The Celtics finished in the top spot in Net Rating for the second straight season, while the Thunder jumped up from 28th to 14th to second. Read more »
Portland Trail Blazers Analysis
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Inherent Professional Advantage Of Deandre Ayton
Deandre Ayton's ceiling is somewhat fixed, due to work ethic, disposition, or the fact that his skills are more alluring than applicable. Read more »
Scoot Henderson's Receding Shoreline Of Possibilities
In order to thrive as a short king, you must be remarkable in ways that no taller players can approximate. So far, Scoot Henderson hasn't inspired much belief that this specialness is within his grasp. Read more »
The Only Way NBA's Small Market Teams Succeed Is To Never Fail
The Heat felt like they deserved Damian Lillard; the Bucks acted like they needed him. Is there really any harm in borrowing against your future when the alternative is having no future? Read more »
The Dual Vortex Dynamic Of Dame And Giannis
In terms of raw court dynamics, we haven't seen such a complementary rim-plus-arc pairing such as Dame and Giannis since the days of Shaq and Kobe, of T-Mac and Yao. Read more »
NBA's Top Wing Trios Ranked
We've ranked every team's wing corps from 1 to 30 based on the top three wings' production, upside and versatility. Read more »
Damian Lillard's Expiring Mythology
Damian Lillard positioned himself for years as a small-market loyalty warrior; the last true gun-slinging, ruggedly individualistic cowboy in a bloodless modern world of globalist business mergers otherwise known as "superteams." Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Celtics finished first in Net Rating ahead of the Cavaliers, who jumped up from 13th last season and 28th as recently as 2021. Read more »
Where Do Dame And The Blazers Go From Here?
Damian Lillard has been the rare superstar in today's era that stays. The question is whether continuing the partnership serves either's own interest. Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Suns jumped from 30th in the NBA in Net Rating in 17-18 to 29th to 18th in 19-20 to third last season and first in 21-22. Read more »
Dame Lillard And The Blazers Have No Idea What They Want To Be
Damian Lillard is an irritatingly tentative star at the center of an irritatingly tentative organization. Read more »
Concern Strolling: Celtics, Blazers In Rough Transitions
The Blazers and Celtics brought in new coaches to address questions that we may see to be more existential and personnel-based than strategic or cultural. Sometimes you're just putting a new face on the same disappointment, and sometimes that disappointment ossifies, and then morphs into something worse. Read more »
Twelve Characters: CJ McCollum
C.J. McCollum doesn't get to do whatever he wants; he posts his 20-whatever in the negative space Dame Lillard leaves in his wake. It's a peculiar rhythm you have to strike, not being The Guy but playing as if you were, however intermittently. Read more »
Damian Lillard, Ballad Man At A Crossroads
The repetitive nature of the Blazers' failures seems to be grating on Damian Lillard. Will he remain content to pour all his power into a cyclical ballad about how the little guys can never be amazing enough to overcome the big boy advantages elsewhere? Read more »
Damian Lillard Is Inventing Reasons To Leave Portland Instead Of Sticking With The Obvious One
Damian Lillard is trapped by his own myth- the loyal one, the fierce underdog- and attempting to square his actual desires with what he thinks he should be, for other people. Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Jazz jumped from ninth in Net Rating last season to first in 20-21. Read more »
The Special Resonance Of Damian Lillard's Discipline
Some extra appreciation is due for the guy who remains engaged as ever. It's been a year of death and debt and lost wages and fissuring sanity. Read more »
20-21 NBA Season Preview: Northwest Division
The Nuggets and Jazz will largely look the same, while the Blazers addressed their depth issues, Minnesota looks for a third star, and the Thunder begin their aggressive rebuild. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Portland Trail Blazers
Any basketball league that doesn't have room for Jusuf Nurkic is headed in the wrong direction. He's built his career on massiveness but also a mind as agile as any guard in the league. Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
We look at the trajectory of every team in the NBA in terms of how they rank in the category. Read more »
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