Dec four, 2020

  • Zach LoweESPN Senior Writer

For all merely the very best, success in the NBA is contextual. As nosotros blitz into the 2020-21 season, let's highlight guys who are better than they looked terminal season -- some in new situations, and a couple who remain with the same teams but should bounce back anyway. Call information technology our 2020-21 Redeem Squad.

Al Horford, Oklahoma City Thunder

Can we just fast-forwards through a rejuvenated Horford, playing centre full time, averaging fifteen-eight-4 and shooting 38% from deep until the Thunder merchandise him to a contender -- or desperate wannabe chasing a play-in spot -- for some heavily protected start-round pick (fine, two seconds)?

(By the way: I don't recall we've internalized how much the play-in tournament will change the final few weeks of the flavour. There has been a lot of talk about the Atlanta Hawks chasing the No. 8 seed, but all that guarantees now is the luxury of losing one time in the play-in. The No. x seed is suddenly similar in value to No. 8, and the race for No. vi -- and avoiding the play-in -- becomes urgent. The fate of more outgoing lottery-protected picks could come downwardly to the wire. Fun!)

Horford is absolutely going to put up that kind of stat line. Even so, trading him for good value looks like a tough enquire at present. Teams that make theoretical sense are adopting a cocksure posture: How many draft assets practise we get?

Horford'south salary -- $27.5 million this flavour -- limits realistic destinations; without cap room or a massive trade exception (and the Boston Celtics, at present owners of i, already decided against paying Horford), whatever suitor would demand high-salaried players who don't matter much to their squad. Nigh disposable expensive players on multiyear contracts hold little interest to a rebuilding Thunder squad -- unless Sam Presti thinks Player X has more potential trade value than Horford.

The landscape will look different after Horford reminds the world he'south nevertheless good. He wasn't even that bad last season. The Sixers' offense cratered when Horford, Joel Embiid, and Ben Simmons shared the flooring, but Philly hummed when Horford played with but one of Philly's tentpole stars, per NBA.com.

Horford still slings fire from the elbows. He shot an acceptable 35% from 3. He can brew switches in the post. Those last two skills should sing with Horford once again working as pick-and-roll hub.

Horford popping for 3s amid an open floor is dissimilar than Horford standing around the arc every bit Simmons and Embiid jostle in the paint. It was easier for Horford'southward defenders to clog the lane last season. They had less distance to cover. Horford was mostly a stationary target on the perimeter when he wasn't skulking forth baseline expressionless zones.

He'due south nonetheless a capable defender, though he has lost some bounce and side-to-side speed. If the Thunder can't find a merchandise partner this season, they might take an easier time in the summer. There volition be more cap infinite than worthy free agents. Horford will take 2 years left on his deal and only $xiv.5 one thousand thousand guaranteed in the 2d.

Josh Richardson, Dallas Mavericks

In their first conversation afterwards Dallas acquired Richardson on draft dark, Rick Carlisle, the Mavs' motorbus, delivered a uncomplicated message: "He basically told me he still remembers I am a good player," Richardson recalled, chuckling.

Dallas could exist the perfect fit for Richardson -- provided he amps upwardly his assailment off passes from Luka Doncic. Richardson probably ventured out of his depth as a co-pb brawl handler in Miami. He then struggled as an off-ball player for the jumbled, jumbo Sixers terminal season. He shot just 34% on 3s and looked languid and hesitant on catch-and-get drives. Just xx% of his shots came at the basket, tied for a career low.

"It's tough to get to the rim when so many people are in the paint," Richardson said. "It just wasn't a corking fit."

When Doncic whips the brawl to him, Richardson should have more than time and space to shoot. On pump-and-drive attacks, he will knife into an uncluttered lane -- especially when the Mavs play Maxi Kleber or Kristaps Porzingis at centre.

That ecosystem should aid Richardson recalibrate his shot diet. He has mostly hovered around the same splits: xl% of attempts from midrange, 40% from iii, a very low twenty% at the rim, and a blah free throw rate.

