ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Fielding questions about his father is nothing new for New Mexico coach Richard Pitino.
“It’s been 40 years of answering dumb questions about my dad so you guys get a free pass,” Pitino recently told a group of journalists ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Iona, coached by Rick Pitino.
The elder Pitino, of course, is no ordinary papa — or head coach for that matter.
He led both Kentucky and Louisville to national championships and has amassed more than 800 college victories. Along the way, he also coached the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks.
Now the Pitinos will be on opposing benches for just the third time. Richard Pitino is 0-2 against his father. Both losses came when the elder Pitino was coaching Louisville.
“I think it’s going to be a big treat for the players,” Rick Pitino said in his postgame news conference following a win over Princeton. “They’re going to have 13,000-14,000 fans. And I told them this, ‘Rich is going to want to beat us by 30, 30.’ He’s not going to say, ‘I’m going to take it easy on dad.’ And the reason he’s going to try and beat us by 30 is I taught him that way.”
Richard Pitino, in his second season with the Lobos after being fired following eight seasons at Minnesota, said the game really has nothing to do with the father-son matchup.
“Yes, it’s an interesting story line, me versus my dad,” he said. “But if you were at our practices, if you were at our film sessions, you wouldn’t know who the coach of the opposing team was. It’s business as usual for us.”
For the Lobos, that business means trying to extend their 10-game winning streak to open the season.
“All I care about it that the Lobos find a way to get a win,” Richard Pitino said.
And dad, well, he would have no qualms about hanging an L on his son’s program behind the 7-2 Gaels.
“I’m very, very proud of him and love him to death,” Rick Pitino said. “And he knows he’s not coaching against me, he’s coaching against Iona. And he knows how much I want to win. And even more so, how much I hate to lose.”
The pairing is a good chance for both programs to raise their profiles.
“I understand it’s a storyline but it has nothing to do with the game,” Richard Pitino said. “I scheduled it because I wanted the exposure for our program as we rebuild it.”
It was also a way to create some excitement among local fans who had grown increasingly lukewarm to the Lobos after years of passionate embrace.
In that respect, Richard Pitino said it absolutely has been a success, perhaps even more so than he anticipated.
“When I took the job, I was concerned, as everybody is, when you’re down and coming out of a pandemic, of bringing the fans back,” he said. “So that’s why I did it and it’s certainly proven to be something that the community has been excited about.”
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP—Top25
New York Islanders’ Anders Lee (27) celebrates with Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson (8), Oliver Wahlstrom … [+] (26) and Alexander Romanov (28) after scoring the game winning goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Rangers Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in New York. The Islanders won 4-3. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
In recent times, the Rangers and Islanders never see their playoff schedules intersect where they play each other to decide who advances. Neither do the Knicks and Nets but occasionally the regular season schedule unfolds in a way where both rivalries play out on consecutive nights such as this week.
The Rangers and Islanders last played a playoff series in 1994, the first and easiest four of the 16 the Rangers needed to stop hearing chants of 1940 which ultimately happened on June 14, 1994.
The same year the Knicks dispatched the Nets in four games in a best-of-five before going the distance to eliminate the Bulls in the only full season of Michael Jordan’s hiatus and the Pacers, who would prove to be as much of a nemesis as the Jordan Bulls.
By the time the teams played each other again in the playoffs it was 10 years later with the Nets as a top seed against the Knicks, who got in by winning 37 games, prompting then team president Isiah Thomas to say, “Welcome to the Playoffs.”
Since 2004, the Nets and Knicks have seldom been good at the same time. In 2013, they were separated by six games with the Knicks winning the division and the Nets getting the fourth seed, It took eight more seasons for the teams to finish over .500 at the same time again when the Knicks stunningly made a late run for the fourth seed and the Nets finished second.
It is unknown if the rivalries in two different sports unfold in a playoff series next spring. First, the teams actually have to get there and in the early going the four teams might be providing some early clues about where their respective seasons may be headed.
Starting with hockey after two wins over the Rangers, the Islanders are on impressive 7-1-0 run in their past eight games. It started with a matter of fact 3-0 win on Hempstead Turnpike right near the Queens county line on Oct. 26 – three days after the Astros eliminated the Yankees and officially shifting the weeknight focus of area sports fans to the winter sports and baseball trade rumors.
It also featured three wins of overcoming multi-goal deficits, including one over the defending champion Colorado Avalanche AVAX . The other two came in a span of 24 hours, first when the Islanders rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 win over Calgary and then Tuesday in an impressive third period where their scoring opportunities resulted in goals — a blast by Adam Pelech, another blast by Brock Nelson and a backhander by Anders Lee in front of the net.
“We’ll take that sometimes. Not all the time,” Lee said after noting how previous experience does not faze the Islanders when trailing by multiple goals.
The final goal came after Oliver Wahlstrom may have tripped Kakko Kappo, but not on the second Tuesday of November. Still the missing whistle was apparent to Rangers coach Gerard Gallant, who avoided a fine when he merely said: “You guys saw it?” in response to an inquiry about his reaction.
“We lost a tough hockey game, tough to swallow,” Gallant said. “We played well. We deserved the game tonight. The Islanders are the best team in the league in the third period.”
New York Islanders’ Brock Nelson (29) smiles after scoring a goal during the third period of an NHL … [+] hockey game as New York Rangers’ Filip Chytil (72) reacts Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in New York. The Islanders won 4-3. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
The non-call going against the Rangers was part of a rough patch for a team, whose season lasted through June 11 with a run to Game 6 of the conference finals, which usually get done around Memorial Day. The tough third period was a better showing than Sunday when the Rangers switched up their lines but still sent them to a seventh loss in 10 games (3-4-3) and it’s a stretch that has created some of the urgent comments you tend to hear when a team slides.
