20 Second Timeout

Russell Westbrook's Legacy is Defined by His Work Ethic and His Elite Productivity

Russell Westbrook's catchphrase is "Why not?" and his career is defined not just by that boundless optimism but by the fierce work ethic that justified his faith in himself. Westbrook retired on Wednesday after a tremendous 18 season career, announcing the decision in a social media post that began, "Sometimes you don't even know when you've already watched the end. You had to be there. And now it's over." The post included a video of Westbrook's highlights narrated by Michael B. Jordan. Westbrook silently walked through an unfinished Museum of Unspoken Answers while wearing a shirt that reads "Don't Rock With What They Say" on the front and "Why Not?" on the back. Westbrook reportedly had offers to play this season from the Sacramento Kings--the team he played for last season--and the Washington Wizards (one of his former teams), but he decided to leave the game on his terms.

Make no mistake, Westbrook can still play--and he is not playing at a veteran minimum salary level, either. Last season,Westbrook averaged 15.2 ppg, 6.7 apg, and 5.4 rpg for the Sacramento Kings in 64 games. Those numbers ranked 59th, 13th, and 67th in the league. He averaged more assists than regular season MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, more rebounds than Tobias Harris (the starting power forward for the number one seed in the Eastern Conference), and more points than Nikola Vucevic, Jaden McDaniels, and Mikal Bridges. Westbrook ranked first on the Kings in assists, fourth in scoring, and fourth in rebounding (minimum 300 total rebounds). 

Early in the season, he passed Jason Kidd for most career rebounds by a guard. Westbrook and LeBron James are the only players in pro basketball history who have scored at least 25,000 points and dished for at least 10,000 assists. Westbrook ranks fifth in ABA/NBA history with 10,351 assists, and 16th in ABA/NBA history with 27,176 points. He is the all-time leader in triple doubles in a career (209) and a season (42 in 2016-17). Westbrook led the league in triple doubles in six seasons (2015-19, 2021), he led the league in assists three times (2018-19, 2021), and he won two scoring titles (2015, 2017). He won the 2017 regular season MVP plus two All-Star Game MVPs (2015, 2016); unlike many of his peers, he played hard in All-Star Games. Westbrook, Oscar Robertson, and Nikola Jokic are the only players who averaged a triple double for an entire season, a feat that Robertson accomplished once (1961-62; he averaged an aggregate triple double for his first five seasons), that Jokic has now done twice (2024-2026), and that Westbrook did four times (2017-19, 2021). Westbrook earned selection to the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team.

Westbrook reached the top of the game but--unlike many NBA superstars--he was not highly recruited out of high school. He eventually landed at UCLA, and after two years as a Bruin he worked his way up to being the fourth pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics, who moved to Oklahoma City before the start of the 2008-09 season. Westbrook averaged 15.3 ppg, 5.3 apg, and 4.9 rpg as a rookie to finish fourth in Rookie of the Year voting behind Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, and Brook Lopez.

In his third season, Westbrook earned the first of nine All-Star selections and the first of nine All-NBA Team selections after averaging 21.9 ppg, 8.2 apg (ninth in the league), and 4.6 rpg. The Thunder improved from 23-59 in Westbrook's rookie season to 50-32 in his second season to 55-27 in his third season while making the first of four Western Conference Finals appearances in a six year span. By that time, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook had formed one of the best duos in the league. In 2011-12, Durant made All-NBA First Team, Westbrook made All-NBA Second Team, and James Harden won Sixth Man of the Year as the Thunder advanced to the NBA Finals before losing 4-1 to the Miami Heat. 

The Thunder seemed poised to become the NBA's next dynasty, but that iteration of the squad did not reach the NBA Finals again. Harden refused to accept sixth man status, so the Thunder shipped him to Houston before the 2012-13 season. The Thunder did not miss a beat without Harden, finishing first in the Western Conference with a 60-22 record with Durant (All-NBA First Team) and Westbrook (All-NBA Second Team) leading the way. However, disaster struck in the second game of the first round as Houston's Patrick Beverley crashed into Westbrook, tearing Westbrook's right meniscus. The Thunder still beat the Rockets 4-2, but without Westbrook they lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 4-1 in the second round.

Westbrook did not miss a game in his first five seasons but his right knee did not completely heal prior to the 2013-14 season, and he played just 46 games in that campaign. Westbrook hit his stride down the stretch, averaging 26.2 ppg, 7.0 apg, and 6.0 rpg in six April games. Westbrook maintained that high level of play in the postseason, averaging a then playoff career high 26.7 ppg, 8.1 apg, and 7.3 rpg as the Thunder advanced to the Western Conference Finals before losing 4-2 to the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. 

Many media members make no secret about playing favorites, and it was evident early in Westbrook's career that he was not on the favorites list. In 2014, I prophetically asserted that he was poised to inherit Kobe Bryant's dual status as best guard in the NBA and underrated superstar:  

Kobe Bryant has been the best guard in the NBA for the better part of the past decade or so but an Achilles injury knocked him out of the 2013 playoffs and caused him to miss most of the 2013-14 regular season before a broken leg sidelined him for the remainder of the current campaign; he made the 2013 All-NBA First Team but his reign as the league's top backcourt performer is likely over, even if he returns to action next season. Bryant has been underrated for most of his career, with critics sniping at his alleged selfishness and foolishly suggesting that the L.A. Lakers were better off when Bryant shot fewer times even when Bryant was at the height of his powers, leading the Lakers to championships while also setting various individual scoring records. There are many reasons that the Lakers have sunk to historic lows this season but the biggest single factor is that Bryant played in just six games.

One player seems poised to fill both of Bryant's roles--best guard in the NBA and vastly underrated superstar: Russell Westbrook. Westbrook helped lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to the best record in the Western Conference last season (60-22) after playing a major role in the Thunder's run to the 2012 NBA Finals but the Thunder's 2013 championship hopes were dashed when Houston's Patrick Beverly wiped out Westbrook's knee during the first round of the playoffs; sans Westbrook, the Thunder struggled to eliminate the mediocre Rockets before getting blasted 4-1 in the second round by a flawed Memphis team that was promptly swept by the San Antonio Spurs. 

By 2015, Westbrook had firmly established himself as an elite player while foreshadowing the triple double dominance that would define his career:

Westbrook has already earned four All-Star selections and three All-NBA Second Team nods but in the second half of this season he has taken his game to a new, almost unprecedented level. Westbrook averaged 31.2 ppg, 10.3 apg and 9.1 rpg in February, joining Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA history to average 30 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in a calendar month (minimum 10 games). During a five game span starting February 24, Westbrook ranked in the top five in the league in scoring (38.2 ppg, first), assists (9.8 apg, third) and rebounding (12.4 rpg, ninth).

He also became just the fourth player in NBA history to have at least three straight 40 point--five rebound--five assist games. Elgin Baylor did this for four straight games in 1960-61, while Michael Jordan (1988-89) and Wilt Chamberlain (1963-64) did it for three straight games each. Baylor also did it for three straight games during the 1962-63 season.

Westbrook has performed at a high level throughout the season and he is the only player in the league who ranks in the top five in scoring (27.3 ppg, first), assists (8.3 apg, fourth) and steals (2.1 spg, third).

Westbrook's critics say that he shoots too much, that he is selfish and that he does not play a winning style of basketball but the Thunder's record states otherwise. The Thunder are 30-19 with Westbrook this season (.612 winning percentage), including 12-5 since February 1 as the team began making a late playoff push despite being without the services of 2014 NBA MVP Kevin Durant for much of that time (the Thunder are 6-4 in the most recent 10 game stretch that Durant has missed). The Thunder are just 5-10 (.333 winning percentage) without Westbrook (that record includes some early season games that both Durant and Westbrook missed).  

In 2014-15, Durant suffered a foot fracture and played in just 27 games as the Thunder posted a respectable 45-37 record but lost a tiebreaker for the eighth and final playoff berth. With Durant sidelined most of the season, Westbrook won his first scoring title (28.1 ppg) and finished fourth in MVP voting.

The last hurrah for the Durant-Westbrook duo happened in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. The Thunder raced to a 3-1 lead versus the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors before the record-setting 73-9 Warriors won three straight games to return to the NBA Finals. Westbrook finished fourth in MVP voting that season, while Durant was a distant fifth, and Westbrook made the All-NBA First Team while Durant made the All-NBA Second Team. 

After shooting 1-7 from the field in the fourth quarter of a game six Western Conference Finals loss at home before losing game seven 96-88 on the road, Durant decided that he preferred to flee Oklahoma City to join the Warriors instead of accepting the challenge of trying to beat them. 

Westbrook reacted not by complaining or demanding a trade but by signing a two year contract extension at a time when the franchise was in a vulnerable state. Over the next three seasons, Westbrook solidified his elite status while keeping the Thunder relevant, starting off with a record-setting 2016-17 season during which Westbrook became the only player other than Oscar Robertson to average a triple double for an entire season. The MVP voters have often been wrong in the past several decades, but I noted that they got it right when they selected Westbrook in 2017: 

Westbrook won his second scoring title (career-high 31.6 ppg), he ranked third in assists (10.4 apg) and he finished 10th in rebounding (10.7 rpg, an unprecedented average for a 6-3 point guard). Westbrook tallied three 50 point triple doubles, setting both the single season and career records in that category.

