| The Waive and Stretch Welcome to Week 4 of The Waive and Stretch newsletter. A quick shameless plug to note that I am looking to work in basketball in any capacity and would love to connect with anyone in the industry or trying to break in. Please feel free to share this with anyone who you might find it interesting. Let's get into it! What Caught My Attention This Week Will The Jazz See This Roster Through? The Utah Jazz are 10-5 and are the surprise of the season. Coming into the year, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the team was dead set on tanking and that they would ship out every vet on their team to ensure a top lottery chance. So far this season, this doesn't seem to be the case. They currently stand as one of the top teams in the West. Despite almost complete roster turnover, the team has gelled quickly under first year head coach Will Hardy and compete on both ends of the floor. They have the 6th best point differential according to Cleaning The Glass, including the 3rd best offense. All this begs the question, are the Utah Jazz going to see this roster through and compete for the playoffs? Even with Victor Wembanyama awaiting the winner of the lottery? If they do, what kind of downstream impact will that have on the trade market? In thoery, that would take Lauri Markkanen, Mike Conley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rudy Gay, Malik Beasley, Jordan Clarkson, and Kelly Olynyk off the market. What does that leave playoff teams looking to add vets via trade from tanking teams? I will examine that a little later in this newsletter. For now, I'm going to continue to enjoy the Utah Jazz as currently assembled, for however long that lasts. Maybe longer than we thought. Three Things To Keep An Eye On This Season 1. Lauri Markkanen Scoring Off Pindowns Let's stay on the Jazz. Lauri Markkanen has been one of the biggest surprises of the season so far. He's averaging 22.8 points per game on 63.8% True Shooting, both career highs. What's impressed me most is Markkanen's ability to score multiple ways. He's hitting threes, hitting pull ups, getting to the rim on the drive, scoring on the roll as a screen setter etc. Jazz are using him in multiple roles. One way that has stuck out to me has been Utah setting simple pin downs for Markkanen to attack the paint. He starts in the corner, comes off the screen and immediately attacks middle, and its been effective. When teams go under the screen, Lauri has the range to simply pop out to the three point line and take the three. Markkanen has arguably been the main catalyst of this surprisingly hot start by the Utah Jazz. If he can keep up his current levels of production and efficiency, I wouldn't be surprised to see this Jazz team make the playoffs. 2. Kevin Huerter Is Making Everything In Sacramento Kevin Huerter is proving the Sacramento Kings front office right in their decision to trade a protected first round pick for him. He has come right in and provided some much needed floor spacing around De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. And boy is he spacing the floor. His shooting stats just pop off the page. His True Shooting is currently 67.9%, almost 11 percentage points higher than his previous career high of 57.0%. Of all the players taking at least 7 three pointers per game, he has the highest three point percent, hitting them at a 51.1% !! clip with 63% of his shots coming from three. Even crazier are his home road splits. On the road, Huerter has a solid True Shooting of 57.8%, including shooting 41.7% from three. But at home, he has a ludicrous 80.2% True Shooting, including a wild 62.5% from three. I would imagine this home-road gap will narrow a good amount, but keep an eye on Huerter's hot shooting this year, especially in Sacramento. 3. Anfernee Simons 3-Point Barrage Quarters It seems that Anfernee Simons has taken another leap this year. He has career highs across the board in points (22.3 PPG), assists (4.1 APG), rebounds (3.0 RPG), and free throw attempts (3.5 FTA per game). The Portland Trail Blazers have been a surprise team this year and Simons' leap is a crucial reason why. He's doing a lot of his damage from behind the arc, taking 10.5 threes a game while making 3.8 of them. I've noticed that Simons gets hot quickly and doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger. He's currently third in the league in quarters with 3+ threes made with 5, behind only Stephen Curry's 7 and Jalen Green's 6. We all remember when he went 6/7 from three in a four minute span against Denver. If you don't, take a look below. Once he hits one or two, he starts hunting threes relentlessly, and it is fun to watch. I can't wait until Simons catches fire again hits a barrage of threes in a single quarter. Potential Paydays This is a section that I'm going to dedicate to players that are going to be free agents this next offseason and could be in line for a big payday. A couple guys that have caught my eye so far include: Kyle Kuzma: Kuzma has been a key drive in helping the Wizards start out to an 8-6 record despite Bradley Beal having missed a good chunk of games already. He's been averaging 20 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists a game with Beal out and has looked good being the primary initiator on offense. Teams looking for a second or third scorer could look to bring in Kuzma this offseason as he is almost assuredly going to turn down his player option. $18 - $20 million per year shouldn't be out of the question based on his strong play so far and the amount of cap space available to teams this offseason. Max Strus: Strus is coming off a 31 point, 8 three game against Charlotte. He has proven himself as a reliable shooter for a Miami team that desperately needs it. Teams should be lining up to give Strus Non-Taxpayer MLE money at the least. Contender Trade Candidate Rankings An updated look at the most likely trade candidates that does not include the Utah Jazz players. 1. Jae Crowder, Phoenix Suns 2. Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers 3. Buddy Hield, Indiana Pacers 4. Jae'Sean Tate, Houston Rockets 5. Josh Richardson, San Antonio Spurs 6. Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets 7. Terrence Ross, Orlando Magic 8. Doug McDermott, San Antonio Spurs 9. Nerlens Noel, Detroit Pistons 10. Alec Burks, Detroit Pistons Fake Trade of the Week New Orleans Pelicans Receive: Myles Turner, Terry Taylor Indiana Pacers Receive: Jonas Valanciunas, Kira Lewis Jr, MIL 2025 1st Estimate Player Value Updates Current Year Top Ten Full list here Life of Contract top ten Full list here |
Welcome to Week 4 of The Waive and Stretch newsletter. A quick shameless plug to note that I am looking to work in basketball in any capacity and would love to connect with anyone in the industry or trying to break in. Please feel free to share this with anyone who you might find it interesting. Let's get into it! | |
What Caught My Attention This Week | |
Will The Jazz See This Roster Through?
