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findingjoynweirdstuff · 4 years ago

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Dream SMP Recap (May 22/2021) - Pursuit of Peace

Quackity goes searching for new recruits to join him in Las Nevadas.

Foolish wonders if his way of life is really working towards peace, or if he needs a change.

Ranboo builds up the stronghold room for his Enderwalk experiments.

---

VOD LINKS:

Foolish

Quackity

Foolish

Ranboo

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LAS NEVADAS: EPISODE THREE

---

Quackity rides a white horse and overlooks the construction site where the plans for Las Nevadas have been laid out. There is a montage that shows Quackity in New L’manburg, then hunting down Techno in the Final Control Room.

Techno strikes him down and Quackity wakes up at Spawn with a bloody scar over one eye.

There is a rapid timelapse showing the buildings of Las Nevadas getting built one by one. Slot machine sound effects play in the background, then Quackity’s voice:

“Let’s start this hit list. Who’s on the hit list? Dream and Technoblade. If we go after Dream first, we’ll have government, and then Techno will go after us. So let’s just -- let’s just attack the problem from the goddamn root.”

Another rapid-cut montage of Quackity walking down the path to the prison, then a full view of Pandora’s Vault...

---

- Quackity is in the cell with Dream, telling him he’ll show him which weapon he’ll use to torture him this time. He puts an axe up on the wall. While Quackity is talking, Dream suddenly runs up to try and take the axe. Quackity hits him back and grabs it

- Dream cowers in the corner of the cell, pleading, while Quackity shouts at him

Quackity: “You do that again, and it’s over for you. Don’t fucking ever do that again. You understand?”

Dream: “Yes.��

Quackity: “Don’t ever reach for any of my fucking weapons ever again. Okay?”

Dream: “Yes, sir.”

- Quackity says these visits have gotten tiresome, and he’s busy. The Netherite barrier wall is put up between them and the lava. Dream tells him he doesn’t have to visit anymore.

Quackity: “No, I do, I do. This is what you don’t understand, Dream. This is what you don’t understand, okay? I do, I do have to come, every single day, so I can remind you, every bad shit you’ve ever done to me, to any other person on the server -- I have to come every day to remind you, otherwise I think you’ll end up forgetting, and I don’t think I want you to forget.”

Dream: “Forget -- I won’t forget -- I promise you I won’t forget!”

- Quackity asks him when was the last time he saw Technoblade. Dream says it was a little bit before he was put in the prison.

- Quackity asks what their relationship is like, and Dream describes Techno as one of his only allies. Quackity throws Dream a book and quill and tells him to get writing: a note to Technoblade to get him to visit the prison

- If he writes the note and doesn’t ask any questions, then he’ll give Dream a week’s break from the torture. Dream thinks he’s lying and refuses to write the note

- Dream suggests Sapnap instead and Quackity snaps.

Quackity: “If you don’t do that shit, then we’re gonna have issues, alright? You know what? I’m kinda sick and tired of these fucking visits now that I think about it. I’m actually sick and tired! I don’t like ‘em anymore! They’re boring, they really don’t serve any much more purpose, I don’t like ‘em anymore Dream. So this is what we’re gonna do. You either write that goddamn note, or I will kill you. I am not joking, I will fucking kill you, I don’t care anymore, I don’t --”

“What is it, the book? Are you threatening me with the fucking revival book, Dream? Guess what, Dream? I don’t CARE anymore about the book! I don’t give a crap about the fucking book anymore! You understand me? I don’t give a shit! I’ve lost interest in that thing! At this point, the only reason I come and torture you so much, every single day, is merely as a reminder, because at the end of the day, no matter how many times I fucking torture you, that will never amount the amount of fucking evil you’ve done to this entire server and everyone in it--”

Dream: “It’s -- it’s ‘cause you LIKE IT! You LIKE torturing me!”

Quackity: “You know what? You know what? I might, I might. I don’t give a shit, I don’t care what it is, what the reason is, if you don’t write that goddamn note -- I’m going to kill you, Dream. I am going to kill you.”

- Dream says Sam wouldn’t let Quackity kill him, but Quackity points out that Sam is beyond the lava wall, and he can deal with Sam later if need be. Dream shouts that he wouldn’t.

- Quackity starts swinging the axe around, then starts stabbing Dream while Dream begs for him to stop. Dream agrees to write it.

Quackity tells him what to write:

“Dear Technoblade...”

Chapter One.

There’s a village at night. It’s raining.

Easy job.

Foolish is there.

No innocents.

Big reward.

Easy money.

He draws his bow.

Peaceful heist.

He shoots the arrow into the village.

The village is ablaze and full of lava, people are screaming. Foolish rides off on a horse.

THE PURSUIT OF PEACE

- A bell rings. It’s Las Nevadas, and Quackity coughs, eating, while Sam comes through the door and sits down in front of him. Quackity asks where Sam found the villager running the restaurant. Sam says he just showed up, and Quackity scolds him for hiring someone random

- Quackity hands him a book with potential roles for candidates, people to join Las Nevadas. Sam says he thought he was going to hire George, Sapnap and Karl. They both pause before Sam says he was kidding

- Quackity asks Sam to tell him about Foolish. Sam has read that Foolish isn’t a good person. Quackity scoffs, but Sam says the two of them haven’t done anything inherently bad, and everything they do is just for justice

Quackity: (laughing) “Yeah, ‘justice.’”

- Foolish used to kill a lot of people. A job gone wrong written about in old history texts. Quackity still thinks he’d be a great option.

- In the future, who’s going to protect them? Sam knows what happened with Quackity and Techno, and they need some force in their team. Sam is still skeptical

---

- Quackity greets Foolish at the summer home entrance, asking how he’s holding up after the Banquet, the places he’s affiliated with

- Foolish is done with contract work for Kinoko Kingdom. Quackity asks him if he’d like to join Las Nevadas. Foolish is honored, but he’s happy at his summer home. As Quackity presses him on it, Foolish keeps insisting

Quackity: “I know who you are, if that makes a little more sense...I’ve done my research, Foolish, I have my connections. I know what type of person you are, if you get what I mean...”

- Foolish tells him this peaceful life has worked

Foolish: “I believed peace could be found through the sword, you know? Fighting. That doesn’t work, okay. That just leads to fear, to power, to hatred, resentment, all of that, okay, it’s a mess. The only thing I did was accelerate war, okay? That doesn’t work. So I pushed back, I ran from it all, and this is good! I’m in a much happier place!”

- Quackity then says he wants to buy Foolish’s summer home from him...for one diamond. Foolish is taken aback as Quackity explains that for all the work Foolish has put into this, it’s just a build.

No one stays here, they just admire and leave it. It is an empty shell that’s beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, it’s decaying, something that will disappear in time with no one to remember it...much like Foolish himself.

