Zach Smith – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Zach Smith SF/PF – 6’8, 216lbs – Born 5th January 1996 Greensboro Swarm Zhaire Smith got all the plaudits and the NBA first-round draft selection last summer; he was younger, more athletic, was able to play more positions and was already better in terms of his basketball skill set than Zach. Yet there were two Z. Smiths that the Texas Tech Red Raiders rode the defence of all the way to the 2018 Elite Eight, and now that he too is a professional with the Swarm, Zach is transferring that strong defensive versatility to the G-League as well. A very good run-and-jump athlete in his own right, Smith has the body more of a small forward, especially considering that he does not have the length an athlete of this calibre would normally be assumed to have, yet his ability to leap like he does makes him quite the lob catcher and dunker. Indeed, very rarely does he catch in the post or create with the handle; there is no point. It doesn’t suit him. A man like this should be catching the ball on the move at every opportunity, and in crashing the offensive glass, cutting where he can and running the court, Smith does just that. Very occasionally, he will add a jump shot to the pile, but it is a marginal part of his game that needs developing in the future. As of right now, the offensive game is cutting, running, dunking, making some interior passes, adding vertical spacing and very occasionally dropping a hook shot. Polished, no. Powerful, yes. Smith’s best usage is on the defensive end. Not being strong or wide does at least make him light, and thus quite laterally quick. While Smith will overhelp as a means of compensating for the fact […]
Malik Pope – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Malik Pope PF – 6’10, 220lbs – Born 25th July 1996 Greensboro Swarm With his height, length, versatility, perimeter inclinations and very memorable name, Pope has been on the NBA radar since his San Diego State career began, if not before. He developed a bit in his years with the Aztecs, but perhaps never lived up to the lofty billing, and now finds himself in the G-League rather than the NBA. Pope’s first professional season did start on the L.A. Lakers’ summer league team. Instead of signing in the NBA, though, he went to Greece with PAOK Thessaloniki, only joining the G-League in mid-January. But Pope has never entirely figured out how he wants to or should play, and PAOK couldn’t figure it out either. A tall fluid athlete with long arms, Pope has always played with the smooth face-up game that suggests he could be a floor-stretching four or five man in short order. But the jump shot has never become a big-enough weapon. He hits a few, but only a few, and teams will generally feel comfortable leaving him open. As a roll man and cutter, Pope’s length allows him to sneak the basket with good body control, but his very limited handle makes it difficult to change direction, and his limited core strength sees him struggle to finish through contact. Perhaps the potential he will best realise will be on the defensive end. Although his rotations in help defence can be slow, Pope has proven himself over time to be a good post defender one on one, even though there are many match-ups down there he gives up strength to. This perhaps bodes well for his potential as a undersized but skilled stretch five, in the Chimezie Metu role. This is not however a big […]
Luke Petrasek – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Luke Petrasek PF/C – 6’10, 215lbs – Born 17th August 1995 Greensboro Swarm The Hornets have had their eye on Petrasek since he left Columbia back in 2017. They signed him for training camp that first year, have now allocated him to Greensboro for two consecutive seasons, and snuck in a summer league stint in between them. What they see in him is quite clear – they see a 6’10 player with a sweet corner jump shot, and they are hoping they will be able to make something of that over time. Petrasek’s game is heavily jump shot focused to the point that he is pretty much a specialist. Back in his Columbia days, he would get some touches in the post, normally attacking the basket with the dribble but also sometimes turning round for the jump shot, never utilising a hook at all. That has not been a part of his professional repertoire, though, because the opposing defenders are always going to be too big and strong now. Instead, Petrasek is the lefty spot-up guy who takes shots within the flow of the offence, never the creator or the aggressor. In being thin and without great length or athleticism – he does not even jump much to shoot – Petrasek is immediately disadvantaged defensively. There are no good match-ups for him, and he is a sub-par rebounder because he cannot gain and hold position, nor does he have the speed to readily rebound out of his area. Petrasek is thus a floor spacing option who will occasionally cut to the rim, occasionally make the extra pass to a cutter and try to compete while overmatched defensively, yet for the most part he is just on the weak side, waiting for a look. Nothing wrong with that. He’s […]
Lenjo Kilo – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Lenjo Kilo PF/C – 6’8, 240lbs – Born 31st August 1993 Delaware Blue Coats Kilo joined the G-League this year with quite the disparate CV behind him. He spent his first two college years at Division II Seton Hill (not Hall), then spent two more at the University of the District of Columbia (also Division II), then moving to Savannah State as a senior. He averaged 9.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game there, and thus far on his pro CV can boast the Luxembourgian second division, a stint in Paraguay, a disjointed year in Argentina and a stint in the ABA before his two games and four minutes with the Blue Coats. In theory, Kilo is the kind of player who can combine physical post and paint play with some catch-and-shoot range. But in practice, he has only played at low levels thus far, and has been foul- and turnover-prone in the process. [2020 UPDATE: Retired and returned to school to get a masters.] – 20th June, 2019 This above is extracted from the following page in the The Basketball Manifesto, an entirely free 3,775 page, 1.2 million word-ish basketball reference book which contains reviews, strategies, ideas, opinions, and a whole lot of scouting on men’s world basketball. – View tons more player profiles like this from the Manifesto here.
