which complements the north-south nature of his game. The early stages of their ball screens are fun to track; it&rsquo;s like Adebayo knows what dribble moves Dragic wants to flow into, and he&rsquo;s able to adjust on the fly because of it.
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With Tyler Herro, Adebayo slows up his trek in the event that his young partner needs the release valve. Even when Adebayo doesn&rsquo;t personally benefit, he&rsquo;s able to draw the eyes of help defenders.
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That sort of attention speaks to Adebayo&rsquo;s effectiveness when he is directly involved. The Heat are scoring an absurd 1.56 points per possession when Adebayo receives the ball and shoots, or passes it to someone who shoots, per the Second Spectrum source.
To put it another way: Adebayo is scoring at an absurd clip on rolls, and is making teams pay with the pass in short-roll situations.
He&rsquo;s a dynamic athlete who's able to high-point lobs and finish through contact. More impressively -- and I&rsquo;d argue, more importantly -- he&rsquo;s a sound decision maker in space. If the defense doesn&rsquo;t rotate on a string, Adebayo has the ability to pick out open shooters with kick-outs.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/bam-pass.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" />
That pass is difficult enough -- he&rsquo;s off-balance, in traffic, and fires a dart above the break. The processing is what matters there. He draws attention in the paint, stares at KZ Okpala in the corner, forcing Jerami Grant to rotate over, then fires the pass to Kelly Olynyk for the triple.&nbsp;
Truly high-level stuff.
WHAT COMES NEXT
You&rsquo;ll notice that the title of the piece uses &ldquo;happening&rdquo; instead of &ldquo;happened.&rdquo; There&rsquo;s still room for improvement before Adebayo firmly cements himself among the league&rsquo;s capital-E elite.&nbsp;
He&rsquo;s finishing at a high-level in the half court -- 71.1 percent on 76 attempts, per Synergy -- but he&rsquo;s still trying to find his way against bigger opponents. Size can still bother him, which is why he typically leans for finesse moves in close quarters. He pump fakes a lot; that isn&rsquo;t inherently a bad thing, but his reliance on it to get bigger opponents off-balance can sometimes stall his drives.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/bam-pump-fake.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" />
Avery Bradley saves the day with the juke-and-cut, but look at how things stall out. Brook Lopez camps out in the paint, waiting for Adebayo to make his move. Adebayo doesn&rsquo;t attack Lopez full-on, opting for a pull-up instead. Lopez stays down, and some off-ball improvisation is needed.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/unnamed.gif" alt="" width="512" height="AUTO" />
This is just a standard vertical contest from Plumlee, but you can see Adebayo&rsquo;s inability to power through.
Here&rsquo;s an exercise for you: think of Adebayo&rsquo;s best half-court finishes this season...
Great.
Now remove the lobs you thought of. What&rsquo;s his best finish? It&rsquo;s the iso vs. Giannis, isn&rsquo;t it? Let&rsquo;s revisit it.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/bam-vs-giannis.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" />
What stands out first is the skill. Cross, tween, behind-the-back, tween, cross, hesi, filaaAaaaAaaaaay.
You know what else stands out? Adebayo not seeking a modicum of contact on that drive and opting for an inside-hand layup that could&rsquo;ve been sent to Hialeah. Having this kind of skill and touch is obviously impressive; needing this kind of high-difficulty look to win against size is something to monitor at best, and something to be concerned about at worst.
That may seem a bit unfair, but these are the kinds of hairs you split when talking about someone possibly entering top-10 discussions.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s also a discussion worth having about his ability as a distributor. Adebayo is unquestionably a great passing big man. I hesitate to call him a great playmaker from that spot. Playmaking factors in decision making, and Adebayo falls a bit short there.&nbsp;
Players miss on passes all the time, especially the thread-the-needle type of dimes Adebayo will attempt from the high post. There&rsquo;s just a level of risk management that Adebayo is struggling with at this stage. Take this possession for example:
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/bam-turnover.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" />
Adebayo reads Robinson cutting into Khris Middleton&rsquo;s blind spot. With Middleton behind the play and Lopez playing with a gap, Adebayo tosses a bounce pass into a relatively wide window.
Seems mundane, seems like an easy decision, but it was the wrong one. Assume Robinson doesn&rsquo;t bobble the pass -- what is the upside of this decision? Adebayo led Robinson into the paint surrounded by Milwaukee&rsquo;s three largest defenders with no real shot or kick-out opportunity. It&rsquo;s effectively a dead-end.
Asking for Adebayo to cut out tight-window throws would be a disservice to him and the offense. Cutting out tight-window throws with no discernable upside if they connect would lower his turnovers and, in turn, help the offense a bit. Again, splitting hairs, but these are the margins upon which Adebayo has to improve.
The encouraging thing is that we&rsquo;re even having this conversation about Adebayo. He&rsquo;s scoring at a career-high rate, and doing so in a multitude of ways. He finds open teammates from different areas. He remains one of the most versatile defenders in the sport. He&rsquo;s a clear All-NBA candidate, and he&rsquo;s technically still on his rookie deal (since his extension kicks in next season).
The acceleration of Adebayo&rsquo;s development as a creator is the lone upside of the Heat being as injury/COVID-ravished as they have been this season. He&rsquo;s proving that his game is scalable. That should terrify the East as the Heat begin to get some of their best players back. That should especially terrify the league moving forward as Adebayo continues to grow.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan examines how Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo is taking the next step in his offensive evolution.

