Suns Go All-In With Kevin Durant Acquisition
The Phoenix Suns squandered a 2-0 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals, and they suffered a humiliating game seven home loss to Dallas in the second round of the 2022 playoffs, so it is evident that the Devin Booker-Chris Paul-Deandre Ayton trio is missing a crucial ingredient to win a title.
Enter Kevin Durant, two-time NBA champion/two-time NBA Finals MVP. The Suns acquired Durant and T.J. Warren from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Cam Johnson, and four first round draft picks (the Nets subsequently sent Crowder to the Milwaukee Bucks). The Suns gave up a lot of valuable assets, but they acquired an all-time great player who is averaging 29.7 ppg this season while leading the league in free throw percentage (.934). I love Bridges' versatility, his commitment to play in every game--no load management for him--and his tough defense, but the price for Durant is understandably high even considering his age and injury history.
Durant is an elite three level scorer who is also an above average rebounder, passer, and defensive player. He will command double teams and space the floor to open up opportunities for Booker--who made the All-NBA First Team last season--and others. The injury-riddled Suns rank 21st in scoring and 22nd in field goal percentage this season, but they ranked fifth and first respectively in those categories last season--when they enjoyed better health--and with Durant in the fold they could emerge as the league's most efficient and productive offense.
It is fair to wonder about the Suns' chemistry--Crowder refused to play for the Suns, Ayton's relationship with Coach Monty Williams has been tempestuous at times, and Paul's teams often suffer from internal strife despite his reputation for being a great leader--but on paper the Suns have superior top level talent, solid depth, and impressive versatility. It is premature to crown them as championship favorites--after all, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were expected to lead Brooklyn to a championship but they never carried the Nets past the second round--but there is no doubt that the Suns have the potential to be exceptional at both ends of the court. Durant, Booker, and Paul are midrange assassins, the Suns were a very good three point shooting team even before acquiring Durant, and the Suns' already excellent defense should not miss a beat with Durant playing either forward position.
Regarding the Nets, in less than a week they traded away Durant and Irving, and they went from at least believing/hoping that they could be a championship contender to understanding that they are in a transition phase. The Nets lack star power, but they still have several very good players, and they are capable of reaching the playoffs with their current roster. It will be interesting to see if the Nets try to add a star in the offseason, or if they go into full rebuilding mode.
While the Nets sort out their long term future, it is stand and deliver time for the Suns and specifically for Chris Paul, who is often praised as "the best leader in the NBA." Paul's teams have blown five 2-0 series leads, his Clippers squandered a 3-1 lead versus the Rockets in 2015, his game seven record is 3-5, and--as noted above--his Suns disappeared in game seven at home versus Dallas last year. Every time Paul loses, excuses proliferate like weeds in an unmaintained yard. Now, Paul has an MVP caliber small forward, an MVP caliber shooting guard, an All-Star caliber center, and solid role players. If he does not finish his career with at least one NBA title, there are no acceptable excuses.
Labels: Brooklyn Nets, Cam Johnson, Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker, Jae Crowder, Kevin Durant, Mikal Bridges, Phoenix Suns
posted by David Friedman @ 11:39 PM
Lakers Trade Future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook Without Improving Their Playoff Chances
The L.A. Lakers need to find a new scapegoat. As part of a three team deal, the Lakers parted ways with Russell Westbrook and acquired Malik Beasley, former Laker D'Angelo Russell, and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Minnesota Timberwolves received Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and three second round draft picks, while the Utah Jazz received Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones, Westbrook, and a first round draft pick. The Jazz are expected to reach a buyout agreement with Westbrook, who will then have his choice of potential contenders who would be happy to sign the 2017 regular season MVP for the stretch run. While many media members mindlessly bash Westbrook, I agree with Hubie Brown, who praised Westbrook last season: "You can knock him, you can say you don't like him, but he plays hard and he earns his money every night."
The Jazz are tanking, while the Timberwolves have been disappointing and are not likely to improve dramatically as a result of this deal (though Conley could help stabilize the backcourt), so this article will focus on the Lakers and on how Westbrook has been demonized.
