SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #17 Portland Trail Blazers

SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #17 Portland Trail Blazers

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by | Jul 13, 2020 | Featured, NBA

Continuing on our countdown list, we’ve officially reached day six for the bubble breakdowns, and this list is heating up quickly. Just yesterday, we mentioned the second of four teams who are within the tight clench in pursuit of the eighth seed in the West, and today, the third team within reach of the eighth seed needs little introduction. In fact, this team, decimated by injuries in 2019-20, was a participant in the Western Conference Finals just a season ago…

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Portland’s Season In Review (29-37, 9th In West)

We expected Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum’s Portland Trail Blazers to take that next leap into superstardom with little in their way to stop them in the West. A trip to the conference finals for the first time since 2000 during their 2018-19 campaign signified the true arrival of Rip City onto the landscape of championship contenders and for a while, many speculated if Portland was next in line to advance to a franchise-first NBA Finals as a result of their progress.

Lillard and McCollum were projected to be the league’s most destructive backcourt with the Golden State Warriors essentially taking a year off while they let Klay Thompson heal from his ruptured ACL suffered in the Finals against Toronto, and a healthy Blazers team with all of their missing pieces including Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins was ready to see their championship window opened.

That wouldn’t be the case at all as the season progressed.

Portland started the season with a plethora of questions ranging from who would step up in the place of Jusuf Nurkic, who suffered an infamously gruesome leg injury in March of 2019. Portland has been without four of their best big men and throughout the season, have been forced to plug-in reserves who wouldn’t otherwise be factored within the minutes plan into critical roles at the four and five.

A starting frontcourt composed of Nurkic and Collins molded into Hassan Whiteside and Nassir Little as the season’s gone by. And now, the Blazers find themselves fighting for their collective playoff lives in the NBA bubble. Sitting at 9th in the West, a massive regression and a rather one-sided effort from the likes of Damian Lillard compared to his adversaries pits the Trail Blazers in a tough predicament heading into Orlando.

It’s been a frustrating year for Terry Stotts, to say the least. Injuries have piled up, making his combination of starters, second and additional units a little difficult to piece together. And while Lillard is putting on a historic season, so much of Portland’s issues have stemmed from a variety of causes.

For one, they’ve been abysmal on the defensive end, ranking 27th in total defensive rating. So don’t let that statistic of them leading the NBA in blocks as a team with 6.2 blocks per game confuse you.

One reason as to why they’ve underperformed on defense has to do with their lack of consistent rebounding. Even after trading for Hassan Whiteside to provide a temporary fix to their lack of board presence in the wake of not having Nurkic, Portland currently ranks 27th in the defensive rebounding statistic.

Additionally, while some of the best perimeter lockdown guys in their rotation were placed on the injured reserve as players like Rodney Hood went down early in the season to an injured Achilles tendon, others like Gary Trent Jr. and Anfernee Simons have answered the call in Stotts’ complementary units off the bench. Trent, the Blazers’ 21-year-old, 2nd-year two-guard off the bench earned an opportunity due to those injuries as and he showed improvement as the season progressed. Over a 19-game stretch from January 18 through March 2, Trent averaged 13.5 points on an effective field goal percentage of 60%.

For an offense that’s needed a third scorer at the guard spot, Trent has risen up in a way that no one predicted. As an above-average 3-point shooter (38.8%), he has not only complemented the Blazers’ guards offensively with his sniping from deep but has helped tremendously in his ability to stretch the floor as an off-ball scorer.

So much so, that his shooting from deep has benefitted others within the offense, none more so than Carmelo Anthony, the newly-acquainted Trail Blazer acquired in November to counter Portland’s injury woes. Right out of the gate, Anthony resembled his younger self, averaging 22.3 points per contest on an effective field goal percentage of 62.7 percent with his new team during a three-game winning streak. In his first game, Melo dropped 19 in dazzling fashion as his Blazers secured a 136-119 home rout of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

For a moment, it felt like both Lillard, McCollum and this new-look Blazers team finally turned the corner, finally equipping their third piece. But up until the hiatus, they’ve submitted a subpar record of 20-25 even with Melo in their lineup.

Now, a majority of those losses had to do with the latter: a bevy of injuries to integral parts of the team, defensive inefficiency, inconsistency from starters on offense, and a struggle on the glass. What hasn’t been a thorn in Portland’s side was the tremendous play from Damian Lillard. An effort so good that the five-time All-Star was graced with the honors of being the cover athlete for NBA 2k21 because of it.

To put it into perspective just how groundbreaking Damian Lillard’s 2019-20 season is to Blazers fans, take this scenario into consideration: I’m going to throw out two players at you, and as you compare and contrast the two players, I want to see if you, the reader, can take a guess as to who’s stats these are while looking at the similarities by the time I reveal these statistics.

The first player has a season where he averages 30.1 points per game, 6.7 assists per game, 5.4 rebounds per game off a field goal percentage of 50.4, a 45.4 three-point percentage, 3.3 turnovers per game and a 90.8 free throw percentage.

The second player has a season where he averages around 28.9 points per game, 7.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 2.9 turnovers per game, a 45.7 shooting percentage from deep, a 39.4 three-point percentage, and an 88.8 free throw percentage.

YouTube/6Man

Here’s a little hint: one of these players was voted as an MVP at multiple points in his career…

Did you get it yet? Nah? Alright…here’s the answer.

YouTube/6Man

The year that Stephen Curry posted up this stat line was the year he became the first player in NBA history to unanimous MVP in 2016. This was also the season that we all know his Golden State Warriors went 73-9.

It’s wild to think that Lillard this year is putting up similar, almost identical numbers to that of Curry’s repeating MVP season this year, but his 29-37 Blazers are in such a funk that it will be hard for them to get out of. Fortunately, with the way that Lillard had been carrying these Blazers, they’re within the perfect position to challenge for the eighth and final seed.

The Blazers are just 10-21 against playoff teams this year. But four of those 10 wins (Ws against the Pacers, Rockets, Lakers, and Jazz) came in the span of seven days, part of the stretch in which Lillard was playing at a nearly extraterrestrial level.

Whether it was his career-high 61 points dropped on the Golden State Warriors with 10 assists and seven rebounds on January 20, that Pacers game on January 26 (the emotional game played by the Pacers the day of Kobe Bryant’s passing) that Dame dropped 50 points with 13 assists while shooting 60.9 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from deep…

…or the 36-point performance against Houston one night later…

…or the electric 48-point-10-assist supershow he put on in front of a Staples Center crowd during Kobe’s memorial game against the Lakers…

…or his epic 51-point-12-assist night against Utah in a back-to-back…the Weber State product made legendary strides in the Winter.

Lillard became the first player since Kobe Bryant in 2007 to have more 50+ point games in a stretch of seven days or more. This would warrant a fifth All-Star selection from the Blazers’ superstar guard, but he wouldn’t be able to play in the game due to a hip injury.

His season has been so prolific that it wouldn’t be surprising to see him land some MVP votes once the season concludes.

Per NBA.com’s Senior Stat Analyst Jon Schuhmann – “His 36.9 minutes per game lead the league and he’s one of three players in the top six in both points (28.9, fifth) and assists (7.8, sixth) per game. His true shooting percentage of 61.9% is a career-best mark and the third-highest mark among 40 players with a usage rate of 25% or higher.

His ability to shoot off the dribble is one of the league’s most dangerous weapons. Lillard has an effective field goal percentage of 55.3% on pull-up jumpers, the best mark among 139 players who have attempted at least 100. He ranks second with 13.5 pick-and-roll ball-handler possessions per game and the 1.14 points per possession he’s scored on ball-handler possessions is the best mark among 56 players who have averaged at least five per contest.