“I don’t think it’s lost on anybody, the start we’ve had,’’ Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “Time is a-ticking. We don’t have all the time in the world. We’ve got to find a way to play a better game.’’
A night later the Knicks and Nets got together in Brooklyn. By about 10 pm, both sported five wins with different paths on how they got there.
New York Knicks’ Julius Randle (30) reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against … [+] the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, in New York. The Nets won 112-85. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
In their third season under Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks are a typical hovering around .500 team, winning games they are supposed to, losing to teams you would expect and occasionally beating a good team missing a key contributor.
As for the Nets, their path to reaching 5-7 with their impressive 112-85 win on Wednesday is well unique to say the least.
They entered the fourth season of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving after both their stars appeared to be seeking an exit and Durant went so far to request Steve Nash and Sean Marks be replaced before eventually dropping his desire.
Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the … [+] New York Knicks Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Then they began with five losses in six games, got a win in their seventh game and then parted ways with Steve Nash on Nov. 1 and four days after Kyrie Irving posted a link to an antisemitic movie then grew defensive in an embarrassing press conference on Oct. 29 after lack of effort resulted in the Nets allowing 23 3-pointers.
Nash’s replacement was Jacque Vaughn and for a week it seemed like he was a placeholder, similar to the 14 games spread out over five-plus months in 2020 after Kenny Atkinson got the parted ways treatment. It seemed he was a temporary because of the questionable reported pursuit of Ime Udoka, who would be coaching the Celtics if not for his allegations of inappropriate conduct.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Nets decided to remove the interim tag after seeing the defense allow 96 points in their first four games under him. Considering the move came a day after election day, it prompted a quip from Vaughn.
“I guess I was the write-in candidate in the minds of elections right now, but I’m ok with that. I said to my wife, I might not have been her first choice and we’ve been together 20 years, so it can all work out. So, off we go.”
A few hours after his wisecrack, he was beaming as the Nets did things like hand out 30 assists, get 55 rebounds and lead by double-digits for 42-plus minutes.
It left the Knicks lamenting a night when they constantly hoisted bad looking 3-pointers (12 for 43), made defense seem optional and lost their eighth straight to the Nets, whose effort continued to increase.
“It’s not OK,” Knicks guard Jalen Brunson said.
Just like it wasn’t an OK result for the other MSG tenant a night earlier against the team who has owned them of late on the ice.
It’s time for our silliest preseason tradition: The 11th (how???) annual League Pass Rankings, a watchability scale to help you avoid wasting time on things like, “Wait, has this team actually ordered its players to tie their shoes together as part of its Lose-A-Rama for Victor Wembanyama campaign?”
These are not power rankings! They are derived from a formula Bill Simmons found scrawled on parchment paper inside a glass bottle that washed up on the shores of Malibu.
Teams are scored 1-10 in five categories:
ZEITGEIST: When you talk about this team at parties, do people slink away?
HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL: Do you linger on games in case a superstar does something amazing?
STYLE: Where are they on the continuum from “Golden State Warriors beautiful game” to “Julius Randle just took four jab steps and launched an 18-footer”?
LEAGUE PASS MINUTIA: All the little things that mean too much to damaged die-hards: announcers, court designs, uniforms.
The Jazz aren’t really a basketball team after detonating the Donovan Mitchell–Rudy Gobert-Quin Snyder-Making-Amazing-Faces era. They are an airport waiting area for players, only those players have to play together a bit because the NBA mandates the Jazz field a team instead of working together “Ocean’s Eleven”-style to rig the lottery.
They are the NBA Spider-Man Pointing meme of shoot-first combo guards: Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Talen Horton-Tucker, Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Lauri Markkanen and Malik Beasley aren’t exactly prime John Stockton, either. Poor Mike Conley can bring the ball up, pass it once and head into the stands for a drink. (I am excited to watch Sexton again. He averaged 24 points on 47.5% shooting two seasons ago, and purists dismissed it because the Cleveland Cavaliers stunk and Sexton’s a blah passer. Putting up those numbers is not easy. Sexton plays with classic little guy bravado, flinging himself inside for rebounds and going at larger superstars as if they should be scared of him.)
We are only one year removed from the Utah broadcast team shrieking at Rudy Gay’s debut as if the Jazz were getting prime Karl Malone. I can’t wait to hear how the Jazz are not really tanking, how dare anyone suggest it, the honorable caretakers of this community treasure would never allow that toxin to infect your beloved Jazz Men.
The new uniforms are a crime against NBA art:
The black and yellow ones are high school gym class-level. Why is a team with such a rich color palette going all-in on black? The white ones are passable only because the Jazz note — a perfect piece of sports art — is front and center, but they’ve even sullied that by removing the blue, yellow and green in the note head in favor of (yup) black.
The new court at least has the smoky white-gray shadow of that note along the sidelines.
The Pacers are one trade from challenging the San Antonio Spurs as frontrunners for the league’s worst record. They fall behind the Spurs here only because of the “zeitgeist” category; winning five titles buys San Antonio gravitas, especially when their last tank job kick-started that dominance.
