On Wednesday morning, Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy addressed a group of reporters at a pre-game shootaround in Phoenix. Van Gundy can be equally charming and provocative in these settings, but because he talked about the presidential election his words have been labeled a "rant." That’s exactly the wrong term. A rant is wild and unfocused. Van Gundy was remarkably clear and direct. Calling it a rant is the language of normalization. (You can listen to the audio here to choose your own qualifier, if you’d like.)

What follows is a partial transcript provided by Vincent Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.

"I didn’t vote for (George W.) Bush, but he was a good, honorable man with whom I had political differences, so I didn’t vote for him. But for our country to be where we are now, who took a guy who -- I don’t care what anyone says, I’m sure they have other reasons and maybe good reasons for voting for Donald Trump -- but I don’t think anybody can deny this guy is openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic and ethno-centric, and say, ‘That’s OK with us, we’re going to vote for him anyway.'"

"We have just thrown a good part of our population under the bus, and I have problems with thinking that this is where we are as a country."

On Friday, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had his say while acknowledging his position of privilege: "I'm a rich white guy, and I'm sick to my stomach thinking about it. I can't imagine being a Muslim right now, or a woman, or an African American, a Hispanic, a handicapped person. How disenfranchised they might feel. And for anyone in those groups that voted for him, it's just beyond my comprehension how they ignore all of that. My final conclusion is, my big fear is --- we are Rome."

Multiple players also expressed their dissatisfaction with the outcome, many in terms less vociferous than Van Gundy and Pop. That’s probably not an accident. Players have long known to be guarded in group media settings. LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, for example, spoke of taking on responsibility as leaders, thus turning the political into a personal mission.

"Now is our responsibility as men and women to take it into our hands and be role models and be our own leaders, at this point, regardless of who is the commander in chief," Anthony told reporters on Wednesday. "People don’t know what to do at this point. I think it’s up to us as individuals to lead and everybody leads in their own way."

James, for his part, wouldn’t commit to a return visit to the White House under a new administration should the Cavs win the championship again. Still others around the league were conciliatory and cautiously hopeful. No doubt a few were privately elated.

No matter how you feel about any of the words spoken throughout the NBA this week, they are all intensely political. By its very nature and makeup, the NBA is a political league. It is one the few public spheres in American life where black men are so visible and have a measure of power and influence. This generation of players in particular have shown a willingness to engage at a grassroots level and empower kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. Those kids, like so many other minority groups, have been marginalized by the tone and tenor of the election. It’s at that level where there’s real work to be done.

By its actions, the NBA is also a political entity. Tuesday’s election brought about the apparent defeat of North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, whose passage of the law known as HB2 led to the NBA’s decision to move this year’s All-Star Game out of Charlotte. (McCrory hasn’t conceded and the vote won’t be certified until late November.) Whatever role it played in the electoral outcome, the NBA’s decision helped bring the law into the public’s view.

Public advocacy has at times been an uncomfortable role for a league that must sell their game to the world. It’s a game, after all, that’s played by millionaires for the financial benefit of billionaires. It has not always acted swiftly nor decisively, but when the NBA has chosen to take the lead on social issues it has yielded results. That must continue for its voices to have impact.

Those voices have not been silent. It wasn’t the first time Van Gundy, Anthony, or Popovich have expressed their views, nor will it be the last. They’ve been talking about education and civil liberties since long before the election. Just this past week there was a piece on The Undefeated about Popovich who they called "the wokest coach in the league."

As Pop told Marc Spears: "It’s pretty obvious that the national stain of slavery continues to permeate our social system in this country. People want to ignore it, don’t want to talk about it, because it’s inconvenient."

We are here now at this moment because it can no longer be inconvenient or uncomfortable to talk about racism and intolerance. This is why we need the NBA. Not because of that old corny pablum about how sports brings us together. No, we’re way, way beyond that now.

We need the NBA, not merely as a distraction, but as a community that stands against bigotry in all its forms. It’s an international community, built upon the very best notions of diversity and inclusion. And it’s a community that will fight for its beliefs.

