This article is a facsimile of an original publication on The Basketball Writers (TBW), which recently closed its doors. For the 11th time in the last 13 years, the NBA website sat down with the league's rookies and polled them on the group at large. They were able to give feedback as to which of their contemporaries they believed to be the Rookie of the Year, steal of the draft, best defender and best playmaker.
But one survey question especially caught the eyes of many: Which player will have the best career? For the sixth consecutive year, a former Duke Blue Devil walked away with the honor from his peers. But it wasn't top overall pick Zion Williamson or third pick R.J. Barrett. It was Cam Reddish of the Atlanta Hawks who got 19 percent of the vote and the top honors. What is it about Reddish and the home he's found in Atlanta that leads to such a response from fellow rookies? Is the situation in Atlanta one that particularly lends itself to his success? How did he fall to the tenth pick if he was such a consensus top player? What do the players see that some general managers or scouts didn't, even before he plays an NBA game? Or is this just an outlier on a paltry 19 percent of poor judgment? Reddish was the sixth-rated player on my pre-draft board, in part due to the shackles and situation he found himself in at Duke. His role in the NBA will look vastly different.
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This article is a facsimile of an earlier publication on The Basketball Writers (TBW), which recently closed its doors. This piece is the final installment in a five-part series, diving into rosters that are building around two bigs. These teams are spending a lot of money and/or valuable draft picks on a collection of young frontcourt talent (under the age of 25) as hopeful foundational pieces while bucking (and sometimes, re-writing) the trends. Thus far, we've featured the Sacramento Kings, the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies.
Complimenting each other doesn't just mean how each player's theoretical skills enable him to play off another's strengths, but also how they can be on the floor together during crunch time. Tandems must be able to thwart teams that play only one big, or at the very least not be thwarted by them. In all earlier examples above, the presence of at least one non-shooting big has brought those concepts into question. The Chicago Bulls are aiming to be different. The theory of Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. Jr. together is that both are able to stretch the floor. For Markkanen, that is his largest strength and most of his appeal. It begat his nickname: "Baby Dirk". Carter Jr., on the other hand, is trying to course-correct his reputation as a potential stretch-5 after going 6-for-32 (18.8 percent) from three as a rookie. This article is a facsimile of an earlier publication on The Basketball Writers (TBW), which recently closed its doors. Stewing in Memphis is a frontcourt that has the potential for defensive dominance. So much of the pairing between Jaren Jackson Jr. and Brandon Clarke—two first-round selections by the Memphis Grizzlies in consecutive years—is based on their ability to succeed on that end of the court.
Before they play a single game together, Clarke and Jackson have a high bar to leap and the potential to clear it easily. |
Adam SpinellaHead Boys Basketball Coach, Boys' Latin School (MD). Archives
September 2021
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