Westbrook's amazing individual numbers directly correlated with his team's success. He broke Oscar Robertson's single season record by notching 42 triple doubles and the Oklahoma City Thunder went 33-9 in those games, compared to 14-26 in the remaining games; a 33-9 record projects to 64-18 over a full 82 game season, while 14-26 projects to 29-53. Essentially, when Westbrook played at a historically great level he elevated the Thunder to elite status but when he was "merely" good the Thunder were the equivalent of a Draft Lottery team. The Thunder's relative performance when Westbrook was on the court compared to when he was off the court told the same story: with Westbrook on the court, this flawed roster could compete with just about anyone but take Westbrook out of the game and the Thunder morphed into the league's worst team by far. 

His critics note that Westbrook did not win an NBA title, but the reality is that Westbrook's teams often outperformed reasonable expectations, and his MVP season epitomizes that: the Thunder with Westbrook leading the way sans Durant were much better than anyone could have reasonably expected. 

The way that Westbrook's historically great individual performance impacted team success is the most underrated aspect of his career. As David Aldridge recently noted, Westbrook's teams posted a 153-56 record in his 209 regular season triple double games. That .732 winning percentage is equivalent to a 60-22 record for an 82 game season, and such high level team success refutes the notion that Westbrook was chasing individual glory at the cost of his teams; his teams would have not won nearly as many games if Westbrook had not played with such heart and if he had not been so productive. 

In 2019 after Westbrook logged just the second 20-20-20 game in pro basketball history, I placed not just this accomplishment but Westbrook's overall dominance into historical perspective:

Russell Westbrook is on the verge of clinching his third straight season of averaging a triple double--an unprecedented feat that is, inexplicably, largely being ignored--and he is doing so with style: during Oklahoma City's 119-103 win over the L.A. Lakers on Tuesday night, Westbrook posted 20 points, 20 rebounds and 21 assists, just the second 20-20-20 game in pro basketball history. As you probably would guess if you did not know, Wilt Chamberlain was the first player to accomplish this, with 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists in Philadelphia's 131-121 win over Detroit on February 2, 1968.

After Westbrook's jaw-dropping performance, Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas--serving as a TNT commentator during the "Players Only" telecast--said that in an era of great point guards Westbrook is not mentioned enough. Thomas also declared that Westbrook is the "most dominant" point guard of this era. That is true. No other point guard is equally dominant as a scorer, rebounder and passer the way that Westbrook is. Westbrook can match anyone in the league bucket for bucket as a scorer, he rebounds better than most centers and he has become the league's best playmaker, defying the critics who used to say that Westbrook was a shooting guard masquerading as a point guard.

The best thing about Westbrook, though, is the thing that we should be able to take for granted about pro athletes but is in fact an increasingly rare quality: Westbrook plays hard, all the time. He would agree with Jeff Van Gundy's oft-repeated statement that the idea of "load management" is a load of something else...

I understand--but don't accept--that media coverage of basketball is largely driven now by hype and memes and highlights and tweets, but how many NBA players are actually better at playing basketball--at scoring, rebounding and passing--than Russell Westbrook?

After the Thunder lost in the first round for the third straight year, they traded Westbrook to Houston, reuniting him with his former teammate James Harden. The Rockets lost in the first round in the 2020 "bubble" playoffs, and then they sent Westbrook to the Washington Wizards for John Wall. 

Oscar Robertson's career triple double record stood for nearly 50 years--longer than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record that LeBron James broke. After Westbrook surpassed Robertson during the 2020-21 season, I placed this feat in historical context:

It is important to understand Robertson's rightful place in basketball history in order to appreciate what Russell Westbrook has accomplished and how great Westbrook is. Westbrook's 28 points, 21 assists, and 13 rebounds in Washington's 125-124 loss to Atlanta on Monday night broke his tie with Robertson on the career triple double list, and established Westbrook as the all-time triple double king. Robertson's record stood for the vast majority of NBA history up to this point, and even with the increasing number of triple doubles we see today it may very well be 50 years before anyone surpasses Westbrook's final total; the second highest ranking current player, LeBron James, has 99 triple doubles. A player could play 72 games a year for 10 seasons, have a triple double every four games, and still not match Westbrook's current total; the high level of durability and productivity necessary to perform like Westbrook does is vastly underrated. 

The fact that the transcendently great Nikola Jokic is likely to pass Westbrook on the career triple double list next season speaks to Jokic's elite status more than it diminishes the value of Westbrook's accomplishment. Jokic currently has 198 career triple doubles, and the next active player on the list is LeBron James (125), followed by Luka Doncic (90). James is not going to approach Westbrook's total, and Doncic's triple double pace has slowed significantly in the past two years, making it unlikely that he will catch Westbrook.

Westbrook averaged a triple double (22.2 ppg, league-leading/career-high 11.7 apg, career-high 11.5 rpg) in his lone season with the Wizards. I am only being slightly hyperbolic when I say that leading the Wizards to the playoffs while averaging a triple double is sufficient to earn Hall of Fame induction for Westbrook, but it should be emphasized that the Wizards did not make the playoffs in the two years prior to Westbrook's arrival and have not made the playoffs in the five years since they traded him to the L.A. Lakers. 

Perhaps the nadir for Westbrook's career was when LeBron James and his media sycophants attempted to make Westbrook the scapegoat for all of the Lakers' problems. It is worth noting that after James led the Lakers to the 2020 "bubble" title, he led the Lakers to just one Western Conference Finals, one second round loss, three first round losses, and one non-playoff season. During Westbrook's lone full season with the Lakers, he played in a team-high 78 games while James was eighth on the team with 56 games and Anthony "Don't Call me 'Street Clothes'" Davis was 11th on the team with 40 games played. I cannot recall another situation during which the team's two best players missed so many games but somehow the team's failure to perform well is supposedly the fault of the team's third option. 

Hubie Brown--who is perhaps the greatest NBA game analyst of all-time--praised Westbrook's play with the Lakers even in a loss: "I'm happy for him. He never quit on himself. He keeps playing hard...He knows that he is going to get hit (driving to the hoop) but he punishes himself because he wants to win the game...He took over this game in the third quarter, and you love to see it because that is who he is. You can knock him, you can say you don't like him, but he plays hard and he earns his money every night."

In marked contrast to Brown's objective take on Westbrook, Amin Elhassan and Zach Harper propagated the unfounded notion that Westbrook is a selfish player who allegedly stole rebounds from his teammates. In 2019, I critiqued this stubbornly held assertion in Are Rebounds Fungible?: 

Last season, Westrbook led the Oklahoma City Thunder in rebounding (11.1 rpg, 10th in the league) and the team ranked second with 48.1 rpg. The Thunder ranked sixth in rebounding differential (+2.4), which means that their high rebounding totals are not just related to pace; they outrebounded their opponents on a consistent basis.

This season, Westbrook plays for the Houston Rockets. If Westbrook were "stealing" rebounds from his teammates, then one could reasonably expect that his former team's rebounding prowess would not decline much in his absence, and that the next best rebounder on his former team (Steven Adams) would increase his rebounding average. Instead, through 24 games (30% of the season) the Thunder rank 25th in rebounding (43.0 rpg) and 23rd in rebounding differential (-2.4). Adams is averaging 9.4 rpg, essentially the same as his 9.5 rpg average last season.

Meanwhile, last season the Rockets without Westbrook ranked 28th in rebounding (42.1 rpg) and 27th in rebounding differential (-3.4). This season, the Rockets with Westbrook rank third in rebounding (48.0 rpg) and ninth in rebounding differential (+1.8).

The numbers show that after losing Westbrook the Thunder went from being an elite rebounding team to being a poor rebounding team, while after adding Westbrook the Rockets went from being a poor rebounding team to being an elite rebounding team. Yes, there have been other personnel changes for both teams--particularly the Thunder, who also lost Paul George--but if rebounds were fungible and if Westbrook were really just "stealing" rebounds it is unlikely that his old team and his new team would have swapped places in terms of their rebounding rankings.  

Westbrook concluded his career by playing a little over one year with the L.A. Clippers followed by single season stints with the Denver Nuggets and the Sacramento Kings. During his brief time in Denver, Westbrook and Jokic set a record by becoming the first teammates to each have a triple double in the same game twice in the same season.

Westbrook's career provides a valuable prism through which to view how narratives are constructed and propagated. A major reason that the quality of media coverage is so poor is that there are low barriers to entry to become a member of the media: 

Westbrook is an all-time great being covered by hacks who accuse him of padding his stats by "stealing" rebounds, a false notion that is unsupported by the numbers. Justin Termine admits that he is "an entertainer, not a journalist," and after listening to him I agree that he is not a journalist but I question how entertaining he is. Termine recently asserted that Westbrook has spent his career accumulating individual statistics that do not correlate with team success. Termine calls himself a basketball historian, but he apparently does not realize how rare it is for a team to reach the Western Conference Finals four times, as the Oklahoma City Thunder did (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016) with Kevin Durant and Westbrook leading the way. Westbrook was an All-NBA Team member in three of those four seasons, and would have made it in all four had he not been limited to 46 games in the 2014 season (he averaged 26.7 ppg, 8.1 apg, and 7.3 rpg during that playoff run to reaffirm his All-NBA status). 