Tyrese Haliburton is more entertaining than the entire Spurs team. He operates two steps ahead of defenses, and takes joy in passing. He gets off the ball early instead of hunting assists. When Haliburton is on the floor, the ball flies. He celebrates assists more loudly than baskets. You will sometimes catch Haliburton shouting with glee as his big man is about to cram one of his feathery lobs. (Haliburton and Isaiah Jackson are a fun alley-oop connection.) He might lead the league in assists.
Indiana’s young (and raw) bigs seemed to catch Haliburton’s spirit; the Pacers had the ball shifting side-to-side. Terry Taylor is the most ferocious offensive rebounder you don’t know. He will Kool-Aid Man through four guys to snag a second chance.
T.J. McConnell must be furious Jose Alvarado seized his throne as the king of the back-court sneak steal. I expect McConnell to respond by wearing a Hamburglar mask and hiding in the stands.
Chris Duarte bobs and weaves behind screens with liquid veteran guile. Bennedict Mathurin is a blast of athleticism for a team that ranked 27th in dunks. There’s plenty of room on Aaron Nesmith Island!
28. SAN ANTONIO SPURS (21.5)
The Spurs were for so long the League Pass nerd team: Manu Ginobili driving Gregg Popovich mad with thread-the-needle passes; Boris Diaw’s roly-poly, spinning, shoulder-checking drives; Kawhi Leonard snatching the ball from people. They birthed the Spursgasm, and raised the sport to perhaps its stylistic zenith in 2013-14.
Welp.
Can I interest you in the Low-Risk Point Guard Sibling Olympics between Tre and Tyus Jones? What about Point Josh Primo? Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell should develop into really good support starters, but it’s hard to hone your secondary playmaking on a team this light on first-option types to bend defenses — even if Popovich will have everyone sharing and moving. (Vassell is the biggest draw — a potential 3-and-D monster who has flashed ball-handling chops.)
At least Jakob Poeltl free throws have drama; he has hit below 50% over three seasons, and that will be a big deal if Poeltl — a fine player — ends up on a playoff team again.
Jeremy Sochan is fun, and leads three 2022 first-round picks who should see minutes.
Is this the best non-fiesta jersey in Spurs history — maybe the best, period?
I love that spur jutting out of the “X” in that new “SATX” wordmark. That gorgeous pattern down the sides is rendered in the style of Mexican serapes. The Texas state logo is a nod to the team’s origins as the Dallas Chaparrals in the American Basketball Association.
This 50th anniversary court, though …
The gold doesn’t go, and the center-court logo looks as if someone draped a carpet over the big spur.
27. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (21.5)
They’d be at least three spots higher with Chet Holmgren healthy. Without him, the roster is a morass after the strange-but-cool Shai Gilgeous-Alexander/Josh Giddey/Luguentz Dort trio. I mean this in a good way: It is really hard to find a perimeter trio with almost zero overlapping skill among them.
Giddey is the tall genius passer who dares long-range, no-look lasers with zero margin for error. Dort is the brick wall who lofts ceiling-scraping 3s and bulldozes inside. Gilgeous-Alexander is the ungraspable phantom, everywhere and nowhere at once as he slithers into the lane — different limbs seemingly operating at different speeds, and moving in different directions.
Good luck distributing minutes beyond that. If you’re chasing wins, you’d play Kenrich Williams and Mike Muscala. Then there are at least seven young guys who merit time — including three of the first 34 picks in the last draft.
Aleksej Pokusevski has shown hints that he’s a basketball player, not just a gangly novelty. He has vision, and a knack for blocking shots. (Does he think you get more points if jumpers go in at higher velocities?) Tre Mann is crafty. If a Darius Bazley corner 3 hits the side of the backboard, does it make a noise? (Don’t sleep on the Thunder hiring Chip Engelland — longtime assistant coach and shooting guru for the Spurs.)
A juicy subplot: midtier playoff teams cannot afford losses to the Wembanyama Brigade. Those can be the difference between No. 6 and the play-in. The Thunder signaled doom for the Los Angeles Lakers last season with two massive early comeback wins.
The broadcast is less propaganda-y than it once was. Progress!
26. Washington Wizards (24)
The cherry blossom uniform is the best thing to happen to this franchise since the Charlotte Bobcats took Michael Kidd-Gilchrist No. 2 in 2012. They should give these uniforms a no-trade clause.
The team with perhaps the most blah art collection of the last 15 years — this is the first season they’ve used multiple courts! — nailed every detail: the soft-pink; the gradual shift to gray on the shorts; the stenciled flowers dripping down the sides.
Gandalf is back!
After years of ignoring their kooky wizarding heritage, the team is tiptoeing into some semi-ironic hipster embrace of it. It took me years before I realized the contrast between the wizard’s white beard and black cloak formed a “W.” (I might have problems.)
Oh, the team! The Wiz could push for a high-end play-in spot, or skid early and Avada Kedavra themselves into the Wembanyama sweepstakes.
For a team that has been under-.500 since 2018, they have few (if any) young prospects you are dying to watch. Deni Avdija is a heady ball-mover who enjoys defense — remember when he started forming an “X” with his forearms after stops? — but needs to do more on offense. Rui Hachimura was empty calories last season; he has a lot to prove in the final year of his rookie contract.
Kyle Kuzma was awesome across the board, and elevates NBA fashion. Bradley Beal is one of the league’s most artful three-level scorers — a sleek blend of old school and new school. You often hear how Beal can’t be the No. 1 guy on a title team, but who cares (other than Wiz fans who can recite his salary cap hit in 2027)? How many such players exist? Beal is a star, and would look incredible as the second-best player — and maybe No. 1 scorer — on a great team stacked with defenders. (In other news, the Wiz had a three-year window in which they could have traded Beal for a gazillion draft picks.)
