Ricky Rubio has stolen most of the attention for this rookie class (including here at Playbook), but there is another young point guard in Cleveland showing off his immense potential as well. Kyrie Irving has taken a downtrodden Cavs franchise and surprisingly moved them into the hunt for a low playoff seed. Rubio and Irving have surely touched off a few “who would you rather have” debates among fans, so it’s probably safe to say they are the 1 and 1A of this rookie crop.

While Rubio’s style of play is a hybrid of Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, Kyrie’s game has a lot of Chris Paul in it. It was even apparent in last night’s (ugly) win over the Knicks. Irving finished with a mere seven points, he was still able to control the game and dish out seven assists. His playmaking, pace and precocious understanding of game management were all very much on display.

The first clip we’ll look at occurs very early in the game during a transition push by the Cavs off a missed shot. Anthony Parker finds Irving in the middle of court. Notice that as the ball is just getting to Irving’s hands, his eyes are already up court “taking pictures” (a David Thorpe term) of the action ahead.

Irving continues to scan the floor as he pushes the ball ahead. Upon reaching half-court, Irving notices that Amare Stoudamire is dropping deep to protect the rim (a habit of a post in transition) instead of paying attention to Antwan Jamison’s run along the right lane. Irving sees both this drop and Jamison slowing his run to station himself near the three point line for a jumper. Irving promptly delivers the ball at the exact time Stoudamire is reaching the deepest part of his transition retreat. This combination of vision and timing by Irving allows for an unhurried attempt by Jamison.

In the next video, Irving makes an incredible poised play for such a young player. After some initial action away from him, Irving is denied ball reversal by everyone’s favorite Knick, Toney Douglas. Irving makes the correct read and makes a hard backdoor cut. His cut toward the rim, however, is met by a quick-reacting Tyson Chandler.

Here is where we see some special qualities from Kyrie. Instead of forcing a tough drop off pass through Chandler’s hands (which a high percentage of players would do) to Varejao (who also has Stoudamire right on his back), Irving slows himself down, takes one dribble into the paint and hits a wide open Omri Casspi on the opposite side for the floor.

Seeing Casspi, given the pace/nature of the action leading up to the delivery of the ball is a rare enough feat for most young players. Kyrie takes it a step further by not only adroitly reading the second line of defenders, but purposefully and calmly navigating to a window to make an accurate pass. In short, this rather non-descript play shows why Irving could be rather special.

In a pick and roll later in the second quarter, Kyrie makes very Paul-like read off a pick and roll in the middle of the floor. Paul is very adept at “creasing” (changing sides underneath the screening when the big zones up) ball screens and wrecking all sorts of havoc from there.

After a high ball screen from Varejao, Irving creases and puts immediate pressure on the Knicks help-side defense. Varejao delays his roll to time up Kyrie’s shifty movement toward the rim. As Varajeo starst to dive Irving delivers a brilliantly executed ‘pocket’ pass that leads to a wide open dunk for the Brazilian big man.

In the final clip, Irving showcases another quality that makes Paul so special; the ability to move at a controlled pace during a transition push. In high school and college, most players are instructed to play as fast and as hard as they can, this often leads to players moving at a speed where it’s impossible to make good reads. Playing a notch below full speed (and speeding up only when necessary), even in transition, is a nuance that sometimes takes years to fully master.

Like Paul, Irving shows the ability to play with an excellent understanding of pace. In the third quarter versus the Knicks, the Cavs run out off a miss. Kyrie pushes ahead quickly at first, probing New York’s defense then slows when starting to reach an operating area. As he slows, his head is immediately on a swivel looking to see where the rest of the players on the floor are.

Since Tyson Chandler is the last to arrive, Landry Fields is cut protecting the basket and hasn’t yet been ‘kicked out’ to a perimeter player. Irving notices this and realizes that Parker will be lost in the shuffle. Kyrie delivers the ball in rhythm and the result is a wide open 3-pointer.

More than anyone to enter the league recently, Irving, like Paul, has the ability to manage a game through both scoring and distribution. Rubio will always be labeled as the better playmaker due to his flashy and clever passing skills. But don’t let Kyrie’s impressive scoring numbers mislead you, he can more than hold his own in that other category.