Quackity: “On the inside, everybody knows you’re...just a builder. And I was hoping, at some point, you would realize this...after I let you die at the Red Banquet.”

- Foolish is shocked. Quackity was behind those walls and he could have saved Foolish, but instead he watched him die. Foolish draws his trident, and Quackity asks if he would really take a life

Quackity: “I did it for you. I let you die because I wanted a better version of you.”

- He wanted Foolish to realize that this life as a builder would get him hurt, and he needs to go back to his old ways: feared, not a nobody

Foolish: “You threw away my life for some kind of fucking sales pitch!”

“Power...power...damn you, Qua -- what makes you think you’re any better, huh?! How’s that worked out for anyone else that’s been here? Dream? Wilbur? Schlatt? How’d that go, huh? What makes you any better, different, than them?”

- Quackity doesn’t need a sales pitch, his country is already big and other people would take the offer.

The reason he came to Foolish is because Quackity sees himself in Foolish: someone who once saw peace and betterment of people as the way to live. It brought him nothing but suffering, and Foolish has potential

The offer still stands.

Chapter Two.

An old-fashioned documentary plays about: the Slime!

Slimes are morphing elements that can morph into just about anything, even blocks. Is Dwane “The Rock” Johnson slime?

---

- Quackity glides down onto the roof of the restaurant in a ninja outfit and elytra, setting up redstone and TNT in the floor. There’s a bit of slime on the wall and he’s disgusted, running out. This is why he wants to kill the owner of this place

- He mines into the wall only for Charlie Slimecicle to pop out. Quackity knocks him out

- When Charlie wakes up, he’s stuck in a hole and Quackity is interrogating him, asking who he is. Charlie says he is a definitely “goobless guy” who has many bones.

Charle: “Dap me up!”

- As Charlie describes what happened, it becomes clear that Charlie has overheard all sorts of passing conversations and knows a lot. He knows too much, and Quackity has to kill him

- Quackity asks what else he knows. Charlie gets distracted by the snow, which Quackity teaches him is called “coke”

- Charlie saw Foolish, the purple guy, he knows of a green guy, a red-shirt blond guy, a dead-but-not-anymore-guy. Quackity asks about the dead guy, who Charlie describes as “sooty”

- Quackity realizes that Charlie is an accidental spy and tells Charlie this is just a friendly greeting, he can give Charlie a home. He coughs again and tells Charlie that a spy is a friend, and Charlie will be his spy as the two walk off together

Chapter Three.

---

ONE WEEK BEFORE THE RED BANQUET

---

A purple-tinged POV of a person walking down the path through the Community House as Quackity and Sam talk in the background.

It’s been so long, he might be dead in the woods somewhere, but Quackity insists that Purpled is perfect for their country. Sam doesn’t think he would ever join, doesn’t think he would ever affiliate with anyone.

What about a job?

The UFO is destroyed.

If Quackity offers him a one-time job, Purpled would take it. Once he has Purpled’s attention, Quackity can do something to reel him in to join the country.

Rowing to the skull base...

Sam says Purpled’s UFO is still there, but abandoned. He moved out along time ago. Quackity has a plan...

---

- Quackity and Sam are talking by Eret’s Museum. Sam is in charge of keeping an eye out for Purpled. Sam protests -- he’s the Warden and Quackity is breaking and entering, and he’s not supposed to break the law.

- Quackity has a stack of TNT. He climbs up the UFO and starts placing TNT everywhere inside

- Purpled logs on right in front of him and immediately starts attacking, but stops when Quackity threatens to light the TNT, explaining that this was the best way to get in contact with him

- Quackity tells him about how messed up the server is, that the Egg is still an issue, and he needs Purpled’s help.

- Purpled is in the middle of a mercenary job already, but Quackity will pay Purpled well. He has a new project getting him wealth, a prosperous country. To prove it, Quackity takes him there...

---

The Red Banquet happens. A fight breaks out, and they get the Eggpire to retreat.

---

- Quackity stands on top of the flower shop. He meets Purpled, dressed in his suit, and thanks him for his help with the Egg

- Purpled stops him to ask for his money. Quackity takes him up to the roof and shows him to a chest with the money in it. Purpled approves

- Quackity has something else for Purpled: he goes downstairs and flicks a lever, and Purpled’s UFO explodes

Quackity: “Purpled, your legacy is gone, and I’ve taken it from you. That’s the last piece of evidence that you were ever here, Purpled. That’s it. And you die a long with it. You die along with it -- YOU DIE ALONG WITH IT, PURPLED!”

- Purpled runs at Quackity, attacking him. Quackity stops him, saying he did it for him. Purpled has two choices: he can take Quackity’s life and run away with the money, and he disappears forever. Or, he could join Quackity.

- Quackity tells Purpled he has potential, why waste it away? If Purpled joins him, he can buy a whole fleet of UFOs to replace the one

- Quackity promises Purpled a plot of land in Las Nevadas

Quackity: “Take the gamble, Purpled...take the gamble, and you can change everything.”

- Silently, Purpled turns and walks away

Chapter Four.

- Fundy walks to his new house in the forest and goes to sleep. When he wakes up, he opens the door to find it’s a mesa biome. He’s upset and goes back inside, reassuring himself. When he opens the door again, he’s met with Quackity standing there

- Quackity invites him to a walk, saying Fundy was a hard person to find, but he found him

- Fundy asks what this place is, but Quackity says he should know it better than anyone. As they approach, the mesa is populated by bits and pieces of L’manburg. The wooden stilts of New L’manburg, fragments of the black walls, the Camarvan. Quackity reminisces with him

- Fundy isn’t sure that the drug equipment is necessarily “good memories,” but Quackity tells him no, everything is good memories

- As Quackity leads him towards an oversized, deteriorated version of Eret’s tower, he reminds Fundy of how L’manburg was blown up

- Quackity steps into the shadows

Quackity: “You know what, Fundy? Those memories don’t matter. None of that matters, Fundy. All these structures, all these things we built together...it’s here now, but it’s really gone, and none of it matters, nor will it ever matter...Fundy, if you think about it...you don’t matter. Along with all these structures and everything in ‘em, you’re gonna fade away just like it.”

- If Fundy doesn’t change things, he won’t matter, but Quackity has plans and he doesn’t have to fade away if he just joins Quackity

- Quackity gives him ten seconds to decide. He starts counting down...

- Fundy runs towards him into the darkness as Quackity reaches one and he wakes up suddenly in his bed

- He goes to his door and opens it. Outside is the regular spruce forest, and Quackity is there to greet him.

---

It’s the day Wilbur got a tour from Tommy. Wilbur walks over to his resurrection shrine and finds the “PROJECT NEVADAS” book, reading it.

---

Las Nevadas. Wilbur, revived, comes walking down the road.

He comes face to face with Quackity.