The funniest random NBA streak is Orlando’s 10-season run ranking 20th or worse in points per possession. That is Dimaggio-level consistency in offensive incompetence. I really hope they are 20th on the last day of the season and go all-out for 19th.
I think we are on rebuild No. 3 post-Dwightmare? This one might take. Paolo Banchero is the offense-first fulcrum the Magic have searched for this entire decade — an all-court hub with the passing and shooting chops to lift his teammates. Franz Wagner is an ideal secondary wing — all heady cuts and snappy passes, with the touch and ball-handling guile to take the reins mid-possession. Wendell Carter Jr. is only 23, and he’s already a decent starting center. They should land another high pick in this draft.
Cole Anthony plays as if he thinks he’s the best player on the floor, and I love it. He’s a solid backup and spot starter.
Everything else is a mystery. Unless Wagner becomes an every-possession point-forward — that seems a stretch — the Magic still need a perimeter orchestrator. What, exactly, is Jalen Suggs?
Jonathan Isaac’s return sometime between now and 2030 would introduce some ultra-modern lineup combinations. Can you go giant, with Wagner and all three of Isaac, Banchero and Carter? What about the center-less front-court of Wagner/Isaac/Banchero? I will never give up on Chuma Okeke!
The broadcast trio of David Steele, Jeff Turner, and Dante Marchitelli is tremendous. They have fun without degenerating into shrill homerism.
24. CHARLOTTE HORNETS (24.5)
This is the floor for a team featuring one of the league’s most inventive passers in LaMelo Ball; Eric Collins’ rapturous play-by-play; Kelly Oubre Jr. talking trash to everyone in earshot; and some of the league’s best and most immediately identifiable art. (Here’s hoping they bring back the mint shade they unveiled two seasons ago; the Hornets can own that.)
This alternate court is another hit:
That all-purple silhouette of a scary-looking Hornet leaps off the screen. The stinger theme echoes along the sideline, and on the outside of the “H” and “S” of the accompanying jersey:
The half-basketball with turquoise lining is the rare instance where dividing the circle by color works.
The Hornets played fast and ranked No. 2 in dunks last season, but almost half those dunks belonged to Miles Bridges and Montrezl Harrell. Steve Clifford teams typically don’t play fast, or experiment with the funky “nothing else is working, let’s try this?” zone defenses James Borrego cooked up.
(Clifford is a really good coach. Even so, we have not spent nearly enough time discussing how hilarious and perfectly Hornets it is that Charlotte hired one coach — Kenny Atkinson — only for him to bail once he got a look inside, and then turned to the coach they fired four years ago.)
Pairing Clifford with a chaos agent like Ball will either result in an untenable tug-of-war or a healthy meeting in the middle. (Clifford has little choice but to play a pile of unproven young guys.) I’m curious how Ball finds his footing in slowed-down, half-court sequences — what moves and passes he leans on, how he incorporates teammates.
Terry Rozier has canned an inexplicable number of clutch jumpers over the last two seasons. There is something mesmerizing about watching Mason Plumlee decide, “Screw it, I’m going to unleash this reeeeeeaaaally slooooooowwwww spin move from the foul line. It’s my time to live, baby!” Did you know Plumlee switched to shooting free throws lefty last season? That happened!
23. NEW YORK KNICKS (26.5)
The Knicks played at the league’s second-slowest pace, and their games featured tons of free throws. Their starting five was unwatchable, unless you enjoy Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson bumping into each other. The rollicking bench shocked them to life, and if the basketball gods are kind, we will see more Barrett alongside Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley. (You never know when Toppin might stage his own in-game dunk contest.)
Toppin is a quick-twitch ball-mover, and Quickley went up two levels as a playmaker last season. Isaiah Hartenstein will have the ball popping, and stitch the bench together. If Robinson isn’t on point, we might see Hartenstein finish games.
Jalen Brunson should restore order and spacing to the starting five. The Knicks boast Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier, Madison Square Garden’s theater lighting and a pristine royal blue court. (I will drop them one spot if they introduce more black-and-orange art. You are the Knicks of New York freaking City. Do not be Team Halloween!)
I would like an in-game feed of Leon Rose and slouching, hangdog James Dolan sitting next to each other in silence, only the Knicks would never risk accidentally broadcasting Dolan shouting back at fans urging him to sell the team. (The camera might also catch them frowning at Tom Thibodeau’s refusal to play Cam Reddish.)
The potential for cranky Randle turning against the fans again adds to the comedy score.
22. HOUSTON ROCKETS (27)
On the one hand: Houston ranked first in dunks and second in pace, and features a bunch of telegenic young players. Jalen Green goes from zero to 100 in a nanosecond, and hunts bodies at the rim. He can also slow down for smooth midrange pull-ups — a nice break from Houston’s dunks-and-3s credo.
How do you even describe Alperen Sengun? He attempts such unusual feats of pivotry that you sometimes wonder if he traveled even though you just watched him shift both feet three times without dribbling. Was that so weird, it was somehow legal? Sengun could carry the ball 20 steps and still be astonished the referees whistled him for traveling.
He sometimes pass fakes to no one — literally to empty space — just to get defenders leaning into that void. Is it genius or madness?
On the other hand: Houston fouled the bejesus out of everyone and gagged up one of the highest turnover rates in recent history; its style of play — young guys running and gunning — lends itself to raggedness.