Westbrook did everything that the Lakers asked him to do, including accepting a demotion to a bench role that many lesser players have rejected. If the Lakers were not so awful this season, Westbrook would be a serious Sixth Man of the Year candidate. He is averaging 15.9 ppg, 7.5 apg (eighth in the league), and 6.2 rpg. His minutes have been slashed from 34.3 mpg last season to 28.7 mpg this season, but on a per minute basis he is exceeding his career norms for assists and rebounding while still demonstrating enough scoring punch to be a 20-plus ppg scorer given sufficient minutes and opportunities. Despite his limited role, he has posted four triple doubles this season. In short, he can still play an all-around game at a high level. He can make a significant contribution for a contending team that utilizes him properly and appreciates the many things that he does well as opposed to focusing on the few things at which he does not excel.
Don't be surprised if Westbrook and his next team make a deeper playoff run this season than the "new and improved" Lakers.
The way that LeBron James' media sycophants are now relentlessly bashing and trashing Westbrook with alleged quotes from an anonymous source is pathetic and shameful. Here is some good life advice for the anonymous source: if you have something to say to someone, say it to that person's face, or at least put your name to your words, and say it before that person has been shipped out of town. If the anonymous source exists, then that person is a coward. Here is some professional advice for people who purport to be journalists: if one person tells you something under cloak of anonymity that is is not credible and not supported by any evidence, the ethical thing to do is either find evidence or not repeat the comment. Alternatively, if your goal is to do public relations work for LeBron James and protect his reputation as his team flounders at the bottom of the standings, then just resign from your journalism job and become a p.r. flack.
If you have followed the NBA at all during Westbrook's career, you know that Westbrook has been a great and beloved teammate, and that players often have their career-best seasons playing alongside him. It is fascinating that the Lakers' habitual underachievement over the past several seasons is being blamed primarily on Westbrook, while the player crowned as supposedly the greatest of all-time is absolved of any responsibility. It is also fascinating that, after setting the NBA's regular season scoring mark on Tuesday, LeBron James literally checked out at winning time as his team lost and that James will not even play tonight. The "pass first" player who purports to be focused on winning championships has made it very clear that his main focus this season was surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the career scoring list; doing so is without question a great accomplishment, but let's not pretend that winning games--let alone winning titles--is James' goal at this stage of his career.
I never went to propaganda school--I mean, journalism school--and I don't have a proprietary "advanced basketball statistic" that I am trying to monetize, but the narratives about the Lakers are puzzling. We are told that the Lakers' biggest need is outside shooting. This season the Lakers rank 26th in three point field goal percentage, so it is true that they do not shoot well beyond the arc--but during their 2020 championship season they ranked 21st in three point shooting. Are we supposed to believe that if they move up to 21st in that category this season they will vault from 13th place in the Western Conference to championship contention? We are told that Westbrook's poor three point shooting has been killing the Lakers. It is true that Westbrook is not a great three point shooter--but the Lakers average 31 three point field goal attempts per game, and their leader in three point field goal attempts (at more than seven per game) is shooting just .315 from three point range, well below the league average (.360) and dragging down the team's percentage to .338. You probably can guess who that misfiring long range gunner is. Somehow, I doubt that anyone is going to tell General Manager/Coach LeBron James that the team might be better off if he attempted fewer three pointers--and I am positive that Mike Wilbon, Dave McMenamin, and Brian Windhorst would slap themselves in the face if they even dreamed of saying or writing something that might result in them losing access to James. Wilbon was on TV today bragging about how "blessed" he has been to have so many one on one interviews with James over the past 20 years.
The 2020 Lakers ranked fourth in points allowed and eighth in defensive field goal percentage. LeBron James was still an energetic defensive player at that time, and Anthony Davis protected the paint as if he were saving his family from a rabid pack of wolves. This season's Lakers rank 28th in points allowed and 17th in defensive field goal percentage--and those critical numbers will not improve unless (1) James cares about defense again for more than just a highlight play or two, (2) Davis remains healthy and plays with any passion, and (3) the trio acquired for Westbrook become defensive stoppers. I'm not sure if the Lakers' three point field goal percentage will improve without Westbrook, but I am confident that unless the defense improves the Lakers will remain a bottom-feeding team.