Bam Adebayo's superstar transformation is happening

It seems early to evaluate the rookies, I know. But there is some value in checking in on the league&rsquo;s 2020 lottery picks. A lot is made about initial playability and whether a player can make an immediate impact for their respective team. After much research (via the eye test, Reddit posts and plentiful Twitter threads), here's a check in on the NBA&rsquo;s freshest faces:&nbsp;
1. Minnesota Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards (15.4 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 1.9 APG)
Anthony Edwards&rsquo; charm will take him as far as he wants, but the No. 1 pick&rsquo;s play has been just as charismatic as he is. With Karl-Anthony Towns out due to a wrist dislocation, there&rsquo;s more than enough usage to go around, as evidenced by Edwards&rsquo; 14 PPG average thus far in the season. The lottery tends to be where the highest ceilings camp, and many of these youths can be overwhelmed by the sudden professional-level burden they&rsquo;re expected to carry. However, Edwards was calm, cool and collected in his NBA debut, posting 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in just 25 minutes. If there&rsquo;s anything to keep an eye on, it would be the 19-year-old&rsquo;s three-point percentage. He&rsquo;s throwing up a good volume of these shots, but his position demands a respectable average from the perimeter. If anything, it&rsquo;s guaranteed he approaches this in stride.&nbsp;
2. Golden State Warriors: James Wiseman (11.3 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.6 BPG)
Wiseman is in a position similar to Edwards in the sense that his responsibility is prominent due to his organization&rsquo;s current situation. While there&rsquo;s pressure on Wiseman to maximize Steph Curry&rsquo;s age-32 season and help the Warriors win now, his immense potential has been on display. He&rsquo;s an athletic giant with a great handle for his size, and he should be an excellent fit alongside the Splash Brothers and Draymond Green next year. It&rsquo;s early, but I&rsquo;ll be keeping an eye on two things: whether the three-pointers remain at a decent clip and if he can seek out higher-percentage looks closer to the basket to get his FG% above the mid-40s. If he can reach a point where he&rsquo;s continually stretching the floor Curry, Thompson and Green, Wiseman would be indispensable.
3. Charlotte Hornets: LaMelo Ball (11.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.9 APG)
So far, LaMelo&rsquo;s flair we so often witnessed in his international play has held up to start the NBA&rsquo;s regular season. The distribution is there, averaging 5 assists in only 24 minutes per game and, surprisingly, his shooting looks far more polished than the awkward heaves we&rsquo;ve come to know from his mixtapes. It&rsquo;s still imperfect, but LaMelo&rsquo;s legs under his jumper look far more consistent and repeatable than before. If there's anything to track with his game through this season, it&rsquo;s his defensive effort. He has the length and hands to truly disrupt smaller guards in this league, but it&rsquo;s simply a matter of whether he&rsquo;s interested on a game-to-game basis.&nbsp;&nbsp;
4. Chicago Bulls: Patrick Williams (10.0 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 0.9 BPG)
Williams&rsquo; draft-day montage video was straight out of a Wes Anderson movie. The 6-foot-7 small forward told endearing stories about how his mother would pay him to assist with her flower delivery service, and that he&rsquo;d be the go-to guy for all of the Bulls&rsquo; flower-curating needs. But that&rsquo;s not what you&rsquo;re here for; so far, the rookie is shooting the exact same from the field and from three-point range (an impressive 47 percent), but his -12.6 net rating indicates a bit of an identity issue to start the year. Either the forward improves his offensive game by seizing higher-percentage opportunities, or he drastically changes his defensive impact. The Bulls could use it.
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/okoro33_lg.jpg" alt="" width="794" height="AUTO" />
5. Cleveland Cavaliers: Isaac Okoro (7.3 PPG, 2.3 APG, 2.0 RPG)
He was known for his lockdown defense in college, but it was actually Okoro&rsquo;s offensive outbursts that made waves throughout the preseason. He was knocking down threes at a high clip, finishing at the rim in traffic and distributing the ball effectively. Even in the few games he&rsquo;s played -- due to an unfortunate ankle injury -- his impact has been tremendously felt by the Cavaliers. There was a game against the Detroit Pistons on the road in which Cleveland mounted a rally to come back and win, 128-119, in double overtime. Despite scoring zero points and only registering three rebounds, Okoro had the team&rsquo;s second-best plus-minus (plus-16), so he&rsquo;s making the most of his abundance of minutes when he&rsquo;s healthy. Okoro has some work to do with his discipline as a defender when it comes to fouls. But whether this is a coincidence or not, the Cavaliers&rsquo; mindset has turned since he was drafted, as the team currently has a top-five defensive rating in the NBA.
6. Atlanta Hawks: Onyeka Okongwu (Injured)
Okongwu has yet to make his NBA debut as he deals with a left-foot injury.
7. Detroit Pistons: Killian Hayes (4.6 PPG, 3.6 APG, 1.1 RPG)
Hayes was a prospect whose film I enjoyed tremendously. His passes are angled in ways that don&rsquo;t really make sense in relation to the anatomy of the wrist, and I&rsquo;ve been excited to see him transition into the league. His shooting was a question mark and remains so, but this is certainly a guard who can develop into a poised floor-general if given the room to do so. At 6-foot-5, the thought is plausible, but unfortunately, his transition has been interrupted by a tear in the hip (and he may need to miss the rest of the season if it requires surgery). Let&rsquo;s hope for a hitch-free recovery for Hayes. He&rsquo;s certainly a project, but the potential result is worth investing the time.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
8. New York Knicks: Obi Toppin (9.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.0 BPG)
After appearing in one game, Toppin has been sidelined due to a right calf strain.
9. Washington Wizards: Deni Avdija (6.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.1 APG)
Avdija has been pretty excellent in his limited minutes, boasting an impressive 45.8 percent from three-point range on three attempts per game. So far, his subpar defense is offset by an insane 120.3 offensive rating, resulting in his 7.5 net rating. I can see Avdija serving as a jack-of-all-trades spark plug for the Wizards this season; the high ceiling is definitely there. If he continues to play like this and make positive things happen when he&rsquo;s on the court, Washington will have no choice but to extend his leash.&nbsp;&nbsp;
10. Phoenix Suns: Jalen Smith (2.0 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 0.5 BPG)
Smith appeared in two games, but he played a total of 20 minutes. He has been out due to an ankle sprain; then, the Suns announced that he&rsquo;d miss additional time since he needs to clear their COVID-19 protocol.
11. San Antonio Spurs: Devin Vassell (5.0 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 1 SPG)
My introduction to Vassell at the NBA level was against the Toronto Raptors to start the season. His impact has been immediate, made apparent by his 95.8 defensive rating. Vassell is just the most-recent addition to the Spurs&rsquo; nice little collection of athletic, versatile, defensive-utility guys. He has enough of a handle to sweep through both the guard and forward spots on the roster, serving as an awesome play finisher for a team without a clear-cut floor general besides DeMar DeRozan and his much-improved playmaking. He&rsquo;s only playing 15.7 minutes a night, and I would love to see how he performs with more minutes as the regular season continues.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<img src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/tyrese2_lg.jpg" alt="" width="798" height="AUTO" />
12. Sacramento Kings: Tyrese Haliburton (11.7 PPG, 4.7 APG, 1.3 SPG)
Tyrese Haliburton has been widely described by scouts as among the most NBA-ready players in this draft class, and I can see why. He&rsquo;s been incredibly consistent so far in the infancy of the season, posting even better stats in the Kings&rsquo; losses this season. Shooting 48 percent from three on significant attempts, Haliburton seems to be embodying everything the Kings need after the loss of Bogdan Bogdanovic. I expect that initiating contact and getting to the line consistently will be the next step of his development, but right now, he&rsquo;s shaping up to be the perfect understudy and potential backcourt partner for De&rsquo;Aaron Fox.&nbsp;
13. New Orleans Pelicans: Kira Lewis Jr. (2.0 PPG, 0.5 APG, 0.5 SPG)
Lewis Jr. is buried on the Pelicans&rsquo; depth chart, so he hasn&rsquo;t played much this season.
14. Boston Celtics (via Memphis Grizzlies): Aaron Nesmith (2.7 PPG, 1.7 RPG)
Nesmith is buried on the Celtics&rsquo; depth chart, so he hasn&rsquo;t played much this season.
&nbsp;

Yasmin Duale examines how this year's top rookies are performing through the first few weeks of the 2020-21 NBA season.