This is the league that gave us Bill Russell, who worked for civil rights at great risk to himself and his family. It’s the league that gave us Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a man who publicly converted to Islam at the height of his powers and continues to be its vocal conscience. It’s a league that welcomed Yao Ming, Arvydas Sabonis, and Dirk Nowitzki to its ranks, thereby opening the sport’s borders and becoming a truly global game. It’s the league that embraced Jason Collins when he publicly came out, and it’s a league whose players elected a black woman, Michele Roberts, to be their advocate.

It may be of small comfort this week, but for anyone who follows the NBA, this is our community. This is who we are.

In the words of a friend, let’s basketball. Here are five early season teams trends worth watching.

Atlanta addressed its rebounding woes: When the Hawks made the decision to transition from Al Horford to Dwight Howard it fundamentally altered the makeup of their pace-and-space ethos. That team was a lot of fun to watch when everything clicked. Unfortunately, their magical elixir proved to be an ineffective tonic against LeBron James and the Cavs. One of the primary culprits was rebounding and in Howard they know have a giant who can patrol the paint and control the glass. He was magnificent in a 17-rebound outing against the Cavs earlier in the week that snapped Atlanta’s 11-game losing streak against its nemesis.

Charlotte’s defense is once again outstanding: During his four seasons in Charlotte, Steve Clifford has has routinely fielded top-flight units without top-flight talent. This year’s squad with a healthy Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is one of the league’s best. MKG is a hellraiser on the perimeter, capable of shutting down top wing scorers, but the strength of the Hornets defense is as a team unit that plays on a string. And to think, they’re doing it without Roy Hibbert, who has been out with a knee injury. The Hornets schedule is about to get tougher, but this team is no fluke.

Boston’s defense has slipped dramatically: On the flipside, we have the Celtics’ sieve-like unit that is near the bottom of the league in points allowed per 100 possessions. The injury-related absences of Horford, Jae Crowder, and Kelly Olynyk (an underrated team defender in their scheme) have played a major role in their unraveling, but the Celtics have been afflicted with a team-wide hustle malady. This is not a squad that will overwhelm you with talent, and its greatest strength in years past was simply playing harder than their opponent.

Dalllas’ shooting will improve: Not a lot has gone right for the Mavericks through the first few weeks. Dirk Nowitzki’s battles with a balky Achilles injury is concerning enough, but the Mavs’ shooting percentages have also tumbled. The Mavericks have taken the ‘right’ shots, they just haven’t gone in enough. Nowitzki was off to a slow start and Wes Matthews has also struggled. Both have impressive track records so a bounce-back seems likely. The silver lining for Dallas has been the play of Harrison Barnes, who has taken the lead role offensively and responded with better than 20 points per game. That’s not likely to continue, but then neither is a 25th-ranked offense for a team that has routinely ranked in the top third.

The Timberwolves will be fine, eventually: The team Tom Thibodeau inherited is long on young talent, but short on defensive acumen. Since the latter happens to be Thibs’ calling card, it was only natural to expect immediate improvements on that end of the floor. Even Thibodeau’s most ardent admirers had to concede that he wouldn’t be able to turn the Wolves around in a month. It hasn’t helped that invaluable point guard Ricky Rubio has missed all but two games with a sprained elbow, but the Wolves allow an unhealthy amount of made shots and foul too much. Both can be chalked up to a young team learning a new scheme and both can be overcome in time.

BOSTON -- For several minutes on Friday night, the Golden State Warriors attained basketball nirvana. It wasn’t just the deluge of points, or how they scored them. We’ve become accustomed to the barrage of 3-pointers, dunks, and layups. It certainly wasn’t how they celebrated. The Zaza Pachulia shimmy will live forever in our nightmares.

It was how they defended, jumping passing lanes, and forcing turnovers. All of that turned chaos into an artful ballet of beautiful basketball and casual disrespect.

Those extended minutes, which turned a competitive game into a rout, are what we imagined the Warriors would look like this season. That it hasn’t happened more often is either a sign that they’re saving themselves for the long haul, or an indication that they haven’t fully arrived yet. Perhaps it signals that we haven’t come to terms with how we view them yet.

Forget for a moment the wins and losses, the parochial triumphalism and the distant schadenfreude. What do we, the basketball watching universe, want from this team?

