Two teams at the bottom of their respective conferences will go head-to-head on Wednesday night when the Utah Jazz visit the Washington Wizards. Both teams are likely thinking ahead to the 2025 NBA Draft at this point, with Washington sitting last in the East at 11-49, while Utah is last in the West at 15-46. This is the first of two meetings between these two franchises this season, but the Jazz have won and covered the spread in their last three head-to-head matchups with the Wizards.
Tipoff from Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. is set for 7 p.m. ET. Washington is favored by 5 points in the latest Wizards vs. Jazz odds, per SportsLine consensus, and the over/under is 230 points. Before making any Jazz vs. Wizards picks, you’ll want to see the NBA predictions from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons. The model enters Week 20 of the 2024-25 NBA season on a sizzling 147-107 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning nearly $4,000. It’s also an outstanding 18-10 (64%) on top-rated spread picks this season. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Washington vs. Utah and just locked in its picks and NBA predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see its picks. Here are several NBA betting lines for Jazz vs. Wizards:
Wizards vs. Jazz spread: Washington -5 Wizards vs. Jazz over/under: 230 points Wizards vs. Jazz money line: Washington -200, Utah +166 Wizards vs. Jazz picks: See picks at SportsLine Wizards vs. Jazz streaming: FuboTV (Try for free) betmgm logo rectangle Up to $1500 in bonus bets if your first bet loses CLAIM BONUS 21+ only. First Bet Offer for new customers only. Min. first deposit of $10. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. Bonus bets amount equals lost stake up to $1500. Must be physically located in IN DC, MI, IA, LA, TN, IL, MS, WY, KS, OH, or KY. Void where prohibited. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BetMGM.com for Terms. US promotional offers not available in Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). Data & text rates may apply. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US) Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA).21+ only. First Bet Offer for new customers only. Min. first deposit of $10. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. Bonus bets amount equals lost stake up to $1500. Must be physically located in IN DC, MI, IA, LA, TN, IL, MS, WY, KS, OH, or KY. Void where prohibited. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BetMGM.com for Terms. US promotional offers not available in Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). Data & text rates may apply. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US) Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA).21+ only. First Bet Offer for new customers only. Min. first deposit of $10. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. Bonus bets amount equals lost stake up to $1500. Must be physically located in IN DC, MI, IA, LA, TN, IL, MS, WY, KS, OH, or KY. Void where prohibited. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. See BetMGM.com for Terms. US promotional offers not available in Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). Data & text rates may apply. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US) Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA). Why the Wizards can cover The Wizards took a 106-90 bruising from the Miami Heat on Monday where they shot just 36.9% from the floor as a team. Veteran wing Khris Middleton, who was acquired from the Bucks in a deadline deal for Kyle Kuzma, did manage to have an efficient night in limited action. He went 6-for-9 from the floor and led the team with 16 points despite playing just under 23 minutes.
Despite failing to cover as 8.5-point underdogs against the Heat, Washington has still managed to cover the spread in nine of its last 13 games. The Wizards are also 8-3 against the spread in their last 11 games played on a Wednesday night. See which team to pick here.
TODAY Utah Washington +5.5 -111 -5.5 -109 +162 -195 O230.5 -111 U230.5 -109 Click here to get half-off your first month, quarter, or year of sports picks! Start winning now! Why the Jazz can cover Meanwhile, Utah is coming off a blowout loss of its own on Monday, falling 134-106 to the Detroit Pistons. Kyle Filipowski had 25 points and eight rebounds off the bench, but that wasn’t enough for the Jazz to overcome committing a staggering 28 turnovers in the defeat.
However, the Jazz had covered the spread in four of their previous five games before Monday’s loss, and they’re 6-3 against the number dating back to an upset win over the Lakers on Feb. 12. Utah won 123-108 as 7.5-point underdogs in Washington, D.C. last season. See which team to pick here.
How to make Wizards vs. Jazz picks The model has simulated Utah vs. Washington 10,000 times and the results are in. It is leaning Under the total, projecting 222 combined points. It also says one side of the spread hits almost 70% of the time. You can only see the NBA picks at SportsLine.
So who wins Jazz vs. Wizards, and which side of the spread hits nearly 70% of the time? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Wizards vs. Jazz spread you need to jump on, all from the model that is on a 147-107 roll on top-rated NBA picks, and find out.
We’ve got another exciting interconference contest on Wednesday’s NBA schedule as the Los Angeles Clippers will host the Detroit Pistons. Los Angeles is 32-29 overall and 19-10 at home, while Detroit is 35-27 overall and 18-13 on the road. The Pistons defeated the Clippers, 106-97, in Detroit on Feb. 24 in their first meeting of the season. Kawhi Leonard (rest) and Norman Powell (hamstring) are out for the Clippers, and Tobias Harris (personal) is out for the Pistons.
