NBA rumors: Draymond to Lakers buzz, Nuggets 3-point defense, Dillon Brooks gone

The Nuggets shut down the Suns from the 3-point line in Game 2. Also, Dillon Brooks is gone and we have some more fuel for the Draymond-Lakers NBA rumors.

Two of the best and most talented offenses in the league just put together a box score right out of the mid-1990s. The Nuggets took Game 2 from the Suns, 97-87, a score that would make Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy feel right at home.

Kevin Durant struggled with efficiency, particularly behind the 3-point line, but he and Devin Booker still combined for 59 points on 56 shots. The bigger issue is that the rest of the team chipped in just 33 points and went 0-of-11 from beyond the arc.

At this point, it’s fairly well understood by most fans that the quality of a team’s 3-point defense is most appropriately measured by the number of 3-pointers they allow, not the percentage their opponent shoots. Most 3-point attempts are open, the defender isn’t close enough to actually impact whether the shot is made or missed. So on a large scale, the best 3-point defense is staying so close to shooters that they don’t even have the space or courage to attempt a shot.

Given that context, it would be easy to say the Nuggets benefitted from some unusually cold shooting on the part of the Suns. But they actually did an incredible job suffocating Phoenix’s perimeter attack.

The Nuggets 3-point defense was fantastic in Game 2

The most important measure of Denver’s 3-point defense isn’t the 0-of-11 shooting by the Suns’ role players, or the 6-of-31 shooting overall with Booker and Durant factored in. It’s that Denver allowed just 15 open (closest defender within 4-6 feet from the shooter) and wide-open (closest defender 6+ feet from the shooter) 3-point attempts in the entire game. For the sake of comparison, the Suns averaged 28.8 such attempts per game during the regular season. Heck, the Kings attempted 40 in Game 7 against the Warriors.

Watch the aggressive closeout here by Aaron Gordon on Booker, shutting down an open 3-pointer and still managing to contest the drive and get the strip.

You can see above that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope does a not job of waiting until Booker has committed to the drive before he leaves Durant and both Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are perfectly positioned to cut off passes to the wings.

This clip also shows how well-coordinated and in sync all of the Nuggets’ perimeter defenders were. Caldwell-Pope jumps the screen to take an open 3 away from Chris Paul. Gordon stays completely attached to Durant on the opposite wing, preparing and evading a backscreen from Damion Lee and Murray makes a strong closeout on Booker to force a drive to the baseline where help is waiting.

This is an entirely makeable shot for Booker but, for the Nuggets, it’s vastly preferable to a wide-open 3 for Durant, Booker or Paul.

The Nuggets’ defense managed an outlier performance in Game 2 but they were nearly as successful in Game 1, holding the Suns to just 23 open and wide-open 3-pointers. Again, that’s 38 open 3s across two games, for a team with three of the most gravity-inducing outside shooters in the league.

The Suns can absolutely steal a single game or two with just hot mid-range shooting from Booker and Durant. But they’re in a 2-0 hole now against another elite offense and that’s not going to be enough by itself. If they can’t get Denver’s perimeter rotations to begin breaking down and free up some open attempts for their supporting cast, this series could be over much more quickly than anyone expected.

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NBA rumors: Dillon Brooks gone

Given how things ended for the Memphis Grizzlies, it’s not entirely surprising that Dillon Brooks will not be brought back. What is surprising is that the decision was made less than a week after the season ended and that someone from the Grizzlies organization leaked it to Shams Charania. According to a Tuesday Tweet: “The Memphis Grizzlies have informed pending free agent Dillon Brooks that he will not be brought back under any circumstances, league sources say.”

UNDER. ANY. CIRCUMSTANCES.

Brooks was responsible for antagonizing LeBron James after Game 2 and then proceeded to shoot 31.2 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from beyond the arc for the series. He also drew a $25,000 fine for refusing to speak with the media after the Grizzlies’ last two losses.

As an unrestricted free agent with a reasonable defensive reputation, Brooks may draw some interest. But any team that considers him will also have to weigh his defensive upside against his reputation for loud and undeserved confidence along with his disastrous shooting percentages and absurd willingness to shoot his team out of games — he’s averaged 13.1 field goal attempts per game for his career, with a 47.9 effective field goal percentage.

Brooks began the year on a potential championship contender. He may begin next season out of the NBA entirely.

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• For over half the league, the 2023 pre-draft process is full steam ahead. A summer of individual workouts, team interviews, and rampant media speculation begins now and the latest Big Board from Chris Kline takes it all into account.

NBA rumors: Draymond Green wanted to miss Warriors game to watch LeBron break scoring record

Draymond Green has a player option for next season and the stage has appeared set for him to depart — failing to reach terms on a contract extension with the Warriors and then sucker-punching Jordan Poole at a preseason practice. The Lakers have seemed like an obvious landing spot for a number of reasons, not the least of which is Green’s close friendship with LeBron James.

Yesterday, Andscape ran a long piece from Marc J. Spears exploring the origin of that friendship and how Green and LeBron went from bitter rivals to close friends. Included in that story was the following, juicy tidbit:

"“Draymond Green asked his boss for permission to miss part of a business trip so he could watch one of his good friends reach a major milestone.The friend, LeBron James. The milestone, the NBA career points record.With the Golden State Warriors fighting for their lives in the playoffs, coach Steve Kerr decided it was best for Green to be with the team the night before a game in Portland, Oregon, instead of going to Los Angeles to see James become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Feb. 7. Green understood and instead saluted his buddy on Twitter, calling James the greatest of all time with seven goat emojis.“Yeah, I was definitely going,” Green told Andscape. “It was a TNT game. I was doing the broadcast and Steve said, ‘I don’t think that’ll be great for our team. While we’re flying out on the road, you’re flying to LA, guys see that, guys see you on the TV calling the game. This is a big game for us against Portland.’ I said, ‘All right, respect. No problem. I’ll be there with my team.’”"

This is an anecdote from nearly three months ago but it certainly underscores how connected Green feels with LeBron and won’t do anything but fan the flames of Draymond-to-the-Lakers rumors.

Today’s NBA Trivia:

Between the regular season and postseason, who has the better record in head-to-head matchups — Steph Curry or LeBron James?

The answer for yesterday’s trivia question: This postseason, Devin Booker has moved into eighth on the Suns’ all-time playoff-scoring leaderboard. The other players in the top 10 are Kevin Johnson, Steve Nash, Walter Davis, Charles Barkley, Amare Stoudemire, Dan Majerle, Shawn Marion, Alvan Adams and Paul Westphal.