Tari Eason will clean up the defense. He is here to lock victims up. Jabari Smith Jr. brings some preternatural polish.
Do Derrick Favors and Maurice “I’m coming for Ish Smith’s record” Harkless ever wonder, “Wait, what city am I in?” It hurts the comedy score that Eric Gordon is too professional to write “Trade me!” on his shoes a la Chris Morris.
Boban Marjanovic cameos are always welcome. Every move Garrison Mathews makes — kicking his legs out on jumpers, running smack into picks — carries a hint of danger. Every team needs a Jae’Sean Tate.
21. SACRAMENTO KINGS (27.5)
This is too low for Sacramento.
You never know when the #KANGZZ might appear in-game. Example: Remember when NBA Twitter kicked into Conspiracy Theory mode because Vivek Ranadive sat courtside between the general manager he had recently fired (Vlade Divac) and Divac’s replacement (Monte McNair)? Because it was the Kings — with their “Game of Thrones”-style power structure and habit of hiring coaches before GMs — anything was possible.
In describing that bizarre scene, Jason Jones of The Athletic recalled Ranadive tweeting happy birthday to Jimmer Fredette (whose selection at No. 10 in 2011 after a nonsensical trade down is another #KANGZZ moment) “while negotiating a buyout [with Fredette] at the same time.” Even the tweet in question has a hidden #KANGZ treasure:
Ranadive is making the “hang loose” gesture in front of another photo of him flashing the “hang loose” gesture.
Anyway, Team Play-In-Or-Bust should be a fast-paced scoring machine built around the already sophisticated De’Aaron Fox-Domantas Sabonis two-man game. They are a natural match: opposites in build, but tethered in craft and wink-wink IQ. Sabonis might flip the angle of his screen two, three, four times, and Fox shifts in sync with each move. Sabonis can brutalize switches, push in transition and even run the occasional inverted pick-and-roll.
Malik Monk is a show, Kevin “Red Velvet” Huerter adds shooting and underrated playmaking, and Keegan Murray intrigues. I will miss the Haliburton-Richaun Holmes lob connection, but Holmes’ push shot — the best of its kind — carries on.
The algorithm is angry Miami discontinued its instantly iconic “Miami Vice”-style jerseys.
The Heat are a sneakily hard sell for casual fans. They were 28th in pace and 26th in dunks, and they foul a lot. Watching Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Bam Adebayo make magic in tight spaces is an acquired taste. You have to really pay attention to notice all the smart cuts, shoulder fakes, give-and-gos, and slick interior passes that make Miami’s half-court offense hum — when it hums.
Lowry gets them moving with overzealous full-court hit-aheads. I’m excited to see what Tyler Herro does as a permanent starter. He became over-infatuated — with the team’s encouragement to some degree — with becoming a high-volume pick-and-roll ball handler at the expense of some catch-and-shoot 3s. He should recalibrate 15% or so in the direction of Klay Thompson.
There is something beautiful and almost contradictory about Jimmy Butler’s bruising game. He doesn’t just plow into people. He’s violent and physical, but never reckless. In a blink, he can transition from a burrowing drive into a stop-on-a-dime jumper that drips with surprising softness. He brings the same balletic ferocity to his off-ball cuts. (Butler might be the league’s most underrated cutter.)
The flip side of self-serious #HeatCulture is that there is almost nothing funny — unintentionally or otherwise — about the Heat.
19. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (29)
There is nothing in basketball like an avalanche of Damian Lillard 3s. In Portland, the buzz builds as fans realize: We might see one of those nights. It reaches a euphoric crescendo when one final 30-footer forces a timeout, and Lillard, scowling, stares and nods at the crowd in his house.
On the road, you hear fear — really hear it. It starts with low murmuring: Uh oh. As the streak unfolds, the noise morphs into a sort of collective shriek that begins when Lillard pauses mid-dribble as if he might launch.
For the first time in ages, the Blazers have surrounded their star with some oomph: Josh Hart rampaging end-to-end; Nassir Little testing the limits of his game; Anfernee Simons flicking 3s and hunting tin; Gary Payton II rim-running and committing felonies on defense; the unknown of Shaedon Sharpe.
Simons might have the league’s prettiest floater; he pogo-sticks into the clouds, above reaching defenders, and flips that baby from all angles.
Chauncey Billups might have to start from scratch on defense after last year’s blitzing scheme failed.
The Blazers have the best team name, and maybe the best top-to-bottom art. This floor is close to seizing my No. 1 court design spot from the Lakers:
A few teams have experimented with differently colored painted areas. That contrast works better on the boundaries — as the Blazers have done here. The pinwheel might be the best logo in U.S. sports; whoever decided to extend the striping from the center-court pinwheel onto each sideline deserves a big raise.
Lillard planted the pinwheel smack in the center of the new jersey he helped design — and echoed its striping down the sides:
More teams are trying jerseys showing only their primary logo — no wordmark at all — and the pinwheel is well-suited to that. The Blazers were smart to render the numbers in white instead of black.
18. CHICAGO BULLS (30)
This an eight-spot drop from last year, reflecting Lonzo Ball’s importance as Chicago’s fast-break engine and the connective tissue between the disparate styles baked into the roster.
I was gobsmacked watching from courtside last November as the Bulls ran circles around the Lakers at Staples Center. LeBron James didn’t play, but Chicago’s blowout win was so emphatic, his absence seemed almost immaterial. The younger, bouncier, cockier Bulls looked as if they were playing a different sport. They passed and cut and jacked 3s ahead of the Lakers. Ball and Alex Caruso terrorized L.A. on defense. The Lakers quit. The Bulls danced.