---

- Foolish stands on top of his temple, wondering...was Quackity right? Is he wasting his time here, accomplishing nothing? He isn’t really doing anything to work towards peace

- He stands in the beacon light. Can Quackity do better than everyone else that’s tried before him? Quackity wasn’t all wrong in what he said

- At the Banquet, when he did try to help, he wasn’t strong enough. He can’t even control his own area -- people just walk in and he can’t stop them. Does he need to try something else?

- Maybe there’s a balance between both ends of the spectrum. It wouldn’t hurt to go look, try something different

- He starts making the journey through the Nether, then past Spawn until he reaches Las Nevadas. Just to visit and look around

- Can he really trust someone who let him die?

- Foolish spots Quackity across the road and goes to speak with him. The casino is still going through some repairs, as they found some flaws with the “math” and want to make sure everything is fair

- Foolish asks what Quackity wants from him. Quackity tells him it’s up to him what he wants to do, and it wouldn’t be fair of Quackity to tell Foolish that until Foolish accepts the invitation

- Quackity tours Foolish around the place, showing off the various buildings, like a restaurant and an area for weddings. Quackity sleeps in the Needle. There’s also a strip club also undergoing repairs and a massive Eiffel Tower

- They swim in the pool and Quackity asks Foolish to tell him a bit more about himself. Foolish says he worked for Kinoko Kingdom and Snowchester, and Quackity wants him to elaborate a bit on Kinoko

- Quackity tells Foolish that Las Nevadas is “its own, independent nation” and that you can’t depend on anyone. Quackity wants to depend on only himself.

- Foolish asks about the people who might not like that it’s a nation. Quackity says he just doesn’t have a plan and he’ll deal with it when the time comes

- Quackity tells Foolish he’s welcome to bring others. Foolish notes that Quackity said he doesn’t like to “dwell,” and by coming here maybe Foolish can stop dwelling on the past as well

- Quackity tells Foolish that Foolish chooses who he wants to be. The last thing he wants with Foolish is bad blood

Quackity: “I take care of those who take care of me...why do you think I have no one around?”

- Foolish tells him he’ll have an answer tomorrow. Quackity gives him temporary tokens for the casino and says goodbye to go and sleep. Foolish thinks to himself in Las Nevadas

- That’s when Foolish spots Fundy on the road and the stream abruptly ends

- Ranboo is in his basement. He wants to move the lab equipment to the table area

- He has an experiment log book that he won’t show chat

- Ranboo reads the letter Foolish left for him about the littering at his summer home

- He has a plan for what experiments he wants to do. He’s changed his opinion on the Enderwalk, as it allows him to hear chat in the first place. He doesn’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing

- Ranboo reaches the stronghold portal room and starts lining the walls with iron blocks. He thinks that after today, he might be able to remember everything

- He creates a glass water tank in the corner and some brewing stands, as well as a lever-activated dispenser with arrows

- Ranboo hit a wall with the experiments and he wonders if this strange table might be the key to breaking through

- He realized something frightening:

Ranboo: “The Enderwalk isn’t a different version of me, it’s not a different me, it’s still...me. But, from what I gathered...it’s me with...all of my memories. Every. Single. One. And I realized that...so...I mean, who knows what could’ve happened? There could’ve been an entire other story that I’m not aware of.”

- Ranboo wonders if he wants to keep living in blissful ignorance or know everything that’s happened

- He opens the log:

---

[In Ender]

Purpose of experimentation:

To understand

To learn

To remember

---

To remember is one of the purposes. There are 43 pages, and one of them had the solution.

If it gets rid of it completely, he could lose all of what he didn’t know from before. It could either be good or unknown.

- He tells chat he tricked them. They weren’t just random experiments -- he was going to solve it, and he thought he needed chat with him.

He didn’t need a splash potion. He would use the arrow and go into the water tank, and that would be the solution.

- Ranboo goes back and blocks up the hall, deciding to only use it as a last resort if something happens.

Only if something happens.

He “welp” claps to end stream.

#dream smp #dream smp recaps #long posts #prison arc #tw torture #tw manipulation

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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The 1 person to blame for the Timberwolves’ problems

The Timberwolves are Glen Taylor’s problem.

Once again, Minnesota experienced a brief respite from mediocrity followed by ... more mediocrity. There’s a common thread here.

On the eve of basketball season in the Great White North, the Minnesota Timberwolves are in a familiar place, which is within only the deepest recesses of most non-Minnesotan NBA fans’ minds.

The Timberwolves — two years ago a blossom on the verge of bloom, last fall a smoldering husk — aren’t even a conversation piece this autumn. There will be no Rachel Nichols sitdown interviews. There will be no magazine covers. There will likely be little note at all, barring an injury or scandal. The Minnesota Timberwolves are back where you can usually find them, which is nowhere.

This is normal for the franchise, which has one playoff berth since 2004 and which has won exactly two playoff series (both in the same postseason) since being founded in 1989. But it’s also a far cry from the recent and glorious past, when for a brief moment in time the Timberwolves were something close to the center of the basketball universe.

In 2017, two years ago, the Wolves had been the summer high bidder for one Jimmy Butler, a bombastic two-way star who had two years on his contract with high hopes for an enormous extension. Butler reunited with coach and kindred spirit Tom Thibodeau, who had failed to mold Minnesota’s clay into an elite defense. Butler brought veteran savvy, leadership by example, knockout scoring, shutdown defense, and expectations. They were met. The Wolves won 47 games in 2017-18 and made the playoffs, an (apparent) unmitigated success after a 13-year postseason drought.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are back where you can usually find them, which is nowhere.

In 2018, one very long year ago, Butler detonated. He took the reputations of his young co-star Karl-Anthony Towns and his would-be protegé Andrew Wiggins out with him. He took dear Thibodeau’s career out with him. He took the Wolves’ newfound status as a serious franchise out with him. He turned the darlings of the NBA into the most entertaining training camp disaster scene in the league.

The Wolves traded Butler on November 12. The Wolves fired Thibodeau in January, admitting the failures of their grand architect. The Wolves finished 35-47, slipping into familiar mediocrity like the warm bathrobe of failure it was.

The sportsbooks have the over-under line for Minnesota wins this season at 35.5, which is a little too perfect. Not atrociously bad. Not even close to good. Just ... blah: the Wolves’ natural state.

It doesn’t have to be this way. You could argue that it is this way only because Glen Taylor remains one of the least effective franchisees in the NBA.

Taylor bought the Wolves in the mid-90s, so he can’t be held responsible for the inglorious early years of the franchise. His arrival just predated that of Kevin Garnett, a foundational superstar who along with sage coach Flip Saunders led Minnesota to eight straight postseasons from 1997 to 2004. The end of that successful era came with the decision of longtime general manager Kevin McHale or Taylor or both to fire Saunders after a slow start in 2004-05, right off the heels of the Wolves’ lone long playoff run. McHale took the bench and righted the ship enough to just miss the playoffs.