The Blazers have the league’s third-biggest differential between their winning percentage in clutch games (16-13, .552) and that in non-clutch games (13-24, .351), and Lillard has obviously been their go-to guy down the stretch. He’s tied for the league lead with seven baskets (on 12 attempts) to tie or take the lead in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime.”

If he keeps this up in Orlando with consistent rebounders and rim protectors around him, Portland has a great shot of reaching the playoffs for another year.

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Portland’s Roster For Season Resumption: Logo Lillard can only do so much, but now it’s up to his healthy supporting cast to carry the rest of the load.

After everything mentioned, Damian Lillard is the true MVP of this team, undoubtedly. But, no one man goes unassisted in getting a team above-.500. Therefore, the returns of elite rim protectors and stretch bigs Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins must help complement the vaunted backcourt of Lillard and CJ McCollum.

It’s imperative of them to do so, considering that, like any other team, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

One of the more consistent starting lineups in the NBA belongs to Terry Stotts’ Portland Trail Blazers. With Dame and C.J. McCollum (22.5 ppg., 4.1 rpg., 4.3 apg.) taking heed of the second-highest scoring backcourts in the league, the forward spots are a bit up in the air. Regular starter Trevor Ariza is taking this time off to tend to some prior family obligations and won’t be present for the Orlando games.

So, Carmelo Anthony (15.3 ppg., 6.3 rpg.,1.6 apg.) is the likely starter at the small forward spot for Portland with Mario Hezonja (4.8 ppg., 3.4 rpg., 0.9 apg.) and Jaylen Hoard (2.9 ppg., 2.5 rpg., 0.3 apg.) possibly sharing minutes with Rodney Hood being out for the season. With Jusuf Nurkic all healed up and ready to go, he and Hassan Whiteside (16.3 ppg., 14.2 rpg., 1.2 apg., 2.5 bpg.) will split reps at center.

Though Whiteside will still have starting minutes, this will give the bench some balance. Currently, it is yet to be seen how many minutes Caleb Swanigan (3 ppg., 4.7 rpg., 1.4 apg.), Wenyan Gabriel (2.4 ppg., 2.1 rpg., 0.3 apg.) and Moses Brown (1.2 ppg., 1.6 rpg., 0.1 apg.) get in the Orlando rotation.

It will take some time for Nurkic to get used to the pace of NBA action with a year sitting on the bench. But when he’s on the floor, you’re talking about one of the most intimidating, bruising big men in all of basketball. Standing at 7 feet tall, the Bosnian Beast was averaging 15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 blocks per gameup until his untimely injury just weeks until the team’s deep playoff run in 2019.

Also, getting Collins back helps in bunches, especially since he hasn’t set foot on an NBA floor since October when he injured his shoulder against Dallas. Up until he got hurt, the Gonzaga Bulldog was averaging a little under 10 points a game with 4 rebounds and 2 assists per contest. Of course, those minutes will gradually increase with a bigger sample. Collins was known for his skill as a shooter and rim protector, characteristics scouts find perpendicular to the model of crafting a championship roster in the modern NBA when scouting big men.

Once Zach Collins sits down, expect trusted rookie and former UNC standout Nassir Little to get some burn as well as up the tempo with his ability to push the pace in the open floor. Occasionally, the power forward has shown tendency to pop the three-ball, shooting a 23.7 percentage from deep. Otherwise, he’s a solid roll man and athletic, lengthy defender who is capable of holding his own out on the perimeter.

Finally the guard position will fluctuate in terms of productivity and overall effectiveness. Rookie Anfernee Simons (8.8 ppg., 2.3 rpg., 1.5 apg.) has been a surprise this year and will split minutes with Gary Trent (7.7 ppg., 1.7 rpg., 0.9 apg.) as shot creators and scorers off the catch.

Reminder: if this roster stays healthy, this is a dangerous team. But their strength of schedule will be the ultimate factor in determining if they are able to keep their position in the West and challenge the Grizzlies in a play-in tournament after the seeding games end.

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Portland’s Schedule, At A Glance

In comparison to the other four teams duking it out for the final playoff spot in the West, things won’t be as peachy attaining that eighth seed for the Trail Blazers. At least, that’s what their schedule – the sixth hardest schedule for the NBA restart among 22 teams – says.

Do remember that this Blazers team has only won 10 games against playoff-bound teams all year, and even if healthy in their frontcourt, there’s no guarantee they’ll escape with a victory in each of their games. That’d usually be a non-issue…if you only had like three or four games against teams with winning records.

Problem is, Portland is now forced to go against a playoff-qualifying team in every game they suit up for in Orlando.

Starting off with the Memphis Grizzlies on July 31, they have a shot to actually get within a game of the eighth seed with a win. After that, they’ll try to exact revenge on Jayson Tatum (who dropped 36 on their heads in the last matchup) and Jaylen Brown’s Boston Celtics, who hold the third seed in the East. The battle of the two highest-scoring backcourts in the NBA takes place soon after, as Dame and CJ will play James Harden and Russell Westbrook’s Houston Rockets one game later. Soon after that, they conclude the first half of their schedule with a game against Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets.

Things don’t get easier in the second half of Portland’s schedule. Starting out with a game against the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-led Los Angeles Clippers, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers await soon after. They finish their seeding schedule with games against Luka Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks and Caris LeVert’s Brooklyn Nets.

As if things could get any harder for the Portland Trail Blazers, there they have it. But if there’s anyone that looks adversity in the eye, and discerns it to help his teammates work toward the common goal while also answering the call to showing the most equinamity under tension, it’s Damian Lillard.

And it’ll take a team effort, for sure. But when it comes down toit, the Blazers only go as far as their superstar at the guard spot. And if the Blazers are to get to the playoffs for the sixth time in a row, it’ll have to be Dame Time, all the time.

Jul 13, 2020 No Comments
SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #18 San Antonio Spurs

SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #18 San Antonio Spurs

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by | Jul 12, 2020 | Featured, NBA

It’s another day that we inch closer to the restart of the NBA season, and that means it’s time to add another edition of the Bubble Breakdowns into the countdown. It’s day five of our countdown and since we’re 18 days away from the official resumption, it’s time to add team No. 18 to this list.

Today’s squad headed to Orlando: the San Antonio Spurs.

After 23 long years of continuous playoff qualification and repeated success produced by Gregg Popovich, who would’ve thought that the Spurs would have ever been caught in this predicament. While jockeying for position in a tight clinch with four other teams battling for the eighth and final seed in the West, the Spurs face the imminent danger of missing out on the postseason for the first time since 1997 if they don’t get within four games of challenging for the final playoff as they’ll be unable to force a play-in tournament.

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San Antonio’s Season in Review (27-36, 12th in West)

Much of San Antonio’s difficulties this year could have very well stemmed from an archaic playing style that prioritizes utilizing the area within the arc as primary spots to score, evident by the Spurs shooting the 28th most amount of threes of any team in the NBA. The Spurs lost eight games in a row from Nov. 9-22, and why is that losing skid significant, you ask? Former Spurs head coach Bob Hill, the guy who was canned before Gregg Popovich, was the only Spurs head coach in franchise history to have a worse losing skid than the five-time champion head coach back in 1996, the year he was let go.

And as we can all recount history, the next month Gregg Popovich – the team’s general manager back then – fired Hill and assumed responsibilities as the coach. San Antonio finished 20-62, won the NBA Draft lottery and selected Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick. So it’s practically a full cycle of karma that you could say the Spurs organization is undergoing.