So far this season we know that we can’t have perfection. That was clear on opening night when the Spurs came to town and drilled them. It’s been evident in games they’ve won without the benefit of a consistent, sustained effort. We can also assume that we won’t have a season-long quest for immortality. We already had 73 wins and that pursuit proved to be more draining than necessary. There’s the championship chase, of course, but that’s for the spring. There’s a whole season to account for before we can get there and so we’re left with that question.

It’s lingered in the background since Kevin Durant agreed to join Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. You can build a playoff team around a great player. You can have a contender with two and win championships with three. But with four, the possibilities are endless and daunting to comprehend. So, I asked Warriors coach Steve Kerr to remove himself from the day-to-day and cast himself as a commentator. What would he want to see?

"Selflessness," Kerr answered. "I’d just want to see the ball move between four guys who are All-Stars. But not in a pass-up-shots kind of way. I’d want to see some flow and aggressiveness. If you’re open fire away, if not, move it on. How many easy shots can this team get. That’s really the same thing I’m looking for as coach."

Selflessness is an interesting word. The phrase we hear over and over again is sacrifice. It’s the hallmark of any great team over the years. Players give it a little to gain a lot. Whether it was Tim Duncan stepping back to allow Tony Parker room to flourish or Chris Bosh extending his game beyond the 3-point line, great teams have always demanded a personal pound of flesh for the benefit of the greater good.

But selflessness is different. If sacrifice is a utilitarian construct, selflessness is utopian. It imagines a space where these players, great as they are individually, commit acts of basketball generosity not through gritted teeth but because they are right there in front of them to be made. It’s a brilliant goal for a long season because it’s an unattainable concept, but it’s a real goal for the Warriors because it’s not out of the realm of the possibility.

It manifests itself in small ways. It’s a give-and-go between Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala that ends with satisfied grins going down the floor. It’s a four-pass whipsaw sequence that brokered good scoring chances into an uncontested layup. It’s impossible to play this way all the time, but the Warriors are beginning to play this way some of the time, and that’s more than enough to pile up regular season wins.

The Warrior coaches have been content to let this develop organically. They critique and correct when needed, but the larger picture is the thing and it might be a good sign that it’s not altogether clear in late November. There is something to play 82 games for, after all, and they are in no rush.

There’s a parallel to be drawn with the Miami Heat, who were not as fully realized as we wanted them to be when they took the court together back in 2010. It took them more than a year to figure out how they could function seamlessly on the court together within a system that blended their individual talents and resulted in a team that will stand for all time.

"I think it was probably a lot harder for Miami," Kerr said. "I think our guys fit better naturally because of the floor spacing and the playmaking. Doesn’t mean it’s going to click all the time or right away, but it just seems like it’s more natural."

That’s an unusually high bar, but the Warriors aren’t going to get much sympathy from anyone as those Heat teams also learned. Like the Warriors, the Heat were derided nationally for their team-building approach. Eventually they were granted respect and admiration for their style of play, even if some of that was given grudgingly in some quarters. That same dynamic will be in play for Golden State if it succeeds on these terms and it’s worth noting that the Warriors have not faced nearly the same vitriol in opposing arenas as the Heat did during their infancy.

The Warriors also have the advantage of a head start. The core of the team has been together for years and already achieved great success. They do not need to revamp everything they do because the blueprint is still viable. Continuity is a key ingredient, but the Warriors are not fools. They know that it’s not as easy as plugging in KD for Harrison Barnes and going about their business as if nothing has changed.

"It’s dramatically different when you add a superstar than when you add a role player," Kerr said. "We’re still building. We’re still figuring some stuff out. We’re not relying on everything we’ve been able to rely on the last two years. It’s obviously a welcome addition because Kevin is that good."

With Durant on board, Kerr can play him and Thompson together with the reserves when Curry sits. That creates a dynamic second unit that often thrived in past years even without a designated scorer. When Durant and Thompson sit, Kerr can deploy Curry and Green together. When all four are active there should never be a weakened offensive lineup on the floor. Kerr has also used his small ball lineup of doom a tick more regularly so far this season. Not surprisingly, that lineup with Durant in place of Barnes is even more devastating than it was last season.