McHale and Taylor hired Dwane Casey, gave him a season and a half of leash, and replaced him with Randy Wittman. The team dove right into the dregs under Wittman. McHale took the bench again, floundered, and himself got fired by Taylor.

Taylor then made perhaps his biggest mistake of all: he hired David Kahn.

Glen Taylor remains one of the least effective franchisees in the NBA.

Kahn famously took Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn back-to-back (leaving Stephen Curry for the Warriors) and followed that galaxy brain effort a year later by taking Wesley Johnson over DeMarcus Cousins. He and Taylor entrusted this team (which already had McHale holdover and budding star Kevin Love) to Kurt Rambis for two years, to predictable results (by which I mean a 32-132 record, and no, that’s not a typo). Kahn alienated Love, almost constantly made everyone paying attention cringe, and paid out some of Glen Taylor’s cash to acquire a second round pick to use on a 26-year-old, who happened to be ineligible for the draft on account of being 26 years old.

What a profound example of poor judgment for Taylor to have hired Kahn and then give him four years in charge when he proved from the very beginning he was not qualified to run even a moribund, mediocre NBA franchise.

Taylor’s Wolves, under the inept guidance of Kahn, demurred on paying Love what he deserved. Love was the first and second and maybe third reason Minnesota flirted with success in 2013-14 (Rick Adelman, Ricky Rubio, and Kevin Martin deserve credit too), going 40-42. Love was approaching free agency, though, and a reinstated Saunders had to trade him. Minnesota started back at deep mediocrity in the fall of 2014, landing Towns in the 2015 draft and building toward that brief flash of legitimacy with Butler.

And now we’re back down there with them again.

Taylor is the common thread. Taylor’s lack of judgment let Saunders slip away in the mid-2000s after Saunders helped hoist the Wolves to their apex. Taylor’s lack of judgment let McHale continue cycling through coaches until Garnett’s wick of patience had burned short. Taylor’s lack of judgment is responsible for Kahn and all he wrought, including the sour parting with Love. Taylor’s lack of judgment led to the volatile potion Butler’s impertinence and Thibodeau’s carelessness brewed. Taylor’s lack of judgment led the Wolves back to where they always end up: out of the picture.

It’s a shame and it should be Glen Taylor’s shame. There’s new blood in the front office (general manager Gersson Rosas, a Daryl Morey comrade), and a Saunders (Flip’s son Ryan) on the bench. Fortunately, Towns is signed for a very long time. Unfortunately, so is Wiggins.

But so long as a familiar name runs the organization, a familiar dread is inescapable here. Let us hope for the sake of good Minnesotans and the poor souls who would be Timberwolves fans that the cycle of doom and ennui can be broken not just for moments, but for good.

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flauntpage · 6 years ago

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The Outlet Pass: The NBA's Most Depressing 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Team

Luke Kennard is Detroit’s Last Hope

Since they defeated the Golden State Warriors on December 1, the only teams with a higher losing percentage than the Detroit Pistons are the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland Cavaliers. They’re 6-17 with a point differential that makes the Phoenix Suns feel good about themselves, and their present and future feels tinted by a Bandersnatch-ian hue. This isn’t the franchise to play Choose Your Own Adventure with. Everything is bleak, filled with immense frustration and suffering.

Scene 1: Dwane Casey sits at his office desk when Tom Gores knocks on the door and tell him that Stanley Johnson should play at least 35 minutes every night.

Option 1: Casey silently nods his head and then starts to cry under his desk after Gores walks away.

Option 2: He picks up a freshly poured cup of coffee and dumps it on his lap.

Scene 2: Five minutes after a diehard Pistons fan decides to renew their season tickets, Andre Drummond starts a Twitter thread that outlines why he should get more post touches.

Option 1: The fan throws their phone at the ground and stomps on it until their foot hurts.

Option 2: The fan quietly stares out the window, spends five minutes pondering the human condition, and then renounces God.

Last night’s meaningful win over the Orlando Magic notwithstanding, little beyond the fact that Blake Griffin will make the All-Star team is pleasant right now. The Pistons have no cap space this summer, Reggie Jackson looks like he was recently buried in Pet Semetary, and Drummond is shooting below 50 percent. Apart from praying they strike gold in this year’s draft, Luke Kennard, an under-utilized off guard, represents their only source of hope. This isn’t what any Pistons fan wants to hear, but it’s about time Casey sticks with his sophomore and turns a blind eye to all the frustrating tendencies that frequently upset him and his staff.

Kennard’s skill-set makes him an intriguing, helpful prospect. But confidence issues appear to dog him. Whenever he passes up an open shot—something that’s happening less and less but still happens more than it should—an angel loses its wings and a week slices off Casey’s life.

He’s not always that shy (Kennard is starting to automatically pull up whenever his man ducks under a screen or sags a few feet back), but those moments are as brutal as they are strange. Kennard is a really good shooter! He’s crafty off the dribble and plays with unteachable awareness. The Pistons are +8.0 when he shares the floor with Griffin and Drummond—which rarely happens.

And—as one of his only stats better than last year—he’s finishing at the rim. The volume is low, and Kennard will never be known for his explosiveness, but the man knows how to navigate off the ball and really loves his pivot foot.

Maybe it’s me being a total sucker for sweet-shooting southpaws, but I firmly believe Kennard can be a secondary playmaker on a good team. Until then, the Pistons should give him an opportunity to fill that role. What other options do they have?

Donovan Mitchell (Finally) Looks Like an All-Star

Donovan Mitchell wasn’t bad until a couple weeks ago, but he didn’t pick up where he left off, either. Instead, at 22, he was an inefficient primary option on a team that was struggling to reach the high yet reasonable expectations that entirely depended on Mitchell making a natural step forward.

In December, his True Shooting percentage was 47.3, and the Utah Jazz were never better on offense than when he sat. (Between November 1 and the new year, he only made 27.3 percent of his threes while jacking up 6.6 per game. Bad!) But—cross your fingers Jazz fans—that slump appears to be over, as Mitchell has recently looked like an awesome albeit unsustainable slaughterhouse. He just won his first Player of the Week award (with Ricky Rubio out of the lineup), and has been unguardable at all three levels. Over his last ten games, Mitchell is averaging 26 points, five assists, and four boards on 45.6/41.4/84.3 shooting splits.

Mitchell still struggles to finish at the rim, in part because he’s one of the boldest and most inventive 22-year-olds you’ll ever see. He’s also unconventional, someone who likes to slow down as he nears the basket or hop off the wrong foot in an attempt to offset a shot-blocker’s timing. But given his strength, insane athleticism (let us never forget that he won the Slam Dunk Contest as a rookie, wearing a Vince Carter Raptors jersey), and ability to change speeds whenever he wants, these feel like habits he’ll eventually overcome. Most of his misses are the result of him feeling a real burden to score. They’re attempted against well-positioned defenders that have help, and shouldn’t be tried in the first place.