Tipoff is set for 10:30 p.m. ET from the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Detroit is favored by 4.5 points in the latest Pistons vs. Clippers odds, according to the SportsLine consensus. The over/under is 219.5 points. Before entering any Clippers vs. Pistons picks, you’ll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past six-plus seasons. The model enters Week 20 of the 2024-25 NBA season on a sizzling 147-107 roll on all top-rated NBA picks dating back to last season, returning nearly $4,000. It’s also an outstanding 18-10 (64%) on top-rated spread picks this season. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.
The model has set its sights on Los Angeles vs. Detroit. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several NBA betting lines for Pistons vs. Clippers:
Clippers vs. Pistons spread: Pistons -4.5 Clippers vs. Pistons over/under: 219.5 points Clippers vs. Pistons money line: Pistons -195, Clippers +162 DET: The Pistons are 8-2 against the spread (ATS) as a road favorite LAC: The Clippers are 20-9 ATS at home Clippers vs. Pistons picks: See picks at SportsLine Clippers vs. Pistons streaming: FuboTV (Try for free) fanatics logo rectangle Bet and Get up to $1000 in No Sweat Bets CLAIM BONUS Must be 21+. New customers in AZ, CO, CT, DC, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, NC, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VT, VA, WV, or WY only. Void where prohibited. Must apply this promotion in your bet slip and place a $1+ cash wager with odds of – 500 or longer each day for 10 straight days.Your 10 days begin the day you establish your account. Wager must settle as a loss to qualify for Bonus Bets. Bonus Bets will equal the amount of the losing wager(s) (up to $100 in Bonus Bets per day) and expire 7 days from issuance. Bonus bets amounts are non-withdrawable and winnings exclude bonus bet stake. This offer is not available in New York. Add’l Terms apply – see Fanatics Sportsbook app. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), (888) 789-7777 or http://ccpg.org (CT), or 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), or 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), or www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD), or morethanagame.nc.gov (NC), or 1800gambler.net (WV). Data & text rates may apply. GAMBLING PROBLEM? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO/IL/KS/KY/MD/OH/MI/NC/PA/TN/VA/VT/WV), (800)-327-5050 or http://gamblinghelplinema.org (MA), Call (877-8-HOPENY) or text HOPENY (467369) (NY)Must be 21+. New customers in AZ, CO, CT, DC, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, NC, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VT, VA, WV, or WY only. Void where prohibited. Must apply this promotion in your bet slip and place a $1+ cash wager with odds of – 500 or longer each day for 10 straight days.Your 10 days begin the day you establish your account. Wager must settle as a loss to qualify for Bonus Bets. Bonus Bets will equal the amount of the losing wager(s) (up to $100 in Bonus Bets per day) and expire 7 days from issuance. Bonus bets amounts are non-withdrawable and winnings exclude bonus bet stake. This offer is not available in New York. Add’l Terms apply – see Fanatics Sportsbook app. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), (888) 789-7777 or http://ccpg.org (CT), or 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), or 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), or www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD), or morethanagame.nc.gov (NC), or 1800gambler.net (WV). Data & text rates may apply. GAMBLING PROBLEM? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO/IL/KS/KY/MD/OH/MI/NC/PA/TN/VA/VT/WV), (800)-327-5050 or http://gamblinghelplinema.org (MA), Call (877-8-HOPENY) or text HOPENY (467369) (NY)Must be 21+. New customers in AZ, CO, CT, DC, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, NC, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VT, VA, WV, or WY only. Void where prohibited. Must apply this promotion in your bet slip and place a $1+ cash wager with odds of – 500 or longer each day for 10 straight days.Your 10 days begin the day you establish your account. Wager must settle as a loss to qualify for Bonus Bets. Bonus Bets will equal the amount of the losing wager(s) (up to $100 in Bonus Bets per day) and expire 7 days from issuance. Bonus bets amounts are non-withdrawable and winnings exclude bonus bet stake. This offer is not available in New York. Add’l Terms apply – see Fanatics Sportsbook app. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), (888) 789-7777 or http://ccpg.org (CT), or 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), or 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), or www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD), or morethanagame.nc.gov (NC), or 1800gambler.net (WV). Data & text rates may apply. GAMBLING PROBLEM? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (CO/IL/KS/KY/MD/OH/MI/NC/PA/TN/VA/VT/WV), (800)-327-5050 or http://gamblinghelplinema.org (MA), Call (877-8-HOPENY) or text HOPENY (467369) (NY) Why the Pistons can cover The Pistons are one of the hottest teams in the league, entering 10-1 over their last 11 games. Detroit is coming off a 134-106 victory over the Jazz on Monday to start a four-game West Coast road trip. The Pistons have no issues being away from Detroit with the second-best ATS record (20-10-1, 66.7%) on the road this season. They’ve been even better under the expectations of winning with an 8-2 ATS record as the road favorite. The Pistons have covered the spread in eight of their last nine games, and their recent stretch has them up to the No. 6 seed and one game out of the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Cade Cunningham had 29 points and nine assists against the Jazz as he’s 11th in the league in scoring (25.3 ppg) and third in assists (9.4 per game). Many expected the Pistons to be improved this season, but they’ve made a significant leap, and Detroit is 11th in the league in scoring (114.7 ppg) and shooting percentage (47.5%) to fuel the turnaround. The Clippers will also be without two of their top three leading scorers with Leonard (rest) and Powell (hamstring) out. See which team to pick here.
