This week's 10 things highlights a Los Angeles vengeance season, some cool uniforms, a Milwaukee Bucks super-sub, an unsung hero in Brooklyn, and much more.
1. Anthony Davis, blotting out everything on defense
Davis engaging destruction mode on offense -- culminating in 99 combined points in back-to-back games -- has rekindled hopes that the undersized, bricky, ill-fitting Los Angeles Lakers may have hope yet to make noise in the jumbled Western Conference.
Superstar talent can paper over structural flaws. The Lakers two-star model is valid only if Davis and LeBron James are true-blue superstars -- top-10 players. Davis fell out of that stratosphere last season; the Lakers fell from relevance.
Davis's scoring binge has catapulted him back toward top-10 status. He's thriving at center -- rolling to the rim, canning short jumpers, feasting at the line. (An underrated feature of playing Davis at center is that it becomes harder for defenses to switch the LeBron-Davis pick-and-roll -- unlocking rim-runs for Davis.)
The defense has been there since Day 1. Davis is defending with a perfectly calibrated combination of force, calm, and precision. He knows when he can sit in the paint, and when the situation demands he amp it up and run around the perimeter. He is unfazed by marauding drivers and deceptive fakes; he understands the power he has standing on his toes, arms spread -- the uncertainty he instills before he leaves the ground:
That looks passive, but it's really Davis acting with appropriate restraint. He sees Austin Reaves navigate that Devin Booker pick-and-roll unscathed, and concludes he can hang near the basket. He doesn't leap at Cameron Payne's baseline drive, confident he can challenge the shot late if it goes up -- and blot out every passing lane in the meantime.
When Davis needs to do more, he will:
Davis diagnoses that play early. He stays back to contain the initial drive, and then sprints at Buddy Hield when the Lakers switch on the fly.
How a big man uses his arms can be a tell. Are they at his sides? Or is he leveraging his wingspan? Freeze opposing pick-and-rolls, and you'll see Davis crouched in this pose -- enveloping every driving and passing window:
Good freaking luck.
When you build fake Lakers trades, remember: Davis is doing all this at center. Should the Lakers really add another one?
2. When Atlanta's guards don't leverage each other
Something is off with the Hawks. The Trae Young-Nate McMillan kerfuffle -- first reported by The Athletic -- feels like something that hints at deeper issues, not an inconsequential one-off.
Atlanta has scored 113.7 points per 100 possessions with both Young and Dejounte Murray on the floor -- equivalent to the No. 8 overall offense. That's pretty good, but not great -- and probably not what the Hawks envisioned, considering they ranked No. 2 in offensive efficiency last season. The fit issues pairing two ball-dominant guards were obvious, but Young and Murray are talented enough to iron them out.
There were encouraging signs over Atlanta's first 10 games. Young was running off about 12 off-ball screens per 100 possessions, per Second Spectrum -- double his career rate. He wasn't just loitering near half-court, off your screen, when Murray ran the show. Young needed to bump that number closer to 20, but 12 was a good start.
Welp.
It's back down to Young's career norms, meaning he has basically stopped doing anything away from the ball. He's only setting about two off-ball screens per 100 possessions. There is way too much of this:
That is dull co-existence -- sharing space. They are not amplifying each other.
The Hawks can still produce good offense that way. Defenders would still stick to Young -- decluttering the paint -- if he laid down and napped at mid-court. Murray and Young are star shotmakers who can beat in-your-jersey defense.
The "your turn, my turn" stagnancy won't be good enough against the best teams. The Philadelphia 76ers face a higher-class version of this problem with Joel Embiid and James Harden, but at least those guys play different positions. One of them is an elite rim-protector. Young might be the worst heavy-minutes defender in the league.
Murray missing some time with an ankle injury further sets back the integration process. Keep an eye on the Hawks. They could teeter into instability.
3. The versatility of Bobby Portis
Three years ago, with Portis coming off a meh season as one of the New York Knicks' 17 power forwards, I could never have imagined Portis becoming indispensable to a championship-level team. I conceived of him as slightly empty calories -- a chucker who didn't seem all that interested in defense.
Boy was I wrong.
