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    LaMelo Ball Powers a Surging Charlotte Hornets

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    Seeking the team’s first playoff appearance since 2016, Charlotte has gone all-in on a guard who can thrill and frustrate on any given play. It’s working so far.BOSTON — The carnival ride known as LaMelo Ball was slowing to a merciful crawl with 7.3 seconds left on Wednesday when a teammate informed him that he was painfully close to his fourth career triple-double.Ball is the hyperactive force who powers the Charlotte Hornets, and as soon as he learned that he needed one more rebound — just one more! — he cranked up the engine, chased down the final errant shot that the Celtics had tossed up and left for the visiting locker room with his stat sheet officially stuffed.Was that last rebound gratuitous? Sure. Was it really necessary for Ball, by his own admission, to box out his own teammates in pursuit of it? Of course not. Was it a fitting postscript to another entertaining evening courtesy of Ball and the rest of the Hornets, the Eastern Conference’s resident fun bunch? Absolutely.“I enjoy the process with these guys,” James Borrego, the Hornets’ coach, said after his team’s 111-102 victory over the Celtics. “They drive me crazy, and they’re going to put a lot of grays on me. But this is why we do it — just to see that growth.”Many teams in the East have muddled through the first half of the season with mediocre records, a development diplomatically known as parity. The Hornets, though, who are eyeing their first playoff appearance since 2016, are finding some momentum. They share they ball. They run the court. They are learning to defend. They play with style.“Everybody’s playing free,” Ball said.And there is little question that Ball, the N.B.A.’s reigning rookie of the year, is the fresh face of the franchise, and has so much room to grow. That might be the scary part. On Wednesday, he collected 15 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 8 turnovers. It was impossible to know, or even predict, what he would do next. He was not dull.“When Melo’s got the ball, you always got to be looking,” said the Hornets’ Terry Rozier, who had a game-high 28 points, “because if you ain’t looking, he’ll throw it off your head.”In just his second season, Ball is one of the rare players who is impossible to miss, a magnet for attention all the way down to his toes. Against the Celtics, he broke out fluorescent footwear — a green sneaker on his left foot, a pink one on his right — with a design inspired by the animated television series, “Rick and Morty.”And, of course, there was his colorful brand of basketball from the start. He blew past the Celtics’ Dennis Schroder for a layup. He curled a bounce pass through a maze of arms to Mason Plumlee for an uncontested dunk. He elevated for some sort of highly inventive (and arguably ill-advised) 360-degree floater and drew contact, sinking both free throws.The game was only minutes old, and the ball seemed liquid coming off his hands. It was Ball at his mesmerizing best.The Hornets, led by players like Ball, Miles Bridges and Terry Rozier, are 25-20 this season. Winslow Townson/Associated PressThe problem with Ball’s liquid basketball is that even he sometimes has difficulty controlling it. So there he was, heaving a pass the length of the court and out of bounds. And moving his pivot foot for a travel. And dragging a defender to the court after trying an errant 3-pointer. And dribbling the ball off his foot several ZIP codes from the basket.“I have to live with some of that,” Borrego said, adding: “I’ve got to let him be Melo and be creative and live in that improv world. But there’s also got to be some awareness from him, as well: ‘OK, I just tried it. It didn’t work out. Be solid now.’ ”As for Ball, he assessed the turnovers as correctable.“Just little missed passes,” he said. “Not like legit turnovers where you get ripped full-court.”The N.B.A. is populated by some very talented young point guards, a list headlined by two 22-year-olds: Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks and Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies. Doncic is already a two-time All-Star, and Morant has edged his way into the conversation as an outside candidate for the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award.Even so, acclimating to the league’s nightly grind is a process for even the most precocious players, and Ball, 20, is no exception. Before the start of training camp, Borrego identified a few points of emphasis for Ball. Borrego wanted his point guard to improve as a leader, to approach his job as a professional every day. He wanted him to improve as a game manager, to understand time and situation. He also wanted him to improve as a defender, to anticipate rather than react.Ball can sometimes be chaotic, but Coach James Borrego enjoys the complete package. “I have to live with some of that,” Borrego said, adding: “I’ve got to let him be Melo and be creative.”Paul Rutherford/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBall’s jump shot remains a work in progress — he was 5 of 15 from the field against the Celtics, and he has not made more than half his shots in any of his last eight games — though his 3-point shooting has improved since last season. As for the turnovers? Well, Ball has worked to cut down on those, too, a difficult task considering how much he has the ball in his hands.In a way, the Celtics should have been prepared for the Hornets’ up-tempo style, having recently played two other teams — the Chicago Bulls and the New Orleans Pelicans — who rank among the league leaders in fast-break scoring. But the Hornets “take it to another level,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said.On Wednesday, Ball was at the center of it all. In the third quarter, he found Rozier for back-to-back 3-pointers — the second after Ball rebounded his own miss and spotted Rozier behind the arc. Later, with just over two minutes remaining in the game, Ball sank a 3-pointer of his own to essentially seal the win.Before their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, the Hornets have won six of their last seven to improve their record to 25-20. Ball said he had outsize goals, which include “trying to change the culture, bring winning here.”Fun nights? A playoff push? Everything, including one more rebound, seems within reach. More

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      N.B.A. Eastern Conference Preview: The Bucks Aren't Finished Yet