It’s been a slow burn, but after losing to the Lakers early in November, the Warriors put up 611 points over their next five games. After rolling through the Raptors on Wednesday, Golden State became the first team in 26 years to generate 30 or more assists and shoot over 50 percent in five straight games. Against Boston, that percentage dipped just below 50 percent, but they still racked up 33 assists on 44 made shots. It’s staggering what this team can do, and they know it.

"We go over our offensive stuff a lot, but to be honest, I could roll the ball out and we’re going to score a lot of points because our guys are skilled and talented," Kerr said. "Our focus is taking care of the ball. The best thing for your defense is good offense. If you score and don’t turn the ball over it’s an immense help to your defense."

Defense has been the glaring weakness, as much as a team that is 11-2 can have one. Their issues are not difficult to pin down. Opponents are taking it to them inside, shooting over 64 percent inside the restricted area and letting fly from the outside when not doing damage on the interior. One of the key defensive scriptures is making your opponent take bad shots. In this era, bad shots are inefficient shots and the Warriors aren’t making teams take enough of them. When they do force misses, they’re not getting enough rebounds.

Their problems protecting the paint and sweeping the boards are primarily a function of swapping out Andrew Bogut for Pachulia. We knew all that coming into the season, so none of this has been terribly surprising. Everyone in the league would have done exactly the same thing if it meant getting Durant in his prime. Obviously.

They have an obvious need for a rip-protecting big man, but barring a trade one isn’t likely to materialize. Do they actually need one to reach their full potential? If the answer is no, then there is little hope for the rest of the league.

What’s also slipped are the recovery mechanisms that made Golden State so damn good in recent years: perimeter defense, help defense, hustle defense. It’s there sometimes and other times it’s not. Both traits are emblematic of a highly successful basketball team in November, especially one that knows it can outscore anyone at any time.

"I think the biggest challenge for our guys is to keep the intensity for 48 minutes," Kerr said. "They tend to feel like they can outscore people, which they can, but it’s not a very good recipe for success against good teams and in the playoffs. We’ve got to get better defensively. We know that."

What we do not know yet is how good they are, and whether they can possibly measure up to anyone’s expectations. This is unchartered territory and the answer isn’t likely to reveal itself in the mundane matter of winning regular season basketball games. All we have at this point are the moments of brilliance and the tantalizing possibility that something more is there to be discovered.

One of the fascinating phenomenons in a player’s career arc is The Leap. For some, it means coming into their own as a rotation player. For others, it’s establishing themselves as a starter or even a star. For these five players, it means elevating their games into a different stratosphere.

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Everyone’s favorite Freak is averaging better than 21 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks per game. The list of players who have hit those marks over the course of a season is one: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Throw in two steals per game and the company Giannis keeps is his alone (hat tip to Shootaround friend Jared Dubin). In other words, no one has ever done what Antetokounmpo is doing and here’s where we remind you that he’s still just 22 years old. Giannis has long been an internet sensation. Now he’s becoming a legit franchise player for a team that desperately needs one.

Jimmy Butler: What more does Butler need to do to establish himself among the elite? He’s already a two-time All-Star and an Olympian with a gold medal. Like all the players on this list, his shooting percentages have surged to seemingly unsustainable levels and his Usage Rate is off the charts. That accounts for his uptick in scoring and Butler is also rebounding at a higher rate. The story so far is that he is taking on an even bigger role in their offense and thriving even with Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo as running mates. He is clearly the Bulls’ best player, but he might be the second-best player in the Eastern Conference and that’s new territory.

DeMar DeRozan: No player has caused more of a sensation this season than the mid-range maestro who is scorching teams with his quaintly orthodox game. There isn’t anyone, with the exception of DeRozan himself, who believes he can continue to produce at this level without a reliable 3-point shot. But he keeps doing it anyway. His latest masterpiece was a 34-point effort against Golden State that included 17 free throws in 17 attempts. The more DeRozan produces, the more his critics suggest that it won’t mean a thing until he does it in the playoffs, which, fair. But it’s November and we can only go with what we’ve seen to this point

Kemba Walker: The Charlotte point guard has long resided among the ranks of players who also received consideration during All-Star selection periods. Throughout his career he’s been good, maybe even underrated or underappreciated, but not quite a star-level performer. He’s averaging almost 26 points per game on what looks like unsustainable levels of accuracy, but he’s also taking better shots and getting to the free throw line at a higher clip. Walker has always carried himself like a star in the best possible sense of the word: he’s willing to take huge shots and shoulder the offensive load for a team that needs his ability to create offense. The difference is that he’s performing like one consistently.