TODAY Detroit L.A. Clippers -4.5 -110 +4.5 -110 -178 +149 O219.5 -112 U219.5 -108 Click here to get half-off your first month, quarter, or year of sports picks! Start winning now! Why the Clippers can cover James Harden is averaging 21.6 points and 8.6 assists per game as the Clippers will rely heavily on the 35-year-old guard on Wednesday. He had 21 points and 15 assists in a 119-117 loss to the Suns on Tuesday following a fourth quarter the Clippers will want to forget about. Los Angeles dominated the majority of the contest but was outscored 43-22 in the fourth quarter.
Ivica Zubac had 35 points on 15 of 19 shooting with 10 rebounds on Tuesday. The Clippers have the best home ATS record (20-9, 69%) in the league this season and have covered the spread in back-to-back home games. The team returns to Los Angeles off an eight-game road trip, and after dropping the final three on the road, this could be an entirely different Clippers performance back at the Intuit Dome. See which team to pick here.
How to make Clippers vs. Pistons picks The model has simulated Pistons vs. Clippers 10,000 times and the results are in. The model is leaning Under, projecting 219 combined points, and it also says one side of the spread has better value. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins Pistons vs. Clippers, and which side of the spread has better value? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Clippers vs. Pistons spread you need to jump on, all from the model that is on a 147-107 roll on top-rated NBA picks since last season, and find out.
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When Jaren Jackson Jr. heard about the Memphis Grizzlies’ new offense, he had some trepidation. It demanded that all five players move in concert, constantly working to maintain proper spacing, confuse help defenders and either create or maintain advantages. The whole thing sounded complicated.
“I thought it was difficult, actually,” Jackson, an All-Star big man, said. “It made a lot of sense, but I was like, ‘Damn.’ I felt like I was going to be thinking more than I was going to be playing.”
Scotty Pippen Jr. had concerns, too. The offense does not involve pick-and-rolls or dribble-handoffs, staples of the modern NBA. For a point guard like him, this seemed like a major adjustment.
“I would say at first I kind of didn’t think it would help me, honestly,” Pippen said. “I’m like, ‘I run a lot of pick-and-rolls, I’ve been doing that my whole career.'”
Pippen, who spent most of the offseason in Memphis, said the staff introduced it slowly over the summer.
“We had a couple film sessions,” Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane said. “I was away from the team a little bit, training in Texas, but yeah, I was watching film on it. I was like, ‘Hm, this is different.'” At the beginning of training camp, when the players were learning how they were supposed to cut and relocate, “it was a lot of thinking and thinking through and trying to find your spots or find what works for you,” Bane said. “But just like anything, it’s a process.”
Jackson hurt his hamstring on the first day of camp. His summertime workouts with assistant coach Erik Schmidt had been tailored to the new system — “I would just have a lot of people in them, so I’d know where people are cutting and passing,” he said — but, when he was finally supposed to be getting reps in with his teammates, he could only watch.
“I was just like in awe that they were remembering all the things we have to do,” Jackson said. “Because they’re so random. It’s situational.”
Ten years earlier, when Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr installed an offense that would give rise to a dynasty, players were initially “kicking the ball all over the gym,” according to then-GM Bob Myers, and “looking at Steve like he was out of his f—ing mind,” according to Draymond Green. In Memphis, the system is different — Green himself described it as “unconventional” and “weird” — but the goals are largely the same: to be more unpredictable, to relieve the stars from having to create against loaded-up defenses, to unleash the role players (as cutters, slashers and passers) and to generate more efficient shots. “What’s amazing to me,” TNT analyst Stan Van Gundy said, is that the Grizzlies have executed it well “pretty much from the get-go.” Forward John Konchar said it felt natural toward the end of training camp; Jackson found it relatively easy to fit in after his injury because his everybody else had it down.
Three-quarters of the way through the regular season, the Grizzlies have scored 118 points per 100 possessions, the sixth-best mark in the NBA. They’ve been crushing opponents on the boards and the break but, unlike recent iterations of the team, these strengths aren’t covering up glaring weaknesses. For the first time this era, the Grizzlies are making 3s at an above-average rate and, according to Cleaning The Glass, scoring at an above-average rate in the halfcourt.