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      The Bucks might be better, while the Sixers and Nets are playing wait-and-see with key stars. The Eastern Conference could play out in several ways.Here lie the N.B.A.’s most compelling story lines.Potential contenders in the Eastern Conference scrambled during the off-season to assemble teams fit to knock off Giannis Antetokounmpo — now with a new, improved jump shot? — and the reigning N.B.A. champion Milwaukee Bucks. Even the conference’s perennial bottom feeders built rosters that will demand attention from basketball devotees. Some teams are just hoping that distractions don’t derail their seasons before they start.Many wonder how the Ben Simmons situation in Philadelphia will end. The 76ers seemed locked in a stalemate with Simmons, a three-time All-Star, who has wanted to be traded for months. Simmons ended his holdout midway through the preseason and reported to the team but has not played. The 76ers have said they want him on their roster, but if they persuade him to stay, can they really go forward with business as usual?Meanwhile, the Nets have a bona fide championship roster. They know this, and even with the distraction of Kyrie Irving’s murky status because he’s not vaccinated, they expect to hoist the Larry O’Brien championship trophy at season’s end.Could the N.B.A.’s balance of power, which has long rested in the West, be shifting to the East? Here’s a look at how the Eastern Conference shapes up this season.Miami HeatIn some ways, it seems so long ago. But little more than a year has passed since the Heat plowed their way to the 2020 finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. Was it a fluke, aided by playing under the unusual conditions of a bubble environment, with no fans? The Heat were up and down last season before the Milwaukee Bucks ejected them from the 2021 playoffs in a lopsided first-round series.Jimmy Butler needs to be efficient. Duncan Robinson needs to be consistent. Tyler Herro needs to recapture his assertiveness. And Bam Adebayo needs to keep making the sort of strides that have pushed him toward becoming a perennial All-Star.The team should benefit from two additions: Kyle Lowry, who at 35 left the Raptors after nine seasons, and P.J. Tucker, who helped the Bucks win the championship last season.Philadelphia 76ersThe Sixers don’t need Ben Simmons to be competitive (they do have Joel Embiid, pictured), but they are better with him.Matt Slocum/Associated PressBen Simmons is, for now, back in the City of Brotherly Love.Simmons, who reportedly demanded a trade in late August and missed training camp, reported to the 76ers ahead of their third preseason game but did not play. Simmons’s future in Philadelphia remains unclear, though. He still has four years left on his maximum contract.With or without him, Philadelphia is antsy to win now. Joel Embiid is coming off the best season of his career, when he finished second in the voting for the Most Valuable Player Award. The 76ers were the No. 1 seed in last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs but collapsed in the semifinals, continuing their inability to turn regular-season wins into deep postseason success.Philadelphia is a better team with Simmons, 25, despite his offensive shortcomings. But even if he doesn’t play anytime soon, Embiid, Seth Curry, Danny Green and Tobias Harris should be experienced enough to keep the Sixers in contention.New York KnicksThe Knicks doubled down on last season’s roster, which unexpectedly made the playoffs then flamed out — albeit after a brilliant flare — in the first round. The veterans Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson are back, but Elfrid Payton, who triggered an influx of gray hairs for fans, is not. The additions of Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker are significant, and should help take the offensive load off RJ Barrett and Julius Randle, who signed a four-year contract extension in the off-season.This feels like a make-or-break year for the 23-year-old Mitchell Robinson, the center who is up for an extension and can jump through the roof. At his best, he protects the rim and is an excellent roll man. But he has had difficulty staying healthy. Look for bigger roles for Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin, who each showed promise off the bench as rookies last season.The Knicks should easily make the playoffs, but their bench depth is a question mark.Milwaukee BucksThe Bucks kept the band together. Same coach. Same star. Same core — mostly. And why not? Fresh off their first championship since 1971, the Bucks seem poised for a title defense.The challenge could be fatigue. Because of the pandemic, their postseason run stretched into July, and two starters — Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday — helped the U.S. Olympic team win gold in August. The Bucks also lost P.J. Tucker, invaluable in the late stages of last season, to the Heat in free agency.But Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time M.V.P., is still the face of the franchise and the proud owner of a newly minted championship ring. And he may be better than ever, showing off an improved jump shot in the preseason. With a contract that runs through the 2025-26 season, he is not going anywhere anytime soon.Atlanta HawksAtlanta guard Trae Young led the Hawks on a surprising run through the first two rounds of the playoffs last season.Brett Davis/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAfter a surprising run to the Eastern Conference finals last year, the Hawks enter the season with the burden of expectations and the benefit of continuity. This team is deep and should compete to be one of the best in the East.Most of the key players are back. The Hawks locked in their two best players, Trae Young and John Collins, with long-term extensions. Coach Nate McMillan will be running the team from opening night, as opposed to being thrust into the job midseason as he was during the last campaign after Lloyd Pierce was fired.Atlanta almost pulled off a miracle run to the N.B.A. finals last season, after taking down the Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers, but were bedeviled by injuries against the eventual champions, the Milwaukee Bucks. Players who were unavailable or not 100 percent, like De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Bogdan Bogdanovic, are expected to start the season with clean bills of health. The Hawks also added some quality veteran bench pieces in Gorgui Dieng and Delon Wright, and an intriguing rookie they drafted late in this year’s first round, Jalen Johnson.Charlotte HornetsLaMelo Ball, last season’s rookie of the year, highlights Charlotte’s promising young core. He’ll likely be the Hornets’ primary facilitator and already has great court vision and playmaking ability, and he is continuing to improve his jump shot.Ball and forward Miles Bridges in the pick-and-roll were elite last season, with Bridges’s power at the basket and Ball’s precise lob placement on display. That pairing should only be better this season.The Hornets already had solid veterans in Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward, and they added Kelly Oubre Jr. and Mason Plumlee. Oubre is an inconsistent shooter, but could be impactful in transition. Plumlee is a versatile big man.This group won’t be knocking at the door of the N.B.A. finals this season, but the Hornets will be a fun team to watch, and have a real chance at a playoff berth.Brooklyn NetsWith the addition of Patty Mills and Paul Millsap, as well as the return of Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Nets, on paper, are one of the best teams in N.B.A. history. In normal circumstances, they would be title favorites, given their Big Three of Kyrie Irving, James Harden and Kevin Durant. But that was the case last year too, and the Nets bowed out in the second round of the playoffs.Health will be the principle factor for determining how far the Nets go. All of the Nets’ top players have significant miles on their legs and have missed substantial time in recent years.If there is a potentially weak point for other teams to exploit, it is defensively, where the Nets struggled last season, and their off-season additions didn’t seriously address that. This could come back to bite them in the postseason, particularly in the frontcourt against players like Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who scored at will during last year’s playoffs, or Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.But the offensive firepower is top notch. It’s hard to see the Nets being beaten in a seven-game series if they’re healthy.Chicago BullsDeMar DeRozan gives the new-look Chicago Bulls a threat from the mid-range.Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports, via ReutersChicago could be a sneaky-good team this season.Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations, voiced displeasure with the team’s 31-41 record shortly after last season. Since then, he’s added DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Tony Bradley to a roster with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, whom Chicago acquired from Orlando at the March trade deadline.DeRozan is lethal in the midrange, but some have questioned how he’ll fit with LaVine, as both players are most effective with the ball in their hands. Chicago will have an upgrade at point guard with Ball, who is a deft passer. And Caruso will add a rugged spark off the bench. Coach Billy Donovan will have to figure out how they all fit on the court.In any event, Michael Jordan said that with the changes the Bulls made, they could compete in the East. How long has it been since those words were last spoken?Toronto RaptorsIt’s a new era in Toronto basketball. Kyle Lowry, perhaps the most lauded Raptor in franchise history, has gone to Miami. Without him, the Raptors are likely stuck between being too talented to get a top draft pick and not being so good that they’ll contend for a top seed in the conference.But there may be an opening for Toronto in the turbulent East: Scottie Barnes, whom the team surprisingly drafted at No. 4 this year, showed potential in the preseason. And the Raptors’ frontcourt, helmed by Chris Boucher and the newly acquired Precious Achiuwa, will be a force.There are lots of questions for the Raptors entering the season: Is Pascal Siakam, who is expected to miss the start of the season as he recovers from shoulder surgery, a true franchise cornerstone? Will Lowry’s replacement at guard, the 35-year-old Goran Dragic, last the season in Toronto? Or will Masai Ujiri, the Raptors head of basketball operations, flip Dragic’s expiring contract?Detroit PistonsYou’d be hard pressed to find any Pistons fans who haven’t already crowned the rookie guard Cade Cunningham as their Magic Johnson. Johnson, of course, won an N.B.A. title as a rookie after the Lakers drafted him No. 1 overall in 1979.Detroit drafted Cunningham, a savvy scorer and shot creator, No. 1 overall earlier this year to hopefully lift itself out of years of irrelevancy. An ankle injury sidelined him in the preseason, and the team is being cautious.Detroit’s young group showed promise last season, despite finishing with the worst record in the East, but the Pistons are another team in rebuilding mode. Coach Dwane Casey has said that this season’s goal is to earn a spot in the postseason play-in tournament.Cleveland CavaliersOnly someone like LeBron James could render an entire franchise into an afterthought. But that was what he effectively did when he departed the Cavaliers for the glamour of Hollywood in 2018, leaving them to rummage through the wilderness without him. The Cavaliers instantly went from title contender to lightweight, though the team has some up-and-comers — highlighted by Collin Sexton and Darius Garland in the backcourt — who are cause for cautious optimism.None of this is to suggest that the Cavaliers will come anywhere close to sniffing the playoffs. But a slow, steady rebuild — augmented by smart draft picks — is the way back to respectability. And there is more good news: Kevin Love (remember him?) has just two seasons remaining on his gargantuan deal, which could make him a more appealing target on the trade market.Boston CelticsJayson Tatum has shown promise with Boston, but postseason success has so far eluded him.Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFrom the start of training camp, Ime Udoka, the Celtics’ first-year coach, has had a particular emphasis: ball movement. He does not want the ball to stick. He wants his players to work together to generate the best shots.This must have been welcome news to fans who got tired of watching the Celtics’ offense devolve into isolation sets last season. Jayson Tatum, 23, and Jaylen Brown, who will turn 25 this month, form one of the most talented young tandems in the league, but fulfilling their promise in the postseason has so far eluded them.Perhaps Udoka can help them deliver. He replaced Brad Stevens, who moved to the front office after a posting .500 record and losing in the first round of the playoffs in his eighth season as the team’s coach.Washington WizardsWes Unseld Jr., Washington’s new head coach, has a tall task ahead of him.The Wizards are not a championship-caliber team, even after adding solid veterans like Spencer Dinwiddie, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell. So this season will be mostly about persuading Bradley Beal, who can become a free agent next summer, to make a long-term commitment to the franchise.It’s hard to win without multiple elite playmakers, and the Wizards have just one in Beal after trading Russell Westbrook to the Los Angeles Lakers. But even in a yet another bridge year, the Wizards should, at the very least, have a playoff team. They’ll have the promising center Thomas Bryant back from injury, and the team can hope for some growth from its last two lottery picks, Deni Avdija (2020) and Rui Hachimura (2019).Orlando MagicThe Magic have a young team with a first-year head coach in Jamahl Mosley. They’ve made just two playoff appearances in the past nine seasons, and traded away their best players, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic, in the middle of last season. Then they landed Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs at No. 5 in this year’s draft.Suggs joined a roster that is crowded at guard, with Markelle Fultz, who will return from a knee injury, RJ Hampton, Terrence Ross, Cole Anthony and Gary Harris. Suggs probably has the highest ceiling of those players, though, and he was solid in the summer league before injuring his thumb.The Magic will not be legitimate contenders for a while, so they have plenty of time to sort out their roster.Indiana PacersRick Carlisle, back for his second stint with the Pacers, is the team’s third coach in three seasons. Indiana could use some stability to help develop a young core that includes Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, already a two-time All-Star at 25.But the Pacers, who have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2014, are coming off a 34-38 season, and Caris LeVert is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his back.Carlisle coached the Pacers for four seasons, from 2003 to 2007, while guiding them to three postseason appearances. It will take some hard work to get them there again. More

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      Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball Named N.B.A.’s Rookie of the Year

