4-on-4: Sixteen Roundtable
Four staff members from 16 Wins A Ring answering four NBA related questions — welcome to the Sixteen Roundtable.
Imagine the Sixteen Roundtable as your weekly dose of hot takes, hypotheticals, and compelling questions being answered by a collaboration of hoop junkies from 16 Wins A Ring. The Roundtable will run every Sunday, featuring new questions as well as new voices.
Eric Spyropoulos: Staff Writer/Podcast Host for 94 Feet Report (@ericspyros)
Christopher Kline: Staff Writer (@KlineNBA)
Tom West: National Columnist (@TomWestNBA)
Max Seng: Staff Writer (@maxaseng)
Edition #04
1. The Cavaliers defense stinks. Everything from pick-and-roll coverages, transition defense, effort level, etc. — it all needs improvement. On a scale of 1–10, how concerned are you with their defensive flaws especially with the playoffs looming?
Eric: If you would have asked me this same question one or two weeks ago, I would have said around a 3. However, at this point I’m somewhere around 5 or 6. Since the trade deadline, the Cavaliers have the 29th ranked defense! Their defensive rating during that stretch is 113.2, not much better than the 113.8 defensive rating that the tanktastic Lakers own during that stretch. Also, the Cavaliers are just 27th in rebounding during this stretch, which could be another cause for concern. That being said, I still am expecting them to turn up the intensity defensively just enough for them to make it back to the Finals.
Christopher: 7. There’s a difference between waiting to flip the switch and playing the worst defense in the league, and the Cavaliers have been trending towards the latter in recent weeks. And while a lot of that feels tied to a lack of energy, something that can certainly change come playoff time, it’s difficult to revitalize a team’s entire defensive scheme that quickly on the basis of playoff vigor alone. They’ve been lackluster against genuinely poor offensive units, and the slight holes they were able to cover up last year are being exploited by teams that shouldn’t be exploiting them.
Tom: I’m pretty concerned for the Cavs right now. Not quite enough to say that they’re no longer favorites in the East, but concerned enough that this isn’t just a sudden post All-Star slump. The Cavs are 27th in defensive rating and a mere 22–20 since the start of 2017, making it very clear that this isn’t a random down spell. They’ve been little over .500 quality for a few months and they simply don’t have many defensive players, whether it’s Kyrie Irving or Kyle Korver. They have time to wake up to some degree and (hopefully, although it’s tough on the fly) get guys like Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson in better shape. But their concerns make it easy to doubt their Finals chances.
Max: Right now, it’s at about a 6. I get the “flip the switch” mindset but playing as few games as possible come playoff time is important. #LightYearsAhead is looming. At some point habits sink in, and it becomes too late. Regardless of the 1 seed I’m not in panic mode yet, but the clock is ticking.
2. The NCAA March Madness tournament is just about wrapped up. Which upcoming NBA prospect impressed you the most during the tournament?
Eric: I have to be honest and admit that I really don’t watch college basketball. Sure I’ll watch a couple minutes of a great game here and there, but by in large I only know the top prospects in the draft from mock drafts and prospect profiles. With that being said, I watched some of the UCLA-Kentucky game and I must say that De’Aaron Fox really impressed me in that game. He dropped 39 points on Lonzo Ball, and also limited Ball to just 10 points on 4–10 shooting (and 4 turnovers). Fox can’t shoot (he shot 24.6 percent on three-pointers this season), but his defense and hustle make him very intriguing.
Christopher: I think the obvious answer here is De’Aaron Fox, who carried the momentum he established in the SEC tournament into Kentucky’s impressive run to the Elite 8. His 39-point outing against UCLA — albeit against poor defense — was a legitimate statement, and the improvements he’s made with his mid-range jumper are incredibly promising in regards to his NBA stock. His quickness alone makes him a difficult cover at any level, but when he’s able to create separation off the dribble and pose a viable threat as a shooter, that ups his potential even more on the offensive end. I’m still nowhere near solid on his outside shooting when taking it beyond the arc — and that’s a big hurdle he’ll have to overcome — but the upside is certainly present, and he showcased that this March. It didn’t move the needle much in regards to his placement on my draft board, but he has an unusually high ceiling for a guy who barely cracks the top 10. It’s one heck of a draft class.
Tom: Being in England, watching the NCAA tournament isn’t easy. Plus, I’m not a big college guy, so I won’t act like I’m an expert. But, from what I’ve seen and prior to the tournament, Josh Jackson has impressed me. Even though his handle needs tightening and there’s a bit of a hitch/inconsistency in his jumper, he can create his own shot, he’s super athletic, he’s got potential to guard every position from 1–3 with his lateral quickness and length, and he looks like a versatile, high caliber NBA wing in the making.
