NBA trends – What to make of 5-0 Cavs and new Knicks offense

Ten days into the NBA season, there is very little — apart from the Oklahoma City Thunder looking dominant with four straight double-digit wins — that we know for certain.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is using his biggest rotation ever as he navigates things without Stephen Curry, who is out with an ankle injury. And the Philadelphia 76ers, who fell at home to the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, have no choice but to be a work in progress as they await Paul George and Joel Embiid’s 2024-25 debuts.

Meanwhile, other trends look as if they’re starting to take hold. The JJ Redick-coached Los Angeles Lakers seem more committed early on to doing the little things. Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic, last in 3-pointers during the 2023-24 season, suddenly look ready to launch triples at will. Understandably, the New York Knicks, who made the offseason’s biggest trade just before training camp, still look as if they have plenty to figure out on both ends of the floor.

Here, we looked at some early-season standouts — from an Eastern Conference contender that has sprinted out of the gate, Ja Morant’s midair playmaking and a New York duo navigating early growing pains.

Jump to a section:
Why the 5-0 Cavs are cruising
Did New York just unlock KAT?
Ja Morant’s floating dimes
Small sample size theater

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Why the 5-0 Cavs look so dangerous under Atkinson

When the Cavaliers entered the visiting locker room for halftime at Madison Square Garden on Monday, they already had a sense of what they needed to fix.

But in case they didn’t, Kenny Atkinson made sure to drive home the point. Cleveland’s new coach showed his team a possession from the first quarter, during which the Knicks missed three consecutive 3s but grabbed every offensive rebound to eventually get Mikal Bridges on a layup.

New York had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half alone, and Atkinson felt the film said enough on its own — so much that he stormed out of the locker room after showing it to the team.

“That was the first time he really got (angry with) us like that, so we knew it was real,” guard Darius Garland, who had 14 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter, said after the game.

Cleveland is still getting used to Atkinson’s style. But the Cavs, 5-0 for the first time since 2016, like what they’re getting from him, and vice versa. Case in point: Through their first five games, the Cavs outscored opponents by 11.3 points per 100 possessions when Garland and Donovan Mitchell shared the floor.

“Our defensive side of the ball is (already) really good. Getting more offense in our repertoire is a must,” Garland said after Monday’s win. “I like it, because it gives us freedom and space, and basically allows us to play off of reads.”

The freedom involves big man Evan Mobley in a number of different ways, from using far more inverted pick and rolls — guards such as Garland and Donovan Mitchell setting screens for Mobley — while also allowing the former Rookie of the Year runner-up to bring the ball upcourt to start more transition opportunities. After having 52 pick-and-roll possessions as a ball handler all of last season, Mobley is already up to 26 such possessions through four games.)

That strategy — a worthwhile one to pursue in hopes of molding the 23-year-old Mobley’s all-around game — should give Cleveland a variety of ways to attack, as opposed to it being a your-turn, my-turn approach between Garland and Mitchell.

“I’d say that was 70% of my (job) interview,” Atkinson said. “How are we going to use Evan? How are we going to grow his game?”

Mitchell suggested earlier in the week that this is the most connected stretch of basketball the team’s core (Mitchell, Garland, Mobley and Jarrett Allen) has played. But he also said maintaining the same level of focus from night to night would be the team’s mandate.

“I think the question (that helps clarify) whether we can become a championship-contending team — which I think we can — is ‘Can we be consistent?'” Mitchell said.

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Morant’s elite hang time is creating thrilling buckets

With the score tied at 116, and with just over 2½ minutes left in the Memphis Grizzlies’ season-opener against the Utah Jazz, Ja Morant snaked from the top of the arc into the paint.

Then, as he accelerated and left his feet, both guard Keyonte George and center Walker Kessler stood as tall as they could to wall off the potential shot. The 7-foot Kessler even jumped along with Morant in an effort to block the upcoming attempt. Lauri Markkanen, meanwhile, read Morant’s body alignment and slowly began cheating away from the baseline to contest Grizzlies big man Jay Huff at the 3-point line.

The quick series of events allowed Memphis’ Santi Aldama to creep toward the basket from the corner. And Morant — somehow still hovering — lofted a pass toward Aldama, whose presence at the rim caught the defenders totally off guard. The forward completed a reverse layup to break the tie.

One play later, Morant essentially did it again, driving and leaping as the Jazz defense collapsed to find Aldama in nearly the same spot.

Morant’s levitation, which helped lift the Grizzlies to victory that night, is nothing new. But after playing just nine games last season due to suspension and injury, it’s remarkable to see him return to freezing defenders who have no earthly idea whether the superstar intends to shoot or pass when he leaves his feet.

He’s far from the only player to use jump passes — Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton throws more than anyone — but Morant’s ability to throw down vicious dunks, but also the hover-ability to hang in the air longer than other players — gives him considerable optionality. It’s his own basketball version of a run-pass option.

“It’s ultimately about what they see (that other players can’t),” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, who coached a prolific jump-passer in Derrick Rose with the Bulls, said.

