Welcome to The Rotation, our daily playoff wrap-up of our favorite stories, large and small, from last night’s NBA action.
Eclectic Characters Don’t Disappoint During NBA Draft Lottery
By Keith Schlosser (@KeithBSchlosser)
In recent seasons, the NBA Draft Lottery has gotten especially boring. It’s the same mundane process featuring irrelevant and/or unknown individuals representing their respective teams up on the dias.
But with the futures of the 76ers and Lakers looking especially bright once and for all, the momentum shifted on draft lottery night as many teams followed suit. What resulted was a fun night featuring a very eclectic cast of characters.
Of course, there were your typical legends like Michael Finley (Mavericks) and Alonzo Mourning (HEAT) taking their seats. Out of contention coaches like Frank Vogel (Magic) and Dave Joerger (Kings) joined in, as did behind the scenes executives such as Rich Cho (Hornets) and Jeff Bower (Pistons). A player like Devin Booker represented the Suns’ already promising future. Walt “Clyde” Frazier (Knicks) and Andrew Wiggins (Timberwolves) both gave the field a bit more pizzazz with their flashy suits, but two other individuals outshined everyone else with their vibrant personalities.
The dramedy that spilled out between Magic Johnson (Lakers) and Joel Embiid (76ers) could be a hit reality television show today. Eat your hearts out, network executives. From two very different generations, this could be your new “Odd Couple.” Johnson’s exuberance over being able to keep his team’s pick went unmatched. Embiid’s endless night of expressions — elated, confused, sad, confident, etc. — kept everyone on their toes, very much so in the fashion that we’ve all become accustomed to with this larger than life talent.
The contrast between Johnson and Embiid was a perfect match. Johnson represents everything that was good about yesteryear’s NBA. Embiid represents everything that will continue to be great about tomorrow. All the representatives provided their teams with luck and hope. Johnson and Embiid provided the rest of us with entertainment.
While Johnson and Embiid are likely to garner some headlines, it was the Celtics who came away with the first overall pick. Most of their more prominent players were busy competing for a championship. Excuse the rest of us.
The Spurs are a team
By Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh)
It goes without saying that the Spurs can not beat the Warriors with the Bryn Forbes, Dejounte Murray, Kyle Anderson and Dewayne Dedmon shooting 11-of-40 from the field. The field goal percentage was terrible. The volume was even worse. To be fair, the Spurs, minus Kawhi Leonard, trailed by 28 points at the end of the first half. Popovich waved the white flag early and the numbers for Murray, Forbes, Dedmon, and Anderson came in the stinkiest of garbage time.
The Spurs, without Kawhi, were able to finish off the Houston Rockets. The Warriors, clearly, are a different animal, uniquely empowered to expose the inherent cracks and weaknesses in any team’s roster and strategy. Perhaps the Spurs could have pushed in the second half, played their starters, and lost by 10 or 15, instead of 36. Gregg Popovich doesn’t traffic in moral victories.
The perception of the Spurs as a system and organization first, and a collection of individual basketball players second, is deeply embedded in the basketball culture. The “Kawhi Leonard is a system player” argument is dumb and, hopefully, mostly settled after his MVP-worthy campaign this year, but last night was a fresh reminder that systems are made up of parts. In that 36-point drubbing both the system and the parts were on full display.
All due respect to LaMarcus Aldridge and Jonathon Simmons, but the Spurs are a superstar-driven team. At this point, Kawhi drives the system, not the other way around. According to the estimates of ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus, Kawhi was worth about 15 wins over a replacement player this season — the difference between being the No. 2 seed in the West and the No. 7 or No. 8 seed. The rest of this roster is complementary — designed to scaffold and support what Kawhi does well.
In watching guys like Murray, Forbes, and Anderson, you could also see a preview of what the Spurs might look like next year and beyond. Ginobili is likely retiring at the end of this season. Parker and Gasol will probably follow at the end of next year. Patty Mills and Jonathon Simmons are free agents. Dedmon and David Lee both have player options for next year. In two years, this could be a dramatically different core around Kawhi. The sneak preview last night was of one faster, longer, more athletic, and potentially a little more balanced between offense and defense (instead of the rotational either-or tradeoffs created by the current group).
Next: The 20 different emotions of Gregg Popovich
Popovich has long been lauded for his tendency to exploit garbage time and foist minutes upon young players, making sure they’re ready when the moment arrives. Murray, Anderson, and Forbes weren’t game-changers last night, but they could be soon. And there is the strength of the system. Popovich wasted no time sacrificing the present (chasing a longshot comeback at the risk of suffering another injury to their core), in favor of the future, even though he wasn’t sure if the future he was preparing for was three days or three years away.
Big and small, macro and micro, parts and whole. Long live the Spurs.