His release on 3s is a little slow; fast defenders recover in time to dissuade him. "That'south something I'm working on," Richardson said. He has attempted startlingly few corner 3s, and he hit well-nigh 36% of them over the last three seasons. Alongside Doncic, Richardson needs to take and brand more than.

The Heat pushed Richardson beyond his limits in developing his NBA 3-pointer. Richardson was wrapping one off-twenty-four hour period workout early on in his career when Erik Spoelstra, Miami's autobus, walked into the gym and began shagging rebounds. Spoelstra decided Richardson could not leave until he fabricated 70 of 100 3s. On his start try, Richardson made 64. Spoelstra ordered him to run ten baseline-to-baseline sprints. Richardson went again: 67. More sprints. Attempt No. three: 69, with Richardson (according to his memory) missing his last two. Ten more sprints. "I was freaking out," Richardson said. "Saying stuff I tin can't repeat." One double-decker remembered a hurled ball. He finally cracked seventy on the fourth try. Indicate being: If Richardon'southward jumper stalls out where it is, it won't be from lack of attempt.

He's a capable secondary ball handler who should thrive communicable on the motion in Carlisle's pet sets. Miami used Richardson as the back-screener in "Spain" actions, a play Dallas runs more than than anyone:

Yous can envision Richardson flying off a pindown as Doncic runs a two-man game, sprinting into a Doncic pass, and continuing into a fly pick-and-roll. Richardson is slippery in tight spaces and can salvage dead possessions:

With Trey Shush and Jalen Brunson helming reserve units, Richardson's ballhandling load should never become too burdensome.

Of class, the major benefits come up on defence force. Dorian Finney-Smith was Dallas' only reliable wing defender last season, though Tim Hardaway Jr. put together his best campaign on that end. That became a problem against Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the postseason. Richardson provides a second stopper who defends point guards and wings.

A lineup of Hardaway, Richardson, Finney-Smith, Doncic, and Porzingis has massive two-way potential for a team that was basically all offense terminal season. Dallas can go even bigger -- replacing Hardaway with Kleber or some fly/hybrid forwards yet to be acquired.

Richardson is ready to recover his standing. "People get caught up in the moment," Richardson said. "Mayhap they forgot what I tin do. That's fine. I similar flying under the radar."

Delon Wright, Detroit Pistons

Wright had had his centre on Detroit -- and Dwane Casey, his former coach with the Toronto Raptors -- when he got air current the Raptors might merchandise him in 2019, he told ESPN. Subsequently i twelvemonth in Dallas, which proved a poor fit, Wright has arrived in Motown -- a savvy take hold of for the Pistons. Casey's bulletin to Wright in their first post-merchandise telephone conversation, Wright recalled: Get ready to have the ball more.

Wright's pick-and-roll book plummeted in a iii-and-D role effectually the preternatural Doncic. Wright was ill-suited to that part considering of plays similar this:

Coaches take long urged Wright to stop passing up open looks. "I've heard it a hundred one thousand thousand times," Wright said. There is not e'er a ameliorate shot around the corner; there might be a turnover or a shot clock violation. Wright hitting half his corner 3s over the concluding two seasons!

The Pistons need Wright to shoot. They are starved for spacing. Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, and even Jerami Grant will handle the brawl a lot.

"I can't keep passing upwards shots," Wright said.

That passivity is likely one reason Wright's minutes dwindled in the postseason; the Mavs benched him in two of their six playoff games.

"The bubble tarnished my game," Wright said. "Simply I'm ready now."

He'southward also ready to atomic number 82 past example, he said. Since high schoolhouse, coaches and observers accept labeled Wright "as well chill," he said -- nonchalant on the flooring, not aroused enough after losses. "To some extent, I demand to have more assertiveness," Wright said. "I agree with that. But in Memphis, I had a lot less chill to my game."