Andrew Wiggins: The third year is supposedly the time when all the hard work and forced game experience begins to manifest itself, not only in the numbers, but also in terms of wins and losses. Wiggins is averaging over 26 points per game and shooting over 54 percent from beyond the arc. His post-up game is becoming more consistent and less mechanical. That’s indicative of hours spent in the gym working on his craft. However, that hasn’t translated yet into wins for a young Wolves team that is still learning hard lessons. The next step for Wiggins is arguably the toughest. It’s understanding game situations and performing in the moment. The signs of an individual breakout are here. The rest of the season will paint a clearer picture of where he stands among the league’s best.

BOSTON -- Kawhi Leonard talks now. He talks to the coaches after timeouts and before the huddle. He talks to his teammates on the court, many of whom are new to San Antonio and the Spurs way of doing things. He talks on the plane and he talks in the locker room, making a point of being available to answer postgame questions.

Leonard has emerged this season a team leader. Of all the many internal developments that are taking place within the Spurs ecosystem, this may be the most important.

"He’s not just doing it by example anymore," Spurs guard Danny Green told me. "He’s leading by action."

This may not seem like a natural fit for player who is shy to the point of reticence, but it is a necessary one now that Tim Duncan has retired. The way Leonard sees it, he has the experience to voice his opinion.

"Definitely, I want to be vocal," he said. "If I see something they’re doing right, if I see something they’re doing wrong, I just want to point that out and keep getting better."

His methods are suitably subtle: a small conversation about proper spacing here, a note about pick-and-roll coverages there. Leonard is not demonstrative, flashy, or given to anything that would be in any way considered an antic. And that’s perfectly fine for the Spurs who were defined for two decades by Duncan’s steady, reserved persona.

"He’s never going to be a towel waver," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He speaks to me about things that he sees now. He comes into timeouts, if he’s not happy with what’s going on on the court. That’s all good.

"I’d rather have him do that than beat his chest and wiggle his shoulders and stare at the camera and all that other crap," Pop continued. "That doesn’t seem to make much sense. I’d rather have it the other way and work on him to be a leader in the timeouts, in the locker room, on the plane. That kind of stuff."

This is the latest step in Leonard’s remarkable evolution. Now in his sixth season and entering his athletic prime, Leonard is averaging over 25 points a game and taking on an even bigger role in the Spurs’ offense. His usage rate has spiked to over 30 percent of the team’s possessions while keeping his turnovers low, and shooting over 93 percent from the free throw line. He’s defending as he always has, smothering opposing wings and engulfing errant passes.

There’s a natural tendency to wonder how long he can keep this up. Many an emerging star has allowed their defense to take a step back when asked to step up more on the offensive end. It was one thing when Leonard was a cog in the Spurs machine, albeit a featured cog the last few years. It’s another to do so now when Duncan is no longer around to patrol the back line and hold everyone accountable. Naturally, Pop dismissed those concerns.

"He’s done it for us the entire time he’s been there," Popovich said. "At the offensive end, I think our players get less minutes than other players at those positions if I’m not mistaken. I don’t think he’s ever going to be worn out. I’m not going to play him like Latrell Sprewell. The bottom line is that he’s getting paid to do both. So get your ass out there and do both, if you want to know the truth. If you don’t want to do both then we’ll pay you $4 million."

Leonard’s backstory is one of the true wonders of this age. A mid first-round selection who arrived at the expense of Pop favorite George Hill, Leonard willed his way to the upper echelon through long hours and work with renowned skills coaches Chad Forcier and Chip Engelland. The Spurs initially wanted him to be a bigger version of Bruce Bowen. What they got was one of the best two-way forwards in the game.