For every time he makes you feel like someone slipped LSD in your morning coffee...

...Mitchell belches out something like this:

But that’s all fine. Whenever he high-steps into the paint with the ball extended out and over his head, good things usually happen. And numbers aside, how many players can inject adrenaline straight into your veins with more force than Mitchell at his apex? He’s a sonic boom. The one-handed tomahawk he recently unleashed on JaVale McGee’s forehead was spine-tinglingly R-rated; the basketball equivalent to that time Bart almost killed his father and exploded his house.

It was also a prideful declaration: My sophomore slump just evaporated. Also: I’m an All-Star. Mitchell won’t make 44 percent of his pull-up threes the rest of the year (as he recently has been), but that shot's potential centripetal force can have a real impact on a defense.

Right now, defenders still duck under screens and dare him to pull the trigger. They’d rather see that than a lob to Rudy Gobert or Derrick Favors, or for Mitchell to pirouette into the paint and then kick out to Joe Ingles, Kyle Korver, or Jae Crowder for an open three. But the equation changes if he keeps making them at a high rate. And the tighter defenses play him, the better chance he has to blow by and wreak havoc at the rim.

Over the last 10 games, no player is averaging more shots from drives than Mitchell. And as a general rule of thumb, anyone whose launch pad sits between the free-throw line and dotted circle is awesome:

When conducting a pick-and-roll, Mitchell combines Kemba Walker’s slipperiness with the swift strength of a boxer. He loves rejecting his screen with a filthy crossover, skiing downhill, then changing speeds on a big man who suddenly wishes he could crawl into a hole and wait for the storm to pass.

Utah’s offense has not been good this year with Mitchell running point, and going back to last season they were less efficient when Rubio didn’t play and Mitchell did. But—even though he’s fine operating off the ball, punching off a pin-down or blowing by a hard closeout that was created by his teammate’s slash-and-kick—sometimes it still feels like Rubio is a pair of training wheels stuck to the franchise player. Zero disrespect to someone who consistently makes his team better, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Utah didn’t feel much pressure to re-sign Rubio this summer. Accentuating Mitchell as their dynamic primary playmaker, with Gobert at the five and a slew of two-way snipers up and down the roster feels like a pretty good plan.

(To counter my own point, a steady diet of high pick-and-rolls is a polite request for inefficiency in today’s NBA, and even though Mitchell is unstoppable executing them in crunch time, he’ll need to attack in myriad ways over the next few years to reach his true offensive ceiling.)

In the meantime, Mitchell’s All-Star case is far from bulletproof. His slow start will be really hard to overcome—both statistically and in the mind of most voters—and the Western Conference remains a boneyard for guards. (Separating yourself from the pack isn’t easy. Look for yourself.) But he’s trending in the right direction, has the 12th-highest usage rate in the league (sandwiched between Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard), and recency bias may become his best friend if the Jazz take advantage of their home-heavy schedule while he delivers 30-point shockwaves every night. Embers from that special player who bum rushed the league a year ago are really starting to glow; when Mitchell is on there’s really nothing like it.

What if the Clippers Sold High on Danilo Gallinari?

One of the most surprising delights of Los Angeles’s season has been Danilo Gallinari’s transformation into Cal Ripken, Jr. Gallo has been everything good health promises he should be: a potent outside shooter, relentless mismatch, frequent vacationer at the free-throw line, and a generally bad defender. The team is promoting his All-Star candidacy and even though he almost definitely won’t make it, right on! Gallo is seventh in Offensive Real Plus-Minus, making a laughable 56 percent of his wide-open threes, averaging more points than he ever has, with career highs in points, rebounds, and PER.

He’s due $22.6 million next season, which is fair if he stays healthy and continues to produce at this level. But that’s no small “if” for someone who’s played in at least 63 games only twice this decade. And that brings us to an interesting thought exercise. I don’t think the Clippers will (or necessarily should) sell high on his contract, but doing so may then give them the borderline-impossible-but-technically-achievable chance to sign two marquee free agents without losing Tobias Harris, who’s four years younger than Gallo.

It’s complicated, but maybe the Clippers should consider offloading Gallinari for a cheap man’s version of himself in an effort to replace his salary with Harris’s cap hold this summer? Moving Gallo also may mean they can keep their lottery-protected draft pick, pending what they actually get back. Not a lot of teams that have expiring contracts will be motivated to take on that much salary next season and hypothetical trade partners aren’t easy to come by, but here are a few.

Let’s start with fireworks: What about Gallinari to the Philadelphia 76ers for Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, and Justin Patton? Would Sixers ownership agree to absorb that 2019-2020 money for someone who perfectly complements their big three but hurts their depth and doesn’t solve some defensive issues that may crop up during the playoffs? Gallo would all but shut the door on their financial flexibility, too, but imagine him on the floor in a tight playoff game with Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, and JJ Redick. Then ask yourself what Philly will do in the event Butler flees as a free agent? Can they sign anyone better than Gallinari? The Sixers have been extremely good with Chandler in that starting unit, but Gallo opens up a completely different dimension. It’s interesting to think about.

Now let’s go rapid fire: Gallo to the Sacramento Kings for Iman Shumpert and Nemanja Bjelica? Or the Minnesota Timberwolves for Taj Gibson and Anthony Tolliver? Or the Utah Jazz for Derrick Favors and Georges Niang? Or the Charlotte Hornets for Frank Kaminsky, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Devonte Graham? (The Clippers don’t do that unless they know MKG will opt out of his $13 million option.)

These are semi-realistic deals that would do really interesting things to L.A.’s cap situation this summer. Signing two max stars is a possibility either way, but if only one feels certain, they can shop around without losing Harris and still have plenty leftover for another useful role player (like Danny Green?!). It’s fun to think about.

Never Forget How Good Mike D’Antoni is

When Mike D’Antoni won Coach of the Month because James Harden went from “MVP candidate” to “tectonic shift,” it was funny. But in all seriousness, yes, D'Antoni lets Harden be Harden, but not every coach would be comfortable doing that! And contrary to popular belief, D’Antoni doesn’t spend the duration of each game with his legs crossed, arms folded, wondering if he should order popcorn. Those moments when he really coaches (i.e. calls plays) are some of the team’s most entertaining, particularly after a time-out when everyone in the world expects Harden to shoot.

Here’s an example. Some of its success is thanks to Cleveland having one of the least competent defenses in the history of Western Civilization (more on that later), but credit D’Antoni when it’s due.

As Harden comes off Clint Capela’s pindown to catch a pass on the opposite wing, Gerald Green shuffles in front of PJ Tucker’s man. Harden throws a perfect pass before the screen is even set, and Tucker drills the open shot. It’s a straightforward action that isn’t particularly difficult to stop. There’s no misdirection and only one player (Harden) moves more than a few steps. But D’Antoni still knows how to catch defenses by surprise. Even if Houston’s best play is “give Harden the ball then get out of the way,” here’s evidence that there are more layers that make this offense go.