“Everyone’s getting involved in the offense, everyone’s getting touches, everyone feels good,” Pippen said. “So it’s been working.”
‘We literally just cut out of the corner on every drive’ A few years ago, a YouTube video entitled “Why NBA Teams Should Study A School You’ve Never Heard Of” caught Van Gundy’s eye. He had, in fact, heard of the school.
“I recognized the gym,” Van Gundy said.
Before spending more than 20 years on NBA sidelines, Van Gundy coached at several small colleges. At Division III Castleton State in the 1980s, “one of our biggest rivals to go to the NAIA national tournament every year” was the school in the video: St. Joseph’s College of Maine.
The video, which is now nearing 2 million views, begins with an aerial shot of the Standish, Maine, campus on Sebago Lake, where kids go swimming in September and ice-fishing in January. Daniel Kawashima, who goes by Coach Daniel, tells viewers that this small, DIII college is “on the forefront of modern offensive basketball.”
Kawashima then cites stats from Synergy Sports: In 2018-19, St. Joe’s increased its offensive efficiency from 0.87 points per possession (40th percentile among DIII schools) the previous season to 1.06 per possession (99th percentile) without making major changes to its personnel. What changed, he explains, is that the Monks entirely ditched set plays, pick-and-rolls and DHOs. The new offense instead called for them to “operate on a wheel” — when one player drove or cut into space, every other player had to relocate.
In 2018, Rob Sanicola was heading into his 16th season as the head coach of St. Joe’s. In the previous decade, the Monks had experienced success, going 113-52 over a four-year stretch that included a conference championship, then fallen off, going 50-55 in the four years that followed. They were coming off a respectable season (16-10), but they’d been upset in the conference tournament. Sanicola felt it was time to do something different, so he conferred with Noah LaRoche, his former player.
A point guard at St. Joe’s in Sanicola’s first season as head coach, LaRoche was splitting his time between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he’d founded Integrity Hoops, his basketball training and consulting company, and Los Angeles, where he prepped Wasserman’s draft prospects and worked with pros. He was already teaching his clients the concepts that would become the foundation of the St. Joe’s offense. In the fall, he stopped by some practices in Standish to help Sanicola teach the team a new way to play.
“It’s a motion offense that’s predicated on ball movement and player movement and this set of principles that they came up with,” William Armishaw, then an assistant coach at St. Joe’s, said.
It sounds preposterously simple: Drive left, move left; drive right, move right. The idea is, when one player penetrates the basket, he is taking the space in front of him and creating space behind him. If you think of the team as one organism, then this means its other players must move so it can maintain its shape.
St. Joe’s hunted layups and catch-and-shoot 3s, but not the way the Houston Rockets were doing it with James Harden handling the ball. “When you do this offense right, it’s like eight or nine passes with maybe three dribbles, but you get a layup out of it,” Armishaw said. After catching the ball, there was no stopping to survey the floor and size up your defender as the defense resets. This wasn’t natural to every player, but buy-in came quickly because shooters were getting clean looks and drivers were getting uncontested layups. After shooting 34.3% from deep the previous season, the Monks shot 43% (No. 1 in the nation among DIII schools), and after averaging 15.7 assists per game, they’d raised that figure to 22.2 (No. 2).
The offense “makes people think quicker,” Armishaw said. If you receive a kickout pass, you can either shoot the ball or swing it, but not drive (because the initial driver needs time to relocate) — whenever there were back-to-back drives in practice, a coach would blow the whistle and call the play dead. If you’re in the corner and a ballhandler dribbles toward you, it’s not a cue to move toward him for a DHO, but to cut to the basket, where you might find an easy two points.
“For our league, we weren’t overly big, we weren’t overly athletic,” Armishaw said, but in one game against Johnson & Wales, St. Joe’s scored 70 points in the paint. “We literally just cut out of the corner on every drive. It was unreal.”
‘An invasion sport’ Kawashima, who interned for Integrity Hoops in L.A. and assisted LaRoche with workouts in 2018 and 2019, published his video making the case that NBA teams should study St. Joe’s in September 2019. It was not immediately clear, though, that any actually would.
“It wasn’t like Stan Van Gundy made that video and was the one talking on it,” Armishaw said. “Had it ended up on ESPN or something, you might be like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.'”
Over time, though, the offense traveled. “I know some people sought out Noah at different levels,” Armishaw said, adding that he remembers Roger Williams University coach Mike Tully complimenting Sanicola at an early-season tournament in 2018. Tully spent time with LaRoche the following offseason, and Roger Williams has been running it ever since. In 2020-21, the University of Virginia experimented with it. Last summer, the Grizzlies hired LaRoche as an assistant coach and then hired Sanicola as an assistant coach with the Hustle, their G League affiliate.
