The NBA may be a star-driven enterprise, but stars make up a small sliver of the league's player ...

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5 role players making star-level impacts this season

The Cleveland Cavaliers arrived at what felt like a crossroads this past summer. On the heels of ...

The Cleveland Cavaliers arrived at what felt like a crossroads this past summer. On the heels of an injury-marred roller coaster of a season in which only surface-level progress was made, and with the specter of Donovan Mitchell's free agency looming, some kind of directional adjustment felt possible, if not probable. Instead, the organization basically took a page out of the Yogi Berra quote book: When they came to the fork in the road, they took it.First, Mitchell agreed to extend his contract through at least 2026-27. His backcourt mate, Darius Garland, seemingly recommitted after reportedly<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5497268/2024/05/15/cavaliers-donovan-mitchell-darius-garland-jb-bickerstaff-future/"> </a> entertaining the possibility of pushing for a trade. And then the front office extended the jumbo frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, locking in a core four that showed flashes of immense promise in two seasons but also encountered roadblocks because of fit issues and injuries (the latter led to them playing only 457 minutes together in 2023-24). The supporting cast around that quartet also remained identical. The one personnel change Cleveland made was on the sideline, where Kenny Atkinson replaced J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach.The hope was that better health from the core four, a few Atkinsonian stylistic tweaks, and some internal improvement (namely a <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048813" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048813">Garland bounce back</a> and an offensive step forward from Mobley) would combine to jolt the team out of neutral. And so far they're batting 1.000 on those swing factors, which have coalesced into a 14-game season-opening win streak - the sixth-longest of its kind in NBA history. That start has been powered not only by Cleveland's reliably excellent defense (currently a top-seven unit for the fourth straight year) but by the most efficient offense in the league. This from a team that finished 16th in offensive rating last season and is yet to get a single minute out of would-be starting small forward Max Strus.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div><figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Fastest starts" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-JDY39" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/JDY39/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="457" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>It can be foolhardy to buy too much into results at this juncture of the early season. Hot streaks happen. Heck, the Cavs had a stretch in which they won 17 of 18 games last season, and they still didn't feel much like contenders when all was said and done. They've played one of the softest schedules in the league to date, and they're riding some wildly hot 3-point shooting that's bound to cool off.That said, they've aced the handful of true tests they've faced, grinding out a crunch-time win over the Knicks and absolutely blasting the Lakers and Warriors. Maybe more to the point, the team looks and feels different than its other recent iterations, even though so many of its components are the same.As much as anyone or anything, the avatar of that change is a more empowered, more assertive, more forcecul, more fluid version of Mobley. This Mobley takes it upon himself to race the ball up the floor after snagging defensive rebounds, runs a handful of inverted pick-and-rolls every game, and generally spends more time piloting the offense, whether operating at the elbow or running delay from the top. Though his raw counting stats don't fully capture the extent of his role shift, his usage rate and average time of possession have both spiked, as have his drives and transition possessions.As I <a href="https://thescore.com/news/2883055">wrote about</a> last season, this is the way the NBA is trending, with increasingly skilled big men taking on increasingly prominent roles as teams recognize the cascading benefits of running more offense through them. Doing so not only facilitates all manner of dynamic off-ball actions, it can mitigate spacing issues by turning a non-shooter (in most cases) into a playmaker the defense has to account for. It also has a way of making life easier for guards like Mitchell and Garland, who get more opportunities to receive the ball on the move and in the flow, rather than being tasked with creating advantages from a standstill with defenses loading up on them. "If you have a guard and want to give him an opportunity to not be bottled up, figure out how to get him off that ball," Kings coach Mike Brown told me when I asked about his offensive system accelerating that trend.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755553/cropped_GettyImages-2183940401.jpg?ts=1731707892" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755553/w220xh124_GettyImages-2183940401.jpg?ts=1731707892 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755553/w320xh180_GettyImages-2183940401.jpg?ts=1731707892 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755553/w640xh360_GettyImages-2183940401.jpg?ts=1731707892 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755553/w768xh432_GettyImages-2183940401.jpg?ts=1731707892 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755553/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2183940401.jpg?ts=1731707892 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David Dow / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Garland and Mitchell are both spending roughly two fewer minutes per game with the ball in their hands, and neither ranks inside the top 30 in <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?dir=D&amp;sort=TIME_OF_POSS">total time of possession</a> after they finished ninth and 13th last season, respectively. Incidentally, Garland is having by far his most efficient scoring season, and he and Mitchell both have the lowest turnover rates of their careers. Of course, that only really works if the big man assuming more of the on-ball orchestration is both a savvy playmaker and a legitimate threat to score. In that sense, what we're seeing here is really a marriage of developmental gains and coaching philosophy, with Mobley rising to meet Atkinson's challenge by tightening his handle, becoming a quicker decision-maker, and building up more strength and resilience as an attacker. You could say the same about the way the team as a whole is playing. After all, every coach comes into every season preaching the importance of sharing the ball, of playing with trust, continuity, and pace. How many of their teams actually wind up executing all those principles to a T? The Cavs have jumped from 22nd to 12th in offensive pace, most notably getting shots up more than a second faster after opponent makes, per <a href="https://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/ssnTeamShot.php?season=2024&amp;po=0&amp;frdt=2023-10-24&amp;todt=2024-06-17&amp;view=off">Inpredictable</a>. They're employing more guard screens, both in the aforementioned inverted actions for Mobley and in small-small pick-and-rolls. Atkinson's also tweaked the half-court spacing a bit by running more five-out sets. Initiating the offense via Mobley or Allen (the latter of whom is a better playmaker than his screen-and-dive reputation suggests) makes that alignment more tenable. But simply starting possessions with them spaced in the corner or weak-side slot rather than the dunker spot can complicate a defense's help points. It opens up opportunities for cuts and skip DHOs (another concept sweeping the league), with Mobley holding the threat of <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2872869" href="https://thescore.com/news/2872869">the keeper</a> in his back pocket:<figure class="article-segment--video"><video poster="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755664/preview.png?ts=1731766320" loop muted autoplay playsinline controls onclick="if(/android 2.[0-3]/.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase())) { var sources = this.getElementsByTagName('source'); for(var i = 0, total = sources.length; i &lt; total; i++) { this.removeChild(sources[0]);}; this.outerHTML = this.innerHTML; }"> <source src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755664/animation.mp4?ts=1731766320" type="video/mp4"></source> <source src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755664/animation.webm?ts=1731766320" type="video/webm"></source> <div>Your browser does not support the video tag.</div> </video><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> FanDuel Sports Network</figcaption></figure>Even without Strus, the Cavs are running a full 10-man rotation, with no one playing more than 31 minutes a game. And their bench, led by Ty Jerome and a blistering Caris LeVert, has been dominating. Guys who've historically been one-way players, like Sam Merrill and Georges Niang, are battling hard and rotating with precision on defense. Dean Wade is Cleveland's only rotation player with a below-average true shooting percentage, and Dean Wade rocks. So, the Cavs are playing a bit differently, but they're also just playing a lot better. And let's be clear: they were already a very good team. They won 51 games and finished with the league's second-best net rating in Mitchell's first season in Cleveland, and then clawed their way to a top-four seed and a playoff series win last year despite disastrous health luck. And it's not like Bickerstaff didn't try to instill some of these same principles. It's that his rotation was stretched thin, Mobley wasn't ready, Jerome was sidelined with an injury rather than cooking opposing second units, and Garland was broken.That last point is probably the most important variable in this whole equation. Garland never got right last season after straining his hamstring on opening night and then breaking his jaw shortly after returning. His handle was noticeably looser - probably due to the <a href="https://x.com/bowser2bowser/status/1791130704048177336">loss of grip strength</a> that typically comes with jaw fractures - and he wasn't comfortable playing through contact, probably because he lost 15 pounds while drinking through a straw for weeks.This season, Garland's reminding everyone what a special talent he is: an elite shooter both off the bounce and the catch, whose passing vision and ability to maintain a live dribble in traffic help make Cleveland's two-big lineups offensively viable. Due in part to the schematic adjustment that has him initiating less, a much larger share of his threes are catch-and-shoots this year, and he's canning 49% of them. He's also shooting 66% at the rim (his previous career high was 59%) and a comical 71% from floater range. None of those numbers are sustainable, but the process that's helped produce them suggests a career year could absolutely be in the cards.A particularly encouraging sign is that he and Mitchell have recaptured the synergy of their first season together, after their fit looked janky and control of the offense often devolved into a tug-of-war last year. At the end of the day, the two of them are still the ones creating the vast majority of the advantages here. They're the reason Mobley and Allen rank second and third in the league in dunks, behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo.They can both thrive running their own transitional lineups alongside one of the two bigs, but unlike last season, the starting and closing lineups with both of them on the floor have also been elite. It helps that they're insulated by the league's best defensive frontcourt, but they're better defenders than they get credit for, especially with a healthy Garland back to playing with real physicality at the point of attack.Mitchell's contributions should not be forgotten in all of this. Not only because it was his commitment that paved the way for the Cavs to see how far this roster could take them, but because he's willingly loosened his grip on the steering wheel after a season in which he butted his way into the MVP conversation as the team's sole driver of offense for extended stretches. Despite conceding touches, his per-minute scoring average is right on par with where it's been the last two years, and it still feels like he has another gear to hit. When a good team has struggled in the past to get over the proverbial hump, there's always a knee-jerk impulse to scrutinize any ostensible signs of progress, and try to discern what those positive indicators portend in the big picture. In this case, that means speculating about whether these same-but-different Cavs are good enough to overcome the playoff foibles that have tripped them up the last two years. Given the ugliness of their first-round loss to the Knicks in 2023, and the unconvincing nature of their seven-game squeaker over the inexperienced Magic last spring, those questions are not only inevitable but valid. The thing is, those questions are also a total drag. Who wants to spend a magical run in November worrying about whether spacing is once again going to be a problem against dialed-in defenses in May? Or whether that one team with the playmaking power wings will be able to mismatch-hunt Cleveland's small guards to death? The Cavs will have their chance to provide answers in due time. For now, and for as long as this heater lasts, let's appreciate the simple pleasure of watching a complex puzzle snap into place, and indulge the possibility that constancy and introspection - rather than major disruption - can help you evolve into a better version of yourself.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

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How the Cavs changed everything while changing very little

The pelvic fracture Chet Holmgren suffered in the first quarter of Sunday night's showdown with t...

The pelvic fracture Chet Holmgren suffered in the first quarter of Sunday night's showdown with the Warriors, which will sideline the 22-year-old phenom for at least eight weeks, is a bummer for numerous reasons.First and foremost, the injury derails the sophomore season of one of the most exciting young players in the NBA - a guy who was arguably the early front-runner for Defensive Player of the Year - which feels especially dispiriting considering he lost his entire would-be rookie campaign to a foot injury two years ago. Secondarily, it makes things a lot more challenging in the near term for the league's most exciting young team, the Western Conference favorite whose defense <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3114004" href="https://thescore.com/news/3114004">flashed historic potential</a> while the 7-foot-1 Holmgren was part of it.With Oklahoma City Thunder centers Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams also on the shelf for at least another couple of weeks, there are now zero available big men on the roster (depending on how you'd classify 21-year-old tweener Ousmane Dieng). Longtime small-ball five Kenrich Williams was finally able to make his season debut Monday night in a spirited win over the Clippers, but this is not how things were supposed to go for the Thunder. They came into the season sporting a new two-big frontcourt that figured to alter the contours of their playing style. Then Hartenstein broke his hand during preseason, and now OKC is consigned to playing micro-ball until he gets back. The tallest player in the starting lineup is 6-foot-6 point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>The good news is that even without a true center (or even anyone power-forward sized) in the mix, the Thunder are deep and super-talented and still have many ways of making opponents' lives miserable. If any team is set up to thrive playing small full time, it's OKC. That's partly because most Thunder guards and wings are huge for their positions, be they long and spindly like Gilgeous-Alexander, broad and brawny like Jalen Williams, or built like a brick shithouse a la Lu Dort. It's also because Mark Daigneault's inventive system has given those guards and wings a ton of experience doing things that typically fall under the purview of bigs, like screening and rolling in small-small actions or operating out of the dunker spot.Holmgren is one of the Thunder's best shooters, so it's not like their spacing will be better without him. They'll miss his cutting, interior scoring, pick-and-pop prowess, and trail threes in transition. But they'll still be a pain in the ass to guard, forcing defenses to cover acres of space with all their speed, relentless driving, off-ball movement, and unpredictable actions in which anyone on the floor can be a screener.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747001/cropped_GettyImages-2121059017.jpg?ts=1731432753" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747001/w220xh124_GettyImages-2121059017.jpg?ts=1731432753 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747001/w320xh180_GettyImages-2121059017.jpg?ts=1731432753 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747001/w640xh360_GettyImages-2121059017.jpg?ts=1731432753 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747001/w768xh432_GettyImages-2121059017.jpg?ts=1731432753 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747001/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2121059017.jpg?ts=1731432753 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> David Dow / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>The defensive end is where more cracks will appear in the Thunder's facade as they try to jerry-rig a functional structure without a big-man foundation. They surrendered 126.9 points per 100 possessions over their last two games (in which they played small-ball for 91 of 96 minutes), compared to 97.3 beforehand. And while the qualitative difference obviously isn't nearly that stark - their opponents shot the lights out from 3-point range in those two games after being frigid from downtown for the nine games prior - those numbers aren't meaningless.Process-wise, the Thunder will continue to fly around, pressure the hell out of the ball, jump gaps, and force a metric ton of turnovers. Monday's game, when they turned the Clippers over an astonishing 23 times, presented the possibility that they could lean even harder into that aspect of their identity since they now have one less bulwark - the elite rim protection that Holmgren alone provided - to rely on. At the same time, amping up the pressure is a risky gambit without Holmgren as a safety net.The consequence of the Thunder's constant pressure is that they allow the league's sixth-highest rate of opponent rim shots. But it's one thing to allow all those short-range attempts when their defense is backstopped by Holmgren's 9-foot-6 standing reach, and another to do so when their last line of defense is a 6-foot-something guard. Holmgren was contesting more rim shots per game than any player in the league before his injury and holding opponents to 42.9% on those shots. (Only Victor Wembanyama was better <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defensive-impact?CF=DEF_RIM_FGA*GE*4&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RIM_FG_PCT">among high-volume challengers</a>.) OKC's defensive field-goal percentage inside the restricted area is nearly 10 percentage points higher with Holmgren on the bench, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/5091/onoff#tab-opp_shooting_fg">Cleaning the Glass</a>.OKC's coverage plan against both Steph Curry and James Harden was to either blitz or switch-and-double them, forcing the ball to shakier decision-makers who would be more liable to throw it away. Again, there's some sense in that, but consider this possession from Sunday's game against Golden State: <figure class="article-segment--video"><video poster="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754974/preview.png?ts=1731432647" loop muted autoplay playsinline controls onclick="if(/android 2.[0-3]/.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase())) { var sources = this.getElementsByTagName('source'); for(var i = 0, total = sources.length; i &lt; total; i++) { this.removeChild(sources[0]);}; this.outerHTML = this.innerHTML; }"> <source src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754974/animation.mp4?ts=1731432647" type="video/mp4"></source> <source src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754974/animation.webm?ts=1731432647" type="video/webm"></source> <div>Your browser does not support the video tag.</div> </video><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> FanDuel Sports Network</figcaption></figure>With Alex Caruso guarding the screener (Jonathan Kuminga), that could easily have been a switch, with no advantage conceded. Instead, the Warriors were able to counter the blitz by shorting the pick-and-roll, with Curry advancing the ball to Draymond Green, who immediately hit the diving Kuminga for a dunk. Isaiah Joe made a point of switching spots with the smaller Cason Wallace so he could be in low help position, and Gilgeous-Alexander even arrived (albeit a beat late) as a second tagger. They still didn't have a chance.Interestingly, the Thunder don't concede more rim shots without Holmgren on the floor. They aim to protect the rim by committee when they play small, with at least two and often three defenders converging on the paint to swallow up a driver or roller, rather than trusting Holmgren to handle those threats with minimal help. But what does happen when he's on the bench? They concede many, many more corner threes.It's not hard to understand the correlation: More bodies in the middle equals more open shooters on the perimeter. OKC's opponent corner 3-point attempt rate with Holmgren on the floor (8.6%) is equivalent to the sixth-lowest rate in the league; with him on the bench (14.8%), it's the highest by a mile, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/shots#tab-defense_shooting_frequency">Cleaning the Glass</a>.And for a team that struggled to rebound the ball even with Holmgren healthy, losing their best rebounder (until Hartenstein returns) makes it that much tougher to end possessions even when those open corner threes rim out: <figure class="article-segment--video"><video poster="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754975/preview.png?ts=1731432917" loop muted autoplay playsinline controls onclick="if(/android 2.[0-3]/.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase())) { var sources = this.getElementsByTagName('source'); for(var i = 0, total = sources.length; i &lt; total; i++) { this.removeChild(sources[0]);}; this.outerHTML = this.innerHTML; }"> <source src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754975/animation.mp4?ts=1731432917" type="video/mp4"></source> <source src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754975/animation.webm?ts=1731432917" type="video/webm"></source> <div>Your browser does not support the video tag.</div> </video><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> FanDuel Sports Network</figcaption></figure>It's still way too early to say whether the Thunder need to change anything, like dialing back their aggression or plucking a stopgap center off the scrap heap. They'll get burned by the long ball on some nights, but that doesn't mean their approach is wrong. Shooting is highly variable from game to game, but if you can consistently take possessions away from your opponents - as the Thunder have proven they can - that gives you an element of stability. It also gives you a major boost at the other end, since live-ball turnovers are the best way to generate efficient offense.So, yes, Holmgren's injury is tough for him, his team, and the NBA at large. On top of the short-term setback, it leaves the Thunder waiting at least two more months to get a look at the Holmgren-Hartenstein pairing. But in the meantime, OKC will continue to be one of the most stylistically unique teams in the league, and it will be fascinating to watch them respond to this challenge.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

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How will the Thunder navigate Chet Holmgren's absence? 