Now, two decades later, 71-year old Popovich is experiencing a downturn of the same sorts: the harrowing reality of a lottery pick year ensuing as a result of not adapting towards the league-wide trend of following analytics, refusing to transition his coaching methods to conform to the successfully-proven methods of pace and space, pick and roll, motion offense that allows the current archetypal players to flex their strengths in the open court, and not having enough star power other than their two All-Stars in DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge.

And by the way, Aldridge is going to miss the rest of the season due to a procedure done on his left shoulder. Replicating his productivity while on the bubble of the eighth seed doesn’t’ show a whole lot of good for this Spurs team.

But let’s get real for a quick second: we all predicted that the Spurs would get in the mesh of things in such an arduous West either one way or another. And we’d all have this presumptive picture in mind that playoff seeding for one of the most classy and functional organizations in all of sports would be stapled in the playoff picture somehow.

I mean, it’s just the collective ordinance of things: A Gregg Popovich-coached team based off of proper usage of fundamental, boring and non-pizazz type of scheme that produces mightily come postseason time when it’s usually up to unheralded (albeit most of the time, international) prospects to fit like puzzle pieces with their three-to-four integral team members to take down some of the West’s biggest powers, even though they themselves lack the household name-worthy talent.

But it seems the old device of tradition that Popovich has favored for more than 20 years has run its course, and though it’s brought championship gold to the table five times, there are too many things holding the Spurs back from hitting that championship potential, and really it doesn’t just boil down to their lack of significant talent. Derrick White, DeJounte Murray, Marco Bellinelli, Patty Mills, Jakob Poetl, and others are solid, pure playmakers in a Popovich-led offense, which in itself bellies its own definition.

But even if the Spurs rank 11th in the NBA for total offensive efficiency, it’s the fact that Pop’s maverick-like attitude when it comes to his playcalling just isn’t in accordance with the modern NBA anymore. Also, keep in mind that the Spurs are still one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, with their 24th-ranked defensive efficiency (112.8).

They’ve struggled to score around the perimeter and, go figure, have been even worse trying to guard the perimeter as well. Both Aldridge and DeRozan didn’t have the best season trying to stop versatile wing scorers from burning them from deep, and it seems that the rest of the team has followed their lead.

However, they’ve started in the trending upwards of improvement to troubleshoot some of these issues, like sending Demarre Carroll, one of their worst defenders, to the Houston Rockets and subsequently giving more minutes to the athletic Lonnie Walker IV, their esteemed second-year two-guard out of Miami that the organization has been so high on all year.

One key moment that signified an impending future that could be focused around Walker this year was San Antonio’s huge double OT win over Houston at home. James Harden’s Rockets took a commanding 16-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, and Popovich put Walker on the floor to see what he could do in what looked like a night of learning and reflection for a Spurs team that was down on their luck. Walker would then go on to drop 19 points in the fourth quarter and force overtime, leading up to a 28-point night and coming-out show for the guard, who came off the bench to spark his team to victory.

There have been moments this year that have reminded us of just how potent a Spurs team has always been when you throw them into the fray of a stacked Western Conference. Who could forget the Clippers matchup inside the AT&T center on November 29, when San Antonio fans booed and jeered ex-communicated Spur Kawhi Leonard in 107-97 statement victory?

Or the other emotional moments when time overlapped itself, as assistant head coach Tim Duncan took over as Head coach for a night when Coach Pop couldn’t be in the building for “personal reasons” during a 104-103 home win against the Charlotte Hornets, and when the era of the dominant Big Three came to an official end on November 11 when San Antonio hung the legendary jersey of Tony Parker into the rafters with assistant coach Duncan and Pop watching with admiration from afar.

The Spurs are well within the fold of making the postseason and extending one of the most impressive streak of playoff visits in all of sports, but will have to rely on integrating some new play styles and rigidity on the defensive end if they’re serious about it.

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San Antonio’s Roster For Season Resumption: The post-big-three era in SA isn’t off to a great start, but a regrouping and playoff qualification is “doable”.

To put it neatly, it’d be comparing night and day assessing this roster and comparing it to playoff-ready teams in years past. It’s still weird to consider that not that long ago, San Antonio was the one team out West that no one dare wanted to go up against during any round of the postseason, but that was years ago.

Then again, it’s not all that bad when you take a gander on just what Coach Pop will roll out on the court come later this month.

Having your starting lineup consist of DeRozan and Aldridge is still threatening, no matter how two-dimensional DeRozan’s game may be, and no matter how many years Aldridge is past his prime. DeRozan, their dynamic slashing shooting guard who is in his second season as a Spur, is averaging a solid 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. But the problem of him not opting to pop the three has hurt the Spurs in multitudes.

His only three this season was against the Clippers in a 10-point win, as he still hasn’t factored in the three-ball into his game, all because of his choice not to do so.

“I just don’t shoot ‘em. It’s not a matter of I can’t shoot ‘em, just never shoot them. But whenever I get the opportunity, I am going to shoot them. I don’t mind missing, I don’t mind whatever. It’s just a matter of me shooting ‘em,” DeRozan said in a press conference after his Spurs beat the Clippers back in December.

As for Aldridge, the 34-year-old big man was a throwback to the old interior bigs that shrunk defenses but didn’t exactly create enough space for their other four teammates to operate with off-ball. And while he wasn’t the same type of player dating back to his days as a Trail Blazer, LMA was still a doozy to stick within the mid-range. He averaged 18.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in 33.1 minutes per game this season and replacing his value is something that doesn’t look like something that the rest of these Spurs will be able to do on paper.

But that doesn’t mean they should be counted out.

“He’s definitely going to be a loss as far as the team with his leadership, scoring, and stuff like that,” Lyles said. “I think everybody is going to be able to step up – me particularly,” said Trey Lyles, a former Kentucky Wildcat and first-in-line substitute for Aldridge once the season resumes in Orlando in an interview with Jeff Garcia from NBC News 4 in San Antonio.

“I’ve had to endure some of his minutes and I think it’s shown in a positive way,” he said.

And he may be right, to an extent. He’s shown flashes of him being able to carry the weight when LMA isn’t on the floor, as shown during his matching of his longest career-streak of 20-plus points with 20 points and six rebounds against Indiana on March 2, as well as his grabbing of a career-high 14 rebounds against the #1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks in the East.

If Pop needs him to stretch the floor at the four, he also showed that he is a capable 3-point shooter making four 3-point shots in three games. Alongside him in the Spurs frontcourt is that of Jakob Poetl (5.3 ppg., 5.3 rpg., 1.8 apg.), another lengthy big that is efficient around the rim shooting an impressive 61 percent, but has missed five games over the course of the season due to a knee injury. His knee is fine, as reported, and he is likely to see a bump in total minutes on the floor as the starting center.

In the backcourt, the Spurs expect to roll out the duo of starting guard DeJounte Murray (10.7 ppg., 5.8 rpg., 4.1 apg.), Bryn Forbes (11.2 ppg., 2 rpg., 1.7 apg.) and alongside him as a starter at the two slot. Pop will likely bump up DeRozan to play Small Forward to disguise his looks in the halfcourt.

As it goes for the bench, Gregg Popovich will rely on off-ball scorer and swingmen Patty Mills (11.7 ppg., 1.6 rpg., 1.8 apg.), Lonnie Walker IV (5.6 ppg., 2.2 rpg., 0.9 apg.) and Marco Bellinelli (5.8 ppg., 1.7 rpg., 1.2 apg.) to provide energy and an offensive spark for the second unit, Small Forward Rudy Gay (10 ppg., 5.4 rpg., 1.7 apg.) to be the old isolation scorer he’s always been within the system, and rookie forward Keldon Johnson (4.6 ppg., 1.9 rpg., 0.7 apg.) to stretch the floor with his own three-ball and provide length on the perimeter defensively. Also, backup center Chimezie Metu (2.9 ppg., 1.6 rpg., 0.4 apg.) will see a rise in minutes as the rotation shifts.

