Watching Pat Mahomes struggle to get good read and fire a pass without running for his life last night in the Super Bowl was a reminder of how a team helps its best player better. Mahomes could manage to get some passes off to his receivers, which they dropped, but that is not a sustainable way to play. They only managed the nine points.
Over in Washington, Bradley Beal is getting 40 like every other night and that does not do them any good. The easy, hot sports take is usually “they suck, because they cannot elevate the team” and that is stupid. Clearly, the Chiefs are a good team that was just injured across the offensive line and that made even the best QB in the game right now look like a chucker.
Mahomes avoiding an on-coming pass rush to make a play once or twice a game is the difference between winning and losing. Him doing it every play is how you get blown out. Look at his time at Texas Tech and that is what he had to do every game. That the Chiefs are putting him in a better position (Super Bowl excluded) has put him in the Next Greatest conversations.
DeMar DeRozan has not had to score 35 a night, although he probably could get there if that was what the Spurs needed. Instead, he has that in reserve. The staff and the team are trying to get easy buckets for each other, play good defense, and then when it matters — use the singular ability of a DeMar DeRozan to get buckets by himself. That is the best use of his talent right now. While Keldon or Derrick White can get 30 on a given night, they cannot necessarily be relied upon to get it every night. DeMar had 30 in back-to-back games, and this is unsurprising. He can do it. He has a deep bad of tricks that he has built over a decade in the league. He’s added to his game each offseason, improving his ball handling here, his shot over there, his attack angles this offseason, his passing ability in this one.
That the Rockets have a tough defense since James Harden was traded is even more impressive. DeRozan got tough buckets over a tough defense.
The Warriors are not as good as they have been, but they still have a singular star that can get 60 points with ease. The Spurs dropped a bit in defensive efficiency (14th) right now, just below the Warriors. Again, as Derrick White settles in, this should go up if the trends we see stay true, although LaMarcus Aldridge will be gone for a bit with hip soreness. Whatever your hot take is on the guy, he is valuable, smart, and a relatively mobile defender for his age, size, etc. Losing him for an extended period of time is not good, but it allows for the Spurs to develop the rest of their team.
Poeltl is a nice player and a plus defender for the most part, but he is not nearly the offensive force that Aldridge is. Having someone that can dominate the ball — meaning someone else can get a little rest and not have to handle the rock so much — is important. As inefficient as the post up is branded as, it is a useful tactic for at least that reason. Throwing the ball into Aldridge and then working off him brings some stability to the offense. One reason that the third-stringers look a bit discombobulated when running the standard Spurs sets is the the gravity is different.
When Aldridge pops, he has to be respected. When anyone else does — nothing happens.
It is incredible how quickly things change. The Spurs were blowing out the Warriors that season, then Kawhi was hurt and everything changed. The Warriors had three mega-stars, then got hurt and are now out of the playoff picture at the moment.
Just a couple of seasons ago the Spurs are Warriors put up a couple of 67+ win seasons! Now they are just a couple of games above .500. Steph is still a monster, but Wiseman is a star-in-the-making. This is another time for DeRozan to be great.