Terrence Drisdom – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Terrence Drisdom SG – 6’5, 185lbs – Born 30th July 1992 Delaware Blue Coats Having spent his first two professional seasons with the Santa Cruz Warriors, Drisdom then took a year away from the G-League to play in Japan second division with the Hiroshima Dragonflies, and then returned to the Memphis Hustle to begin this season (his rights having been selected by them in the 2017 Expansion Draft). However, he appeared in only five games and 44 minutes, scoring two points with eight rebounds, before being released in early December. Picked up in mid-January by Delaware, Drisdom managed a further nine games and 114 minutes, good for 36 points in that time, before being waived with a couple of weeks left to go in the year. Drisdom showed in his two seasons with Santa Cruz that although he was not a shooter at a key shooting position, he did have some defensive awareness about him. So long as you can get others to handle the ball and space the floor, you can use Drisdom to go to the glass, help defend around the perimeter, cut the baseline and drive to his right hand sometimes. In his time with the Warriors, he was a good G-League bench player to have. Not so much this season, but then, opportunities were very limited. – 20th June, 2019 This above is extracted from the following page in the The Basketball Manifesto, an entirely free 3,775 page, 1.2 million word-ish basketball reference book which contains reviews, strategies, ideas, opinions, and a whole lot of scouting on men’s world basketball. – View tons more player profiles like this from the Manifesto here.
Rashad Vaughn – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Rashad Vaughn SG/SF – 6’6, 210lbs – Born 16th August 1996 Delaware Blue Coats An NBA first-round pick only three short years ago, Vaughn fell out of the NBA by not hitting enough shots or playing enough defence. This is the era of the three-and-D non-star wing; invariably, teams want their role players to do both of those things. Vaughn, however, did neither consistently. A bounce-back season was thus required. One in which he had some consistent employment and opportunity to work on his individual skills, as well as better playing in rhythm on both ends of the court and knowing what to do when the ball was not in his hands. He sort of managed this, yet the advanced metrics tell the story of a player struggling to find his role. Vaughn can score the ball, and has improved as both a shooter and a finisher at the rim throughout his professional career. The problem is more one of what he does when he is not getting shots. Vaughn can get static, not moving around screens or looking to cut much, and not seeking to be a decoy. He instead seeks to be a scorer, something which becomes sub-optimal when he only has an impact on the game with the ball in his hands. Defensively, Vaughn lacks for consistent focus, and although he has the size and decent physical profile to potentially be a good defensive player on the wing, he has to want to be that more. Vaughan is still young, still aged only 23, and despite the fact that he has now played four years of professional basketball, he is younger than many of those graduating seniors we considered as being draft-worthy this summer. This in turn gives him further upside still, and he should […]
Kyle Randall – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Kyle Randall PG – 6’1, 185lbs – Born 10th September 1991 Delaware Blue Coats Having completed his third G-League season now, it has been established what type of player Randall is. What he is is a reserve ball-handling point guard. He is undersized and without great leap, length, strength or athleticism – he likes to probe the lane in pick-and-roll situations, but will only really get to the basket if able to drive on a big man that switched onto him. A fairly average outside shooter, Randall will try to push the ball where he can, better able to get to the basket with a running start rather than having to get separation with the handle. He can make tough contested bankers in the lane – and kind of has to due to his size – but he does find cutting big man on the roll quite well, notwithstanding a fairly high rate of passing turnovers. His own scoring inefficiencies from all areas, however, mean having to earn back his minutes on defence, which he not necessarily done. Defensively, the lack of size makes it difficult for him to inhibit anybody’s progress, particularly if required to switch down onto anybody at any other position than point guard. Exhibiting a higher motor and trying to deflect more with his hands would help; as it is, Randall’s role in the G-League right now is to be the solid if unremarkable back-up ball-handler that can score a bit off the bounce but whom should not be relied upon to run the offence too much. After being in and out of the G-League in his first two years in it – spending the interim time in the now defunct PBL along with one year in Serbia – this year represented relative job […]
