Even as the No. 6 pick in the 2017 NBA draft, Magic forward Jonathan Isaac considered himself a “project.” He was committed to developing, taking it slowly if necessary. Yet, he also wanted to perform well. And he was a 20-year-old adjusting to professional life. As much as he tried to stay balanced, pressure was mounting.
Then, Isaac suffered an ankle injury that November that would sideline him most of his rookie year.
“I could take a deep breath and just get my head right,” Isaac said.
Most players would be devastated by that setback. That Isaac found the blessing in disguise says something about him – and how he got where he is today.
Isaac has emerged as one of the NBA’s top young talents, a real candidate to become Orlando’s first consensus star since Dwight Howard. I already regret omitting Isaac from our list of the top 50 players in 5 years. He is especially a revelation for an expensive, stuck-in-the-middle Magic team.
Though it’s far too soon to shut the door on it, Aaron Gordon still hasn’t made the leap. Markelle Fultz has encouragingly found his footing as a helpful NBA player – but without a reliable jumper, which evaporates his high-end upside. Mo Bamba has struggled so far in the NBA. Nikola Vucevic (an All-Star last year, but likely a one-time All-Star), Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross are too old to expect them to have significant untapped potential. Orlando is too good to tank into elite draft position.
If the Magic are going to get a breakthrough star anytime soon, Isaac is by far their best bet.
“I just want to be great,” Isaac said. “I just want to be an all-around player. I want to be able to help my team win every single night and be the reason why we win.”
That’s big talk for a player who has been content to blend in since entering the spotlight.
Isaac, who considered jumping straight from prep school to the NBA, enrolled at Florida State as a clear one-and-done prospect. Yet, he attempted just eight shots per game for the Seminoles as a freshman, often deferring to Dwayne Bacon and Xavier Rathan-Mayes.
“He came in and never talked about it, never said, ‘I’m one-and-done. I’m out of here,'” Bacon said. “He just played the game the right way every night. Just a great guy.”
One of Isaac’s biggest marks in Tallahassee was repeatedly blaring loud music early in the morning. Bacon even heard it across the hall.
“You can’t really complain to Jon, though, because he wasn’t a guy that did anything wrong,” Bacon said.
Isaac continues to push his limits.
He recently brought up Pascal Siakam, who won Most Improved Player, won a championship then signed a max contract extension with the Raptors. A ring is far-fetched any time soon, but those other goals are within reach for Isaac.
Isaac will be eligible for his own rookie-scale extension next offseason. His projected max? About $181 million over five years. The way Isaac is trending, the Magic – even with all their bigs – might pay it.
A Most Improved Player candidate, Isaac has increased his PIPM from +0.2 last season to +2.3 this season – a jump of 2.1. That’s one of the biggest increases in the league.
Here are the biggest PIPM increases in the NBA, with the left side of the bar showing a player’s previous high, the right side of the bar showing his 2019-20 mark and the difference listed in the middle (minimum: 500 minutes):
Unlike most others on that leaderboard, Isaac is coming off a pretty reasonable year. Among rotation regulars who’d already posted a positive PIPM, only Luka Doncic and Jarrett Allen increased theirs by more.
Isaac rates so highly because of his defense. He has a shot at an honor that eluded Siakam – an All-Defensive team.
The 6-foot-11 Isaac covers a lot of ground with his mobility and length. He reads the floor well, especially for his age. His second jump is elite. He can bite on pump fakes and still re-elevate quickly enough to contest shots. His versatility allows him to guard players across the positional spectrum, and he’s an active help defender.
Now, his main-matchup individual defense has caught up with Isaac getting stronger over the offseason.
“Just watching film, I like the way that I look,” said Isaac, who leads the NBA with 2.8 blocks per game. “Like I said, you watch film just, ‘Man, you look good. You look bigger.'”
Isaac ranks second among forwards in defensive PIPM (minimum: 500 minutes):
The dramatic growth for Isaac could come offensively. He’s averaging 13.1 points per game (up from 9.6 last season), but his usage percentage remains below average (18.7).