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San Antonio’s Schedule, At A Glance

As mentioned yesterday, it’s a toss-up when comparing Sacramento and San Antonio as to who will have it harder in Orlando. But off of the strength of schedule, the Spurs have a slight advantage when it comes to an easier schedule.

In fact, their first game is against those very Kings who have that 1.5-game advantage over them to kick off their Orlando restart. Soon after that, they have the team that they and four other teams are gunning at for the eighth seed in the Memphis Grizzlies, which should be a competitive matchup since how well the two teams match up with each other. Two games later, San Antonio has run-ins with three-straight playoff-seeded teams in the lengthy 76ers, the always-threatening Nuggets, and the defensively-sound but somewhat undermanned Utah Jazz.

To finish off their schedule in Orlando, they’ll have to play Zion Williamson (who exploded against them for 21 and 17 in the fourth quarter of their last matchup) again, and hope they can squeeze another win against the New Orleans Pelicans. After that, they’ll have one final Battle of Texas in a duel against the Houston Rockets and then another game against Utah to close out the Orlando resumption, while letting the chips fall where they may.

Orlando could mean either one of two things at the end of the abridged season: a trying effort that will end with the incentive of keeping the playoff streak alive, or the realization of the reality that the Spurs must be forced to start from scratch in order to rebuild for the next generation of Spurs to make their mark.

Jul 12, 2020 No Comments
SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #19 Sacramento Kings

SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #19 Sacramento Kings

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by | Jul 11, 2020 | Featured, NBA

It’s day four of the 22-team countdown, as we are approximately 19 full days away from the NBA festivities taking place in the Disney World Bubble in Orlando. All teams have officially arrived in the land of the Magic Kingdom, and if you’ve been following Twitter pages like @NBABubbleLife, you’ve probably seen some of the recreational activities and amenities granted to your favorite players on teams invited to the resumed season. Everyone is settled in, with team practices occurring at the top of every hour and players getting back to the routine of being around their teammates, preparing for future games.

The next team up for mention on this list is on a slightly different path of trajectory when it comes to competing in the bubble. Surely just like the Nets, Wizards and Suns, the Sacramento Kings are in the same boat of having an uphill battle to land the final seed in the West, but there are two major differences that could benefit them: they’re all healthy, rested, and focused on taking down the three other teams vying for the eighth playoff spot in the conference, and they have significantly easier resumed season schedule than the San Antonio Spurs who sit a spot above them at 10th in the West.

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Sacramento’s Season In Review (28-36, 11th in West)

The Kings’ season has been marred by a plethora of unfortunate injuries to core pieces, questionable coaching decisions, and recently the potential reality of losing Buddy Hield and Jabari Parker to opt-outs due to their COVID-19 diagnoses. And still, these resilient Kings, who have been trying their hardest to enter themselves into playoff pictures of seasons past, have a real good chance of doing so in a prolonged season.

Just making the cut as one of the 22 teams invited to Orlando for this season’s resumption, Sac-Town’s team had plenty of optimism that things would finally turn in their favor even before the 2019-20 season commenced.

Earth shook (at least on Kings ground) when it was announced that Buddy Hield would sign a massive 4 Yr./$86 Million max extension and many were looking at the tandem of Hield and lightning-quick guard De’Aaron Fox (he cut his hair, btw.) to take the next step into superstardom with their ever-improving court-vision skills and decision-making as primary ball handlers in Luke Walton’s offense.

Marvin Bagley III was looked at to bounce back from an otherwise average rookie season and play an entire year without missing substantial time due to injury and the middle of the pack players were to step up and contribute in multitudes to help get the Kings back into the postseason for the first time since 2007.

And of course, none of the latter really happened for another season. Walton’s coaching status quickly became a topic of ostracism as a result of his poor minute distributions and on-court combinations, they lost four of their first five games, Marvin Bagley got hurt – again – and only suited up for 13 the team’s 64 contests, and they basically reaffirmed their roles as punching bags for the rest of the West to pick up cheap victories on during road trips.

But it hasn’t been all bad. Up until the season was halted due to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s decision to suspend the season over concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic, Sacramento composed a 13-7 record over their last 20 games, and subtly, snuck into the playoff conversation.

What has been a surprise and, take it for what you will, a beacon of promise for future seasons this year, has been the rise of role player Richaun Holmes, who’s been a source of energy off the bench for a team that’s been without a pure rebounder and rim protector since DeMarcus Cousins left in 2017. And what a replacement he’s become. While the Willie Cauley-Stein experiment didn’t quite pan out as Cousins’ complementary asset in the frontcourt, Holmes has gained a ton of respect from fans and media experts alike thanks to his “head down and work” mentality, which has surely rubbed off on the entire team.

Though undersized at 6-10, Holmes has shown flashes of his polished footwork under the rim as a low-post scorer and has out-hustled even the most tenacious of players night in and night out. The Kings got Holmes for a bargain (2 years, $10 Million left on his deal) and he has not disappointed in the slightest and has been a gift out of nowhere, especially when you look at his productivity and a reduced role in prior destinations like Philadelphia.

It’s been another transitional year for the Kings, but it’s certainly been a year many lest forget in terms of some memorable games played, which have all further added to the development of De’Aaron Fox, Richaun Holmes, Marvin Bagley III, Bodan Bogdanovic, and others.

There was that time early in the season against the initially-undefeated Boston Celtics that concluded in suspenseful fashion, thanks to some barely decent defense by Buddy Hield that caused a floater by Marcus Smart to bounce on and off of the front of the rim as the Kings won, 100-99.

Or that time where Sacramento managed to handle the Clippers emphatically on January 30 inside the Staples Center, four days after the passing of Kobe Bryant. Granted, they weren’t playing the same-stadium Lakers, Bryant’s franchise team, but the aura left by the five-time champ and four-time Finals MVP was felt all the same in the building he built.

De’Aaron Fox emphasized just how much the Black Mamba inspired him, delivering a scintillating and inspirational performance: 34 points, 3 rebounds, and 8 assists off 14/24 shooting – the best scoring output he’s ever had in an NBA uniform. It was also the first win of any team inside the Staples Center since Bryant’s death.

Sacramento has shown that on occasion, they are proven to have hung with the league’s most arduous teams that are playoff-bound, and they didn’t back down when given the chance to compete. Their final matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies saw yet another promising performance from the likes of their star in Fox, who had a strong showing on the offensive end while battling Ja Morant and tally 16 combined points in the second half of a 25 point night for the Kings’ starting point guard.

Finally, who could forget the $86 Million dollar man Buddy Hield capitalizing on his spotlight and winning the 2020 MTN DEW 3-Point contest back on February 15? While the win was awe-inspiring, considering that Hield drained his last shot to win the contest, it meant more to the fact that Sacramento is starting to get some attention from the national media.

The Kings haven’t had a true All-Star since 2003 (Brad Miller actually, Boogie Cousins doesn’t really count since he was traded to the Pelicans right after the 2017 All-Star game) so their hope is that both Hield and Fox become All-Star caliber players at some point so that drought ends soon.

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Sacramento’s Roster For Season Resumption: Within arm’s reach of forcing a play-in tourney, Sac-Town’s young core will have to go all-out in Orlando.