Norvel Pelle – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Norvel Pelle C – 6’10, 231lbs – Born 3rd February 1993 Delaware Blue Coats Pelle played in the then-D-League in his first professional season, drafted sixth overall way back in 2013 by this same Delaware franchise, then known as the 87ers. He came back for the final four games of the following season as well after a stint in Taiwan, but has been abroad since then in both the Lebanon and Italy. His return to the NBA and the G-League this summer was something of a surprise; having appeared on the summer league rosters of the Miami Heat in both 2016 and 2017, he had not surrendered to a life in European ball, but he was getting good work there, and it is rare to see someone forgo that to return to the G-League after some time away. Pelle nevertheless did so this season, going to both summer league and training camp with the Philadelphia 76ers, being allocated to these Blue Coats, and subsequently ranking second in the league in blocks per game among all those neither on assignment or subsequently called up (behind only Amida Brimah). He did this while barely playing half the game, and some years after beginning his professional career prematurely after the saga with St. John’s, it seems as though he has truly learned how to use his combination of length and mobility. The Blue Coats allowed Pelle plenty of freedom to free-roam in the back of the defence and to contest everybody. With excellent shot blocking timing, this is what he did, and Pelle also cleared the glass at a good rate. Offensively, he finished lobs thrown to him by Matt Farrell, hunted his shot little, stayed in the paint and was about as efficient as can be. Given that he is […]
D.J. Hogg – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
D.J. Hogg SF/PF – 6’9, 215lbs – Born 3rd September 1996 Delaware Blue Coats Hogg declared for the draft last summer as a junior hoping to take advantage of the contemporary love for stretch shooting forwards in the NBA today. He went undrafted, so joined the New Orleans Pelicans for summer league, signed with the Philadelphia 76ers for two days towards the end of NBA preseason (as did Matt Farrell from the previous page; it was done purely to be able to allocate them to Delaware), and now has spent his first professional season with the Blue Coats. In this season, Hogg needed to prove that his shooting would translate, but also that he could be more than just a shooter. This was particularly true on the defensive end, where, in having a mediocre wingspan, average athleticism and a poor rebounding rate, he had never stood out. Having played largely small forward at Texas A&M to accommodate the play of Tyler Davis and Robert Williams, Hogg showed some positional flexibility to play at either forward spot, yet given his lack of handle and shot creation, the four spot may have been better suited to him. Then again, considering he is not well equipped to defend the interior and does not rebound well, maybe the three spot is better suited to him. These are the questions he had to start answering this year. What Hogg did prove this season is that the longer three-point line will not be a problem. With a smooth stroke that he can use off the catch or off screens, Hogg seeks his shots from outside regularly and consolidates with the occasional up-fake into a drive, one he normally then passes off of. A limited handler who turns it over a fair bit, and without […]
Matt Farrell – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Matt Farrell PG – 6’1, 175lbs – Born 15th March 1996 Delaware Blue Coats Passionate advocates of college basketball like to cite the supposed superior effort level and defensive intensity in their defences of why it is a better, purer product than the NBA. The reality that those advocates struggle to acknowledge (or deliberately ignore) is that college basketball players do not try harder; they just are not as good or as athletic, and therefore they make it look harder. Nevertheless, any time a scrappy undersized guy dives on the floor, this validates the belief and makes them feel good about it. One such scrappy undersized guy is (or was) four-year Notre Dame point guard Matt Farrell, who just completed his first professional season here with Delaware after a short pre-season stint with Rytas in Lithuania, summer league with the Miami Heat and two days under contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. All these teams see in Farrell a genuine level of hustle combined with unselfish floor general instincts. Not having great size or athleticism, Farrell is nonetheless a good user of screens to get into the paint, and even though the defence knows that he is doing so with a view to either kicking out to a shooter, hitting the roll man or throwing up a lob to whoever is lurking near the rim – fair to say he got on well with Norvel Pelle this year – that does not make it easy to stop. Farrell will only attempt the layup himself if it is very open, yet the way he can move the defence around and keeps trying to attack and collapse is a virtue. Combined with sensible simple passing, swings, ball reversals and the like on the perimeter, pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop sets and smooth compact […]