Assessing the early play of the NBA’s 2020 lottery picks

Tyler Herro isn&rsquo;t a natural point guard.
Herro didn&rsquo;t play much point in college. In fact, his lack of primary on-ball reps at Kentucky was a big reason why the comfort he displayed in Summer League and, to a much larger extent, last season&rsquo;s playoff run was a surprise to many.
(READ: It was a <a href="https://www.fivereasonssports.com/voices/its-time-to-stop-doubting-tyler-herro/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surprise to me</a>).
He didn&rsquo;t play it much last season, with less than 20 percent of his minutes coming at the 1, per <a href="http://bkref.com/pi/shareit/w6noc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Basketball-Reference</a>. Heck, Herro himself will tell you he doesn&rsquo;t want to be <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/heat/miami-news/miami-heat-tyler-herro-point-shooting-guard" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dubbed as a point guard</a>. The lineups mostly disagree with that claim, though.
Herro&rsquo;s playing time without a (traditional) point guard on the floor has nearly tripled in terms of rate. <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612748&amp;Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=201609,1629639,1629134,1629216" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Per PBP Stats</a>, Herro has played 66 minutes (16.5 per game) without Goran Dragic, Kendrick Nunn or Gabe Vincent being on the floor. That&rsquo;s up from roughly six minutes per game (323 minutes in 55 games) last season if you add Justise Winslow to that list. We&rsquo;re working with a four-game sample here, but that&rsquo;s still a pretty stark difference.
The shift in role complements the shift in lineup distribution. According to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches/?Season=2020-21&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;TeamID=1610612748&amp;sort=TOUCHES&amp;dir=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA.com&rsquo;s tracking data</a>, Herro&rsquo;s touches, touch time and dribbles per touch are all up from last season. If you compare his bump in usage to the third year of Devin Booker, a popular if-everything-goes-right comparison for Herro, you&rsquo;ll see some similarities:
Booker&rsquo;s Rookie Year: 43.4 touches, 3.52 seconds per touch, 2.81 dribbles per touch
Booker in Year 3: 67.2 touches, 4.24 seconds per touch, 3.57 dribbles per touch
Herro&rsquo;s Rookie Year: 44.5 touches, 3.25 seconds per touch, 2.70 dribbles per touch
Herro in Year 2*: 64.8 touches, 3.85 seconds per touch, 3.46 dribbles per touch
Of course, context is needed. I used Booker&rsquo;s third year because that was when he really got a lion&rsquo;s share of the lead ball-handler workload as the Suns&rsquo; point guard room became laughable. We all remember Eric Bledsoe&rsquo;s <a href="https://twitter.com/EBled2/status/922201984211369984?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hair salon tweet</a>, yes? And this is a third year of sorts for Herro if we account for the pandemic layoff.
Beyond that, Herro is surrounded by more talent than Booker was, and thus is less reliant on true self creation. Case in point, per Synergy: the percentage of Herro&rsquo;s possessions that have ended via a pick-and-roll (passing included) or dribble handoff have skyrocketed from 54.2 to 69.5 this season. Booker&rsquo;s rate mostly stayed static (45.3 to 45.4).
Herro&rsquo;s been thrown into the gauntlet with four straight games against rangy, athletic, pesky defenders. The Magic with Markelle Fultz and Michael Carter-Williams; the Pelicans with Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart (Eric Bledsoe got the Duncan Robinson assignment); the Bucks with Jrue Holiday and Donte DiVincenzo. The results have been a mixed bag, as you&rsquo;d expect for a young guy thrust into a new, larger role against quality foes.
THE FILM
The most obvious improvement we&rsquo;ve seen from Herro thus far has come in pick-and-roll situations. He projected as a player primed to win against drop coverage because of his quick trigger, shooting touch and footwork well beyond his years. Combine that with underrated passing chops and you have the makings of a pretty solid creator.
He was better in theory than in practice last season. The former Wildcat ranked in the 26th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball-handler (passes included), per Synergy. You could tell he was trying to adjust to the speed of NBA defenders, in terms of shot windows and passing windows closing quicker than they did in college.
There&rsquo;s still room for improvement, but you can see the game starting to slow down for Herro. He&rsquo;s generating 1.21 points per pick-and-roll possession on direct hookups, the seventh-best mark among 62 players that have initiated at least 50 pick-and-rolls this season, per a source with access to Second Spectrum tracking data. If you filter those ball screens to only include those with any of the Dragic/Nunn/Vincent triumvirate off the floor, that number drops to 1.15 points per possession.
He&rsquo;s been tossing flames against drop coverage. Give him room to manipulate his man into the initial screen, and he&rsquo;ll waltz into pull-up jumpers with ease.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/herro-pull-up-3-vs-drop.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" />
With both Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo stationed at the elbow, Herro has his choice of screening partners in this double-high look. He does a phenomenal job of setting Holiday up with a hang dribble before crossing back over to his left.
The growth we saw from Herro as a driver in the bubble has mostly carried over. He&rsquo;s added more craft to his finishes; that threat is attracting a little more attention from enemy giants, opening the door for lay-down or wrap-around passes.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/herro-wraparound.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" />
Again, you can see Herro relying on the hang-cross combo to set up his defender (DiVincenzo). He immediately snakes to the right elbow to draw out Bobby Portis, opening up a diving lane for Precious Achiuwa. With Portis and DiVincenzo committing to Herro, he&rsquo;s able to flip an on-target bounce pass to Achiuwa for the layup.
Herro has struggled when faced with more ball pressure. His handle isn&rsquo;t &ldquo;lead ball-handler&rdquo; tight. Stingy defenders can force him into early pick-ups or, at worst, sit on his pet move and poke it away.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/herro-stripped.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" /> Herro has the basic pick-and-roll reads against drop coverage down, and has downloaded the &ldquo;snake&rdquo; package necessary for any above-average initiator. The next steps for him are dealing with more aggression: getting the ball out early against hedges or traps, and reading the third defender -- the man who &ldquo;tags&rdquo; the big man on the roll, or the defender &ldquo;splitting the difference&rdquo; on the weak side.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/herro-no-separation%2C-missed-dumpoff.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" /> Here, Zion Williamson comes with a hedge. Herro either misses or decides not to hit Meyers Leonard early, a mostly fine result even if that isn&rsquo;t what the optimal process dictates. He drives past the hedge, but then misses the window for a dump-off to Achiuwa in the dunker spot, and instead gets blocked from behind by Ball.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/herro-vs-hedge.gif" alt="" width="614" height="AUTO" /> Later in the corner, he gets another hedge from Zion. He knows the coverage by now, but still fails to release the ball in a timely manner. That&rsquo;s precious time off the clock due to indecision.
The 66 minutes with Herro on the court without a point guard have been awful from a statistical standpoint. The Heat have a 94.2 offensive rating in that frame, which would easily be the worst mark in the NBA if extrapolated over an entire season. That number jumps to 107.2 when Herro and Dragic are on the floor together, revealing the obvious: Herro is much more comfortable operating against bent defenses as a secondary handler.
Herro isn&rsquo;t a point guard, but that&rsquo;s exactly why it&rsquo;s important for him to get these reps now. Barring an apocalyptic amount of injuries, you can comfortably slate the Heat as a playoff team. Allowing a guy as important to the Heat&rsquo;s long-term goals as Herro -- as a player or a trade asset -- to stretch the limits of his game is more important than a gaudy regular season net rating.
The Heat have multiple security blankets to fall back on in the event that Herro falters. But if they believe he can grow into a legitimate lead option -- they reportedly believe Herro can be <a href="https://247sports.com/college/kentucky/Article/Heat-think-Tyler-Herro-can-be-better-than-Devin-Booker-151355960/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">better than Booker</a>, so the safe answer is &ldquo;yes&rdquo; -- they need to give him the rope to do so.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan dives into the Miami Heat's experiment with the second-year guard running an offense.