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Of the numerous attributes attached to Ricky Rubio so far in his young career, flair is undoubtedly near the top of that list. From his passion to his wrong-foot finishes, Rubio’s style is meant for entertainment. Or is it?

Lost in clever passing arsenal he displays on a nightly basis is that everything Rubio does serves a distinct purpose. Every one-hand lob or behind the back pass, while certainly aesthetically pleasing, is facilitated by a necessity to find the appropriate time-space window to deliver the ball. Rubio’s usage of the no-look pass lies in that same vain and was evident again in the Houston game.

Late in the second quarter, the Wolves reset after Anthony Randolph rebounds his own missed jumper. He passes back out to Rubio and the two immediately engage in a step-up screen toward the baseline. It is here where Rubio’s no-look savvy strikes.

As we break it down, we see Love moving up toward the slot position just as Randolph is getting set to screen. Love’s defender, Sam Dalembert, is forced to move away from the basket with him. Dalembert is typically used to being stationed near the basket, doing things like jamming any dive off a ball screen that comes his way. This a responsibility he refuses to relinquish despite the Wolves off-ball alignment in this instance.

In the next picture, we see Dalembert intently focused on watching Rubio’s eyes coming off the pick and roll, as he anticipates possibly having to help off onto Randolph should his defender (Scola) have trouble recovering. Seeing that Rubio is locked in on Randolph, Dalembert pays no attention to his man (Love) settling in beyond the arc.

As Rubio delivers his no-look pass, we see his head completely turned away from Love with both eyes focused on Randolph. Dalembert, even after the ball is out of Rubio’s hand, is still staring at where the young Spaniard is looking.

The end result of the play is that wide open 3-point shot for Love. Here is a look again at the play slowed down.

Just like a quarterback looking off a safety downfield, Rubio uses his eyes to move a defender and create an opportunity for a score. So while it’s easy to attribute Rubio’s no-look passes to his flair, it’s forgetting that there is, in fact, a practical application of his flamboyance that has nothing to do with entertainment. Rubio is seemingly the place where substance and style meet.

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A broken nose threatened to derail a match-up inside the Lakers-Pacers tilt that pitted two of the league’s better young post players against each other. Roy Hibbert was not only able to shake off an errant elbow and win his individual battle against Andrew Bynum, he also helped propel his team to a big road victory. He did so by putting an emphasis on one of the most basic things for a big man: post positioning.

One of fundamental aspects missing in today’s game is the ability for players (of any position) to work hard to get good spots on the floor (For post-up opportunities, that usually means getting at least one foot in the paint on a post catch). Contrary to popular opinion, this isn’t always derived from laziness. In fact, most times it’s because players are so used to be so much taller/stronger/more athletic than their competition, that they haven’t yet realized the value of getting prime real estate. Hibbert (and Bynum) are both exceptions that rule.In last night’s contest, Hibbert had a nice contrast of showing the good things that happen with great positioning versus the mistakes that can be made without it.

His first basket of the night was fundamentally perfect from an effort, execution and technique standpoint. About halfway through the second quarter, the Pacers run a quick set seemingly designed to get Paul George and David West engaged in a pick and pop in the middle of the floor. Hibbert starts off on the weakside of the floor as George begins to drive left off the screen.

Knowing that West is popping toward the foul line, Hibbert realize he has an opportunity to duck-in for a quick post up as George clears the hedge. His timing is perfect as he circles around Bynum (whose defensive effort is less than ideal), sits on his legs with both hands high inside the restricted arc. Hibbert receives the ball from George and finishes with a nice no-dribble, right hand jump hook (the ability to shoot so deep without having to use a dribble shows what great work he did to get positioning).
Here is the clip:

The following video has three possessions in which Hibbert again gets great position deep on the block or in the paint. Each catch has at least one foot in (or right near) the lane. Not coincidentally, all three attempts are makes.

As I mentioned before, Hibbert wasn’t flawless on the night. His two turnovers could both be attributed to poor location upon receiving the ball. On each catch that precedes a turnover, Hibbert is pushed more toward the 12-15 foot range than the 7-10 foot range we saw before. The first play you’ll see results in a travel, due to the awkward nature of Hibbert trying to get to one of his counters from so far out. The second is an errant pass possibly caused by Hibbert anticipating an angle out of his post up he wasn’t used to. Check it out:

With Danny Granger struggling to start the year (and not really being a go-to option to begin with), the Pacers could use Hibbert’s post presence to carry them through any offensive lulls. As long as he continues to work for deep post positioning, Hibbert will continue to factor heavily into Indiana’s offensive success.