Wright is referring to his 26-game stint with the Grizzlies, when he averaged 12 points and v assists later Memphis gave him the keys. Wright is a cagey ball handler with a penchant for rejecting screens -- something he took from Dwyane Wade's game, he said -- and gorgeous modify-of-pace arts and crafts:

Most half his shots come at the rim, monstrous for a signal guard. Fifty-fifty when he can't get all the way there, his herky-jerky guile forces the defense into switches Wright'south teammate might then exploit:

Only Wright'due south pick-and-rolls accept produced middling efficiency, per 2d Spectrum tracking data -- generally due to his iffy jumper. Defenders duck picks, blockading the paint and reducing the need for rotations elsewhere. Wright takes nigh no long 2s. Analytics frown on such shots, only atomic number 82 ball handlers who face up the "go-under" coverage need them in the arsenal. Otherwise, they are often left dribbling aimlessly as the shot clock ticks. It's difficult for Wright to punish bigs on switches, since they back away and concede jumpers he is reluctant to take.

"I've never really felt comfortable shooting that midranger," Wright said. "Merely teams are giving it to me all day."

He'due south non a accident-away athlete. He doesn't have the straight-line speed to dust quicker guards, or the strength to overpower smaller ones -- though he can launch floaters over them.

Wright is non meant to exist starting bespeak guard on a great team. That's OK. Few are. The actualized version of Wright can still be a rotation histrion -- a hybrid reserve baby-sit, probably -- on that level team. He has perfect supplementary skills: canny cutting, violent defence force across both guard positions, elite rebounding on both ends. Hone his jumper, especially standstill 3s, and Wright can abound into a really nice role player.

He can work on that in Detroit while enjoying the ballhandling responsibility he craves.

Aaron Gordon, Orlando Magic

I just cannot quit Aaron Gordon. It could exist 2030, with Gordon shooting 28% from deep and running too many pick-and-rolls, and I would yet insist he might make the spring at whatever moment.

Possibly Gordon hinted at it in ten games between the All-Star break and the NBA's hiatus, when he averaged 15 points (fourth on the team in that bridge), 9 rebounds, and seven assists -- and hitting 56.5% of his 2s. He was pushing the pace after take hold of-and-get rebounds, spraying dimes in transition, and (sometimes) overpowering suckers in the mail service:

Give me more of this -- against a like-sized thespian in T.J. Warren! -- and fashion fewer bricked fadeaways.

I still recall where I was the moment Frank Vogel, so starting his tenure as Orlando'due south head coach, told me during an interview he would use Gordon like he had Paul George in Indiana -- i.eastward., as something close to pb brawl handler. It surprised me, and struck me as something a coach might say to placate an ambitious young player.

Orlando concluding season scored only 0.838 points per possession when Gordon shot out of a pick-and-curl, or dished to a teammate who fired correct away -- 205th among 260 players who ran at least 50 such plays, per Second Spectrum. That number has cracked 0.9 only one time in Gordon'due south career, and barely. He just hasn't displayed the jumper or experience to thrive in that part.

You can't blame Gordon for chasing conventional stardom. Nigh skilful young players do; Gordon is barely 25. He has never played with an elite or peradventure even above-average pick-and-roll maestro. In some by seasons, he could have plausibly talked himself into being Orlando's best actor.

The Magic as well shoehorned Gordon into a wing role; information technology is not a coincidence Gordon's best stretch terminal flavour came with Jonathan Isaac hurt and Gordon playing power forward. With Isaac out, Gordon stays there.

I have been writing for years that Gordon would notice himself when he decided to aqueduct his inner Draymond Green instead of aspiring to be LeBron James. Gordon is already a borderline All-Defensive role player capable of guarding whatsoever position.

Perhaps that switch flipped before last season's stoppage.

"The challenge for every player is the same: How do you play well and efficiently while the squad functions well?" Steve Clifford, Orlando's coach, told ESPN. "For Aaron, that stretch was probably the best he has played."

Gordon felt information technology too. "I found my comfort zone with what [Clifford] wanted me to practice," he told ESPN. "Only trying to be a meliorate teammate on the floor, looking to get everyone involved."

Gordon has always been a canny passer in movement -- on the interruption, and after screening and diving on the selection-and-roll. He whips inside-out dimes when he draws help in the postal service, though smarter teams won't deploy assistance until Gordon proves he can punish people consistently. He has fantastic chemistry picking out Terrence Ross on backdoor cuts.

