Time for another edition of the NBA mailbag.
Throughout the NBA season, I will be answering your questions about the latest, most interesting topics in basketball. You can tweet your questions using the hashtag #peltonmailbag or email them to peltonmailbag@gmail.com.
This week's edition includes how the Brooklyn Nets are adjusting their defense with three elite scorers on the court, a breakdown of scoring in the G League and understanding the technical aspects of the postseason and play-in games.
"If you were in Steve Nash's position, how would you go about increasing the stopping power of the Brooklyn Nets' defense without taking away from the offensive output of their three superstars?"
-- Peyton
I think my answer is something Nash and the Nets seem to have landed on between when Peyton posed this question and now: Go small and rely on switching ability and quickness rather than size in the paint.
Before trading for James Harden, Brooklyn was switching picks at a rate (20%) slightly higher than league average (17%), per Second Spectrum tracking. Over Harden's first 14 games with the Nets, that increased to 33%, a rate that would lead the NBA over the full season. (The Charlotte Hornets are currently No. 1 at 31%.) And even that has gone to another level since starting center DeAndre Jordan missed the opening game of Brooklyn's road trip, a 134-117 win over the Golden State Warriors.
On their trip, which has seen them go 4-0 ahead of Sunday's finale against the LA Clippers, the Nets are switching an incredible 41% of opposing picks. During the tracking era, which dates back to 2013-14, just three teams have switched more than 40% of their picks in the regular season, according to Second Spectrum data: the Houston Rockets over the last three years with Harden and current Brooklyn assistant Mike D'Antoni as their head coach.
A switching-heavy defense is always going to make sense for a Harden-led team, because he is so much more effective defending bigger opponents than smaller ones in space, something my ESPN colleague Tim MacMahon has detailed. That's particularly true for a team as lacking in rim protection as the Nets are since dealing Jarrett Allen as part of the package for Harden. And Brooklyn has been effective enough playing this style that I wonder if pursuing another traditional center via trade or through the buyout market might actually be a mistake.
There's certainly a ceiling to how effective the Nets can be defensively without a rim protector. Even during the 4-0 trip, their 117.8 defensive rating is worse than the league average in that span despite opponents making just 34% of their 3-point attempts, something Brooklyn can't count on continuing.
Still, the equation is about the Nets finding enough defense to complement their historically strong offense. Going small has a couple of benefits there. First, it allows Brooklyn to put even more shooting on the floor, something that's been a key part of the league's best offense. Second, if other teams don't feel comfortable leaving their center on the court against smaller Nets lineups, it stresses their perimeter depth. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers couldn't seem to keep up on Thursday without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder. Talen Horton-Tucker played a season-high 28 minutes against Brooklyn, while Alex Caruso's 26 minutes were his second-highest total this season; the Lakers were badly outscored with both reserves on the court.
If this formula sounds familiar, it's because of the similarity to what Houston attempted last season after trading Clint Capela and moving exclusively to lineups with no players taller than the 6-foot-8 Jeff Green (another common link between the 2019-20 Rockets and the 2020-21 Nets). Though the presence of the 6-foot-10 Kevin Durant means Brooklyn will never get that short, stylistically their minutes with Jordan on the bench are comparable.
It's worth remembering that Houston didn't lose badly to the Lakers in last year's conference semifinals because of defensive shortcomings. In fact, the 114.4 offensive rating for the Lakers in that series was their worst in any playoff series en route to the title, according to NBA Advanced Stats. The Rockets fell short because their offense couldn't hold up its end of the bargain with Russell Westbrook rendered ineffective after a quadriceps strain and the Lakers free to load up their defense against Harden. It's unlikely the Nets will have similar issues scoring in the postseason.
"I was wondering if the G League games in the bubble are experiencing an offensive boost similar to what we saw in the NBA bubble in the postseason. If so, what does this mean for scouting prospects in the G League right now?"
-- Michael
Quite the opposite: Thus far, shooting percentages are down in the G League as compared to 2019-20.
It's possible that this can be explained by a decline in the G League pool of talent because of this year's shortened schedule. Among players returning in the G League from 2019-20, weighted by this year's attempts, accuracy on 2-point attempts (from 51% to 52.5%) and free throws (from 67% to 71%) is up, although even this group hasn't shot as well on 3s (from 34% to 33%). At the very least, those modest changes don't seem like anything that should concern NBA scouts.
#peltonmailbag Do you think teams should be more aggressive in sending young players for the g-league bubble considering no summer league? What good is a 13th man Troy Brown? Kevin Knox? Jalen Smith? Aaron Nesmith?
— John Murphy (@thatonemurphy) February 9, 2021
It's an interesting decision for teams this year because you can make cases in both directions. Although the experience is more valuable this season, when teams are practicing less frequently because of the compact schedule and COVID-19 protocols, it's also more realistic than ever that a 13th man can become a rotation player overnight.
We saw that happen with the Hornets last week. When Caleb Martin, Cody Martin and P.J. Washington were all ruled out prior to their Feb. 12 game due to the NBA's health and safety protocols, Charlotte was left with just nine active players because Vernon Carey Jr., Jalen McDaniels and two-way players Nate Darling and Grant Riller were all assigned to the G League.
Ultimately, I think the answer depends just how far out of the rotation a player is. Both Troy Brown Jr. and Aaron Nesmith have logged heavy minutes at times recently due to injuries, so I don't think sending them down makes sense. Kevin Knox II, who has played less than 10 total minutes in the month of February, is a different story. Same with Jalen Smith, who has subsequently been assigned to the G League.
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— drgreghouse83 (@drgreghouse83) January 20, 2021
A technical language question. The Play-in tournament for the 7-10 seeds, is that considered "part" of the Playoffs? Or is it the thing you have to win to "make" the Playoffs?
In other words, if you lose in the Play-in tourney, did you make the Playoffs that year?
I'd hope we can all agree the answer is no. A one-game play-in matchup is wildly different than the seven-game series that typically make up the playoffs. Teams that lose in the play-in are still part of the lottery, like other non-playoff teams, so we shouldn't let them consider it a playoff appearance or that making the play-in would end a playoff drought.
From a statistical standpoint, the NBA established a third category last season that treated the play-in matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers as outside both the regular season and the playoffs. The practical significance of that was Ja Morant's 35 points in the play-in game did not count as a career-high for the regular season. (It wouldn't have lasted long anyway, as Morant scored 44 points in the Grizzlies' 2020-21 season opener.)