Tyler Herro isn't a point guard, but that's where he belongs for now

The Houston Rockets swung for the fences last summer, flipping Chris Paul and six afros-worth of picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook. That wouldn&rsquo;t even be the largest stylistic shift the Rockets would go through. They&rsquo;d eventually punt on the idea of centers in favor of maximizing their ability to play small, highlighted by the mega-trade that sent Clint Capela to the Atlanta Hawks, with then-Minnesota Timberwolves wing Robert Covington coming to Houston.
At their best, the Rockets bombed away from three with even more boldness, switched everything on defense, then blitzed teams in transition. At their worst, a.k.a. the back end of their second-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers, the lack of size hurt them at the rim and on the glass. The lack of an interior presence also made them more limited offensively; pick-and-rolls were used almost exclusively as a means to generate a switch instead of creating downhill advantages.&nbsp;
Now, with new general manager Rafael Stone and new head coach Stephen Silas, the fun will really begin.
The Rockets have no real avenue to cap space regardless of what they decide in terms of renouncements. They&rsquo;ll operate as an over-the-cap team and have a non-taxpayer mid-level exception (worth over $9 million) at their disposal. The question is how much owner Tilman Fertitta is willing to spend. The always-informative Keith Smith has a more thorough breakdown of their cap situation, which you can find <a href="https://www.slamonline.com/nba/houston-rockets-salary-cap-space-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s take a look at some guys they&rsquo;ll look to bring back, as well as some targets that could help them come back stronger than ever.
Key In-House Decisions
Austin Rivers*: Bring Him Back
Rivers is one of the NBA&rsquo;s underrated drivers, utilizing a quick first step and channeled aggression to generate looks at the rim. He isn&rsquo;t much more than a rudimentary playmaker, but his north-south style has helped juice the Rockets&rsquo; second unit over the past couple of seasons. That&rsquo;s been especially important within the context of Eric Gordon&rsquo;s injuries and the general hot-and-cold nature of his game. Rivers is also one of the notable voices in that locker room, something that shouldn&rsquo;t be dismissed when discussing his value. Even if Rivers declines his $2.4 million player option, I wouldn&rsquo;t expect him to command more than a portion of a team&rsquo;s MLE -- and that&rsquo;s on the high end. He should be back.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_14743540-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
Jeff Green: Bring Him Back
If Green&rsquo;s career was a book, it&rsquo;d likely be dubbed: &ldquo;The Boy Who Cried Potential.&rdquo; He never became a star, and the boom-or-bust nature of his game has confounded many. Quietly, though, he&rsquo;s settled in as a solid bench big. He especially thrived as the Rockets&rsquo; backup center last season, possessing just enough shooting and ball skills to dust enemy giants while offering versatility defensively.
Green has utility at both forward spots and should be a no-brainer to bring back assuming a bidding war doesn&rsquo;t ensue.&nbsp;
Free Agent Guards 
Bargains: Tyler Johnson
Johnson had a pretty quiet regular season campaign, kicking things off in Phoenix before finding his way to the Brooklyn Nets mid-season. Johnson performed well in the postseason, averaging a shade under 14 points while unloading the clip from deep (39.3 percent on 7.0 attempts). He&rsquo;s a fearless driver and underrated rebounder; he isn&rsquo;t afraid of mixing it up with bigger players. There&rsquo;s a pretty natural fit offensively alongside Harden or Westbrook as part of a staggered unit.
Free Agent Wings 
Mid-Tier Options: Justin Holiday
Holiday is more 3-and-Decent than 3-and-D, but he&rsquo;s coming off of the best shooting season of his career (40.5 percent from three-point range on 4.5 attempts) while being a credible option against 2s and 3s. He&rsquo;d be a natural fit for the Rockets&rsquo; transition attack. His off-ball randomness -- his ability to relocate around the perimeter, or catch ball-watching defenders off guard with hard cuts -- also fits well.
Bargains: Kent Bazemore, Garrett Temple*
The idea of Bazemore -- an athletic, 3-and-D wing that can defend 1-through-3 -- is probably a little better than the reality. Still, he can knock down open shots, is an active mover off the ball and competes defensively against both wing positions.&nbsp;
Temple would give the Rockets a plus, multi-positional defender with a solid three-point stroke (35.3 percent over the past five seasons). The asterisk is present on Temple's name because the Nets hold a $5 million team option on him, though it&rsquo;d come as no surprise if they let Temple walk to free up tax room to bring back Joe Harris. 
Free Agent Forwards 
Mid-Tier Options: Danilo Gallinari&nbsp;
If Gallinari is serious about going the &ldquo;winning &gt; pay day&rdquo; route, the Rockets would be a pretty fun landing spot for him. He would immediately boost their shooting and half-court shot creation. He can get to the rack -- and the free throw line -- on his own, but being able to play off of the dribble penetration of Westbrook and Harden would make life a lot easier for him.&nbsp;
Bargains: Lance Thomas, Luc Mbah a Moute
Thomas has flown under-the-radar for years as a sneaky-solid forward defender that can knock down open threes. He&rsquo;s converted 38.5 percent of his triples over the past five seasons, though that comes on limited volume. He&rsquo;d be a solid get as a ninth man to get you through the regular season.
Mbah a Moute signed a &ldquo;substitution contract&rdquo; with the Rockets back in July, replacing Thabo Sefolosha. He&rsquo;s fallen victim to his own body, with injuries derailing his last three seasons. It&rsquo;s probably far-fetched to expect him to get back to his 2017-18 form, but he could serve as a nice &ldquo;break-glass-in-case-of-emergency&rdquo; defender during the season. There&rsquo;s obvious familiarity here -- why not?
Free Agent Bigs 
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://basketballnews-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/images/story/body/usatsi_14791829-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="860" height="AUTO" />
Mid-Tier Options: Serge Ibaka
This would rely on negotiation talks breaking down with the Raptors. They will have his Bird Rights, thus giving them an avenue to pay Ibaka much more than any other contender sans the Miami Heat, and even they would get outbid. If Ibaka is okay with taking the MLE, the Rockets would be a natural landing spot because of his intersection of shooting and rim protection.&nbsp;
Bargains: Meyers Leonard, Nerlens Noel, John Henson, Harry Giles
Leonard&rsquo;s free-agency value will come down to which version from last year teams feel they&rsquo;ll be getting. If it&rsquo;s the regular-season version -- where Leonard helped anchor one of the best starting lineups in the NBA with his shooting (41.4 percent from three), screening and vocal quarterbacking defensively -- then you could argue he should command a portion of the MLE. If it&rsquo;s the postseason version, where Leonard looked out of place defensively and his lack of three-point volume really stood out, the vet minimum could be all he musters.
Noel is your classic toolsy big whose reputation precedes him a bit. He is talented, of course; he&rsquo;s able to sky for lobs, can knock down the occasional jumper (though you don&rsquo;t want him taking many of them), has wing-like mobility in space and can send shots into orbit. The issue with Noel, aside from help, has been his propensity to go for the home-run on defense, which often leaves him out of position when those gambles fail.
He was a bit more under control in Oklahoma City last season; shockingly, he had his most efficient year to date. There&rsquo;s room for him to command a portion of some team&rsquo;s mid-level exception, but it wouldn&rsquo;t shock me to see him take another prove-it type deal for a contender to set himself up for a pay day in 2021.
Henson entered the league as a classic screen-and-dive big, using his broomstick arms to convert lobs and clean up on the offensive glass. He&rsquo;s been a prolific shot-blocker throughout his career, though he&rsquo;s never been strong enough to deal with post brutes. He&rsquo;s attempted to stretch his game over the past two seasons with mostly &ldquo;meh&rdquo; results on an even more &ldquo;meh&rdquo; sample. The intrigue would be providing Harden or Westbrook with a lob target. If the spot-up three experiment continues and has some success, that would be an obvious bonus.
Giles has a bit of an injury history, dating back to his high-school days. Multiple lower-body injuries have sapped some of his athleticism, and he&rsquo;s still a fluid, jumpy big who can feast in transition. The intrigue lies in his on-ball skill; he&rsquo;s quietly one of the better passing big men in the league already. There&rsquo;s some serious &ldquo;throw-it-to-him-in-the-high-post-and-let-him-do-stuff&rdquo; potential waiting to be untapped. If the Rockets are serious about adding some optionality to their half-court attack -- and want to take a young flier -- Giles is a nice place to start.&nbsp;

