Let's end 2021 with 10 things I like and dislike from the NBA this week -- including a perfect match on the Chicago Bulls, an underreported crisis in Philadelphia, a tribute to the one-handed rebound and legitimately good basketball in Oklahoma City. Happy New Year!
1. DeMar DeRozan, fully formed
Once in a while, a player's mental and physical skills meet at their respective apexes, and at that moment, he lands on a team that puts him in ideal position to succeed. All the discrete skills the player spent years honing are finally ready to flourish together on a team playing for real stakes -- a team that needs the fully actualized version of that player.
That rare sports alchemy is happening now with DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls. In Toronto, DeRozan established himself as an old-school midrange scorer. He used his deadly pump-fake to earn heaps of free throws. (Seriously: The Hall of Fame should create some kind of interactive exhibit where fans see how long they can defend hologram DeRozan without biting on his fake.)
In fits and starts, DeRozan improved his playmaking -- peaking at 5.2 dimes per game in his final Toronto season. That was the only season in which he shot more than a token number of 3s, and even that required a midseason intervention inside Masai Ujiri's office.
DeRozan amped up his playmaking with the San Antonio Spurs. He was the lone veteran ball handler; there was no Kyle Lowry. The Spurs lacked elite finishers around him.
Everything has coalesced with the Bulls. It's a match of player, team, and timing that makes you believe in hokey sports destiny -- like every tidbit of DeRozan's growth, every setback, every achievement, was leading to this role.
In sequences both smooth and dizzying at once, DeRozan combines every playmaking skill-within-a-skill he has mastered:
That is high art: spinning into the re-screen; the rearing hesitation dribble that convinces Nerlens Noel it's safe to return to Javonte Green; the burst that sucks Noel back into DeRozan's orbit, forcing help away from Lonzo Ball in the corner; the pass that catches Ball's man leaning the wrong way.
Surrounded with high-level playmakers, DeRozan is activating his cutting game too:
Only Jayson Tatum has scored more fourth-quarter points than DeRozan, and DeRozan has logged 53 fewer fourth-quarter minutes than Tatum. DeRozan is 15-of-27 in the last five minutes of close games, splitting crunch-time shotmaking with Zach LaVine. He's even hitting 36.5% from deep on two-plus attempts per game.
Lineups featuring DeRozan and several bench players -- sometimes with Ball, sometimes without -- have blitzed opponents. DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic are developing a nice two-man chemistry.
DeRozan may slump from midrange at some point, but it's not as if he's hitting at some outlandish rate now; he's nailed 48% on long 2s this season after hitting 49% and 45%, respectively, over the prior two seasons. The Bulls have enough firepower to survive a slight downturn, and DeRozan can lean on other parts of his game. DeRozan is still a minus defender, but the Bulls have been able to cover for him so far. What a season.
The Bulls are probably one player away from really pushing full-squad versions of the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets, but who knows if we will see those versions when it counts.
2. The adaptability of the Miami Heat
For a team that appeared top heavy, the Heat have done remarkable work surviving the absences of their best players -- including Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo each missing about half the season. Tyler Herro has missed six games, and P.J. Tucker has been out since Dec. 19. The Butler/Adebayo/Lowry trio has appeared in just 14 of Miami's 35 games, and the Heat are somehow 22-13 -- top 10 on both offense and defense, with the league's sixth-fattest point differential. They are not just muddling through.
It is a testament to their adaptability. Without the bruising, paint-tethered games of Butler and Adebayo, the Heat shape-shifted into a 3-point-bombing machine -- parceling the Butler/Tucker minutes to Max Strus and Gabe Vincent. Dewayne Dedmon is a willing screen-and-drive guy. A team short on high-wattage talent can get by in stretches playing to the math -- spread pick-and-roll galore:
When Dedmon tweaked his knee, Omer Yurtseven stepped into his screen-setting role. Big Yurt can't match Dedmon's speed and hops, but he's a goliath -- flicking in hooks, and reaching over opposing bigs to pluck offensive boards. (Yurtseven is third in offensive rebounding rate, behind only Steven Adams and Clint Capela.)
