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 »
Jack Tien-Dana - Basketball Analysis
Scoot Henderson's Receding Shoreline Of Possibilities
The Pacers Can Now Dream Beyond Pyrrhic Victories
Tyrese Haliburton is so accommodating and Pascal Siakam is so specific that it creates an unexpected congruence. They're not so much complementary as ancillary. Read more »
The Magic Is In The Work
For years, the Knicks have pitched some imagined future, the belief that if they just waited patiently enough, workplace disputes in Phoenix or Philadelphia would deliver them their star. They're now on a different, no less interesting path. 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 Harden-Embiid Rom-Com
Here's James Harden: the work-hard, play-hard perma-bachelor who traffics in such excess that he's never made room for the seemingly perfect partners. There's Joel Embiid, the hardened romantic who's learned to rely on only himself after a long-term relationship went sour. Read more »
Milwaukee's Inevitability During The NBA's Age Of Entropy
The Bucks are now the NBA's version of Floyd Mayweather or Pete Sampras, excising any surplus artistry in favor of ruthless proficiency. They're annihilating the rest of the league by resisting its prevailing trends. Read more »
Luka Doncic And The Upside And Perils Of Radical Heliocentrism
Luka Doncic is playing to the point that he's consumed Dallas' entire universe; at a certain point, he ceased being the Mavs' star and transformed into their entire solar system. Read more »
If The 76ers Lose Ben Simmons, They Become More Conventional With Fewer Possibilities
The Sixers have succeeded because they moved counter to the NBA's prevailing trends. Whereas other teams focused on optimizing their offense until it reached some analytically divined flow state, Philly yucked their opponents' yum. Read more »
The Opening Hours Of NBA Free Agency As Thirty Mission Statements
The advent of protracted trade demands and the play-in tournament and reshuffled lotto odds have conspired to incentivize goodness and punish intentional foulness. The NBA has pushed teams toward respectability. Read more »
Ben Simmons, Collin Sexton Hit The Trade Market As Victims Of Unmet Expectations
Ben Simmons elicits backlash because he's a star who refuses to conform to stardom while Collin Sexton is a non-star who refuses to acknowledge his non-stardom. Read more »
The Narrative-Proof Finals
In the NBA, there is no story beyond the narrative. But these Finals are different. The teams and players have oscillated wildly between extremes from game to game, at once confirming and refuting any prior notions. Read more »
The Bucks Defy Characterization, Game 1 Showed It Yet Again
There will forever be a gap between what the Bucks can achieve (era-defining dynasty) and what they will (something well short of an era-defining dynasty). Read more »
A True Variety Of Styles In This Year's Final Four
Despite all the bellyaching about how the NBA has become a homogenized soup of three-point shooting, this year's playoffs reveal the true variety of the game's best teams. Read more »
The Suns Are Built In The Point God's Image
The Suns have adopted Chris Paul's style, not his sensibility. Unlike nearly every other Chris Paul team, the Suns don't appear universally terrified of and reliant upon Paul. Read more »
The NBA's Scoring Boom, Part 2
The explosion of individual scoring has actually highlighted the importance of lineup cohesion. The surplus of scoring has made the most valuable players those who reconfigure the geometry and geography of the court, opening corridors of space on offense while bolting them shut on defense. Read more »
The NBA's Scoring Boom, Part 1
Offenses have rejiggered their attack to inflict maximum pain, allocating more possessions and touches to their best players. As recently as 2013, only 11 players averaged more than 20 points; today, 43 do. Read more »
Miami Has Found The Blueprint For A Post-Super-Team Future
The Heat make winning look like a matter of practical magic- nothing they do is that remarkable besides how they do it. They have manifested excellence by giving a damn. Read more »
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