Nekias Duncan breaks down the Rockets' own free-agent decisions and suggests some players that Houston should target at each position.

2020 Free Agency Preview: Houston Rockets

With the 2020 NBA Draft approaching a month from now, former Arizona freshman big man Zeke Nnaji sat down with BasketballNews.com to discuss a number of topics, ranging from his personal interests to his game to why he'll make a solid pro.
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Your family has a lot of athletes, but also musicians -- and you&rsquo;re an experienced musician yourself. Can you tell me a little bit about your background with music?
Zeke Nnaji: "Growing up, I was always super into music. I listen to tons of different genres of music. I've also played different instruments since I was the age of like four or five. I had a little toy piano with maybe 20 keys on it &mdash; I loved playing on that. When I got to the first grade, my parents enrolled me in some piano lessons and I did that until I was in the eighth grade. I loved it and it was super fun for me, but by the time I had gotten to eighth grade, I had outgrown the teacher. At that point, I had to learn new songs on my own. I also started composing songs and making music too. I like making and listening to music. I really just love music &mdash; a ton of different genres too. I'm all about music."
Has there been anything from your musical background that has assisted in your development as a basketball player?
Nnaji: "Yeah, I've taken the discipline and dedication I used to learn new pieces of music and applied them to how I train for basketball. The piano taught me how to work hard at a young age of like seven or eight years old. I tried to learn difficult pieces, and I struggled with them. I had to learn to grind. I'd put in three hours a day of work and I persevered through those difficult times. When I was able to get a challenging piano piece down, I was very satisfied. It was a great feeling to know that my hard work had paid off. Learning how to sit down and work through something difficult has helped me in basketball. I use the same kind of philosophy when I approach training for basketball. Sometimes things are going to be hard when you're lifting or when you're getting up shots. It's hard work, and sometimes things are more difficult than usual, but if you sit down and focus on those certain areas and apply discipline and dedication, you will see improvements.
If you had the opportunity to play in the NBA Finals or center stage at Carnegie Hall, which would you choose and why?
Nnaji: "I would have to choose the NBA Finals, without a doubt in my mind. I remember growing up and being out in my driveway imagining hitting a game-winning shot in the NBA Finals. That's always been my dream. I see music more as a hobby. I never played video games or anything like that, so I see music the way I think many people see video games. I don't see myself ever going the professional route with music. The piano is more of a meditative escape for me."
Can you walk me through your recruitment process and how you ended up deciding to go to the University of Arizona?
Nnaji: "I think my family and I went about the process a little differently than most people. We made a giant checklist of things that we were looking for in a school -- from style of play, the conference, the coaching staff, the community, the strength coach and the business school. So we had this giant checklist and, at the end of the day, Arizona just happened to be the school that checked off the most boxes. It was clear that it was the best fit for me."
Your sister Maya is a five-star high school basketball recruit. What type of advice have you given her in regards to selecting a school?
Nnaji: "She's going through the same thing that I went through. My family also helped her make a checklist of things that suit her best and that would best fit her needs of what she wants to do, both on and off the court. Other than that, the advice that I've given her has been that she should go to a place where she feels comfortable, and not go somewhere just because of the name or because they're ranked high. Instead, go to a place that's going to be good fit for you, and that's going to help you to develop into being the kind of person that you want to be -- both on and off the court."
According to ESPN, you were the 49th-ranked player in your high school class, not as high of a ranking for the typical one-and-done prospect. In your opinion, was it more of a situation where you were overlooked or that you were a late bloomer?
Nnaji: "I was definitely overlooked. I think that I've been overlooked a lot throughout my life. I looked at some of the people that were ranked above me and I knew that I was better than them, but I didn't let it bother me. It motivated me and put a chip on my shoulder. Going into college, it really pushed me to be the best. I wasn't going to let my ranking stop me from doing well in college because I knew every time that you move up to the next level, the rankings reset and it doesn't matter where you were ranked beforehand. What matters is how hard you work and how badly you want it &mdash; and I want it as badly as anyone. 
"One thing that I wanted to do was win Pac-12 Freshman of the Year &mdash; that was a goal of mine. I know a lot of people didn't think that would be possible because I was ranked 49th in high school rankings. There were a handful of McDonald's All-Americans that were freshmen in my conference, but I didn't feel that could stop me. When you get to college, the rankings are reset. The coaches in the conference picked me for that award. I also won some other awards this year, too. I think it shows that hard work and dedication can help you. It also shows that it doesn't matter where you were in high school when you get to college, and the same thing can be said for when you go to the NBA. It doesn't matter where you get drafted. There have been plenty of All-Stars that have been taken in the second round. It matters how hard you work and how badly you want it. Out of everyone in this draft class, I feel that I am the player that is most likely to hit my ceiling because of my dedication and the structure that I put in, both on and off the court. I believe that the sky's the limit for me."
Despite being known as a big guy that could shoot the ball well coming out of high school, it did not seem as if Coach Sean Miller wanted that to be a big part of your role this past season. Walk me through your role for that Arizona team and how your role in the NBA could differ -- and do you expect outside shooting to be a big part of your game moving forward?
Nnaji: "In high school, I played power forward; actually, I&rsquo;ve played power forward my whole life. I never really played the center position. I got a lot stronger before going to college, and our team was lacking some inside presence. We were one of the worst teams in the Pac-12 at the beginning of the season in defensive rebounding, and we were a middle-of-the-pack team in offensive rebounding. At some point in the season, my coach sat me down and talked to me. He said that he needed me to step up at the five. I hadn't done it before and I wasn&rsquo;t used to it, and I struggled at first; I watched a lot of film and I simulated different things in practice. By the end of the year, we were the number-one defensive rebounding team in the Pac-12 and the number-two offensive rebounding team. We did well when I was at the five position.