Yous even come across hints of that vision when Gordon slices into an alleyway in the half-courtroom:

Gordon doesn't notice many easy drives because defenders ignore him on the perimeter and lay in wait in the pigment. Gordon is a career 32% shooter on both 3s and midrangers. With Nikola Vucevic serving as Orlando'due south main screen-setter, Gordon does not go a ton of chances to wreak havoc every bit pick-and-curl fulcrum.

That said, a shooting center -- like Vucevic -- is the prototype frontcourt partner for Gordon. Surround him with four shooters, and Gordon can lean into more of an interior role: setting picks, cutting to the rim, crashing the glass. Gordon spooky unguarded along the arc is decease for Orlando's crime.

Other teams imagine this Gordon. Several -- possibly every bit many as 10, maybe more -- called Orlando to express interest in trading for Gordon during the recent transaction menses, sources said. Minnesota was one, sources said, and Gordon would fit there in a supporting role alongside high-volume playmakers and 1 of the greatest shooting bigs always in Karl-Anthony Towns. How might Gordon look in Portland, playing off 2 elite guards and a snazzy-passing center in Jusuf Nurkic? What well-nigh equally the nominal center in small-ball Brooklyn lineups featuring Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and two other perimeter guys?

But Orlando held business firm, and Gordon remains. Clifford will urge him to keep pushing the pace, mashing in the post, screening with force, and moving away from the ball. He may not be set up to shift total time into a Draymond-style part, but he experienced the ability of it terminal season. "Some games, I'll still run a lot of selection-and-roll," Gordon said. "Other games, I'll exist the gum guy. Whatever it takes to win."

The team nonetheless has hopes for Gordon's jumper. "Because he's such a hard worker, I think it's going to happen," Clifford said. "Whether it's this year, next twelvemonth, whatever, he'southward going to become to 37% or 38% on 3s."

Gordon is besides healthy subsequently a series of nagging leg injuries hampered him last flavour. Only when I recall I'm out ...

Gary Harris, Denver Nuggets

Whether Harris can reverse a bizarro 2-yr shooting slump is one of the most important swing factors in the NBA title race over the adjacent 2 seasons. Harris' corner 3 has held strong; he hit 46% last flavor, though he doesn't have enough. The longer above-the-break three deserted him. Defenders are straying from Harris, mucking up Denver'due south spacing.

After hitting double digits in five of seven games during Denver's rally against the LA Clippers in the second circular, Harris made just seven baskets and two free throws in the conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Peradventure it'southward wellness and confidence. Harris has battled lower-torso injuries, including a hip trouble that delayed his debut in the Orlando bubble. Harris stabilized Denver's defense when he returned in Game half dozen of their first-round slugfest against the Utah Jazz. The Nuggets will need that fifty-fifty more than with Jerami Grant in Detroit. Denver is going to sink or swim as a title contender based upon whether information technology tin can survive defensively with all three of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Michael Porter Jr. on the flooring.

"I get a lot of flak in Denver for why I continue to play Gary," Nuggets motorbus Michael Malone told ESPN. "Well, I believe in him."

In that location is nothing structurally incorrect with Harris' shot, or any underlying injury impacting information technology at present, sources familiar with the matter said.

An aggressive Harris who hits enough shots is an ideal complement to Jokic and Murray. He is an invaluable member of Denver'southward locker room -- the rare actor who can talk to everyone and problem-solve chemical science issues. "He has everyone'south respect," Malone said. "And it's not because he's a nice guy. It's because they come across how difficult he works, how he embraces guarding the other team'due south best player."

Harris has long enjoyed a wink-wink chemistry with Jokic on baseline cuts -- and is a surprisingly acrobatic finisher there when healthy -- and sneaks backside defenses when they rotate toward Denver'southward stars:

He's ever moving and screening, flowing from ane action into another. In an offseason conversation nigh getting Harris back on rails, he and Malone discussed the need to keep Harris involved in the crime. "Information technology's my job, too," Malone added.