Keenan Evans – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Keenan Evans PG/SG – 6’3, 190lbs – Born 23rd August 1996 Delaware Blue Coats Fresh from being the lead guard on a Texas Tech team that made it all the way to the Elite Eight, Evans began his first professional season on the summer league roster of the Golden State Warriors, and was quickly picked up in mid-July by the Detroit Pistons on a two-way contract. However, Detroit saw fit to end it in January, and upon his return to the G-League a week later, the Grand Rapids Drive (Detroit’s affiliate) traded Evans to Delaware in exchange merely for the returning player rights to Shawn Long and Devondrick Walker. Given that Walker is a marginal GLeague talent and Long is already signed in Australia for next season, that is basically a giveaway. So what did Detroit once see that they no longer do? Those Tech teams were built on their defence, and Evans was the main defender at the point of attack. Doggedly determined, Evans played with toughness when defending on the ball and has enough size at the point guard position to theoretically be a good defender at the higher levels. He does not have top tier athleticism or length, but he sticks with his man-to-man assignments and is a willing helper. Offensively, those Tech teams that were built with athletes who could not dribble relied upon Evans to do an awful lot of the shot creation, and his dogged nature shone through there once again. Consistently making tough shots, Evans will aggressively probe and drive the lane, collapse the defence, throw kick-out and dump-off passes in a sound if not spectacular way, and would welcome the challenge of trying to unclog an often-clogged floor. A big shot maker and clutch guy, Evans would always look to […]
A.J. Davis – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
A.J. Davis SF/PF – 6’9, 215lbs – Born 15th March 1995 Delaware Blue Coats A.J. Davis is Antonio Davis’s son, but does not much play like him. Whereas Antonio was a bruising paint-based old school post-up type of player, A.J. is more about the perimeter game, the finesse, the handle and the shooting. He did at least inherit his father’s height, and that combined with the way he plays the game makes for an intriguing combination. After one year at Tennessee in which he recorded more fouls than points, Davis transferred to UCF for his final three college seasons, and joined the Blue Coats in his first professional season after a stint in Kosovo of all places. Although he will sometimes play in the post, Davis is more of a face-up four man. His high-arcing jump shots do not much go in yet, but they figure to be a part of his game going forwards. As of right now, Davis likes to take quite a lot of turns on the ball and in isolation, with some body control and craft to get to the rim. However, what he does lack is the ability to finish at the basket when contested, easily disrupted by length and strength. He also can get a bit wild with the handle and tends to throw passes away. To be a finesse offensive player in this way, someone whose game is based on skill rather than power and in facing the basket rather than backing down to it, the skill level will need to be improved. Davis does however have a big frame and good length, combined with a good level of mobility. He improved significantly as a defender over the course of his college career; initially a mistakeprone player with deer-in-headlights eyes frequently […]
Michael Bryson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Michael Bryson SG – 6’4, 200lbs – Born 30th September 1994 Delaware Blue Coats Bryson is the rare type of guard who certainly does not mind going down into the post. He runs the court, he runs off some screens, and he takes quite a lot of spot-up shots. Yet he also will happily go down low, despite not having the biggest size for the shooting guard position let alone any other spot, and loves to turn to a righty hook after a couple of dribbles. Not many opposing shooting guards are well-versed in contesting this, for so few guards try to regularly take their opponents down there, so although Bryson will often give up some size on the perimeter, he has his own match-up advantage in this respect. In addition to this, Bryson is also a good shooter from the outside. Rarely does he handle the ball or seek to create up top; he instead runs to the wings, trying to always make himself available for a kick-out pass and spot-up shot, and he hits a good percentage of them. He spends a lot more time moving to the corners than many other shooting guards, too. Bryson is a good athlete and smooth floor runner who keeps the ball moving, and is a better athlete when he does not have to take the ball with him. Bryson is not the type to be able to penetrate the first line of defence. He is not the isolation guy, the shot-clock saver, the go-to man. He is instead the one moving off the ball, thriving when it reverses, picking his spots, and looking good doing it. Playing defence in a similarly free-roaming fashion, he wins possessions for his team and gets a good amount of points on minimal dribbles. […]