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      Ball, 19, made the Hornets one of the most exciting teams to watch during the regular season.LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets won the N.B.A.’s Rookie of the Year Award on Wednesday, joining Larry Johnson and Emeka Okafor as players in the franchise’s history to receive the honor.Ball, who before this season bypassed college ball to play professionally in Australia and had a stint in Lithuania while still in high school, received 84 of 99 first-place votes to beat out Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards despite Edwards’s second-half surge. Tyrese Haliburton of the Sacramento Kings finished third.Selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2020 draft, Ball moved into Charlotte’s starting lineup in the 21st game of the season and, in tandem with the former All-Star Gordon Hayward and guard Terry Rozier, unexpectedly led the Hornets into contention for a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference. That push was derailed by a fractured right wrist Ball sustained on March 20 that forced him to miss 21 games, and Hayward was knocked out of the lineup on April 2 by a sprained right foot that sidelined him for the rest of the season.Ball, who turns 20 in August, averaged 15.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. He also shot a respectable 43.6 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from 3-point range, after worrisome showings in both categories in the preseason (26.2 percent shooting overall and 27.3 percent on 3s in four games) amplified skepticism about his shooting ability as he made the transition to the N.B.A.Most of all, Ball has come to be known for his court vision and passing, especially as he regularly connected with Miles Bridges for alley oops and long-range assists.The Hornets’ chance to draft Ball arose only because they fortuitously moved up to No. 3 in the draft lottery from their No. 8 projection. After Charlotte landed a top-three pick, word began to spread in league circles that Michael Jordan, the Hornets’ majority owner, was a Ball fan.“He’s got a long way to go, but he’s got a chance to be a heck of a player,” Mitch Kupchak, Charlotte’s president of basketball operations, said of Ball in a phone interview with The New York Times recently.Ball was a runaway favorite to win the award before the wrist injury, which the Hornets initially feared would be season-ending. He returned to play in Charlotte’s final 10 regular-season games but, with Hayward still sidelined, could not prevent Charlotte’s lopsided loss at Indiana in a playoff play-in game after the Hornets had finished with the East’s 10th best record.Edwards, who also turns 20 in August, quickly gained a reputation for highlight-reel dunks after the Timberwolves selected him with last year’s No. 1 overall pick. He made the awards race closer than anticipated with his strong play while Ball was injured. Edwards averaged 23.8 points per game and shot 45.4 percent from the field during the season’s second half, helping Minnesota go 16-20 after a treacherous 7-29 start.Ball’s comeback enabled him to play in 71 percent of Charlotte’s games. Had he not made it back from injury, Ball would have appeared in only 57 percent of Charlotte’s games — a lower percentage than anyone who had gone on to be named rookie of the year. Patrick Ewing’s 60 percent (50 out of 82 games) for the Knicks in the 1985-86 season stands as the lowest.Johnson won rookie of the year honors for the Hornets in 1992, and Okafor won in 2005 when the franchise was known as the Bobcats. Recent winners of the award include Ja Morant (2020) of the Memphis Grizzlies, Luka Doncic (2019) of the Dallas Mavericks and Ben Simmons (2018) of the Philadelphia 76ers.Ball and his brother Lonzo Ball, who was drafted No. 2 overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017 and now plays for the New Orleans Pelicans, are the first brothers in N.B.A. history to both be selected among the top three picks. More

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      N.B.A. Awards Picks: Why Stephen Curry Could Win M.V.P.