It is notable that Hubie Brown--who Doug Collins correctly called the "gold standard" for NBA commentators--consistently praised Westbrook even when other media members like Amin Elhassan and Zach Harper took unwarranted shots at Westbrook.

A major cause of the low quality of media coverage is the low barrier to entry for the profession, a topic that I have mentioned before but is worth discussing in greater depth. I speak from personal experience because I spent seven years as a credentialed reporter in NBA media rooms, so I saw firsthand how news is gathered, how narratives are manufactured, and how often incompetent media members ask ridiculous questions. Before I became a credentialed reporter, I devoted myself to learning the NBA game, learning pro basketball history, and honing my writing skills, but I found out--to my horror--that obtaining credentials and getting writing assignments has much less to do with what you know than who you know. This is in marked contrasted to other professions and endeavors. For example, in the 1990s, I was an ACE-certified personal trainer, in 1995 I earned the U.S. Chess Federation's Expert title, and in 2016 I became an actively licensed attorney. 

To become a certified personal trainer, you must pass a certification exam.

To become a chess Expert (top 3% of all chess players in the United States), it is necessary to earn 2000 rating points in officially sanctioned tournaments.

To become an actively licensed attorney, you must score high enough on the LSAT to be admitted to law school, you must graduate law school, and you must pass the bar exam. To maintain actively licensed status, you must earn continuing education credits. 

You cannot become a certified personal trainer, a chess Expert, or an attorney based on your connections; to achieve each of those status levels, you must meet objective standards. 

In contrast, anyone who knows the right person can show up at a sports event as a credentialed reporter. There is no education requirement and no competency requirement.

The false perceptions and narratives about Westbrook's time with the Lakers may have damaged his value toward the end of Westbrook's career, but Westbrook also faced the same reality that many NBA veterans are dealing with now: the league's salary structure is focused on highly compensating the elite players combined with cost control for young players and low salaries for aging veterans. Westbrook proved long ago that he can perform at an MVP/All-NBA Team level for teams that make deep playoff runs, and he also showed that he could raise the floor of a moribund team like the Wizards. The notion that Westbrook somehow damaged his legacy by playing for several teams in his last few seasons makes as little sense as the assertion that he "stole" rebounds from teammates. Vince Carter glided into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a first ballot selection with a resume that is not half as good as Westbrook's: Carter did not win an MVP, a scoring title, or an assists title, he never made the All-NBA First Team and in his final seven seasons he played for four teams while averaging more than 10 ppg just once. Those facts are not cited to belittle Carter but rather to point out the absurdity of the comments that are made about Westbrook. 

In an era during which the NBA developed a lot of collective bad habits--including overreliance on three point shooting, the rise of load management, and as many as a third of the league's teams tanking--Westbrook stands out as a player who attacked the hoop to score, rebound, and pass, who loathed missing games, and who would not dream of doing anything other than trying 100% to win every game. 

The NBA is worse off without Westbrook and the example he set.

Labels: Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, James Harden, Kevin Durant, L.A. Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook, Sacramento Kings, Seattle Supersonics, Washington Wizards

posted by David Friedman @ 12:50 AM

12 comments

Russell Westbrook Exposes the Low Barriers to Entry for Media Members

If you believe the headlines--and I would caution against believing any headline from any source--Russell Westbrook "goes off," "blasts" the media in an "agitated" way, makes "fiery" comments, and "fires back" at media members. After Westbrook's Sacramento Kings lost 133-123 to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night, Westbrook spoke to the assembled media for a little more than six minutes. You can judge for yourself the tone and tenor of Westbrook's comments by watching this video (and if the video does not play on your device or if the video is subsequently taken down, you can find another link to the video without much difficulty):

Note that Westbrook did not raise his voice, did not use profanity, and did not personally insult anyone. He asserted that media members who cover the Kings make unfounded statements about him, his teammates, and his team without proper "context," and he challenged specific media members to repeat those unfounded statements to his face. One of the media members singled out by Westbrook is Matt George, who does a Kings podcast. George declined to address Westbrook's concerns at the press conference, and then after the press conference he did a podcast about the situation followed by making the rounds at various media outlets to defend himself and repeat his hope that Westbrook is not on the team next season. There are many words to describe a man who declines to address another man face to face only to speak about him behind his back, but I'll stick with a family-friendly word: coward. 

It is not Westbrook's fault that the Kings are having a horrible season. He is playing hard, and he is playing well. The Kings have been a dysfunctional organization for quite some time. Mike Brown won the Coach of the Year award in 2023, and then the Kings fired him in 2024 to hire Doug Christie, who had no prior head coaching experience at any level and who is coaching the Kings about as well as one would expect from someone who has no prior head coaching experience.  

The larger context here is that Westbrook is one of the greatest players in basketball history, and his career is being covered by people who are unqualified to comment about basketball at any level, much less the highest level. Westbrook has been honored as a member of the NBA's official 75th Anniversary Team, and he set NBA career records for most triple doubles and most rebounds by a guard.

Westbrook is an all-time great being covered by hacks who accuse him of padding his stats by "stealing" rebounds, a false notion that is unsupported by the numbers. Justin Termine admits that he is "an entertainer, not a journalist," and after listening to him I agree that he is not a journalist but I question how entertaining he is. Termine recently asserted that Westbrook has spent his career accumulating individual statistics that do not correlate with team success. Termine calls himself a basketball historian, but he apparently does not realize how rare it is for a team to reach the Western Conference Finals four times, as the Oklahoma City Thunder did (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016) with Kevin Durant and Westbrook leading the way. Westbrook was an All-NBA Team member in three of those four seasons, and would have made it in all four had he not been limited to 46 games in the 2014 season (he averaged 26.7 ppg, 8.1 apg, and 7.3 rpg during that playoff run to reaffirm his All-NBA status). 

It is notable that Hubie Brown--who Doug Collins correctly called the "gold standard" for NBA commentators--consistently praised Westbrook even when other media members like Amin Elhassan and Zach Harper took unwarranted shots at Westbrook.

A major cause of the low quality of media coverage is the low barrier to entry for the profession, a topic that I have mentioned before but is worth discussing in greater depth. I speak from personal experience because I spent seven years as a credentialed reporter in NBA media rooms, so I saw firsthand how news is gathered, how narratives are manufactured, and how often incompetent media members ask ridiculous questions. Before I became a credentialed reporter, I devoted myself to learning the NBA game, learning pro basketball history, and honing my writing skills, but I found out--to my horror--that obtaining credentials and getting writing assignments has much less to do with what you know than who you know. This is in marked contrasted to other professions and endeavors. For example, in the 1990s, I was an ACE-certified personal trainer, in 1995 I earned the U.S. Chess Federation's Expert title, and in 2016 I became an actively licensed attorney. 

To become a certified personal trainer, you must pass a certification exam.

To become a chess Expert (top 3% of all chess players in the United States), it is necessary to earn 2000 rating points in officially sanctioned tournaments.

To become an actively licensed attorney, you must score high enough on the LSAT to be admitted to law school, you must graduate law school, and you must pass the bar exam. To maintain actively licensed status, you must earn continuing education credits. 

You cannot become a certified personal trainer, a chess Expert, or an attorney based on your connections; to achieve each of those status levels, you must meet objective standards. 

In contrast, anyone who knows the right person can show up at a sports event as a credentialed reporter. There is no education requirement and no competency requirement. Reread those two sentences, and then you will understand why the quality of media coverage is generally low--and I am not just speaking about NBA media coverage: the Wall Street Journal's chess coverage is embarrassingly bad, the general coverage of the World Chess Championship is pathetic, and political coverage is riddled with agenda-driven bias and misinformation.

Some media members who cover the NBA--including Frank Isola, former NBA player Eddie Johnson, and Roland Lazenby-- do a great job, but far too many have earned the scorn directed at them. 

The media members who hate Westbrook and slander Westbrook do so not only because they are incompetent but because they are outraged that he is not afraid to expose them as unqualified hacks. Westbrook is not feuding with Hubie Brown or Tim Legler or Doris Burke or any competent NBA commentator; he is feuding with people who are unqualified to do their jobs. There is a major difference between objectively being one of the greatest basketball players of all-time versus having a media platform because you know a guy who knows a guy; deep down, these media members know their real value and their real level, and they resent being reminded of those truths. 

Russell Westbrook is a real man who works hard every day without making excuses. He is loyal to his team and to his teammates, even when that loyalty is not returned. He is not afraid to call out anyone's nonsense. There is a cliche suggesting that one should never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel (or, in today's parlance, have unlimited access to multimedia platforms)--but Westbrook does not think about his protecting his image or trying to be popular: he protects his teammates, and he challenges media members who ask dumb questions and who make unfounded assertions.

Westbrook deserves better media coverage than he receives--and, as the listening and viewing public, we deserve better media coverage than the slop that is provided to us.