Jared Brownridge – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jared Brownridge SF – 6’3, 200lbs – Born 13th November 1994 Delaware Blue Coats David Logan was a high quality EuroLeague player for many seasons. He was a small scoring guard who could create for himself or just raise up and shoot, who shot well off the ball and someone you could turn to to get a bucket if required. Brownridge is not at that level of play in his career, yet, but he does rather emulate the style, and is now playing at a good level. Primarily a shooter, Brownridge plays a lot off the ball, working around screens and moving a defence without touching it. Also a pretty good passer out of these screens, Brownridge is aggressive without being selfish, a useful weapon in any offence. When not moving off screen action, he also works slightly off the dribble, shooting a pull-up mid-range, thus diversifying the attack to include both the catch and the dribble and can create a little bit of space in isolation albeit rarely with the intent to get to the rim. When he does get to the rim, he very rarely uses his left hand, and he prefers to be 25 feet away where he is both a shooting threat and also a good playmaker in the pick-and-roll. Undersized for a shooting guard and without elite athleticism, Brownridge keeps things moving and has a legacy of hitting tough shots; he also puts forth defensive effort to stay in front and deflects the ball without the size to intrigue at the highest levels. Logan had more leap, athleticism and slightly more reliability on the ball than this. He also did better near the rim, whereas Brownridge is more of a shooting specialist. He is however a very good one, in terms of both […]
Jaylen Barford – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Jaylen Barford SG – 6’3, 202lbs – Born 23rd January 1996 Greensboro Swarm This was Barford’s first professional season, and as with so many G-Leaguers, it started with the summer league/training camp/allocation cycle, all via the Charlotte Hornets. What the Hornets will have seen in him at Arkansas was a level of versatility that belied his height. Due to his height, Barford is listed as a combo guard generally, but it is hard to identify his game as such. Not anymore, anyway. A scorer at heart, Barford would take isolation possessions for the Razorbacks and handle the ball up top quite a bit more than he did with the Swarm, and also quite a bit better than he did here as well. As a member of the Swarm, Barford was more of an off-ball perimeter shooter and a one-man fast break machine who created offence through movement. That said, he needs to improve his shot making from every area of the court. The very occasional post touches of his Razorback days will surely not continue, and Barford will need to improve his ballhandling, ability to shoot off the dribble, changes of direction and getting to the rim if he is to be a combo guard at high levels going forwards. As of right now, short for a point guard and without great athleticism or length, he is particularly short for the off guard game that otherwise better suits him. Barford however does not let this affect his defensive tenacity. The word so often used to describe him on that end is ‘bulldog’, and it very much has a basis in fact. Barford has strength on his frame and is very competitive with it, putting forth good effort and playing as physically as he can, trying to compensate for […]
Ryan Anderson – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile
June 20th, 2019
Ryan Anderson PF – 6’9, 215lbs – Born 4th December 1992 Delaware Blue Coats Ryan Anderson is one of the best offensive rebounding specialists in the game. This was not the case when he began his career at Boston College, with a 6.7% offensive rebounding percentage as a freshman. Yet that number skyrocketed up to 16.9% this year with the Blue Coats, and the resulting put-backs made up the majority of his otherwise limited offensive game. Productive if unathletic, Anderson may not stand out offensively, but he is at least somewhat versatile. He is inefficient from every area except the point-blank range via the put-backs, yet he can at least get looks away from various spots on the court. In the post, Anderson has footwork and touch along with a hook shot over his left shoulder. He will occasionally drive from the open side of the floor on a defensive read, and is actually quite a decent face-up passer when given the opportunity. Never being all that good of a jump shooter despite his persistent attempts to be, the idea that Anderson could add a pick-and-pop game to some slow pick-and-rolling has yet to come to fruition, and although it is to his credit that he takes his time, sometimes he takes too much. Anderson is not an athlete and thus struggles to play in the full-court game, and also struggles to cover ground defensively, where he uses elbows and tries to compete, taking charges where he can, but he is as below-the-rim on that end as he is offensively, and lacks for much shot-blocking instinct. All of that information makes for a paint player who crashes the glass, finishes inefficiently (including a poor free throw stroke), who wins possessions for his team on the glass, competes, and […]
Players who may get bought out during the season
September 12th, 2018