"My role on that team was being a rebounder and a back-to-the-basket scorer. I was depended on to bring energy and lock up the other teams&rsquo; bigs. In the NBA, I think my role will be a little different, but not a whole lot. I&rsquo;ll bring high energy. I&rsquo;ll be a relentless rebounder, versatile defender that can guard bigs but also switch on to guards, and I&rsquo;m going to stretch the floor on the offensive end. I feel really confident in my three-point shooting ability from the NBA line; I'm shooting the ball really well from that range. If you look at some of the videos that <a href="https://twitter.com/MattBabcock11/status/1311739221279866881?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we&rsquo;ve posted online from my workouts at Impact Basketball</a>, you&rsquo;ll see that I'm shooting really well. I have incredible confidence in my shot right now, and I feel that it&rsquo;s going to get even better. I also think I&rsquo;m capable of taking advantage of mismatches in the NBA. If a bigger and slower guy is on me, I can use my quickness. If a smaller guy is on me, I&rsquo;ll post them up and use my size."
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If you had to choose one player that you model your game after, who would that be?
Nnaji: "I wouldn't say that there is one specific person. I try to look at the good things from different NBA players and I try to take those good aspects of their game and implement them into mine. For examples, LeBron James&rsquo; ability to see the floor and his vision, Giannis Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s explosiveness and Klay Thompson&rsquo;s shooting ability."
You gained quite a bit of muscle before you even stepped foot on Arizona's campus. What did you do to get stronger?
Nnaji: "As soon as I committed to Arizona, my father and strength coach from Minnesota went down to Tucson and met with the strength coach there. They set up a regimented program so that I could do their workout while being in Minnesota. I committed to Arizona before my senior year in high school had even started. I was on that program the entire year; I worked out six days a week in the weight room. I knew that I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be stronger than the people I&rsquo;d go up against, and so I needed to start early. I&rsquo;m glad I did because it gave me a head start going into college &mdash; it was huge for me. It gave me a boost and helped me have a great freshman season."
As we discussed when I was in Las Vegas recently, you have continued to add strength and weight. How much do you currently weigh? And as far as your physical development, would you like to add more muscle and weight, or have you gotten to a point where you&rsquo;d just like to maintain?
Nnaji: "At the end of the season, I was about 230 pounds and I currently weigh 249 pounds. I really like where I'm at right now. I think that it's a great weight for me. I don't want to gain anymore, rather just continue to get stronger but maintain this weight. Part of the reason that I don&rsquo;t want to gain any more weight is that I want to keep my quickness &mdash; it&rsquo;s a big part of my game. My quickness allows me to be more versatile."
I've learned that you are a vegan. Take me through how you got started with that diet, and how is it beneficial to you as a professional athlete?
Nnaji: "In college, I wasn't vegan. I had heard and thought about it, but didn&rsquo;t make the switch until after our season ended. Making that transition from eating regular foods to being vegan has been huge for me. I have more energy, I'm sleeping better and I am getting stronger. Since becoming vegan, I just feel better in all aspects of my life. I watched a documentary called 'The Game Changers,' which is about different high-level athletes who are vegan, and it outlines how the diet has helped them. Also, Andre Iguodala came to talk to our team; he talked to us about a bunch of different things. One of the things he talked about was being vegan and how it helped him. Those were two things that left an impression on me and big reasons why I chose to become vegan. It's working for me so I'm going to stick with it."
You seem to be a very disciplined and regimented person, maybe even a perfectionist. It appears that your approach is working well, as you keep improving at a rapid rate. However, I&rsquo;m curious -- do you ever feel like there are drawbacks to your disciplined approach? Do you ever feel like you put too much pressure on yourself?
Nnaji: "No, I don't feel like there are any drawbacks to my lifestyle. I&rsquo;ve lived a disciplined and regimented life forever and it&rsquo;s all I really know. I didn&rsquo;t have a phone until I was a junior in high school, and I never played video games. This way of living is all I have ever really known and it's worked for me. My parents taught me that if you want to accomplish a goal, the best way to do that is to eliminate distractions and things that could derail you from achieving that goal. I don't feel like I put too much pressure on myself. It&rsquo;s all normal to me. I look at a lot of successful people in the world, and a lot of them live a structured and disciplined life. I try to emulate them."
The pre-draft process this year has felt never-ending. From your perspective, what have been the positives and negatives of such a long process?
Nnaji: "The whole situation has been horrible. I feel bad for all of the people that have been affected by this virus. I mean, it's really sad. However, I'm trying to look at the positives in regards to this pre-draft process. One thing is that I&rsquo;ve gotten more time to improve. The normal pre-draft process is only a couple months. This year, (it's) been six or seven months. I've been trying to take full advantage of this time off and I think that I have been capitalizing on it. I take things day-by-day; I think that's the best approach. I don't look too far ahead. I try to get better every day and improve on my weaknesses, even if it's just a little bit. If you do that every day, you&rsquo;ll improve, and I am improving &mdash; I&rsquo;m shooting the ball really well. I wanted to improve my shooting so that I can come into the NBA comfortable shooting from three-point range. I feel very confident in my ability to shoot the ball now. I'm just going to continue to work during this time."
The Minnesota Timberwolves have the No. 17 pick &mdash; which is right in your draft range, in my opinion. What would it mean to you to be drafted by your hometown team?
Nnaji: "Oh, yeah, that would be awesome! I grew up watching the Timberwolves and always rooted for them. I went to so many of their games as a little kid. My dad would buy us tickets and we would go pretty often. I remember my first game that I ever went to watch was to see the Miami Heat when LeBron had just moved there &mdash; it was super fun! The Timberwolves were one of my favorite teams growing up and if I had the opportunity to play in front of all the people in Minnesota that have supported me that would just be really cool!"
Let&rsquo;s pretend I&rsquo;m an NBA general manager that&rsquo;s considering selecting you. We have both entered an elevator. What&rsquo;s your elevator pitch to me as to why you&rsquo;re my guy?
Nnaji: "First of all, I'm very coachable. I&rsquo;m not going to create any problems, as I&rsquo;m a laid-back person. However, when I get on the court, I'm relentless and tenacious on both ends of the floor. I'm a beast with a non-stop motor. My hard work and discipline are going to take me far. I'm the most-likely prospect to hit my ceiling because of the kind of lifestyle that I live, both on and off the court. My discipline and my regimented life are going to push me towards that ceiling. I&rsquo;m a no-nonsense type of guy off the court. I don't smoke or drink, and I don't go to clubs or any of that type of stuff. I like to chill at home, talk to my family, make music, simple things like that. If you're looking for someone to help your team be successful, I'm definitely that person."

