Basketball Intelligence For 1/11/25
Never too Young to change, the Celts get a royal beatdown, Russ and the Joker double-up on triple-doubles, and more...
*FEATURE OF THE DAY*
Specialization Theory: How (Not) To Build a Bench
Jacob Sutton, JSutt Hoops
TEAM NEWS
ATL: A treatise on the new Trae Young
Aaron Bollwinkel, Live. Breathe. Ball.
For too long, Trae has done what I like to call "Rondo-ing the assist," where he hijacks an entire possession to try to cajole a teammate into position for a pass that didn’t feel in the flow but rather as a forced moment.
This season, however, Trae has been far more willing to get off the ball, reset, and go into his actions based on reading the defense rather than trying to force his offensive narrative upon it. Trae’s 26.7% usage rate is the lowest of his career, while his 64.7 passes per game are 9.1 more passes than his previous career high (55.6 in ’24). Trae’s time of possession—while still too high for my taste at 8.2 seconds—is also the second-lowest number since his rookie season.
And perhaps the most erotic stat in this orgy of numbers: Trae’s average seconds per touch at 5.3 is the lowest of his career and the first time since his rookie season that he has been outside the top three players in the league in this category.
BOS: Outworked and unfocused, Celtics have slipped into being just another contender
Gary Washburn, The Boston Globe
BOS: 4 takeaways as Celtics lose to Kings in latest home game dud
Souichi Terada, Mass Live
BOS: Karalis: Celtics are falling into traps they avoided last season, which means nothing and something at the same time
John Karalis, Boston Sports Journal
BOS: Fourth-quarter surge helps red-hot Kings defeat Celtics
Adam Himmelsbach, The Boston Globe
BKN: Will The Nets Make A Sharpe Turn By The Trade Deadline?
Steve Lichtenstein, Steve’s Newsletter
CHI: Guard Zach LaVine sets tone in Bulls' blowout victory against Wizards
Kyle Williams, Chicago Sun-Times
CHI: How Bulls forward Matas Buzelis is handling the dog days of the NBA season
Kyle Williams, Chicago Sun-Times
CHI: Zach LaVine’s streak of 30-point games hits a career-high 5 — plus 4 other takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ rout
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune
DAL: Film Study: How Shorthanded Mavericks Successfully Recalibrated Offense Against Lakers
Grant Afseth, Dallas Hoops Journal
DEN: Denver Nuggets ride Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook's dual triple-doubles to beat Brooklyn in Jokic's return
Vinny Benedetto, Denver Gazette
DEN: Nikola Jokic and Russell Westbrook achieve matching triple-doubles AGAIN in Nuggets win
Ryan Blackburn, Mile High Sports
GSW: No miracles for skeleton-crew Warriors in loss to Pacers
Danny Emerman, The Mercury News
GSW: What we learned as short-handed Warriors fall to red-hot Pacers
Dalton Johnson, NBC Sports
IND: With 'tough shots in times of need' Pascal Siakam has been the Pacers' steadying force
Dustin Dopirak, Indianaoplis Star
LAL: Lakers’ JJ Redick opens up on losing home due to LA wildfires: ‘It’s an awful feeling’
Jovan Buha, The Ahtletic
“We obviously are going to work with the NBA, the Spurs, the city and do what’s right,” Redick said. “I want to play tomorrow, I want to coach tomorrow. I want these guys to play tomorrow and if we can play, we’ll play.
“I do believe for everybody, for everybody that has been impacted by this, there is a grieving process. There’s a healing process. I can only speak for myself, part of my healing and grieving process is being here with these guys and coaching basketball.”
Redick, his wife, Chelsea, and their two sons, Knox and Kai, are currently staying in a hotel that they relocated to after evacuating on Tuesday. Redick said he found out about the fires ahead of the Lakers’ 118-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks and was scrambling to find his family a hotel. He spent Tuesday after the game on X — an app he said he hadn’t been on in months — to get updates on the fires.
Redick said the family lost everything that was “of any importance to us almost 20 years together as a couple and 10 years of parenting was in that house.”
MIA: While Jimmy Butler distracts, 2 Miami Heat youngsters turned a corner
Brennan Sims, All U Can Heat
MIL: Bucks’ Khris Middleton fighting setbacks in return from offseason surgery: ‘It’s a tough go for him’
Eric Nehm, The Atheltic
MIL: Giannis, Damian Lillard building trust in two-man game as Bucks outlast Magic
Eric Nehm, The Athletic
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