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      Denver’s Nikola Jokic separated himself early with historic play. Then Curry, who has won two Most Valuable Player Awards with Golden State, went on a historic run of his own.The N.B.A.’s 75th season began on Dec. 22 — and the chatter about individual award races began soon after. Some things, even in pandemic times, never change in this league.The New York Times does not participate in balloting for such awards in any sport, but breaking down each of the six major races and who I would have chosen is always a good way to take stock of what we just saw.Most Valuable PlayerDenver’s Nikola Jokic increased his scoring average by nearly 7 points per game from last season.David Zalubowski/Associated PressNikola Jokic, Denver NuggetsRest of the ballot: 2. Stephen Curry (Golden State); 3. Chris Paul (Phoenix); 4. Joel Embiid (Philadelphia); 5. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee).Preseason prediction: Luka Doncic (Dallas)Jokic averaged 26.4 points, 10.8 rebounds, 8.3 assists per game and shot 38.8 percent on 3-pointers to deliver dreamlike statistical diversity for a big man, and rightfully ranked as the M.V.P. favorite for some time. He was also one of just 11 players this season to appear in all 72 games, dodging the injury hex and coronavirus intrusions that affected so many fellow stars, including the Nuggets’ Jamal Murray, in a season rife with postponements and challenges.With Embiid missing 21 games, and Paul having a dramatic impact on a team that had missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons but without the accompaniment of gaudy statistics, Jokic appeared well positioned to become the lowest-drafted (No. 41 overall in 2014) M.V.P. in league history.Then, in the season’s final days, I and many others got swept up in Curry’s remarkable ride to a scoring title (32 points per game) that made him the oldest player, at 33, to win one since Michael Jordan at 35 in 1997-98. Without the injured Klay Thompson on an otherwise offensively challenged team, Curry was swarmed by defenses like never before but still managed to sink a league-best 337 3-pointers and lead the Warriors to a 37-26 record (equal to a 48-win pace in a typical 82-game season) when in uniform.If he prevails in the real-life M.V.P. race, Curry would be just the second player since Moses Malone in 1981-82 to win the award on a team that fell shy of 50 wins (or the shortened-season equivalent). Russell Westbrook was the last to do it in 2016-17, when he averaged a triple-double for the first time for 47-win Oklahoma City. Chances are Curry won’t finish higher than second because of Golden State’s struggles, but this race is as complex and layered as the season itself.The list of worthy candidates is so long that Doncic, Portland’s Damian Lillard, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, Miami’s Jimmy Butler, Utah’s Rudy Gobert and the Knicks’ Julius Randle are bound to be left off many ballots since there are only five openings.Coach of the YearTom Thibodeau turned the Knicks into a defensive force in his first season as coach.Gerald Herbert/Associated PressTom Thibodeau, KnicksRest of the ballot: 2. Monty Williams (Phoenix); 3. Quin Snyder (Utah)Preseason prediction: Steve Nash, NetsPhiladelphia was the East’s No. 6 seed last season. The 76ers hired Doc Rivers as their head coach and, with a few notable roster tweaks, posted the best record in the conference for the first time since the Allen Iverson-led Sixers did so in 2000-1.Rivers isn’t the only one responsible for Philadelphia’s rise, but the utter lack of buzz he is generating in this season’s coach of the year race shows the depth of the field. Thibodeau, Williams and Snyder all have tremendous cases, with Williams named on Monday as the National Basketball Coaches Association coach of the year in balloting by his peers.I expect Thibodeau to (narrowly) beat Williams in the news media vote after achieving one of the hardest things in coaching in Year 1 at Madison Square Garden — changing the Knicks’ culture with his relentless drive and attention to defensive detail. Thibodeau backers like to amplify their support by pointing out how much the Knicks overachieved with such a star-shy roster, finishing fourth in the East, but Williams’ bid shouldn’t be downgraded, as some say, because he could lean so hard on Chris Paul. I contend that it strengthens Williams’s bid that his presence helped persuade Paul to push to be traded to Phoenix from Oklahoma City, rather than to the Knicks, so that he could reunite with Williams, who coached him in New Orleans.There isn’t even room on the three-spot ballot to recognize the jobs done by Rivers, Memphis’s Taylor Jenkins, Atlanta’s Nate McMillan and Nash, who had his three best Nets (Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving) together on the floor for a whopping 202 minutes in his first year.Rookie of the YearLaMelo Ball helped solidify his case for the Rookie of the Year Award when he returned for the final 10 games of the season after breaking his wrist.Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesLaMelo Ball, Charlotte HornetsRest of the ballot: 2. Anthony Edwards (Minnesota); 3. Tyrese Haliburton (Sacramento)Preseason prediction: Deni Avdija (Washington)Ball’s all-around play, for a team that unexpectedly contended for a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference until losing Gordon Hayward to injury, was the clincher. He averaged 15.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game and, amid great skepticism regarding his shooting stroke, proved passable from the field (43.6 percent) and 3-point range (35.2 percent).Ball then addressed the biggest hole in his résumé by returning from fracturing his right wrist on March 20 to play in Charlotte’s last 10 games, ultimately taking part in 71 percent of the Hornets’ season. Had he not returned, Ball would have played in only 57 percent of Charlotte’s games, which would have been the lowest availability rate ever for a rookie of the year. Patrick Ewing’s 60 percent (50 out of 82 games) for the Knicks in the 1985-86 season is the lowest.The extra games can only help Ball in his bid to hold off Edwards. In the second half of the season, when the Timberwolves went 16-20 after a dreadful a 7-29 start, Edwards averaged 23.8 points per game and shot 45.4 percent from the field, inspiring loud support from fans who felt Ball was prematurely anointed the winner.Most Improved PlayerJulius Randle became a solid 3-point shooter in his seventh season.Pool photo by ElsaJulius Randle, KnicksRest of the ballot: 2. Michael Porter Jr. (Denver); 3. Jerami Grant (Detroit)Preseason prediction: Christian Wood (Houston)This is our one layup. Randle is unlikely to receive enough All-N.B.A. or M.V.P. votes to satiate rabid fans who suddenly see him as Knicks royalty, but he should be a runaway M.I.P. selection. He and Jokic were the only players to amass at least 1,600 points, 700 rebounds and 400 assists this season.As covered in our recent piece on Randle, his jump to 41.1 percent on 3-pointers this season from 27.7 percent in 2019-20 — in his seventh pro season — has no N.B.A. precedent. Randle has likewise flourished as a playmaker whose decision-making and versatility have lifted those around him and enabled the Knicks to be just functional enough offensively to make the most of their fourth-ranked defense.Porter Jr., Grant, Wood and Dallas’s Jalen Brunson made telling leaps, too, but the Knicks could have not have become as unexpectedly viable as they did if Randle didn’t first transform himself so dramatically.Sixth Man AwardJoe Ingles gets the edge in an unexpectedly tight, and packed, race for the Sixth Man of the Year Award.Randall Benton/Associated PressJoe Ingles, Utah JazzRest of the ballot: 2. Jordan Clarkson (Utah); 3. Derrick Rose (Knicks)Preseason prediction: Caris LeVert (Indiana; began the season as a Nets reserve)In yet another anomaly in a season oozing with oddities, Utah (Clarkson and Ingles) and Dallas (Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jalen Brunson) each have two top reserves — possibly the four best reserves beyond Rose — to make settling on a top three trickier than usual.Clarkson averaged a heady 18.4 points per game, but Ingles nudged into my top spot because of his combination of excellent shooting (48.9 percent from the field and 45.1 percent on 3-pointers), offensive versatility and success as a fill-in starter when Utah faced injuries.Rather than trying to choose between the two Mavericks for one remaining spot, I went with Rose at No. 3 in a nod to the Knicks’ 24-11 record with Rose in uniform after acquiring him from Detroit. That also gave him the edge over the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma, Chicago’s Thaddeus Young and Indiana’s T.J. McConnell.Defensive Player of the YearThe Jazz needed Rudy Gobert’s defense this year to offset the reduced firepower in the offense because of injuries.George Frey/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRudy Gobert (Utah)Rest of the ballot: 2. Draymond Green (Golden State); 3. Ben Simmons (Philadelphia)Preseason prediction: Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers)Perhaps I am falling prey to recency bias, but I can’t remember a season when even the D.P.O.Y. ballot was teeming with this many options. Maybe it’s a function of how much attention league observers and curators of advanced statistics are paying to defensive matters these days, judging by the lobbying in recent weeks for Green, Simmons, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Atlanta’s Clint Capela and Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday.Yet this, once again, is Gobert’s domain; look for him to be named D.P.O.Y. for the third time in four seasons. While Coach Quin Snyder was revamping the Jazz’s offense to commit more to 3-point shooting, Gobert kept them in the league’s top three in defensive efficiency.He also missed only one game in a season in which Utah, because of long stretches without Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley, needed his durability to finish with the best record in the league for the first time.The Scoop @TheSteinLineThis newsletter is OUR newsletter. So please weigh in with what you’d like to see here. To get your hoops-loving friends and family involved, please forward this email to them so they can jump in the conversation. If you’re not a subscriber, you can sign up here.Corner ThreeRobert Horry hit a clutch 3-pointer for the Spurs against the Pistons in Game 5 of the 2005 N.B.A. finals.Ronald Martinez/Getty ImagesYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.(Questions may be condensed or lightly edited for clarity.)Q: Good player, many clutch moments, seems like an awesome guy — and incredibly fortunate to have played with great players and for great coaches. All that can be true, while still recognizing that Robert Horry is not a Hall of Fame player. — @MikeMcCullochAZ from TwitterStein: During his Hall of Fame induction on Saturday night, the longtime Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich lobbied for Robert Horry’s enshrinement. I posted Rudy T’s plea on Twitter and there was no shortage of resistance to the idea, because Horry averaged just 7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in his 16 N.B.A. seasons.Horry’s case, though, cannot be so readily dismissed. He amassed seven N.B.A. championship rings, with three franchises, as one of the finest role players in league history. Those who played with and coached him, like Tomjanovich, insist that he delivered so much more than the two mammoth 3-pointers he is best known for, which essentially made two of those titles possible: a buzzer-beater for the Lakers in Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference finals against the Sacramento Kings that kept Los Angeles from a presumably fatal 3-1 series deficit; and a 3-pointer for the San Antonio Spurs in overtime of Game 5 of the 2005 N.B.A. finals to seal a series-turning victory against Detroit.After that masterpiece against the Pistons, I wrote a column proclaiming Horry to be the No. 1 role player in league history. He hadn’t scored in the first half but finished with 21 points, mitigating the damage from the six consecutive free throws that Tim Duncan, who just entered the Hall of Fame alongside Tomjanovich, clanked in the fourth quarter.Almost every year, there’s a discussion about how Rajon Rondo becomes Playoff Rondo after sleepy regular seasons. Although he has his own catchy moniker, Big Shot Rob, Horry was Playoff Rondo years before anyone was clever enough to use a nickname to spotlight the tendency. In 1994-95, he averaged 10.2 points per game during the regular season but 17.8 points and 10 rebounds per game in Houston’s four-game finals sweep of Shaquille O’Neal’s Orlando Magic.Ben Wallace, announced on Sunday as a member of the Hall’s 2021 class, won the Defensive Player of the Year Award four times but was passed over for induction until his fifth year of eligibility, likely because of his minuscule career scoring average of 5.7 points per game. Apart from a spot on the 1992-93 all-rookie team, Horry’s Basketball Reference page is far more barren than Wallace’s when it comes to individual honors. Perhaps he will never overcome the pedestrian nature of his career statistics to get that Hall of Fame call, but know this: Tomjanovich is far from the only one of Horry’s former colleagues who thinks he belongs in Springfield.Q: If more than one team finishes the season with the same record, do they have the same odds in the draft lottery? For example: If four teams tied with the league’s worst record, would they all have the same odds to land the No. 1 overall pick? — Chezky Krasner (Jerusalem, Israel)Stein: No. The league conducts tiebreakers, via a drawing overseen by a representative from Ernst & Young, when teams finish with identical records. The winner of the tiebreaker gets the higher draft pick or the higher placement in the lottery standings. The draft is July 29.There are several ties that the league will need to break in this manner, most crucially between Cleveland (22-50) and Oklahoma City (22-50) to see which team will have the fourth- and fifth-highest odds in the June 22 draft lottery. The Cavaliers and the Thunder will each get 115 number combinations, with one chosen at random to break the tie.Also to be decided in tiebreakers that are scheduled for May 25:Chicago (which owes its first-round pick to Orlando as part of the Nikola Vucevic trade) finished in a three-way tie for the No. 8 overall selection with New Orleans and Sacramento at 31-41.Charlotte and San Antonio (33-39) will have a tiebreaker draw if both teams lose this week in the play-in tournament.The Knicks and Atlanta (41-31) will need a tiebreaker to determine the Nos. 19 and 20 picks.There is a three-way tie for the No. 21 draft slot between the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland (which owes its first-round pick to Houston as part of the Robert Covington trade) and Dallas (which owes its first-rounder to the Knicks as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade).Denver and the Los Angeles Clippers (47-25) will need a tiebreaker to determine the Nos. 25 and 26.Q: Your recent commentary on the play-in round almost persuaded me, but I can’t help but be very sympathetic to No. 7 teams whose records are quite a bit better than the other teams in the play-in round. Your point about how No. 7 seeds don’t win N.B.A. championships doesn’t change the fact that fans of those teams deserve to see their teams in the playoffs even if they have minimal hope of winning it all. — Simon Rosenblum (Toronto)Stein: This is a common retort to those, like me, who love the play-in concept. It’s an eye-of-the-beholder thing, but I just don’t see the No. 7 seed in either conference as some sacred thing we have to protect.The No. 7 seed, even in a scenario like you describe with a record far superior to Nos. 8 to 10, gets two chances to win one play-in game to claim a playoff spot. The system still skews heavily in No. 7’s favor, while also making the regular season infinitely more interesting and competitive as teams strain to finish no lower than No. 6.As for this season, injuries are the only reason that the defending champion Lakers slipped to No. 7. Anthony Davis missed 36 games, and LeBron James missed 27 after the shortest off-season (71 days) in N.B.A. history. I expect no one outside of Phoenix will pick the Suns, one of just two 50-win teams in this 72-game season, to beat the Lakers in the first round if the Lakers beat Golden State on Wednesday to get the seventh seed.Judging by what the oddsmakers in Las Vegas are saying, they will be the scariest No. 7 seed in N.B.A. history, rather than a team at risk for an unjust early exit this week. Only the Nets have shorter championship odds.Numbers GameHaving fewer fans may have contributed to home teams’ increased losses this season.Christian Petersen/Getty Images54.4Home teams won 54.4 percent of the time this season, going 293-247 (.543) in the East and 294-246 (.544) in the West. It’s the lowest success rate for home teams in league history, dipping below last season’s 55.1 percent.8This was the eighth consecutive season in which home teams won less than 60 percent of the time, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.84The empty arenas and reduced crowds mandated by league health and safety restrictions have been regularly cited as contributing factors in the further erosion of home-court advantage this season. But as the season progressed, home teams gradually got better at dealing with the baseball-style series in which teams hosted the same opponent in two consecutive games to reduce travel.Home teams won both games 27 times in 84 such series, lost both games 16 times and settled for a split 41 times, according to Ben Falk of Cleaning the Glass. Of the 41 splits, home teams won the first game and lost the second 17 times, and won the second game after losing the first 24 times. Additional time in one city and the increased familiarity resulting from two consecutive games against the same foe were expected to greatly help visiting teams in this scenario.2Two teams posted a losing record at home and a winning record on the road: Indiana (13-23 at home; 21-15 on the road) and San Antonio (14-22 at home; 19-17 on the road). Memphis nearly joined them but rallied to win its last four games at FedEx Forum to finish 18-18 at home compared to 20-16 on the road. The Toronto Raptors, in their temporary home in Tampa, Fla., because of Canada’s pandemic restrictions, were in a category by themselves. They were 16-20 in Tampa, and 11-25 on the road.27-11Phoenix fell one game shy of the league’s best record, going 51-21 to Utah’s 52-20, but the Suns went 27-11 against .500-or-better opposition to lead the league. Seven other teams had winning records against .500-or-better foes: Utah (24-14), the Nets (23-13), Dallas (22-16), Denver (21-17), the Los Angeles Clippers (21-17), Philadelphia (19-17) and Milwaukee (19-17).Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. More