For Memphis, it all started last spring, according to coach Taylor Jenkins. Injuries had forced the team to go through what he called a “development season” and, rather than waiting until the offseason to think about where the Grizzlies were going next, he wanted to get a head start. “We really wanted to take a look at basketball in general,” Jenkins said. Like Sanicola in Standish six years earlier, he was open to anything that could take his team to another level.
“We started thinking about other sports, and I started talking to other coaches,” Jenkins said. “I’ve probably been quoted talking about soccer and hockey. You just see the constant movement.”
Within the first two minutes of LaRoche’s February 2024 appearance on the “Slappin’ Glass” podcast, he describes basketball an “invasion sport” and says that, for all of the game’s complexities, “everything is about managing space, chasing space.” Later, he holds up the 2021 book “Football’s Five Principles of Play” and explains how the fundamental principles of soccer apply to basketball just the same.
“If you ask me, one thing that could enhance a team instantly, just one little quantum leap, is if they just pounded relocations,” LaRoche, whom the Grizzlies declined to make available for an interview for this story, says on the podcast. “When we get an advantage, no matter how we get it — off a screen, a cut or a drive — don’t stand. Chase space, relocate.”
As well as bringing in LaRoche and Sanicola, whom the Hustle declined to make available for an interview, Memphis hired Tuomas Iisalo, who taught similar concepts when coaching Paris Basketball last season, and Johnny Carpenter, who was on UVA’s staff when it tried the offense out. The team also hired Jack Hostetler, who led that 2018-19 St. Joe’s team in 3-point percentage (51.1%), as a Hustle assistant, reuniting him with his college coach.
“As I talked to new coaches that are on our staff, I think we unlocked a lot,” Jenkins said. “It seems complex, but to us it’s very simple. We’re going to have our pick-and-rolls built in there to create the advantage, but we’re always about, ‘How do we create our advantages? Speed of play, movement of play and just identifying where the space is.’ Because if you can take that space, the defense naturally has to react, and when they do, then we know where the other space is.”
Pippen, who is enjoying a breakout season, said that the offense has allowed him to find driving lanes, open 3s and opportunities to catch the ball against a defense that has already been compromised. “Now that we’re all on the same page,” he said, he knows instinctively where his teammates are going to be. At one point, he recalled, LaRoche approached him and said, “‘Look how well you’re playing, and you haven’t even added pick-and-rolls.'”
Konchar and forward Santi Aldama both attributed Memphis’ improved 3-point accuracy (it’s up to 38.4% on catch-and-shoot attempts after five consecutive seasons between 35.7% and 36.6%) to the system producing better looks. “Every player has benefited from it,” Konchar said. No one, perhaps, more than Jackson, who has been virtually unstoppable as a driver and, before spraining his ankle on Monday, looked like a lock to make his first All-NBA team.
The offense has allowed “Jaren to get his,” Grizzlies star Ja Morant said. “A lot of people normally try to sit in the paint, sit in the gaps with us. When everybody continues to move, it normally takes the help away. And that’s why he’s been one of the best iso scorers, as he has been this year, outside of the work he’s put in and who he is as a player. It’s just putting him in easier positions to go deliver.”
Jenkins praised Jackson’s “spatial awareness,” adding that the 25-year-old has “been at the forefront” of the team’s collective development. “We talk about being an invasion sport,” he said, and Jackson has gotten extremely comfortable chasing space.
The magic trick No one is suggesting that the offense that went from Standish to Memphis is about to conquer the world and destroy pick-and-roll basketball forever. When the Grizzlies started running it, though, it was at least novel enough to catch opponents off guard.
“Early in the year it definitely was throwing teams off,” Pippen said. “We were getting a lot of wide-open backdoor layups.”
Konchar described it as “unorthodox,” given that most teams in the NBA “are dependent on screens, essentially,” to create their advantages. “It’s definitely different. No one’s really seen it before, I don’t think.”
Back at St. Joe’s, though, when Sanicola initially put the offense in, he’d show players clips of NBA players executing elements of it. Look, it seems crazy, he’d say, but Jayson Tatum made this read last night. The Boston Celtics were not running the whole offense, but if the Monks could see Tatum catching a swing pass, ripping away for a drive, then passing to a teammate filling the space behind him for a wide-open 3, they could see that their concepts worked at the highest level.
“The concepts themselves are not revolutionary,” Van Gundy said. Other teams have spacing and cutting rules, and it is not unusual to see a player cut and another player fill behind during an NBA game. Typically, though, “you’ll see that movement one time in a possession,” he said, whereas the Grizzlies will get “multiple drives, multiple cuts, multiple relocations on a possession,” which “breaks down the defense over time and creates bigger and bigger gaps to drive the ball into.” This is what’s “different than what everybody else is doing in the league.”