"We’d be exaggerating if we said we knew what he was going to be," Pop said. "Kind of like Manu (Ginobli). Or Tony (Parker). It just worked out for us. We needed size when we made that trade. Kawhi had such size and we thought he had the foot speed to move from an inside player to the three position. So we decided to roll the bones and found out that he’s got the same attitude that Tim Duncan had. He comes early, he stays late, he wants to be great. He’s just a sponge."

This is how the Spurs do it. They find hidden gems in the draft and develop them into starters and useful rotation players. Every once in awhile a future Hall of Famer comes along. It’s scouting, it’s development, it’s players who have more to offer than meets the eye and are willing to work for it.

In his way, Leonard is the embodiment of everything the Spurs have stood for over the years. He’s a self-made player in a selfless system that needed a focal point. As it was for Duncan and as it was for Parker and Ginobli before him, it was simply his turn to take over.

Leonard’s evolution in the Spurs’ hierarchy has been so seamless that there is once again a tendency to take what he and the Spurs have accomplished for granted. That would be a mistake because while the wins and losses look the same in the standings, the methods look very different on the court.

In an era of small, they’ve doubled down on big. Having perfected pace-and-space, they’ve become a mid-range monster thanks to the additions of LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol. While the offense still hums along, there are visible cracks in the foundation. Without Duncan, their starters have not played the level of defense we’ve been accustomed to seeing.

Their salvation defensively to this point has come from an unlikely cast of characters making up their reserve unit that includes Patty Mills, Jonathon Simmons, David Lee, Davis Bertans, and the ageless Manu Ginobli. It is different and in a way change has been a little refreshing, even if it’s daunting to consider life without Timmy.

"It’s very different, a new look, a new locker room," Green said. "Not just without him but with all the new faces. We have a lot of new guys. We took it for granted the last three or four years that everybody knew where to be, knew where to go. Now it’s different. We have to actually talk it out, communicate with each other.

"One thing that Tim was great at that we took for granted, that everybody in our league took for granted, was how great he was for us defensively," Green added. "We’re still finding our way, blocking shots, playing pick and roll defense, rebounding. Tim did all those things for us regardless of how well he shot the ball. And he was a great passing big too. Those two things were big keys that we’re missing right now."

Even with all that, the Spurs are on a winning streak that reached nine in a row after beating the Wizards on Saturday. They are once again flying under the radar in classic Spurs fashion.

No discussion of contenders is complete without the Spurs, yet few place them alongside Golden State, Cleveland, and even the Clippers in the initial conversation. There are questions about their ability to match up athletically with the top teams and concerns about their defense that’s slipped from its elite perch. Still, they keep winning games.

As Celtics coach Brad Stevens put it: "They sleep, they eat, they go through your stuff and then they execute you to death and leave your arena successful."

The Spurs can’t be ignored, but they are far from a finished product. They’re not rebuilding, obviously, but they are retooling for life in a post Duncan world. Popovich has always taken the long view with the regular season. He uses the 82 games to experiment with lineups and personnel. Since he keeps his starters’ minutes in the low 30s, role players get chances to prove themselves. And there a lot of new roles to flesh out.

On Wednesday, Parker ran the show down the stretch in a win over Charlotte. On Friday it was his understudy Mills who received the crunch-time minutes. Bertans has been terrific with his shooting and athleticism. Lee has been resurrected as a backup big who brings rebounds, points, and energy. Against the Celtics, Pop benched his entire starting five after they fell behind by double digits. His second group stabilized the game and played a key role in the fourth quarter. The one constant throughout was Leonard.

"It’s not really developed yet, but tonight they were good," Popovich said. "Bertans was amazing. He and David Lee were super. Patty Mills off the bench was solid. Kawhi is Kawhi. We start to take him for granted."

The result was another win in somebody else’s building and another monster performance from their taciturn superstar. It’s just like old times for the Spurs, even if it all feels so new.

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, so let’s celebrate the cornucopia of goodness the league has provided for us this season.

A new CBA is coming: Labor peace has been a fragile thing in the NBA since the ‘90s, but we appear to be heading toward a brand new day of harmony in the relationship between management and players. That fresh outlook couldn’t come at a better time because the league is basking in television money and positive press. All the while, the NFL gets raked for bad ratings and MLB seems headed toward its own labor precipice. With freakish young stars, juggernaut teams, and the best player of his generation still going strong, the NBA is poised to enter a new golden era at just the right moment.

