Basketball is not a sport, it's a way of life.

Things That Caught My Eye After the First Five Days of Play

Look, I know you’ve already been assailed by a deluge of articles and podcasts presenting their own cute slant on some version of “early-sample size theater” or “way too early impressions.” Hell, I’ve read and enjoyed several of those pieces myself. So, with the intent of sparing you yet another similarly structured article, I’m going to try to give you a bit deeper look into some things that have piqued my interest while I was mainlining basketball for five straight nights. Of course, all the typical tropes of “small sample” and “too early to assume” apply here as well, but rather than use this as an opportunity to sound prematurely smart, consider this more of a road map for things to watch as we get more data. (Is this just my not-so-thinly-veiled way of basically doing the same thing but packaging it in a wordy facade? Sure. That’s what we do here.)

Jay Can Play

I’m not sure how many of you out there have been locked in on the Grizzlies early this season, but if you haven’t, do yourself a favor and give them a watch. This team is abundant with players and stories. There’s the electric return of one of the game’s most gifted athletes in Ja Morant, the question of how Zach Edey will fit into the modern NBA, and the surprising transformation of Santi Aldama into Kyle Korver. But one of my favorite early stories out of Grind City has been the play of journeyman big Jay Huff.

Huff, a 27-year-old center from Virginia, who had played for four teams by the time he made his 32^nd  NBA appearance in this year’s opener, has been a revelation so far for a Memphis team forced to rely on him more than they expected following early injury issues with Jaren Jackson Jr. Huff has responded to the opportunity by shooting the lights out, making 2.7 threes in just 19 minutes per game, and hitting 57.1% of those attempts. And this isn’t just standard corner or trail threes—Huff comes in ready to shoot and does so with more movement than you’d expect from a player not exactly known for his mobility.

As you can see, Huff is exploiting defenders who sag off him or get caught ball-watching. He is also really smart about floating into open space while teams are getting reset from a scramble.

Shooting was always going to be Huff’s calling card, and the fact that he offers such a stark stylistic counterpoint to Zach Edey—who, to his credit, hit the first three of his career on his first attempt last night against Orlando—works in his favor. Huff catches defenders focused on controlling the paint off guard with his quick release and ability to find open space. Before the defense has time to recalibrate its focus, Huff is firing away. I would fully expect some of the more open looks he’s gotten early to be better defended as defenses start to adjust to the new threat he presents off the Grizzlies’ bench. Still, if Huff can continue to make shots, he looks more than capable of logging good minutes in a backup role for the Grizzlies.

Can Tre Mann Contend For Sixth Man Of The Year?

Much of this depends on health luck for both a player and an organization who hasn’t had much of it of late. Mann, for his part, has averaged just 56 games a season through his first three years and has yet to play more than 67 games in a season. But when he has been able to be on the floor, Mann has proven himself a willing and capable scorer whose Allen Iverson cosplay extends beyond his fashion aesthetic. Mann likes to work with the ball in his hands, utilizing his handle and tough shot-making ability to attack defenders on the perimeter. His 25.3% usage rate ties with LeBron James, and he’s currently taking 56.5% of his shots after three or more dribbles, with the largest percentage (30.4%) coming after seven or more dribbles.

Mann is anything but shy about letting it fly. Among bench players who have appeared in at least two games and played more than 10 minutes per contest, Mann ranks sixth in field goal attempts per 36 minutes at 19.3—fellow early super-sub Buddy Hield leads with 27.0; never change Buddy.

Mann isn’t just an unconscionable gunner though, he’s a professional scorer who is perfectly equipped to provide a jolt of offensive energy off the Hornets’ bench. As of this morning, Mann ranks fifth among all bench scorers in points per game at 18.3 and first in minutes at 28.6. With new head coach Charles Lee importing a similar ethos to his former team in Boston, the Hornets look like a group that’s going to get shots up, ranking fourth in threes attempted per game at 43.7 and 11^th in overall field goals attempted at 90.0. Mann is up to the task, averaging 5.5 more shot attempts per game than at any other point in his career. If the Hornets can find a way to get back to the 40-win range they reached in LaMelo Ball’s last healthy season in ’22, Mann could have a good case for Sixth Man of the Year consideration.