Labels: Hubie Brown, media, NBA, Russell Westbrook, Sacramento Kings

posted by David Friedman @ 6:50 PM

6 comments

NBC's NBA "Throwback Tuesday" Hit All the Right Notes

NBC's "Throwback Tuesday"  doubleheader telecast took viewers on a sentimental journey complete with the old NBA on NBC graphics and music. I grew up with the NBA on CBS in the 1970s and 1980s, but the NBA's run on NBC from 1990-2002 was very memorable both for the quality of play and the quality of the broadcasts. During those dozen seasons, the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen Chicago Bulls bagged a pair of three-peats (1991-93, 1996-98) bracketed around the Houston Rockets' back to back championships. Then, the San Antonio Spurs ushered in the Tim Duncan era by winning the 1999 NBA title in the wake of Michael Jordan's (second) retirement and a lockout that shortened the regular season to 50 games. Phil Jackson came out of a short-lived retirement from the Chicago Bulls to coach the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant L.A. Lakers to three straight titles (2000-02). During that era, NBC also covered the exploits of the 1992 Dream Team in the Barcelona Olympics, an epic event that inspired many of the international players who have dominated the NBA in recent seasons.

Thus, the NBA on NBC covered one of the most consequential eras in NBA history, a period that featured three three-peats, Houston's repeat, the first of Tim Duncan's five NBA titles, and the debut of NBA players performing for Team USA in the Olympics, which planted the seeds for the emergence of European stars such as Dirk Nowitzki, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic. 

Hannah Storm, Isiah Thomas, and P.J. Carlesimo hosted the "Throwback Tuesday" pregame show, fittingly called "NBA Showtime" in a nod to the NBA on NBC's original pregame show. Throughout the night, Storm, Bob Costas, and others made a point of acknowledging key members of the NBA on NBC family who have passed away or were not able to join "Throwback Tuesday" for other reasons, including Bill Walton (passed away in 2024), Steve "Snapper" Jones (passed away in 2017), Dick Enberg (passed away in 2017), Marv Albert, Ahmad Rashad, Julius Erving, and Matt Guokas. I did not hear Peter Vecsey's name mentioned; he has always been a divisive figure so perhaps his omission is not surprising--but the "Viper" was a memorable participant in the old NBA on NBC broadcasts.

The first game of the doubleheader was a dud on the scoreboard as the San Antonio Spurs routed the Philadelphia 76ers 131-91, but the telecast provided a great opportunity for Bob Costas, Doug Collins, Mike "Czar of the Telestrator" Fratello, and sideline reporter Jim Gray to reminisce not just about their shared time at NBC but their careers in general.

Costas mentioned the numerous great 76ers who started their careers in the ABA--including George McGinnis, Julius Erving, Bobby Jones, and Moses Malone--and he gave a plug to the recently released ABA-themed documentary "Soul Power." Costas began his broadcasting career as the play by play announcer for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis, and he proudly calls himself an "ABA guy." His historical knowledge and his reverence for sports history add much value to every broadcast that he does.

Collins recalled scheming with his teammate Julius Erving to miss a free throw on purpose in a late game situation so that Erving could slam home the game-winning putback. It was very meaningful to Collins to return to Philadelphia, where his NBA playing career began and where he served as the team's coach from 2010-13.

Fratello talked about broadcasting games with play by play partner Marv Albert, who for decades was the witty, wry, and knowledgeable voice of the NBA. When Albert called a national game, his presence made it seem like a big event.

Gray recalled being a young reporter working in Philadelphia in the early 1980s when Erving was the NBA's biggest star, and Gray remembered covering a young Kobe Bryant for the NBA on NBC. It is poignant to see footage of Bryant at the start of his great career now that we know his life would end at just 41 years old in a helicopter crash that also took the lives of his 13 year old daughter Gianna and seven other people.  

As the Spurs put the game out of reach, Costas referenced Marv Albert's line about "extended garbage time," but Doug Collins gently countered by noting that Hubie Brown would get upset if NBA Draft coverage returned to air late after a commercial and missed announcing a draft pick; that moment was special for one of the 60 best players in the world, Brown would lament. Collins' point was that "garbage time" may seem insignificant, but it is important to the players who get on the court after not getting much action for most of the season. Collins also said that Hubie Brown is the "gold standard" for NBA color commentators, and Collins mentioned that he learned a lot from Brown. Brown is the best, but Collins is one of a select few who rank right behind Brown. 

While the 76ers absorbed a blowout loss--something that 76ers' fans have often suffered through during the seemingly endless "Process"--Collins noted that he was not coaching the 76ers when they started tanking 13 years ago. Fratello wisely pointed out that some teams tank and never get out of the tank--a sentiment that applies to the 76ers, who advanced to the second round in 2012 with Collins as their coach, and have not advanced past the second round since going into the tank in 2013. The 76ers have not "tanked to the top," nor has any other team; the 2025 NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder obtained franchise player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not by tanking but by shrewdly acquiring him via a trade with the L.A. Clippers--and in that same trade, the Thunder also acquired the draft pick that became Jalen Williams, their second best player. The Thunder then tanked to obtain more draft picks, but they acquired the two centerpieces of their championship team from one trade, not from tanking.

Near the end of the game, NBC ran a graphic comparing the NBA in 1990 with the NBA in 2026: in the 1990-91 season, NBA teams averaged 106.3 ppg and 7.1 three point field goal attempts per game, while in the 2025-26 season so far NBA teams are averaging 115.3 ppg and 37.0 three point field goal attempts per game. In 1990-91, the Denver Nuggets led the league with 12.9 three point field goal attempts per game, while in 2025-26 the Sacramento Kings rank last in the league with 30.1 three point field goal attempts per game. "Stat gurus" insist that NBA teams are optimizing possessions by jacking up so many three pointers, but there is no way to prove that to be true when every single team is jacking up three pointers; when every team jacks up dozens of three pointers per game then of course the championship team will be a team that jacks up dozens of three pointers per game--but high volume three point shooting is a high variance approach to the game, so it would be fascinating to see a team like the 1986-87 Showtime Lakers face any of the recent NBA championship teams. The 1987 Lakers averaged 117.8 ppg on .516 field goal shooting while attempting just 5.5 three point field goals per game. Would the Lakers' ability to relentlessly attack the paint wear down a modern team, or would a modern team's three point bombing shoot the Lakers out of the gym? I would pick the Lakers in such a matchup, and it would be fascinating if a modern NBA team had the courage to buck the trend of high volume three point shooting in favor of efficient shooting from all areas of the court.

Prior to the second game of the doubleheader, Isiah Thomas talked about the Spurs' sound organization (a marked contrast with how the 76ers have been run in recent years, though he did not say that), and he mentioned that when he visited Gregg Popovich he noticed that there was just one picture in the office: John Havlicek. Carlesimo said that he had not known in advance that Thomas would mention this, but that it brings to mind a story from when Carlesimo worked as an assistant coach for Popovich. Carlesimo recalled that Popovich was thrilled when Havlicek presented a trophy to the Spurs, and that is when Carlesimo learned that Havlicek was Popovich's favorite player. Carlesimo knew Havlicek, and he was able to arrange for Popovich to meet Havlicek.  

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Phoenix Suns defeated the Sacramento Kings, 114-103. The game telecast did not feature throwback broadcasters, but Grant Hill and Noah Eagle ably called the game while Storm, Carlesimo, and Thomas did the halftime show and the postgame show. During the game, NBC showed some highlights of Grant Hill playing for the Detroit Pistons in the 1990s when NBC broadcast his games--and then NBC showed a picture of Eagle as a child during the 1990s, reminding us how quickly time passes!

At the end of the telecast, Storm, Carlesimo, and Thomas talked frankly--and lovingly--about how much it meant to them to be back together on air again. As Thomas said, you never know when they will all be in the same place at the same time again, so this was a moment to cherish. 

I have seen wry social media comments prior to last night's telecast making fun of the people who suggest that NBA basketball was better back in the day; such comments argue that it would be odd that basketball is the only sport where basic evolution has not happened. I won't comment about other sports in this article, but I strongly feel that the NBA game was better in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s than it is now, and after watching a retro telecast it is evident that NBA telecasts--from the studio shows to the game broadcasters to the graphics (which were clearer and more readable on the retro telecast than on modern telecasts)--were better back in the day, too. It was refreshing to watch an NBA doubleheader devoid of screaming, hot takes, and general foolishness--and it was wonderful to listen to broadcasters who know and respect the history of the game, in marked contrast to uninformed and ungrateful commentators who disrespect the players who laid the foundation for the modern NBA: J.J. Redick is making millions of dollars per year now not because he is so intrinsically special, but because Bob Cousy and the other great NBA players from the league's early years laid the foundation for what has become a multi-billion dollar business in which even average players and average coaches become millionaires. Billy Martin once said that George Steinbrenner was born on third base but thought he hit a triple, a sentiment that applies to Redick and many others who now benefit from the hard work (and superior talent) of those who came before them.

Labels: ABA, Bob Costas, Doug Collins, Hannah Storm, Isiah Thomas, Jim Gray, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Marv Albert, Mike Fratello, NBC, P.J. Carlesimo, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs

posted by David Friedman @ 11:18 AM

0 comments

Russell Westbrook's Unreported Resurgence

You would not know this from following many of the mainstream NBA media outlets, but 37 year old Russell Westbrook is having an excellent, resurgent season following an offseason during which it appears that the only offer he received was a non-guaranteed, one year veteran minimum deal from the Sacramento Kings; that is the type of contract given to a fringe player whose ability to perform as a rotation player at the NBA level is questionable at best, not to a future Hall of Famer who is still a very good player. 