The notion that D'Angelo Russell is some kind of savior in either the short term or the long term is laughable. Russell epitomizes what Kenny Smith often calls a "looter in a riot," a player who puts up big scoring numbers without impacting winning. Assuming that the Lakers make the playoffs, Russell's playoff career field goal percentage of .349 will obviously be very helpful!
Beasley and Vanderbilt are solid rotation players, but it is bizarre to state with a straight face that trading away a future Hall of Famer who always plays hard for a gunner and two solid rotation players represents a significant upgrade.
There may be many Laker fans who are rejoicing now, but they should take a good look at recent history: none of the teams that Westbrook left improved after his departure--not Oklahoma City, not Houston, and not Washington. It is very unlikely that the Lakers will break that trend. So, congratulations Laker Nation: the front office traded away the scapegoat, and the upside potential for this team if everything breaks right is the sixth seed, while the most likely scenario is limping into the Play-In Tournament and being eliminated before the playoffs begin.
Labels: D'Angelo Russell, Damian Jones, Jarred Vanderbilt, Juan Toscano-Anderson, L.A. Lakers, Mike Conley, Minnesota Timberwolves, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Russell Westbrook, Utah Jazz
posted by David Friedman @ 8:58 PM
LeBron James Breaks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Regular Season Career Scoring Record
The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the L.A. Lakers 133-130, but that score will be a historical footnote, because the main story is that LeBron James hit a fadeaway jumper with 10.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter to score his 38,388th career regular season point, and surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to claim the number one spot on pro basketball's regular season career scoring list. After James made that shot, the game was stopped, and James was joined at midcourt by his mother, wife, two sons, and daughter. Commissioner Adam Silver congratulated James for breaking a record that many thought would never be broken, and then Abdul-Jabbar presented a basketball to James before Silver, James, and Abdul-Jabbar posed for a picture. Then, James and Abdul-Jabbar posed for a picture together. At times, James seemed overcome with emotion, covering his face with his hands and trying in vain to hold back tears. It is not difficult to figure out that at least some of the thoughts and emotions racing through his mind focused on his incredible, improbable journey from being raised by a teenage single mother in Akron to becoming a world famous athlete. James has often said, "I am not supposed to be here," and there is no disputing that his journey is a remarkable story. The fact that he has accomplished so much in the public eye without ever making a serious public misstep says a lot about him not only as an athlete but also as a person.
Abdul-Jabbar had held the career scoring record since April 5, 1984, breaking a mark that Wilt Chamberlain had held since February 14, 1966. Prior to Chamberlain, the career scoring record was held by Bob Pettit, Dolph Schayes, Ed Macauley, George Mikan, and Joe Fulks. TNT posted a nice graphic honoring each of the players who held the career scoring record:
Chamberlain owned the record for almost as long as all of his predecessors combined, and Abdul-Jabbar stayed on top for a longer period than all of his predecessors combined. It will be interesting to see how big of a lead James builds, and how long he holds the record; there is a decent chance that many of us who watched James set the record will not live long enough to see James' record broken--if indeed it is ever broken.
James scored 23,119 points in his two stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003-10, 2014-18), and he added 7,919 points in his four seasons with the Miami Heat (2010-14). After scoring 38 points versus the Thunder, he has scored 7,352 points in his five seasons with the L.A. Lakers (2018-23).
Before delving further into the historical context, it must be said that this game was a microcosm of the Lakers' season: James put on a scoring show, the Lakers did not offer much defensive resistance, and a squad with three future Hall of Famers--James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis--lost to a team that has spent recent seasons openly tanking but is improbably ahead of the Lakers in the standings, a circumstance that would be considered unacceptable for any other franchise featuring such a talented and accomplished trio. After breaking Abdul-Jabbar's record, James scored just two points the rest of the way, and in the closing moments of the game he was on the bench; he spoke about winning the game, but he was not on the court when Russell Westbrook led a fourth quarter rally that came up short.