Anyone paying attention to the NBA season knows full well the precarious spot the Milwaukee Bucks...

Anyone paying attention to the NBA season knows full well the precarious spot the Milwaukee Bucks are in. Despite the aging team trading away virtually all of its long-term assets to contend for championships right now, Milwaukee has started the campaign 2-7, with bottom-10 marks on both ends of the court.We don't need to relitigate the moves that brought the Bucks here, or ponder the bleakness of their future. That's been done to death. Instead, let's do something different and try to find some glimmers of hope in Milwaukee.Here are a few reasons to believe this team can overcome a disastrous start and turn its season around. <div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div><h3>Reason No. 1</h3>Dame and Giannis look like Dame and Giannis<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754168/cropped_GettyImages-2181588237.jpg?ts=1731106410" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754168/w220xh124_GettyImages-2181588237.jpg?ts=1731106410 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754168/w320xh180_GettyImages-2181588237.jpg?ts=1731106410 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754168/w640xh360_GettyImages-2181588237.jpg?ts=1731106410 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754168/w768xh432_GettyImages-2181588237.jpg?ts=1731106410 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754168/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2181588237.jpg?ts=1731106410 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Mitchell Leff / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Maybe the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048800" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">biggest question</a> for the Bucks coming into this campaign was whether Damian Lillard's underwhelming 2023-24 represented a brief blip brought on by chaotic circumstances or the new reality for a 34-year-old star in decline. If these first nine games are any indication, the answer is resoundingly the former. Even with a 1-for-12 shooting night on the ledger, Lillard is averaging roughly 27 points and seven assists on 63% true shooting.His 3-point shooting has rebounded, but more importantly, he's back up to 56% from 2-point range after dipping to 49% last season. Lillard's deadly pull-up game and absurd range may be his standout skills, but driving has always been his secret superpower, and he's reconnected with it this season. He looks nimble and explosive while attacking backpedaling bigs, and he's showcasing his refined finishing craft while shooting a career-best 67% at the rim. That, as much as his 37% mark on over nine 3-point attempts a game, is why Lillard's averaging 1.15 points per possession as both a pick-and-roll ball-handler (up from 0.99 last season) and an isolation scorer (up from 0.96), per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/isolation?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*lillard">NBA Advanced Stats</a>.There was never any doubt that Giannis Antetokounmpo would continue to be a dominant offensive force this season, but averaging 30-13-5 on elite efficiency can't be taken for granted. He's completely eschewed the 3-point line (having attempted just four triples across eight games), instead focusing on mashing dudes in the paint. Antetokounmpo's average shot distance (5.8 feet) is the shortest of his career, and his 12.6 shots per contest inside the restricted area are 3.4 clear of <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting?DistanceRange=By%20Zone&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=Restricted%20Area%20FGA">any other player</a>. He's also leading the league in transition scoring for the seventh straight year, uncorking an array of full-extension layups and Statue of Liberty dunks on the break.Crucially, Lillard and Antetokounmpo are looking smoother in tandem than last season. They've gotten a better sense of each other's timing and rhythm flowing into and out of ball-screen action, and the Bucks are running more empty-corner pick-and-rolls and DHOs for them, which provides Antetokounmpo cleaner rolling lanes. He's also sharpened his short-roll decision-making when defenses send aggressive tags, <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2757879">something he struggled with</a> at points last campaign.Milwaukee could still stand to run more inverted actions involving the two of them. However, their synergy looks improved when Antetokounmpo has the ball because Lillard has gotten better at forming up around his drives, while the two-time MVP has gotten better at looking (or <a href="https://x.com/Eurohoopsnet/status/1852979354369749316">no-looking</a>) for Dame on kickouts.<h3>Reason No. 2</h3>Offense can be a lot better<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754328/cropped_GettyImages-2181866747.jpg?ts=1731106513" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754328/w220xh124_GettyImages-2181866747.jpg?ts=1731106513 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754328/w320xh180_GettyImages-2181866747.jpg?ts=1731106513 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754328/w640xh360_GettyImages-2181866747.jpg?ts=1731106513 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754328/w768xh432_GettyImages-2181866747.jpg?ts=1731106513 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754328/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2181866747.jpg?ts=1731106513 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Grant Burke / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Given the eye-popping production offered by the team's two stars, it wouldn't take much more than competent role-player contributions to make Milwaukee a top-10 offense. Unfortunately, the Bucks haven't gotten anything approaching competence from said role players, which is why they rank 22nd. Expect that to change, even if the supporting cast here is far from ideal.The gravity Antetokounmpo and Lillard carry, individually and collectively, creates a ton of quality looks for others. As such, the Bucks generate plenty of catch-and-shoot 3-point attempts. The problem is they rank 25th in accuracy on those looks, including 22nd on wide-open threes, per NBA Advanced Stats. They may not be an elite shooting team, but they should be a lot better than that, especially when you consider the guys who've gotten most of those clean threes are Gary Trent Jr., Brook Lopez, and Bobby Portis. That trio combined to shoot 45.2% on open triples last season (with Trent's 51.3% leading all players with at least 100 such attempts) but is at 27.7% this campaign, per NBA Advanced Stats.I'm burying the lede a bit here, but Khris Middleton's return will obviously help immensely on this front. Even if two surgically repaired ankles compromise his movement, it's impossible to overstate how helpful his shooting and secondary ball-handling will be for a team with those things in short supply. There's a reason Milwaukee has an offensive rating of 98.9 when Lillard's on the bench, compared to 115.3 with him on the court. That offensive rating was 115 last season when Middleton was on and Lillard was off. And when the two of them and Antetokounmpo all shared the court, it was 125.6.<h3>Reason No. 3</h3>Defense can be ... a little bit better? Maybe?<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/561469/cropped_GettyImages-1246165213.jpg?ts=1731106575" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/561469/w220xh124_GettyImages-1246165213.jpg?ts=1731106575 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/561469/w320xh180_GettyImages-1246165213.jpg?ts=1731106575 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/561469/w640xh360_GettyImages-1246165213.jpg?ts=1731106575 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/561469/w768xh432_GettyImages-1246165213.jpg?ts=1731106575 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/561469/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1246165213.jpg?ts=1731106575 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Todd Kirkland / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>I'm not going to mince words: Milwaukee's defense has been very bad, and the process hasn't been any better than the results.The Bucks' screen navigation might be the worst in the league. Lillard has always struggled with that, but Trent, Taurean Prince, and Pat Connaughton haven't been much better. (Trent has arguably been worse). The club signed Delon Wright to help in that department, but he's been ineffective.The inability to maintain contact around screens or apply any rearview pressure impacts everything the team does defensively. It means Lopez has to play higher up in ball-screen coverage than he's comfortable with, causing the Bucks to wind up emergency late-switching (or miscommunicating would-be late switches) quite a lot. It's also probably a big part of why they're playing so much ICE coverage, which is helpful because it's designed to prevent ball-handlers from using the screens but comes with drawbacks (like pulling a third defender into the action on the back side), and is easy to exploit if the on-ball defender doesn't actually force the ball to the sideline.So, what exactly is there to be optimistic about on this end? For one thing, Lopez is still one of the best back-line anchors in the game. He's holding opponents to 45.6% shooting at the rim, the <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defensive-impact?CF=DEF_RIM_FGA*GE*4&amp;PerMode=PerGame&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RIM_FG_PCT">fifth-best mark</a> for players contesting at least four such shots per contest. And the Bucks as a team are doing a fantastic job deterring those shots, ranking second in the league in opponent rim frequency despite all the dribble penetration their point-of-attack defenders are conceding. With a starting lineup change that will help shore up the perimeter (more on that shortly), Lopez's paint protection could again carry the day.The same goes for Antetokoumpo, who hasn't been up to his usual defensive standards to start this campaign but hasn't seen much of a dropoff athletically. He should be expected to improve, just as he did over the course of 2023-24. Milwaukee's defensive turnaround in the second half of last season was less about coaching changes or scheme adjustments and more about Antetokoumpo shedding his weird malaise and re-emerging as the roving, space-devouring monster we'd come to know. We can acknowledge that he isn't quite the DPOY-caliber wrecker he once was while also believing he can be a more disruptive helper than we've seen through these eight games.For a veteran team, Milwaukee has made a staggering number of mental mistakes in the early going - blown low-man rotations, multiple defenders rotating to the same person, ball-watching leading to backdoor cuts, and lapses in focus leading to simple face cuts. No one has been exempt. Even with a couple of rotation players who could be deemed low-feel defenders, the team should be able to clean up a lot of that stuff, especially the breakdowns in the open floor.The Bucks aren't even giving up that many transition opportunities - 12th-fewest in the league, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/league/context#tab-defense_transition">Cleaning the Glass</a> - but they've been so bad at defending those possessions (allowing 141.8 points per 100) that their transition defense still ranks 28th. That may feel like a continuation of a trend from last campaign, but the club cleaned up its act after Doc Rivers took over, to the point that its transition D ranked inside the top 10 by season's end. We know the Bucks are capable of better.Milwaukee's struggles in that department are particularly galling considering it's punting on crashing for second-chance opportunities (ranking dead last in offensive rebound rate) for the sake of getting back in transition despite much of the league <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2536613">rejecting the old orthodoxy</a> about that tradeoff. The team's also getting torched on runouts after makes, which are breakdowns that don't necessarily get logged as transition possessions. According to <a href="https://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/ssnTeamShot.php?season=2024&amp;po=0&amp;frdt=2024-10-22&amp;todt=2024-11-07&amp;view=def&amp;efg=off&amp;sort=adttsmk&amp;order=ASC">Inpredictable</a>, the Bucks allow the sixth-fastest opponent time to shoot following made baskets and the third-highest effective field-goal percentage on those possessions.Part of that is a natural consequence of being an older, slower team. Still, in many cases, it's just a basic lack of effort, awareness, and attention to detail. Maybe those issues will linger, but don't dismiss the possibility of them correcting themselves, especially if we see more of this guy ...<h3>Reason No. 4</h3>Emergence of Andre Jackson Jr.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/595690/cropped_GettyImages-1726501692.jpg?ts=1731106631" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/595690/w220xh124_GettyImages-1726501692.jpg?ts=1731106631 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/595690/w320xh180_GettyImages-1726501692.jpg?ts=1731106631 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/595690/w640xh360_GettyImages-1726501692.jpg?ts=1731106631 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/595690/w768xh432_GettyImages-1726501692.jpg?ts=1731106631 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/595690/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1726501692.jpg?ts=1731106631 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Stacy Revere / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Maybe it's damning that one of Milwaukee's few causes for encouragement is a 23-year-old sophomore who barely looks at the rim on offense, has turned the ball over on 28% of his used possessions, and averages a foul-out every 38 minutes. But despite those flaws, Jackson has a chance to be a transformational role player for the Bucks, offering a sorely needed jolt of athleticism, ball pressure, and event creation. And it's notable that Rivers, who doesn't exactly have a reputation for trusting youngsters, relented as quickly as he did and plugged Jackson into the starting lineup in place of Trent.The Lillard-Trent backcourt clearly wasn't working, with the Bucks bleeding 122.2 points per 100 possessions in their shared minutes. Conversely, they've won Jackson's minutes by 5.3 points per 100, with a 104.5 defensive rating. He isn't a perfect defender - he can be overzealous, as his foul rate indicates - but you accept the tradeoffs for a guy who ranks sixth among qualified players in steals (2.9) and 10th in deflections (4.6) per 36 minutes. That's especially true for a defense that ranks 27th in forcing turnovers, which limits what could be a prolific transition attack. Jackson's the only guy on the team Rivers can count on to provide full-court pressure without getting blown by.He's only played 118 minutes, and his limitations could get exposed in a larger sample (as the kind of did against the Knicks on Friday night). Jackson has basically no track record as a 3-point shooter (29% in college, 37% on 59 total attempts in the NBA), and he doesn't trust himself as a finisher, with a bad habit of passing out of semi-contested layups in the dunker spot. But that doesn't mean he's without offensive utility. On top of the steals that can turn into transition jailbreaks, he's shown good cutting instincts, solid connective passing chops, and highly advanced screening craft for a wing.Rather than being marginalized when Middleton returns, Jackson could become even more valuable since the stuff he can't do on offense will matter less than the myriad micro advantages he can provide. When that happens, there's a good argument to be made that it should be Prince, not Jackson, who goes to the bench.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28964712/related

Searching for optimism in the Bucks' disastrous start 

It's too early in the NBA season to draw any sweeping conclusions, but we've seen enough to at le...

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28927723/related

10 observations from the first 2 weeks of the NBA season

Obscured by the glow of Victor Wembanyama's historic performance Thursday night - in which he put...