Westbrook is averaging 14.0 ppg, 7.2 apg, and 6.8 rpg in 25 games this season, including 15.1 ppg, 7.7 apg, and 7.6 rpg in 19 starts. It is not his fault that Sacramento's highest paid and highest profile players are terminally allergic to playing good defense, nor is it his fault that the Kings appear to be outmatched at coach more often than not in the wake of last season's decision to fire two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown.

Instead of stories documenting how well the unwanted Westbrook is playing at this advanced stage of his career, we are inundated with hot takes about how terrible it is that the L.A. Clippers cut the disgruntled and unproductive Chris Paul. 

Westbrook being overlooked and underrated is nothing new. In 2014, I discussed Westbrook's ascent to MVP caliber status and noted that he seemed poised to inherit Kobe Bryant's dual status as "best guard in the NBA and vastly underrated superstar." Westbrook has been very underrated for most of his NBA career, with the exception of the 2016-17 season, when the voters correctly selected him as the regular season MVP after he became the first player since Oscar Robertson to average a triple double for an entire season. Westbrook averaged a triple double in each of the next two seasons, but he slipped to fifth and then 10th in MVP voting. By the time that Westbrook averaged a triple double in a season for the fourth time (2020-2021), he was no longer a top 10 MVP finisher, an All-NBA Team member, or even an All-Star. Only two other players have averaged a triple double in a season: Oscar Robertson (1961-62) and Nikola Jokic (2024-25). In his triple double season, Robertson finished third in MVP voting (behind fellow Pantheon members Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain), earned an All-NBA First Team selection, and made the All-Star team, while Jokic finished second in MVP voting, earned All-NBA First Team honors, and made the All-Star team in his triple double season. Robertson averaged an aggregate triple double during the first five seasons of his NBA career, and in that time span he never finished lower than fifth in MVP voting while making the All-NBA First Team and the All-Star team in each of those seasons.

Media members have created a distorted narrative in which triple doubles are significant unless they are posted by Russell Westbrook. Westbrook became the all-time triple double leader in 2021, and he has normalized all-around greatness to the extent that he is punished for being a statistical unicorn. Every other NBA player who has a unique form of greatness is praised for that uniqueness--think of Stephen Curry's record-breaking three point shooting--but Westbrook's greatness is not only dismissed; it is often mocked.  

Labels: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Nikola Jokic, Oscar Robertson, Russell Westbrook, Sacramento Kings

posted by David Friedman @ 7:07 PM

2 comments

Russell Westbrook is One of the Few Brights Spots in an Otherwise Dark Season for the Sacramento Kings

Russell Westbrook has been one of the few bright spots and high energy performers during a dark and dismal season for the Sacramento Kings. He had a team-high tying 21 points on 9-16 field goal shooting along with a game-high 11 assists, six rebounds, and just one turnover in Sacramento's 128-123 November 22 win versus the 12-4 Denver Nuggets. Westbrook scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, including a clutch fadeaway jumper with 36.1 seconds remaining to put the Kings up, 123-117. He also had three rebounds, two assists, no turnovers, and a +6 plus/minus number in the final stanza, and he was the only player on either team who played all 12 fourth quarter minutes.

Westbrook had a -13 plus/minus number overall for that game, and his plus/minus number for the season (through November 28, 2025) is -137, but the context for his season plus/minus is that the team's three big name starters--Domantas Sabonis (-159), DeMar DeRozan (-185), and Zach LaVine (-212)--have the team's three worst plus/minus numbers. It is fair to infer that their desultory performances are dragging down Westbrook's plus/minus number during the time that he shares the court with them, while Westbrook is providing a spark when he plays in other lineups.

The larger point regarding Westbrook is that it appears that Sacramento was the only team interested in signing him during the offseason, and he signed a signed a non-guaranteed veteran minimum one year deal for $3.6 million to join the Kings. Per HoopsHype, Westbrook's 2025 contract is tied for 299th in the NBA. Earlier this season, Westbrook extended his career triple double record while also breaking Jason Kidd's ABA/NBA career record for most rebounds by a guard. Through 19 games (he has started 13 of those games), Westbrook is averaging 14.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg, and 6.4 apg. His rebounding average is his highest since 2021-22, and his three point field goal percentage (.390) is a career-high. Among players who have participated in at least 12 games, Westbrook ranks third on the Kings in scoring, first in rebounding, and first in assists. Signing Westbrook is one of the few smart decisions made by an otherwise dysfunctional franchise that should not have fired coach Mike Brown and should not have attempted to build "Chicago Bulls West" with LaVine and DeRozan.

There are several teams lacking solid point guard play that are regretting--or should be regretting--not signing Westbrook, particularly considering that he was available at a bargain basement price. For example, the disappointing Dallas Mavericks rank 27th in field goal percentage, 28th in the NBA in assists, and 29th in scoring in no small part because they do not have a competent point guard on the roster; their point guard situation is so desperate that coach Jason Kidd--one of the NBA's all-time greatest point guards and thus someone who understands the requirements to play that position well--has resorted to playing rookie forward Cooper Flagg at point guard rather than rely too heavily on the nominal point guards on the roster, including the inconsistent D'Angelo Russell. It should be obvious to any qualified basketball talent evaluator that Westbrook is a better player and better point guard than Russell, but Dallas' recently fired chief talent evaluator Nico Harrison thought that trading prime Luka Doncic was a great idea, so it is not surprising that he chose D'Angelo Russell over Russell Westbrook.

Labels: D'Angelo Russell, Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Luka Doncic, Russell Westbrook, Sacramento Kings

posted by David Friedman @ 9:12 AM

3 comments

Russell Westbrook Extends His Career Triple Double Record While Setting Career Rebounding Record for Guards

On Wednesday night, Russell Westbrook extended his NBA career triple double record by notching his 205th regular season triple double as his Sacramento Kings defeated the Golden State Warriors, 121-116. Westbrook scored 23 points on 9-13 field goal shooting while grabbing a game-high 16 rebounds and dishing for a game-high 10 assists. Westbrook's new teammate Malik Monk is thrilled by Westbrook's contributions, particularly since Westbrook became a starter for the Kings: "We needed it bad. Especially in the starting unit. I feel like for the last few years, we've been starting games pretty bad. With him going to the starting unit, it brings more oomph, more energy." 

Westbrook now has 8734 career regular season rebounds, surpassing Jason Kidd (8725) to become the top rebounding guard in ABA/NBA history. Westbrook ranks 71st overall in career regular season rebounds, ahead of many Hall of Fame centers/power forwards, including Spencer Haywood, Willis Reed, Chris Webber, and Bob McAdoo. Contrary to what Westbrook's critics assert, his rebounds are not "stolen."

This season, Westbrook--who will turn 37 on November 12--is averaging 15.0 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 5.6 apg, and 1.4 spg with shooting splits of .468/.432/.727 while starting four out of eight games. Westbrook signed a non-guaranteed veteran minimum one year deal for $3.6 million to join the Kings. Per HoopsHype, Westbrook's 2025 contract is tied for 299th in the NBA. 

Regardless of what Dave "Vampire" McMenamin and other media members say to trash Westbrook's reputation, no rational person believes that Westbrook deserves to be among the lowest paid NBA players--but it is fascinating to see how perception becomes reality, and how media-driven narratives may affect a player's market value. I am not surprised at how poorly many media members treat Westbrook, because in 2014 I predicted that Westbrook would inherit Kobe Bryant's mantle as both the NBA's best guard and a "vastly underrated superstar." Westbrook is no longer a superstar, but he was the NBA's best guard and a vastly underrated superstar during his prime, and his contributions are consistently belittled to this day.

Westbrook plays hard, which should be a given for professional athletes but is often not the case. He teamed with Kevin Durant to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals, and to Western Conference Finals appearances in three other seasons. After Durant fled the Thunder to join the stacked Golden State Warriors in 2016, Westbrook did not pout and he did not demand a trade; he led the Thunder to three straight playoff appearances before being traded to Houston in 2019. Westbrook should get a special award for averaging a triple double while leading the Washington "Wheeze-hards" to the 2021 playoffs, the team's only postseason appearance between 2018 and 2025.

Some players seem to be in the NBA just for the money and the fame, but Westbrook seems to love not just playing basketball but competing as hard as he can for as long as he can.

Labels: Golden State Warriors, Russell Westbrook, Sacramento Kings

posted by David Friedman @ 5:06 PM

0 comments

Lindy's Pro Basketball 2025-26 is on Sale Now

When Lindy's Pro Basketball appears in stores you know that the NBA season will soon begin. The 2025-26 edition of Lindy's Pro Basketball has 30 team previews, plus nine feature stories: "Scopin' the NBA" (David Friedman and Roland Lazenby recap major off-season stories), "Flagg Sidesteps Comparisons" (D.J. Siddiqi discusses the 2025 number one overall draft pick), "The NBA Gets Defensive" (Michael Bradley dissects Oklahoma City's championship-winning defense), "J-Drip" (Roland Lazenby profiles Jalen Williams), "Keeping the Faith" (Lyn Scarborough recounts the faith journey of A.J. Griffin), "NBA Report Card" (Roland Lazenby grades each team's off-season moves), "A Look Ahead" (Carl Berman scouts the 2026 NBA Draft), "NBA Fantasy Guide" (Mike Ashley provides advice for fantasy basketball enthusiasts), and "A Look Back" (Lazenby recalls the 1995-96 season when the Chicago Bulls went 72-10 en route to winning the first championship of their second "three-peat").