Matt Babcock sits down with Arizona's Zeke Nnaji to discuss his personal interests, the upcoming NBA Draft and why he'll make a great pro at the next level.

2020 NBA Draft: Zeke Nnaji on his regimented lifestyle, his value to a team

Paul Watson Jr. has been here before. He&rsquo;s played in front of empty crowds, while the walls of isolation felt like they were steadily closing in around him. He&rsquo;s stepped off the team bus at hotels filled to the brim with fellow players, some he knows, some he doesn&rsquo;t - the air thick with excitement and anticipation. He&rsquo;s seen firsthand the way a change in environment can alter a team&rsquo;s chances of winning, where an upset becomes the norm. He has sat patiently, waiting for his number to be called and wondering if any of this was even worth it.&nbsp;
Though years removed from the circuit, Watson&rsquo;s arrival in the NBA bubble was immediately met with the sense of nostalgia that smelling your grandmother&rsquo;s cooking would bring.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It gave me a lot of AAU vibes,&rdquo; Watson told BasketballNews.com. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like going to camps when I was a kid. Being around everybody everyday and going to practice in the hotel, it definitely felt like AAU all over again. It felt like a giant tournament.&rdquo;
Teams that were usd to only seeing their opponents before the initial whistle blew were now sharing elevators, meals and living quarters. There was no escape from a team that may have shaken you the night before, or from a team keen to prove that they too belong in the bubble.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It was actually pretty chill and laid back,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;Everybody was like, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re here, so let&rsquo;s just do our thing.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;
Watson may be quiet in nature, but underneath his shy exterior is a man with an ability to find the positive in every situation, which is rivaled only by Wenyen Gabriel <a href="https://lebronwire.usatoday.com/2020/08/19/wenyen-gabriel-couldnt-believe-lebron-gave-him-his-first-nosebleed/">ecstatically announcing</a> that LeBron James gave him his very first nosebleed.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I stuck to myself a little bit and hung out with Oshae [Brissett] a lot,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;There were a few guys I knew (from) before that were already in the league and I would catch up with them. But for the most part, I kept to myself and hung around the (Toronto) guys.&rdquo;
Perhaps his time overseas better prepared him for a secluded playing atmosphere than that of his straight-to-the-NBA counterparts? He described his four-month stint in Germany as &ldquo;a big culture shock.&rdquo; He recognizes that, although the circumstances were different, the insulating feelings were the same.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There were similarities in having to adapt to a new situation, something that&rsquo;s never been done before, and just trying to perform under weird or different circumstances,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;The city that I was in, they were really big on their basketball. It was almost like a college-town environment. They really value basketball in the city that I was in.&rdquo;
Eating, sleeping and breathing in constant, close proximity to your teammates is the norm in the G League, with players often residing in the same condo and sharing rooms on the road. Some NBA players take their five-star hotels and personal space for granted, but not Paul, who finally landed in the NBA after his three seasons in the G League.
The unusual circumstances forced those unfamiliar with them to adapt. For a newcomer like Watson, it was an opportunity to bond with his teammates and get to know them.
&ldquo;I got to talk with guys a lot more,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Before this happened, I was only up with the team so many times before the whole pandemic happened. I definitely learned some new things about guys and they definitely learned a lot about me. They kind of figured out that I&rsquo;m not the most talkative person, I&rsquo;m pretty kept to myself. They got me to open up a little bit more and got to learn more about me as well.&rdquo;
Not only had the G League prepared Watson for the close proximity in which he would live with his teammates, but for the empty arenas at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Raptors 905 are one of the best-selling franchises in the developmental league, but their attendance is a drop in the bucket compared to that of Scotiabank Arena, where their parent-club Raptors sell out every single home game.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At first, it was a little weird, but then once the ball is rolled out there and you&rsquo;re just playing, you don&rsquo;t really pay attention to it,&rdquo; Watson said of the lack of fans. &ldquo;Everything you&rsquo;re focused on is what&rsquo;s going on on the floor and what needs to be done and what needs to be executed.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The inability to feed off of the energy exerted from the crowd seemed to affect some players and teams more than others.
&ldquo;Home-court advantage plays a big part in a lot of things,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;Just being at home in general and having that fan base, I think that plays a huge part in how things can go. I think everybody is looking forward to going back to somewhere, a better life, when we have those fans in our home arena. It goes beyond basketball and is what everybody wants and is looking forward to.&rdquo;
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Watson was as surprised as anyone at the NBA Finals matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat. Or rather, he was shocked at the teams that failed to live up to expectations.
&ldquo;Obviously I expected us (Toronto) to be there. I expected probably us and Milwaukee, and probably the Lakers and the Clippers, honestly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what I figured. But like I said, it&rsquo;s a new environment, new situation, changes, anything can happen, and that showed (in) this whole playoffs.&rdquo;
The time between Watson&rsquo;s last game -- a 19-point, four-rebound performance in a victory over the College Park Skyhawks on Mar. 11-- the go-ahead from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBPA to resume the season was months of stagnant development. He had the itch to play the game he loves, but he couldn&rsquo;t scratch it.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I feel like we had a little bit more knowledge about what could potentially happen before anyone else, but it was a lot of unknowns and [things were] up in the air for us as well,&rdquo; Watson said.
When the plan for an NBA restart was finally set in stone, Watson, like he had been in every way leading up to his Toronto Raptors debut, was ready.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was down to finally get to go play basketball, get an experience with the team, learn as much as possible,&rdquo; he said.
The rumblings of understandable discontent from players who were hesitant to restart the season were at the forefront of every article, but in the bubble -- and the days leading up to it -- the general consensus was to play.
&ldquo;For the most part, everybody was pretty much on board with it and ready to go play ball. After a while of just being in the same area and same situation and just seeing the same things, it can wear on you mentally,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;But for the most part everyone was pretty sane.&rdquo;