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The Hawks offense dragged them down in a defeat to the 76ers, but Jeff Teague still contributed quite the stat line. In the first half, he notched five steals that helped Atlanta build a 47-39 halftime lead. With 31 steals on the season (which put him in second place behind rookie sensation Ricky Rubio), he is making the league take note of his presence on the defensive end of the floor.

Any good thief has either quick hands or great instincts. The special ones, like Jason Kidd, have a combination of both. Against Philadelphia, Teague showed he may be in that elite category.

On the first possession of the game, the Sixers look to post Jrue Holiday against the smaller Teague. Holiday gets solid position in the post and frees himself for what seems to be short range turnaround. However, Teague flashes his great hands and reaction time by swiping the ball away as Holiday rises up. Here is the play:

That wouldn’t be the last time Teague terrorized the normally steady Holiday. Two other times in the half, Holiday finds himself relieved of the ball thanks to Hawk’s point guard. In the first play of the following video, Teague actually finds himself switched onto Elton Brand early in the possession. After thwarting Brand’s attempt to score against him in an iso, Teague to switches back to Holiday after a ball screen. As Holiday drives toward the middle, Teague nabs the ball to starts a break the opposite way for Atlanta.

In the second clip, Holiday comes off a down-screen looking to enter the ball down low to Brand. Being loose with the ball probably isn’t good idea around Teague and Holiday finds himself turned over one more time. Here is the video:

Those first three steals showcased Teague’s quick hands and his ability to aggressively hound the ball handler on defense. The following video shows that Teague also has great instincts off the ball as well. In the first clip, he spots Nikola Vucevic moving out of control toward the baseline and times his jump in front of Holiday. Notice the timing he has on this first play. Too soon on that play and Vucevic may try to save the ball in a different direction. Too late and perhaps Holiday as a lay-up. In the second clip, Teague just make a fantastic read from the weakside and breaks on the ball for a breakaway the other way. Check it out.

With regular playing time, Teague is proving to be quite a force on the ball and in the passing lanes. While this brief stretch isn’t enough to knight him a top tier pickpocket, it certainly is putting Teague in the conversation. Even still, opposing offenses better take notice.

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Here is a look at the defensive schemes Miami put in place to soundly defeat L.A.

The 12-2 Thunder versus the 1-12 Wizards. Last night, this matchup was billed to be the best team in the league steam-rolling over the worst. However, something strange happened along the way and the Wizards claimed a 105-102 victory.

Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook had a great box score, one of the best among every player that participated in the 11 games being played Wednesday night. He finished with 36 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, and only 3 turnovers. But there was something else there with Westbrook, something that didn’t quite fit right within the flow of the team. It was certainly a game that gave away different signs than a simple box score or highlight reel could provide.

The Thunder had it rolling early in the first quarter, playing like their NBA-best record. Westbrook scored 4 points, had 3 assists, and committed 0 turnovers in a four minute stretch that saw the Thunder take a 14-5 lead before the Wizards knew what hit them. As you’ll can see in the following video, Westbrook had his hands all over each scoring opportunity. Whether it was using his speed, his vision or his attacking mentality, Westbrook had it all working early in the contest.

When the second period rolled around, things changed as Washington clawed back in the game with their second unit. The absence of Eric Maynor proved to be a factor as OKC stalled as the second unit seemed to lack leadership on the floor. In a game where a team is struggling and lacking flow, it’s important for the head coach to settle his team down in some form or fashion. Some coaches do this by calling sets that hopefully produce a few good looks at the basket. For the Thunder, that usually means trying to get Kevin Durant involved. Here is what was drawn up for Mr. Durant:

Two. Just two shots for Durant in a quarter that saw the Wizards climb back into the game, giving them confidence when it the Thunder had a chance to put them out of their misery. In same time frame of the second quarter, Westbrook took six. Now Westbrook was playing well but certainly forcing the issue on his own offensive game, proving that free-flowing, on-court decision-making may not be OKC’s strongsuit. In order for the team to grow, Westbrook most consistently be able to understand the flow of the game and get it back on track, similar to what he did so well in the first quarter.