Keep in mind, as abhorrently unfortunate of a season that Sacramento has had, it’s a miracle that they’re only four 1/2 games out of snatching the eighth seed from the Memphis Grizzlies and keeping the Pelicans, Trail Blazers and Spurs out of reach from the final spot in the West. Fox has been their MVP by a wide margin, leading his club in scoring and assists while also showing that the chemistry between him and Buddy Hield is intact.

Still, health played a major factor in determining what caused some of the Kings’ most significant losses and lower positioning in the Pacific Division out West. Fox missed 17 games over the stretch of the season due to a lingering ankle injury sustained back in November, but after his return on Dec. 17, he picked up from where he left off with his 18.2 points, seven assists and four rebounds per game and actually upped his scoring numbers, as he was averaging 20.4 ppg., 4 rpg., and 6.8 apg. before the season was suspended as a result of the worldwide Coronavirus concerns.

Hield, on the other hand, looks to come into Orlando just as hot as he was when the season was paused. Hield is having his best two seasons as a pro, and reasonably so since he got the brinks trucks backed up for him with that four-year extension he got in the offseason. Hield was averaging 19.8 points per contest off 42.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.5 percent shooting from deep prior to the suspension. He has become a true second option as a premier perimeter scorer that primarily makes his mark off the catch, and who Fox will usually look to the most during their running of halfcourt sets.

And alongside the two guards in the backcourt will be the likes of Small Forward Harrison Barnes, who is looking to revisit the postseason for the first time since 2016. Barnes, who is averaging 14.7 points, and 4.8 rebounds per game, while shooting an impressive 38.3% from the 3-point line, will be looked to be the usual slashing 3-and-D man on a Kings team that is going to require his presence to stop guards who are switched onto him out around the arc, as well as take opposing Small Forwards out of the game with his own strength and polished footwork on the defensive end around the rim.

With him in the frontcourt will be the duo of Richaun Holmes and Marvin Bagley III for the resumption of this season. Bagley’s health has been a major concern but when the former Duke Blue Devil is healthy, he’s a dynamic, physically imposing stretch big that can be annoying to guard.

He averaged 14.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in the 13 games he played with relatively poor shooting percentages from the field, but Bagley’s potential and room for progression is evident. It’s been said that he’s packed on 10 pounds of extra muscle during this quarantine, but in the event that his lower body ailment appears to be too much of an obstacle for him in this eight-game seeding schedule, in will come Nemanja Bjelica to start at the five.

The sharpshooting Serbian has floated around different rosters throughout his five-year career but has found a home in Sacramento as a productive bench player and occasional starter. Bjelica (11.9 ppg., 6.4 rpg., 2.8 apg., 47.5% FG, 42.4% 3PT) has been an efficient substitute for Bagley as the starting center for the Kings and has helped the Kings become a top-20 defense in the NBA while also being a spark of offense from deep and in the restricted zone underneath the basket.

Sacramento’s bench may be one of the strongest in all of the 22 teams invited to Orlando. As Fox sits, Luke Walton will give the keys to the offense for both point guards Cory Joseph (6.3 ppg., 3.4 apg., 2.5 rpg., shoots 42% from deep) and Yogi Ferrell (4.2 ppg., 1.3 apg., 1.1 rpg.) to run the floor and command the floor.

When Hield takes his rest, rising star and sixth man Bogdan Bogdanovic (14.5 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 3.2 apg.) will step in to provide some isolation and pick n’ roll buckets with a natural shot-creating ability that puts pressure on any defense. Justin James (2.5 ppg., 0.9 rpg., 0.5 apg.) will have a lesser role in the offense but will be asked to do the same as a two-guard on the floor.

At the forward spot, longtime journeyman Kent Bazemore (10.3 ppg., 5 rpg., 1.1 apg.) and brand-new King Corey Brewer will try to impact the game with their already aforementioned roles of scoring off the dribble and coming off of screens ready to shoot set in place.

In Bagley, Bjelica, and Holmes’ place will be two fellow Blue Devils; Harry Giles (7 ppg., 4.2 rpg., 1.3 apg., 0.6 bpg.) and Jabari Parker (4 ppg., 4 rpg., 2 apg.). Parker is currently recovering from the Coronavirus as we speak, and his status for playing in Orlando is unknown with him not taking the trip to South Florida with the team. Former starter Alex Len (6.6ppg., 7.1 rpg.) will be another body Walton will be infringed upon utilizing for additional rebounding depth.

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Sacramento’s Schedule, At A Glance

As the Spurs have a 1.5 game advantage over the Kings in what should be a four-way dogfight for the final seed in the West, the Kings have a slightly more grueling eight-game stretch in comparison to their adversaries in San Antonio. Which made the decision to put the Kings at #19 on this countdown a little more definitive.

Sacramento faces a total of four playoff teams in this abridged seeding schedule, which doesn’t say too many good things if they are going to potentially be without their second-best player. On July 31, they will tip-off in a rather important game against those very Spurs they are trying to move above in the Western rankings, and with a win, get that early headstart on ascending the standings toward the eighth seed. After that, they’ll (literally) be playing an away game against the tournament-hosting Orlando Magic, the first playoff-contender Sacramento faces during their time in Orlando.

Two days after that, they have to go toe-to-toe with Alvin Gentry’s New Orleans Pelicans, who are also battling for an opportunity to force a play-in tournament for the final Western seed, though they have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the entire league. A date with undermanned Brooklyn might be a bit of a reprieve before they have to go and play James Harden and Russell Westbrook’s Houston Rockets (pending if they play, considering that both didn’t arrive in Orlando with their team). They’ll have one more run-in with Zion Williamson’s Pels before playing their old pals AKA their Pacific division rival Los Angeles Lakers to close out their regular season.

They’ll have the 15th easiest schedule, as well.

If there is any room for luck that can be made for this misfortuned-but-not-out Kings team, it’ll have to be on the back of their best players in De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.

The rest of the cast and crew must chip in significantly so that the Kings can look like a tumultuous opponent to face come time for the resumed season to start later this month, but the opportunity lies right in front of Fox and Hield to show the collective NBA universe just how close the Kings are to being a true growing powerhouse on the right path to being staples in the playoffs for years to come.

Jul 11, 2020 No Comments
SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #20 Phoenix Suns

SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #20 Phoenix Suns

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by | Jul 11, 2020 | Featured, NBA

Day three of our 22-team countdown continues this Friday, as we move another step closer to the restart of the NBA season on July 30. Picking back up on things for this list, the next team that’s already headed East to Orlando isn’t all that far from the first two teams mentioned on this list, in terms of having to fight for a playoff spot in the most adverse of ways as one of the outlying teams barely invited to the restart. For the first time on this countdown, however, the squad talked about today will be out West.

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Phoenix’s Season In Review (26-39, 13th in West)

If there was a way to describe the Suns’ season in entirety with a cliche’, it would probably be just pure bad luck. What started out as a promising campaign to kick off Monty Williams’ new tenure as the head coach of these Phoenix Suns, turned into another dragged out, wasted opportunity to improve their luck, and climb out of the lottery pick pit they’ve been confined to since 2010.

The beginning of the year was surprisingly adjacent to the regular misfortune Arizona’s premier basketball franchise felt each year, regardless of them not having DeAndre Ayton for the season’s first 25 games due to a positive diuretic test of a banned substance. Going a steady 4-2 with some key wins against the visiting Clippers, Grizzlies, and Sixers, It looked like it finally clicked for Devin Booker’s Suns, and for the likes of newly-acquainted Suns, Kelly Oubre and leading assist man Ricky Rubio, this superfluous chemistry had remarkably developed.