Obscured by the glow of Victor Wembanyama's historic performance Thursday night - in which he put up 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals, five blocks, and was a plus-43 in an 18-point win over a putrid Utah Jazz team - is the fact that the San Antonio Spurs sophomore's offensive development appears to have hit a speed bump.Let's qualify this by acknowledging that we're only five games into his age-21 campaign, he already has a 5x5 game on the ledger, and San Antonio's roster is far from optimally constructed around him (not to mention missing a couple of vital current players). This won't be an indictment of Wembanyama's present or future abilities, especially considering he's the front-runner for Defensive Player of the Year in just his second season.But at the other end of the floor, the way serious teams (sorry Jazz) have guarded him and the Spurs - and the extent to which he's struggled against those coverages - is a notable early-season trend.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>The 7-foot-4 phenom is regularly being defended by players nearly a foot shorter than him, and he hasn't done much to punish or dissuade the ostensible mismatches so far. Frequently, those matchups come about when teams switch his screening actions. Just as often, they're the result of teams using wings as his primary defenders. The likes of Dillon Brooks, Klay Thompson, Jalen Williams, and Alex Caruso have all more than held their own when tasked with stymieing the Frenchman. (The Jazz didn't do this, because the Jazz have no wings. So we'll ignore that game for now.)Wembanyama isn't scoring efficiently or even generating many high-value looks against the cross-matches and switches he's seeing; only 45% of his field-goal attempts have come from free-throw-line distance and in, and he's shooting just 30% on jump shots outside that range. Switches flatten out the Spurs' pick-and-rolls and make it harder for Wembanyama to dive to the rim. His average shot distance is currently 16.2 feet, per <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/wembavi01.html">Basketball Reference</a>, way up from 13 as a rookie. Even Kevin Durant shoots the ball from closer (14.3 feet) on average. Meanwhile, the smalls guarding Wembanyama aggressively attack his high dribble any time he puts the ball on the deck, leading to boatloads of turnovers.All told, the Spurs rank 29th in offensive rating, and they haven't been any more efficient with Wembanyama on the floor than on the bench. That defensive blueprint has been successful for a few reasons, some of which are attributable to Wembanyama and some of which are out of his control. Let's start by looking at what's happening around him.For one thing, opponents feel comfortable putting wings on Wembanyama because they feel comfortable putting their centers on Jeremy Sochan. The non-shooting forward is off to a great start as an interior finisher this season, but he still doesn't really stress opposing big men in space because of his lack of range and shaky off-the-dribble chops. Those centers can rove off Sochan and lurk as back-side helpers when Wembanyama gets fronted, there to deter him if he tries to make a move to the basket.Even when Sochan isn't on the court, defenses have plenty of shaky shooters and creators to choose from for cross-matching purposes; every forward but Harrison Barnes looks like a viable hiding spot right now. On top of their cross-matching options, opponents are happy to either shade help in Wembanyama's direction or outright swarm him when he catches the ball with a huge size advantage, knowing there's a good chance they won't get burned even if Wemby manages to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/events?CFID=&amp;CFPARAMS=&amp;GameEventID=390&amp;GameID=0022400125&amp;Season=2024-25&amp;flag=1&amp;title=MISS%20Johnson%2025%27%203PT%20Jump%20Shot">toss a perfect skip pass</a> to the weak side.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/752968/cropped_GettyImages-2179967291.jpg?ts=1730483571" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/752968/w220xh124_GettyImages-2179967291.jpg?ts=1730483571 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/752968/w320xh180_GettyImages-2179967291.jpg?ts=1730483571 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/752968/w640xh360_GettyImages-2179967291.jpg?ts=1730483571 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/752968/w768xh432_GettyImages-2179967291.jpg?ts=1730483571 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/752968/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2179967291.jpg?ts=1730483571 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Joe Murphy / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>And that's if the Spurs can even get him the ball in an advantageous position, which they're finding difficult without any real advantage creators who can tilt the defense away from him. (This is where they obviously miss Devin Vassell and Tre Jones, their best off-the-dribble shooter and creator, respectively.) For as good a passer as Chris Paul still is, he can't beat anyone off the bounce anymore, which makes it tough for him to find clean avenues to deliver Wembanyama the ball in the half court. It also means that when opponents switch the CP-Wemby pick-and-roll, which they do more often than not, there's very little concern about what Paul will do to the front end of that switch.So, the offensive ecosystem as a whole isn't exactly thriving. But we can't entirely let Wembanyama off the hook. Even acknowledging how young he is, how impactful he already is defensively, how high his offensive ceiling remains, and how many of these issues can ultimately be assuaged with better roster construction, this is a player who talks a big game and needs to start taking it personally when opponents try to undermine him with shoulder-height defenders.That starts with where he makes himself available to receive the ball. Right now, he's settling for too many perimeter catches, or allowing himself to get pushed out when looking to post up mismatches, which results in him having to either settle for long jump shots or try to create for himself out of face-ups. A 3-ball over a much smaller defender with a completely clear field of vision isn't necessarily a bad shot, but it's an outcome defenses will gladly live with given that Wembanyama's hit just 32% of his threes across 76 NBA games.Opponents will also live with Wemby trying to dribble his way to the basket against a smaller defender from 20-plus feet out. Wembanyama's handle is pretty impressive for a guy his size, but that size still puts him at an inherent disadvantage in that department because of how far the ball has to travel between his hand and the hardwood. He's turned the ball over on 19% of his possessions this season.He's logged 15 drives through five games, and on those drives, he's shot 0-for-3, committed three turnovers, drawn one foul, and passed for two assists, per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/drives?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*wembanyama&amp;PerMode=Totals">NBA Advanced Stats</a>. At times - especially during the game against the Thunder earlier this week - he can get discouraged by his inability to navigate the thickets of arms in the middle of the floor, or by his teammates looking him off rather than attempting risky post-entry passes, and start to disengage from the offense altogether.Long term, he needs to improve his duck-in craft, hone his swim move to create more space for those entries, and build a stronger base to carve out and hold deep position. Those things won't happen overnight. In the meantime, the Spurs need to find different ways to get him closer to the basket: Put him in motion more, have their guards set more off-ball screens for him (corner pins for curls, cross screens along the baseline), and give him more opportunities to catch the ball with some downhill momentum.Again, some of this is on the Spurs' coaching staff, some of it is on Wembanyama's teammates, and a lot of it is on Wembanyama himself. He can work to beat switches with hard slips or by rolling into deep seals. His teammates can trust him to catch the ball if they simply toss it up somewhere in his vicinity. The Spurs can hunt more early offense or simply run their half-court actions with more pace. (They rank 17th in average time to shot, including 24th after defensive rebounds and 30th after live-ball turnovers, per <a href="https://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/ssnTeamShot.php?season=2024&amp;po=0&amp;frdt=2024-10-22&amp;todt=2024-11-01&amp;view=off">Inpredictable</a>.)The bottom line: It should not be this hard to get the guy with the biggest catch radius in NBA history the ball near the rim. Even in a less-than-ideal offensive environment, better process is possible. For now, the blueprint for guarding Wembanyama and the Spurs has been drawn. It's up to him, and them, to tear it up.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28864839/related

The Spurs need to get more out of Wemby on offense

The 2024-25 season is about to begin, and as is the case every year, there are a handful of new f...

The 2024-25 season is about to begin, and as is the case every year, there are a handful of new faces in new places. A lot is riding on how harmonious the new marriages turn out to be. Here are the biggest questions facing some of the offseason's biggest acquisitions.(Note: This feature excludes Karl-Anthony Towns and Julius Randle, since we addressed many of the questions about how they'll impact their new teams <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3086016" href="https://thescore.com/news/3086016">here</a> and <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3084009" href="https://thescore.com/news/3084009">here</a>.)<h3>Paul George, 76ers</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749952/cropped_GettyImages-2178446710.jpg?ts=1729264712" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749952/w220xh124_GettyImages-2178446710.jpg?ts=1729264712 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749952/w320xh180_GettyImages-2178446710.jpg?ts=1729264712 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749952/w640xh360_GettyImages-2178446710.jpg?ts=1729264712 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749952/w768xh432_GettyImages-2178446710.jpg?ts=1729264712 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749952/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2178446710.jpg?ts=1729264712 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images Sport / Getty</figcaption></figure>How much will he benefit from a scaled-down offensive role? <div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>George is stepping into a role that he hasn't played since his second season in the league some 13 years ago: When the Sixers are healthy, he'll be their third option on offense. You could argue he played that part on last year's Clippers after they acquired James Harden, but despite spending less time with the ball in his hands, George had a significantly higher usage rate than Harden did. This year, he'll undoubtedly have less offensive responsibility than Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.Still, last season can be instructive in terms of what George might look like on a team with two superior creators. Alongside Harden and Kawhi Leonard, he had the most efficient scoring season of his career in terms of true shooting (61.3%), which included hitting over 45% of his catch-and-shoot threes. He ironed out a longtime kink in his game by posting his lowest turnover rate since his rookie season (just three per 100 possessions), and he enjoyed his healthiest season in five years. A tertiary role feels pretty ideal for the 34-year-old at this stage of his career.The question isn't whether George can complement the dynamic Maxey-Embiid duo - it's how good he can be while doing it. How quickly can he adapt to the specific movement rhythms that come with orbiting Embiid, a type of post operator he's never played with before? George's rim frequency has been declining (last year's 20% attempt rate was the second-lowest of his career), but does he still have the juice to get to the hoop consistently when he's driving closeouts or plunging into diagonal gaps off stampede cuts? Will a reduced offensive workload allow him to extend his run as an impact defender, considering what Philly will ask of him physically as a nominal 4 in most lineups?Perhaps the most important question: Will the lessened responsibilities help George loosen up in the postseason? Even if the extent of his springtime woes can be overstated (he was a playoff monster with the Indiana Pacers, as well as during the Clippers' 2021 conference finals run), he's had no shortage of high-profile letdowns. There's a fine line between deference and passivity, and George will have to walk that tightrope in one of the most important seasons of his career.<h3>DeMar DeRozan, Kings</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750418/cropped_GettyImages-2177960405.jpg?ts=1729264814" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750418/w220xh124_GettyImages-2177960405.jpg?ts=1729264814 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750418/w320xh180_GettyImages-2177960405.jpg?ts=1729264814 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750418/w640xh360_GettyImages-2177960405.jpg?ts=1729264814 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750418/w768xh432_GettyImages-2177960405.jpg?ts=1729264814 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750418/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2177960405.jpg?ts=1729264814 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Melissa Majchrzak / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Can he fit with the Kings' motion-based offense? Sacramento's breakneck offense took the NBA by storm in 2022-23, running defenses ragged in the open floor and spinning them in circles in the half court with a cyclone of dribble-handoffs, cuts, and off-ball screens. The Kings led the league in offensive rating that season en route to snapping their 17-year playoff drought. But despite having basically identical personnel and principles last season, they slid all the way to 13th.On paper, the formerly wing-starved Kings should ascend the league's offensive pecking order again after adding a six-time All-Star wing who averaged 24 points on above-average efficiency, dished 5.3 assists to just 1.7 turnovers, and finished runner-up in Clutch Player of the Year voting last season. But the game isn't played on paper, and DeRozan has to show he can fit into a movement-oriented system that already features two heavy-usage creators in De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.DeRzozan's a terrific on-ball creator in his own right, and at times, Sacramento will rely on his ability to manufacture buckets out of thin air against a set defense. He's an underrated passer who'll create high-value shots for teammates. While he's played for slow-paced teams in recent years, he's always been a killer in transition. And his mid-range shooting and free-throw-drawing abilities will be boons to a team that finished 20th and 26th in those categories last season. In other words, there are a lot of ways he can be helpful, even if/when he's playing outside Sacramento's typical flow. A stylistic changeup might even benefit the Kings given how the rest of the league <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2857314" href="https://thescore.com/news/2857314">caught up</a> to their fastball last year.That said, DeRozan needs to find a way to fit around Sacramento's other two stars (both of whom are better than him), which will require a lot of adaptation. His off-ball utility is inherently limited by his lack of 3-point shooting, and he's never quite done enough as a cutter or screener to compensate. It's one thing to sprint into a handoff or a curl (which DeRozan will do plenty), and another to sow confusion or divert help on the weak side when there's no guarantee he'll touch the ball. It's one thing to be a playmaker via probing drive-and-kicks, and another to make rapid connective passes rather than catching, surveying, and dribbling in place. The Kings as a team averaged just 5.6 isolation possessions per game (fifth-fewest in the league) last season; DeRozan alone averaged 3.6.He'll also need to sort out the crunch-time hierarchy with Fox (who won the inaugural Clutch Player award two years ago), lest the Kings' late-game offense devolve into a your-turn, my-turn tug-of-war. All of these offensive questions are essential because adding DeRozan will likely pull down Sacramento's defense after it quietly improved to league average last season.<h3>Dejounte Murray, Pelicans</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750420/cropped_GettyImages-2176966435.jpg?ts=1729265109" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750420/w220xh124_GettyImages-2176966435.jpg?ts=1729265109 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750420/w320xh180_GettyImages-2176966435.jpg?ts=1729265109 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750420/w640xh360_GettyImages-2176966435.jpg?ts=1729265109 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750420/w768xh432_GettyImages-2176966435.jpg?ts=1729265109 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750420/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2176966435.jpg?ts=1729265109 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Derick E. Hingle / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>How well can he complement Zion? Like DeRozan, Murray is a ball-in-hand type of player joining a team with multiple other touch-needy stars. As the Pelicans' nominal point guard, Murray will have license to bring the ball up and initiate possessions more often than not. But he'll still need to defer to Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson and figure out how to make life easier for those guys when he doesn't have the ball.Since Ingram is on an expiring contract and New Orleans spent the offseason trying to trade him, it's fair to assume he's not part of the team's long-term vision, so complementing Williamson is a far more important consideration for Murray. That's something he could never really do for Trae Young in Atlanta. Across the pair's two seasons together, the Hawks were outscored by 2.6 points per 100 possessions with both of them on the floor - significantly worse than they performed when either guard played without the other, per <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612737&amp;Season=2023-24,2022-23&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1629027,1627749">PBP Stats</a>.Williamson's obviously a much different - and far less ball-dominant - player than Young, but Murray can still learn from what didn't work in Atlanta. Namely, he needs to amp up his activity level; he stood around way too much when Young had the ball. Murray can make Williamson's life easier by creating initial advantages that provide his co-star with play-finishing opportunities, but Williamson will also serve as a <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3088182" href="https://thescore.com/news/3088182">de facto point center</a> a lot of the time. That means Murray needs to cut and relocate to provide Williamson with easy passing outlets when the defense collapses on him. It might also mean being a ball-screener in inverted actions, especially when he and Williamson are on the floor without CJ McCollum.One reason for optimism is that Murray leveled up as a 3-point shooter during his Hawks tenure; he went from shooting 32.7% on 4.3 attempts per game in his last season in San Antonio to shooting 36.3% on 7.1 attempts last year in Atlanta. He was especially solid off the catch, hitting 39.2% of those 3-point looks compared to 32% off the dribble. After a season in which he took an almost equal share of pull-ups and spot-ups, it would behoove him (and the Pelicans) to focus more on the latter. And as a virtually unparalleled downhill force with massive on-ball gravitational pull, Williamson should be able to create more clean catch-and-shoot looks for Murray than Young did.<h3>Klay Thompson, Mavericks</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750421/cropped_GettyImages-2177872247.jpg?ts=1729265463" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750421/w220xh124_GettyImages-2177872247.jpg?ts=1729265463 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750421/w320xh180_GettyImages-2177872247.jpg?ts=1729265463 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750421/w640xh360_GettyImages-2177872247.jpg?ts=1729265463 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750421/w768xh432_GettyImages-2177872247.jpg?ts=1729265463 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750421/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2177872247.jpg?ts=1729265463 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Tim Heitman / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>How much defensive juice does he have left? Thompson has a chance to supercharge the high-powered Dallas offense, providing a wicked off-ball complement to the best tandem of on-ball creators in the game. But playing next to Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving also means taking on a lot of defensive responsibility, especially when the guy you're functionally replacing in the starting lineup (Derrick Jones Jr.) was the Mavs' No. 1 perimeter stopper - and a strong secondary rim-protector at that.During his Hall of Fame-caliber peak, Thompson was a quality defender at three or sometimes four different positions. As age and lower-body injuries have caught up to the now-34-year-old, that range of capabilities has been winnowed down to average defense at one-and-a-half positions. And the types of players he's currently capable of guarding (slower wings and smaller 4s) are the same types that the Mavs like to assign to Doncic.P.J. Washington has shown he can handle some 3s, and Doncic and Irving played some of the best defense of their careers en route to the Finals last spring, but certain matchups will still demand a lot from Thompson on the perimeter. Although he obviously won't be up to Jones' defensive level, just being competent should keep him on the floor in crunch time given how good the offense can be with him out there.If he can't clear that bar, Dallas has the option to use Naji Marshall in those closing lineups instead. That's pretty reassuring in terms of worst-case scenarios, but the Mavericks' ceiling feels a lot higher if Thompson can still defend well enough to consistently play in high-leverage situations.<h3>Alex Caruso, Thunder</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750423/cropped_GettyImages-2176975200.jpg?ts=1729265574" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750423/w220xh124_GettyImages-2176975200.jpg?ts=1729265574 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750423/w320xh180_GettyImages-2176975200.jpg?ts=1729265574 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750423/w640xh360_GettyImages-2176975200.jpg?ts=1729265574 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750423/w768xh432_GettyImages-2176975200.jpg?ts=1729265574 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/750423/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2176975200.jpg?ts=1729265574 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Zach Beeker / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Can he beat (or discourage) cross-matches? Caruso's biggest selling point is obviously his capabilities at the defensive end, where he's arguably the best, stickiest-handed guard in the game. He joins a team that just finished second in defensive efficiency and opponent turnover rate without him. There are zero questions about his fit on that side of the ball.It was the Thunder's offense that let them down in the playoffs - they mustered just 110.9 points per 100 possessions, down from 118.3 during the regular season - and that's where the intricacies of exchanging Josh Giddey for Caruso become more interesting. Giddey was a vastly superior ball-handler and passer, but his shooting struggles made him borderline unplayable in the second round as the Mavs cross-matched their centers onto him and kept those centers parked in the lane.Oklahoma City's addition of non-shooting center Isaiah Hartenstein will render the cross-match moot when he's on the floor - opposing centers will simply guard Hartenstein. When the Thunder look to go smaller with Chet Holmgren at the 5, however, Caruso's viability as part of those lineups may depend on whether he can make that coverage less tenable for opponents. Caruso shot 41% from deep last year and nets out at 38% for his career, but he's never been a high-volume 3-point shooter, and his accuracy has fluctuated wildly from season to season.Defenses don't necessarily pay attention to raw percentages when they're deciding who to roam off of, especially when choosing between letting a role player shoot or letting a guy like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drive the ball without aggressive help. A player's willingness to shoot, their versatility, and their release speed are more important considerations. Just ask Herb Jones (who shot 42% from three last season) or Isaac Okoro (who shot 39%) if their strong conversion rates changed the way playoff opponents reacted to them. Heck, when the Thunder pulled Giddey in the Dallas series, the Mavs were happy enough to move their centers onto 39% 3-point shooter Lu Dort.Caruso isn't the most willing or versatile shooter, but the Thunder will hope he can burn defenses that deign to cross-match him - not just by knocking down enough of his open looks, but also by involving himself as a screener (something Giddey wasn't particularly adept at). Caruso is the rare guard who will roll as often as he pops out of a ball screen, and myriad inverted pick-and-roll reps alongside LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan have helped him become a solid short-roll playmaker. That skill set should dovetail nicely with the Thunder's proclivity for small-small screening actions.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

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The biggest questions facing the NBA's biggest offseason additions 

Dynasties have historically ruled the NBA, but we're in an era of nearly unprecedented parity tha...