Yet, Isaac shows flashes – dunks from way above the rim, smooth outside shooting, improved ball-handling.
Could he eventually become more of a go-to player?
“The nature of most players that you coach is this: They have a way that they play, and they improve, but the very nature of how they play doesn’t usually change much,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said. “A guy who builds his game around defending, rebounding – usually, that has to remain his strength. And then as he grows in say other areas, you become a more well-rounded player. He’s not going to go from being a great team defender with a defensive mindset to a guy who’s going to want the the ball every play to play in the pick-and-roll. I don’t think. It doesn’t usually happen.”
Isaac isn’t so sure.
Though he played the way Clifford described in college and in the NBA, it wasn’t always that way.
“In high school, I was the man,” Isaac said, beaming. “In high school, I was the guy. I remember, I was putting up – I had 44 one night. I was putting ’em up. All 3s, too.”
Does he want to shift toward that role again?
“Absolutely,” Isaac said. “I think every guy wants to be that guy. I want to continue to work until I am.”
Isaac said he’s experimenting offensively, testing his limits and getting increasingly ambitious. Creating off the dribble, posting up – what’s his ceiling?
“Sometimes, I feel like I’m out there and I can do whatever,” Isaac said.
So far, he hasn’t strayed too far for his coach’s liking. “Everything he does on the floor makes sense to me,” Clifford said. Isaac gets benefit of the doubt because he works hard and carries a positive disposition. His attitude is so welcome.
Even in a short interview, Isaac repeatedly brings up a mantra.
“I’m not where I want to be,” Isaac said. “But I’m much, much farther along than where I started.”
Carmelo Anthony thought this might really be it.
Few players get to leave the game on their own terms, and the realization was dawning on the future Hall of Famer he would be one of the many. After regressing then getting played off the floor in the playoffs for Oklahoma City, then only lasting 10 games in Houston, the market for Anthony had dried up. No offers came last season after he was released, then no offers came this summer.
Anthony admitted to Rachel Nichols of ESPN on The Jump that he thought his time in the league might be done. He said he was coming to grips with the idea he may have played his last NBA game.
“I was preparin’ myself. And I had prepared myself to kinda just walk away from the game if the right situation didn’t come about…
“I was ready to walk away, yeah. I mean, ’cause it’s hard, waking up every morning, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what to do, not knowing what to work on. You know, wanting to give up hope, wanting to give up faith and belief and just, like, you know, just forget this whole basketball thing.”
An offer did come from a banged-up Portland team desperate for help along the front line — and ‘Melo has shown he still has plenty in the tank. He’s averaged 17.7 points, six rebounds, shooting 37 percent from threes (and doing well on catch-and-shoots) and being what the Blazers needed. Anthony was named Western Conference Player of the Week last week.
He feels wanted on Portland and added that is what matters.
“So a situation like Portland, where I could just come in and just play my game and have a group of guys that really want me, and the organization that want me… There’s no better feelin’ than when you feel wanted. And I think that’s what kinda keeps me motivated and understandin’, like, this situation is — it is and was the best situation for me.”
Anthony also said all the time off let him get his body and mind right. He’s been good, not great (he’s still a defensive liability), but he’s also been what Portland needed. He’s a guy respected in the locker room giving them quality minutes.
If he keeps it up, he may get to leave the game on his terms.
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive’s most infamous idea: Defending 4-on-5 to leave a cherry-picker on offense.
But that wasn’t Ranadive’s only proposed innovation.
Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated:
According to people familiar with the situation, his proposed solution for the Kings’ free-throw-shooting woes was to install a hoop outside the locker room. This way, during games, players could run back and practice foul shots. This plan got far enough that the team installed the goal, just to the right of the locker room, before people around Ranadivé dissuaded him, citing potential rules issues (players usually leave the bench only to go to the bathroom), messaging issues (players would likely be insulted, and it would scare away free agents) and general optics (not good).
If a team could get past the cited problems, this isn’t the worst idea… in a specific situation. If a stoppage occurs just before a player will shoot a free throw, he could potentially benefit from using the break to build a rhythm from the line. This would be useful with coaches increasingly calling timeout between free throws to ice a shooter.