And here comes the proverbial crossing of the black cat’s path: Ayton’s return from his abrupt suspension, and Phoenix’s failure to get back to a .500 record for the rest of the season, thus keeping them down in the 13th spot in the West.

Granted, had DeAndre Ayton not tested positive for that substance back in October before the new season even tipped off, Phoenix probably would have been in more of an esteemed position to reach a playoff seed for the first time since Steve Nash and Shawn Marion did it back in 2010. Still, the Suns have had a couple of flurries of success here and there, as they are still focused on getting more substantial pieces around their two stars in Ayton and Booker while remaining as competitive as they can be as one of the 22 chosen teams scheduled to play in Orlando later this month.

As is the case every year, Devin Booker hasn’t let the fact that he’s never sniffed the surface of just reaching the possibility of obtaining a ninth spot in the West close enough to challenge for a playoff seed at any point during his five-year career break his stride. Otherhandedly, Booker has been up to his usual terrorizing of defenses across the NBA, averaging numbers that only an all-star can put up on a consistent basis (26.1 ppg., 4.2 rpg., 6.6 apg.) So it was only right for the league’s voters to get him into the February classic All-Star game for the first time in his career…right?

Not technically, but kinda. Sure.

Devin Booker wasn’t exactly voted in but was rather chipped in last-minute as an alternate for the injured Damian Lillard, so had it not been for Lillard sustaining a lower-body ailment just nights prior to the All-Star game, Booker would’ve been snubbed again. And how distasteful of a choice would it have been for one of the more perilous isolation scorers in the NBA for yet another year?  To put it in the perspective of just how good Booker’s season is: taking into account that he’s played the second-least amount of games in his career (only 62 games), he’s having the second-best statistical season of his career when it comes to putting the ball in the basket.

Of course, not every star is complete without a productive supporting cast. Before Ricky Rubio ever ventured into the Suns’ facility, nary did he ever have a season where he averaged less than seven assists per contest. In fact, the playmaking chores presumably left for the Suns’ versatile guard in Booker to integrate into his game were promptly inherited by the Spaniard the moment he signed that three year, $51 Million deal with Phoenix this time last year.

That assist per game stat bumped up a little higher this year, now that Rubio’s been averaging around nine dishes per game – the second-highest amounts of assists per game he’s had in his career. And around him were two other key assets that promulgated those numbers all season long: Kelly Oubre Jr., and former Celtics big man Aron Baynes.

Oubre, who signed a two year, $30 million extension with the Suns last July, has been the best second option the Suns could ever ask for. He’s having a career-best season, averaging 18.7 ppg and shooting 35.2% on 3-pointers and is the Suns’ No. 2 rebounder. (6.4 rpg.) And Baynes, who is having a career year from downtown averaging a shooting percentage of over 37 percent of his attempts, has transformed into what looks like a stretch big in the most unlikely of ways.

Some memorable games and moments during Phoenix’s up and down year include their statement-making upset of the current #2 seeded Clippers back on October 26, in which Devin Booker dropped 30 on an incomplete Clippers team that was missing Paul George, Ricky Rubio’s return to Utah that showed him breakout from his usual pass-first role and explode for 22 on February 24, Aron Baynes’ sinking nine threes in a surprising 37-point night from the big Australian against the Blazers, and their 36-point beatdown of the then newly-formed “Small-Ball Rockets” back on February 7 in which Booker and Oubre combined for 72 points.

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Phoenix’s Roster For Season Resumption: Forward thinking is the best thing when your playoff chances are slim.

It’s going to be a case of the same old meat and potatoes for yet another conclusion to a season: Booker (26.1 ppg., 4.2 rpg., 6.6 apg.) left to fend for himself as the team’s most provisionary and under-supplied roster member during the home stretch of a season that’ll likely conclude before they get another chance at reaching for a postseason berth.

Therefore, it probably wouldn’t make much sense to haul Booker on the floor for 35-40 minutes a night on a team he knows he won’t have a good chance of making the playoffs with. However, it will be intriguing to see whether or not head coach Monty Williams plugs in his younger guys in the hopes of giving Booker the perfect ratio of rest and participation, considering that the next season, which won’t be too far away from September’s conclusion of the Orlando games, is on the doorstep.

Kelly Oubre won’t be in Orlando because he’ll be tending to a torn meniscus, announced in his official opt-out of play just days ago. It stinks too, considering the fact that Oubre has undoubtedly had his best season as a pro, averaging 18.7 ppg., 6.4 rpg., and 1.5 apg. in a brand new system that’s catered to his skillset like the perfect fit of a glove. Suns fans wouldn’t have minded seeing Oubre and Booker tandem hoop eight more times this year, especially when you factor in just how seamlessly the two have meshed on and off the court in a matter of a year.

In his place lies even younger, less experienced talent in Mikal Bridges. (8.7 ppg., 4 rpg.,1.8 apg.) Other than his absence, there practically aren’t many changes to this roster, for the exception of additional guard Cameron Payne subbing into the final roster spot left vacant by Oubre.

At the center position still lies the progressing first-overall pick from 2018 DeAndre Ayton (19 ppg., 12 rpg., 1.9 apg.), who will be looked at to not only add trim protection and lengthy perimeter defense when switched onto guards off Pick N’ Roll sets but also be aggressive enough to play bully ball on the block and knock down shots off pick n’ pop sets.

Aside from him in the frontcourt will likely be Aron Baynes (11.5ppg., 5.6 rpg., 1.6 apg.) who can also efficiently stretch the floor with his three-ball and defend the rim. And at the guard positions aside from Booker will be Rubio, who’s floor spacing will have to be key in order for Phoenix to challenge the remaining visiting Western teams still vying for a playoff spot.

Phoenix’s youthful depth will have an integral role in not only assisting the starters to give more productivity to a roster that needs it on the offensive end but further develop and get the minutes necessary for growth to experience the level of play that they’re expected to meet at the highest level of competition.

Rotational parts like perimeter lockdown guard Jevon Carter (4.6 ppg., 2 rpg., 1.3 apg.) and Elie Okobo (4 ppg., 1.6 rpg., 2.1 apg.) will be trusted to control the tempo of the floor while Rubio sits, and others like former UNC standout Cameron Johnson (8.1 ppg., 2.9 rpg., 1.1 apg.) and rookie/national championship-winning Virginia guard Ty Jerome (3.5 ppg., 1.5 rpg., 1.5 apg.) will get the nod from Monty Williams to be primary ball-handlers and scorers. Also with Oubre’s absence, do expect to get some Tariq Owens (1.3 ppg., 1 rpg.) sightings off the bench during their eight-game stretch.

The backups to Ayton and Baynes will be Frank “The Tank” Kaminsky”, (11 ppg., 4.9 rpg., 2.2 apg.) Cheick Diallo (4.8 ppg., 2.9 rpg., 0.5 apg.) and former Sixer and stretch wing Dario Saric. (10.1 ppg., 5.9 rpg., 1.9 apg.) Along with the blend of youthful and veteran guards, these prospective Suns will all obtain valuable minutes to contribute and improve not only their games in what’ll probably be a season for them that may not include a play-in tournament but their senses of equanimity under the tight duress of their collective playoff hopes teetering with every loss they take.

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Phoenix’s Schedule, At A Glance

Another hard schedule for a roster that may not look as competitive as the rest – check.

Phoenix’s eight-game stretch to finish out their season doesn’t look all that simplistic to get any type of above-.500 record out of when you take a gander at who they have to face right away.