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      LaMelo Ball Talks Wild Passes, Rookie of the Year and ‘Space Jam’

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      Ball, the Charlotte Hornets guard, is one of the season’s standout players, and not just among rookies. The secret to his shot? “Just shoot it with confidence.”A fractured wrist is about the only thing that has stopped Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball. The injury cut 21 games from his rookie season. He recently picked up where he left off, lobbing a nearly full-court, pinpoint underhand pass in his first game back, against the Detroit Pistons.At just 19, Ball has long been a celebrity, even before making his N.B.A. debut. Steered by his father, LaVar Ball, he was playing professional basketball overseas and starring in reality shows when most teenagers were focused on prom. His oldest brother, Lonzo, helped pave the road by spending a season at U.C.L.A. before becoming the second overall pick of the 2017 N.B.A. draft.Now in the N.B.A. as well, LaMelo Ball has proved worthy of the commotion. His Hornets are in the chase to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2015-16. He is averaging 16 points, 6.2 assists and 5.8 rebounds a game, and has come to be known for his passing and joyful play.Though much has been written and said about him, Ball doesn’t say much. So The New York Times sat down with him, in a video chat, to ask him about his game, his life off the court and those wild passes he makes to Miles Bridges.This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.At what age do you think you could have reasonably competed in the N.B.A.?Reasonably competed? I would say, my thought process, I was 14 at the time when I thought I could have been.Your father has drawn a lot of headlines over the years. What types of lessons have you learned from your mother, Tina?Pretty much just everyday life stuff growing up: how to treat people right, how to go on with your day, have respect for people. Just all the stuff you need to get through life, for real, and just be who you are.LaMelo Ball said his favorite pass was one he made to his oldest brother, Lonzo, when they were younger.Nell Redmond/USA Today Sports, via ReutersDo you have a favorite pass that you’ve made?Yeah, probably a long time ago. One of my friends passed away and we had a game and then my brother [Lonzo Ball] just went for a lob. And I remember he was playing that game real hard because his man had just passed. So I was at halfcourt, he act like he was going to draw a play, and I just threw it like this with my left from halfcourt. And it was a lob, and he caught that, cocked it back, it was over. That was A.A.U., so it was hard.Your coach, James Borrego, was a longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant and recently said your game reminded him of Manu Ginobili’s. What do you think of that comparison?I don’t really do too much on the comparisons. I like to compare myself to myself pretty much. But I think I know why he did that one. I know he loves that Spurs team. So probably that’s a good answer for him, I guess.If you had gone to college, where would you have played?At first, I was going to U.C.L.A., and then they went to Under Armour or something. I decommitted. I was going to go to U.S.C., though. For sure, would have been up there.What’s your favorite color?Orange.Favorite movie?I’m hoping it’s going to be this “Space Jam” 2, because I follow “Space Jam” 1 heavy. So, yeah, “Space Jam” 2 looks dope.Ball said he was looking forward to the “Space Jam” sequel starring LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers that is coming out later this year.Harry How/Getty ImagesFirst song that really caught your attention growing up?First one that I really liked? Honestly, I don’t even know, but just thinking back that far, type of music that my pops had playing. It definitely probably would be like a Lil Wayne song or a DMX. He always had that on.Morning person or night person?Definitely night.Is there a country left that you’d still like to most visit?Even when I was traveling, I ain’t ever even keep up. I just live in the moment. It’s wherever I’m at, I’m at. That’s how that goes.When you’re coming down the court with the ball, do you feel like the game is in slow motion for you?It’s just how I played basketball my whole life. So I was coming down when I was 3, same how I feel at 19.How often do you see a pass that’s there and you can make it, but you don’t because you’re not sure that the recipient is ready for it?That’s just where the chemistry comes. The more you play with me, the more you start understanding. That’s just all where that comes from. It’s honestly just our first year, whole team coming together. First time ever playing together. So I feel like it’s going well, but once you like really get to know me, then you’re going to know all the little passes and stuff like that.The combination of Miles Bridges, rear, and Ball has made for some heart-stopping alley-oops.Nell Redmond/Associated PressBall is averaging a team-leading 6.2 assists per game.Nell Redmond/Associated PressHave you ever tossed the ball to Miles Bridges higher on purpose, just to see how high he can go?Never on purpose, just wherever I feel like it needs to be.The secret to shooting a perfect floater?Just to shoot it with confidence.You’ve said that you try to learn at least one new thing every day. Where does that mind-set come from?Just being me. I mean, it’s something I grew up trying to do every day. My pops always says, “It’s always room for improvement.” You can learn every day and always just take something from somebody else and learn. You could take a negative and turn it into a positive or a worse situation and always just get something out of it.Was obtaining the Rookie of the Year Award a goal for you entering this season?Nah, not really. I ain’t really look at it as a goal. I just knew I was going to go out there, just had to be me. And if chips fall where they fall, you get the rookie of the year or you don’t. You still just got to play, though. It’s more of a team game. I’m trying to go to the playoffs, trying to go on a deep run, stuff like that.Ball missed 21 games after breaking his right wrist during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 20.Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today Sports, via ReutersWhat were you able to learn while out with the wrist injury?Pretty much just learning how the whole body works, how you can get your knee, everything right. I mean your whole body, just how it all works together. One thing moves, something could be hurt. And it can be totally different things that’s actually hurting than what’s actually hurt.Was there anything you picked up while watching the games?Seeing our players more, seeing where we can be on the defense, seeing just stuff like that.Have you ever been nervous on a basketball court?Nah. More

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      Eric Collins, Voice of the Hornets, Is Creating His Own Buzz

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      Eric Collins, the TV play-by-play announcer for the Charlotte Hornets, has gained new fans this season with his high-energy broadcasts showcasing the rookie LaMelo Ball.Some basketball pairings sync seamlessly. Think Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Bill Russell and Red Auerbach and Eric Collins and LaMelo Ball.That last tandem might not be the first to come to mind. But Collins, the Charlotte Hornets’ television play-by-play announcer, has served as the ideal conduit to introduce Ball and his dynamic play to a wide N.B.A. audience.“He’s seeing the game five seconds ahead of everyone else,” Collins said.Collins calls games with an energy and exuberance that seem impossible to sustain over 48 minutes. “Here comes LaMelo Ball with his hair on fire!” he exclaimed during one otherwise mundane fast break.Collins has been widely appreciated among N.B.A. League Pass watchers who have tuned into the Hornets to watch Ball and have discovered Collins as a bonus. He’s just as excited for a Miles Bridges dunk — “Oh my goodness! Hum diddly dee! — as a 3-point attempt by center Bismack Biyombo.He is in his sixth season as a broadcast partner with Dell Curry, the former longtime Hornet and the father of Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Philadelphia’s Seth Curry. He was a sideline reporter when Michael Jordan, who owns the Hornets, won a second “three-peat” as a guard with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.Collins, who described his style as “quirky” and maybe “a little bit scary at some point,” recently spoke to The New York Times about his high-energy broadcasts and why he doesn’t listen to other announcers.This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.What has it been like watching Ball, who recently returned from a fractured wrist, progress this season?I understood that he had a following, but I didn’t understand that he had a game that actually merited the following. And he’s just been unbelievable. I got a high bar. I’m always looking for greatness and looking for joy and looking for wonder and sometimes it’s hard to meet what I want. And he met it basically Day 1 with just the distinctiveness that he has.But I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before. He just plays with flair and élan, and I love it. And at age 19, he plays the game like his game is smiling, but then when he’s not on the floor, his body shows you that he’s smiling. He’s someone you want to be around.Have you noticed more interest in the Hornets this season and more people being introduced to your broadcasts?I’ve got a daughter who’s in high school, and for the first time in her life, she’s noticing that basketball actually exists here in Charlotte. She’s got friends who wear Hornets gear and talk about the Hornets and do what kids do on social media about the Hornets. And so, yes, it started hitting me more. But I don’t know if it’s just ’cause I’ve got a 15-year-old daughter in my house or because there’s actually a real phenomenon going on.And that’s partly because you don’t use social media, correct?I’ve always been a broadcaster that believes in the old school of “I want to broadcast to you.” And when you start broadcasting back to me, that changes everything that I’m about. I put in the time. I put in the thought, and I put in a lot of the man-hours to get my brain and my skill level to the point where I feel like I can broadcast outward with a certain amount of authority. And I don’t want to take any of that broadcast back in toward me because that affects how I do a game. I want to be in my own Eric Collins bubble.I don’t want to give people what they like, I don’t want to give people what they don’t like — I want to give people what’s me. And if they like that, then that’s great.“I don’t look like anyone else. I don’t have the same demographics as anyone else. I’m biracial, and that’s a huge part of who I am as a broadcaster”, said Eric Collins, left.Scott Cunningham/NBAE, via Getty ImagesThat goes in line with you also not listening to other announcers. Why did you start that policy?I was a sideline reporter for six years in the N.B.A. and I also used to dabble. I would be a sideline reporter and in-game reporter for the Chicago White Sox. And I started to do more and more play-by-play, and I was realizing that I was sounding like other announcers that were in my ear when I was doing games. And I said, “This is the absolute death of me.”I don’t look like anyone else. I don’t have the same demographics as anyone else. I’m biracial, and that’s a huge part of who I am as a broadcaster. I look different than everyone else, and I think it’s important for me to not shy away from that. And I don’t want to look like anyone else and I don’t want to sound like anyone else.So yeah, I haven’t listened to anyone since probably the late ’90s. I watch sports, and I don’t do pregame shows. I won’t watch a halftime show. I watch a highlight show. I form my own opinions. That’s what I believe in.How are you able to sustain your energy throughout the lengthy season?I just think it’s the way that I was born and the way I was raised, what’s in my body. To me, it’s easy to get excited and to be full of wonder at a basketball game, at a sporting event, at a baseball game, at a women’s volleyball game. I’m a competition junkie, and if people are putting in the amount of effort that it takes to get ready for a game and play the game, I always put enough energy and thought to get ready for that game. And once the ball is thrown up, I’m ready to go.You also did a stint as a news reporter, correct?I spent a year of my life at the CBS affiliate in Rochester, and I was doing news. I was going to City Council meetings. I was doing arsons. I was doing homicides. I was waiting out in blizzards telling people not to go outside. It was really tough. I got so much respect for people who can do that long-term because sometimes it’s not very bright.I think there’s a lot of young broadcasters who spend a lot of time worrying, ‘OK, I can’t say this’ or ‘I can’t go here,’ because they’re not confident about what journalistically they can do. I had that down. The amount of years that I spent getting into the business, I understood journalism, the rules, the ethics, all that kind of stuff. And that freed me for when I actually got a microphone and was able to start doing play-by-play, to just concentrate on being me because I understood the basics.The Hornets have put together a lot of highlight-worthy plays this season. Do you have a favorite call?I guess maybe the tail end of the Golden State game that the Hornets won. The one that Steph actually didn’t play. Terry Rozier hit a nice shot. And that’s one of the things that I liked just because play-by-play isn’t always about the exact words that you use. It’s about the way that you’re able to use your voice, and use the moment. Without fans, I think, sometimes that’s one of the things that I like to play with a little bit more this year — is just my voice and how I can bring it up and bring it down and staccato, and just the rhythm of what I’m trying to do. And I thought that we did a good job for that game winner by Rozier, just using the voice in an empty arena to make it as exciting as it was. More