When Harris revs it up, he tin can grit defenders and make the next pass:

Too ofttimes, Harris shrunk in those moments of flux -- pausing long enough for the defense to reset. He can await uncomfortable probing. He either passes too early; rushes headlong at the rim without a plan; or pulls up for wayward floaters at first sight of a help defender. Passing a beat out early on is fine when you pass to Jokic and Murray. But Harris needs a more refined in-betwixt game, with alter of stride moves that allow him to go along his distill alive and find more profitable stuff -- including gratuitous throws. Harris attempted simply 1.6 per game last season, the fewest since his rookie season. (Denver was 26th in free throw charge per unit.)

"The injuries have messed with his conviction and aggressiveness," Malone said. "He's about worried almost attacking."

If Harris is healthy and gets off to the kind of starting time that rouses his confidence, I'yard betting on a bounceback.

Taurean Prince, Brooklyn Nets

I keep reading smart people propose the Nets attach a first-round pick to dump Prince's salary, and thinking, Expect ... When did it get that bad? Shouldn't this guy exist able to assistance a good team? Isn't he a potential iii-and-D guy?

I'chiliad not alone on Prince Peninsula, right?

When I interviewed Prince for a characteristic in late 2018, he was coming off a breakout season and harboring hope of emerging every bit a No. 1 option.

"I didn't work with [noted skills trainer] Drew Hanlen to just exist a iii-and-D guy," Prince told me, referencing workouts from that summer. "I did that to expand my game, aggrandize my imagination."

The Hawks indulged Prince in the second half of the 2017-18 season -- their last earlier drafting Trae Young. At the All-Star suspension, the coaching staff presented Prince a goal: Lead the league in 3-bespeak attempts over the rest of the flavor, Prince and others recalled. He concluded up seventh, hitting 73-of-177 -- a tidy 41%. He ran more pick-and-rolls than ever earlier or since, and he flashed manipulative playmaking:

Prince'southward function receded the next season amid injuries and Young's star turn. Atlanta sent him to Brooklyn in the bargain that unlocked cap infinite for the Nets to acquire Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

Past coincidence, Prince had besides worked out with Durant in the summer of 2018, waking early to drive and run into Durant in Malibu. Prince had e'er looked up to Durant. He wore Durant'southward number, 35, at Baylor.

Playing next to Durant and Irving would mean going back to a pure 3-and-D role, and Prince struggled in it terminal season. It was equally if his basketball heed was caught in the middle of a rewiring procedure.

He striking simply 33.9% from deep subsequently canning 39% combined over the prior two seasons, and he missed a ton of open up looks. Among 260 players who attempted at least 300 shots, but eighteen underperformed their expected effective field-goal per centum -- based on the location of each shot and nearby defenders -- by a larger margin than Prince, per Second Spectrum.

I'm betting it was random. Almost the entire driblet stemmed from corner 3s; Prince hit 32% afterward canning 46% over the prior two seasons, per Cleaning The Glass. His mark on higher up-the-break 3s held steady.

The deterioration of his off-the-bounce game was more troubling. The Nets need Prince to keep the crime moving when defenders run him off the arc. He looked confused in traffic, paralyzed by indecision, left to fling up hopeless floaters:

Prince did non arrive in Brooklyn an expert ball handler. He turned the ball over on sixteen% of his pick-and-rolls with the Hawks in 2017-xviii, the worst rate in the league, per Second Spectrum. But he also slipped slick pocket passes and fired lasers to the corner:

Prince should observe the equilibrium in his game and take a solid offensive season playing off Brooklyn's stars. If he digs in on the other end, he could become office of Brooklyn's crisis-time lineups.

Prince has never been as good on defence force as he looks like he should be. He's quick, with a vii-foot wingspan. Simply his focus comes and goes, and he isn't the most physical dude.

The Nets have shown no inclination to salary dump Prince, let alone attach a pick to exercise so, sources said. That's smart. Prince won't ever be a No. 1 selection at this level, but he can be a damned good plug-and-play support guy.