Dynasties have historically ruled the NBA, but we're in an era of nearly unprecedented parity that's produced six different champions over the last six years. This coming season features another deep and diverse field of contenders. We're laying out reasons to believe in them and reasons to doubt them.Part 1 featured the <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3093497">Eastern and Western Conference favorites</a>. Part 2 examined the next tier of <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3096324" href="https://thescore.com/news/3096324">West contenders</a>. Last up, a crop of secondary contenders in the East.<h3>New York Knicks</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/cropped_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w220xh124_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w320xh180_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w640xh360_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w768xh432_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Brock Williams-Smith / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: The Knicks are looking at their best chance in decades of ending pro basketball's most famous drought. The Eastern Conference's second-best team a season ago added one of the most skilled offensive big men ever in Karl-Anthony Towns, as well as one of the best (and most malleable) two-way wings in basketball in Mikal Bridges.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Towns' shooting and overall offensive skill set should give Jalen Brunson and Co. more room to operate than ever before. For a secondary scorer and floor spacer, it doesn't get much better than a 7-footer with a career mark of 39.8% from deep. Towns is an almost perfect offensive fit, capable of sleepwalking his way to 20 points while also warping opposing defenses without touching the ball.Though his defense can be a mixed bag, Towns' sheer size is more in line with traditional defensive centers, giving head coach Tom Thibodeau a feasible option to start the season while Mitchell Robinson remains sidelined.Bridges not only gives the Knicks another capable scorer, shot creator, and off-ball threat as a shooter, but also a second elite defensive wing to pair with OG Anunoby. In that duo, the Knicks are better equipped than anyone to slow the type of stars who will often serve as the opposing team's best players.As for New York's best player, Brunson's size and defensive concerns don't usually lend themselves to postseason success, but it's impossible to argue against the All-Star guard's playoff resume at this point. As a Knick, Brunson has looked plenty capable of being the type of superstar who can lead his team to the mountaintop, and he's never had a supporting cast this loaded.Reasons to doubt: For starters, Towns is still prone to bouts of tepid play, indecisiveness, and poor decision-making, especially in the season's biggest moments. The margin for error against Boston and the top of the East is too slim for the Knicks to survive the spring getting anything less than Towns' best.In addition, while New York's top six (the starting five plus Josh Hart) is as impressive and balanced as anyone's, the rest of the rotation is murky. Is Miles McBride ready to be the type of star reserve Knicks fans envision? Can a Thibodeau-led team that's now all-in on chasing a championship stay fresh and healthy enough to peak in May and June? The Knicks have used virtually all of their bullets constructing this star-studded squad, so they better hope so. - Joseph Casciaro<h3>Philadelphia 76ers</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/cropped_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w220xh124_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w320xh180_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w640xh360_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w768xh432_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: In adding Paul George to the duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers have constructed arguably the best and most balanced big three the league has seen in years. Rather than the awkward skill overlap and diminishing returns that often accompany big-name trios, Philadelphia's star guard, wing, and big man fit seamlessly together on both ends of the court. George will be the NBA's most overqualified third option. That should help him stay healthy and age gracefully after playing 74 games last season, his most in any campaign since 2018-19. But whether it's holding the fort when one or both of Embiid and Maxey are on the bench, on the shelf, or just underperforming, George is still capable of carrying his team on any given night. The 34-year-old averaged 22.6 points on a career-high 61.3% true shooting last season, becoming just the <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=year_id&amp;year_min=1968&amp;qual=pts_per_g_req&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=22&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=pts_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=0.500&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=fg2_pct&amp;ccomp%5B3%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B3%5D=0.400&amp;cstat%5B3%5D=fg3_pct&amp;ccomp%5B4%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B4%5D=0.900&amp;cstat%5B4%5D=ft_pct">eighth</a> player ever to average at least 22 points while shooting better than 50% inside the arc, 40% from deep, and 90% from the free-throw line.On the other end, George's presence as a big wing defender will provide a measure of insurance behind the improving Maxey at the point of attack and an extra layer of resistance in front of Embiid, who remains one of the game's most fearsome rim-protectors. Essentially, the Sixers have taken a duo that already gave the team a top-10 floor on both ends of the court (when healthy) and added a third All-Star who happens to be one of the best two-way wings of his generation.If Embiid, Maxey, and George remain healthy – with their collective efforts easing the burden on all three – Philly is looking at its best chance at a title in the Embiid era. Reasons to doubt: Uh, have you watched the 76ers' Embiid era unfold? Some injury or unfortunate stroke of terrible luck will befall them. In addition, Embiid is good for at least a couple of playoff stinkers even when healthy, and George's postseason track record is less than stellar. This team only works if all three of its stars are healthy and playing their best, but there's little evidence (if any) to suggest that'll ever be the case from April through June.And that's before getting into the Sixers' concerning depth chart. Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre, and Andre Drummond should be fine, but that still only gets them to six rotation players. Can Philly get enough from the likes of KJ Martin, Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson, Jared McCain, and Olympic standout Guerschon Yabusele? There are a lot of NBA names in that mix, but no surefire rotation piece for a team looking to contend in the spring of 2025. - Casciaro<h3>Milwaukee Bucks</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/cropped_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w220xh124_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w320xh180_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w640xh360_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w768xh432_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Gary Dineen / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Bucks last season. They had a disastrous head-coaching hire, schematic mismanagement, and untimely injuries, and they still won 49 games on the strength of the league's sixth-best offense. The Bucks outscored opponents by 16.6 points per 100 possessions with their core quartet of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez on the court during the regular season. The fact that those four only shared the floor for 677 minutes was the biggest reason the team underwhelmed.Milwaukee very likely would've knocked off the Pacers - eventual Eastern Conference finalists - if not for those untimely injuries. Antetokounmpo missed the whole first-round series with a calf strain, and Lillard aggravated an Achilles injury that caused him to miss Games 4 and 5 and return hobbled for Game 6. After a choppy season, Lillard finally looked like vintage Lillard in that series, averaging 31 points on 64% true shooting and scoring an absurd 1.46 points per possession as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. We also got a glimpse of peak Middleton for perhaps the first time since his knee injury back in 2022.Antetokounmpo is still one of the three best players in basketball, a two-way monster who can break any defense as either a finisher or an initiator. Lillard could be <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048800" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">primed for a bounce-back campaign</a> after getting a proper offseason under his belt in Milwaukee. He and Antetokounmpo took a while to hone their <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2757879" href="https://thescore.com/news/2757879">pick-and-roll synergy</a> last season, but it steadily improved as the campaign wore on; they could hit the ground running this time around. A healthy Middleton is a perfect third option. Lopez remains one of the best rim-protectors, savviest drop defenders, and one of the game's only legitimate stretch fives.The starting lineup is stocked with shooting around Antetokounmpo and should be a smidge more versatile with Gary Trent Jr. in Malik Beasley's place. Delon Wright and Taurean Prince were nice offseason depth additions that should help defensively, where the Bucks quietly improved from 21st to a respectable 13th after Doc Rivers took over for Adrian Griffin. It's not hard to imagine Milwaukee getting back into the championship mix with a stable bench presence and better injury luck come playoff time.Reasons to doubt: The short answer? This team is old, man. Lopez remains essential to propping up Milwaukee's deteriorating defense. He'll turn 37 this season. Lillard is 34 and coming off his worst offensive campaign in almost a decade. Middleton is 33 and coming off offseason surgeries on both ankles after separate lower-body injuries cost him 76 games over the last two years. Even younger, role-playing vets like Pat Connaughton and Bobby Portis have shown signs of decline.Antetokounmpo is ostensibly in his prime and is as good as ever offensively entering his age-30 campaign, but his defense has slipped in recent seasons. For what feels like the eighth year in a row, this team possesses troublingly little athleticism around him, especially on the wing. And there aren't really any young players waiting in the wings who can plausibly emerge to patch the obvious holes on this roster. We saw encouraging flashes from A.J. Green, Andre Jackson Jr., and Marjon Beauchamp last season, but nothing to suggest they're ready to contribute consistently.The Bucks' perimeter defense doesn't figure to be much better than it was last season. Lillard isn't going to get any stickier at the point of attack. Middleton isn't going to reverse his defensive decline. And Trent is a slight defensive upgrade over Beasley at best; he'll apply more ball pressure and create a lot more turnovers, but he'll make just as many off-ball gaffes that compromise the team's shell. Also, Trent is a more stationary shooter than Beasley without the same quick-trigger release off of movement.In short, Milwaukee's offense might be worse than it was last season, and there's no guarantee its defense will improve. Even banking on better health feels a bit like false hope given the ages and injury histories of the team's most important players. Considering how much better the rest of the Eastern Conference is shaping up to be this season and in the future, it may be time to accept that the Bucks' championship window has already closed. - Wolfond

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Title Tiers, Part 3: Cases for and against 3 East contenders

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Title Tiers, Part 2: Cases for and against 5 West contenders

Dynasties have historically ruled the NBA, but we're in an era of nearly unprecedented parity that's produced six different champions over the last six years. This coming season features another deep and diverse field of contenders. We're laying out reasons to believe in them and reasons to doubt them.First up, the two teams that stand above the rest in their respective conferences, including the defending champs.<h3>Boston Celtics </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/cropped_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w220xh124_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w320xh180_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w640xh360_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w768xh432_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Brian Babineau / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: It shouldn't take much persuasion to convince anyone why the team that just won 64 regular-season games, then strolled to the championship with a 16-3 playoff run, is a serious threat to repeat. The Celtics are bringing back everyone who played even an iota of a part in that historic campaign, with their top 11 minute-getters all returning for the title defense.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>They still have the league's <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2928288" href="https://thescore.com/news/2928288">pre-eminent wing duo</a> stirring the drink in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who are squarely in their primes as they enter their age-27 and -28 seasons. They still have the most airtight backcourt in the game with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, both All-Defensive selections last year. And they still have a pair of centers in Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford who can space the floor at one end and protect the rim at the other.Boston remains the only team in the NBA that can create true five-out spacing with playmaking at every position, and it does so without compromising its elite and scheme-versatile defense. In short, the Celtics' best offensive lineups are also their best defensive lineups. That's a rare characteristic, and a big part of how they wound up finishing in the top two on both sides of the ball en route to the third-best net rating (+11.7) in NBA history.They crafted the most efficient offense of all time (and fourth best ever relative to league average), led the league in 3-point attempt rate, ranked second in 3-point percentage, and turned the ball over at the league's second-lowest rate. Eight players in the regular rotation posted true shooting percentages of 60% or above, and Porzingis busted switches as the best per-possession post scorer in the league.At the other end, their interchangeable army of brawny stoppers allowed them to switch and <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2772064" href="https://thescore.com/news/2772064">cross-match</a> in whatever way they saw fit, and to double the ball less frequently than any other team. That matchup flexibility also allowed them to keep Porzingis and Horford on the back line and out of ball-screen action, which in turn led to the league's second-stingiest rim defense. Their flawless execution of Joe Mazzulla's inventive tactics short-circuited even the most <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2926239" href="https://thescore.com/news/2926239">potent offenses</a>. Porzingis will be on the shelf for at least the first two months of the regular season as he recovers from leg surgery, but all that matters is that he's healthy come playoff time. He played all of 165 minutes last postseason (eighth most on the team), and it barely slowed Boston down. With the rest of the band returning, why would this year's tour play out any differently?Reasons to doubt: OK, let's say Porzingis isn't healthy for the playoffs. How confident do you feel in his backups? Al Horford is a marvel of modern science, but eventually the wheels are going to fall off for the 38-year-old. (Right?) What happens if the Celtics are left to rely on the likes of Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta? Depth on the wing is also a bit of a concern. In general, things get pretty shaky pretty fast once you get beyond Boston's vaunted top six.Sure, that didn't derail the team in last year's playoffs, but that had something to do with them facing a spate of badly undermanned and overmatched Eastern Conference foes before Porzingis returned in a limited capacity for the Finals. They almost certainly won't have as easy a path this time around.More broadly, I'm not sure the Celtics entirely put the concerns about their playoff offense to bed last spring. Against Dallas, the lone full-strength opponent they faced, they scored just 109.2 points per 100 possessions (which would've ranked 26th in the regular season) and had several stretches in which they devolved into meandering one- and zero-pass possessions. High-end playmaking is still a missing ingredient here, a major factor in those frustrating lulls. And they're still a little light on rim frequency (26th last season) and free-throw rate (25th), leaving them vulnerable to the whims of jump-shooting variance.In what figures to be a much more competitive Eastern Conference - and possibly a stiffer Finals test, if they get back there - the margin for error will be slimmer this year. - Joe Wolfond <h3>Oklahoma City Thunder </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/cropped_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w220xh124_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w320xh180_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w640xh360_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w768xh432_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Joshua Gateley / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: The Thunder look like a juggernaut, with few, if any weak spots to exploit. The youngest 1-seed and youngest playoff series winner in league history returns the same maturing and improving core that won 57 games last year, except with Josh Giddey replaced by Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. In Caruso, a Thunder team that ranked fourth in defensive efficiency last season is adding arguably the game's best perimeter defender – an elite stopper who's also developed into a terrific shooter (40.8% from deep on 4.7 attempts in 2023-24). In Hartenstein, Oklahoma City went a long way toward plugging the team's most glaring need for interior size and rebounding help.Caruso and Hartenstein will bolster what was already a solid two-way supporting cast around the Thunder's young stars. With guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander now a perennial MVP candidate and All-NBA First Team-caliber superstar, plus wing Jalen Williams and big man Chet Holmgren on All-Star trajectories, the Thunder feel like an almost perfect team coming together at the perfect time.Oh, and should any mid-season reinforcements prove necessary, Sam Presti's front office still has more draft capital and trade equity than just about any other team. They may not be the defending conference champions, but the Thunder are the class of the West.Reasons to doubt: This team might still be just a little too green, with NBA history telling us young teams must take their postseason lumps for years before reaching the championship summit. As promising as the career trajectories of Williams and Holmgren are, are they ready to be the second and third options for a title team? Beyond that intangible question of experience, finding reasons to doubt Oklahoma City's championship mettle feels like grasping at straws. Then again, it's worth noting the Thunder's aggressive approach to defense - in which they surrender the league's highest rate of 3-point attempts from the corners while trying to force the ball out of opposing stars' hands - does leave them more susceptible to an outlier shooting performance. That was a big part of how a seemingly inferior Mavericks team eliminated OKC in the 2024 Western Conference semifinals. - Joseph Casciaro

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Editor's note: This article was originally published in June 2020.  By now you know how it ended....