“They see things and they can create good looks based on how they’re being defended. They can think on their feet and see, ‘Oh, this guy is ball-watching, so let me make a play off of that. And they generally have the ability to look at a defense off with their eyes, which creates open shots.”

Since the start of the 2022-23 season, Morant has jumped an average of 1.46 feet off the ground to make his passes, higher than any player in the league who throws at least four such passes per contest, according to Second Spectrum. Of Morant’s 1,448 assists the past four-plus seasons, 344 of those, or 23.7%, have stemmed from jump passes he’s made.

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KAT’s breakout highlights New York’s evolving offense

Among the biggest questions in the league this season: How would the addition of four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns change the makeup of the New York Knicks? After three games, the returns were less than stellar.

The Knicks were productive in that stretch, ranking third in offensive efficiency and fourth in effective field goal percentage. But Towns, acquired just before training camp to be the second star alongside All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson, was averaging a career-low 9.3 shots per game and had launched just six 3-point attempts in that span. Towns’ 28 field-goal attempts were the fewest of any Knicks starter.

Brunson passed the ball to Towns just six times on Monday’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, eight times against the Indiana Pacers on Friday and eight times against the Boston Celtics on opening night. Despite being pick-and-roll partners, Brunson — who rarely got opportunities to play with an open lane last season — was often calling his own number in an effort to get to the rim whenever Towns screened for him. (On Monday, Towns didn’t get a touch off a Brunson screen-and-roll until the third quarter, when he eventually assisted fellow Knicks newcomer Mikal Bridges on a corner 3.)

Simply put, the Knicks weren’t involving Towns enough to begin the season, and it contributed to them getting thoroughly outperformed from deep. Opponents were getting up an average of 14 more 3s per contest through their first three games — a reversal from the volume advantage New York enjoyed a season ago. (Donte DiVincenzo, who last season set the Knicks franchise record for 3s, was sent to Minnesota as part of the Towns trade. And Julius Randle, while not a sharpshooter himself, ranked fifth in the league at assisting corner 3s over the past four seasons .)

The Knicks, who led the NBA in offensive rebounding last season, are 22nd at this early stage, in part due to their five-out approach. The defense could also be primed to regress from last season’s top-10 perch as the team adapts to having Towns as its backstop; especially with bigs Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa both sidelined by injury.

Brunson, who’s passing the ball a bit less than he did last season when he drives to the basket, said that he needs to get Towns more involved.

“It’s on me and on us to make sure that we’re all on the same page, and to make sure everyone’s eating,” Brunson said after the loss to the Cavs. “I’ve gotta do better when it comes to that. I’ve gotta adjust and I’ve gotta see him.”

It didn’t take long for the Knicks to adjust, as Towns exploded for 44 points Wednesday night in a win against the Miami Heat. Towns got 11 catch-and-shoot opportunities against the Heat, his most since 2018. (The Knicks shot 40 triples as a team, 10 more than any other game this season.) With the impressive outing, Towns is averaging 1.32 points per direct pick when he’s the screener, the NBA’s highest rate this season among players to set at least 50 on-ball screens.

The next step will be for Towns and Brunson to do their offensive damage simultaneously. The All-NBA point guard, while integrating two new high-scoring teammates, has uncharacteristically connected on just a third of his shot attempts over the past two games.

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Small sample size theater: Four early trends to watch

• Anthony Davisperhaps the NBA’s most dominant player to start the campaign, was averaging 1.36 points per paint touch heading into Wednesday’s games — the second-highest mark in the league among those with at least 20 touches. (Only Atlanta Hawks forward Onyeka Okongwu was scoring more.) Davis’ impressive numbers come amid the Lakers’ 3-2 start, and as 39-year-old LeBron James has the lowest usage rate (25.7%) of his 22-career year .

• DeMar DeRozan has never been known for his defense, which was part of the reason analysts were divided on whether the 35-year-old’s signing would help the Sacramento Kings improve last season’s 14th-ranked defense. But through four games, the swingman leads Sacramento’s defense so far with 3.3 deflections per game and 13 total — a number that places him among the league leaders. DeRozan has also scored at least 20 points in each contest and has shot 55% overall through the team’s first four games.

• The Nuggets’ starting five of Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic have more or less done their part, outscoring opponents by 25 points in 104 minutes, or a rate of 11.8 points per 100 possessions. (The trend continued against Brooklyn Tuesday, as the group outscored the Nets by eight in 26 minutes of play.) It’s the bench, which is still incorporating former MVP guard Russell Westbrook — that has been ghastly, getting outscored by 38 in the 72 minutes Denver has played with at least two reserves on the court.

• The Knicks, who have arguably the league’s best defensive wing tandem in Bridges and OG Anunobywere surrendering the most points per iso possession (1.53) and the highest iso scoring percentage (63.2%) heading into Wednesday’s games. Those numbers are ones New York will bring down in the wake of the Celtics’ explosive opening-night performance. Jayson Tatum averaged 2.3 points per iso on eight attempts that night, the most efficient game of his career with that many one-on-one opportunities.

ESPN Research’s Matt Williams contributed to this story.