Here is a quick look at a great play ran in the first quarter that the Thunder could have used in the second half, a half that saw them fall apart. In this play, Westbrook sets a down screen to free Durant. Westbrook stays in the post, an area on the floor where he is in the top two-thirds of players with at least 20 possessions. While Westbrook has the ball, a back screen is set on Durant’s defender by Nick Collison. Durant can either cut to the basket if there is no help to slow him down or as he chooses here, he fades on the screen, leaving him wide open for an easy three. Here is the play in real-time:

This type of play has been good for the Thunder this year, having the ability for Westbrook to stay in the post opens up spot-up opportunities or cuts to the basket. According to Synergy, the Thunder are currently fourth in the NBA in all cuts to the basket. The freedom to move without the ball makes the offense come easier as Westbrook is able to see the floor from a different vantage point.

The second half was similar to what we saw in the second quarter, more forced offense by Westbrook. This lead to Durant trying to save the team once again with a last second shot. With Serge Ibaka inbounding, Kendrick Perkins tries to set a screen to allow Durant to catch it clean for an open look at a three. The defense does a great job of forcing Durant under, making him curl back around to the three-point line. Perkins then sets a ball screen to free Durant for an open look. Unlike against Dallas, the shot doesn’t fall. Here is the play:

While the box score suggest that Westbrook dominated the game, his performance caused some of the same problems we’ve seen for quite some time. He set the Thunder up for failure as the game rolled on, by not playing with a pace and control that produces wins. Unfortunately, Durant wasn’t able to stave off the embarrassment of losing to the Wizards.

With the news today coming out today that Westbrook has signed an extension, OKC is certainly committed to the duo of Durant-Westbrook for the future. On talent alone, this is bad news for every team in the Western Conference. However, until Westbrook develops that Chris Paul-like feel for managing a game, their could be issues like this that thrawt the Thunder’s ability to contend at the highest level. And you can bet that there will be plenty of attention paid to how it all plays out.

Torrid. Unconscious. Hot. All words that could be used to describe the Heat’s shooting performance in against the Spurs last night. Miami rained down hellfire from everywhere on the court to the tune of a 71-35 second half throttling that left San Antonio shell-shocked. However, lost in that offensive eruption was another sterling effort by the Heat defense.

Perhaps embarrassed by allowing 63 points in the first half, Miami put on a defensive display in the third quarter that, in combination with their torrid shooting, engineered a 27 point swing. In a period very similar to one we wrote on a few weeks back, they allowed a mere 12 points and forced a gaggle of turnovers. As we’ll soon see, the Heat had stretches where they made it difficult for the Spurs to even get a shot off, much less make one.

In perhaps an ominous start, the very first possession of the quarter ends in a turnover. Tony Parker runs off a double stagger set by DeJuan Blair and Richard Jefferson. As Parker curls, Chris Bosh is forced to show high to contest a quick mid-range shot, this leaves Blair open momentarily. Before Parker can deliver the pass, not one, but two Heat defenders rotate onto Blair and end up tipping the ball back to Bosh for a steal.

Just a few trips later, a poor pass from LeBron leads to a quick run-out by San Antonio. Parker pushes hard but is cut off and forced to dribble back outside the arc in a great effort by Bosh. However, due to the quick transition push, Bosh is forced to stay matched up with Parker. The first thing you’ll notice is the subtle positioning of Mario Chalmers on the play.

Chalmers basically switches assignments with Bosh and covers one of the bigs (Blair first, then Tim Duncan). Due to Blair/Duncan’s inability to stretch the floor from 3, Chalmers slides across the paint and sits in help on the strongside block, discouraging Parker from attacking Bosh on the isolated side of the floor. Parker is forced to try and reverse the ball only to receive it back and try to take on Bosh near the end of the shot clock. The result is a contested long-two that draws only back iron.

The next play is an absolutely perfect rotation by Miami on a dangerous screening action involving Gary Neal. Neal receives screens from both Duncan and Blair along the baseline as he heads toward the ballside corner. Whether due to great scouting or great focus (or a combination of both), the Heat shut this play down without a hitch.