However, even then, I’m not sure whether it’s worth running back and forth to and from the locker room area. That could be enough to break rhythm.
Beyond that specific situation, I don’t get it. Who knows how long after practicing free throws by the locker room until a player would actually draw a foul in the game? It would often be long enough where the extra reps provide no real value.
I have a scaled-down suggestion that would be much more widely applicable: Players should stop stepping off the line and high-fiving teammates between free throws. It’s better to remain in place and keep the muscle memory from the previous attempt.
Kevin Garnett is fiercely protective of the Celtics.
According to Paul Pierce, Garnett said he regretted not joining Boston sooner. When Ray Allen left, Garnett led the charge in excommunicating him. Garnett nearly retired rather than accept a trade to the Nets in 2013.
So, how did Garnett feel about Kyrie Irving leaving the Celtics for the Nets last summer?
Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:
Kevin Garnett was quick to answer whether he was surprised Kyrie Irving left Boston.
“No,” he said flatly, before implying that Irving, the Nets point guard, didn’t have the mental makeup for Beantown.
“Boston’s a tough town, dawg. You have to have some major cojones to be there,” Garnett said. “You got to want that. The people want it for you. That’s why Paul (Pierce) is perfect for it. Paul wants the shot every time. Like, ‘You’re 0-for-14.’ And he’s like, ‘I know, but they WANT it.’”
This type of talk is way overblown. Irving went to New York, the city where the pressure is most mythologized. It’s different with Brooklyn, which gets second billing for attention relative to the Knicks. But Irving and Durant definitely elevated the Nets’ profile. They are a big deal now. Boston isn’t that special. The NBA is full of teams that play in a “tough town.” I’m unconvinced the differences between those places really scare off players.
Besides, Irving was exactly the type of player Garnett described. Irving went 7-for-22 in a playoff game, said “I should have shot 30” then went 5-for-16 with no assists in the first half of the next game. He didn’t play as much in the second half, because Boston was getting routed.
That was the biggest problem for Irving with the Celtics: They didn’t win enough.
Irving contributed to the struggles. But even Danny Ainge said the roster wasn’t properly constructed. Boston’s problems spread well beyond Irving.
But he bore the brunt of the blame. It’s easy to see how that environment would be unappealing to him, especially because he played well enough to draw offers effectively anywhere else he wanted to go.
It had nothing to do with “cojones.”
When jumping straight from high school to the 2005 NBA draft, Lou Williams said, “The second round is not an option.”
The 76ers drafted him in the middle of the second round.
That left Williams with a relatively low $450,000 salary. But on a Philadelphia team with veterans Allen Iverson, Chris Webber and Matt Barnes, a teenage Williams found a way to supplement his income.
Williams on All The Smoke:
I know it was on the West Coast.
Barnes:
We made a bet that he had to drink a six-pack.
Williams:
I didn’t drink at the time.
Barnes:
He didn’t drink. He was fresh out of high school.
Williams:
I was a kid.
Barnes:
Stayed to himself, quiet.
Barnes:
How much money you get?
Williams:
Fifteen thousand.
Barnes:
Bet he couldn’t drink a six-pack on the bus ride, right? It was quick, though. It was a quick ride.
Williams:
They said I couldn’t drink a six-pack of beer before we got on the plane for 15 grand. I downed them b—es.
Barnes:
That motherf—er killed it. But he was so wet that we almost got a little worried. Like, “Damn, what the f—? How are we going to carry Lou?” He kind of had his arm slumped on AI’s shoulder, and then me and C-Webb was kind of in front.
Williams:
I never drank.
Barnes:
He was still there, but he was – He handled himself well, but he was f—ed up. You know what I mean? So we had to kind of camouflage his ass up onto the plane.
Incredible.
Sports - Latest - Google News
December 03, 2019 at 12:23PM
https://ift.tt/2DGp7SC
Jonathan Isaac could end Magic's long-running star search - ProBasketballTalk
Sports - Latest - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Mbsnt7
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment