Basketball Insiders Week in Review 12/11

Blazers’ Meyers Leonard Talks Expectations

By Oliver Maroney

Realizing your true potential in the NBA is an extremely difficult task. Nowadays, players are drafted at 19 or 20 years old and oftentimes are expected to perform at a high level right away. Even so, the pressure from fans, media and others can be overwhelming at a young age, especially when you are falling short of expectations. Portland Trail Blazers center Meyers Leonard has realized this and is starting to focus on what’s really important.

“I’ve realized I can’t try to please everyone anymore,” Leonard told Basketball Insiders. “For whatever reason, I’m very polarizing. A lot of times, people either really like me or they really don’t. I can say true down to my roots that it’s frustrating for me because I want everyone to like me, that’s just the guy I am. I’m a people-pleaser and it’s frustrating.”

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Mirotic “Frustrated” Through Struggles

By Joel Brigham

It’s easy to forget, but just two seasons ago, Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic finished second in Rookie of the Year voting. He was every bit as impressive as the Chicago front office hoped he would be when they paid to bring him over from Spain in the summer of 2014. Scoring 10.2 points per game in just over 20 minutes a night, Mirotic looked well on his way to being the franchise cornerstone he was drafted to be.

His sophomore season was at times disappointing, but he still saw some growth – playing a little more, scoring a little more and knocking down a higher percentage of his three-point shots. However, something about the 2016-17 NBA season so far has been frustrating for Mirotic. His scoring has dropped from 11.8 PPG to 8.5 PPG this season, his three-point shooting has dropped all the way to 28.1 percent and his timidity offensively has been frustrating to watch as he’s moved beyond excessive pump fakes to weird double-clutch shots and reticent dishes when he’s anywhere near the bucket.

In short, the shots just aren’t falling for Mirotic this year, and he knows it.

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Paul Pierce Believes the Clippers Can Win it All

By Moke Hamilton

Six games, 10 days and 5,160 miles.

Three wins and three losses.

For the gross majority of NBA teams, going 3-3 on a six-game road trip would be considered a rather decent showing. But for the Los Angeles Clippers, there’s a different standard.

Most believe that the Clippers are whiners and babies. To a man, the club has never met an adverse officiating decision it liked, and to many, they are nothing more than a gang of underachievers that don’t have what it takes to come out on top.

To first ballot Hall-of-Famer Paul Pierce, though, they’re something much more—they’re diamonds in the rough. And he feels that way despite the fact that many consider them to be the most hated squad in the NBA.

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Magic Turning It Around?

By Cody Taylor

Much of the talk entering the season for the Orlando Magic centered around building one of the best defenses in the league. Now that a quarter of this NBA campaign is gone, it looks as though the team is finally holding true to the identity new head coach Frank Vogel envisioned.

While it took the bulk of the team’s 21 games to reach that point, the Magic’s defense is now among the best in the league. Over the course of the first three weeks of the season, the Magic’s defense was still in the bottom third of the league but it has improved drastically since that time.

The Magic were ranked 24th in defensive efficiency on November 15, but have put together the league’s best defense since that date. Playing such effective defense over the past three weeks has improved the team’s overall defense to third-best in the league. On the season, the Magic are allowing 100.8 points per 100 possessions. In addition, they have held 10 out of their last 11 opponents to under 100 points.

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With Reggie Jackson Back, Pistons Are at Full Strength

By Alex Kennedy

When it was announced that Reggie Jackson would miss over a month to start the 2016-17 season after undergoing plasma injection therapy to treat tendinitis in his left knee, some people wondered if the Detroit Pistons could stay afloat without their floor general.

After all, Jackson was the team’s leading scorer last season, averaging 18.8 points per game on 43.4 percent shooting from the field. He also led the Pistons in assists per game (6.6) and three-point shooting (118 total threes).

Few teams relied on their go-to option as much as Detroit did last year; not only did Jackson’s 29.1 percent usage rating easily lead the Pistons, it was actually the 16th-highest percentage in the NBA. The only players with a higher usage rating than Jackson last year were All-Stars.

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Jamal Crawford’s Historic Sixth Man Transformation

By Michael Scotto

Jamal Crawford changed the narrative of his career: From a starter on bad teams to arguably the league’s best sixth man ever on good teams.

Crawford spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors while accumulating a 226-485 (.318) overall record.

The Bulls were in a rebuilding phase at the time. Phil Jackson was out as coach and stars Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman left following three consecutive championship seasons from 1996-98.

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Joel Embiid Has Been Better Than Advertised

By Jesse Blancarte

The NBA has shifted toward a smaller and faster style of play over the last decade. An inherent and obvious result of that shift is the apparent marginalization of the center position. That’s not to say that there haven’t been star-quality centers in the NBA over the last decade. However, it’s hard to deny that centers are, for the most part, no longer focal points on offense, nor are they usually the most important player on any given team.

There are a few exceptions of course – DeMarcus Cousins is far and away the best and most important player for the Sacramento Kings and Marc Gasol has been a focal point on both offense and defense for the Memphis Grizzlies for years. But in today’s NBA, teams generally need a top-tier point guard, a star-quality wing player, a power forward who can space the floor reasonably well and a center who can protect the rim and ideally switch out onto the perimeter when necessary.

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Analyzing Prospects in 2017 Draft

By Jake Rauchbach

The NBA season is underway, and rookies around the league are looking to live up to lofty expectations. As they get adjusted to the league, there is another crop of very talented youngsters with their eye on making the leap to the NBA. The 2017 draft class has several players who seem poised to eventually make a huge impact after their names are called in the draft.

The 2017 class is full of talent so let’s take a look at some of these players and how their skill sets cmight transition to the next level.

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Kent Bazemore’s Story Of Perseverance

By Lang Greene

There are some old-school observers of the game who believe that a player’s ultimate destiny in the league is clearly visible after their first three seasons. However, if you tried to apply this line of thinking to Atlanta Hawks forward Kent Bazemore, the assessment wouldn’t be accurate.

As a rookie during the 2012-13 campaign, Bazemore logged just 267 total minutes in 61 appearances for the Golden State Warriors. After his rookie campaign, Bazemore was more known for his end of the bench celebrations than his contributions on the floor, which culminated in the forward being motion captured for the NBA 2K14 video game.

During his second season, Bazemore saw even less run with the Warriors and was subsequently shipped to the Los Angeles Lakers at the trade deadline in exchange for Steve Blake and MarShon Brooks. In 23 games with the Lakers, the signs of potential started to emerge as he averaged 13.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists. In free agency that summer, Bazemore inked a modest two-year, $4 million deal to join the Atlanta Hawks.

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New York Knicks’ Early Season Progress Report

By Tommy Beer

Having played 21 games, the New York Knicks have now passed the quarter pole of the 2016-17 campaign.

A 12-9 record may not be much to celebrate in some cities, but for New Yorkers thirsty for just a taste of success, it’s viewed as an important step in the right direction.

The Knicks are over .500 through first 20 games of a season for just the third time this century. And New York is currently three games over .500 for the first time since April 17, 2013.

Thus, with 20-plus games in the rear-view mirror, let’s look back and hand out grades to each player.

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