That team vanished six weeks later, and has never returned. It got slower, more predictable, over-dependent on DeMar DeRozan’s graceful but somewhat repetitive midrange game. Zach LaVine is the best dunker since Vince Carter, but wings don’t dunk often enough to warp viewing habits; Lavine dunked 62 times in 67 games. (Derrick Jones. Jr. might literally jump over someone at any moment.)
If LaVine cans one or two fading step-back 3s — he’ll do that from the corners too! — definitely stick around. A high-degree-of-difficulty swish-fest may be coming.
Nikola Vucevic is a footwork artist on the block, but playing alongside LaVine and DeRozan marginalized that part of his game and turned him into a run-of-the-mill pick-and-pop shooter; Vucevic averaged eight post touches per 100 possessions, second-lowest of his career, per Second Spectrum.
Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Williams offer the appeal of the unknown, and how they develop — and how fast — is of immense importance to a team that could be trapped in upper-class mediocrity. Williams’ career could spin in an unusual number of directions; the Bulls might even spot him minutes at center.
Adam Amin and Stacey King keep the broadcast light-hearted, and lose nothing when Jason Benetti fills in. The logo, court, and jerseys (other than anodyne black alternates) are top-notch.
17. TORONTO RAPTORS (30)
Some fans are concerned about strategic homogeneity — every team playing spread pick-and-roll, chasing the same shots. That concern is overblown, but there is an easy antidote: Watch the positionless, avante-garde basketball experiment unfolding in Toronto!
The Raptors’ rotation amounts to Fred VanVleet and several tall people who can do lots of things on offense and guard everyone on defense. They leverage their length in ways you’d expect, and some you might not: switching, playing wacky zones, bombarding the offensive glass, and posting up size mismatches. They do the unthinkable on defense: allow lots of 3s (basically) on purpose, confident their speed and preposterous arms make for frightening closeouts. (Only Matisse Thybulle has blocked more 3s than Chris Boucher over the past three seasons.)
Playing mismatch ball can be laborious; Toronto possessions after made baskets lasted 18.3 seconds — highest in the league, per Inpredictable. But even the grueling nature of its half-court offense runs counter to trends in a way that makes it appealing.
Scottie Barnes — 6-9 point-whatever — is the perfect foundational player for this ethos, and might soon grasp the superstar tools to lift Toronto’s offense from the muck. He seemed to play last season in second gear, digesting the speed and dimensions of the NBA before pushing the throttle. By the playoffs, he appeared to have a better understanding of how good he could be.
Pascal Siakam is a fine all-around No. 1 option, and VanVleet is that greater-than-his-statistics guy you appreciate more the longer you watch him. Every seemingly innocuous move — every cut, dribble, wink, shoulder fake — opens a few inches of space, and those inches eventually add up to an open shot.
You never know where that first Precious Achiuwa dribble might lead — everything from a dunk to a pass into the fifth row is in play — but his transformation into a stretch center changed Toronto’s offense.
The announcers, court, and red-and-white jerseys are all great. The pitch on Jack Armstrong’s “Get that gah-bage outta here!” call somehow gets higher every season. Thumbs down to the alternate black-and-gold look.
16. DETROIT PISTONS (31)
Cade Cunningham has that rare Luka Doncic-style ability to find life in places where possessions often die — in the extended paint with a live dribble that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, against a set defense.
Cunningham is strong enough to keep pushing, tall enough to see everything. Most of all, he’s smart enough to know how every pivot and twist might manipulate the defense. One lunge inside from a help defender, and zip — the ball finds a shooter. Once Cunningham refines his touch around the rim, every possibility will open up.
Jaden Ivey’s lightning-bolt drives might form the perfect duality alongside Cunningham’s patient game. Corralling the Pistons could someday be like facing consecutive pitches from Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson.
Bojan Bogdanovic widens the floor. Saddiq Bey should find the right water level in his game. Don’t mess with Isaiah Stewart. Beef Stew should shoot more 3s, and he’s the keystone to Detroit’s switch-everything defense. Jalen Duren is a high-flying, rim-munching backup center who might even share the floor with Stewart in short stints.
The rest of the bench is a bit of a mystery.
There’s also this:
Was anyone yearning for the return of the 1990s teal and flaming horse? Do fans like these now? Is the affection ironic or genuine? Do teal and red mesh? The flaming exhaust pipes and “DP” corner logos are kinda cool.
The new black jerseys — with fat striping as a Bad Boys call-out — are a bust. Black has been every team’s “whatever” alternate for a decade, and the blocky, outlined black lettering looks generic.
I do like Detroit’s two main courts, with the edges of a basketball along each sideline echoing the central logo:
15. LA CLIPPERS (31.5)
The Clips are about as entertaining as it gets for a slowish team that lives on jumpers and rarely flies above the rim. Paul George glides in a way that makes everything (except dribbling through traffic) look effortless.
There is majesty — power, strength, rigid up-and-down precision — to Kawhi Leonard’s pull-up game. Leonard showed two seasons ago that he can still dial up peak Spurs-era sharktopus mode on defense, and there is no wing player alive who instills the same level of panic as Sharktopus Kawhi. He is the rare weakside help defender who dictates terms — vibrating on his toes, arms spread fingertip to fingertip — in that netherworld between a corner shooter and the big man rumbling down the lane. Even the best ball handlers freeze at the sight of that menace: Is Kawhi’s guy open? Oh, wait, Kawhi is gonna apparate into that passing lane. What about the lob inside? Could he snatch that too? Overthink, and Leonard has already won.