With the Milwaukee Bucks, Portis has embraced the game's grittier elements while busting out his one-on-one scoring in just the right doses -- and somehow always at the exact moment Milwaukee's half-court offense is wobbling. He has found his perfect water level, and emerged as a Bucks keystone and Sixth Man of the Year contender.
The Bucks would not have won their first title since 1971 without Portis, who remained ready even as Mike Budenholzer benched him during Milwaukee's epic seven-game series against the Brooklyn Nets. Portis proved adept switching on defense in the Finals against the Phoenix Suns' pick-and-roll attack. The Portis-Giannis Antetokounmpo front-court became the team's go-to look when Brook Lopez rested, and Milwaukee still wallops opponents in that alignment.
Portis has always been a voracious offensive rebounder -- a fit within Milwaukee's bully-ball ethos. He's grabbing a career-best 30% of defensive rebounds this season. He's slumping from deep, but that will come. Portis has drilled a career 56% on 2s, including one-on-one shots that kept Milwaukee afloat amid the absences of Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday.
The Bucks have scored 1.15 points per possession on any trip featuring a Portis post touch, per Second Spectrum -- an elite number. He's approaching that mark on isolations. Portis is responsible for the bulk of those numbers. He is not looking to pass in those situations. He is letting it fly on almost 80% of his post-ups, a typical rate for him and always one of the league's highest, per Second Spectrum.
He seems to inject improvisational points right when the Bucks are scattered. Need a random Portis pick-and-roll? Sure!
Portis has hit a preposterous 57% from floater range. He's a really good player.
4. The 3s Nikola Vucevic doesn't take
Vucevic was shooting 40% from deep when the Bulls traded a boatload of assets for him. They wagered on late-prime Vucevic becoming the kind of high-volume stretch center who breaks certain schemes.
Vucevic is a career 34.8% shooter on 3s. He is shooting 35.8% this season. He shot 31% last season. In three seasons leading into that scorching 2020-21 campaign, he hit 31%, 36%, and 34%. Vucevic is solid, but he's not really a stretch center.
Defenses don't adjust to account for Vucevic's jumper. They know he'll pass up some open looks:
Also of note there: Mikal Bridges not even acknowledging Derrick Jones Jr.'s presence:
Chicago's spacing around their starry trio gets wonky. The Bulls don't have shooters. Only the Hawks attempt fewer 3s.
Devin Booker ignores Patrick Williams to triple-team DeMar DeRozan. Williams compounds that by sidling up to Ayo Dosunmu, forcing Dosunmu to scurry off as if someone sat too close to him on the subway.
Chicago is 25th in offensive efficiency. They've scored 108.8 points per 100 possessions with DeRozan, Vucevic, and LaVine on the floor -- equivalent to the Orlando Magic's 27th-ranked offense. Opponents are blitzing the Bulls by 5.6 points per 100 possessions when those three play together. Chicago lost those minutes last season too, though not by so much.
You can blame it on punchless (and young) surrounding talent, or on Lonzo Ball's knee issues, but at some point it's a problem when you can't even play teams to a draw with your three best players on the floor. Maybe swapping Alex Caruso into the starting five for Dosunmu will help. LaVine is regaining explosiveness after knee surgery. But stars are stars because they thrive in any environment. If something only works with rare and specific talent around it, does it really work?
It's tempting to recommend the Bulls pivot to a rebuild, and they should at least discuss it. But the Bulls' front-office built this team in the summer of 2021. That's practically yesterday! What an embarrassment it would be to implode it now.
Nothing about Chicago's history under the Reinsdorf family says they would green-light a teardown; they love vanilla profitability. The pick they owe Orlando (via the Vucevic deal) is top-4 protected; even if the Bulls lose every game, there's an almost 50-50 chance they'd cough up the pick anyway.
The one caveat: Vucevic is up for an extension. DeRozan will be after the season. Does Reinsdorf want to pay for a so-so team?
5. The Brooklyn Nets' unsung hero
It was clear as Thanksgiving approached that it was now or never for this iteration of the Nets. Kyrie Irving was back from suspension. Ben Simmons had three good games in a row. Joe Harris and Seth Curry were regaining their form. The next dozen games -- including seven straight at home -- featured mostly lottery teams and play-in hopefuls. Could the Nets win and pass for, like, a normal basketball team?
