Our rankings of each team’s young prospects continue with teams 6-10. We only consider players who are entering their third season or younger, and players with a proven NBA track record are weighted quite heavily along with those who have proven collegiate production. While some rankings might seem surprising on the surface, this list’s criteria…
When Monty Williams was named head coach of the Phoenix Suns, their defense was due to get on a better track if for no other reason than his history of competency there. But five games into this young season, the Suns sit at 3-2 record-wise and sixth in Synergy’s half-court defense efficiency metrics. A small…
Week 1 of the 2019 NBA season is officially in the books, and it didn’t take long for certain preseason expectations to go up in smoke. The Golden State Warriors opened the campaign with a pair of blowout losses that raised doubt about whether they’d even make the playoffs this season, while the Phoenix Suns…
In this episode of The NBA Podcast, Morten Jensen (@msjnba), Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) and special guest Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) of FiveThirtyEight discuss their biggest takeaways from the first few days of the 2019-20 NBA season. Can anyone stop the Los Angeles Clippers? How did James Harden and Russell Westbrook look in their first game together?…
If you didn’t read Part 1, do it now. We hit big trades for the Denver Nuggets, the optimal usage for the Los Angeles Lakers and some thoughts on the race for eighth in the Eastern Conference. So let’s keep this thing rolling and get bolder than before. 18. The Brooklyn Nets do not trade…
In this episode of The NBA Podcast, Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) and special guest Gerald Bourguet (@geraldbourguet) of The Step Back preview the Pacific Division ahead of the 2019-20 NBA season. How will D’Angelo Russell fit next to Stephen Curry? Who starts alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the Los Angeles Clippers? Can Dwight Howard…
“The NBA is a guard-oriented league.” Modernized spacing concepts lead to wider driving lanes, making it easier to be a guard than ever. Crunch time sets still revolve around isolations and ball screens where handlers that can make the reliable play are paramount. Teams are even beginning to downsize their rosters, playing more guards than…
The Phoenix Suns have had a truly baffling offseason. Every decent move has been seemingly followed by a terrible one, which is followed by a decent one. There’s a plan in place in Phoenix to build around Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, but the execution of that plan has been haphazard at best. The Suns’…
Course correction can be a tough thing to manage. Everyone’s had a staunch opinion on something or someone, doubled down on it, then grudgingly changed their minds when presented with new evidence. It happens in all facets of life, but it’s especially true in NBA Twitter. Sometimes you can get so caught up in a take,…
NBA stars are flexing their muscles more than ever. LeBron James popularized the 1+1 contract, in which a player signs a two-year deal with a second-year player option to exert maximal pressure on his current team. Kevin Durant has since followed suit three times with the Golden State Warriors, and Anthony Davis could take a…