Rosters are mostly set after this summer’s free agency period, and teams are just mostly now nibbling around the edge. Aside from a couple of training-camp decisions, most players are now on the teams they will be with through at last January, as rarely do teams make mid-season changes prior to that. Come January, though, and trade season will begin. Between then and the trade deadline at the start of February, many a player will be on notice, re-assignable at the drop of a hat as teams change and tweak directions based on the changing information throughout the first half. And then after that, in the time between the trade deadline and 1st March (a key date for player eligibility; if a player is on an NBA team’s roster at the end of that day, then that is the only team they can play for in the playoffs), some veteran players every season seem to get bought out, giving back money for the freedom to choose a team better suited for their needs, often going from a lottery team to a playoff team in the process. There follows a look at some of the players who may fall victim to the latter practice. Jeremy Lin, Atlanta Hawks Lin was acquired by the Hawks into cap space, without much in the way of sweetener going the other way. Normally, players traded into cap space are either very good or highly unwanted, and with the latter, a first-round pick (or more) is usually traded with their contract as sweetener. Not so with Lin, onto whom the Brooklyn Nets stuck only a 2025 second-round pick in moving him to Atlanta. Lin is an unlikely Hawk, a now-veteran reserve point guard without upside or team control on his contract, who nevertheless replaces Dennis Schroeder […]
2018/19 EuroLeague previews: Milano have spent big money to build a competitor
September 7th, 2018
The 2018/19 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season is coming around fast. For the 16 teams taking part, preseason has already started, as teams work to gel their new rosters of players for the upcoming season in preparation for the first round of matches on October 2011. Teams new to the competition this year include Bayern Munich, Buducnost, Darussafaka and Gran Canaria, taking the places of Brose Baskets Bamberg, Crvena Zvezda, Unicaja Malaga and Valencia. With rosters now mostly set, there follows over a series of posts here at GiveMeSport a look at all sixteen teams participating in the 2018/19 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, in a preview of the upcoming season. It continues here with a look at Italian champions, Armani Olimpia Milano. READ: Part 1 – Anadolu Efes Armani Olimpia Milano Out: Davide Pascolo (to Trento), Awudu Abass (to Brescia), Marco Cusin (to Torino), Andrew Goudelock (to Shandong, China), Mantas Kalnietis (to ASVEL, France), Amath M’Baye (to Virtus Bologna), Jordan Theodore (unsigned) In: Mike James (from Panathinaikos), Christian Burns (from Cantu), Jeff Brooks (from Unicaja Malaga, Spain), Amedeo Della Valle (from Reggio Emilia), Nemanja Nedovic (from Unicaja Malaga) In last year’s competition, Milano never got going. They lost their first three games, five of their first six, and nine of their first thirteen, ultimately finishing second-last with a 10-20 record. They were undone by having the competition’s worst overall defensive rating. And yet for whatever reason, they have sought to remedy that by adding offensive talent. On the plus side, they have added some significant individual offensive talents. James and Nedovic are EuroLeague stars; creative, explosive, dynamic half-court talents who can get their own in isolation, get to the rim, finish, pull-up, work off of the scoring threat to find team mates, and save any possession with their individual shot-making talents. How […]
2018/19 EuroLeague previews: Anadolu Efes look to bounce back from last place
September 6th, 2018
The 2018/19 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season is coming around fast. For the 16 teams taking part, preseason has already started, as teams work to gel their new rosters of players for the upcoming season in preparation for the first round of matches on October 2011. Teams new to the competition this year include Bayern Munich, Buducnost, Darussafaka and Gran Canaria, taking the places of Brose Baskets Bamberg, Crvena Zvezda, Unicaja Malaga and Valencia. With rosters now mostly set, there follows over a series of posts here at GiveMeSport a look at all sixteen teams participating in the 2018/19 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, in a preview of the upcoming season. First in the alphabetical series will be Anadolu Efes of Turkey. Anadolu Efes Out: Errick McCollum (unsigned), Vladimir Stimac (to Turk Telekom), Sonny Weems (unsigned), Derrick Brown (unsigned), Toney Douglas (to Sakarya), Zoran Dragic (unsigned), Berk Demir (to Darussafaka) In: Adrian Moerman (from Barcelona), Rodrigue Beaubois (from Baskonia), Ahmet Tuncer (from Eskisehir), Shane Larkin (from Boston Celtics), James Anderson (from Khimky), Vasilije Micic (from Zalgiris), Tibor Pleiss (from Valencia), Sertac Sanli (from Besiktas), Metecan Birsen (from Sakarya) – By their own standards, Anadolu massively disappointed last year. The big spending Turkish team have not made it to a EuroLeague Final Four in the modern era, despite great expense and acquisition of name-recognition talent along the way, and yet lats year was a particularly troublesome one as they finished stone cold last in the regular season. To that end has come yet another significant overhaul, and a whole new load of import players, as, once again, Efes find themselves with a distinct lack of domestic talent on the team. Being so reliant on imports and the short-term contracts they play on means to constantly have to work things out on the fly, as opposed […]
The best remaining unsigned free agents
September 4th, 2018