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      Why These Players Should Start Packing at the NBA Trade Deadline

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      Toronto’s Kyle Lowry, Houston’s Victor Oladipo and Lonzo Ball of the New Orleans Pelicans are popular figures as the league’s trade deadline approaches Thursday.The N.B.A. trade deadline, typically a February enterprise, is uncharacteristically competing with March Madness for the basketball public’s attention this year.The buildup to the deadline on Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern time has been equally untraditional. Numerous front-office executives have said that trade chatter was slower to percolate this season because they had fewer opportunities to meet face-to-face on the road while scouting college games — and especially with front offices devoting so much attention to the daily challenges of managing their rosters and adhering to Covid-19 health and safety protocols as teams play through the pandemic.The league’s new playoff format, which gives 10 teams in each conference a shot at the playoffs rather than the longstanding norm of eight, has further muddled the marketplace, persuading more teams than usual to keep the status quo. In past years, with fewer teams in playoff contention, teams more naturally fell into place as buyers or sellers.Yet you can safely expect the typical flurry of trades before the buzzer sounds, despite the complications, because deadline day in the modern N.B.A. is known for sparking teams into action and delivering frantic activity. No one is predicting a blockbuster deal on the level of James Harden being traded to the Nets, but there will be action. Our breakdown of what to expect:The HeadlinerWith Harden already in Brooklyn, and Washington adamant it won’t consider offers for Bradley Beal until at least the off-season, there is a strong likelihood that no current All-Stars will be dealt this week.The jockeying between Philadelphia and Miami for Toronto guard Kyle Lowry, six times an All-Star but not this season, is nonetheless significant. Thursday also happens to be Lowry’s 35th birthday, and the signals were getting stronger, as of Monday night, that a trade to the 76ers or the Heat could materialize.The Sixers crave Lowry’s floor leadership and defensive savvy after losing out to the Nets in the Harden sweepstakes. The Heat want to team Lowry, who will be a free agent this summer, with his good friend Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in what would be a rugged three-man core of noted two-way players. The Raptors could still offer Lowry a new deal but have quietly pledged to help route him to a preferred destination if the sides agree that his long-term future lies elsewhere — provided the trade returns meaningful help for Toronto.The Raptors hope to avoid the criticism they received when they traded DeMar DeRozan, who, like Lowry, was hugely popular among Toronto fans.Darren Abate/Associated PressTyrese Maxey, Philadelphia’s promising rookie guard, is a natural target for Toronto in talks to send Lowry, a Philadelphia native, home. The Sixers, though, made Maxey untouchable in their talks with Houston for Harden in January, refusing to add him to a package that included the defensive ace Ben Simmons, a three-time All-Star. If that stance holds, it could take some creative maneuvering for Daryl Morey, Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations, to get Lowry again. In a 2009 trade as general manager of the Rockets, Morey pried the guard from Memphis in a deal he has pointed to as one of his better moves in Houston.The Heat are trying to win the Lowry race while also keeping the veteran guard Goran Dragic and the promising second-year shooter Tyler Herro out of any deal. The success of Miami’s pursuit of Lowry could thus hinge on Toronto’s interest in a young player like the sharpshooting Duncan Robinson or the rookie Precious Achiuwa packaged with Kelly Olynyk’s $12.6 million expiring contract. The Sixers have the edge when it comes to first-round draft picks to sweeten a trade offer.This much is clear: Toronto won’t just trade Lowry anywhere. He is considered Raptors royalty in his ninth season with the franchise and management treats him accordingly after Lowry’s pivotal contributions to Toronto’s 2018-19 championship run — and with fresh memories of the criticism for trading a devoted DeMar DeRozan to San Antonio for one season of Kawhi Leonard.Although it might be easier, emotionally, for everyone to part ways in the off-season, Philadelphia and Miami are both in need of a forceful response to the moves of other Eastern Conference contenders. The Nets have raised the bar at the top of the East by teaming Harden with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and the Milwaukee Bucks are finally surging now, too, after their November acquisition of Jrue Holiday and last week’s addition of P.J. Tucker.Marquee Names in PlayHouston badly wants to trade Victor Oladipo, a two-time All-Star who will become a free agent at season’s end. But with Oladipo receiving middling reviews for his play this season, and his durability in question, the Rockets face challenges in generating an encouraging return. Orlando’s Aaron Gordon and New Orleans’s Lonzo Ball, by contrast, are generating considerable interest.While the Magic have talked to several teams about Gordon — most notably Boston — it remains unclear how willing the Pelicans are to trade Ball, even when it is widely believed that Ball is poised to attract offers in restricted free agency this summer that exceed what New Orleans is willing to spend to keep him. I reported on Friday that the Los Angeles Clippers, despite their lack of future first-round picks to offer, have been exploring potential multiteam trade scenarios to get Ball.Lonzo Ball has attracted interest from several teams, including the Los Angeles Clippers.Craig Mitchelldyer/Associated PressThe Celtics and the Clippers rank as the two most desperate teams at the deadline, given the playoff expectations they carried into the season and both clubs’ recent struggles. No less an authority than Danny Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, said in a February radio interview that “we don’t have a good enough team,” essentially putting public pressure on himself to do something about it.Boston has duly pursued a variety of big men whose teams are resistant to deals: Sacramento’s Harrison Barnes, Atlanta’s John Collins and Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic. The Celtics now appear focused on Gordon, or perhaps more affordable options like Sacramento’s Nemanja Bjelica or Toronto’s Norman Powell.The Buyout MarketCleveland’s Andre Drummond and San Antonio’s LaMarcus Aldridge are two more former All-Stars who have been heavily shopped, but their hefty salaries make it difficult for their teams to trade them. Neither the Cavaliers nor the Spurs want to take long-term salary back in a deal. If no trade materializes in either case, Drummond ($28.75 million) and Aldridge ($24 million) could become unrestricted free agents by negotiating buyouts.There is a growing belief around the league that the Los Angeles Lakers have an edge over the Nets to sign Drummond if he makes it to free agency, and the Heat are widely regarded as the leaders to sign Aldridge.The Lakers only can afford to offer Drummond a minimum deal, but they have a bigger role to offer him than the Nets. After he and the Cavaliers mutually agreed a month ago that he would not play while the team sought deals, Drummond needs playing time to enhance his marketability entering free agency. That has given the Lakers confidence they can trump the offers of the Nets, who can use a $5.7 million disabled player exception from Spencer Dinwiddie’s season-ending knee injury or a $5.6 million midlevel exception left over from last off-season.Other players who could soon reach free agency through a buyout if they are not traded in the next two days include New Orleans’s JJ Redick, Cleveland’s JaVale McGee, Memphis’ Gorgui Dieng, Sacramento’s Hassan Whiteside and the Knicks’ Austin Rivers.The Nets and Lakers are interested in signing Andre Drummond if he is bought out of his contract in Cleveland.Tony Dejak/Associated PressSpencer Dinwiddie could still draw significant offers from other teams despite his knee injury, if he opts out of his contract this summer.Michael Dwyer/Associated PressVeterans Likely on the MoveSacramento’s Bjelica, Oklahoma City’s George Hill, Detroit’s Wayne Ellington, Miami’s Olynyk, Indiana’s Aaron Holiday and the Orlando duo of Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross are all prime contenders to be moved. Hill and Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio have been mentioned frequently as secondary targets for the Clippers, after Ball.Thunder General Manager Sam Presti has a well-known aversion to granting buyouts, so expect Hill to finish the season with the Thunder if no trade coalesces.The Nets are working the phones to trade Dinwiddie, who is poised to become a free agent by declining his $12.3 million player option for next season because he is expected to have numerous suitors in spite of his knee injury. Trading Dinwiddie now is the surest way for the Nets to fortify their roster yet again before the playoffs and protect themselves from losing him for nothing in the off-season.The Knicks are likewise bound to be involved in at least one deal, no matter what happens with Rivers, thanks to $15 million in cap space they carried into the season that can help facilitate trades.The Scoop @TheSteinLineHouston is shopping Victor Oladipo, though he has been only so-so this season.Pool photo by Troy TaorminaCorner ThreeLaMelo Ball was having a sensational rookie season for the Charlotte Hornets before he broke his wrist against the Clippers over the weekend.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.(Questions may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Q: I was curious to know if you feel like Charlotte’s recent success (before a difficult West Coast trip) and the excitement of having LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward means we’re finally turning a corner. Could this help us in free agency? Will Michael Jordan, as the Hornets’ owner, be willing to break the bank again on a proven player? — Glenn Gibson (Mount Holly, N.C.)Stein: Glenn sent this in early last week. Then came the news on Sunday night that Ball’s sensational rookie season likely came to an abrupt end when he broke his right wrist on Saturday in a hard fall against the Los Angeles Clippers.The turn of events was so deflating that I decided to run the letter anyway to pay tribute to the unexpected playoff bid for Charlotte that Ball was leading.The Hornets have been one of this season’s fun surprises and, thanks largely to the drafting of Ball and the much-criticized signing of Hayward in free agency, quickly became known among NBA League Pass aficionados as the most watchable Charlotte team in decades. No one was ready to proclaim that Charlotte had suddenly become a free-agent destination after one strong half-season from Ball. Yet his arrival helped illustrate why teams relish the ability to put multiple playmakers on the floor — and why Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball, LaMelo’s brother, are in such high demand as Thursday’s trade deadline approaches.Along with Terry Rozier, Ball and Hayward gave the Hornets three players who could routinely make good things happen for themselves and those around them. In the East, where the Nets, Philadelphia and Milwaukee look dangerous but conference depth is an issue, that’s enough for Charlotte to overcome a suspect frontcourt and be in playoff contention.It’s no secret that the Hornets have been seeking a quality big man such as Indiana’s Myles Turner in the buildup to Thursday’s trade deadline. They were also one of the teams to register rebuffed interest in the Orlando All-Star Nikola Vucevic. Upgrading their frontcourt remains a priority for the Hornets, and Ball’s injury does not rule out a trade this week, but the wisest course is pursuing deals that align with Charlotte’s bright Ball-led future rather than chasing the short-term high of a playoff berth without him.Q: I have a semantics question about how the N.B.A. views the naming of its teams. When we talk about the New York Knicks or the Brooklyn Nets or the Indiana Pacers, the first part of the team name is the city where the team plays. Is the second part — Knicks, Nets, Pacers, etc. — considered to be a team name or a team nickname? In other words, if I said that the Knicks are finally turning things around, would you say that I used the team’s name or its nickname? Given that you have a degree of access and institutional knowledge most of us don’t have, I’d very much appreciate if you could clarify this matter. — Adam Ginsburg (Toledo, Ohio)Stein: Congratulations, Adam, on posing a question no one has ever asked me. I had to look into it on that basis alone.The league, though, has no official policy on this, based on my checking. Semantics was a good word choice by you, because the distinction you’re seeking can’t be easily made and likely depends on the person — provided there are others who want this matter clarified.Knicks, Nets and Pacers, which you termed nicknames, are also part of the team’s trademarked name. On the league’s official website, you can find a detailed history lesson, for example, about how the Knicks became known as the Knicks. But the word “nickname” doesn’t even appear there.Also: We can’t even say the first part of a team always denotes the city where a team plays as long as Golden State represents a whole region.Q: Love your newsletter, but it was “Run TMC” when the Warriors had their beautiful three-year run with Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin — not “Run DMC.” — Mitch Perry (St. Petersburg, Fla.)Stein: Thanks for pointing out one of the most dispiriting typos in newsletter history. A week later, I’m still in a funk over it.Numbers GameDevin Booker and the Phoenix Suns are excelling this season and have a better record than the defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers.Harry How/Getty Images15Entering Tuesday’s play, home teams had won both games in a two-game, baseball-style series just 15 times in 60 tries, according to data compiled by Ben Falk of the ever-handy Cleaning the Glass website. Home teams have lost both games 12 times and split the two games 33 times. This new scheduling wrinkle — designed to reduce travel amid the pandemic — so far appears to have contributed to a leaguewide erosion in home-court advantage..541Playing in front of reduced crowds — and, often, mostly empty buildings for much of the season — home teams have won 54.1 percent of games this season entering Tuesday, which would represent a new single-season low. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press reported in February that last season’s 55.1 percent was the lowest. From 2003-4 through 2018-19, according to Falk, that figure was 59.6 percent.8Atlanta won its first eight games after Nate McMillan replaced Lloyd Pierce as head coach but still fell six victories shy of a league record. The Nets won their first 13 games in the 2003-4 season after the rookie coach Lawrence Frank replaced the ousted Byron Scott.34-12Before a surprising home loss to Minnesota on Thursday night, Phoenix was on a 34-12 tear including its 8-0 record in seeding games during last summer’s N.B.A. restart at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. That run also includes an 18-4 stretch going into the Minnesota loss. The Suns, at a surprising No. 2 in the West, are in line for their first playoff berth in 11 seasons.15If you are prepared to write the Suns into the playoffs now, like us, that leaves Sacramento with the league’s only double-digit playoff drought, which appears headed to reach a 15th consecutive season. The Knicks are on course to end the league’s third-longest current drought after seven straight nonplayoff seasons.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. More