Of course, this game--and this season, for that matter--are footnotes to the history James made. That being said, now that James is pro basketball's all-time leading scorer will the "experts" finally admit that James is not a "pass first" player? While it is true that James ranks fourth on the all-time career assists list
behind only John Stockton, Jason Kidd, and Chris Paul--three players who are unquestionably "pass first" players--James is the most prolific scorer in pro basketball history, and he is the only player in pro basketball history to post 18 straight seasons averaging at least 25 ppg (he is on pace to accomplish that feat this season as well). James has ranked in the top five in scoring 13 times, including six third place finishes, three second place finishes, and winning the 2008 scoring title. Only Karl Malone (12) and Michael Jordan (11) had more 2000 point seasons than James (10). Durability is obviously essential for setting the career scoring record, but James did not set the record just by sticking around for a
long time--his 27.22 ppg career scoring average ranks fifth on the ABA-NBA career list, trailing only Michael Jordan (30.12 ppg), Wilt
Chamberlain (30.07 ppg), Elgin Baylor (27.36 ppg), and Kevin Durant (27.28 ppg).
It is worth noting that James ranks first in ABA-NBA career playoff scoring (7631 points, nearly 1700 points ahead of Michael Jordan), and sixth in ABA-NBA career playoff scoring average (28.69 ppg).
I am not sure why so many people are so insistent on calling James a "pass first" player. Perhaps this is because James thinks of himself that way and describes himself that way, so media members who crave access to him do not want to contradict him. Perhaps this is because media members believe that it is somehow more impressive to set the career scoring record while allegedly not having a scorer's mentality, with the implication being that James is so great that he set this record without even really trying; that notion is absurd, because James has been trying very hard to score throughout his career, and he has been trying even harder to score for at least the past two seasons when it became apparent that (1) the record is within reach and (2) the Lakers have no realistic chance to win, so there would be no serious criticism of James for averaging 30 ppg while his team loses.
To be clear, I don't blame James for being focused on scoring during his career; any objective review of my coverage of his career would conclude that I have sometimes criticized James for not being aggressive enough in key playoff situations, but I have not criticized him for scoring a lot. In fact, when James finally became aggressive in key playoff games with the Miami Heat I praised him for being a dominant scorer when his team needed him to do that.
LeBron James is a tremendous all-around player, but his best skill is being a volume scorer who is also efficient. There is nothing wrong with that, and there is nothing wrong with stating a simple, obvious truth. We know that James was coached from his earliest playing days to respect his less-talented teammates, to share the ball with them, and to keep them involved; it is admirable that he was coached that way, and that he accepted that coaching--but that does not change the reality that in the NBA he developed into a tremendous scorer.
I only saw Abdul-Jabbar's career from afar watching TV as a young fan, but I had the privilege of seeing James in person on many occasions--including two NBA Finals games--as a credentialed reporter. The first time that I saw LeBron James in person in a regular season game was November 29, 2003, when the Memphis Grizzlies defeated James' Cleveland Cavaliers. Rookie James, in his 17th career NBA regular season game, scored a team-high 33 points on 14-28 field goal shooting while also grabbing 16 rebounds, dishing for seven assists, and committing eight turnovers while logging 54 minutes. That was the first 30 point game of James' career. Pau Gasol scored a game-high 37 points for the Grizzlies.
I covered LeBron James' first playoff game, a 97-86 Cavaliers home win versus the Washington Wizards during which James produced 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists while playing all 48 minutes. I covered all three of Cleveland's home games in that series, culminating in Cleveland's 121-120 overtime win in game five as James poured in 45 points, which stood as his playoff career high until his legendary 48 point performance versus the Detroit Pistons in game five of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavaliers won game six in Washington to advance to the second round for the first time in James' career. I covered all three of Cleveland's home games versus Detroit in the second round. Cleveland lost game six at home by two points, and then lost game seven in Detroit.