The bulk of the NBA’s offseason business is done. The big signings are done, the second-tier players are almost all off the table as well, and for the most part, rotations for next season are set. That said, there are always a couple of players who, even at this relatively late stage, are still unsigned. With the bulk of NBA places gone, so too now are the bulk of the EuroLeague and Chinese league places, the two next best-paying leagues in the world. Those who remain unsigned therefore have limited spots to fight over, and might be fighting each other. Here, then, in absolutely no order whatsoever, are some of those remaining who could still potentially help a an NBA team. Jamal Crawford Crawford opted out of a $4,544,400 contract with the Timberwolves, as his one year with the team was not a happy union. He had the third-lowest points per game mark of his career (and the lowest since the first two years of his career), a joint-lowest assists per game mark, and a career-worst DBPM of -4.0. He still make a lot of tough shots off the dribble, as is his way, but he was ineffectual defensively, and measured out as an overall net negative. Nevertheless, Crawford’s ability to save plays should still get him another contract somewhere. It is however surprising that now, in the first week of September, he still hasn’t got one. – Joe Johnson After playing well in a part-season at a new position of power forward on the minimum salary for the Miami Heat down the stretch of the 2015-16, Johnson signed for big money the following summer to do the same for the Utah Jazz. In the first year with them, he did so, being a productive half court offensive player via a […]
How the Oklahoma City Thunder saved money – and whether they might have to save more
August 31st, 2018
The early days of NBA free agency saw the Oklahoma City Thunder go big early. In a move that was known to be happening long before it happened, they agreed to re-sign 2018 NBA All-Star Paul George to a four year maximum value contract, and within hours also agreed to re-sign key reserve forward Jerami Grant to a three year, $27.35 million deal. This was both somewhat surprising and distinctly strong from a team that entered the offseason in a state of flux. In acquiring George and Carmelo Anthony in the summer of 2017, the Thunder strove to make a big stride back to the postseason and to relevance after the departure of Kevin Durant the previous summer. But to do so meant piling on the payroll, and to not take a stride backwards in 2018 meant piling on even more, keeping George and Grant on raises with a payroll that was already hefty without them. Immediately after those moves, reports came out about how, once luxury tax calculations were factored in, the Thunder were looking at a $300 million total commitment for their team this upcoming season. The reports of a $300 million total payroll were accurate enough at the time. However, they were normally taken out of context during their aggregation and sharing. That figure came about because of the heavy amount of repeater luxury tax that the Thunder were facing. Historically not a taxpaying team, the franchise has now paid luxury tax in the last three seasons, triggering the more punitive repeater tax rates for this upcoming season. The 2011 CBA created greater deterrents for teams crossing the luxury tax threshold; whereas before teams would previously pay a simple dollar-for-dollar tax on any amount they went over by, there are now various thresholds over which the amount increases (much […]
With a deadline coming up, the Luol Deng situation could soon be resolved
August 29th, 2018
In the summer of 2016, the L.A. Lakers, armed with cap room, tried to make a free agency splash. They signed centre Timofey Mozgov from the Cleveland Cavaliers to a four year, $64 million contract, and followed it up with signing Luol Deng from the Miami Heat to a four year, $72 million deal. They then almost immediately changed plans. Both players got out to slow starts and then never really sped up; in their first seasons, Mozgov averaged only 7.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 54 games (52 starts), while Deng averaged 7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 56 games (49 starts). Designed to be veteran help alongside D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram and Jordan Clarkson, the pair both struggled to get going throughout and recorded career-worst years. The Lakers shifted their direction pretty much immediately after this. They revamped the structure and personnel of their front office, and opted to up their standards when it came to the players they were pursuing. In the midst of an uncharacteristically long playoff-less streak, the team decided, explicitly, to target only the game’s very best in free agency. No more Mozgovs. It worked this summer when they signed LeBron James as a free agent. But to do so again next year may require freeing themselves of Deng’s contract. Earning $18 million this season and $18.81 million next, Deng’s contract vastly outweighs his performance. Indeed, as of last season, there was no performance. After starting him in the first game of the season but playing him for only 13 minutes, the Lakers had another quick rethink and benched Deng for the young forward quartet of Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randle and (until the trade deadline) Larry Nance Jr. Despite being ostensibly in good health, Deng never […]