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      LaMelo Ball Is Out Indefinitely With a Wrist Injury

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      Ball, a rookie guard for the Charlotte Hornets, had been considered the leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award.Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, widely considered the leading candidate to win the N.B.A.’s Rookie of the Year Award, has a fractured bone in his right wrist and is out indefinitely, the team announced on Sunday night.Ball underwent a magnetic resonance imaging exam on Sunday in San Antonio as the Hornets prepared for a road game against the Spurs on Monday. Ball, 19, had a hard landing on Saturday night in the first half of the team’s road loss to the Los Angeles Clippers and tried to play through the pain in the second half.Drafted third over all by the Hornets in November, Ball is averaging 15.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.59 steals per game; he ranks seventh in the league in steals per game. Combined with strong play from the free-agent newcomer Gordon Hayward and the second-year Hornet Terry Rozier — both former Boston Celtics — Ball has helped Charlotte challenge for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after four consecutive seasons out of the postseason.Ball became a starter on Feb. 1 in Miami and has averaged 19.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.7 steals since the move. Amid much skepticism leading up to the draft about his dependability from the perimeter, Ball has shot 46.4 percent from the field and 42.6 percent from 3-point range in his 21 starts.Ball was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month in both January and February, and was the only rookie over the past 60 years to lead all first-year players in total points, rebounds, assists and steals at the All-Star break.Ball, the younger brother of New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball, was selected by the Hornets in the 2020 draft, after Minnesota drafted guard Anthony Edwards and Golden State chose center James Wiseman. More

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      Behind the ‘Grind’ of the N.B.A. Team With the Next Big Thing

