10 Observations Since the NBA's Return From the All-Star Break

If you’re a casual fan, this article might not be for you. That’s because, once football season ends, I become a psychopath when it comes to basketball and look out for every nitty-gritty detail such as Karl-Anthony Towns’ footwork when defending post-ups, Jaxson Hayes’ quickness on screen-and-rolls, and Darius Garland’s lateral explosiveness with a big defending him.

I’ve had some time off since Wednesday night—the exact time that the Lakers and Hornets picked up play again after an underwhelming All-Star break—and have watched nothing but basketball since then whether it’s been Bulls vs Suns and Heat vs Raptors in the shower, the Lakers on back-to-back nights while completing stats homework, or Knicks vs Celtics while filling out job applications.

Besides thanking sportsfeed24.com for free, unlimited, uninterrupted access to every basketball game, the best thing I could think to do with my newfound knowledge of the NBA was to write an article for the sickos like me who care about the parts of the game that nobody else cares about.

Here are 15 things I’ve learned since Wednesday.

1. Avdija and Camara Are the Future in Portland

In the third quarter of the Trail Blazers’ Thursday night game against the Lakers, Deni Avdija scored 15 third-quarter points, leading his team back into the game despite off nights from everybody not named Toumani Camara or Robert Williams III.

Avdija, who finished with 28 points on 9-for-14 shooting, was moving at his own pace for the whole quarter, not allowing the physical defense of Dorian Finney-Smith and Rui Hachimura to hinder his path to the basket whatsoever. He mixed two threes and a mid-range jay with calculated, yet quick drives to the basket and tough finishes on top of all that. LeBron James had a 40-point masterpiece, but Avdija was the clear second-best player on the court for the whole game.

Camara isn’t as polished as Avdija, but his athleticism is on a different level. He caught a lob from Avdija late in the third, launched his head about the rim and threw the ball down before sprinting back on defense where he poses as one of the longest, most treacherous defenders in the game to go against.

The two foreigners represent a bright future in PDX.

2. Mikal Bridges is Hurting the Knicks

A half-season of offensive brilliance in Brooklyn is the sole reason why the Knicks sacrificed their entire future for Mikal Bridges. Whether it’s fair or not, all of the picks that New York gave up in the trade mean that Bridges has to step up as the third option on offense and the primary ball-stopper on defense.

In the Knicks’ three games since the break, the former All-Star has averaged 13.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. In those three games, Bridges hasn’t attempted a single free throw which will not fly especially when Jalen Brunson attempts zero free throws like he did against the Celtics.

Bridges’ defensive plus-minus is the worst of his career, his defensive win shares are the lowest since his rookie year, and he’s averaging the fewest steals of his career. Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns can only do so much on offense by themselves and they can’t do anything on defense if Bridges is lacking. He needs to step up for the Knicks to be considered as title contenders.

3. Evan Mobley is a Monster

It looks silly to be saying this after 57 games of Mobley looking like a future All-NBA first-teamer, but this weekend was the first time that I watched back-to-back Cavs games with their full roster intact.

Against the Knicks, Mobley was hosting his own dunk contest. He made four shots in the first quarter, all of which were dunks. One dunk was on a ridiculous alley-oop from Mitchell, others came in the pick-and-roll, and he even threw down the hammer after shrugging off Karl-Anthony Towns and Precious Achiuwa. It was more of the same against Memphis last night—a game in which the seven-footer tallied 25 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists in a win.

This season, Mobley has taken a leap in more ways than the stat sheet can track. He’s a more confident shooter, a more bruising post-player, and a more physical post-player. Mobley went from looking like a deer on ice to a gazelle in his natural grassland. He has not only positioned the Cavaliers are championship contenders but he’s positioned himself as one of the faces of the league in five years.

4. A Quartet of Triple-Double Artists On One Floor

A million subplots were flowing through the Nuggets vs Lakers Saturday night clash on ABC, but one story that went relatively unmentioned was the statistical history of certain players on the court.

Russell Westbrook is first in all-time triple-doubles with 202. Nikola Jokic is third with 156, LeBron James is fifth with 122, and Luka Doncic is seventh with 80. They are the top-four players in triple-doubles of all active players, they have accounted for a whopping 16.9% of triple-doubles in NBA history, and they are four of six players to average 26 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists in a season (Oscar Robertson and James Harden are the other two players).

Interestingly enough, every one of the four went under the seasonal assist average in the game, but everybody but Jokic went over their points average, and LeBron and Jokic were over their rebounds average.

5. Can I Interest You in Quinten Post?

Guess how many stretch fives (centers who shoot threes) Steph Curry has played with in his career? If you said 1.5, you’d be correct. He got one season out of a washed Boogie Cousins, and Marreese Speights is arguably a power forward, but he could shoot the pill in his prime.

Though he’s doing so in limited minutes, Quinten Post qualifies as the 2.5th stretch five that Curry has partnered with. Post is averaging 7.6 points per game and is making 42.4% of his threes on 3.7 attempts per game. He had 10, six, and three off the bench yesterday against Dallas, nine the other night against Sacramento, and 13 fourth-quarter points against Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago.

The Warriors are just 3-4 when Post starts, but I can’t deny that he’s caught my eye in the last stretch of play, particularly in yesterday’s game when he drilled a no-hesitation corner three and followed it up with an emphatic slam before screaming to the crowd.