Anthony, guarding Duncan, kicks out to the corner to contest Neal’s shot attempt while his defender, James Jones, fights through the screens. Bosh, guarding Blair on the opposite block, rushes over to defend Duncan and take away a quick dump-in and finish. James then crashes down hard on Blair while Chalmers fills the middle of the paint as the shot goes up. Due to a bad miss, the ball bounces long and the Spurs get the offensive rebound, but it doesn’t take away from a perfectly executed defensive rotation.

With Miami fully engaged on the defensive end of the floor, the beginning turning up the heat on the Spurs (bad pun intended). At this point, San Antonio is still clinging to a four point lead as Duncan hits Parker with a pass on the right wing. He chases his pass with a ball screen that Anthony and Chalmers string out. Chalmers does a great job of getting his hands on an attempted throw back pass.
That deflection leaves rookie Kawhi Leonard with the ball 35 feet from the basket with only seven seconds left on the shot clock. Leonard passes to Blair who forces up a wild shot that doesn’t draw iron (thus being a shot-clock violation), but due to an error on the reset, the Spurs get the ball back after an ensuing scramble with the shot clock at 2.7 seconds. The result ends up being same the same as Miami forces Neal into a wild floater that hits nothing but backboard. Here is the play:

A few possessions after that excellent defensive stand, James nails a 3 that put Miami ahead 69-68, a lead they would never relinquish. In the next video, you’ll see that three out of the next five San Antonio possessions ended in turnovers. An Anthony steal, a Jones steal and finally, a flustered Duncan simply throws the ball away on a simple reversal pass. The Spurs body language walking back toward the bench at the timeout says it all.

The Heat’s offensive fireworks will get all the headlines today, but it is important to note that it was the defensive effort that got things started. Unlike last night’s shooting bonanza, Miami’s defensive performance is repeatable. After all, this isn’t the only time this season they have thoroughly dismantled a team on that end of the floor. So while Miami currently sits at seventh in Hollinger’s defensive efficiency rankings, it is quarters like the third last night that frighten rival GMs and coaches around the league most. Wade or no Wade, if Miami can bring this type of sustained effort on the defensive end on a consistent basis, the Larry O’Brien trophy will be taking its talents to South Beach this June.

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In case you haven’t noticed yet, Ryan Anderson is really good. Sure, the phrase “breakout performance” could be applied to his 30 point, seven rebound effort against New York, but Anderson has been quietly lighting it up all season. He currently owns a 25.95 PER a mark that puts him eighth in the league.

Looking back through yesterday’s game, 21 of Anderson’s 30 points came from behind the arc (in 13 attempts). While there is a tendency to rate every 3-point shot as being equal, they often come in a variety of ways. Anderson’s case is no exception.

The first of his seven 3s came in a pick and pop situation out of transition in the second quarter. Chris Duhon dribbles right off a double ball screen set by both Anderson and Glen Davis. As Davis rolls, Anderson pops toward the left wing. Duhon throws the ball back and the floodgates open.

Late in second, Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson engage in a middle pick and roll. This time, Anderson and JJ Redick combine for some nifty off-ball movement and shape up behind Howard’s roll to the rim. Redick cuts hard to the right wing while Anderson simple circles from the short corner to outside the 3-point line. Nelson creases (cross-grains back to the middle) and finds Anderson for a nice spot-up opportunity.

The next clip is out of the Magic’s “Horns” series (Horns/A-set alignment has two bigs at elbows and two wings in the corners). Anderson catches a Duhon pass on the left elbow and let’s Duhon cut through before performing a dribble hand-off with Hedo Turkoglu rising up from the corner. Turkoglu keeps coming hard toward the middle of the court toward another screen, this time from Howard.
Pay attention to Anderson’s subtle movement here. After the exchange with Turkoglu, Anderson doesn’t drift and waits for Turkoglu to come off the Howard screen. Carmelo Anthony, being the lone weakside defender, must jam Howard’s dive to the rim. This frees Anderson to cut or fill-behind Turkoglu’s drive. With Anthony caught down low from a combination of Howard’s roll and Turkoglu’s penetration, Anderson has a clean look at a 3 from top of the key and drains it.