Market Adjustment: Good NBA big men are bargains right now
August 27th, 2018
It took nearly a month of free agency to do it, but the last big free agency name was eventually taken off the board at the end of July. The Houston Rockets finally agreed to re-sign free agent centre Clint Capela to a deal reported to cost them only five years and $90 million, of which only five years and $80 million is guaranteed. My use of the world “only” there was very deliberate. That is not a lot of money for a player of some calibre, and who is a roughly ideal fit for what the Rockets are doing with their team. It is considerably less than the maximum salary of five years and $147,710,050 (or four years and $109,509,175 with another team) that he could have signed for, and it is a lot less than Houston probably expected they could get him for when headed into free agency. In a tough free agency period in which they lost Trevor Ariza to the Phoenix Suns and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute to the L.A. Clippers, and given a maximum contract to Chris Paul that will be of questionable value in the back end, the Rockets needed to win on this one, and they have done. In large part, this was due to their patience. Taking this full month allowed the relative impatience of the competition to take effect, and as the other cap space teams spent their money up, Capela quickly ran out of bidders. The Rockets have been significantly aided in this quest, though, not only by Capela’s restricted free agency, but also by a flat overall market for ‘big men’. Positional distinctions are increasingly hard to do these days. Still, with that disclaimer in mind, here is a list of all the new contracts given out to veteran ‘big men’ in […]
Manu Ginobili announces his retirement
August 27th, 2018
After a couple of months of deliberation, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili today announced his retirement. In a tweet sent out this evening, Ginobili said; “Today, with a wide range of feelings, I’m announcing my retirement from basketball.” Ginobili had been working out with the Spurs in the offseason, testing his body to see if he would want and be able to play to play one final season with the team. Now, it is clear that he won’t. Ginobili is calling time on a professional playing career that goes back 23 years, the last 16 of which have been spent in the NBA with the Spurs. Drafted with the penultimate pick of the 1999 NBA Draft, Ginobili’s success as a player predated his time in the NBA; he won a Euroleague title in 2001 with Kinder Bologna, leading the Finals in scoring along the way and being named Finals MVP, and also won consecutive Italian League MVP titles in 2001 and 2002, before leaving to join the NBA. Manu also had plenty of success on the international level, too. He was the leader of the Argentina team that won the silver medal in the World Championships back in 2002, and was the leading scorer on the subsequent 2004 Olympic team that beat the United States in the semi-finals, went on to win the gold medal, and ended the American dominance of the international game. It was in San Antonio, though, where he had his greatest success. The trio of Manu, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were the foundations of a dynastic run for the Spurs that featured a 14 consecutive playoff-season run that continues to this day, that featured four NBA Championship wins in that time. During this reign, the Spurs were venerated for their consistent success, and about how they […]
The Nets’ four point strategy for asset accumulation has worked – mostly
July 31st, 2018
The Brooklyn Nets’ ill-fated trade for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in July 2013 left the team with bleak short, medium and long-term futures. On the court, the pair did not work out. Ageing very quickly after leaving Boston, the two never bettered the team; Brooklyn only got as far as a 44-38 regular season record the season immediately after the trade, which was actually a backwards step on their 49-33 campaign previously, and loafed to a mere 38-44 the season after that. Thereafter, the bottom fell out completely, and the Nets have not cracked 30 wins since. The bigger problem, though, was off the court. To acquire the duo (plus veteran reserve Jason Terry, young forward D.J. White who was soon out of the league, and the #57 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft), the Nets gave up a bevy of assets. They gave up unprotected firsts in all of 2014, 2016 and 2018, and only because of the rule (colloquially named the Stepien Rule) that prevents teams from leaving themselves without a first-round pick in consecutive future seasons were they able to keep a first-round pick in 2017. Even then, though, they traded the right to swap it. In total, this trade cost Brooklyn all of James Young (#17, 2014), Jaylen Brown (#3, 2016), Markelle Fultz (#1, 2017; or Jayson Tatum at #3 if you’d prefer) and Collin Sexton (#8, 2018). With all due respect to Aleksandar Vezenkov, the saving grace of the #57 pick in 2017 coming back the other way probably doesn’t salve the pain much. And that was a lot to pay for no discernible improvement. Ever since that trade, the team has been in a quagmire, with an assets cupboard barer than any asset cupboard should ever be, and no obvious way out of […]