If that Leonard is back when it counts, the Clip are in the inner circle of contenders.
John Wall, Norman Powell and Terance Mann are the jolt of head-down, north-south speed this team needs. (The Clips are so deep, a lot of preseason analysis has skirted past Powell. He is a critical variable, and should finish lots of games.) The Clips will play five-out, centerless lineups, and every game will teach us something about which perimeter trios work best around Leonard and George.
You know your art is dull when no one notices the difference between your primary court and the “special” alternate:
This is shockingly low for a 64-win team with a layered pick-and-roll attack, potential for drama with Deandre Ayton, and the return of the classic purple sunburst jerseys.
Phoenix even amped up the pace last season, unusual for a Chris Paul team. Devin Booker is a vintage scorer, with his velvety leaning midranger and a sneaky-nasty post game. He and Paul rain old-school fire. Paul’s maximize-every-edge perfectionism can be irritating — the rip-through is coming the second Phoenix enters the bonus — but it’s what makes him who he is.
(It also results in on-court disagreements, one of which gave us the iconic fake-laughing meme. That thing transcends basketball. Try it out in your life. It’s a great way to end those exchanges of small talk with long-lost high school classmates you don’t really like.)
It is so satisfying when Paul kicks that fastidiousness and decides to preen — showing off fancy yo-yo dribbles, or nutmegging someone just because he feels like embarrassing them.
The young guys will stretch themselves; Cameron Johnson piled up 20-plus-point games last season, and Mikal Bridges has dabbled with quick-hitting duck-ins. (Bridges’ defense is a show. He envelopes people — the rare wing defender so long, he can block his own guy’s shot before the ball really escapes the shooter’s hand.)
But we’ve seen and enjoyed this movie enough for now: Paul and Booker snaking their way to midrangers from the right elbow, the Suns’ steadfast defense forcing those same shots on the other end. They are Team Bizarro Shot Selection.
The algorithm underestimates how interesting it will be watching Trae Young and Dejounte Murray figure out how to amplify each other. There could be hiccups over the first 20-plus games. Will Murray make enough catch-and-shoot 3s? Will Young play off the ball, like, at all?
The variety is welcome. Young can do almost whatever he wants against any pick-and-roll scheme. We know about the 3s ands floaters (and foul-baiting flails), but Young still doesn’t get enough credit for his next-level anticipatory passing. He sees everything early, and can make almost any pass — including long lefty slingshots and other across-the-floor reads off-limits to most 6-1 guards.
Still: Too much of anything gets redundant, and Murray offers a reprieve — plus the ability to float across huge chunks of space on defense.
Young’s lob passing makes Atlanta a perennial top-10 dunk team. John Collins gets way above the rim and finishes with panache and power. Onyeka Okongwu is a two-handed thunder dunker. Okongwu will be a starter sooner than later; he and De’Andre Hunter are the biggest X factors for the Hawks now.
Young leaning into WWE-level villainy is great television. Bogdan Bogdanovic punctuates hot streaks with sumptuous snarling trash talk. Aaron Holiday is a little cinder block who attacks the rim with the aggression of someone a foot taller.
12. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (32.5)
We’re in the range where every team feels too low, and this will indeed end up low for the Cavaliers. Between their four stars, Cleveland has something for every fan. Donovan Mitchell supplies the highlights; he is a hunched blur, attacking along sharp diagonals and seeking to inflict pain at the rim. Jarrett Allen fears no dunker at the summit. Darius Garland is all staccato craft and demoralizing ultra-long 3s. Evan Mobley is getting ready to show the breadth of his game. They all complement each other.
I have never liked the Cavs wine-and-gold scheme, but their creative team has produced a clean new jersey set:
Both shades are muted in a pleasing way. The Cavs found a spot — on the left side of the shorts — where their gigantic “C” stands out without dominating. Turning the “V” in “Cavs” into a basket is a nice homage to the Mark Price/Brad Daugherty era.
They’ve cleaned up the court too, refilling the painted areas and erasing the shaded city skyline:
We need another Ricky Rubio–Kevin Love reunion tour. Remember how unhappy Love seemed as the lone championship holdover on a rebuilding team? That story almost never ends with said veteran sticking around to enjoy the fruits of that rebuild, and it’s remarkable Love is here and happy.
J.B. Bickerstaff proved last season that he is willing to buck convention: ultra-big lineups, Mobley lording over the top of zone defenses, copious amounts of Dean Wade.
For reasons I can’t explain, I enjoy how Robin Lopez sits on the floor in the corner instead of on the bench.
John Michael and Austin Carr are a nice mix — the serious one and the silly cackler. Keep an eye on Michael at the broadcast table, standing and leaning and crouching to keep eyes on the action. He does not want to watch through a monitor.
11. PHILADELPHIA 76ers (33.5)
Joel Embiid guarantees a top-12 finish here. Few athletes have ever combined so much grace, power and high-IQ feel. On three straight possessions, Embiid might: rain in a soft midranger; then obliterate someone on the block and dunk them through the floor; and finally pump-and-go from the arc, Eurostep around one sucker, and kiss in a falling layup.
The James Harden-Embiid two-man game was so potent, Embiid so effective scoring off Harden’s pocket passes, defenses resorted to desperate and dangerous counters: Should we, umm, not even leave Embiid and just let Harden drive almost to the rim — and then swarm from one of Philly’s shooters? We get to see a whole season of that cat-and-mouse-and-beard game. (They lose points for how many free throws they generate. It’s a slog.)