In addition to contributing to "Scopin' the NBA" for the first time--I submitted the pieces about the Player Participation Policy, Junior Bridgeman's legacy, Oklahoma City's pressure defense, and Gregg Popovich's retirement from coaching--I wrote eight team previews and sidebar articles this year: Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, and Utah Jazz. My sidebar articles discuss, respectively, the Mavericks' historic tendency to make risky player moves, the Jimmy Butler enigma, Saddiq Bey's comeback attempt, Alex Caruso's defense, Toumani Camara and the Dayton connection to the NBA, the Kings' poor record since 2006, Gregg Popovich's legacy/Mitch Johnson's burden, and Utah's front office keeps it all in the Ainge family.

This is the 17th year that I have contributed to Lindy's Pro Basketball dating back to 2005 (with interruptions for the 2011 lockout, my law school attendance in 2014-15, and 2020 because Lindy's Pro Basketball was not published in the wake of COVID-19). As always, I am grateful to Roland Lazenby for providing the opportunity to contribute to Lindy's Pro Basketball, and I am proud to be associated with the finished product.

If you do not see the magazine in any stores in your area, you can order a copy online. 

Selected Previous Articles About Lindy's Pro Basketball:

Lindy's Pro Basketball 2024-25 is on Sale Now  

Lindy's Pro Basketball 2023-24 is on Sale Now  

Lindy's Pro Basketball 2022-23 is on Sale Now 

Lindy's Pro Basketball 2021-2022 is in Stores Now 

"Forever Mamba" Pays Tribute to Kobe Bryant 

Look for Lindy's Pro Basketball 2019-20 in Stores Now 

Lindy's Pro Basketball 2018-19 Is Available Now 

Lindy's Pro Basketball 2017-18 is on Sale Now

Labels: Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Lindy's Pro Basketball, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Roland Lazenby, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz

posted by David Friedman @ 11:37 PM

0 comments

Heat Bludgeon Bulls and Mavericks Topple Kings to Stay Alive in the NBA Play-In Tournament

Perhaps the NBA's media partners feel obligated to rave about how great the NBA Play-In Tournament is, but I said it in 2021 during the first NBA Play-In Tournament and I will say it again now: Nine Versus Ten Does Not Add Up to Fantastic Basketball. In the pre-Adam Silver NBA, after the regular season ended we were spared from watching sub-.500 teams battle to claim the eighth seed; a team could only earn a playoff spot by playing as hard as possible during the season to finish in the top eight, without the safety net of having a second chance to "play in" to the playoffs.

The problem with having the ninth and tenth best teams face off in high profile games is that teams with losing records did not stack up losses by accident; they are flawed squads, and when you shine a national spotlight on those squads their flaws are glaringly obvious. Instead of creating gimmicks like the NBA Cup and the Play-In Tournament to try to discourage tanking and convince teams to play hard throughout the season, the NBA should have adopted the relegation system while also not allowing the worst teams to get the top draft picks; if the worst teams each season were dropped to a lower, less prestigious, and less lucrative league instead of being rewarded with the opportunity to draft the best young players, teams would not only stop losing on purpose but they would do their best to at least win enough to avoid relegation.

In the first game of Wednesday's ESPN doubleheader of uninspired basketball, the 37-45 Miami Heat tamed the 39-43 Chicago Bulls, 109-90. I erred by picking the Bulls--who went 15-5 in their last 20 games--to not only win this game but to win on Friday night to earn the eighth seed. The Bulls clearly preferred getting an early start on their summer vacation versus fighting to get into the playoffs; the Bulls never led, trailed by as many as 17 points in the first quarter, and allowed the anemic Heat offense to shoot 41-83 (.494) from the field as boos echoed throughout the United Center. Tyler Herro scored a game-high 38 points on 13-19 field goal shooting, while Josh Giddey paced the Bulls with 25 points on 9-21 field goal shooting. The Heat led 71-47 at halftime, and they led by at least 13 points the rest of the way. I thought that the Bulls would prove to be the better team, but the reality is that neither of these teams is very good, so in a one game winner take all showdown anything can happen--anything other than competitive and entertaining basketball.

The second game of the doubleheader was no better, with the home team again looking lethargic and offering little defensive resistance as the 39-43 Dallas Mavericks--who went 7-13 in their last 20 games--blasted the 40-42 Sacramento Kings, 120-106. It is fair to say that firing Coach Mike Brown and then trading De'Aaron Fox did not make the Kings better; the Kings went 6-9 down the stretch before rolling over and playing dead at home in the NBA Play-In Tournament. Even without the services of injured All-Star Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks made light work of the Kings, leading 71-48 at halftime (nearly matching the halftime margin of the Miami-Chicago fiasco) and maintaining at least a 16 point cushion throughout the second half until Terence Davis hit a meaningless three pointer with 19.9 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

Anthony Davis led the Mavericks in scoring and rebounding (27 points, nine rebounds), Klay Thompson had a flashback shooting performance (23 points on 8-11 field goal shooting), Brandon Williams contributed 17 points and five assists in 18 minutes off of the bench, and P.J. Washington scored 17 points while tying Davis for team-high honors with nine rebounds. For the deposed Kings, DeMar DeRozan scored a game-high 33 points, Zach LaVine added 20 points on 8-19 field goal shooting along with nine assists and a game-high tying five turnovers, and Domantas Sabonis had 11 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, five assists, and five turnovers.

Since the NBA began the Play-In Tournament in 2021, no 10th seeded team has claimed the eighth seed in either conference; that will change on Friday night if Miami beats Atlanta or if Dallas beats Memphis.

Labels: Anthony Davis, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, DeMar DeRozan, Josh Giddey, Klay Thompson, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings, Tyler Herro

posted by David Friedman @ 1:53 AM

2 comments

Thoughts and Predictions About the 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament

In a tradition unlike any other--and not in a good way--the NBA Play-In Tournament is the unappetizing appetizer before the NBA playoffs begin on April 19. Two of the four Western Conference Play-In teams have losing records, but the Eastern Conference tops that with three out of four Play-In teams having losing records (and the fourth, Orlando, is 41-41). When losing teams face each other for the opportunity to get stomped in the first round of the playoffs, fans are treated to incredible basketball. In the scintillating 2021 NBA Play-In Tournament, the Indiana Pacers silenced the Charlotte Hornets, 144-117. To give you an idea of how great that 2021 Pacers team was, in their next game they bowed out of the Play-In Tournament after losing 142-115 to the Washington Wizards, who were promptly dispatched in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers, 4-1. In more recent captivating Play-In Tournament action, last year the 39-43 Chicago Bulls beat the 36-46 Atlanta Hawks 131-116 before losing 116-91 to the 46-36 Miami Heat, who then got drubbed 4-1 by the Boston Celtics in the first round. 

The 2025 NBA Play-In Tournament starts tomorrow night with the 41-41 Orlando Magic hosting the 40-42 Atlanta Hawks to earn the Eastern Conference's seventh seed and a first round matchup versus the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics. Then, the 48-34 Golden State Warriors host the 48-34 Memphis Grizzlies in a battle for the Western Conference's seventh seed and a first round matchup versus the Houston Rockets. The Warriors are perhaps the Play-In Tournament team that is most highly regarded; they improved a lot after acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat but--as I predicted right after that trade happened--the Warriors are fighting just to get in the playoffs, so any notion about them making a deep playoff run seems far-fetched. The Warriors could have qualified for the playoffs outright by beating the L.A. Clippers in their season finale, but instead the Warriors lost 124-119 in overtime while getting outrebounded 42-25 and letting the Clippers shoot .558 from the field.

The eighth seeds in each conference will be determined after the 39-43 Chicago Bulls host the 37-45 Miami Heat and the 40-42 Sacramento Kings host the 39-43 Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. The losers of those games will be eliminated, while the winners will face the losers of the Orlando-Atlanta and Golden State-Memphis games respectively to claim the final playoff spots.

Last season, the Magic looked like a young team on the rise, posting a 47-35 record to finish fifth in the Eastern Conference before losing 4-3 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. This season, the Magic suffered a lot of injuries to key players, and they limped--literally and figuratively--to a 41-41 record. They struggle to score, but they keep the pace down and thus rank first in the league in points allowed. 

The Hawks are the stylistic opposite of the Magic, ranking fifth in points scored and 27th in points allowed, and they rely heavily on the inefficient Trae Young (24.2 ppg, league-leading 11.6 apg, .411 FG%) to score and to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. The Hawks went 8-7 down the stretch, and they split the season series with the Magic, including a Hawks season finale win with both teams sitting many of their key players. The Magic went 10-5 in their last 15 games, including the meaningless last game loss to the Hawks. 