Still, Paul doesn&rsquo;t blame any player who was hesitant to make the journey to Orlando.
&ldquo;I can say that everybody is different,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Everybody is going to react to things a certain way. Some guys need their space. Everybody has their own life off the court and how to unwind, whether that&rsquo;s just kind of getting away to clear their head or doing something. Everybody is different.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t necessarily say that being around each other is healthy. There are definitely some benefits to it, but everybody is different and everybody is going to react to it differently.&rdquo;
The Raptors were the first team to arrive in Orlando; though as prepared as they could be, they began to feel the loneliness that anyone removed from their loved ones would feel.&nbsp;
&ldquo;After a while, it got to that point,&rdquo; Paul admits. &ldquo;A big thing for me, and I think a big thing for everybody that helped, was that after a while, family [and close ones] were allowed into the bubble. So I was allowed to bring my girlfriend out and spend time with her -- that was big for me. She helped me stay focused, and it was kind of refreshing to see new faces and new life.&rdquo;
The comfort that the arrival of family into the bubble brought was quickly draped in a fog of helplessness as the NBA -- a league that had promised to use its platform to highlight the fight against racial injustice and the treatment of Black men and women by law enforcement officials -- learned of yet another instance of police brutality. The shooting of Jacob Blake by Rusten Sheskey, a police officer in Wisconsin, had many players questioning their decision to play.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It was kind of weird,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t necessarily know what was going to happen or what was going to go on. Everything kind of hit at once, and the world was just kind of in shock. It was a little strange. It was kind of like, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re just kind of hanging out right now and we&rsquo;ll see where things go.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s the only way I can describe it -- weird.&rdquo;
The decision to stop all games league-wide was not an easy one. Players were tired, both mentally and physically. Some wanted to carry on, while some didn&rsquo;t feel it was worth it. Ultimately deciding to resume play, the NBA, and Paul, persisted, though not without innominate emotions.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There was some tension, and there was some unity at the same time. It was a little of both,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;There were guys who felt certain ways about everything. Everyone was there for different reasons, but I feel like, at the end of the day, collectively, everybody was able to come together and be like, &lsquo;Look, this is what we need to do. This is what we need to get done, let&rsquo;s just go and handle our business.&rsquo;&rdquo;
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For Watson, an NBA rookie, handling business involved a lot of waiting, and even more watching. There was no frustration on the Phoenix native&rsquo;s part, as his career has taught him the importance of the journey before the destination.&nbsp;
Watching from the socially-distanced bench may wear on the players who, for the first time, are finding their minutes and roles reduced; but for Paul, the learning on the bench is on par with the learning on the court.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You kind of try to learn what to do and what not to do, what mistakes not to make and just where you can help,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And when your time comes, just take full advantage of it. That&rsquo;s what I try to do.&rdquo;
Paul was not alone in living on standby, as former Raptors 905 teammate Justin Anderson was in a similar position. There was no love lost when the two met in the first round of the playoffs. Instead, there was a bond that could only be understood between previous teammates.&nbsp;
&ldquo;That was pretty cool. We would text back and forth and talk about what was going to happen in the series and how we both were on this stage and the hard work we&rsquo;ve each put in to get to this point, so it was pretty cool to have that experience with him and see him there too,&rdquo; Watson explained.
While Anderson had a few NBA stints before, this was Watson&rsquo;s first opportunity, and it almost didn&rsquo;t happen at all.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I kind of hit that low point after my second season,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;Things weren&rsquo;t really going the way I wanted them to. I really wasn't that happy with my situation in New York [on the Westchester Knicks]; I wasn&rsquo;t really getting the opportunity to show what I was fully capable of and I just really wasn&rsquo;t happy with how my season went.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s that stigma -- you [play] so many years in the G League and it gets harder and harder [to make it to the NBA], but I knew I just needed that chance to really show what I was capable of. That summer, I put in a lot of work. It was a little draining on me, wondering if I was going to get an opportunity and where it was going to come from. All of that unknown, it does kind of wear on you. But I stayed the course and tried to work, and it got me where I am.&rdquo; That opportunity, in Watson&rsquo;s case, didn&rsquo;t emerge because of NBA preseason games or G League scouting reports. Instead, it was thanks to his strong play in a country halfway across the world.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was in Uruguay with (905 head coach) Jama (Mahlalela) and (assistant coach Charles) Kissi and when I was down there, I did my thing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just hooped and that was really about it. Jama and Kissi took a liking to my game. I liked the system they ran; we ran the same thing in Uruguay that we did with the 905 and I really enjoyed the way they played and offense and stuff like that. After that trip, I got with my agent and he got (in touch) with 905 and we just kind of went from there.&rdquo;
He may have doubted his situation, but never himself.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At the end of the day, I trust my work,&rdquo; Watson said. &ldquo;I continue to just work on my game. I know it will get me where I want to be, and that&rsquo;s just continuing to grind and get a full-time roster spot. That's the way I look at it; there&rsquo;s never really any pressure. I just need to keep doing what I do at a high level and the rest will take care of itself.&rdquo;
Watson&rsquo;s path to the NBA, and his first season in it, may have been unusual, but his approach to it is a testament to a maturity that is beyond his 25 years. His ability to cut to the basket with ease has seen him realize his dream, but his patience, persistence and willingness to learn are what will keep him there.&nbsp;
In a league, and a world, where not much is certain anymore, Paul Watson Jr. is here to stay.&nbsp;

Toronto Raptors shooting guard Paul Watson Jr. opens up about his experience in the NBA bubble, the Finals match-up and more.

Paul Watson Jr. is no stranger to the waiting game

A Memphis staffer chats with BasketballNews.com's Spencer Davies to provide an in-depth analysis on top prospect James Wiseman.

Wabash Little Giants