The Suns have a rather simple introductory game to start out the Orlando stretch with a date with the non-contending Wizards, and then their schedule spikes in difficulty. For the rest of the time there, they’ll be tasked with getting wins against five other playoff-qualified squads who all have twice the amount of star power than them. Dallas is first up, and Monty Williams must collaborate with his assistant coaches to build up a gameplan to slow down Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis. Right after that, they’ll have to play Kawhi Leonard and Paul George’s Los Angeles Clippers.

Two days later, their turbulent Eastern road trip starts with a slight reprieve, as they will play an Indiana Pacers team that’ll be without Victor Oladipo. After that, they’ll be matched up with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and the rest of the Miami Heat.

But wait, it gets worse.

A duel with the season-surprise Oklahoma City Thunder will be next on the calendar and down a man, no one knows how the Suns fare against a three-headed monster that can out-hustle you on the defensive end as well as give you problems in the halfcourt while trying to stop their guard-conducted offensive attack. To finish off their season, games against the tall, lanky Philadelphia 76ers and a final game against Dallas caps off their regular season in Orlando.

This time should be used as a means of readjusting their focus on future seasons, and their recalibration in getting all of their core pieces on the same page so that Suns GM James Jones can feel confident about the direction that his franchise is moving toward.

Suns fans are going to see some things switched up come when it’s time to play. Monty Williams could try a bunch of things, like maybe having Devin Booker be the guy bringing the ball down the floor to run the point, letting DeAndre Ayton make his own shot off the dribble as well as give him the green light to pop the three from the top of the key, keeping Dario Saric on the block and occasionally moving him to the corner, or extend Mikal Bridges’ positioning on the floor to resemble that of a shooting guard.

It’ll be an assessment, rather a slew of experiments for these progressing Suns, so whatever their record looks like at season’s end, they’ll have a clear picture going forward on what Monty Williams’ Suns can look like years from now.

Jul 11, 2020 No Comments
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Joins the Converse Family

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Joins the Converse Family

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by | Jul 9, 2020 | Featured, NBA, Sneakers

In their heyday, Converse was a basketball powerhouse. Top basketball stars like Dr. J, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson donned the Converse Weapon during their legendary tenures making it one of the most popular shoes of all time. Throughout the years, Converse had bright spots on the basketball court including Larry Johnson’s Aero Jam in 1993 and D-Wade’s signature line before his departure to Jordan Brand.

Though Converse’s star on the court may have dimmed a bit in subsequent years, the brand has been retooling their basketball line and the signature athletes supporting them. Since dropping models like the All-Star Pro BB and the Converse G4, the One Star has added All-Star and champion Draymond Green, burgeoning forward Kelly Oubre Jr., and WNBA star Natasha Cloud. Now,  Converse has added even more talent and depth to their growing roster by adding the Oklahoma City Thunder’s rising star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

Since his college days under John Calipari in Kentucky, the Toronto, Canada native has shown the tools to do it all. In his rookie season with the Los Angeles Clippers, SGA put the world on notice with a breakout series in the playoffs against the Warriors. Following a trade to the Oklahoma City Thunder as a piece of the monumental Paul George trade, Gilgeous-Alexander has continued to improve, becoming the youngest player to accrue a 20-20-10 stat line.

 It isn’t just SGA’s crafty game and two-way ability that make him the perfect fit for Converse, either. SGA has emerged as one of the league’s most fashionable talents alongside fellow Converse compatriot Kelly Oubre Jr. After seeing Oubre’s recent release, it is clear that Converse is giving the power to the players to take advantage of their fashionable flair and creativity to bring a new edge to the court. 

With Oubre being sidelined and Draymond’s Warriors missing out on the NBA’s return in Orlando, Gilgeous-Alexander will step on the court as Converse’s only on-court representative.  In his announcement, SGA can be seen with the legendary Pro Leather draped over his shoulder which is more of an off-court look and in a custom OKC Thunder colorway of the low All-Star Pro BB, just the first in the “many flavors to come” he teased on his Instagram Story. With SGA joining the team, Converse Basketball is in great hands. 

 

Jul 9, 2020 No Comments
SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #21 Washington Wizards

SR – NBA Bubble Breakdowns: #21 Washington Wizards

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by | Jul 9, 2020 | Featured, NBA

And…we are back with another edition of the Bubble Breakdowns! Last night, it might make a little more sense to move the Brooklyn Nets a little higher on this countdown, simply because of the shocking acquisitions that Nets GM Sean Marks was able to pull off in signing veteran shooting guard and handle GAWD Jamal Crawford, as well as former 1st rounder Michael Beasley. Brooklyn needed to pull off some last-minute substitutions as a result of the five players they’ll be without during the time they restart their season in Orlando in a couple of weeks, and by the looks of it, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn now has some new benefits in the rebounding and frontcourt scoring departments.

On this Thursday, you could say that the position of this next team on our list is, quite honestly, interchangeable with some of the bottom-tier squads in the teams most likely to compete for a chance to play in the play-in tournaments for the lower seeds.

The players who decided not to play for the Nets was bad enough to the chances of Brooklyn keeping that seventh seed in the East, but in terms of opt-outs and no-gos on the Wizards’ end, Washington got rocked. badly. Both all-around two-guard Bradley Beal and sharpshooter Davis Bertans said no to playing in Orlando. Davis Bertans, for the fear of catching COVID-19, willfully opted out of participating in the Orlando games, while Beal plans to tend to a lingering shoulder injury he hopes to have healed by next season.

As it stands, Washington fans have little to wonder about who can step up to take the presumptive role of floor general for a team that’s relatively within reach of touching the eighth and final playoff seed.

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Washington’s Season In Review (24-40, 9th in East)

There’s no sugarcoating it: for just about the entire duration of the 2019-2020 season, the Washington Wizards have been the most defensively inefficient team in the NBA. You could literally count on a hand the number of times that Washington’s held their opponents to under 100 points (four times actually) and can do the same when you count up the times they’ve let opponents score 150+ points in a game, most notably in that silly, video-game-like thriller between them and the Houston Rockets that saw the Wizards lose 159-158 back in October.

But ironically, they’ve been a top-15 offense in the league (13th best offensive rating in the NBA), mainly due to the help of a certain superstar at the shooting guard position that could score whatever way you needed him to. As the ninth seed for this competition, Washington only needs four games to qualify for that play-in tournament that’ll likely feature both Brooklyn and eighth-seeded Orlando, assuming that the eight-game schedule for all three teams prompts a duel for the final spot in the postseason.

But, It’s still profound no matter how many times you say it aloud: the Washington Wizards are still alive in the playoff hunt, now only six games back of the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic. I’m sure the collective NBA Fan Base all went ‘HUH?!?!?’ when the 24-win Wizards were announced as one of the 22 teams scheduled to pack their bags and head down south to Walt Disney World when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the season was back on. But here they are.

So, in looking at this season, you could say that it definitely was somewhat of a step, more like a tread or meander, in an appropriate direction. This year was supposed to be a time for Bradley Beal to test out his leadership skills amidst a blend of youthful, impressionable rotational pieces and proven vets, deflect and deny any skepticisms about him seeking other green pastures and free-agent destinations, and help first-year Wizards General Manager Tommy Shepherd cultivate a drama-free culture and landscape that’ll eventually reintegrate John Wall back into the picture (who, by the way, hasn’t set foot on an NBA court since December 26, 2018) for Washington’s title window to slowly reopen in future campaigns.

And for the most part, the Wizards have done just that. This team could’ve been in a way worse scenario had the early cursors of the season caught up to them but they were able to wade through a chunk of adversity in order to supplant themselves as a prospective team that has a serious shot at a playoff spot, especially when you assess both the Magic and Nets’ tedious eight-game schedule.