Editor's note: This article was originally published in June 2020.By now you know how it ended. A 43-year-old Vince Carter, having announced before the start of the 2019-20 season that it would be his last as an NBA player, was sitting on the Atlanta Hawks' bench at the tail end of an overtime loss to the New York Knicks on March 11 when the league announced it was suspending its season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.As murmurs of the suspension spread throughout State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce, struck by a bolt of intuition (and some fans chanting "We want Vince!"), told Carter to head to the scorer's table. Carter checked into the game with 19 seconds to play, as the home fans, recognizing the moment for what it might've been, rose to their feet. Six seconds later, he stepped into a 26-footer and drilled it.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div><figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gNJKGHiCec8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></figure>With the NBA officially approving a return-to-play plan that excludes the Hawks from the remainder of the season, we can now say for certain: that was the last shot of Carter's distinguished, prolific career.What a strange and wondrous journey it was. Carter played for eight teams, authored some iconic moments, scored more than 25,000 points, and should be a lock for the Hall of Fame. His legacy will largely be defined by his early years: by the athletic fluidity and high-flying acrobatics that made him arguably the greatest in-game dunker we've seen; the galvanizing effect he had on basketball in Canada (to which the current crop of Canadian NBA players who grew up idolizing him are a testament); that dunk contest in 2000; the epic second-round duel with Allen Iverson in 2001; his fall from grace and ugly divorce with the Raptors; and his rejuvenation with the Nets. Oddly enough, though, I think the parts of his career I'll remember most fondly are the last several seasons in which he toiled in comparative obscurity as a 17-minute-a-game vet for lottery teams.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405761/cropped_GettyImages-72033657.jpg?ts=1591393728" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405761/w220xh124_GettyImages-72033657.jpg?ts=1591393728 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405761/w320xh180_GettyImages-72033657.jpg?ts=1591393728 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405761/w640xh360_GettyImages-72033657.jpg?ts=1591393728 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405761/w768xh432_GettyImages-72033657.jpg?ts=1591393728 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405761/w1080xh607_GettyImages-72033657.jpg?ts=1591393728 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Brian Babineau / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>A lot of the touchstones of Carter's NBA tenure were about agency. His decision to attend his graduation ceremony in North Carolina on the day of Game 7 in that 2001 series against the Sixers - and his missed game-winning attempt at the buzzer a few hours later - was <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/charles-oakley-raptors-won-vince-carter-didnt-attend-graduation/">still being litigated</a> nearly two decades after the fact. There were conflicting stories about how things managed to turn so sour during the end of his Raptors tenure, and who was most at fault, but the situation ultimately came down to Carter exerting his influence and holding the franchise hostage until he got what he wanted - a maneuver that likely wouldn't have felt as out of place in today's superstar empowerment era.By the end of his time in Toronto, he was plainly dogging it. The fan base turned on him, hard. He was accused of exaggerating injuries. At one point, he insisted he wasn't going to dunk anymore. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOMY89r5Xr8">allegedly</a> got into a physical altercation with coach Sam Mitchell. Eventually, he went so far as to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/did-carter-tip-off-sonics-on-play-selection-1.506817">tip off opponents</a> to the Raptors' plays. All of which looked worse when he immediately reverted to playing like his best self after being traded to New Jersey, and then admitted in an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCSvUjaJaDw">interview with John Thompson</a> in 2005 that he hadn't pushed himself as hard as he could have during his latter Toronto years. (Though it's not like he was saying anything Raptors fans didn't already firmly believe. If he'd said otherwise, they'd have called him a quitter and a liar.)<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405762/cropped_GettyImages-51888066.jpg?ts=1591393842" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405762/w220xh124_GettyImages-51888066.jpg?ts=1591393842 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405762/w320xh180_GettyImages-51888066.jpg?ts=1591393842 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405762/w640xh360_GettyImages-51888066.jpg?ts=1591393842 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405762/w768xh432_GettyImages-51888066.jpg?ts=1591393842 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405762/w1080xh607_GettyImages-51888066.jpg?ts=1591393842 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Even as he reapplied himself with the Nets and answered questions about his durability, he was dogged by claims that he didn't work hard enough, or love the game enough, or respect his own talent enough. The thing is, Carter never seemed to want for himself what others wanted for him, or to be what others tried to make him into. Even as his staggering physical gifts and aesthetically seductive game made him a natural superstar, he seemed to shy away from that designation. He seemed happier and more comfortable as a role player in his twilight years than he ever did as one of the faces of the league.For a while, he seemed like a passenger in his own narrative vehicle. People made him the hero and he played the part, for a little bit. They made him the villain and he played that part, too. (Played it damn well, as Raptors fans can attest.) Somewhere along the way he grabbed the wheel. Time passed, old wounds healed, and eventually the labels didn't matter anymore. He was onto his third team, then fourth, then fifth. He was an entirely different player, and, at least to the outside observer, a different person. Eventually he was just Vince: good-natured dude, sage veteran, great teammate, subsumer of ego, lover of basketball.The agency he once wielded to force his way out of Toronto was channeled toward doing whatever it took to keep playing, and keep playing, and keep playing. That required him not only to work tirelessly on maintaining his body, but to continually conform to his new physical realities as he transitioned from star to complementary player to grizzled mentor. That's a transition not many high-profile players have been able to stomach, certainly not for as long as Carter did. But he was never too proud to adapt. And in his quadragenarian years, he still threw down the odd windmill dunk in the layup line to remind us he still had the juice.Finally, after making the choice time and again to continue his playing career, he had it cut short because of the most unforeseeable of circumstances. But there was something fitting about the conclusion all the same. Credit Pierce for recognizing it might be Carter's last chance to do something in an NBA game, and Carter for making the most of it by immediately taking, and making, the shot that would be his last. The only piece of meaningful business that remained would have been Carter's final game in Toronto, which has become a far more forgiving and welcoming and celebratory place for him in recent years. Alas, as far as closure goes, that shot in Atlanta will have to suffice.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749567/cropped_GettyImages-1200812279.jpg?ts=1728734877" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749567/w220xh124_GettyImages-1200812279.jpg?ts=1728734877 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749567/w320xh180_GettyImages-1200812279.jpg?ts=1728734877 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749567/w640xh360_GettyImages-1200812279.jpg?ts=1728734877 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749567/w768xh432_GettyImages-1200812279.jpg?ts=1728734877 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749567/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1200812279.jpg?ts=1728734877 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images Sport / Getty</figcaption></figure>As Carter exits, I find myself thinking a lot about the finale of "The Good Place," which imagined a universe in which people were granted the ability to opt into or out of existence on their own timetables and their own terms. Envisioning finality as a choice didn't completely remove the melancholy from it - all endings are sad, even when they're past due - but it did add a tinge of satisfaction, a feeling of completeness that comes with seeing something through to its natural conclusion; what one character described as "a quietude of the soul." Nothing lasts forever, and we wouldn't really want it to. What we do want, I think, is to decide for ourselves when our journey's run its course.That isn't how things work in reality, as far as we know. For pro athletes, retirement is framed as a choice, but in most cases their bodies make the choice for them. Some are able to make their peace with that reality better than others. Carter has done it more gracefully than most. Even if he didn't quite get to go out on his own terms, I like to think that as he watched that last 3-ball drop, he felt a quietude in his soul.For him to have even arrived at this point would've once been inconceivable. Here was a player who thrived on effortless athleticism, whose commitment level waxed and waned early in his career, and who purportedly didn't work as diligently as his most accomplished contemporaries. If you were to sketch a portrait of a player whose comedown would be swift and decisive, it would look a lot like a young Vince Carter.Our relationships to athletes often change as they get older. There's a sentimental pull for them to play on and keep succeeding. In part because of the comforts of constancy, in part because vulnerability tends to unlock a softer side of people, and in part because the career of an athlete is like a lifespan in miniature - from rookie season to retirement press conference, first steps to last words - so when one of them defies the aging curve it feels like a win for all of us.As Carter aged, and the context and tenor of his returns to Toronto changed, those early days somehow felt closer, not further away. The joy and appreciation was back. He was celebrated the way he used to be, the way he always would've been had his tenure not ended so acrimoniously. Carter's perception of himself seemed to evolve over time, and our perception of him evolved along with it. He didn't craft the kind of postseason resume we typically associate with legends, but he lived an NBA life.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405764/cropped_GettyImages-1202743984.jpg?ts=1591394084" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405764/w220xh124_GettyImages-1202743984.jpg?ts=1591394084 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405764/w320xh180_GettyImages-1202743984.jpg?ts=1591394084 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405764/w640xh360_GettyImages-1202743984.jpg?ts=1591394084 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405764/w768xh432_GettyImages-1202743984.jpg?ts=1591394084 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/405764/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1202743984.jpg?ts=1591394084 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Carter somehow managed to avoid the depressing part of his physical decline, even as he trudged on for 13 years after his last All-Star berth, even as he played out the string on dismal, going-nowhere teams for whom his on-court services were largely perfunctory. Maybe that's because he himself never seemed at all embarrassed by it. He never seemed, in those later years, to be trying to prove anything, or to be desperately clinging to any particular idea of himself. He eschewed late-career ring-chasing, instead opting to sign with rebuilding outfits where he could mentor young players while actually getting some minutes outside of garbage time. His farewell tour was less about pageantry than quiet dignity.It never felt like he was hanging on too long because no one ever seemed to get tired of having him around. And isn't that what we all want: to linger as long as we please without becoming a burden to others? Carter became a walking rebuke to the idea that it's better to burn out than to fade away. A guy who was once known for his fragility and lack of passion for basketball wound up being the longest-tenured player in NBA history. Twenty-two seasons, 1,629 regular-season and playoff games, spread across four different decades. Go figure."It's just, I loved playing basketball," he told <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2020/04/28/vince-carter-hawks-final-nba-season">Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix</a> shortly after his last game. "And 20-something years later it’s the same approach - I love playing basketball. So to really see and be appreciated and everybody just on the same page now. It's a great feeling. And it just makes it easier to walk out of the door."There are any number of lessons one can choose to take from Carter's career. For me, the lessons are about aging gracefully, and about the subtle power of sticking around. Vince outgrew his labels, reinvented his game, and bent the long arc of his career in the direction that suited him best. He didn't go out as a hero, or as a villain. He didn't go out on top, but he didn't overstay his welcome, either. He did something far more nuanced than all that. He stuck around long enough to make us see him the way he always wanted to be seen. He stuck around long enough to let us watch him become himself.

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Vince Carter showed that there's grace in sticking around 

There's something interesting going on at the power forward position in the NBA, a trend that fee...

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Fantastic 4s: How the power forward spot will shape this NBA season

Raw ability has never truly been an issue for the Zion Williamson-era New Orleans Pelicans. This ...

Raw ability has never truly been an issue for the Zion Williamson-era New Orleans Pelicans. This is a talented team with a ton of potential that feels perpetually on the verge of breaking out. It's the spotty availability of their <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2895052" href="https://thescore.com/news/2895052">best players</a>, along with the tenuous on-court fit between those players when healthy, that always manages to derail them.On the health front, there doesn't appear to be a solution for New Orleans other than hoping and praying Williamson's frequently airborne 285-pound frame holds together. As for the fit issue, the front office tried to address it this offseason by letting space-occupying center Jonas Valanciunas walk, trading for Dejounte Murray, and dangling Brandon Ingram, whose partnership with Williamson has always amounted to less than the sum of its parts due to his limitations as an off-ball player and defender.The problem is that no Ingram trade ever materialized; adding Murray merely throws another touch-needy player into the mix; and no suitable replacement for Valanciunas (nor Larry Nance, moved in the Murray deal) was found. So now the Pelicans are looking at opening the season with a disgruntled second star, possibly too many mouths to feed on offense, and zero legitimate big-minute centers on the roster. Their depth chart at that position consists of 20-year-old rookie Yves Missi and undersized pseudo-stretch-big Daniel Theis, who signed for the minimum after playing third string for the Clippers last season.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Were there not six other players who deserve and can reasonably expect to start for New Orleans, Theis may have been in line to take some token tipoffs. As things stand - with Williamson, Ingram, Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, and Trey Murphy III fighting for five starting/closing spots - it seems inevitable that the Pelicans' primary lineups will feature 6-6 Williamson as the de facto five. He isn't the tallest player among that group (Ingram, Jones, and Murphy are all 6-8), but his heft makes him the best candidate to guard opposing centers and serve as the principal ball-screener in those lineups. Which is interesting, because he's also probably the best point guard on the team.The league broadly is moving away from center-less lineups, but there are still scenarios in which they can succeed. So, how will that work for New Orleans in what should be by far the largest such sample of Williamson's career? Is exposing his precarious body to the rigors of the five the best idea? Can the team's offense be good enough to offset its flimsy interior defense and rebounding? These are the questions that will define the Pelicans' season, and/or determine how aggressively they're forced to pursue an alternate path.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747782/cropped_GettyImages-2074399457.jpg?ts=1727725959" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747782/w220xh124_GettyImages-2074399457.jpg?ts=1727725959 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747782/w320xh180_GettyImages-2074399457.jpg?ts=1727725959 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747782/w640xh360_GettyImages-2074399457.jpg?ts=1727725959 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747782/w768xh432_GettyImages-2074399457.jpg?ts=1727725959 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747782/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2074399457.jpg?ts=1727725959 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Layne Murdoch Jr. / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>One key feature of most successful small-ball lineups is that they aren't actually small anywhere except the five. That's roughly true of these Pelicans, who'll have solid positional size one through four, especially in lineup iterations that include only one of Murray or McCollum. Jones, an All-Defensive first teamer last season, is one of the league's better paint-protecting wings, which can help cover for the fact Williamson - despite evolving into a good low-man helper - hasn't shown the ability to play drop coverage or anchor a back line. That said, considering the importance of Murphy's shooting and the pedigree of the other four core guys, Jones may not even start.New Orleans managed to post a 96th-percentile defensive rating in slightly more than 300 minutes with Williamson at center last season, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4572/positions#tab-team_efficiency">Cleaning the Glass</a>, but that was mainly because opponents hit just 32% of their threes (including 28% from the corners) and 35% of their mid-range jumpers. Favorable opponent shooting luck obscured the extent to which the Pelicans got obliterated at the rim and on the glass in those minutes. They allowed opponents to take 37% of their shots from inside the restricted area, shoot 69% on those short-range looks, and rebound 33% of their own misses.None of the Pelicans' forward-sized players are particularly good rebounders, which is the area they'll likely miss Valanciunas the most. Despite the success they had downsizing in a small sample last season, it never felt like a viable option for extended stretches, at least not against serious competition. And yet, here we are, with it looking like the only option for them to start and close games.The big benefit will be their ability to maximize spacing around Williamson. In that sense, one could argue playing him at the five actually eases the physical burden on him, since he doesn't have to collide with as many bodies on his countless forays to the rim.One of the Pelicans' biggest issues during Williamson's tenure has been 3-point shooting, especially in terms of volume. They actually morphed into one of the most accurate teams from long range in 2023-24, but remained bottom 10 in 3-point attempt rate. The small-ball version of this team should be able to marry that improved efficiency with an uptick in attempts.McCollum and Murphy combined to shoot 40.7% on 16.2 threes per game last year, with Murphy creating additional space thanks to range that stretches to 30 feet. Murray's been steadily improving from outside, and last season showed he was capable of sustaining a respectable clip (36.3%) on increased volume (a career-high 7.1 attempts). Only about half of those came off the catch - where he shot 39.2% - and New Orleans should try to nudge him further in that direction. Same goes for Ingram, who's hit 37% of his threes as a Pelican and simply needs to take more of them. Jones made a massive leap as a shooter, canning 41.8% of his 3.6 tries.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747788/cropped_GettyImages-2113299895.jpg?ts=1727726307" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747788/w220xh124_GettyImages-2113299895.jpg?ts=1727726307 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747788/w320xh180_GettyImages-2113299895.jpg?ts=1727726307 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747788/w640xh360_GettyImages-2113299895.jpg?ts=1727726307 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747788/w768xh432_GettyImages-2113299895.jpg?ts=1727726307 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747788/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2113299895.jpg?ts=1727726307 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Layne Murdoch Jr. / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>To get the most offensively out of this group, the Pelicans need to engender the kind of buy-in from their complementary players that they got from McCollum last season - a willingness to play off of Williamson and capitalize on the advantages he creates. Neither Ingram nor Murray will ever have McCollum's off-ball gravity, and they'll still get plenty of opportunities to handle the rock, but they can still stand to be way more active when it's out of their hands. The offense has long functioned best with Williamson as a defense-bending primary creator. Murray's ultimate sacrifice would be accepting a move to the bench, which would be a difficult but sensible choice for coach Willie Green given the less duplicative skills Jones and Murphy offer the starting group.This team still lacks an elite playmaker, but now boasts a quartet of above-average ones. Besides, good spacing has a way of mitigating playmaking deficiencies - just ask last year's Celtics. These Pelicans obviously won't stretch defenses out to nearly the same extent as the defending champs did, but Williamson's on-ball magnetism means they may not have to. The amount of defensive help required to slow his downhill momentum opens up easier shots and reads for every link in the chain.There's a path for the Pelicans to be a top-five offense, and they have to hope they can at least get close to that benchmark. They overperformed by finishing sixth on defense last year, and were due to regress even before they lost important pieces of that unit in Nance, Dyson Daniels, and Naji Marshall. The fact they're so vulnerable inside (they finished 27th in field-goal percentage allowed at the rim, then got considerably smaller) puts a ton of pressure on their perimeter defenders to keep the ball away from that mushy middle.Jones is clearly up to the task, not just as a one-on-one stopper but as a nail helper capable of vaporizing drives before they begin. Jose Alvarado is going to fight through screens and pester the hell out of opposing point guards. Javonte Green should be able to replicate some of what Marshall provided. But those guys may all be reserves, and everyone else is a question mark. Are Ingram and Murphy too slight to be quality wing defenders? Is there a ball-screen coverage that works for Williamson? Can Murray get back to enveloping ball-handlers after a Hawks tenure that saw him lose his bite at the point of attack?It's not unusual for the Pelicans to lead the league in questions, but this is something new. Zion's point-center era is about to begin. Let's see how long it lasts.

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Zion Williamson's point-center era is about to begin. Will it last?

The Knicks and Timberwolves sent shockwaves around the NBA on Friday night, agreeing to a blockbu...