Denver’s Bench Isn’t Even Fools’ Gold

Typically, I would open this with something like, “Stop me if you’ve heard this before.” But we are so far across the Maginot line where belaboring the point is concerned that we are somewhere in Greenland by now. Still, it must be said: This Denver bench unit stinks. Rather than an Achilles heel, they are a phantom limb.

After finishing just 25^th in bench scoring last season and making some decisions in the offseason that further depleted their second unit, Denver’s bench has been woeful out of the gate. The Nuggets are dead last in bench scoring at just 13.5 points per contest, trailing the 29^th-placed Lakers by 6.2 points per game. While some adjustments to the new pieces could be expected and perhaps explain some of the lackluster offense, what is really concerning considering the personnel is the 21.7% from the field that the bench is shooting while connecting on just 1.5 threes per contest—both also last in the league by significant margins.

It's fair to assume that no group can be as bad as Denver’s unit has looked early, but there are just no players on that second group that give you much cause for excitement as the season progresses

Scotty Pippen Jr. Upping His Cerebral Game

One of my favorite developments over the last six months has been the reimagining of Scotty Pippen Jr. as a cerebral point guard. Out of Vanderbilt, Pippen was an undersized scoring guard (listed at just 6’1”) who led the SEC in scoring and was second in field goal attempts in his final college year. As a player with more of a scorer’s mentality, he didn’t profile as a high-IQ performer, but over the last three years, as he’s worked to find a role in the NBA, Pippen Jr. has gradually turned himself into a smart player who excels at doing the little things. I love his understanding of floor spacing and the way he reads when to push the pace offensively and when to throttle down and setup a play. He’s also become an excellent passer, both as an on-ball playmaker and as an intermediary, excelling at making the “read-before-the-read” hockey assist. Yet what I may love most is his use of cutting to take advantage of distracted or overly aggressive defenders.

As you can see, Pippen Jr. feasted on back cuts last night against a Magic defense known for its perimeter pressure. This type of smart play not only gets SPJ an easy bucket but exposes the vulnerabilities in a defense like Orlando’s.

Last season, the Grizzlies’ story was centered on managing an insane number of injuries, but those setbacks allowed players like Pippen Jr. to get valuable reps at the NBA level. He has responded in kind by turning himself into one of the league’s smarter, and potentially more effective, backup point guards. Through three games, Pippen Jr. is averaging 10 points per game and leads all bench players in assists per game at 7.7. Yes, it’s just three games, but what augurs well for this being sustainable is that none of this is surprising for anyone that has watched Pippen Jr.’s growth over the course of the last year.

Cade Cunningham Looking Like An All-Star

The Detroit Pistons and new President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon had one of my favorite offseasons this past summer. Not because I thought they necessarily made the best moves—though I did like several of their additions, including Tobias Harris, despite the overpay—but because Detroit finally addressed their need to surround Cade Cunningham with better perimeter shooting. Additionally, they hired a coach in J.B. Bickerstaff, who is an improvement over Monty Williams merely by the fact that he wanted the job. The combination of these factors, along with the addition of some conspicuous strength, has enabled Cade to look the most aggressive and effective that he has in his young four-year career. Cunningham is averaging career highs in points (27.3), assists (8.0)—good for 12^th and 8^th respectively in the league thus far—and field goal percentage (47.8%). Cunningham is accomplishing these numbers in the service of a Detroit offense that has a far more defined style of play centered around their new additions creating space that allows Cunningham more driving lanes.

Cunningham, who it cannot be overstated how large he looks for a lead guard, has been maneuvering that space to a career-best 19.0 drives per contest, good for 6^th in the NBA this year. But even when he’s not driving, Cunningham’s combination of size, strength, and pace has allowed him to slow down and utilize all the additional spacing by attacking his defender, who has far less help from a secondary defender now that they must honor the shooting ability of his own offensive player.

Here is a perfect example, as Tyrese Haliburton and then Pascal Siakam both want to help, but their concern for Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris creates just enough hesitance and space for Cade to exploit his height advantage over Andrew Nembhard before help gets there too late. Last season, the dig would have arrived earlier from Haliburton.