There comes a point in every NBA player’s career that will define how long they play, how successful they are as individuals and what their future looks like with their team. You have LeBron James in the 2012 NBA Finals, who took the step toward all-time greatness by embracing the leadership role on that first…
Rewind to last summer for a moment. This was supposed to be the era of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant for New York Knicks fans. But when the time came for superstar free agents to bite at the opportunity of playing in Madison Square Garden, no one budged, leaving team brass to scramble after next-tier players. …
The NBA Draft is about value as much as it is talent. If somebody is talented, they hold value to a team looking to employ the most skilled players possible. But value can also be derived from non-basketball skills in ways that distort the picture on draft night. Franchises are making investments when they use…
There’s not much sugar left to coat this season with, and that has nothing to do with the pandemic-related stoppage. The New York Knicks fell short of expectations yet again. The rotations were muddled, the front office and coaching seats had little continuity, and the pieces on the roster do little to complement each other.…
This season, 108 players from 38 countries were on an NBA roster for opening night. (The record is 113 players from 42 countries, set in 2016-17.) The reigning MVP (Giannis Antetokounmpo) hails from overseas (Greece). There’s a lot of talent to be found all around the world, and all front offices now routinely search through…
During the 2019-20 NBA season, the league-average team took 33.8 3-point attempts per game and hit 35.8 percent of them. That equates to 36.3 points from beyond the arc. Those numbers looked a little different ten years ago during the 2009-10 campaign. The league-average team took only 17.7 treys and shot 35.1 percent—accounting for 18.6…
At this point, it’s pretty well known: coaches all steal stuff from each other. Few are complete innovators, but most just take concepts from elsewhere and incorporate it into their own system. The NBA has become so cut-and-paste in many ways that the offenses we watch are hardly discernible from one another. Then a talent…
In a 2020 draft class that’s weak on wings, the guard position fills the void with plenty of names worth knowing. You can find all different types: Those who shoot, are defense-first, are pure passers and those who are supreme athletes. Position and taste will dictate who goes where, not necessarily a clear hierarchy of…
6’9″ and 220 pounds with jump-out-of-the-gym athleticism. 39 percent 3-point shooting, 1.06 points per possession on post-ups and 4.4 ppg in transition. The anchor of the nation’s most efficient offense and a National Player of the Year candidate for a team that went 29-2. Obi Toppin checks a lot of boxes. He’s a prototypical inside-outside…
From a managerial perspective, a weak draft class means it’s likely the perfect time to swing for the fences. If the likelihood of hitting is lower, why not swing harder to see if you knock something out of the park? If that’s a common perception shared around the league, teams will begin to covet the…