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBehind the ‘Grind’ of the N.B.A. Team With the Next Big ThingThe Charlotte Hornets are emerging from obscurity, thanks to the star power of the rookie LaMelo Ball and the shotmaking of Gordon Hayward. Here’s how they’re doing it.Charlotte Hornets players and coaches have been using this season’s schedule, with its back-to-back games against teams like the Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers, as an opportunity to develop their young team.CreditCredit…Courtesy of Charlotte HornetsFeb. 10, 2021Updated 12:39 p.m. ETThe buzzer sounded, signaling a Charlotte Hornets loss to the Indiana Pacers. Charlotte wouldn’t have to wait long to try to exact revenge.This N.B.A. season is unusual in many ways because of the coronavirus pandemic, and one of its main scheduling wrinkles is that teams are playing each other in consecutive games to reduce travel and potential virus exposure.For the Hornets (12-13), a young, rebuilding team that has turned heads with its star rookie LaMelo Ball, the two-game stands have become a time for learning. Charlotte provided behind-the-scenes access to The New York Times for 48 hours to see how its coaching staff — a team within a team — prepared for recent back-to-back home games against the Pacers. There was practice (practice?), film sessions together and apart, family time and a little bit of trash talk.“I allow my coaches — I trust them — to put together a good game plan,” Hornets Coach James Borrego said. “I take in that information, I digest it, and obviously I make the final decisions. But I trust them to help me make those decisions.”Three of the assistant coaches — Jay Triano, Ronald Nored and Nick Friedman — focus on the team’s offense, while the other three — Chad Iske, Dutch Gaitley and Nate Mitchell — prioritize defense.“A big, overall philosophy for me is a developmental approach with our players, that they help our players grow and develop,” Borrego said. “And I want to have a culture as a head coach that our coaches are developing as well. They’re not just static.”Another assistant, Jay Hernandez, recently departed to coach the Greensboro Swarm in the G League’s bubble at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla.This season is the staff’s third as a group. Triano has head coaching experience, with the Toronto Raptors and the Phoenix Suns. Nored is young enough to have shared a backcourt with Charlotte’s marquee off-season acquisition, Gordon Hayward, when the pair played together at Butler.“We blend well,” Nored said of the coaching staff. “We have a couple of 30-year-olds. Chad is in his 40s. Jay’s in his 60s, but he acts like he’s 25, so it all fits really well together.”After losing to the Pacers on Jan. 27, the Hornets had less than 48 hours to prepare for a rematch.Credit…Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesWednesday, Jan. 2710 p.m. — Indiana 116, Charlotte 106The coaches started filtering from the Spectrum Center following the loss to Indiana. Nored, 30, spoke to Hayward over the phone as the two drove home, dissecting the game. Indiana limited Hayward to just 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting in 40 minutes.Getting home that night provided a short decompression window for most of the coaches before they dove back into work. Gaitley, 33, caught an episode of “The Real Housewives of Dallas” with his wife, Moraya. “Made sure that I was up on everything, so that whenever we have that conversation, she knows that I was listening,” he said.At home, Nored tries to study film only after his 2-year-old daughter, Avery, is asleep. He caught up with his wife, Danielle, before plopping on his living room couch, close enough to attend to Avery or his month-old son, Kai, should they stir.Indiana’s defense was Nored’s scout, meaning he was tasked with providing the rest of the coaching staff with a report on the Pacers’ defense so they could prep Charlotte’s offense. (Gaitley had to do the opposite.)Nored watched the game again from his laptop. He jotted notes as he created the video edit that he would show the staff the next day, with clips no longer than three minutes highlighting key decisions and reads.Midnight — ‘It’s a grind.’Jordan Surenkamp, Charlotte’s head video coordinator, wrapped up his evening at the arena. The video staff coded the game as it happened, breaking it into segments — for example, all of the team’s pick-and-rolls and how Indiana defended them.When the game ended, Surenkamp reviewed the film, tightening the segments into digestible pieces before making them available to the coaches. The video staff also gathered film for the players, such as all their shots or assists, so that it would be available to them by the time they returned home. Surenkamp then moved on to his own duties, editing video and compiling statistical spreadsheets, then sending any noticeable trends to the coaching staff.“It’s really the hub of my program, the video room,” Borrego said.It’s also Borrego’s background. Long ago, he started his N.B.A. career in San Antonio’s film room under Coach Gregg Popovich. He sets high standards for Surenkamp, who tries to be the first into the arena and the last to leave.“The expectation is there to be really, really good and prompt and available at what I do,” Surenkamp said. “But I think with that being said, he does understand that it’s a grind, it’s longer days, there’s a lot of responsibilities that I’m given.”Hornets Assistant Coach Dutch Gaitley, left, with Caleb Martin.Credit…Courtesy Charlotte HornetsHornets Assistant Coach Ronald Nored, right, with LaMelo Ball.Credit…Courtesy Charlotte HornetsThursday, Jan. 287 a.m. — ‘One game ahead’Surenkamp had already been at the arena for an hour by the time the assistant coaches returned and eased into their practice day. Friedman, 30, hopped on the treadmill while listening to the author Ben Greenfield’s fitness podcast. Nored had dropped Avery off at school en route to the Spectrum Center, then did some recreational reading before starting his day. Gaitley watched film on his next scout, the Miami Heat, whom the Hornets would play in four days. “You’re always working on one game ahead,” Triano, 62, said.10:30 a.m. — ‘Who was talking trash?’The defensive staff filed into a room for a coaches’ meeting, making small talk. George Rodman, Charlotte’s director of basketball analytics and strategy, opened by discussing the recent saga involving GameStop’s stock. “We’re talking about what happened the night before,” Gaitley said. “Who was talking trash or posted on Instagram? You’re joking about that, and keeping everybody up to date on everything that’s happening in the league and then you sort of organically jump into it.”The group watched the video edit that Gaitley had compiled, discussing whether they adhered to their main principles of protecting the paint, grabbing defensive rebounds and contesting 3-point shots. Nored watched, looking for points to emphasize with Ball, one of his developmental priorities and an early leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award.11:15 a.m. — ‘I’m going to get my game.’Pre-practice: The players who did not log many minutes in Wednesday’s game went through an extra workout session to maintain their cardio. Gaitley let the veteran Bismack Biyombo choose between playing pickup with the other players or working out individually.While Biyombo chose to work out, Malik Monk and the twins Caleb and Cody Martin played three games of four-on-four with Gaitley and the assistant video coordinators. “When you’re playing with Gordon Hayward, you’re not going to get 25 shots,” Gaitley said. “But when you play against the video guys, that’s where you’re like: ‘All right, I’m going to get some shots. I’m going to get my game. Get into rhythm.’”The moment afforded Gaitley a chance to connect with the players. He is the son of Stephanie Gaitley, the women’s basketball coach at Fordham University. As a child, he often accompanied her on recruiting visits. Occasionally, she handed him a binder that listed tidbits about the recruit and he’d quiz her on the drive about the name of the recruit’s boyfriend or favorite movie.His mother’s attention to detail stayed with him.“We don’t recruit at our level, but you are still showing the guys that you care every single day, because if you don’t build a personal relationship with them, then it’s going to be hard to coach them hard,” Gaitley said.Noon — ‘I try to be efficient in everything.’Practice: “You want to give them two or three things that they’re going to be able to remember and translate,” Triano said.In previous stops, Triano would list the team’s principles on the whiteboard with an addendum stating that any player who read the board could come into his office to collect $50. Few ever did.Homework: Some coaches stayed in the building throughout the afternoon, working with players and watching film on upcoming opponents. Others resumed their personal lives, like picking up their children from school. Still, they would often text one another through the night.“I think it happens a lot in our culture where it’s just, ‘I’m going to spend every waking moment thinking about basketball and watching every drop of film,’ ” Nored said. “And I could do that, but my daughter would be missing out on time with her dad, my wife would be missing out on time with her husband. And so they’re my priorities as well. And so I try to be efficient in everything that I do.”“I love playing two games against the same team in such a short period,” Hornets Coach James Borrego said. “This is a great way to teach.”Credit…Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesFriday Jan. 298:30 a.m. — ‘It’s always a good chess match.’The defensive scout meeting was shorter than the previous day’s, a reinforcement of the principles heading into the rematch. “It’s the battle of the adjustments to a degree and what can win out,” said Iske, 44. “Can you prepare for their adjustments, and on the other side of it, what they might do ahead of time? I think it’s always a good chess match to a degree, and exciting because it reminds you of the playoffs.”Afterward, the offensive coaches’ meeting included a 20-clip edit of how Indiana would most likely guard Charlotte on key plays, from screen-and-rolls to pin downs and dribble handoffs.9 a.m. — ‘Vitamins’To limit potential exposure to the virus, the Hornets bypass traditional team morning shootarounds in favor of individual sessions with coaches, called vitamins. “A big thing for us is our player development,” Triano said. “How are we going to get these guys better?”Mitchell, 34, started his day working with Hayward on his ball-handling and finishing at the rim. Later, he would also work with Biyombo, P.J. Washington and Devonte’ Graham. The goal was for Hayward not to settle for midrange shots when there was a path to the basket.Mitchell hopes Hayward’s free-throw attempts will soon rival his career high of 6.1 during the 2014-15 season. He’s averaging 4.8 per game this season.“It’s almost to the point now where he’s pointing out the opportunities more than it is me,” Mitchell said.Noon — ‘I just like to cram some work in.’The coaches filled the middle of the game day as they saw fit. Iske played a shooting game with Surenkamp before finishing his scout of the Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte’s opponent the following evening. Some, like Triano and Mitchell, took a brief nap, after having watched film late the previous night.Friedman squeezed in another workout before preparing for his next scout. “It’s hard for me to nap on game days,” he said. “I just like to cram some work in. It’s basketball at the end of the day, so you’re not really overworking yourself.”4:30 p.m. — ‘The best version of himself’Walk-through: The players and coaches gathered on the practice court for a walk-through of the night’s matchup. The session included an offensive breakdown, defensive scout and a review of plays. Then the assistants worked on the court with players, pulling some aside to watch quick video clips.Friedman played a short montage for guard Terry Rozier of his first start of the 2017-18 season, when he was with Boston. It was a triple-double effort against the Knicks. “It’s more for helping him envision the best version of himself right before we play,” Friedman said.7:10 p.m. — Tipoff vs. IndianaThe Hornets won the rematch, 108-105. “We made more plays down the stretch than we did the night before,” Borrego said, adding: “And I love this setup. I love playing two games against the same team in such a short period. This is a great way to teach.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More