Basketball Intelligence For 2/15/25
Basketball's best news and reporting
*FEATURE OF THE DAY*
A crumbling Oakland high school gets an assist from Steph Curry
The San Francisco Standard
TEAM NEWS
BOS: Ranking Celtics' top competitors in East at NBA All-Star break
Nick Gross, NBC Sports Boston
BKN: Nets have stayed the course under Jordi Fernandez — and the results on defense are elite
C.J. Holmes, New York Daily News
December trades of Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith crippled the team’s production at both ends of the court. Cam Thomas, Brooklyn’s leading scorer, hasn’t appeared in a game since Jan.2. Cam Johnson missed 13 of 16 games from Jan. 4-Feb. 4 as well.
Yet here the Nets are at 20-34, just 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago Bulls for the final Play-In Tournament spot in the Eastern Conference. So much for the tank. They are now tied with the Philadelphia 76ers for the sixth-best lottery odds, which means they have a 34.8% chance at a Top 4 pick and an 8.3% chance at landing the No. 1 overall pick in June.
DAL: Mavs will be relying on this to salvage the season and controversial Doncic-Davis deal
Tim Cowlishaw, The Dallas Morning News
DAL: Shorthanded Mavericks Boost Confidence Using Victory Over Heat: 'Starting to Play Pretty Good Basketball'
Grant Afseth, Dallas Hoops Journal
DAL: How the Mavericks Betrayed Their Past With the Luka Trade
Joel Anderson, The Ringer
As an accompaniment to this article:
The Mavs are built for this
Aaron Bollwinkel, Live. Breathe. Ball.
DET: The Whiteboard: Ausar Thompson's twin breakout is coming
Christopher Kline, Fansided
GSW: Grading Warriors' 28-27 season entering NBA All-Star break
Dalton Johnson. NBC Sports Bay Area
GSW: Warriors' Draymond Green calls Jimmy Butler 'franchise changer'
Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN
GSW: Tired Warriors lean on youth, Warriors enter All-Star break over .500
Duncan Morrow, Dub Nation HQ
So while Kuminga ascended, the other “two timelines” guys, Moody and Podziemski, found themselves buried by a gaggle of veterans – Dennis Schroder, Lindy Waters III, Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield.
But this is the Jimmy Butler era now. The much-vaunted depth that kept the young role players buried and/or protected is gone, consolidated down into an actual star. Suddenly, Podziemski’s only competition for backup point guard minutes is Pat Spencer. His only competition to retake his starting position was basically just Buddy Hield, and Podz would officially win that competition due to Buddy’s poor play over the previous few games (few months?). Moses Moody’s role is slightly inflated by Kuminga’s injury, but for now he’s starting, and looking at the roster he’s clearly the first backup for any position 2-4 unless Gui Santos makes another leap.
IND: Pacers bench carrying team to home-court advantage
Sean Keane, Yardbarker
LAC: The Zero-Time All-Star Who’s Become One of the NBA’s Most Important Players
Robert O’Connell, The Wall Street Journal
MIA: 4 Heat observations at the NBA All-Star break: ‘I promise we’re going to correct this’
James Jackson, The Athletic
MIA: The Culture Report: 2 4th quarter collapses, Bam's stretch & expectations of the team
John Jablonka, Simply Ballin
MIA: Heat enters All-Star break at lowest point of its season yet: ‘We’re disappointed, we’re frustrated’
Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald
MIN: Jaden McDaniels Is Looking Like Ant's Right-Hand Man Again
Charlie Walton, Zone Coverage
MIN: Terrence Shannon Jr. is proving he's everything Timberwolves fans hoped for
Will Eudy, Dunking With Wolves
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