In 2007, Van Gundy famously turned the Orlando Magic into a title contender by starting Rashard Lewis at the 4 and maximizing their spacing around Dwight Howard, then the league’s most unstoppable roll man. “I was a pick-and-roll guy, so we had the guys spotted up in the corner and the whole thing,” he said. “And the biggest complaint I ran into with players — and I totally understand it — is, ‘Hey, I’m not worried about how many shots I get, but I want to be involved offensively. I don’t want to just stand around, I want to move, I want the ball to come to me.'”
Van Gundy empathized, but, generally speaking, spacing the floor was the priority. “One of the hardest things to do, designing an offense, is to get a combination of spacing and movement,” he said. “Movement makes it harder in some ways to keep the floor spaced because, you know, you’re running into each other.” Memphis has pulled a magic trick: By having everybody move, it does not have to sacrifice one for the other.
“They maintain their spacing while still getting movement,” Van Gundy said. “They’re not just standing around. That’s not an easy thing to achieve. I mean, it’s relatively easy to get good spacing if you’ve got two guys involved in the action and three guys’ job is basically to stand where they are. You can get that. And you can get movement if you’re not as concerned about spacing. But they’ve done both.”
To Grizzlies center Jay Huff, the offense is “radical in its simplicity.” Huff is the one player on the roster who had experience with it before the season, as he was at UVA when Tony Bennett’s staff dipped its toe in. Back then, Huff liked it and thought it suited his game, but “it wasn’t our system, per se,” he said. “Here, it’s our system — that’s what we do here.” This, he believes, is “the way to get the most out of it,” with allowances for “maybe the occasional screen-and-roll.”
Once you’ve internalized the system’s principles and the reads that are available to you, you’re “just playing basketball,” Huff said. The offense should appeal to purists, since, at its core, it’s five players working together, reading and reacting.
Huff and his father, a longtime high school coach, have “had many conversations about this: Basketball in its purest form can be the best team sport there is because everybody does everything,” he said. “It’s not like one person stays on offense, one person stays on defense or anything like that. You all have to run up and down the court.” And in this particular offense, everybody has to be in sync.
Initially, the challenge for Memphis was “just trusting each other to be in the right spots,” guard Luke Kennard said. For the offense to work, no one, including Kennard, who is leading the NBA in 3-point percentage (45.6%), can be stationary. “You kind of have to realize, ‘Oh, when something happens, I have to move,'” Huff said. “And it doesn’t always mean that you’re going to be the person that’s open. But you’re going to get somebody else open just by movement.”
‘You can’t really scout it’ In a way, the Grizzlies’ new style is represents an evolution, not a revolution. “They’ve always been an attacking team: Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack,” Van Gundy said. Now, in addition to running and offensive rebounding with ferocity, they’re cutting and relocating in the halfcourt with the same force.
“They’re going to get middle,” Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters earlier this season. “And they’re going to get into the wheel concept. And they’re going to mess you up when they get middle. And those guys just do it over and over again, on multiple times in a possession, multiple possessions in a row.”
Memphis’ commitment to its system can be seen as an extension of its commitment to being, in Jenkins’ words, the NBA’s “most intense-playing team” and “fastest-playing team.” Deemphasizing set plays and pick-and-rolls is a way to avoid slowing the game down. Moving in the halfcourt generally helps on the offensive glass, as it makes it tougher for opponents to box out. (The Grizzlies have also implemented Iisalo’s “tagging up” concept, which simultaneously allows them to send more players to the boards, prevent leak-outs and apply full-court pressure.)
After watching a play-call edit of Memphis’ 135-119 win against Brooklyn in December, Redick told reporters it was “literally transition, transition, random, transition, transition, random. They play a very specific way and it’s simultaneously predictable and unpredictable.” The downside of giving the players this much freedom, though, is that only five teams have a higher turnover rate than the Grizzlies. Pregame at Madison Square Garden in late January, Aldama said that they’d “struggled against some teams that have been more physical.” Then, against the New York Knicks’ physical defense, they proceeded to turn the ball over 26 times in a blowout loss, their sloppiest performance of the season.
“One of the reasons they’re a high-turnover team is you’re letting a lot of guys play with the ball in their hands and attack and make decisions,” Van Gundy said. “It’s not as easy as just saying, ‘My best player has the ball and he’s gonna make all the decisions and the other guys’ job is just to finish a play.'”
By running fewer pick-and-rolls and DHOs than any other team, Memphis has made it difficult for opponents to put two defenders on the ball against Morant and Jackson. The flip side, though, is that it means the Grizzlies might be missing opportunities to hunt favorable matchups. In their 132-130 loss against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, they scored with elite efficiency despite Morant, Jackson and Aldama being on the shelf. Bane finished with 35 points and the first triple-double of his career, but, in the final seconds, lost the ball trying to drive against Dyson Daniels. The turnover, Bane’s fifth, led directly to Caris LeVert’s game-winning layup on the other end. It was Memphis’ third straight loss, all of them by two points or fewer.