Cleveland Has the Worst Defense in NBA History

Years from now, someone will produce an engrossing documentary that attempts to describe just how unimaginably awful the Cleveland Cavaliers played defense during the 2018-19 season. From non-existent effort in transition, to constant miscommunication, to over-helping off good shooters and treating bad ones like Steph Curry, to lineups that have no business in an NBA game, we may never again see professional defense played as poorly as they’re doing it right now.

Remember last year, when Cleveland allowed 111.0 points per 100 possessions and were accurately viewed as a laughingstock? What’s happening now makes that group look like the 2004 San Antonio Spurs. Since they traded George Hill, Cleveland’s defensive rating is not only a league-worst 120.3, but the gap between them and the 29th-ranked New York Knicks is the same as the 29th-ranked Knicks and the 15th-ranked Philadelphia 76ers!

Opposing field goal percentages are 3.6 percent higher than their normal average. That’s almost TWICE as high as Phoenix, the next worst team. You have to go back to 2015 to find anyone (the Minnesota Timberwolves right after they traded Kevin Love) even close to that realm of terrible. Cleveland gets obliterated at the rim and allows a league-high 46 percent on long twos (bad luck that they probably earn in some way I won’t ever know because figuring it out means watching the Cavaliers play lots of basketball and life is just too short for that).

Larry Nance’s injury hurts and there seem to always be new faces in and out of the rotation. But what is a greater indication of any one team trying to tank than lineups that feature Cameron Payne, Matthew Dellavedova, and Jordan Clarkson at the same time? Cleveland ranks near or at the bottom of almost every hustle stat listed in the NBA’s stats page, and what’s most incredible about their complete collapse is that they’re doing it while not totally falling apart in transition, where they’ve been about average. Their demons spring in the half-court, where opponents have their way at a rate that’s completely unheard of in recent memory. (The Cavs had the worst half-court defense in the league last season. Since they traded Hill, they’re nearly eight points worse than that! How is this even possible?)

No scheme is bad enough at this level to yield these results. It’s largely driven by personnel. One anonymous Cavalier recently told Cleveland.com as much: “We don't have good defenders. Period...Watch the tape. You can see it. You can't hide them. Those teams will find the two of them in particular and attack, attack, attack. There are times when analytics and numbers are just numbers. This is not one of those times."

Not to bury the lede, but according to Basketball-Reference, Cleveland’s defense is indeed the worst the NBA’s seen since at least 1974. Seven months ago this organization was in the NBA Finals. If the basketball gods let Zion Williamson go here, I will stop believing in basketball gods.

Free Troy Brown, Jr.

Despite their sudden alteration into a collection of people who care about their jobs (minus the occasional lollygag by Trevor Ariza), this remains a lost season for the Washington Wizards. John Wall is gone and Otto Porter is coming off the bench. They can still make the playoffs—combining the NBA’s third-easiest schedule from here on with Brad Beal’s transformation into a walking inferno doesn’t hurt—but doing so would be fruitless. Instead, the capped-out Wizards should have their eyes on the future. This isn’t a call to tank, but instead a plea to play one of the only young assets they have, just to get a better idea of what he can be.

Troy Brown, Jr. is still 19 years old. He makes mistakes. But as the 15th overall pick in last year’s draft, he’s an important part of Washington’s future, both as a cost-controlled asset and someone who can actually get better every year. Why not play him now and let him soak in the experience of being in an NBA rotation, when losing games isn’t the worst thing in the world?

Almost any other franchise in this exact situation would have different priorities, but Brown Jr.’s inconsistent playing time is a symptom of the same organizational issues that have plagued Washington for years. There’s a widespread allergy to anyone who embodies the future. Foresight is a crime. Will Sam Dekker be on the next Wizards team that’s good? How about Ariza or Jeff Green? There’s no downside here, especially because Brown doesn’t even look terrible whenever he gets a chance! He’s active on defense, knows when to cut, and plays hard. Give your first-round pick some minutes, Washington!

Shout out to Jake Layman

Carrying over a trend we saw last season, the Portland Trail Blazers are very good when their four clear-cut starters—Dame Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Jusuf Nurkic—share the floor. So far as fifth cogs go, the Blazers are a juggernaut when Evan Turner lets McCollum and Lillard operate off the ball, and they’re overpowering when Moe Harkless is healthy enough to start. But Jake Layman (perfectly labeled “Snake” by his teammates and coaches) is an interesting bellwether who fits right in.

A ghost in his first two seasons, Layman’s emergence as a self-aware, reliable, and perfect complement to everyone else on the roster has definitely helped. In 25 games as a starter, he’s posted a 63.2 True Shooting percentage without stepping on anybody else’s toes. He doesn’t make plays for others, is just OK spotting up behind the three-point line, and won’t be asked to defend the other team’s top scorer, but he often takes care of whoever he is defending. And Portland’s coaches love to open games and quarters by utilizing his freakish athleticism on choreographed lobs that give the entire team juice.

(Earlier this season, Rajon Rondo walked over to Portland’s coaching staff during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers and raised his eyebrows. That boy has bounce. Layman still hears players and pundits describe him as having "sneaky athleticism" but it doesn’t bother him. “I think that just comes with [being white],” he told VICE Sports, smiling.)

Terry Stotts won’t stop going to these actions until the defense wises up, either. And when that happens, Layman has enough skill to bully a smaller defender who switches on him in the post (as he did to Jamal Murray in a recent loss against the Denver Nuggets). He’s constantly moving, screening, cutting, back-tapping his teammates’ misses, and hoping the defense momentarily forgets he has dunk-contest-caliber hops as they preoccupy themselves with Lillard and McCollum.

“I think understanding your role is big in this league,” Layman tells VICE Sports. “I understand when I’m out there I’m not out there to go one-on-one against guys. I’m out there to be screening off the ball, guarding people, making plays, offensive rebounds here and there. So just kind of those little things.”

It’s a restricted role that Layman found comfort in before he even entered the NBA (his usage rate as a senior at the University of Maryland was fifth-highest on his own team). Now, he’s essentially Portland’s grapefruit spoon, filling a very specific (and important, if you enjoy grapefruit) need on a team that routinely needs someone to be content in a low-maintenance position. If he continues to perform this well, into and through the playoffs, it won’t be the worst time to hit restricted free agency, either. Layman is one of this season’s better stories.

The Outlet Pass: The NBA's Most Depressing 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Team published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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leehaws · 6 years ago

Text

The Outlet Pass: The NBA’s Most Depressing ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Team

Luke Kennard is Detroit’s Last Hope

Scene 1: Dwane Casey sits at his office desk when Tom Gores knocks on the door and tell him that Stanley Johnson should play at least 35 minutes every night.