Versatility serves the Heat well on defense too. Even without Adebayo's switchability, the Heat toggle schemes without warning: man, zone, drop-back, blitzing. They don't do it out of desperation, or for one possession out of timeouts. They do it from a position of strength. They hit first. Surprise can be weaponized.
I can't wait to see Miami at full throttle.
3. The Sixers' rebounding crisis
An underdiscussed way in which the Sixers miss Ben Simmons: An elite rebounding team has become maybe the worst in the league -- 26th in defensive rebounding rate, dead last on offense.
Philly's centers carry the load almost alone. Simmons is a good rebounder on both ends. (One happy result of sticking Simmons in the dunker spot is Philly misses falling to him.) Philly has given almost all Simmons' minutes to bad rebounders.
There are 58 players -- about two per team -- who have logged at least 500 minutes and snared fewer than 6.5% of available rebounds, per Basketball-Reference. A league-high five play for Philly: Tyrese Maxey, Danny Green, Seth Curry, Georges Niang, and Matisse Thybulle. Two other Sixers -- Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz -- barely crack that 6.5% threshold.
Shots at the rim produce the most offensive boards, and Philly barely gets to the rim anymore. Only the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks generate fewer shots in the restricted area. Almost 70% of Simmons' shots came from there last season, per Cleaning The Glass.
Philly is going nowhere serious until it resolves the Simmons situation, and hopefully in a way that stems the bleeding on the glass.
4. One-handed rebounds are cool, and you know it
Basketball allows for functional flash -- no-look passes, alley-oops, calculated dribbling exhibitions -- but wins and losses come down to nitty-gritty fundamentals: pick-and-roll coverages, offensive counters, defensive integrity, rugged rebounding, playmaking, shooting, shooting, and more shooting.
That said, basketball is entertainment. There is room for indulgent style, even if it invites risk that might be intolerable late in a playoff game. Case in point: the one-handed rebound, basketball's version of Rickey Henderson's "snatch catch."
Donovan Mitchell has usurped Carmelo Anthony as the NBA's one-handed rebound king, but Dejounte Murray -- and his preposterous arms -- are coming for the throne:
Even the Van Gundy brothers would admit that's cool, though they might yank you if you fumbled the ball. The fraught downside is part of the fun! (Once again: Murray belongs at least on the edges of the All-Star conversation.)
Kelly Oubre Jr. is congenitally unable to do any good basketball thing without adding some flair, and I love it. He is a WWE heel on the hardwood -- blowing kisses after 3s, flexing, sneering smack talk, doing pushups whenever someone knocks him down. Oubre might be our leading candidate to attempt a one-handed rebound in the last minute of Game 7 of the Finals:
5. Fair warning: Montrezl Harrell is leaking out
That familiar feeling is creeping back into the souls of Washington Wizards fans: disappointment, resignation, a general "where is this thing going?" malaise.
Washington is 18-17 after a 10-3 start, with a minus-2.4 point differential -- third worst in the East. Its defense has fallen to 22nd; opponents have drained a normal percentage from deep after missing everything during Washington's unsustainable 10-3 start.
After the season, Bradley Beal will be eligible for a five-year deal worth around $240 million. With his own new extension in hand, the boldest move for Tommy Sheppard, Washington's top decision-maker, would be holding a bidding war for Beal now. Such a shift appears unlikely. It would require sign-on from Beal and Washington's ownership. Beal is still just 28.
There are reasons to hope the Wiz can hang in the play-in race -- their most reasonable optimistic projection before that hot start warped expectations. Beal and Spencer Dinwiddie will play better. (Both have shown signs lately.)
Injuries and virus spread have whittled away Washington's depth -- its best asset. The cavalry is coming -- including Rui Hachimura and Thomas Bryant. Washington has played 21 road games and just 14 at home.
Bryant's reintroduction will be interesting, because Washington's two-headed center of Harrell and Daniel Gafford is bringing the pain. Harrell and Deni Avdija have led a game-saving bench; the Wiz are plus-3 per 100 possessions with Harrell on the floor, and minus-7.3 when he sits.