Washington’s core of player development deserves some praise, too, especially head coach Scott Brooks for the way he’s corroborated a sense of confidence towards young pieces like two-way talent and former 1st rounder out of Gonzaga Rui Hachimura, energetic big man Thomas Bryant, and former Laker Moritz Wagner. Moreover, in addition to assisting in their development, the way that he threw all of his chips on the table in allowing the likes of Bertans and Beal to be the leaders on a roster that otherwise without their talents would easily be a lottery pick-caliber squad.

On the topic of a certain rookie in Rui Hachimura, he’s gone above and beyond rudimentary expectations usually stapled to rooks on talent-inept rosters in 2019-20. Pro comparisons for Hachimura’s draft profile ranged from Kawhi Leonard to another international prospect, but the Japanese-born prospect has answered the call for a team that’s still adapting to the two-way stretch forward trend so popular among title-contending organizations. Averaging a respectable 13.4 points and 6 rebounds per game, Hachimura has fit like a glove, endearing himself to veterans who appreciate his adamant demeanor and focus.

Some key moments throughout the year for Washington, and specifically for Bradley Beal, you ask? Well, take your pick. There was that time that the former Florida Gator who, after being snubbed as an All-Star, honored his favorite player growing up, Kobe Bryant, by coincidentally becoming the first player in the league since Bryant in March 2007 to score 50-plus points on consecutive days (Beal scored 53 in a loss to Chicago, and then dropped 56 against Milwaukee in an OT loss one game later). Or how about that game where he laid in a game-winning two-footer in a drawn-up sideout set to knock off the Dallas Mavericks back on February 7?

And as a team, there wasn’t much more memorable of a stretch than their back-to-back Ws over two playoff teams in both Denver and Boston back in January. Up until that point, they only had two slews of back-to-back wins this season in general.

It’s no secret he’s been their runaway MVP this season and has drawn eyes to himself and his Wizards from fans and media personalities alike, considering that had it not been for James Harden essentially being the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to average almost 40 points per game (34.5 ppg.), he’d probably be on his way to nabbing his first scoring title with his averaged 30 points per contest.

But perhaps the most meaningful occurrence for the Wizards this season: Bradley Beal voicing his security with the team he’s on by signing a 2-year, $72 Million max extension in October. By doing that back at the beginning of a new season, he further confirmed the belief that he had regarding the still-existent potential that he believes the tandem of John Wall and himself have, along with the young, playmaking core that Washington has, to shake things up in the East once everyone gets healthy starting next season.

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Washington’s Roster For Season Resumption: No Bradley Beal/Davis Bertans = An Even Slimmer Chance.

I’m going to try and be as euphemistic as possible when I say this: Washington’s chances of competing for that playoff spot “exist.” They’re not high, at the slightest, but they’re still there. Looking at this lineup, Scott Brooks won’t have the offensive luxury of relying on Bradley Beal’s gifted shot-creating and shot-making dynamic to the offense that Brooks runs, Nor will he have the freedom to run his esteemed drive-kick sets for Davis Bertans. So now, other guards like Ish Smith, (10.5 ppg., 4.8 apg.) Shabazz Napier (12.0 ppg, 4.4 apg.) and new Wizard Jerome Robinson (6.1 ppg., 3.5 apg.) are likely to all split minutes in place of Bradley Beal.

Though it’s highly unlikely they match the 30 points per game Beal usually scores for Washington.

Additional backcourt members like Isaac Bonga (4.6 ppg., 3.2 rpg.), Gary Payton II (3.9 ppg., 2.8 rpg.) will mainly be relied upon up their ability to make shooters uncomfortable around the perimeter, as well as be trusted to knock down shots from deep on the offensive end.

Payton, similar to his dad, is pound-for-pound the best perimeter defender on this roster as it stands now, and Bonga, up until the season went on hiatus, was making 40 percent of his shots from deep and 50 percent of his shots from the field.

Two-way talent Garrison Matthews (5.4 ppg., 1.2 rpg.) could be a name to look out for, as he shot 42.9 percent from downtown this season and could be an integral piece of offense that could help to propel the Wizards to a playoff seed.

Expect bigs Ian Mahinmi and Thomas to split minutes at the five. Mahinmi is averaging 16.3 points and 12.6 rebounds per 36 minutes played, which is decent, but his defensive effort is one of the reasons as to why Washington’s been horrendous on that side of the ball. His defensive rating is at 112.6 – ironically, the best among all frontcourt players on the team – and they don’t really have much else to put out there. Conversely, his frontcourt cohort Bryant is arguably the best three-point shooter on the team at his position.

Averaging 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per contest, he may not be as sound on the defensive end in contrast to his other teammates but he made over 40 percent of his deep balls this year and it’ll be interesting to see just how many minutes the Indiana-made Power Forward gets per game during this resumed season.

Moritz Wagner looks to be the best bet to be Davis Bertans’ replacement in Orlando. Bertans, who finished third in the Three-Point Contest during All-Star Weekend in February, made over 42.4 percent of his attempts from deep while averaging a little over 15 points. It’ll be a little above Wagner’s paygrade to match the level of productivity from one of the league’s most efficient marksmen, but Wagner, who made around 34 percent of his deep balls this season, will be asked to contribute a lot more minutes within a rotation that’ll probably go 12-13 players deep once the season comes around.

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Washington’s Schedule, At A Glance

Washington comes into Orlando having the ninth hardest schedule of the 22 remaining teams. Which doesn’t help, because their two most productive players opted out of performing in Orlando due to steering clear of catching the coronavirus. As the schedule goes for the Wizards, it’ll look a little like this:

Given the bare bones of what the Wizards have left of a competitive roster, it’ll be a difficult task for them to squeak out more than four wins in this eight-game schedule. After four scrimmage games, they’ll play another team that’s trying to will itself into the playoff picture out West in the Phoenix Suns. NBA fans won’t get to experience the treat that would have been the battle of the All-Star Snubs – Bradley Beal against Devin Booker (yes, I know, DBook was an all-star, but technically he wasn’t voted in and only got on the Western roster due to Damian Lillard getting hurt before All-Star Weekend) – but it can potentially be a competitive, high-scoring affair for both teams.

After that, they have a date with Brooklyn, a team that like them is undermanned, and a team they are trying to catch to force a play-in tournament.  Their schedule then ramps up in difficulty with a battle against Victor Oladipo-less Indiana Pacers team and then a duel with a tall, lanky Sixers team that’s sure to improve their stock before the playoffs roll through.

A game against the Phenom himself Zion Williamson and his New Orleans Pelicans await at the start of the season’s second half, and two days after that, they have to play a surprisingly dangerous Oklahoma City Thunder team that’s sure to wreak havoc among defenses everywhere. They’ll finish off their Orlando regular season playing two Eastern elites, the first being the #1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks with current MVP and leading candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the last being the #3 seeded Boston Celtics with rising superstars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Just like Brooklyn, this roster has been tethered and tattered by trade deadline decisions and abrupt opt-outs that all but certainly deflate any real hopes of seriously contending for a playoff spot this year. Yet, it’s unconfirmed just what level of intensity that the ninth-seeded Wizards are bringing into the NBA Bubble. Getting Washington back to the postseason for what’s been a drought of two seasons won’t be easy, or likely to be accomplished given the team that Scott Brooks has to coach and lead through the abridged season.

If there is confirmation of some sorts, Washington fans should feel some sense of pride and comfort knowing that things are only going to get better. For a team that’s so stout on grooming its younger pieces like Rui Hachimura and Thomas Bryant to eventually join forces with the currently rehabilitating duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal, GM Tommy Shepherd has to love the straightforward direction that DC’s team is headed toward.

Jul 9, 2020 No Comments