The Knicks and Timberwolves sent shockwaves around the NBA on Friday night, agreeing to a blockbuster trade days before training camps open league-wide.The Knicks continued to cash in their chips in pursuit of the team's first championship since 1973, sending All-Star power forward Julius Randle, key reserve Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round draft pick to Minnesota for star big man Karl-Anthony Towns. So, what do we make of the new-look Knicks and Wolves?<h3>Knicks the clear winner, but ...</h3>From a basketball lens, this looks like a perfect fit in New York, where Towns could theoretically serve as the missing piece to the Knicks' championship puzzle.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Though Randle predictably played some of his best ball after the Knicks traded RJ Barrett to open up the floor, there was genuine reason for concern about how the three-time All-Star - and pending 2025 free agent - would coexist on a new-look Knicks team now featuring Mikal Bridges. In a Knicks season-preview piece written prior to this transaction, I asked of Randle: Can a shaky-shooting, defensively inconsistent forward impact winning with less of the ball?Towns' otherworldly offensive skill set for a 7-footer means there's no such concern regarding his fit, with the four-time All-Star a more universal and malleable secondary star. As a career 40% 3-point shooter and floor-spacer, Towns doesn't need the ball to compromise opposing defenses and positively impact his team's offense. Still, he can beat teams with the ball in his hands in more ways than Randle can (though Randle's improved playmaking is worth noting here). A pick-and-roll combination consisting of Towns and star guard Jalen Brunson - with shooters like Bridges and OG Anunoby around them - unlocks countless possibilities for the Knicks and Towns alike.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/cropped_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w220xh124_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w320xh180_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w640xh360_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w768xh432_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Mitchell Leff / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Defensively, the Knicks can protect Towns in perhaps even more ways than the top-ranked Timberwolves defense did. There are questions to ask of a defense featuring Towns and Brunson, but in Anunoby and Bridges, New Yorks boasts two of the league's best perimeter and wing defenders. Plus, the Brunson-Towns duo isn't any more defensively vulnerable than the Brunson-Randle duo was, with Randle originally penciled in for plenty of time at the five while starting center Mitchell Robinson remains sidelined after ankle surgery.Now when the Knicks go small to start the season, they'll do so with a more talented and offensively potent quintet, and one featuring a big man in Towns whose size makes him a lot closer to a traditional defensive center than Randle ever would've been. Anunoby also remains an option to play as a small-ball five on the defensive end while Towns abuses mismatches as an offensive center. And when Robinson eventually returns, he and Towns can share the frontcourt thanks to Towns' aforementioned floor-spacing abilities.Randle was a workhorse - akin to an innings-eater in baseball, even if his flaws made him a tricky fit on a loaded roster. And DiVincenzo was a relentless, two-way guard who was both a fan- and locker-room favorite on this Villanova-heavy squad. New York now needs a lot more from new sixth man Miles McBride. But the Knicks are unquestionably a better and more balanced team than they were before, and they're wholeheartedly going for it. Such steadfast pursuit of a championship - a quest to end the most famous drought in pro basketball - requires some shrewd decisions and tough goodbyes.However, the Knicks' star-studded plan is far from foolproof. This is Towns we're talking about. For all of his outrageous offensive talents, he's still prone to bouts of tepid play, indecisiveness, and poor decision-making, especially in the game's (and season's) biggest moments. After seemingly exorcising his postseason demons during a heroic performance against Nikola Jokic's defending-champion Nuggets in the 2023 West semifinals, Towns turned into a pumpkin again in the West finals, shooting 37.9% from the field against Dallas.Such inconsistency and occasionally uninspiring play was tolerated in Minnesota, where Towns was a beloved franchise lifer. It won't be at Madison Square Garden, where impatient fans can taste genuine contention for the first time in decades. In addition, any slippage from Towns - who's cracked the 70-game mark only once in the last five years - will lead to angst that his contract could become unmovable, even if the bargain deals Brunson and Bridges are on make Towns' salary less of a concern for the Knicks.On paper, New York won this trade in a landslide. But I won't be shocked if we're talking about this as a lose-lose deal six months from now. Such is the KAT experience - a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Can't win with him. Can't win without him. The Knicks and Wolves may both be about to find that out. - Joseph Casciaro<h3>Wolves sacrifice frontcourt fit for financial flexibility </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/cropped_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w220xh124_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w320xh180_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w640xh360_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w768xh432_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jordan Johnson / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>There are ways to rationalize this trade from Minnesota's end in the short and long term, but at first blush this feels like a step backward for a team that just had its most successful season in two decades. <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2920240" href="https://thescore.com/news/2920240">Volatile as his play could be</a>, Towns was deeply embedded in the fabric of the Wolves' identity. Not only was he their longest-tenured player by far, his expansive skill set was essential to making their double-big frontcourt viable at the offensive end. (They scored 6.2 fewer points per 100 possessions with him on the bench.) And in putting together the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2833452" href="https://thescore.com/news/2833452">best defensive season of his career</a>, especially as a back-side helper behind DPOY winner Rudy Gobert, he also had a big hand in Minnesota's top-ranked unit at the other end.Sure, things went haywire for Towns in the West finals in ways that felt all too familiar, but the Wolves wouldn't have had a prayer of getting there without his two-way contributions, especially in dethroning the Nuggets in the second round. Those contributions included taking on the primary Jokic assignment for that entire series and carrying the Wolves to a Game 7 victory while Anthony Edwards shot 6-for-24. And Wolves fans who had trust issues with Towns in the postseason would be wise not to dig too deeply into Randle's playoff game tape.In a vacuum, the gap between Towns and Randle feels pretty negligible. Randle made three All-Star teams and two All-NBA teams across his five seasons in New York. He's a more polished playmaker, a better defender in space, and an all-around more physical presence than Towns is. But when it comes to fitting them around other players, the gulf widens in favor of Towns, whose adaptability and off-ball utility make him an ideal complementary star. His superior size also makes him more viable as a center, whereas Randle can only really play the four.The Randle-Gobert frontcourt fit is going to be offensively tenuous, especially with Jaden McDaniels (a competent but low-volume 3-point shooter) playing alongside them at the three. Randle's a somewhat credible 3-point shooter, but not one defenses feel compelled to respect on the perimeter. Take away his outlier 2020-21 season and he's at 31.6% for his career. And that's to say nothing of his penchant for stopping the ball and jab-stepping his way to 18-foot jumpers.This was a middle-of-the-road offense (17th in the regular season) even with Towns there to provide Edwards and Mike Conley a deadly pick-and-pop partner, and use his spot-up gravity to open the floor for Gobert's rim rolls. In order for Randle to be effective on offense, he'll need to touch the ball a lot more than Towns did, and he and Gobert will need to develop some high-low passing synergy in a hurry. His fit with Naz Reid feels a bit cleaner, and that tandem could unleash hell on opposing transitional lineups, though defense could be a concern given neither is much of a rim-protector.The DiVincenzo addition goes some way toward salvaging this trade for the Wolves. (The Pistons first-rounder they acquired also adds a much-needed arrow to a draft quiver that was completely depleted by the Gobert trade, but it's heavily protected and may not convey for several years.) They badly needed more guard depth, and while DiVincenzo isn't the kind of ball-handler or passer who can serve as an insurance policy for the soon-to-be 37-year-old Conley at the point, he brings a nice balance of on- and off-ball skill, along with nasty point-of-attack defense that'll fit very well with this group. The rearview pressure he applies as a chaser over screens should pair especially nicely with Gobert in drop coverage.Losing Towns' shooting in the frontcourt obviously stings, and there's inherently less value in adding a comparable shooter in the backcourt. Still, it's worth noting that DiVincenzo shot 40% on 8.7 3-point attempts per game last season. If he can replicate that level of volume and efficiency, the Wolves' offense may be fine. He's also on a ridiculously team-friendly contract that runs three more years, which was surely a big selling point for Minnesota.Towns' four-year, $220-million extension kicks in this season, and it's clear the luxury-tax crunch coming the Wolves' way was a big part of their calculus here. But even as a cost-cutting maneuver, this puts them in a complicated spot. Randle's on an expiring deal, so the team's options may boil down to letting him walk for nothing next summer (which would mean they traded a franchise cornerstone for one quality role player, one so-so pick, and one Randle season) or giving him a new contract that could push them into deep-tax territory anyway.They could try to go the in-season trade route, but I'm not sure they'll love the offers they get for Randle, given the aforementioned fit issues baked into his game. Their best hope may be that the lack of cap space and/or interest around the league allows them to extend or re-sign him on an affordable medium-term deal.All in all, it's a fascinating trade, and one that could prove beneficial for Minnesota in the long run. For now, it's a bit of a tough pill to swallow considering how close this team just got to the top of the mountain. It would've been nice to see the same core group get another chance to scale it together. - Joe Wolfond

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Sizing up Knicks and Wolves after KAT-Randle blockbuster

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most inte...

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. Next up: a young wing whose development can help a rejuvenated franchise dream bigger.Previous entries: <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048800" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">Damian Lillard</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048813" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048813">Darius Garland</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3058364" href="https://thescore.com/news/3058364">Christian Braun</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048806" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048806">Jalen Green</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3067067" href="https://thescore.com/news/3067067">Devin Vassell</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3068188" href="https://thescore.com/news/3068188">Memphis Grizzlies</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3072631" href="https://thescore.com/news/3072631">Jonathan Kuminga</a> After a joyous, galvanizing, drought-busting 2022-23 campaign, the Sacramento Kings were splashed with a bit of cold reality last season. That wasn't entirely unexpected, considering they were trying to build on their breakthrough under the weight of heftier expectations, with invariably worse injury luck, in a much more daunting Western Conference, against opponents better prepared for their breakneck pace and DHO-centric motion offense.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Even so, they were able to win 46 games, return to the postseason (if not the playoffs proper), and largely validate the successful blueprint Mike Brown and Co. established the year prior. In an era when teams are generally expected to fall into one of two buckets - trying to contend or trying to tank - it's all too easy for teams like the Kings to be derided or dismissed. But there's a lot to be said for rolling out an entertaining squad capable of consistently winning 45-50 games. And if any organization can attest to that, it's the one that recently spent 16 straight years in the lottery. That's not to say the Kings are satisfied with where they settled in last season. They made one of the biggest moves of the summer by acquiring DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade that also shipped out longtime starting power forward Harrison Barnes. And while there are loads of questions and possibilities regarding DeRozan's fit with this roster, the most interesting consideration regarding that splashy trade may be what it means for Keegan Murray.The third-year wing is poised to slide up a position into that starting four spot vacated by Barnes, with the Kings likely to downsize by promoting defense-minded off-guard Keon Ellis (a point-of-attack pest who looks a lot more viable offensively than Davion Mitchell) to fill out the starting five around DeRozan, De'Aaron Fox, and Domantas Sabonis. In that alignment, Murray would have some absolutely essential responsibilities - things he's capable of that no one else in that projected lineup can replicate. After a promising rookie season, Murray made a fairly unconventional second-year leap. His offensive counting stats nudged up only slightly, his 3-point shooting (his standout skill as a rookie) sharply declined (from 41% down to 36%), and his touch time and usage rate remained firmly in role-player territory. Most of Murray's strides came at the defensive end, where his newfound impact was probably the biggest reason the Kings catapulted from 24th to 14th in points allowed per possession. He proved to be one of the league's better young perimeter stoppers: a great screen navigator for his size (6-foot-8 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan), with nimble feet and the ability to fluidly change direction and stay on balance when defending in isolation. After mostly being assigned to like-sized wings as a rookie, the Kings took to sticking Murray on primary creators of all stripes last year, shifty guards included. Though the late-season emergence of Ellis largely freed him of that responsibility, the fact Murray excelled in those matchups bodes very well for his ability to switch across three or four positions.Murray's improvements also manifested in superb secondary rim-protection. He went from contesting 2.9 shots per game at the rim and allowing opponents to shoot 67.4% from there to challenging 3.6 per game and holding opponents to 59.5%, according to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/defensive-impact?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*keegan">NBA Advanced Stats</a>. That was a particularly important development given the Kings' base pick-and-roll coverage brings center Sabonis up to the level of the screen, relying on precise weak-side rotations and diligent low-man work behind him.Now the Kings need Murray to build on that defensive foundation, while also leveling up at the other end to bolster an offense that slipped from first to 13th. There's going to be even more pressure on his defense this year given the roster changes. Barnes wasn't a great defender, but he's both bigger and more proactive as a low man than DeRozan. As such, he represented a kind of buffer for Murray - an additional layer of paint protection that's been peeled away. It'll now fall almost entirely on Murray to provide that safety blanket for Sabonis in back-side help.Murray still needs to add some strength to better deal with the jumbo wing creators of the world, and he could also stand to amp up his defensive playmaking, perhaps exchanging some of his sound conservatism for more aggression and ball pressure. For a team like Sacramento that thrives in the open floor, forcing live-ball turnovers has a multiplier effect, a way of turning defense into ultra-efficient offense.When they're forced to operate in the narrower half court, the Kings are going to be extremely reliant on Murray's shooting, especially as a roving threat who can pull the trigger off of Sabonis handoffs. As a DHO recipient last season, Murray averaged more points per game than any other player in the league (just ahead of teammate Kevin Huerter) and scored more efficiently out of those plays than all but five guys who shot at least 100 times off of handoffs, per <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hand-off?SeasonType=Regular%20Season&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=PTS">NBA Advanced Stats</a>. Even given the dip in his 3-point accuracy from rookie to sophomore, he's going to be by far the most dangerous and highest-volume movement shooter in that starting group, now that Huerter looks bound for a bench role.DeRozan's a much better overall offensive player than Barnes, but the exchange means swapping a guy who shot 39% on 4.7 3-point attempts per game last season for a guy who shot 33.3% on 2.8 attempts (and is at 29.6% on 1.8 per game for his career). Coupled with Sabonis, that means Sacramento's starters will feature two virtual non-threats from outside. Fox made a hugely consequential leap as a 3-point shooter last season, but that still leaves him with just one campaign as an above-average long-range marskman. Ellis has to prove he can convert last year's small-sample success (42% on 168 total attempts) to higher volume. So, it'll be super helpful if Murray can get closer to his elite rookie conversion rate than last year's middling mark.Then there's the question whether he can do a bit more with the ball in his hands. To this point, he's shown next to nothing as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. He finished just 47 possessions <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/ball-handler?CF=PLAYER_NAME*E*keegan&amp;PerMode=Totals&amp;SeasonType=Regular%20Season">out of the pick-and-roll</a> last season, converting those possessions into only 29 points (shooting 13-for-42 with five turnovers). Over 84% of his field goals were assisted.You can argue there's little functional difference between pick-and-rolls and the DHOs on which Murray's been so successful, and you can also argue the latter play type is more important for a team that features multiple on-ball creators and prefers to run its offense through Sabonis in the high post anyway. Still, the extent to which Murray has leaned into off-ball play is notable. You'd have hoped to see a bit more growth from him as a creator in year two.That deficiency was felt most acutely when switching defenses were able to flatten out Sacramento's whir of cuts, screens, and handoffs last season. It exposed their lack of real dribble-drive threats outside of Fox and Malik Monk, and their lack of north-south wing athleticism. One of the main reasons the Kings regressed offensively is that they plummeted from 15th to 27th in rim frequency, and Murray (who had a 19th-percentile at-rim attempt rate) was a big part of the problem. He'll probably never have a ton of downhill juice, but he can certainly be more of a threat attacking closeouts. He can work to find more profitable passing avenues when he draws two to the ball on handoffs and pindowns. And he'll ideally develop the ability to dribble his way into the teeth of the defense more consistently.Murray can still be a valuable role player even if he doesn't develop those skills; he showed as much in the Kings' thumping of the Warriors in their first play-in game last season, when he banged eight threes en route to a game-high 32 points. But that'll put a lot of pressure on his jumper, make his production subject to greater variance, and make him (and the Kings) more scheme-able in the playoffs.Whatever happens, Murray feels like the swing piece who can potentially propel the Kings to greater heights than they reached the last two years.

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Can Keegan Murray push Kings beyond respectability?