The Utah Jazz are 10-5 and are the surprise of the season. Coming into the year, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the team was dead set on tanking and that they would ship out every vet on their team to ensure a top lottery chance. So far this season, this doesn't seem to be the case. They currently stand as one of the top teams in the West. Despite almost complete roster turnover, the team has gelled quickly under first year head coach Will Hardy and compete on both ends of the floor. They have the 6th best point differential according to Cleaning The Glass, including the 3rd best offense. All this begs the question, are the Utah Jazz going to see this roster through and compete for the playoffs? Even with Victor Wembanyama awaiting the winner of the lottery? If they do, what kind of downstream impact will that have on the trade market? In thoery, that would take Lauri Markkanen, Mike Conley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rudy Gay, Malik Beasley, Jordan Clarkson, and Kelly Olynyk off the market. What does that leave playoff teams looking to add vets via trade from tanking teams? I will examine that a little later in this newsletter. For now, I'm going to continue to enjoy the Utah Jazz as currently assembled, for however long that lasts. Maybe longer than we thought. | |
Three Things To Keep An Eye On This Season
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1. Lauri Markkanen Scoring Off Pindowns
Let's stay on the Jazz. Lauri Markkanen has been one of the biggest surprises of the season so far. He's averaging 22.8 points per game on 63.8% True Shooting, both career highs. What's impressed me most is Markkanen's ability to score multiple ways. He's hitting threes, hitting pull ups, getting to the rim on the drive, scoring on the roll as a screen setter etc. Jazz are using him in multiple roles. One way that has stuck out to me has been Utah setting simple pin downs for Markkanen to attack the paint. He starts in the corner, comes off the screen and immediately attacks middle, and its been effective. | |
When teams go under the screen, Lauri has the range to simply pop out to the three point line and take the three. | |
Markkanen has arguably been the main catalyst of this surprisingly hot start by the Utah Jazz. If he can keep up his current levels of production and efficiency, I wouldn't be surprised to see this Jazz team make the playoffs. | |
2. Kevin Huerter Is Making Everything In Sacramento
Kevin Huerter is proving the Sacramento Kings front office right in their decision to trade a protected first round pick for him. He has come right in and provided some much needed floor spacing around De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. And boy is he spacing the floor. His shooting stats just pop off the page. His True Shooting is currently 67.9%, almost 11 percentage points higher than his previous career high of 57.0%. Of all the players taking at least 7 three pointers per game, he has the highest three point percent, hitting them at a 51.1% !! clip with 63% of his shots coming from three. Even crazier are his home road splits. On the road, Huerter has a solid True Shooting of 57.8%, including shooting 41.7% from three. But at home, he has a ludicrous 80.2% True Shooting, including a wild 62.5% from three. I would imagine this home-road gap will narrow a good amount, but keep an eye on Huerter's hot shooting this year, especially in Sacramento. | |
3. Anfernee Simons 3-Point Barrage Quarters
It seems that Anfernee Simons has taken another leap this year. He has career highs across the board in points (22.3 PPG), assists (4.1 APG), rebounds (3.0 RPG), and free throw attempts (3.5 FTA per game). The Portland Trail Blazers have been a surprise team this year and Simons' leap is a crucial reason why. He's doing a lot of his damage from behind the arc, taking 10.5 threes a game while making 3.8 of them. I've noticed that Simons gets hot quickly and doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger. He's currently third in the league in quarters with 3+ threes made with 5, behind only Stephen Curry's 7 and Jalen Green's 6. We all remember when he went 6/7 from three in a four minute span against Denver. If you don't, take a look below. | |
Once he hits one or two, he starts hunting threes relentlessly, and it is fun to watch. I can't wait until Simons catches fire again hits a barrage of threes in a single quarter. | |
Potential Paydays
This is a section that I'm going to dedicate to players that are going to be free agents this next offseason and could be in line for a big payday. A couple guys that have caught my eye so far include:
Kyle Kuzma: Kuzma has been a key drive in helping the Wizards start out to an 8-6 record despite Bradley Beal having missed a good chunk of games already. He's been averaging 20 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists a game with Beal out and has looked good being the primary initiator on offense. Teams looking for a second or third scorer could look to bring in Kuzma this offseason as he is almost assuredly going to turn down his player option. $18 - $20 million per year shouldn't be out of the question based on his strong play so far and the amount of cap space available to teams this offseason.
Max Strus: Strus is coming off a 31 point, 8 three game against Charlotte. He has proven himself as a reliable shooter for a Miami team that desperately needs it. Teams should be lining up to give Strus Non-Taxpayer MLE money at the least.
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Contender Trade Candidate Rankings
An updated look at the most likely trade candidates that does not include the Utah Jazz players.
1. Jae Crowder, Phoenix Suns
2. Myles Turner, Indiana Pacers
3. Buddy Hield, Indiana Pacers
4. Jae'Sean Tate, Houston Rockets
5. Josh Richardson, San Antonio Spurs
6. Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets
7. Terrence Ross, Orlando Magic
8. Doug McDermott, San Antonio Spurs
9. Nerlens Noel, Detroit Pistons
10. Alec Burks, Detroit Pistons
Fake Trade of the Week
New Orleans Pelicans Receive: Myles Turner, Terry Taylor
Indiana Pacers Receive: Jonas Valanciunas, Kira Lewis Jr, MIL 2025 1st
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Estimate Player Value Updates
Current Year Top Ten
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