In 2007, James led the Cavaliers to the franchise's first NBA Finals appearance, and I covered many of James' home games in the regular season, playoffs, and NBA Finals. James scored 25 points in his first home game in the NBA Finals, but he shot just 9-23 from the field and committed five turnovers as the San Antonio Spurs won 75-72 to take a 3-0 series lead. In game four, James led Cleveland with 30 points and 10 assists, but he shot 10-30 from the field and candidly admitted, "I have to be 10 times better."
It took a few years for James to understand what it takes to win championships, but he won four of them from 2012-2020, and he led each of his three teams--Cleveland, Miami, L.A.--to at least one title, which is remarkable considering how his career began: some of James' high school games were shown on national television, and he entered the NBA straight out of high school shouldering high expectations that might have destroyed a lesser person/lesser player, but he proved to be one of the few athletes who not only matches the hype but exceeds it. While there is no question that it is easier to score now in the NBA than it was in any other era, there is also no question that scoring as efficiently and productively as James has over such a long period of time is amazing. For over a decade, Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, and Julius Erving were the only players in pro basketball history who had scored at least 30,000 career points. After Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant broke down physically while still several thousand points shy of Abdul-Jabbar's record, it was reasonable to believe that no player would match Abdul-Jabbar's total--but James has not only accomplished this but he has a realistic shot at becoming the first pro basketball player to score 40,000 career regular season points.
LeBron James is not a "pass first" player, but he is an incredible scorer in addition to being a great all-around player.
Labels: Cleveland Cavaliers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder
posted by David Friedman @ 1:28 AM
Evaluating the Kyrie Irving Trade
The Dallas Mavericks acquired Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2029 first round draft pick, and multiple second round draft picks.
Conventional NBA wisdom is that if any team can be considered the winner of a trade it would be the team that received the best player, even if the other team received several very good players. In basketball, a team fields just five players at a time--compared to nine in baseball and 11 in football--so a star can affect the outcome of a basketball game much more than a star can affect the outcome of a baseball game or a football game.
Kyrie Irving is an eight time All-Star who has made the All-NBA Team three times, won the 2012 Rookie of the Year Award, and made significant contributions as the Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA title. He is averaging 27.1 ppg this season, and he has averaged at least 26.9 ppg each season since joining the Brooklyn Nets prior to the 2019-20 campaign. There is no question that he is the best player involved in the Brooklyn-Dallas trade.
Irving is also the first player traded in the middle of a season during which he is averaging at least 27 ppg, at least 5 apg, and at least 5 rpg. That tells you that he is perhaps the greatest player involved in a midseason trade--or that there is more to Irving's story than what the above numbers and honors suggest.
Consider these numbers: 60, 67, 20, 54, 29. Those are Irving's total number of games played for the previous five seasons (he has played in 40 of 53 possible games so far this season). Irving played less than 70 games in eight of his first 11 NBA seasons. He has a track record for being unavailable, unpredictable, and unreliable.
Irving missed eight games this season after the Nets suspended him for his unrepentant antisemitism. Irving is portrayed as an intelligent, thoughtful person, but promoting antisemitism and entertaining the notion that the Earth is flat are signs of--at best--misguided thinking, not intelligence and thoughtfulness.
Nets players are unlikely to admit it publicly, but Irving's departure is likely a relief for them, because they no longer have to wonder and worry about if he will show up for games, nor will they have to explain/excuse his absences and his bizarre viewpoints.
Mavericks players may be excited about Irving's talent, but Irving has worn out his welcome with each of his three teams--Cleveland, Boston, Brooklyn--and it would be surprising if he does not wear out his welcome in Dallas.
Could Irving team with MVP candidate Luka Doncic to lead Dallas to the NBA Finals and maybe even an NBA championship? From a talent standpoint that may seem superficially plausible--Doncic and Irving could be a fearsome duo on offense--but from an overall standpoint that seems unlikely, in no small part because of the depth and defense that Dallas gave up to acquire Irving; Finney-Smith is an elite defender, and Dinwiddie is at least a solid defender who is also capable of being a big-time scorer. It is more likely that the Mavericks fail to repeat last year's run to the Western Conference Finals than that they vault from the fifth seed (their current spot in the standings) to the NBA Finals.