6. Two Terrible Commentators

When I turn on an ESPN-televised game, I pray that Michael Grady is not on the call. Grady is an insufferable listen. His long drawn-out vowels coupled with what sounds like a failed baseball commentator’s voice mixed with a sea monster makes me genuinely frustrated and the lack of good descriptors or banter with his partner (yesterday it was Cory Alexander) distracts me from the game itself.

The other terrible commentator is Vince Carter. I could have told you he’d be a bad announcer after watching him on the TNT Tuesday crew for five minutes, but apparently, TSN (the Raptors broadcasting network) couldn’t see what I saw. Carter constantly fumbles over his words, appears nervous when he speaks, and is very vanilla—always supporting players and never critiquing them. He sounds as if ChatGPT had a stutter.

Both Grady and Carter have accomplished much higher heights than I have, so this is not to discredit their careers. It’s just a matter of taste.

7. Defense on Ant-Man Has Him Ant-Agonized

Tim Connelly and Matt Lloyd are lucky that Nico Harrison agreed to the Luka trade, but it’s taken attention away from how terrible the KAT trade for Julius Randle was. If the argument is that KAT is not a premier defender, then why was Minnesota ranked first in defense last season? And there is no argument that he is a worse offensive player than Randle—the two are not in the same stratosphere. The only argument in the money, and the reality is that the T-Wolves’ cheap approach to team-building has left their young superstar, Anthony Edwards, deserted on the floor.

Minnesota is currently out Mike Conley, Jaylen Clark, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid next to Anthony Edwards. While I respect the growth of those last three guys, none of them pose legitimate offensive threats. As a result, Edwards is getting doubled on nearly every possession and it has worsened his shot profile. Against the Rockets, the Wolves were down 106-103 with seven-and-a-half minutes left. From that point on, Edwards shot 0-for-5 (0-for-3 from three) and turned the ball over once. Dillon Brooks and Amen Thompson were not biting on his pump fakes due to the fact that opponents now always have an extra set of eyes on Edwards.

When they played the Thunder last night, the story was similar. 13 of Edwards’ 21 shots were threes (he shot 4-for-13). He’s clearly frustrated with his inability to consistently drive to the basket, but unfortunately, with the way Minnesota’s roster is constructed, I don’t think this is an issue that will be fixed this season.

8. The Exciting Whites of the NBA

I’m of course playing with the reference to the Eagles’ defensive duo of Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship. But I’m not playing when I say that Payton Pritchard and Ty Jerome are vital bench scorers for their respective Eastern Conference contenders and both are balling out.

Last night, Jerome dropped 26 points on the Grizzlies in 23 minutes. His signature floater paid off for him big time and he hit a pair of clutch second-half threes that fired up the Rocket Mortgage Arena crowd. Versus the Knicks on Friday night, Jerome dropped 19 on 7-for-11 shooting, bumping his season average up to 11.7 PPG and 52.1% shooting from the field and 43.7% from three.

Pritchard may not be posting the eye-popping shooting percentages that Jerome has, but he’s cooking opposing defenses at a higher volume. Pritchard is averaging career highs in every major category with 13.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.5 APG. On Thursday against the hapless 76ers, PP nailed eight threes (he had 28 points overall) off the bench which was the third most threes by a bench payer this season (Sam Merrill and Keon Ellis both hit nine).

9. Bulls Struggling Down the Stretch

I realize that probably less than 1% of my readers care about the crunch-time offensive execution of this dud of a team. But after watching the Bulls throw away two straight games to the Suns and Knicks because of poor last-minute execution, I had to say something.

The Bulls scored seven points in the final 5:50 of their game against the Knicks. Only two points were scored by players not named Coby White. White is a pure bucket-getter and made a layup and a tough three to cut the Knicks lead to two late in overtime. It would only make sense to turn to him for the final shot, right? Wrong. With the game tied at 104 in regulation, Billy Donovan drew up a play for Nikola Vucevic to hit the game-winner that was smothered by Mikal Bridges. Vucevic also had the game-tying attempt at the buzzer in OT and airballed it. If Vuc is your go-to clutch time option, you’ve got a problem.

Against Phoenix, White once again brought the Bulls back, tying the game at 111 with an and-one with 2:22 remaining. In the next 74 seconds, Julian Phillips stupidly fouled Kevin Durant twice which sent him to the free-throw line where he made all four free throws. Those fouls took all of the energy out of the stadium and a Devin Booker three on the Suns’ next possession put the game to bed.

Whether Chicago wants to lose or not is the ultimate question, but either way, their lackluster play down the stretch is cause for concern.

10. Jaylen Clark is a Menace

I bet most you don’t know who Jaylen Clark is. Allow me to introduce him. He is an elite perimeter defender for the Timberwolves with tremendous athleticism and a capable jumpshot.

Last night, in the Wolves’ first of two games in two nights against OKC, Clark was tasked with guarding Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The rookie made life difficult on the MVP-favorite and had tallied four steals along with 14 points midway through the third quarter.

Unfortunately, Clark smashed his head on the hardwood with 6:09 left in the third which ended his night for good. After he exited, the Thunder went on a 13-4 run and would lead for all but 31 seconds for the rest of the night.

Clark can a true game changer for the Wolves who are just looking for players to supplement Anthony Edwards’ productivity.

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