In a battle of two mediocre teams fighting to be first round fodder, I pick the Magic to beat the Hawks.

This season, the Warriors ranked seventh in rebounding, eighth in points allowed, and 11th in defensive field goal percentage; those rankings are very strong, but not quite as good as the team's rankings in 2022 (seventh, third, and second respectively) when they won their most recent NBA title. The Warriors started the season 25-26 and then went 23-8 after the Butler trade, but the Warriors went just 9-6 in the last 15 games, including the aforementioned loss to the Clippers that forced them to participate in the Play-In Tournament. Few championship teams are formed on the fly, and there is little reason to believe that--even if one accepts the proposition that this is a championship caliber team--this team will be the exception. 

The Grizzlies ranked second in scoring, fourth in defensive field goal percentage, and eighth in field goal percentage. Those are championship caliber rankings, but the Grizzlies went just 6-9 down the stretch, including 4-5 after replacing Coach Taylor Jenkins with interim Coach Tuomas lisalo. Ja Morant led the Grizzlies in scoring (23.2 ppg) and assists (7.3 apg) this season after playing just nine games last season--but even this season he only played 50 games and his numbers across the board were not at the same level as his 2022 and 2023 statistics. Throughout his career, Morant has been fined and suspended multiple times for actions that are immature or worse, and this season he was fined $75,000 by the NBA for a finger gun celebration. One might think that squandering more money than many people make in a year would cause him to rethink his behavior, but instead Morant doubled down by switching to a hand grenade celebration. What is next? A howitzer? Meanwhile, what idiotic things will Draymond Green say or do while Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler do the heavy lifting required to win this game? On the one hand, it would be hilarious if Butler and Green don't even make it to the first round of the playoffs after all of their talking and posturing, but on the other hand as soon as the Warriors are eliminated we will likely be subjected to Green polluting the airwaves with bizarre commentary for TNT--so fans face a lose-lose proposition with this game. 

Both of these teams pose as championship contenders without appearing to have what it takes to win a championship this season (if ever), but in this game I am picking the Warriors to win a close, hard fought game over the Grizzlies.

The losers of the above games will play the winners of the 9-10 matchups in their respective conferences. The Miami Heat were not particularly good this season with or without Butler, though they did go 8-7 in their last 15 games. The Heat defend reasonably well--ranking seventh in points allowed, ninth in defensive rebounds, and 12th in defensive field goal percentage--but they struggle offensively, ranking 18th in field goal percentage and 24th in scoring. 

The Chicago Bulls rank sixth in scoring but 28th in points allowed. The Bulls shipped leading scorer Zach LaVine to Sacramento in a three team midseason deal. They turned the offense over to Coby White, who averaged 20.4 ppg overall, including 24.5 ppg after the All-Star Game. The Bulls went 11-4 in the final 15 games to move up to the ninth spot and earn the right to host one Play-In Tournament game.

I am picking the Bulls to score at least 115 points and beat the Heat, and then I am picking the Bulls to beat the Hawks to claim the eighth seed.

After reaching the NBA Finals last season for the first time since winning the 2011 NBA title, the Dallas Mavericks made an era-defining in-season trade by sending franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic to the L.A. Lakers for Anthony Davis. To put it mildly, the trade has not worked out well for the Mavericks so far; the team's fans are outraged, and the Mavericks struggled to absorb the loss of Doncic plus injuries to all of their key big men (including Davis, who is now back), and the season-ending torn ACL suffered by Kyrie Irving shortly after the fateful trade happened. The Mavericks went 6-9 down the stretch, and for portions of this season they barely could pull together the required eight healthy bodies just to avoid forfeiting a game. We will have to wait until at least next season to find out how good the Mavericks can be with Davis, Irving, and the Daniel Gafford-Dereck Lively II big man tandem.

The Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown after a 13-18 start to the season. They enjoyed a brief honeymoon period under interim Coach Doug Christie, and then they finished the season by going 6-9 in the last 15 games to slide to ninth; if the season had lasted a week longer, they easily could have fallen into the Draft Lottery.

I am picking the Kings to beat the Mavericks, and then I am picking the Grizzlies to beat the Kings.

If my predictions are correct, the Magic and Warriors will claim the seventh seeds in their respective conferences, and the eighth seeded teams will be the Bulls and Grizzlies. 

We can hope that this year's Play-In Tournament provides at least a few interesting and competitive games.

Previous Play-In Tournament Articles:

2024

76ers Cool off Heat to Clinch East's Seventh Seed, Heat Will Host Bulls to Determine East's Eighth Seed (April 18, 2024)

Lakers Clinch West's Seventh Seed, Pelicans Will Host Kings to Determine West's Eighth Seed (April 17, 2024)

The NBA Play-In Tournament Gives Mediocre Teams an Opportunity to Salvage Their Disappointing Seasons  (April 15, 2024)

2023

Zion Williamson's Refusal to Play Despite Being Healthy Embodies What is Wrong With Today's NBA (April 13, 2023)

L.A. Lakers Need Overtime to Dispatch Shorthanded Minnesota Timberwolves in Play-In Tournament (April 12, 2023)

The 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament: Grab Your Popcorn and Savor the Mediocrity! (April 10, 2023)

2022

Notes on the 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament (April 14, 2022)

Nets Clinch Seventh Seed After Outlasting Cavaliers, 115-108 (April 12, 2022)

The NBA is (Usually) Fantastic (Except When Teams Bench Their Starters for the Season's Last Game) (April 11, 2022)

2021

Nine Versus Ten Does Not Add Up to Fantastic Basketball (May 20, 2021)

Thoughts on the NBA's Play-In Tournament (May 17, 2021)

Labels: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Play-In Tournament, Sacramento Kings

posted by David Friedman @ 10:56 PM

0 comments

NBA's Coaching Carousel Keeps Spinning as Denver Fires Michael Malone

In a season notable for the shocking Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade and the firing of respected veteran coaches Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins, the Denver Nuggets added to the list of surprising moves by firing Michael Malone, who coached the team to the franchise's first championship just two years ago. The Nuggets could finish as high as third in the West, so firing the coach with the most wins (471) in franchise history and the most wins (438) in the NBA since 2016-17 is stunning, even considering the contentious nature of Malone's relationship with General Manager Calvin Booth, who the Nuggets also fired. Assistant coach David Adelman, son of long-time NBA coach Rick Adelman, is now Denver's interim head coach.

Media members and fans often make impulsive and subjective evaluations of coaches (and players). I evaluate coaches based on how well their teams play defensively, because defense requires (1) the correct schemes based on the team's personnel and based on matchups, and (2) players buying into whatever the coach is selling. I also evaluate coaches based on the extent to which a team meets or exceeds reasonable expectations. A coach with a roster capable of winning 25 games with a bottom third defensive ranking did a good job if his team finished 30-52 with a top 15 defensive ranking, but a coach with a roster capable of winning 45 games with a top 15 defensive ranking did a bad job if his team won 40 games while ranking 20th in defense (assuming that the teams in this comparison both had reasonably healthy rosters). I evaluate the decision to fire a coach based not only on the above factors but also based on the likelihood of finding a replacement who can do better than the fired coach.

Prior to this season, I picked Denver to be the third best team in the Western Conference. The Nuggets are currently in a four way tie for fourth with a 47-32 record (the Nuggets are fifth based on tiebreakers), but the standings are so bunched together that Denver could finish anywhere between third and eighth. Denver's second best player, Jamal Murray, has been limited by injuries for most of this season, and he has missed the last five games due to injury, with the Nuggets losing four in a row after winning the first game that he missed. Until we see how healthy the Nuggets are during the playoffs (or the Play-In Tournament if they drop below sixth in the standings) and how far they advance, it is too soon to say if they have met reasonable expectations. The Nuggets rank 14th in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage and 25th in points allowed; when they won the 2023 NBA championship they ranked 20th and eighth respectively in those categories, but their roster had more plus defenders at that time. It does not seem likely that a coach is available who will win 438 games and at least one NBA title in the next eight years, so firing Malone with three games to go seems like a rash, irrational move.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the other two high profile coach firings. 

The Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown after a 13-18 start this season. A 13-18 record is not great, but that winning percentage (.419) is better than the full season winning percentages of every Kings team from 2009-18. Brown won the 2023 Coach of the Year award after leading the Kings to a 48-34 record in his first season with the team, and they went 46-36 last season to post their first consecutive winning seasons since 2005-06. A little over a month after firing Brown, the Kings received Zach LaVine in a three team deal during which they sent De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs. The Kings are 26-22 under Doug Christie, and they are clinging to the ninth spot in the Western Conference. The Kings rank 23rd in defensive field goal percentage and 20th in points allowed after ranking 21st and 17th respectively in those categories last season. Before the season, I ranked the Kings as the eighth best team in the Western Conference. It is fair to say that they underperformed early in the season under Brown, but it is not clear if that sample size of games was sufficient to make the decision to fire Brown, nor is it clear that Christie or whoever else the Kings may bring in next season will be more successful than Brown was.

The Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins, who posted a 250-214 record with the Grizzlies from 2019-25, including 44-29 this season. Jenkins led the Grizzlies to two Southwest Division titles (2022-23) and three playoff appearances (2021-23) even though the team's most prominent player--Ja Morant--has never played in more than 67 games in a season (a number that Morant only reached during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign, when he won the Rookie of the Year award). Jenkins is the franchise's career wins leader, and he ranks second in franchise history in career winning percentage while notching the franchise's first (and only) division titles. The Grizzlies went 8-11 after the All-Star Game before firing Jenkins, and they are are 3-3 after replacing him with interim coach Tuomas Iisalo, who has no prior NBA head coaching experience. Their defense has not been good recently but overall they rank third in defensive field goal percentage and 23rd in points allowed (which is not as bad as that may sound because they are second in points scored and thus enjoy a nearly +5 ppg point differential). I ranked Memphis as the seventh best team in the Western Conference, and they are currently tied with Denver and two other teams for fourth.

Of the three teams that fired their coaches this season, only the Kings could be singled out for not meeting reasonable expectations, but it is fair to ask (1) if Mike Brown was given enough time and opportunity to right the ship and (2) if either Doug Christie or Doug Christie's replacement can do better long term than Brown. The Nuggets and Grizzlies are who we thought they were, to hearken back to the famous Dennis Green rant; one wonders what their owners think they are/should be, and what those teams will look like not just in the next two weeks but in the next seasons without the services of the excellent coaches who they summarily dismissed. 

The NBA is experiencing an influx of new money; the league just signed a record-setting media rights deal, and many teams have young owners who are flush with cash and who think that possessing billions of dollars makes them experts on everything, including roster construction and coaching strategies. In Phoenix, Mat Ishbia has fired two coaches and done a complete roster overhaul in less than three years, and the Suns have crashed from winning 64 games and reaching the NBA Finals in 2021 to being a 35-44 Draft Lottery team this season.

Labels: Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, Michael Malone, Mike Brown, Sacramento Kings, Taylor Jenkins

posted by David Friedman @ 10:07 PM

11 comments

How Good Will the Wembanyama-Fox Duo Be?

The San Antonio Spurs have paired second year wunderkind Victor Wembanyama with De'Aaron Fox to form what they hope will be a championship-winning duo. The Spurs acquired Fox--who earned one All-Star selection in seven and a half seasons with the Sacramento Kings--in a three team deal that sent two-time All-Star Zach LaVine from Chicago to Sacramento along with Sidy Cissoko, three first round draft picks, and three second round draft picks. Jordan McLaughlin will join Fox in San Antonio, and Chicago will receive Zach Collins, Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones, and their own 2025 first round draft pick that they had previously traded.

As I noted in my articles about the Jimmy Butler trade and the blockbuster Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade, the general rule of thumb when evaluating an NBA trade is that the team that received the best player "won," although size matters in the NBA, and age is also a factor worth considering. 

Fox is the best player in this deal; he is a 27 year old 6-3 point guard with career averages of 21.5 ppg, 6.1 apg, 3.9 rpg, and 1.4 spg. He led the NBA in steals last season (2.0 spg), and he ranks eighth in steals (1.6 spg) this season. He has ranked in the top 10 in assists twice (eighth in 2019, ninth in 2021), and he has ranked in the top 10 in scoring once (eighth in 2024 with a career-high 26.6 ppg). Fox has averaged at least 23.2 ppg each season since 2021-22, including 24.9 ppg this season. Fox has made the All-NBA Team once (Third Team selection in 2023). He is a very good player, but he is not a great player; he is not a perennial All-Star, he has never come close to making the All-NBA First Team, and he has an 0-1 career playoff series record that demonstrates that he has yet to lift his team to high level postseason success.

LaVine is an often injured 6-5 swingman who will soon turn 30 years old, and who last made the All-Star team in 2022. His career averages are 20.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, and 4.3 apg. He is not a good defensive player and, like Fox, he has an 0-1 career playoff series record. 

The other players in this deal, like the other players in the Butler trade and the Doncic-Davis trade, were included to facilitate the deal more so than for the direct impact they are expected to have on the court. The multiple draft picks are like stock futures: they may prove to be extremely valuable, and they may prove to be worthless. Much like a smart investor maintains a diverse portfolio, a smart team does not rely too heavily on just the draft, just free agency, or just trades, but instead keeps open as many options as possible to improve the roster in terms of talent, depth, and salary cap flexibility.

Will Wembanyama and Fox win at least one championship together in San Antonio? There are many reasons to be skeptical. 

The Spurs tanked to acquire the draft rights to Wembanyama, even though it has been proven over a long period of time and a large sample size that tanking does not work. "Stat guru" executives and delusional writers have made a lot of money touting the notion that the Philadelphia 76ers "tanked to the top" despite the fact that the much-praised "Process" has not yielded more than a string of second round losses--and this season, despite having a "Big Three" featuring Joel "The Process" Embiid, Paul "Playoff P" George, and promising young guard Tyrese Maxey, the 76ers are struggling just to qualify for the playoffs. Tanking teams tend to not ever win big for a variety of reasons, including the fact that tanking promotes bad habits and creates a culture where losing is acceptable (or even desirable); bad habits and a negative culture are a lot more difficult to change than "stat gurus" are willing to admit. Embiid has been in the NBA since 2014, and he still has not developed proper training habits off of the court or a winning mentality on the court, demonstrated every time we see his out of shape body lumbering back on defense. As Jeff Van Gundy used to say during his TV commentating days: horses trot, players run. 

The Spurs went 22-60 in their tanking season and then, after drafting Wembanyama, they went 22-60 in his rookie season. They added veterans Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes prior to this season, and they are currently 22-27--a significant improvement, but hardly even close to championship contention. Building a championship team is not like microwaving a packaged meal; "stat gurus" keep acting as if they can just throw talent together to win instantly and they keep being slapped in the face by the hard reality that great teams are not built that way. Great teams are built from the ground up by developing chemistry and by inculcating the right habits. Wembanyama is a highly productive young player who does not have a clue what it takes to win at the NBA level. Fox is a productive player entering his prime who has yet to win at the NBA level. Why should we believe that throwing those two players together is going to produce anything other that some regular season wins followed by, at best, early playoff exits? Wembanyama may be the best defensive player in the NBA, but the Spurs rank 13th in defensive field goal percentage and 19th in points allowed. It takes a well put together team to win at a high level, not just a bunch of individually talented players. 

Fox may be talented enough to push the Spurs above .500 this season, but it will be very surprising if the Spurs win a playoff series in 2025, and it will be interesting to see how long it takes for Wembanyama to notch his first playoff series win. Embiid missed his first two seasons due to injury, and did not win a playoff series until four years after he was drafted. He has reached the second round just five times, and he is 0-5 in those series.

This is not a bad trade for the Spurs. The Spurs clearly "won" this trade and they are better now than they were before. The point is that it will take more than one good trade to undo the damage done by tanking. It is interesting to contrast Pat Riley's Miami Heat--a team that refuses to tank--with the Spurs (and other tanking teams). Since LeBron James left the Heat in 2014, the Heat have reached the NBA Finals twice, participated in the playoffs in seven out of 10 seasons, and had a losing record just twice. After Tim Duncan retired in 2016, the Spurs reached the Western Conference Finals once, lost in the second round twice, and have not participated in the playoffs since 2020. The Spurs have had a losing record in each of the past five seasons, and will have to scramble to not have a losing record this season. They may not have been losing on purpose that whole time, but they also did not build a foundation for success; they just hoped to hit the Draft Lottery jackpot--and even after "winning" the Draft Lottery they are still a losing team. Gregg Popovich used to quip that he had nothing to do with the Spurs' success and that he was just lucky to have had Tim Duncan for so long, but that joke probably seems less funny to Spurs' fans now than it did during their championship-winning glory days. Which fan base has had more fun and received more value in the past decade or so--Miami or San Antonio? Tanking is just awful for the league, for its fans, and for its media partners. At any give time, it seems that at least five or six of the NBA's 30 teams are losing on purpose, and that makes the product almost unwatchable. It was hilarious to hear J.J. Redick lambasting Charles Barkley for telling the truth that is plain for anyone to see: the NBA has a lot of bad teams playing bad basketball.

The other two teams in this trade seem to be adrift, at best. Mike Brown brought some stability to the Kings--leading the team to the playoffs in 2023, their first postseason appearance since 2006--but now that the Kings fired him and traded their leading scorer (Fox) they seem to be heading back toward their comfort zone of dysfunction. The Kings enjoyed a brief 11-4 honeymoon under new Coach Doug Christie before losing four of their last five games. LaVine has never been part of an NBA team that won at a high level, and that is unlikely to change now.

As for the Bulls, it is not clear if they are intentionally tanking or just perpetually clueless, but they have reached the playoffs just once since 2017 and they have not won a playoff series since 2015. Unloading LaVine's burdensome contract is good from a salary cap flexibility standpoint, but in the short run (and for the foreseeable future) they have less talent and will have to scrap and claw just to get into the Play-In Tournament.

Labels: Chicago Bulls, De'Aaron Fox, Jordan McLaughlin, Kevin Huerter, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Sidy Cissoko, tanking, Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Zach LaVine

posted by David Friedman @ 12:56 PM

4 comments