From a skill set standpoint, Irving is an elite three level scorer who is an above average playmaker and a good rebounder for a guard. His ballhandling is very good, though somewhat overrated by those who value flash over substance. Irving's defense is subpar in general, though in short spurts he has demonstrated the ability to be solid (which raises the question of why he is not more consistent at that end of the court). Irving is a small player who is frequently injured.
It is true that Irving's presence will make it difficult for opponents to trap Doncic without getting burned, but the Doncic-Irving backcourt will light up the scoreboard at both ends of the court as opponents will now have a tasty choice of which guard to "hunt" when chasing matchups during playoff series that are all about matchups.
The players who the Nets received are far from being chumps. Dinwiddie is a former Net who averaged 20.6 ppg for Brooklyn in 2019-20. For the past two seasons, he has been a solid second or third option for Dallas. He can replace most of the scoring that Irving provided for the Nets, if not the playmaking and shot creation (both for himself and for his teammates). Finney-Smith is a prototypical "3 and D" wing who was Dallas' best perimeter defender.
"Stat gurus" discount the importance of chemistry, but something can be real and significant even it is not easily quantified. In this trade, the Nets gave up talent to obtain dependability, depth, and players who are coachable. Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith will not be in the headlines for the wrong reasons, and they will not do or say things that their teammates will then be asked to explain. Until Kevin Durant returns to action, the Nets are going nowhere fast--but if Durant can regain (and keep) his health then this deal improves their chances by stabilizing the roster. The Nets still lack size--and that will be fatal during the playoffs--but Irving's departure will prove to be addition by subtraction (unless Durant whines his way out of town, in which case the Nets instantly become irrelevant).
Speaking of Durant, he fled Oklahoma City in 2016 after the Thunder pushed the Golden State Warriors to seven games in the Western Conference Finals. Instead of embracing the challenge of trying to beat the Warriors, he won two Finals MVPs while leading the Warriors to back to back titles, but then he decided to team up with Irving in Brooklyn--a decision that, by any objective analysis, turned out disastrously, as Durant and the Nets failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs with that duo on the roster. No one should feel sorry for Durant, because he could have contended for titles alongside Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, and then he could have kept contending for titles in Golden State, but he chose to take a different path alongside a player who has fomented turmoil throughout his career. It would not be surprising if Durant now asks to be traded--something he did in the previous offseason before withdrawing the request--nor would it be surprising if Durant is as discontented with his new team as he became with each of his other teams.
By demanding a trade just before the trade deadline and making it clear that otherwise he would leave as a free agent, Irving did not give the Nets much leverage, so the Nets did quite well to obtain two starters, a first round draft pick, and multiple second round draft picks for a disgruntled and often unavailable star whose only sustained playoff success happened while playing alongside LeBron James. The Mavericks already reached the Western Conference Finals without Irving, so from their standpoint this trade is "NBA Finals or bust"--Irving may not stay with the team long term, and he almost certainly will become a distraction sooner rather than later, so we will find out in the 2023 playoffs if this was a good deal for them. On the other hand, the Nets still have enough pieces to do some damage in the playoffs while also acquiring enough assets to have some flexibility to make moves if Durant jumps ship. Each team received what it wanted, but I would be more nervous if I were a Mavericks fan than if I were a Nets fan; the Nets had a short championship window already given Durant's age and injury history, but the Mavericks are playing roulette with the roster surrounding a superstar entering his prime. The only time the Mavericks won a championship, they had one superstar surrounded by very good complementary players who defended well, as opposed to relying on two offensive juggernauts who are below average defensively. Dallas Coach Jason Kidd knows that very well, because he was the point guard for those 2011 championship Mavericks. It will be interesting to see if Irving respects Kidd enough to curb the behaviors that created such havoc in each of his previous stops.
Labels: Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Dorian Finney-Smith, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Luka Doncic, Markieff Morris, Spencer Dinwiddie
posted by David Friedman @ 8:39 AM