Option 1: Casey silently nods his head and then starts to cry under his desk after Gores walks away.

Option 2: He picks up a freshly poured cup of coffee and dumps it on his lap.

Scene 2: Five minutes after a diehard Pistons fan decides to renew their season tickets, Andre Drummond starts a Twitter thread that outlines why he should get more post touches.

Option 1: The fan throws their phone at the ground and stomps on it until their foot hurts.

Option 2: The fan quietly stares out the window, spends five minutes pondering the human condition, and then renounces God.

Donovan Mitchell (Finally) Looks Like an All-Star

For every time he makes you feel like someone slipped LSD in your morning coffee…

…Mitchell belches out something like this:

It was also a prideful declaration: My sophomore slump just evaporated. Also: I’m an All-Star. Mitchell won’t make 44 percent of his pull-up threes the rest of the year (as he recently has been), but that shot’s potential centripetal force can have a real impact on a defense.

What if the Clippers Sold High on Danilo Gallinari?

https://sports.vice.com/en_ca/embed/article/a3m5k8/the-sharpshooting-nba-player-with-pet-snakes?utm_source=stylizedembed_sports.vice.com&utm_campaign=a3bwdb&site=sports

Never Forget How Good Mike D’Antoni is

When Mike D’Antoni won Coach of the Month because James Harden went from “MVP candidate” to “tectonic shift,” it was funny. But in all seriousness, yes, D’Antoni lets Harden be Harden, but not every coach would be comfortable doing that! And contrary to popular belief, D’Antoni doesn’t spend the duration of each game with his legs crossed, arms folded, wondering if he should order popcorn. Those moments when he really coaches (i.e. calls plays) are some of the team’s most entertaining, particularly after a time-out when everyone in the world expects Harden to shoot.

Cleveland Has the Worst Defense in NBA History

No scheme is bad enough at this level to yield these results. It’s largely driven by personnel. One anonymous Cavalier recently told Cleveland.com as much: “We don’t have good defenders. Period…Watch the tape. You can see it. You can’t hide them. Those teams will find the two of them in particular and attack, attack, attack. There are times when analytics and numbers are just numbers. This is not one of those times.”

Free Troy Brown, Jr.

Shout out to Jake Layman

(Earlier this season, Rajon Rondo walked over to Portland’s coaching staff during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers and raised his eyebrows. That boy has bounce. Layman still hears players and pundits describe him as having “sneaky athleticism” but it doesn’t bother him. “I think that just comes with [being white],” he told VICE Sports, smiling.)

The Outlet Pass: The NBA’s Most Depressing ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Team syndicated from https://justinbetreviews.wordpress.com/

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flauntpage · 6 years ago

Text

The Outlet Pass: The NBA's Most Depressing 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Team

Luke Kennard is Detroit’s Last Hope

Scene 1: Dwane Casey sits at his office desk when Tom Gores knocks on the door and tell him that Stanley Johnson should play at least 35 minutes every night.

Option 1: Casey silently nods his head and then starts to cry under his desk after Gores walks away.

Option 2: He picks up a freshly poured cup of coffee and dumps it on his lap.

Scene 2: Five minutes after a diehard Pistons fan decides to renew their season tickets, Andre Drummond starts a Twitter thread that outlines why he should get more post touches.

Option 1: The fan throws their phone at the ground and stomps on it until their foot hurts.

Option 2: The fan quietly stares out the window, spends five minutes pondering the human condition, and then renounces God.

Donovan Mitchell (Finally) Looks Like an All-Star

For every time he makes you feel like someone slipped LSD in your morning coffee...

...Mitchell belches out something like this:

What if the Clippers Sold High on Danilo Gallinari?

Never Forget How Good Mike D’Antoni is

Cleveland Has the Worst Defense in NBA History

Free Troy Brown, Jr.

Shout out to Jake Layman

The Outlet Pass: The NBA's Most Depressing 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Team published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

0 notes

flauntpage · 6 years ago

Text

The (Relatively) New Lineups We Can’t Wait to See

One of the great pleasures heading into every NBA season is generated by the new. From watching marquee free agents, draft picks, and trade acquisitions blend into an unfamiliar environment to closely observing how fixed cores will avoid an obsolete fate. Anticipation builds because change is constant, and nobody really knows what's going to happen until they take the floor.

Five-man lineups don't provide the clearest barometer, but they do help clarify how each team is choosing to adapt, whether their goal is to stay on top or climb the league's mountain. Here's a look at several different units that hold relevance heading into the 2018-19 season. Some are more obvious than others, but all of them deserve your attention.

Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford

They’ve looked rough in the preseason—the Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls were the only two teams with a worse offensive rating—but of all the iterations in Boston, this exact grouping was built to dominate today's NBA with a comfortable foothold in its future. At worst, this is Death Lineup karaoke, with Horford as an older, calmer, better shooting/less nimble version of Draymond Green, Irving’s offensive wizardry hoisting the entire franchise to a higher level, and three interchangeable stars (either in the making or cemented) on the wing.

They can switch just about everywhere on the defensive end (a quality that’s especially helpful when the game spurts into open-court chaos) with five players who can create their own shot against opposing teams that try and defend them the same way. Everyone can shoot. Everyone can pass. Everyone has either made an All-Star team or has the potential to do so for years to come. We only saw this unit play five minutes last season. This year, the Celtics will only go so far as it can take them.

Chris Paul, James Harden, Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker, Clint Capela

Much has been made about Houston's ostensible stumble through a momentous offseason. The loss of Trevor Ariza and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (two ideal complementary pieces), the addition of a teetering Carmelo Anthony, and associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik’s sudden retirement gave birth to a meditation on Houston’s staying power as a juggernaut. Most, if not all, of the discussion is little more than concern trolling.

At the end of the day, Houston will open the 2018-19 season with five of its most important players back from a 65-win team that could’ve/should’ve won it all. This particular group isn’t new, but it might as well be: Paul, Harden, Gordon, Tucker, and Capela have only registered 24 minutes. (In the 45 possessions they logged during the playoffs, Houston outscored its opponents by 15.6 points per 100 possessions.) The Rockets may blow this to bits with a mid-season blockbuster trade that includes one of these key contributors (likely Gordon and/or Tucker), but if they keep it together there won’t be a more effective or complementary collection of talent found in any one unit outside Golden State (and maybe Boston).

There are four back-breaking three-point shooters—two of whom double as first-ballot Hall of Famers and all-galaxy playmakers—surrounding a rim-rolling paint protector who gets notably better every year. In the final five minutes of a close game, how do you stifle this offense? Seriously. How do you attack a committed and disciplined defense that switches everything with above-average pieces at just about every position? Sure, they’re a little small—Ariza’s absence hurts most here—but all of them play larger and stronger than their height, thriving inside a system that emboldens them to behave like running lava.

