Basketball Intelligence For 12/17/25, Part Two
Today's Best NBA Reporting And Analysis
TEAM-SPECIFIC
BKN: Drake Powell heard Jordi Fernandez’s tough love Nets message loud and clear
Bridget Reilly, NY Post
BKN: Nets rookies starting to impress as franchise gets most extended look yet
Peter Botte, NY Post
BKN: Danny Wolf Leading Rookies in Two Major Stat Categories
Sameer Kumar, Sports Illustrated
CLE: Why Cavs should move De’Andre Hunter out of starting lineup
Chris Fedor, cleveland.com
CLE: The Cavs keep needing Dean Wade — and that’s not an accident
Ethan Sands, cleveland.com
CLE: If not now, when? What this Evan Mobley-less stretch means for Jarrett Allen’s Cavs tenure
Ethan Sands/Jimmy Watkins, cleveland.com
LAL: Why JJ Redick sees promise in the imperfect Lakers
Thuc Nhi Nguyen, LA Times
MIA: What happened to Heat’s revamped offense?
Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald
NOP: Derik Queen’s Brilliance Shouldn’t Overshadow Jeremiah Fears’ Impressive Rookie Campaign
Cem Yolbulan, Sports Illustrated
NYK: The Knicks won the NBA Cup without a hero, and that should frighten the league
Kelly Iko, Yahoo Sports
NYK: The Knicks bench may finally be ready for a deep playoff run
Bradley Rowland, Fansided
NYK: Knicks beat serious competition in not-quite-serious NBA Cup
Mike Lupica, Daily News
POR: Why Trail Blazers players are now desperate to get their names inside a mysterious locked box after games
Joe Freeman, Oregon Live
POR: Blazers end losing streak by toppling vintage Stephen Curry and Warriors
Joe Freeman, Oregon Live
SAC: Report: Kings’ Veterans Clashing With Doug Christie
Eric Sperlazza, Sports Illustrated
SAC: There isn’t even any grass over here
Akis Yerocostas, The Kings Herald
De’Aaron Fox believes the grass is greener in San Antonio and to that I say, “what’s grass?”
Yes, this is a very flawed roster, but Doug Christie hasn’t been able to figure out how to make a workable offense despite having some very good scorers on this team. Last year, he managed to keep the team together but was relying on Mike Brown’s old coaching staff. This year it’s an entirely new staff and nothing is working. This team is miserable to watch, and it looks like they’re miserable when they’re out there. That’s the biggest indictment of Christie as full time head coach so far.
This team needs a shakeup, even if just to clear out some playing time for these young guys. Devin Carter finally got some burn against the Nuggets and played pretty well, scoring 15 points with 4 assists in 21 minutes off the bench, only to not even see the floor the next game against Minnesota. In a lost season like this, the young guys should be getting as much time as possible if only to see what we have. Yes, they will stumble and fall and look awful at times, but this team already looks terrible even when they don’t play so what’s the point? This team just feels like a bunch of mercenaries biding their time until they’re somewhere else and it’s hard to get excited about games knowing that’s what you’re going to see.
SAS: For De’Aaron Fox, the ‘grass is greener’ with the San Antonio Spurs
Marc J. Spears, Andscape
SAS: Spurs vindicated for draft day trade as ignored guard struggles on rival team
Josh Cornelissen, Air Alamo
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