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. Next up: an emerging young forward whose continued development could slow the decay of a crumbling dynasty. Previous entries: <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">Damian Lillard</a>, <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3048813">Darius Garland</a>, <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3058364">Christian Braun</a>, <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3048806">Jalen Green</a>, <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3067067">Devin Vassell</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3068188" href="https://thescore.com/news/3068188">Memphis Grizzlies </a><figure class="article-segment--embed"><center>                         </center></figure>When the infamous "Two Timelines" concept came into focus in Golden State a few years back, the organization probably had something akin to this past offseason in mind when considering how and when a natural transition would commence.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>After 13 years, the Warriors bid farewell to Klay Thompson, finally accepting a significant change to their aging dynastic core. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are still here and still mostly excellent at the things they've always excelled at. But they're 36 and 34, respectively, and no longer the world-destroyers they once were at either end of the floor. To bridge eras of contention, now would be the time for the team's youth brigade to bring that old Ninja Turtles/Master Splinter <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-and-splinter">meme</a> to life.Instead, the chasm between Curry and the rest of the roster looks as large as ever, and the Warriors appear much more likely to spend his twilight years clawing for play-in berths than competing for championships. Heck, they got 75 games from Curry last season and didn't even make the playoffs proper. The planned bridge to the future is nowhere close to complete, and a lot of the materials the team initially intended to use have since been cast aside. (Which is to say, the James Wiseman gambit flopped spectacularly and the Jordan Poole experience took a depressing turn.)Representing the most important remaining plank, the one that will likely determine whether this Golden State Bridge has any structural integrity, is Jonathan Kuminga. The hyper-athletic forward is fresh off a breakout campaign and is still a few weeks shy of his 22nd birthday. With Thompson gone, Green slipping, Andrew Wiggins seemingly falling off a cliff prematurely, and no other youngster ready to ascend to fill the void (save maybe sophomore Brandin Podziemski), the question of whether internal development can buoy the tail end of the Curry era largely hinges on Kuminga.The good news is, three years into his career, he's already a strong complementary player. He's a bulldozer who pressures the rim in a way nobody else on the Warriors can even come close to. He's a beast in transition, and in the half court he's gotten savvy at playing off of Curry's gravity and Green's passing - ducking in, cutting, and flashing into open space for quick dump-offs. He shot 74% at the rim last season, an 88th-percentile mark among his forward cohort, per Cleaning the Glass. And while he's still a fairly dependent scorer, it's notable that nearly 40% of his 2-point makes were unassisted.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/618576/cropped_GettyImages-2041451814.jpg?ts=1726251475" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/618576/w220xh124_GettyImages-2041451814.jpg?ts=1726251475 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/618576/w320xh180_GettyImages-2041451814.jpg?ts=1726251475 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/618576/w640xh360_GettyImages-2041451814.jpg?ts=1726251475 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/618576/w768xh432_GettyImages-2041451814.jpg?ts=1726251475 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/618576/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2041451814.jpg?ts=1726251475 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Nathaniel S. Butler / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Kuminga hasn't yet developed the playmaking feel to fully mesh with Steve Kerr's motion-based, read-and-react offense, but the level of force he plays with gives the Warriors a different dimension. They need that dimension now more than ever, given that the beating heart (Curry) and brain (Green) of Kerr's <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2883055" href="https://thescore.com/news/2883055">revolutionary system</a> are in states of gentle decline.Something that became abundantly clear last season is that Kuminga has to play the four. Once the Warriors acknowledged as much and gave up on the idea of playing lineups with him, Green, and a traditional center on the floor, Kuminga's production and the team's performance improved significantly. In 665 minutes with Kuminga and Green on the floor without another big man, Golden State outscored opponents by 11.9 points per 100 possessions, according to <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612744&amp;Season=2023-24&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1630228,203110,1626172,1631218,203967">PBP Stats</a>.When opposing defenses cross-matched their centers onto Kuminga and put their fours on Green (the better to switch Curry-Green pick-and-rolls), it activated Kuminga as a ball-screener and roll man. He improved his timing on the roll, got better at disguising and flipping his screen angles, and got more reps screening for Curry as the season went along. He's such a powerful finisher that any low man who isn't a true big has almost no chance of deterring him once he gets behind the screen defender. The Warriors also ran the odd inverted action with those two, whereby Curry would leverage a top lock to essentially screen two guys at once and Kuminga would burst downhill and be on top of the rim before the defense could blink.When he got smalls on switches, he could take them into the post and either mash them in single coverage or draw double-teams that he got increasingly comfortable passing out of, occasionally even slinging skip passes to the corner when the doubles came from the weak side. It all translated to eye-catching production: 21.9 points per 36 minutes on 60% true shooting.So, that's all very encouraging. But given their dearth of top-end talent outside of Curry, the Warriors in their present construction won't get very far unless Kuminga takes another sizeable leap forward. They're banking on him growing into a star and soon. That would mean expanding his shooting, ball-handling, playmaking, and defensive capabilities. This season should tell us a lot about how realistic that is.Kuminga actually shot threes at a pretty respectable clip the last two seasons - hitting 34% overall and 41% from the corners - but the volume was very low and defenses still don't respect him on the perimeter, especially not above the break. His forays into self-creation were still adventurous in the wrong kind of way, especially when he was defended by like-sized players. Even with his aforementioned growth as a passer, his vision remained limited, his reads stilted. He has nearly as many turnovers as assists for his career. Simply improving as a short-roll playmaker would be a great place to start.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617514/cropped_GettyImages-2011720606.jpg?ts=1726251374" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617514/w220xh124_GettyImages-2011720606.jpg?ts=1726251374 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617514/w320xh180_GettyImages-2011720606.jpg?ts=1726251374 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617514/w640xh360_GettyImages-2011720606.jpg?ts=1726251374 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617514/w768xh432_GettyImages-2011720606.jpg?ts=1726251374 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617514/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2011720606.jpg?ts=1726251374 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Then there's his defense, which has been a real mixed bag. He's solid on the ball, where he can put his strength, length, and short-area agility to good use. But as a team defender, he's still prone to late rotations and blowing help-the-helper assignments. He's also a pretty lousy rebounder for someone with his size and athleticism. And those issues raise concerns when he's going to primarily be playing beside Green in small-ball lineups that are light on primary rim protection.The Warriors tumbled from second in defensive efficiency during their championship season in 2021-22 to 14th the following season and 15th last year. Their offseason moves seemed geared toward reclaiming that lost defensive identity, subtracting Thompson and adding long-armed stoppers in De'Anthony Melton and Kyle Anderson. Kuminga should be part of that reclamation, given his physical gifts. It's time for him to actualize his potential at that end of the floor.The Warriors no longer seem particularly invested in the "Two Timelines" project - they were clearly prepared to trade a chunk of future capital for 34-year-old Paul George this offseason - but they're still invested in Kuminga. (Reports indicated that they balked at including him in trade offers for Lauri Markkanen.) We'll find out pretty soon how far they're willing to push that investment. He's eligible to sign an extension right now or can become a restricted free agent next summer.Kuminga isn't the only hope for upward mobility in Golden State: Podziemski, Moses Moody, and Trayce Jackson-Davis are all varying degrees of promising, Wiggins might have a bounce back in him, and the front office could still find an opportunity to make a needle-moving trade. But for now, Kuminga feels like the team's best hope, and considering what his development could mean for the twilight years of one of this generation's defining players, he's one of the most interesting figures of the 2024-25 campaign.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28353719/related

A Jonathan Kuminga star turn might reverse the Warriors' decline 

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. Next up: a whole team looking to rebound from a lost season and re-establish itself as a rising Western Conference power. Previous entries: <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048800" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">Damian Lillard</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048813" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048813">Darius Garland</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3058364" href="https://thescore.com/news/3058364">Christian Braun</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048806" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048806">Jalen Green</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3067067" href="https://thescore.com/news/3067067">Devin Vassell </a><figure class="article-segment--embed"><center>                         </center></figure>Every NBA season, a handful of teams have their hopes dashed by bad health luck. But rarely has the injury bug bitten as relentlessly or as venomously as it did the Memphis Grizzlies in 2023-24. <div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>To recap: Steven Adams never made it onto the court, undergoing season-ending knee surgery a day before opening night. His absence further hollowed a frontcourt already missing Brandon Clarke, who sat out all but the last two weeks of the season while rehabbing a torn Achilles. Ja Morant started the year serving a 25-game suspension, then suited up for just nine games before he was shut down with a torn labrum. Marcus Smart, for whom Memphis traded Tyus Jones and two first-round draft picks in the offseason, played 20 games due to ankle and finger ailments. Desmond Bane played 37 of the team's first 38 games, then sprained his ankle and played five the rest of the way. That's four of five projected starters combining to play less than one full individual season.The injuries extended deeper into the rotation, afflicting reserves like Luke Kennard, John Konchar, and Ziaire Williams. All told, 33 players saw game action for the Grizz, the most for any team in any season in NBA history. That they managed to win 27 games felt like a minor miracle. It was a lost season by any definition.Still, a season is rarely completely without value, no matter how hopeless it is. A handful of small gems glimmered under the debris in Memphis last year, from the self-creation reps and subtle offensive gains that Jaren Jackson Jr. attained in the absence of basically every playmaker on the roster, to the emergence of all-court chaos agent Vince Williams Jr., to the speckles of brilliance from two-way signee Scotty Pippen Jr., to the gunslinging exploits of second-round rookie GG Jackson II. The Grizzlies' futility also earned them the No. 9 pick in the draft, which they used to select gargantuan two-time Naismith Award winner Zach Edey.So now they get a fresh slate with a similar nucleus to the one that racked up 56 wins in 2021-22 and sat atop the Western Conference midway through the 2022-23 season, before injuries and Morant's gun-toting Instagram Live misadventures derailed them. In the wake of all those calamities, it's easy to forget just how good this team was, how bright its future once appeared - and might yet be. When they're all available, Morant, Bane, and Jackson still represent one of the league's best and most synergistic young trios.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/608419/cropped_GettyImages-1886269659.jpg?ts=1725902237" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/608419/w220xh124_GettyImages-1886269659.jpg?ts=1725902237 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/608419/w320xh180_GettyImages-1886269659.jpg?ts=1725902237 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/608419/w640xh360_GettyImages-1886269659.jpg?ts=1725902237 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/608419/w768xh432_GettyImages-1886269659.jpg?ts=1725902237 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/608419/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1886269659.jpg?ts=1725902237 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Sean Gardner / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Morant is a one-man fast break, a pick-and-roll maestro, and a midair passing magician whose at-rim finishing combines equal parts power and craft. He was an All-NBAer in his third season at age 22. Jackson is one of the best switch defenders and maybe the single best weak-side rim-protector alive. He was the Defensive Player of the Year at 23. Bane is an All-Star-caliber wing with evolving playmaking chops and one of the purest shooting strokes in the game. He's the oldest of the three at 26.A healthy Smart can theoretically complement that trio well, which is why Memphis gave up so much to acquire him. His rugged defense at the point of attack and at the nail can help protect Morant at that end. If he and Jackson can stay on the floor, this team should be a safe bet to finish with a top-10 defense. Heck, Memphis ranked 12th last season despite surrounding Jackson with two-way guys and G Leaguers for half the season. (The team finished second and fifth the two seasons prior.) At the other end, Smart's driving ability and crisp connective passing make him a solid fit with the rest of the starters, as well as a reliable option to run the offense when Morant is on the bench.At the same time, the Grizzlies might run into spacing issues when they play Morant and Smart (both shaky outside shooters) together alongside a traditional center. That's where their lineup-construction decisions get really interesting. Starting Santi Aldama next to Jackson would help the offense breathe, but it would also compromise defense and especially rebounding. The Jackson-Clarke frontcourt has always been a killer, though it's mostly been deployed against opposing bench groups. If Memphis opts to return to the formula that's worked best in the past, the question becomes: Is the 7-foot-4 Edey ready to start as a rookie?Despite all the noise about the benefits of making Jackson a full-time stretch-five, the Grizzlies typically perform better when he plays next to an even bigger big. Adams in particular was a crucial part of the the team's identity during its recent 50-plus-win campaigns, and his knee injury in 2022-23 was an underplayed factor in that year's collapse. Across two seasons, Memphis outscored teams by 9.7 points per 100 possessions, with a 120.9 offensive rating, when he and Jackson <a href="https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612763&amp;Season=2021-22,2022-23&amp;SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&amp;PlayerIds=1628991,203500">shared the court</a>.In 2021-22, the Grizzlies finished fourth in offensive rating, despite starting Morant, Dillon Brooks (a roughly equivalent shooter to Smart), and Adams together. They did so despite finishing 22nd in first-shot half-court efficiency, a magic trick enabled by their devastating Morant-led transition attack and Adams' unparalleled second-chance generation. Edey's offensive gifts and likely defensive limitations make him feel like more of a Jonas Valanciunas stand-in than an Adams replacement, but the hope is that he can approximate and perhaps even harmonize the role those two variously played in Memphis. <figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/636204/cropped_GettyImages-2160630187.jpg?ts=1725902349" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/636204/w220xh124_GettyImages-2160630187.jpg?ts=1725902349 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/636204/w320xh180_GettyImages-2160630187.jpg?ts=1725902349 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/636204/w640xh360_GettyImages-2160630187.jpg?ts=1725902349 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/636204/w768xh432_GettyImages-2160630187.jpg?ts=1725902349 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/636204/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2160630187.jpg?ts=1725902349 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Melissa Majchrzak / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>That role, broadly, is a hulking center who can set bone-crushing ball screens and Gortats for Morant and Bane, finish out of the pick-and-roll, run some DHO and split action from the elbow, post the odd mismatch, and inhale offensive rebounds at one end; and at the defensive end, save Jackson some physical punishment and clean the glass behind him while simultaneously being insulated by Jackson's elite court coverage and back-side help. (Entering the league as a slower-footed and perhaps coverage-limited big, you really couldn't ask for a better frontcourt partner than Jackson.)It will also be interesting to see whether the diamonds this team found in the rough can keep shining in a more glittery environment. This should be a very good team playing for real stakes; how will those intriguing performances translate this season?It's not hard to imagine how Williams can contribute to a winner. Much like Memphis is hoping Edey can serve as a facsimile of Adamsciunas, Williams will be tasked with replicating much of what Brooks provided, mainly in the form of nasty, in-your-jersey perimeter defense. He may not get to quite that defensive level, but he's also shown pops of offensive skill that Brooks never did, especially as a passer. On top of that, he has the instincts and the absurd length to be one of the best rebounding guards in the league. (He snagged 7.3 boards per 36 minutes last season.) If his 38% mark from 3-point range proves even remotely real, the Grizzlies will have an exceptionally valuable role player.Then there's GG Jackson, the 3-point-bombing forward who finished third on the team in total points as the youngest player in the NBA last season. He'll start this season on the shelf after breaking a bone in his foot during an offseason workout, but when he returns, he has the potential to provide a serious shot in the arm for a team that could always use more offensive punch, especially off the bench. But after having plenty of role security and the greenest lights for an accidental tanker, he'll have to rein in his shot-happy tendencies and improve as a playmaker and defender to get serious minutes for the healthy version of this squad. How much leash will he be afforded now that the results in the standings actually matter?If things break right, the Grizzlies could have one of the league's best bench groups. On top of Clarke, Aldama, Williams, and Jackson, there's Pippen (who balled out at Las Vegas Summer League), Konchar (a perpetually solid gap-filler on the wing), and Kennard (who owns the best 3-point percentage in the league over the last four seasons, having hit above 44% in each of them). If you're feeling particularly optimistic, Jake LaRavia still offers some intrigue.Obviously, not everything is going to break right. There are a lot of injury-prone players on the roster, so a clean bill of health is far from a given. Morant still has to demonstrate some serious off-court maturation. There are nearly as many reasons for skepticism as there are for excitement. But you don't have to squint hard to picture the Grizzlies returning to their perch in the upper echelon of the West. They are the NBA's forgotten contenders. Let's see if they can remind us why we believed in them in the first place.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28305362/related