Tyrese Maxey takes over when Harden rests, but he’s almost more fun playing off Philly’s two stars. He waits along the arc, like a sprinter in the starting block, primed to catch a kickout and fly through the diagonal crease Harden has unlocked.
Matisse Thybulle teleports on defense. He is way over there, and then suddenly and implausibly, he is blocking your shot. There is a feast-or-famine element to almost every Philly reserve. You can’t look away.
Philly a top-four art team. Kate Scott and Alaa Abdelnaby are talented enough that they don’t have to resort to homerish propaganda. It hurts the credibility of the overall product.
I appreciate referees for allowing Montrezl Harrell to do pull-ups on the rim after dunks. I’d watch a broadcast that just zooms in on P.J. Tucker making life miserable for opponents.
Basketball: Los Angeles Lakers Russell Westbrook (0) in action vs Chicago Bulls at Staples Center. … [+] Los Angeles, CA 11/15/2021 CREDIT: John W. McDonough (Photo by John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X163867 TK1)
Sports Illustrated via Getty Images
With the hype around 2023 NBA Draft prospect Victor Wembanyama reaching almost unreasonable levels, teams around the association are gearing up for what could be the tanking of our lifetimes post the trade deadline.
That, in fairness, makes sense. Wembanyama is the most intriguing prospect since LeBron James and projects as a clear-cut franchise superstar, health permitting.
An interesting subplot to the inevitable tanking will be that of the trade market. In order to be as bad as possible, teams will need to sell off quality pieces, especially their veterans, which means competitive teams could find themselves in a buyer’s market.
Below are three teams that should all be aggressive on the trade market later in the season, in order to upgrade their roster.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls are clearly trying to win, having signed former All-Stars Andre Drummond and Goran Dragić to contracts over the summer, adding them to the established core of veterans, led by Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vučević.
What the Bulls also have in their possession, somewhat interestingly, is a fair chunk of young players. Patrick Williams, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Dalen Terry are all on cost-controlled deals for this season.
Williams has yet to break out as the team had hoped for, but does still offer a strong 6’8, 225 frame with two-way upside. Dosunmu proved to be a young starting caliber guard, who like Williams has two-way upside, but unlike Williams is closer to realizing it.
Terry is untested, but an energetic spark plug who does a little bit of everything, and could find himself in a rotation not long from now due to his size (6’7 with a 7’1 wingspan), and positional flexibility that allows him to play three positions.
For rebuilding teams, moving out veterans for young players should be attractive, especially as youth is rarely tied to winning. Last year, Harrison Barnes was an often rumored name for the Bulls prior to the deadline, and he could resurface in trade talks if the Kings are dead in the water in the middle of the season.
It’s also not inconceivable that the Detroit Pistons spend half the year building up the trade value of Bojan Bogdanović, only to flip him later for another young piece, in which case the Bulls could make for an attractive destination.
There are options for the Bulls on the trade market, as long as they’re willing to go all-in. Given that they gave up most of their future draft picks for Vučević and DeRozan, logic dictates they should at least be willing to explore.
Los Angeles Lakers
While Russell Westbrook is rumored on a daily basis to find himself in another uniform, it might behoove the Lakers to hang onto the point guard until the midway point of the season, and letting teams get desperate for a proper tank commander.
Right now, teams are demanding the Lakers relinquish two first-round selections for them to take on Westbrook’s contract, but that price could get pushed down if a team like the Spurs are finding themselves slightly too good near the trade deadline.
Acquiring Westbrook at this stage of his career, and letting him do whatever he wants on the floor, is not going to improve any roster. He’ll put up a lot of numbers, but do so inefficiently, while piling up turnovers.
The Lakers, who are in drastic need of quality depth around James and Anthony Davis, would likely settle for a group of role players, as long as they needn’t relinquish draft capital.
One team the Lakers should keep an eye on are the New York Knicks, who could go either way during their season. They have a talented roster, but the individual pieces have yet to work collectively. Would the Lakers be interested in swinging a deal centered around Westbrook and Julius Randle?
Perhaps the Lakers could also give Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier a strong look in Charlotte, as they could be looking to get substantially worse in the coming months.
Regardless, the Lakers may have a more attractive trade piece on their hands in Westbrook than most assume, and it’s all due to Wembanyama.
Miami Heat
As I wrote about recently, the Heat need to do something. They stood path during the summer when everyone around them got better, and their roster is still screaming for a talent injection.
The challenge for Miami is that they have very little to offer in any deal. Tyler Herro, due to his contract extension, now has Poison Pill status which makes him difficult to trade, and the mid-tier contracts they do have, in Duncan Robinson, Victor Oladipo, and Caleb Martin simply aren’t going to fetch a ton.
This might force them to explore what they can get for rookie forward Nikola Jović and their 2023 first-round selection, should they be willing to fork over those two assets.
(Miami owes their 2025 first-rounder to Oklahoma City, and are thus not able to attach their 2024 or 2026 selections.)
Of course, giving up Jović is no small thing as the 6’10 forward has vast all-around upside, not to mention a knack for putting the ball in the basket. It’s almost ironic that he fits what Miami needs, only years from now.
The Heat could be looking at similar players as the Bulls, given they also have a positional need at the power forward position. Both Bogdanović and Barnes would instantly improve Miami’s offense, and provide them with some much needed punch in the playoffs.