Harrell brings almost zero protection, but the rest of his game is singing in D.C. after both Los Angeles teams punted on him. Beware of my favorite Harrell habit (other than his rim-snapping chin-ups on dunks): If he contests a triple, he is leaking out.
Harrell seems to get one touchdown layup every game. This is one of my favorite sequences of the season:
What a balls-to-the-wall 18 seconds: Harrell flies for that touchdown catch; falls over; climbs up and sprints the floor; almost picks off Terry Rozier's pass to Miles Bridges; cuts off Bridges; and revs back up to challenge Gordon Hayward.
Crisis averted, Harrell retreats to the corner, leans over, and rests with his hands on his knees -- pure exhaustion, well-earned.
Washington is wildly more efficient in transition with Harrell on the floor, per Cleaning The Glass. (He's shooting a career-best 77% at the rim.) He has scored and passed well out of the post, per Second Spectrum.
Of course, all that depth -- plus the ability to deal one first-round pick -- brings the potential of a consolidation trade. If you're paying Beal, you should find another running mate. Don't be surprised if the Wiz kick the tires on Domantas Sabonis.
6. The Charlotte Hornets' porous transition defense
Charlotte is 28th in points allowed per possession, and may be the league's most fundamentally unsound transition defense.
Charlotte is 29th in points allowed in transition, putrid after both live rebounds and turnovers, per Cleaning The Glass. They yield more transition chances than they should, considering they don't turn the ball over or crash the offensive glass. Opponents turn neutral situations into jailbreaks:
It's malpractice for that miss to turn into a wide-open corner 3. That clip is a microcosm of Charlotte's vices. Rozier and Oubre are slow to retreat from the corners. Charlotte's collective first step back can be embarrassingly lethargic.
LaMelo Ball compounds everything by lurching for a steal instead of playing defense. Ball is smart and instinctual enough that a lot of his gambles pay off. On bad bets, he's your friend at the casino who walks by the roulette table, sees the last three spins have turned up red, and bets everything on black.
Charlotte has realistic top-six hopes, especially with the Cleveland Cavaliers down to the studs in ball handlers after the Ricky Rubio injury. The Hornets are a dynamite offensive team. They seem on the verge of a mini-leap if they can get their roster whole.
Role players are finding their grooves, rounding out Charlotte's depth. Cody Martin is a canny secondary playmaker shooting 49% from deep. Jalen McDaniels is harnessing his physical ability on both ends. P.J. Washington is money from the tippy-top of the arc, and he's stiffening on defense.
Charlotte can go 10 deep before reaching its backup centers or Ish Smith, who has sparked some recent wins. It can build lots of ultra-switchable center-less lineups.
It's hard to crack to the top six with perhaps the league's worst defense. Charlotte could erase three or four points every game by not being horrible in transition.
7. A subtle Cleveland Cavaliers hack
Every injury is a bummer, but some hit harder. Rubio tearing his ACL was one of those gut punches. Rubio has had such a star-crossed career. Every time it seems as if he's turned a corner and found the right place for his game to thrive, something bad happens: an injury, a trade, the team collapsing around him. Heck, he was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves -- David Kahn's Minnesota Timberwolves! He seems to be the point guard every decent team gets while they search for the point guard who might make them great.
This is Rubio's second ACL tear! The first was toward the end of Rubio's much-anticipated rookie season, when Rubio and young Kevin Love breathed life into the moribund post-Kevin Garnett Wolves.
Rubio wasn't shooting well this season, but he was playing well. He and Love anchored a productive bench, and Rubio fit alongside Darius Garland; the Cavs walloped opponents by 16 points per 100 possessions with that duo on the floor. With Rubio joining Collin Sexton -- a prime trade candidate -- on the injured list, the Cavs are running out of ambulatory guards. A deal for Rajon Rondo may be on the horizon, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
In the meantime, please enjoy this cool thing Garland regularly does with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen -- Cleveland's three most important players combining to form one unstoppable play:
This double-drag is destroying defenses. The Cavs have several alignments for it, but the one above might be my favorite. Allen -- the second screener -- doesn't even come near Garland above the arc. Instead, he jogs to the foul line and zips inside for a potential alley-oop.