At 38-23, the Grizzlies are now fourth in the West, two games behind the second-place Lakers in the loss column, and Jackson is considered “week-to-week.” In theory, though, their offense makes them more able to absorb absences to key players — Redick likened them to “vintage” San Antonio Spurs teams in this respect — and counter playoff defenses.
The beauty of the offense, Aldama said, is that “if I don’t know what I’m going to do, then you for sure won’t know and you can’t really scout it.” He added that he has “seen teams send us baseline, teams send us middle, teams overshift, teams not shift. I’ve seen teams try all different stuff.” Defenses can try to help against drives, but Memphis has spent all season making them pay with cuts and 3s.
Van Gundy said that the system is “made to have playoff success.” He added that, given that Memphis won 56 games and made it to the second round a few years ago, Jenkins deserves credit for changing things up. It takes “great humility,” Van Gundy said, “to say, ‘I like what this guy is doing, he knows that system better than I do, I’m bringing them in and letting them teach me and our team to run it.'”
Armishaw, now at UMass Boston in his 11th year as a DIII assistant coach, has never met Jenkins but, having seen Sanicola take a chance on this offense at St. Joe’s, he’s invested in its success and admires that Jenkins was willing to try it on a far bigger stage. Around Christmas, he and his fiancée sat on the couch and watched a Hustle game. For his birthday, his future mother-in-law gave him a Grizzlies hoodie.
“I’ll see a clip every now and then from one of the Memphis Hustle games, and I’ll pull it off Twitter and send it to Rob and I’ll be like, ‘Hey man, that looks familiar,'” Armishaw said. “And he’ll laugh.”
Bleacher Report floated Washington Wizards swingman Corey Kispert as a possible option for the Sixers, noting that he shot 40.2% from three-point range last season, though he hasn’t had such luck this season.
This season, his three-point shooting percentage has fallen to 31.3%. That likely has decreased his trade value a bit.
The Sixers could take advantage of the Wizards’ impending firesale The Wizards are the worst team in the NBA record-wise at 3-21. They signaled that they planned to start a rebuild in 2023 when they traded Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis.
They’ve only continued to do so when they traded Deni Avdija for Malcolm Brogdon. Kispert could be the next one to be traded, though it will be a while if the Wizards make him available.
The one catch is that Kispert just extended with the Wizards. That means that they can’t trade him for an entire year.
A trade for him is something the Sixers should keep their eye on after this season is over because he wouldn’t be too expensive to acquire.
Someone like Kispert fits better on a team with playoff aspirations like the Sixers. They need more perimeter wings that can space the floor. He would be ideal for them, but they’ll have to wait a while before they can make trading for him a reality.
Lakers rookie Bronny James is beginning to find his footing at the NBA G League level. And while that’s the first step toward becoming an impactful NBA player, the 20-year-old still has major steps to make in his development.
In the wake of James’ recent breakout games, LA head coach JJ Redick was asked about the rookie’s coachability and how he can continue to improve as a player. Redick, a retired 15-year NBA veteran, gave an introspective look into what he’d like to see next from James.
Here’s more on what Redick had to say about James and how it fits into the larger plan of his development as a rookie.
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What did JJ Redick say about Bronny James? Following Lakers practice Tuesday, Redick spoke at length on James’ pursuit of perfection.
“He’s got to get to the point where it’s okay to fail. And I think he has a real reservation to fail,” Redick told reporters.
“I think a lot of that is he’s had a camera on him since he was eight years old. I can’t imagine [my sons] Knox and Kai having cameras at their rec league games. He’s had attention on him. I’m cognizant of that.”
JJ Redick speaks about the next phase of Bronny James’ development: overcoming a fear of failure. Redick believes Bronny’s career will “take off” when he clears that mental hurdle pic.twitter.com/6JX9FmPhXl
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 17, 2024 Redick expressed excitement about James’ potential once he can move past the mental block, giving a look into why the Lakers were comfortable taking him with the No. 55 pick in the last draft.
“Once he develops that, he’s gonna take off. Literally, take off,” Redick added. “He will do everything we’ve asked him to — he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. It’s just really a part of player development and not just the physical skills and the physical development. It is the mental development as well.
The five-time All-NBA selection, five-time All-Defensive Team selection, 2015 Most Improved Player and 2023 Eastern Conference Finals MVP has certainly proven his worth to potential suitors around the Association.
In a new report, Butler has further narrowed down his preferences if he were to be dealt to a contending team as trade dialogue reportedly continues to intensify.
“I’m told the (Phoenix) Suns and the (Golden State) Warriors are believed to be atop his list of preferred win-now destinations,” ESPN’s Shams Charania shared during an appearance on “NBA Today” Tuesday evening.
“If the Miami Heat were to trade him, the (Houston) Rockets and (Dallas) Mavericks being the others.”