After all the self-inflicted melodrama -- and amid another injury flare-up for Simmons -- the Nets have decided to fight for their season. They are 6-2 since losing to the Zombie Sixers in Simmons' Philly return game, playing well on both ends. They're 4th in the East, right about where they should be. Kevin Durant is in the thick of the MVP conversation. Irving has mostly played well since a weirdly disengaged first half on Nov. 23 against Toronto.
But the unsung hero is Nicolas Claxton. Claxton has been dynamic enough on offense to inspire some faith in Claxton-Simmons lineups -- the Nets only road map to viable defense and rebounding. Claxton can corral guards on switches or barricade the rim in conservative schemes; opponents are shooting just 53% at the basket with Claxton nearby. He's not strong enough to plug Brooklyn's rebounding leakage, but he is snaring defensive boards at a career-best rate.
On offense, Claxton is a solid rim-runner and lob-catcher with a knack for cutting at the right time. He's a canny screener, mixing hard hits and darting slips that force switches.
He has hit double-digits in eight of his last 10 games, and he's flashing some quick-hitting self-creation -- often out of a cagey hand-off game:
Claxton expects the Raptors might trap Durant, so he fakes the hand-off and zips into a give-and-go with Harris. Claxton has hit 72.7% from the floor -- No. 1 in the league.
Speed and smarts can make up for the spacing issues inherent in pairing Simmons and Claxton. Durant and Irving can score in tight confines. The margins are thin, but maybe the Nets can find their sweet spot if Claxton keeps doing this. The Simmons-Claxton groups have scored at an acceptable rate, and the numbers were improving before Simmons had to sit again.
6. Scottie Barnes' push shot
This is a nifty and unusual weapon for Toronto's young centerpiece:
You seldom see players dribble one-on-one into unassisted floaters anymore -- no pick-and-roll, no screening action of any kind. Barnes does it a lot. Some of his shot-puts begin as post-ups:
Barnes is shooting 46% from floater range, offsetting some of the dreadful and very long 2s he takes. Imagine if Giannis Antetokounmpo had this shot down pat?
This is the broad strokes vision for Barnes, and really for the Raptors in general: gigantic point guard who can brutalize mismatches, see over the defense, and work as a threat to score or pass from anywhere.
Barnes' sophomore season feels almost like a disappointment, mirroring the Raptors' middling 13-12 start. He's shooting 45%, down from 49% last season, turning the ball over more, and veering off-kilter at times on defense.
I'd dial back any pessimism. Barnes is barely 21, exploring his game on a veteran win-now team. That's an awkward netherworld. He's slinging five dimes. Nothing he's done this season should alter whatever long-term projection you had for Barnes three months ago.
Rival executives are watching Toronto closely, bracing for fireworks if the Raptors are hovering around .500 in two months. Will Masai Ujiri stick with a middle-of-the-road team? Does Fred VanVleet fit their vision? Can Barnes, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam fit long-term?
Toronto ranks dead last in half-court scoring efficiency, per Cleaning The Glass. You can rig the possession game, but you still won't get far in the postseason if you can't score in the half-court. VanVleet is shooting 33% on 3s and 39% on 2s -- and hasn't hit above 44% inside the arc in any season.
VanVleet will perk up. Pascal Siakam has missed 10 games. Their initial starting five -- VanVleet, Barnes, Anunoby, Siakam, and Gary Trent Jr. -- has logged only 94 minutes. Their presumed alternative -- with Precious Achiuwa in Trent's place -- has shared the floor for five possessions total; Achiuwa's season hasn't gotten off the ground.
I'd still bet on the Raptors surging, but they'd do well to start soon.
7. Inverted pindowns for Lauri Markkanen
Normally, big guys set pindowns for little guys. The Utah Jazz invert that formula by having guards set pindowns for Markkanen:
This simple action contains counters to any defensive response. Duck under Jordan Clarkson's screen, and Markkanen flares for an open triple. Trap Markkanen, and he can slip a pass to Clarkson -- catapulting him into playmaking position. Block Markkanen from using the screen, and he cuts backdoor.