Max: I’m really high on the Kentucky backcourt. I already was eyeing Malik Monk to hopefully slide to my beloved mediocre Charlotte Hornets, but De’Aaron Fox really showed himself to be a special player. That dude just makes plays and quarterbacked that Kentucky team. Combined with Kentucky’s track record for developing guards makes me a believer in both of those guys as steals in the 5–12 range.
3. Devin Booker recently channeled his inner Kobe and dropped 70 points. Of all the rookies and sophomores in the league, which one do you think is most capable of scoring 70 points?
Eric: Even though guards have recently been the players putting up these insane scoring numbers, I’m going to go with a big man: Karl-Anthony Towns. After all, Towns has already scored 47 points in a game this season (to go along with 18 rebounds). Towns is a big man that has great post moves and touch, but he can also extend out to beyond the arc, a skill that is crucial in today’s NBA. Towns is shooting a respectable 35.4 percent on threes this season, making his offensive game more diverse and unstoppable.
Christopher: I’m still waiting for Jamal Murray to get his shot, but until then I’ll have to roll with the only remotely reasonable answer at this stage in the process — Karl-Anthony Towns. This rookie class represented a down year to begin with, and with my top three guys — Murray, Simmons, Ingram — all far from 70-point flamethrowers, there’s not much denying Towns as the clear answer here. It’s obviously more difficult for a big man of Towns’ ilk to rack of 70 than it is for a shooting guard like Booker, and I’m by no means calling it likely, but he’s simply on a different stratosphere than the rest of both this year’s and last year’s classes. D’Angelo Russell might be another guy whose path to getting 70 is a bit more feasible in regards to how he plays the game, but that’d take one special performance from somebody who hasn’t been consistent enough for me to vouch for him ahead of Towns.
Tom: I’m going to go for it and say Karl-Anthony Towns. If he’s matched up against a team with slower bigs that can’t keep up with him off the dribble, he gets hot from three, makes nearly all of his smooth, reliable hook shots and adds a ton of free throws, there’s a chance that KAT could go off more than any other rookie or sophomore due to him having so many methods to score.
Max: I can absolutely envision a night where the Nuggets run Jamal Murray off of countless actions and Jokic acts as maestro, dissecting the defense from his leather chair on the elbows. But I nominate as a close second Buddy Hield, because literally anything is possible in Sacramento right now. Buddy could score 4 or 70 tomorrow.
4. Rudy Gobert and Draymond Green lead a tight race for DPOY. If the season ended today, which big man would you have winning the award?
Eric: This award race, like so many others this season (*cough cough MVP cough cough*) is extremely close. It’s really splitting hairs when deciding between these two great defenders. The advanced numbers paint a similar picture, with Green leading in defensive box plus-minus and being on the better defense, while Gobert leads in defensive win shares and defensive real plus-minus. There really is no right answer here, but because the Jazz still have the third best defense in the league after dealing with countless injuries, I’m going to go with Gobert, who leads the league in many of the defensive metrics.
Christopher: I’ve gone back and forth on this one pretty regularly, but I think Gobert is going to be my answer by the time the end of the season rolls around. It’s so rare that you find a physical specimen of Gobert’s caliber who can impact shots in such a variety of ways around the rim. Virtually every drive down the lane by the opposition is altered in some fashion by Gobert’s presence, whether that’s simply pulling up for a short floater or Gobert sending it into the second row. He makes players change their plans en route to the hoop, and Green — who is by all means an incredibly adept defensive player — can’t claim the same overarching presence. Gobert scares other teams, and that doesn’t come around all that often. He’s the best shot blocker in the league, and every offensive player within 10 feet of him on the floor is very, very aware of that fact.
Tom: The DPOY is a coin flip. It could go either way and I’d be happy with the result. That being said, due to the Warriors’ defense drastically overachieving this season, both before Kevin Durant’s injury and remarkably as the league-leading defense in his absence, and how vital Draymond Green is to that being remotely possible as someone who can protect the rim, quarterback his teammates and guard every position 1–5, he’s my pick.
Max: I think it has to be Draymond. He’d probably already have one if it wasn’t for Leonard Island, but because of the Warriors’ recent stretch shutting down the best teams in their conference WITHOUT Kevin Durant, that pretty much seals it for me. His offense has taken a step back this year, but his defense has somehow been even better with increased responsibility.