The Grizzlies are the NBA's forgotten contenders 

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. Next up: an explosive but polarizing guard entering a pivotal season for an emerging team. Previous entries: <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048800" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">Damian Lillard</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048813" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048813">Darius Garland</a>, Christian Braun<figure class="article-segment--embed"><center>                         </center></figure>"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair." <div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Charles Dickens sure wrote trenchantly - and prophetically - about Jalen Green's 2023-24 campaign. It truly was a tale of two seasons for the Rockets' former No. 2 pick. As a third-year player, Green was developmentally stagnant and endlessly frustrating … until quite suddenly he became one of the most electrifying young guards in the league. His month of March marked an in-season turnaround unlike any in recent memory.Up to that point, Green was averaging 17.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, shooting 48% from 2-point range and 31% from deep. He'd made some real strides at the defensive end, but offensively he continued to be held back by shaky shooting, poor at-rim finishing, limited playmaking vision, and questionable decision-making.In a role that often required him to serve as an off-ball complement to veteran point guard Fred VanVleet and ascendant playmaking center Alperen Sengun (picked 16th in the same 2021 draft as Green), he struggled to find the appropriate balance of assertiveness and deference. He was a ghost down the stretch of games, running a 12% crunch-time usage rate. It didn't help that he was shooting less than 30% off the catch.Things got particularly dire in February, when he averaged 15.8 points on 46% true shooting during his worst month of the season. Even taking his youth into account, it was fair to question <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2818595" href="https://thescore.com/news/2818595">where he fit</a> into Houston's long-term plans.Then the calendar flipped and Green exploded, averaging 27.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists on 61% true shooting (56/41/77 splits) in March. He showed a newfound facility for changing speeds and patiently probing as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. Seemingly overnight, he became an expert at splitting hedges and traps. He went from shooting 56% at the rim to 72%, finally marrying his elite athleticism with real midair craft to execute some wildly acrobatic finishes. He routinely took control in crunch time, confidently making plays for himself and his teammates. And, oh yeah, he shot 42% on 5.5 pull-up threes a game.Green's a streaky player, but he'd never come close to an extended streak like that before. It wasn't empty production, either. The Rockets went 13-2 for the month to storm back into the play-in picture, notably doing so without Sengun for the last 10 of those games. They were a bottom-10 offense before then, but during that 15-game stretch they ranked third despite their offensive fulcrum being sidelined for most of it. They turbocharged their pace and jacked up their 3-point rate, with Green orchestrating the dance. They outscored opponents by 15.1 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742166/cropped_GettyImages-2147811686.jpg?ts=1724356816" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742166/w220xh124_GettyImages-2147811686.jpg?ts=1724356816 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742166/w320xh180_GettyImages-2147811686.jpg?ts=1724356816 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742166/w640xh360_GettyImages-2147811686.jpg?ts=1724356816 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742166/w768xh432_GettyImages-2147811686.jpg?ts=1724356816 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742166/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2147811686.jpg?ts=1724356816 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Adam Pantozzi / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Clouding the picture was the fact that this stretch coincided with the softest patch of Houston's schedule, and that as soon as April hit and the competition stiffened, Green's magic seemed to dissipate almost as quickly as it had appeared. His season, and the Rockets', ended with a whimper.If you're not entirely sure what to do with all that conflicting data, you aren't alone. Houston's front office doesn't seem to know what to make of it, either, and as a result there appears to be an impasse in extension negotiations with Green. The lack of a long-term agreement at this stage is totally fine; the worst-case scenario for the Rockets is Green becoming a restricted free agent for whom they can match any contract offer next summer. But it makes for an extremely interesting and potentially high-stakes campaign for both player and team.Probably the biggest question the Rockets will be hoping to have answered is how much of Green's blowup was attributable to Sengun's absence, and to what extent they can harmonize the best versions of those two players. Sengun is also extension-eligible this summer, and despite the fact that he's shown far more growth and consistent production than Green across three seasons, he also finds himself without a new deal.Houston is juggling a ton of different developmental priorities right now, with budding combo big man Jabari Smith Jr., second-year standouts Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore, third-year defensive ace Tari Eason, and tantalizing rookie Reed Sheppard flanking Green and Sengun, along with rugged vets VanVleet and Dillon Brooks. The more crowded the young-talent pipeline gets around them, the harder it is to imagine the Rockets paying both guys their next contracts.That could change if Green and Sengun manage to really sync up this coming season. Their two-man game did improve in 2023-24, but Sengun ultimately had a lot more success running pick-and-rolls and dribble-handoff actions with VanVleet, while Green's best moments came with the freakishly athletic Thompson playing small-ball five in Sengun's place.What's the ideal role for Green, anyway? It once seemed like he'd best serve the Rockets as a kind of hybrid guard who tilted toward play-finishing, but he looked a lot more comfortable and self-assured once Sengun's injury forced the ball into his hands. It's also worth noting Green was a fair bit better on pull-up threes (33.5%) than catch-and-shoots (31.6%) last season, and that he's the rare player for whom that isn't an outlier; he has nearly equivalent numbers on those shot types for his career. It might just be a more comfortable shot for him. He can manufacture a ton of separation with his step-back, after all.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742167/cropped_GettyImages-1901103069.jpg?ts=1724356925" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742167/w220xh124_GettyImages-1901103069.jpg?ts=1724356925 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742167/w320xh180_GettyImages-1901103069.jpg?ts=1724356925 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742167/w640xh360_GettyImages-1901103069.jpg?ts=1724356925 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742167/w768xh432_GettyImages-1901103069.jpg?ts=1724356925 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/742167/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1901103069.jpg?ts=1724356925 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Carmen Mandato / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Regardless, Sengun's skill set - and the realities of <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2883055" href="https://thescore.com/news/2883055">modern offense</a> - dictate that he'll be at the center of everything Houston does on offense when he's on the floor, which means Green will have to readjust. He clearly underwent a mindset shift when Sengun went down; now the Rockets need him to bottle that assertive mentality and apply it to a role in which he'll spend less time with the ball and more time orbiting Sengun, VanVleet, and possibly even Sheppard, who, on top of his shooting prowess, flashed some serious on-ball juice in Summer League.For all the pops of self-created scoring peppering Green's young career, he's yet to demonstrate that he has the playmaking instincts to be a true lead guard. But that limitation, if it remains as such, doesn't have to prevent him from being a foundational piece in Houston. Zach LaVine with better defense would be a great outcome - and not a wildly unrealistic one - for Green and the Rockets. To actualize that potential, he has to prove he can sustain some semblance of the jump shooting and rim finishing he demonstrated in March over the course of a full season. And he needs to make better use of the physical tools that could make him one of the best slashers and off-the-catch attackers in the league.Even if his monthlong offensive explosion proves largely to be a mirage, his continued defensive growth could be a significant variable for the 2024-25 Rockets, especially when you think about the potential viability of him and Sheppard - who'll likely need a good deal of insulation in his debut season - playing together.Houston didn't have to make any major decisions regarding its core pieces this summer, but those decisions loom on the not-too-distant horizon. The 30-year-old VanVleet doesn't feel like a long-term solution, and he has just one guaranteed year left on his contract (plus a 2025-26 team option). Heck, the front office has already <a href="https://x.com/wojespn/status/1805786890185900180">reportedly</a> tried to pre-empt those big decisions by dangling some assets in trade proposals for veteran stars.Whether or not you think that's a good idea, the writing is on the wall: The Rockets know they won't be able to pay all their young guys coming up for lucrative new deals. This season will likely determine which side of the commitment line they wind up on regarding Green.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28163298/related

It's time for Jalen Green to show the Rockets who he really is 

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. Next up: a once-ascendant young star looking to rebound from a nightmarish season to get his team to the next level. Previous entries: <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048800" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">Damian Lillard</a>In the immediate aftermath of the Cavaliers' second-round playoff elimination this past spring, a report from The Athletic indicated that Darius Garland was prepared to push for a trade if Cleveland extended backcourt mate Donovan Mitchell. That was a tad strange, as it seemed to suggest Garland believed Mitchell - and/or the Cavs' roster as a whole - was holding him back in some fashion. In reality, it was closer to being the other way around in 2023-24.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Mitchell had an All-NBA campaign in which he <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2836093" href="https://thescore.com/news/2836093">thrived as a point guard</a> in Garland's absence, but it's not like Garland's offensive role was seriously minimized when both were healthy. He still spent more time with the ball in his hands than Mitchell did, and his 6.6 minutes of possession per game <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?DateFrom=&amp;DateTo=&amp;Season=2023-24&amp;dir=D&amp;sort=TIME_OF_POSS">ranked ninth</a> in the NBA. The twofold problem was that he didn't do enough with those on-ball reps, and he went from shooting 44% to 35% on off-the-catch threes.It was a strange and uneven season due largely to circumstances beyond Garland's control. He strained his hamstring on opening night, struggled upon returning two weeks later, and then broke his jaw just when he was finally getting back on track in December. He missed six weeks, lost 12 pounds, and never looked quite right thereafter. It's important to keep those mitigating factors in mind when evaluating Garland - who was an All-Star at 22 just two years ago - but we can still be honest about the role he played in the Cavs' disappointing campaign.His handle was looser than in years past, leading to major turnover issues and an inability to create separation. He didn't look at all comfortable driving or finishing through contact, shooting just 46% on drives after being above 50% in each of the previous two seasons. That aversion to physicality also made him more exploitable defensively, and he got hunted relentlessly on that end in the playoffs.For the first time since Garland's rookie year, the Cavs performed worse with him on the court than they did with him on the bench. They were 4.8 points per 100 possessions better when Mitchell played without Garland than when they played together, per PBP Stats. Tellingly, the Cavs put together their most inspiring stretch of the season - a run of 17 wins in 18 games - largely without Garland in the lineup.In any event, Garland and his reps at Klutch Sports don't appear to have followed through on their reported threat despite the Cavs inking Mitchell to a max extension that runs through at least 2026-27. (It would've been hard to get the front office to acquiesce, given that Garland has three years left on his max contract, with his trade value currently at a low ebb.) The team also extended its frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, thus locking in the core quartet that has tantalized and underwhelmed in almost equal measure since Mitchell joined via a blockbuster trade two years ago.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/614452/cropped_GettyImages-1793799408.jpg?ts=1723835747" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/614452/w220xh124_GettyImages-1793799408.jpg?ts=1723835747 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/614452/w320xh180_GettyImages-1793799408.jpg?ts=1723835747 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/614452/w640xh360_GettyImages-1793799408.jpg?ts=1723835747 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/614452/w768xh432_GettyImages-1793799408.jpg?ts=1723835747 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/614452/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1793799408.jpg?ts=1723835747 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Rocky Widner / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Cleveland ostensibly made progress last season, notching the franchise's first playoff series win of the post-LeBron era. But narrowly surviving a seven-game slog against an inexperienced Magic team - in a matchup the Cavs took pains to engineer via shameless tanking - didn't feel all that convincing. By almost any other measure, they were worse last season than they were in 2022-23, falling from 51 to 48 wins, from seventh to 16th in offensive efficiency, and from second to 13th in net rating.Some of that had to do with bad injury luck, but a lot of it had to do with Garland's drop-off. The Cavs' ability to take a more meaningful step forward in 2024-25 rests heavily on the extent to which he can bounce back.The good news is we have ample evidence not only that Garland is way better than he showed last season, but that he can complement all of Mitchell, Mobley, and Allen extremely well. At his best, Garland is a wicked pick-and-roll operator whose elite pull-up shooting, passing vision, and ability to maintain a live dribble in traffic help make Cleveland's non-shooting two-big frontcourt tenable offensively. In their first season together, he and Mitchell had terrific on-court synergy, playing off one another cooperatively rather than engaging in a tug-of-war. For all the vulnerabilities that typically come with playing two small guards, the Cavs still finished first and seventh in defensive efficiency the last two years. Having one of the most stifling frontcourts in basketball certainly helps, but give the backcourt its due; Mitchell has been legitimately good defensively, and Garland - while not as long or strong - battles his ass off on that end when healthy.The Cavs smacked opponents by 8.8 points per 100 possessions with their four top guys on the court in 2022-23, with elite marks on both sides of the ball. Even in their embarrassing playoff flameout against the Knicks, they finished with the best defensive rating of any postseason team. Their failures have primarily been of the offensive variety. Garland, more than anyone else on the roster, has the growth potential to mitigate those issues.Amid his struggles last season, the core quartet's scoring margin shrunk to 2.2 points per 100 as its offensive rating plummeted from 118.9 to 112.3. (This despite a much more offensively dynamic wing in Max Strus replacing Isaac Okoro as the fifth starter.) Still, Garland's chemistry with Mobley shone through; with them on the floor and Mitchell and Allen off, Cleveland posted a plus-10.8 net rating.The Cavs would surely be thrilled just to have Garland return to the level he played at a couple years ago, if only to rebuild his trade value. (Trading him or Allen might be their only viable way to acquire more quality two-way wing play.) But it's also reasonable to expect more considering how recently Garland was one of the game's most promising young guards. Development is rarely linear, and players don't usually peak at 22.Mitchell's extension has given this iteration of the Cavs a longer runway. If Garland can get back on his star trajectory and ascend in the way that once felt inevitable, it'll give the team a chance to fully take flight.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore.

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A Darius Garland bounce back might change what's possible for the Cavs

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. First up: an aging superstar trying to give a fading contender one last kick at the can. There are plenty of explanations for why the Milwaukee Bucks underachieved last season, be it lousy perimeter defense, a misbegotten schematic overhaul, poor communication from the sidelines that led to a midseason coaching change, a lack of functional depth, or the fact that their two best players were sidelined or hobbled in the playoffs.But the most salient reason is that Damian Lillard, for whom the Bucks exchanged Jrue Holiday and basically all of their remaining tradeable draft assets on the eve of training camp, wasn't quite the offensive powerhouse his new team needed him to be, nor the one he'd been for the previous decade in Portland.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>By his lofty standards, Lillard had a down year as a 3-point shooter and struggled from the mid-range. He drove the ball less often and less effectively than in recent seasons, posting the lowest rim frequency of his career. He had his least efficient pick-and-roll scoring season in eight years. For those reasons <a href="https://www.thescore.com/news/2757879">and others</a>, the two-man game between him and Giannis Antetokounmpo never fully clicked, though it steadily improved after an especially bumpy start. For Milwaukee, swapping Holiday for Lillard meant accepting a significant defensive downgrade, and the team's offense didn't improve enough to compensate.The big question heading into another pressure-packed campaign is whether that down year represented an outlier or Lillard's new baseline. Lillard has insisted it was the former, citing a combination of lifestyle upheaval (moving cities for the first time in his career), the short runway to get acclimated before the start of the season, and personal issues behind the scenes. He also just turned 34, so age-related decline can't be ruled out, even if he had arguably the <a href="https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/2588721">best season of his career</a> the year before.Milwaukee can only hope that Lillard is right and a bounceback is coming.There are a few other factors that can nudge the Bucks toward the higher end of their range of potential outcomes, including better injury luck in the playoffs, a healthier campaign from Khris Middleton overall, a slight upgrade from Malik Beasley to Gary Trent Jr. at the fifth starter spot, and a full season with someone other than Adrian Griffin at the helm. But those factors alone won't push them back to the front of a suddenly crowded group of Eastern Conference contenders. As of now, it's hard to slot Milwaukee ahead of Boston, New York, or Philadelphia. If the Lillard of 2022-23 reappears, though, it's a different story. His performance stands as one of the most important variables not only for the Bucks but for the whole league.On the plus side, a disappointing season still saw Lillard average 24.3 points and seven assists on above-average efficiency while piling up free throws and remaining a crunch-time assassin. The Bucks outscored opponents by 16.6 points per 100 possessions in 677 minutes with him, Antetokounmpo, Middleton, and Brook Lopez on the floor together. And they pushed a quality Pacers team in the first round despite Antetokounmpo sitting out the whole series and Lillard aggravating an Achilles injury that caused him to miss Games 4 and 5 before returning hobbled for Game 6.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/626484/cropped_GettyImages-2149764573.jpg?ts=1723665963" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/626484/w220xh124_GettyImages-2149764573.jpg?ts=1723665963 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/626484/w320xh180_GettyImages-2149764573.jpg?ts=1723665963 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/626484/w640xh360_GettyImages-2149764573.jpg?ts=1723665963 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/626484/w768xh432_GettyImages-2149764573.jpg?ts=1723665963 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/626484/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2149764573.jpg?ts=1723665963 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Ron Hoskins / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>We still glimpsed some vintage Dame Time transcendence in that series, including a 35-point first half in Game 1. He averaged a ludicrous 1.46 points per possession as a pick-and-roll ball-handler in the four games he played. He didn't get a proper offseason last year, and having one now could help him further develop his offensive partnership with Antetokounmpo. He already has great pick-and-roll chemistry with Lopez.The Bucks have as much riding on the 2024-25 campaign as any team in the NBA. They've sacrificed every ounce of future capital and every shred of financial flexibility to win big right now. And their core is aging. Lopez remains Milwaukee's defensive backbone - and was often the only thing keeping the team halfway decent at that end last season - but he'll turn 37 in the spring. Middleton is 33, and injuries have cost him 76 games over the last two seasons.Antetokounmpo is still in his prime heading into his age-30 campaign, and his offensive game is as potent as ever, but his defense is slipping. This is also the last year before his gargantuan extension kicks in; he and Lillard alone will make $127 million (or approximately 82% of the projected salary cap) in 2025-26. The second apron looms as an impediment to augmenting or even sustaining the team around them.There's a reason the Bucks' front office has been acting with so much urgency, a reason they deemed it necessary to trade a player as beloved as Holiday, to fire a coach as successful as Mike Budenholzer, and to <a href="https://www.thescore.com/news/2829149">fire his replacement</a> just a half-season into his tenure, despite the team being 30-13 at the time. If Antetokounmpo is going to win another ring in Milwaukee, it sure feels like now or never. And if it's going to be now, he'll need everything his co-star has to give.Lillard hasn't faced that kind of pressure before. He obviously dealt with pressure in Portland, where the Blazers were heavily dependent on his nightly production just to stay respectable, but this is different; expectations are in a whole other stratosphere now. This might well be the most important season of his Hall of Fame career. That makes him undoubtedly one of the most interesting players to watch in 2024-25.Joe Wolfond covers the NBA for theScore

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Can a rejuvenated Lillard save the desperate Bucks?

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Joe Wolfond

Features Writer

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