Allen's man -- Alex Len here -- thus never ventures above the foul line. That puts a ton of stress on Mobley's guy -- Marvin Bagley III -- as the first line of defense. If Bagley doesn't impede Garland up high, Garland has a long runway -- way too much space for such an artful player.
If Bagley blitzes, Garland can split the defense. Both Mobley and Allen are smart about slipping screens early to punish traps, and Garland is accurate tossing them lobs. Switch, and Garland roasts a big guy.
All three Cavs deserve All-Star consideration. One of Garland and Allen probably makes it. If the other falls short, it will be as one of the final cuts.
8. Kenny Hustle and legitimately good Thunder lineups
The Thunder are minus-266 -- about minus-7.8 points per game. Remove their 73-point drubbing at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies, and Oklahoma City is still about minus-5.8 per game.
Kenrich Williams missed that game, but it's remarkable nonetheless Oklahoma City is plus-26 with Williams on the floor. Every contender will look hard at Williams. He might be the Jerami Grant consolation prize. Williams is a jack-of-all-trades bench guy. He guards lots of player types, moves the ball, and has hit 43% from deep over the past two seasons.
The Thunder are probably better than they want to be when they slot Williams at power forward with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Luguentz Dort, and one center -- Mike Muscala, Derrick Favors, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Isaiah Roby, or Darius Bazley. Lineups with Williams and just one of those bigs -- and no Aleksej Pokusevski -- are plus-64 in 173 minutes, per NBA.com.
Those groups pass the eye test. They have a nice balance of shooting and playmaking, some defense, and one go-to scorer in Gilgeous-Alexander who seems unfazed by the burden he carries -- impervious to slumps and extreme harassment from defenses.
Bazley has adjusted well to his new role as backup center; he's a shot-blocking menace on some nights!
9. Watch out for Garrison Mathews
Houston's out-of-nowhere seven-game winning streak -- which may or may not have saved Stephen Silas's job -- coincided almost exactly with Silas's decision to start the unheralded Mathews.
(It's a window into how poorly we process information that Houston's 15-game losing streak drew intense scrutiny, but almost no one is paying attention to the Detroit Pistons -- who have lost 17 of 18, including 14 straight at one point. The main difference? Houston's streak happened at the start of the season. A 1-16 record for the Rockets -- which could have reached 1-20 -- just looks worse than 5-28. In fairness, Houston's streak predated the current COVID-19 wave -- which has wiped out Detroit's roster. Regardless, firing Silas would have been ridiculous.)
Even as they've fallen back, the Rockets are still plus-2 with Mathews. It's amazing what a good shooter who doesn't need the ball can do for an offense prone to over-dribbly aimlessness.
Mathews was not the only variable driving Houston's recovery. Silas split up the hopeless Daniel Theis-Christian Wood duo. Jalen Green's injury helped Houston in the short term.
But Mathews is a quick-trigger threat from deep, and he plays really hard. He's super physical on defense; almost no one draws more illegal screen calls.
He never stops moving, and he swerves in unpredictable patterns that confound defenses. Turn your back, and Mathews might loop all the way to the other side:
You have to box him out no matter where he is:
Everybody loves guys who don't care about numbers, and revel in unpleasant dirty work.
Mathews isn't this good, but the league dropped the ball by letting the Rockets snap him up on a two-way contract after the season had started. (The Wizards let Mathews walk in free agency, and the Boston Celtics waived him in camp.)
10. The worst type of in-game ad
Perhaps I have become Old Man Yells at Cloud on this topic, but one way to guarantee I switch to another broadcast is to scrunch game action into one part of the screen to fit an advertisement into the other:
Message to for-profit corporations: If you advertise in this manner, the Lowe family is boycotting you.
We see ads on the court; on once-sacred jerseys; on every surface that could masquerade as signage; on the broadcast scoreboard; on the crawl at the bottom of the screen; attached to every "drive of the game" and "pass of the game" and halftime shooting contest. Fine. We surrender.
Just let me watch the damned games -- you know, the enterprise enabling these endless ads -- without having to squint.