Last season’s Rockets were one of the best teams to ever fall short of a title. In year two of the Paul-Harden era, they may be even better when it counts the most.

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins

Deep analysis isn’t required here. Given the stakes, relevance, and staggering aesthetics, anyone not interested in seeing how Boogie Cousins (however healthy) fits in with the most impressive foursome in NBA history might as well quit the NBA for good.

Victor Oladipo, Tyreke Evans, Bojan Bogdanovic, Domas Sabonis, Myles Turner

My first thought was to have Thaddeus Young in for Sabonis, not knowing if Nate McMillan could find someone for his third-year big to defend in the last five minutes of a close game. But Young isn’t a good enough outside shooter to tilt the scale in his favor, so Sabonis gets the nod for being a superior passer who can really squeeze a defense from the post. Good luck out-rebounding the Pacers when this group is on the floor. It’s unclear how many teams will be able to combat Indy’s sheer size on either end when this lineup is on the floor.

Beyond having two centers share the frontcourt, what's most intriguing here is the absence of any one "true" point guard. Instead, Oladipo and Evans will complement each another on both ends, toggling back and forth as capable playmakers who can finish at the rim, knock down a pull-up three, and run an effective pick-and-roll with either Sabonis or Turner.

Oladipo is the breakout star and franchise jewel, coming off a season in which he won Most Improved Player and made an All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defensive team. But let’s back up and examine Evans for a second. What a variable. Take a look at how his numbers compared to Oladipo’s last season. According to Synergy Sports, Evans ranked in the 86th percentile as a pick-and-roll ball handler and the 83rd percentile in isolation, doing his best on a Grizzlies team that was headed nowhere. Life will be even easier in Indiana, especially in this unit, where he may be the third (or even fourth) option. It’s hard to find a better spot for Evans at this point in his career.

Elsewhere, last season Bogdanovic made over 40 percent of his threes and posted a 60.5 True Shooting percentage (both career highs), while Turner is already one of the league’s most intriguing young bigs, a shot-blocking madman who can roll or pop. Bogdanovic will likely regress, but if he can at worst remain static while three others (especially Oladipo) display some growth, this unit will be a nightmare.

Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, Luka Doncic, Harrison Barnes, DeAndre Jordan

This obviously won’t be seen until Barnes returns from his hamstring injury, but it could be worth the wait. The Mavericks have Dirk Nowitzki, but elsewhere they are fledgling. Smith Jr. and Doncic are the future. Barnes, Jordan, and Matthews are each within a few seasons of their respective primes. Together, they possess a dynamism that’s been missing from every lineup Dallas has put on the floor in over a decade.

If Jordan gobbles everything from the glass, can stay healthy, and still suck help defenders off the three-point line on hard dives towards the rim, so many of Smith Jr. and Doncic’s growing pains will fall into a safety net. If Barnes, in a contract year, doesn’t hijack the offense and lets part of his game selflessly revert back to the space it occupied in Golden State (this is wishful thinking but not out of line within the context of this unit), Carlisle’s system can be more fluid. And through it all, if Matthews can (hopefully) hold it all together as a grizzled veteran with the team's lowest night-to-night variance, there's no reason why this lineup can't close tight games and post a positive point differential.

Some of this logic requires a leap of faith, for sure. And so much of it is inspired by Doncic’s preseason highlight reel. But even if they aren't great, you won't want to miss them.

Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard, Stanley Johnson, Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond

There’s a certain amount of nostalgic charm attached to a lineup like this. It features a jaunty point guard who’s supported by a sniper at the two and covered by an athletic wing, with a robust, true-number-one-option at power forward beside a mountainous center tasked with anchoring the defense. On the surface it screams old school, and that's why there are so many reasons to hate it. These five players were all in Detroit last season, but played just about zero minutes at the same time (only four possessions, per Cleaning the Glass). Aside from poor health, the reason why is obvious: There’s not nearly enough spacing or anything close to a defined pecking order on the offensive end, while exploiting them on defense shouldn’t be too hard, given their inflexibility.

But Drummond added a new dimension to his game last year. Stan Van Gundy placed him higher on the floor and let him showcase a passing ability that boosted his assist rate up to 14 percent—more than the sum of his previous three years combined!). Meanwhile, Griffin is uniquely dominant when healthy. Nobody his size rivals his vision or ball-handling ability. It helps form a frontcourt tandem that may be able to do more than tread water when accompanied by the right pieces.

It’s unclear if Detroit has those pieces, but Johnson is still only 22 years old, with the girth and quickness to defend four positions in a pinch. Jackson is two years removed from life as a slightly above-average point guard, and Kennard is the one cast member who can loosen up the floor when he doesn't have the ball. I don’t necessarily think this group will exceed its modest expectations, but the ceiling is higher than people think, especially with Dwane Casey at head coach, able to coagulate a defense that’s already good but can stand to be better.

Rajon Rondo, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, LeBron James

This is the exact opposite of the group seen above, with a degree of unconventionality that's both breathtaking and hardly a surprise to anyone who’s watched the NBA evolve over the past six years. I don’t know if it will be good, or if Luke Walton will even be willing to utilize Rondo and Ball at the same time—in tight space with no true center and only one recognizable spot-up threat—but please check your pulse if you're not curious to see how it'd do.

Why not experiment and see how far Einstein-level basketball IQ and absurd talent can take you? LeBron at the five isn’t a new concept, but as the league continues to downsize—a trend no other player is more responsible for—he’s positioned to take advantage in lineups that surround him with players who can see segments of the game develop before they actually do. They turn a defense's crack into a calamitous breach with next-level anticipation. Between LeBron, Rondo, and Ball, it's hard to think of another group that's ever unleashed so many innovative passers at the same time.

Hart and Ingram are here to enjoy it all, from beyond the arc and against awkward closeouts. Outside shooting is an issue throughout L.A.'s roster, but this group will invent ways to make it a non-issue—if they get a chance to play.

Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam

As is the case for so many different teams, we don’t really know what Toronto’s best five is right now. But as NBA teams start to favor mischievous off-the-bounce slashers over 3-and-D statues, VanVleet has to be on the floor over Danny Green. A case can be made for Dorell Wright's wingspan in that spot, but Siakam, Lowry, Leonard, and Anunoby are more than enough to make this defense one of the league's best.

There's almost too much to like here. Leonard is at the four, with a mobile, 7'3" wingspan at center. Anunoby can't be left alone in the corner while Lowry and VanVleet wreak all sorts of havoc wherever they are. Picture an inverted pick-and-roll, with Leonard dribbling the ball as Lowry races up to blindside his man with a screen. How the hell do you guard that, with Siakam in the dunker's spot and deadly shooting along the perimeter? Few teams can. The Raptors are going to be so much fun.

The (Relatively) New Lineups We Can’t Wait to See published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/