Basketball Insiders Week in Review 11/13

Wade Has Advice For Durant and the Warriors

By Moke Hamilton

Victorious as usual, after giving the Brooklyn Nets a 30-point beating, Dwyane Wade checked his phone as he got dressed.

Wade then turned to Jimmy Butler, who had just finished addressing the media, and asked a question.

“Yo J.B., you got space for this, big dog?”

Butler looked at his bag and, with a smile, nodded. 

Moments later, Rajon Rondo walked over to Butler and playfully chastised him for turning down the volume on his iPhone. Butler’s phone was connected to a bluetooth speaker blasting music in the Bulls’ spirited locker room. When one Drake song in particular came on, Rondo asked Butler for his phone so he could play the song again.

With a light chuckle, Butler obliged.

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Evaluating the Hot and Cold Starts

By Lang Greene

We’re almost two weeks into the NBA season and there are more than a few blistering starts worth noting. On the other end of the spectrum, there are numerous players who are ice cold to begin the 2016-17 campaign.

With such a small sample size, there are bound to be members of this list that will flip flop positioning as the season roars on. However, let’s take a look at how the following 16 players have started the campaign. In all fairness to the NBA’s steep learning curve, rookies were not included during the compilation of this list.

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R.J. Hunter Dealing with Rejection

By Joel Brigham

Even though everybody knew the Boston Celtics were going to have to cut one of their 16 guaranteed deals ahead of the NBA season, it’s still a little surprising that it ended up being 2015 first-round draft pick R.J. Hunter.

Just a few weeks ago, the Celtics were in a situation where they essentially had to decide between James Young (also a former first-round draft pick) or Hunter, and toward the end of the preseason it certainly seemed as though it would be Hunter making the team. After a strong showing in the final preseason game against New York in which he scored 17 points, he showed precisely why he was worth the first-round pick expended to bring him aboard. But he was let go anyway, on his 23rd birthday of all days.

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Finney-Smith Steps Up For Mavericks

By Cody Taylor

Dallas Mavericks rookie Dorian Finney-Smith was told prior to last night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks that there would be a chance he’d be called into action early in the game. His night ended by receiving the game ball from head coach Rick Carlisle.

In the NBA, things have a way of changing rapidly. Each night, there are different players around the league who are thrust into the spotlight. Injuries are a huge part of the game, and an injury to one player creates an opportunity for another.

Finney-Smith is a perfect example of this. When Carlisle called his name with 11:23 remaining in the second quarter, the undrafted small forward out of Florida was ready to prove to his head coach that he was ready.

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Kemba Walker’s Roller Coaster Ride In Charlotte

By Michael Scotto

Kemba Walker’s career in Charlotte has been a roller-coaster ride.

Walker finished his college career on a high note in 2011. He was voted a consensus first-team All-American and won the Bob Cousy award given to the nation’s best point guard, won the Big East Tournament MVP and won the national title with UConn.

That same year, Walker was drafted No. 9 overall by the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bobcats went 7-59 and set the record for the worst winning percentage in a season (.106) during his rookie campaign. Walker became a full-time starting point guard the following season, as Charlotte went 21-61 (.256) and missed the playoffs

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It’s the Rockets’ Pace That Will Kill You

By Steve Kyler

If you have followed the NBA long enough, you know that Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni wants to play fast. He wants to play an up-and-down pace that’s built on quick shots and taking a lot of them. For Rockets guard James Harden, the system plays to his strengths. For his teammates, it’s been a little bit of a learning curve and the results so far in seven games have been mixed. In the Rockets’ wins, the games were decided in the third quarter, where their pace and effectiveness on offense simply outpaced their opponents.

“The goal is to play at a certain pace where teams can’t really set up their transition defense,” Rockets forward Ryan Anderson told Basketball Insiders. ”I think that’s where we’re at our best, in transition running. That’s how this team has been set up. I think when we play like that as a whole and everyone is sort of in this mode of moving the ball, getting into second actions, other pick and rolls, exposing mismatches quickly and making quick decisions, that’s what it’s all about and that’s where we’re going to be really good.”

For some players, the D’Antoni style takes some getting used to, but anyone who’s played a lot of pick-up basketball will admit that a free-flowing offense come very natural to scorers.

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Pau Gasol, Landing Softly in San Antonio

By Ben Dowsett

For most teams, there’s a standard expectation when someone like Pau Gasol joins the roster. A respected veteran of his ilk is expected to contribute on the court, of course, but he also typically commands a behind-the-scenes burden that comes with his age and experience. In many cases, he’s viewed as both a leader in the locker room and an outlet for up-and-coming stars to properly channel their experiences.

The San Antonio Spurs are not most teams.

“You don’t need to be too loud in this locker room, because it’s not like a group of young guys that need more leadership or direction,” Gasol said. “There’s not much need for me to be loud and say much.”

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Analyzing This Year’s Top Salaries

By Alex Kennedy

Each season, Basketball Insiders lists the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players. In addition to showing which individuals are viewed as franchise cornerstones, the list also reveals some trends about the NBA (such as which types of players are being given lucrative contracts) and the state of the league’s economy.

This is especially true of this year’s list since some of the largest contracts in NBA history were given out this past offseason after the league’s new television deal led to an unprecedented salary cap increase.

Here are some interesting takeaways from this year’s salary data:

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Should the Knicks Stagger Porzingis’ Minutes?

By Tommy Beer

The New York Knicks have lost four of their first six games this season and are looking to shake things up in order to improve their record. The news buzzing out of Gotham yesterday was an ESPN report declaring that Phil Jackson was upset with how infrequently the Knicks were running “The Triangle.” This is misguided thinking, however, as the offense should be an afterthought in Knicks-land right now. Defense is what’s sinking the Knicks over the first two weeks of this NBA campaign.

New York is actually above-average offensively at the moment. Per NBA.com, they are scoring 104.0 points per 100 possessions. That’s the 13th best Offensive Rating in the league. The other side of the ball is a completely different story.

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Daryl Morey Talks About Harden, Expectations

By Oliver Maroney

The Houston Rockets had a disappointing 2015-16 season. Coming off of a trip to the Western Conference Finals, the team entered last year with very high expectations. When they failed to meet these high expectations early last season, former head coach Kevin McHale was fired. This was just the beginning of a somewhat tumultuous campaign.

Fair or not, a lot of criticism and negative attention was directed at James Harden since he’s the team’s go-to player. However, there was plenty of blame to go around for the Rockets’ struggles as injuries and egos played a big part in last season’s underwhelming results. Dwight Howard later admitted he was unhappy, Ty Lawson struggled to return to form and was waived 53 games into the season and key contributors like Patrick Beverley, Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas missed a combined 88 games due to injuries.

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OKC Thunder Playing Impressive Defense

By Susan Bible

The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to solid start this season with a 6-2 record. While Russell Westbrook, now the team’s sole superstar, has been brilliant as predicted (averaging 31.1 points, 9.5 assists and 8.3 rebounds), it’s the Thunder’s strong defense that deserves hefty praise for this winning record.

Defense was the Thunder’s calling card during the middle portion of Scott Brooks’ coaching tenure, as they ranked fourth in the league in Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) in 2012-13 and sixth in 2013-14. But in recent years, attention to that side of the ball had plummeted. In 2014-15, their Defensive Rating dropped to 16th and climbed to a 13th ranking last season. With defensive-minded Serge Ibaka traded to the Orlando Magic last summer, the surprising loss of much-improved defender Kevin Durant to the Golden State Warriors and consistent knocks on Westbrook for his lack of defensive prowess, there was little talk about the Thunder becoming a notable defensive unit again this soon.

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