Switch, and you unlock Markkanen's post game against a size mismatch. Markkanen has been selective with post-ups, and viciously effective; the Jazz are scoring about 1.12 points per possession when Markkanen shoots via a post-up or dishes to a teammate who fires -- usually a top-10-ish mark over a full season, per Second Spectrum. Markkanen is pouring in more than 1.3 points out of isolations -- a number that would lead the league over an entire season.
The defense should chase Markkanen over those screens, right? Not so fast, my friend!
That risks freeing Markkanen for a layup unless someone helps. Sending a third defender from the weak side exposes a shooter in Markkanen's line of sight. Perhaps the man guarding Markkanen's screener might flash inside to prevent any pass to Markkanen, and then dart back to his original assignment. The Portland Trail Blazers pull it off there, but Malik Beasley gets a good look.
This kind of adaptability has been the story of Utah's feel-good season. Markkanen belongs in the All-Star discussion.
8. A sneaky Harrison Barnes cut
Barnes sputtered to a tentative start as a support player around the De'Aaron Fox-Domantas Sabonis pick-and-roll. The Fox-Sabonis partnership leaves less room for Barnes to act as an on-ball screener or hunt one-on-one chances against mismatches. He's not a high-volume, quick-release catch-and-shoot guy like Kevin Huerter or Malik Monk.
But Barnes has settled in as a reliable secondary scorer, cutting into open spaces and pouncing on little creases in the defense. He's shooting 62.5% on 2s and getting to the line a bunch.
That's an unusual cut, with Barnes slithering from the corner, across the paint, and into Sabonis's path; Barnes even meanders out of bounds to clear space. Sabonis can make that read on the fly, and Barnes is comfortable with tricky baseline jumpers.
The Kings lost three straight late last month to drop to 10-9, and league insiders wondered: How will they respond to adversity? Will they fold like the same old Kangz?
Sacramento is 3-1 since, still sporting the league's fourth-best offense and a top-8 point-differential. Their defensive metrics are improving, as early shot-location data suggested they would. Barnes helped stabilize them. They'll need him to keep it up as they resume a six-game road trip tonight in Cleveland.
9. What happened to Will Barton?
When Nikola Jokic was only beginning his rise to superstardom, Barton's slicing north-south drives seemed essential within a sometimes ponderous Denver Nuggets offense. Barton accelerated those proto-Nuggets, jolting them to life. He was sometimes reckless, but you always noticed him.
I miss that guy. Have you noticed Barton once with the Washington Wizards? Did you know he is on the Washington Wizards? He's shooting 36%. He's getting to the rim at a career-low rate, and shooting an unthinkable 47% within the restricted area. Barton appears sapped of all verve. He's 31, but you'd think by watching him he's 36. Washington's bench has been a sinkhole all season.
I loved the Nuggets move to trade Barton and Monte Morris to Washington for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith, and could not believe anyone found it risky from Denver's perspective. Caldwell-Pope is a hand-in-glove fit -- a better shooter and defender than Barton, more willing to play off the ball.
For Washington, the deal was probably more about finding a real starting point. Morris has been OK as a low-usage caretaker, but he's not the answer for a team that needs more of them.
Here's hoping for a Barton revival.
10. Oklahoma City's gray city edition jerseys
I've seen these anywhere from top-8 to bottom-5 on city edition jersey rankings. Count me as a fan. I've (mostly) enjoyed the gradual introduction of gray in alternate jerseys, and this ultra-dark gray-black -- "anthracite," according to official descriptions -- is especially sharp, and a little less "The Wonder Years" gym class uniform than lighter grays. It leaps off the court and the screen, and the classic Thunder oranges and blues leap off that gray base.
I love that dark, muted red the Thunder have nudged into their palette -- a nod to the soil of Oklahoma -- and they've been smart to use it as the trimming rather than the main course. The state logo on the belt buckle, shaded that same red, is a gorgeous grace note.
The Thunder, once the league's dullest art team, have been on a roll with alternate uniforms. Even their most daring designs -- a remembrance of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, last season's silver-gray duds -- somehow feel as if they fit the team's broader style. The rest are snazzy takes on the team's foundational colors.
It's tough to strike a balance between bold and recognizable, but the Thunder have done it. You never feel a "wait, why are the Detroit Pistons wearing green?" dissonance with Oklahoma City.