While recent news of both Phoenix and Golden State making potential runs at acquiring Butler have been announced, these recent updates indicate that the 35-year-old superstar has pushed other franchises to lower positions on his list.
Phoenix’s main strategy of acquiring Butler would likely be offering Bradley Beal’s large contract and some form of young prospects or draft capital in a potential deal, but Phoenix’s status as a second tax apron franchise would bring about plenty of financial hurdles.
For Golden State, pulling off a trade for Butler would look to be easier, as the Warriors have a stash of young prospects and established players that could be sent out to acquire one of the NBA’s best postseason performers to help Stephen Curry and Draymond Green compete for their fifth NBA championship.
Golden State would be able to choose between rising prospects like Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody and others to exchange along with veterans like Andrew Wiggins paired with draft compensation.
As the days continue to pass, Miami’s polarizing star seems to have established that he’d like to have a chance to capture his first NBA title, but it’s still up for interpretation as to which contending franchise will land the two-way force.
After having a rough first month and a half of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves seem to slowly be getting it together. Since the moment Wolves star Anthony Edwards called his teammates out for their “soft” play, they’ve lost just one game.
It’s probably a good thing the Wolves’ front office didn’t hit the panic button as quickly as the fanbase. Regret and trade rumors began to circulate just a month into the season. After being traded by Minnesota to the New York Knicks, Karl-Anthony Towns is having a career year in the Big Apple. For the players he was traded for, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo have been inconsistent with the Wolves.
Since things didn’t start off the greatest in Minnesota, trade rumors began to surround Randle, DiVincenzo, and even some criticism for four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
Trading any of those three players would’ve indicated that the team was hitting the panic button. Now that things are going well, perhaps a lower-profile trade could help Minnesota take another step forward. Greg Swartz from Bleacher Report suggests the Timberwolves could target San Antonio Spurs forward Julian Champagnie for a trade.
“Champagnie is a wing who make less than $4.3 million and could help fill rotation minutes for Minnesota with their defense, shooting and versatility,” Swartz. wrote
Recently, Champagnie has seen a significant jump in his minutes for the Spurs. He has become a prominent bench player for one of the youngest teams in the league. He is averaging 12.8 points and 5.2 rebounds. At just 23-years-old, he has a tremendous amount of upside. He’s been a double-double machine lately and shows that he can do many different things while on the floor.
He is also capable of knocking down the three but would get more open looks from out there playing alongside Edwards, Randle, and company. As an undrafted player, he just made Spurs history just his second season in the NBA by hitting 2,000 three pointers and scoring 1,000 points.
Since he is still so young and raw, he wouldn’t take much for the Wolves to pursuit in a trade. This project trade for Minnesota would be a huge win for them if they could pull it off by the deadline.
They will need Embiid for the stretch run to climb higher. No matter how things turn out, Embiid has received new criticism because of all that happened this season. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith criticized Embiid not so much for his availability but for his body language on NBA Today. Smith went as far as comparing Embiid to one particular infamous former Sixer.
“Let me say this to Joel Embiid in all seriousness: You’re about a tad bit away from being compared to Ben Simmons,” Smith said. “You bring up the injuries and all of that stuff. I look at the disinterest on his face… the lack of enthusiasm.”
Simmons has been regularly criticized for his lack of work ethic over the years, and it’s led to him having one of the swiftest downfalls the NBA has ever seen from a player.
This hurts on multiple levels for the Sixers What makes this even more painful is that the Sixers drafted Simmons, believing he would help guide them to a glorious era. At first, he looked like he would prove them right, but never improved.
This criticism of Embiid is also more difficult because he has already admitted that his injury history is “depressing.”
The only way to reverse this narrative is to capitalize on their recent winning. Granted, Smith’s words are rooted in conjecture, but the Sixers have an opportunity to make him eat his words.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Dallas is on Jimmy Butler’s list of preferred trade destinations.
A potential trade could require the Mavericks to part with Klay Thompson and a host of depth pieces and future draft picks, which could pose a ton of risks for the team.
Thompson has been far from a perfect fit with his new franchise and could soon move to the bench in favor of Quentin Grimes or Naji Marshall, but it doesn’t mean he can’t thrive in a role off the pine.
Still, it’s worth considering that rotations shorten significantly in the playoffs. Some teams might only play seven or eight players in each postseason game.
Doncic and Kyrie Irving are more than capable of handling big workloads in the playoffs. Doncic has proven he can maximize the best out of each of his teammates, and that will be important if the Mavs ship out some of their most important depth pieces in this deal.
However, the Mavs might be better off sticking with the group they currently have and making a smaller move that could help bolster this group’s defense. A trade for a former Mavs 3-and-D specialist could be on the table, and that’ll be significantly less expensive than trading for Butler.
But you never know what can happen in the NBA. If Doncic and/or Irving push the front office to acquire the six-time All-Star, they would almost certainly work tirelessly to get Butler into the mix.