Anderson’s final 3-point make of the night comes off a transition push. Running the right lane in a delayed break, Anderson and Nelson engage in a quick give-and-go that baits Iman Shumpert to jump at a potential steal. Anderson reads space well and slides toward the corner to receive the return pass from Nelson and put the Magic up five late in the fourth.

If the Magic are to make a push for a championship) Anderson will be a major reason why. While Stan Van Gundy does an excellent job of putting him in good spots, Anderson still has to make the shots. Should he continue to do so at such a blistering rate, D12 may have to rethink his plans to leave.

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Without Jerry Sloan or Deron Williams, the Jazz seemed destined to be walking the road to irrelevance. But by sitting at 8-4, the Jazz now have many wondering what (if any) impact they will have on the 2012 playoff race. With largely the same faces as last season’s second-half slide and no real training camp to ready a pre-pubescent roster, this fast start seems largely implausible.

After all, Ty Corbin and this band of young 20-somethings were just asked to hold the fort until lottery helped arrived. That was expected to be the new era of basketball in Utah. But to quote The Who it’s, ‘Meet the old Jazz, same as the new Jazz’. When fans in Utah go to games, they see a team operate primarily in the half-court, run the flex and foul hard at every opportunity. Sounds awfully similar to the last two decades, ehh?

Sloan's influence lives on in Utah

However, there are subtle changes in the Utah scheme. Thanks to Al Jefferson’s mini-resurgence and Paul Millsap’s white-hot start, Utah has played more through the post than recent years. Whether it’s out of a transition push, the flex or another set, post-ups have largely replaced the pick and rolls that John Stockton and Williams ran with aplomb season after season.
This is a nice tactical shift given that Jazz roster doesn’t house many threats off that action. Millsap and Jefferson are far from terrifying dive men and both would probably be just around adequate picking and popping to mid-range. The ball handlers are in the same boat.

Neither Devin Harris nor Earl Watson have advanced ball screen games and the wings are about the same story with one exception; Gordon Hayward. Hayward is slowing but surely morphing into a Swiss Army knife on the wing. When he’s confident and active, Hayward impacts all areas of the game. Under Corbin, the former Butler star is now getting a chance to show off both his playmaking and ballhandling skills.

Last night, the Jazz had a handful of possessions involving Hayward in a pick and roll on the wing. The results were very promising as Hayward demonstrated a knack for executing them, possibly due to the fact that Butler’s offense is/was side ball screen heavy (though he wasn’t running them too often in games for the Bulldogs).

Utah normally starts this action with the guard passing to Hayward on the wing and the big man opposite (usually Jefferson) sprinting to screen while the rest of the team gets into a triangle away (wing, corner, short corner). In the first clip, Hayward does an excellent job of waiting for Jefferson to get set before coming off. Not only does this avoid an offensive foul call, but it causes Danilo Gallinari, Hayward’s defender to get caught up in the screen.

Hayward comes off with good pace looking to turn the corner. Most wings running side pick and rolls come off primarily thinking score first, second and third. Hayward, however, reads Ty Lawson on his line of attack, takes an extra dribble to keep him fully engaged in his help defense position, the quickly kicks the pass out to Harris on the wing. That extra split second of time Hayward holds Lawson allows for Harris to get his shot off cleanly. Here is the play:

The next play shows off Hayward in attack mode. The action starts the same way, with Jefferson sprinting to screen from the opposite block. This time, however, Hayward comes off without a defender directly on his line. He subtle shifts into a higher gear and explodes through it. Lawson, again in help, is forced to reach in and foul him.

The final edit shows Hayward and Millsap in a two-man game on the right wing. This time Hayward does an excellent job of pushing his dribble all the way into the paint, sucking in the defense before kicking the ball out. Harris, the recipient of Hayward’s pass, quickly swings the ball to Raja Bell in the corner for a 3. Hayward doesn’t get any credit for the play, but make no mistake about it, he made it happen. Here’s the video:

If Corbin continues creatively employing new tweaks like this to the old system, if Devin Harris returns to form, if Paul Millsap’s production doesn’t drop too far from its current level and if the defensive improvement sticks, the Jazz could find the timetable on their rebuilding project drastically moved up. A lot of ‘ifs’ to be sure, but that’s why we’ll keep watching.

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