Unicorns aplenty: The word of the year is Unicorn, a mythical 7-foot beast that shoots threes and can do everything else that big men are supposed to do on a court. Look around and you’ll find Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, Kristaps Porzingis, Joel Embiid and honorary pegasus Giannis Antetokounmpo. These guys are the future of the league and they haven’t come close to realizing their full potential yet. There is no limit to what these guys can do. The only barrier is their organization’s imagination.

Super teams are fun: Let’s be honest about something: the Warriors are the worst supervillains since Paste Pot Pete took on the Fantastic Four (look it up, true believers). They’re just not that evil, but they are really fun to watch when not laying waste to your favorite team. Love them or hate them, we have to acknowledge the Warriors, and the NBA is always stronger when there’s a team that attracts this much attention. The parity alternative is nice in theory but deadly dull in practice. The only thing the NBA can’t ever be is boring.

The LeBron era has been better than we acknowledge: Four MVPs, back-to-back titles in Miami, and six straight Finals appearances weren’t enough. It took winning a third championship after trailing 3-1 for everyone to appreciate just how special James has been to the game. LeBron may never match Michael Jordan’s ring count, but like Jordan, he has so thoroughly dominated his era that everyone else is tied for second. Savor this now because it won’t be long until we’re all looking for the next LeBron the way we waited for a MJ successor.

This year’s draft might be really, really good: We’ve been down this road many times in the past and we always seem to get it wrong. Hyped drafts wind up looking worse in retrospect and there are hidden gems scattered throughout weak ones. What makes this year’s pack of prospects so interesting is that there are at least five players in the running for the top pick and all are freshmen. Per DraftExpress, 13 of the top 16 players are first-year college players with one sophomore and a pair of international teenagers in the mix. That’s an awful lot of young talent to pick through over the next few months as teams inevitably fall back from the pack.

What do you do with DeMarcus Cousins? Man, that’s a loaded question.

The short answer: nothing. Already an established All-Star and now an Olympian, Cousins is off to the best start of his career. He’s averaging over 28 points a game to go along with his usual 10 rebounds and 3 assists, and is arguably the best player the Sacramento Kings franchise has ever seen (shout out to Chris Webber). Cousins is also clearly in his prime. You don’t trade players like DeMarcus Cousins. You do everything you can to build a solid foundation of talent around them.

Because Cousins plays for the Sacramento Kings, the long answer is … complicated. Boogie and the Kings haven’t come close to the postseason during their six-plus seasons together, topping out a mere 33 wins last year. They’ve burned through five coaches during that span and spun their wheels repeatedly in search of a quick fix when a patient approach would have done quite nicely.

So, here we are again. As the calendar turns to December, the winds of winter bring with them the annual season of Boogie trade rumors. At the moment they are mere speculative whispers. But Cousins has another year left on his contract beyond this season. If the Kings ever did get serious about moving on, now would be the time.

Trading Cousins would certainly give the franchise a jolt and a new direction. But on the other hand, why would they? They just opened their new arena and dudes that average 28 and 10 don’t come around very often, if ever. Teams in Sacramento’s position who have a talent like Cousins hold on tight to the very end. Yet, most teams in their position have shown tangible signs of progress.

Per usual, the Kings are on the fringes of playoff contention, roughly equidistant between the 8th spot and the 14th in the West. Their roster is once again transitional. There are three rookies who barely play along with a grab bag of veterans and holdovers for a team that turned over half its personnel in the offseason. Seven years into the Cousins era, the Kings are running an ultramarathon on the treadmill of mediocrity and the finish line is still miles away.

There is perhaps a new hope, though. Boogie has formed a solid bond with new coach Dave Joerger, who built a strong resumé with the Grizzlies and comes into the picture with a long-term contract and the respect that comes with it. Joerger knows there is a long-term situation that involves modest gains and his intention is to build methodically. In the interim he’s come up with creative ways to feature his big man. This has the potential to become the player-coach partnership that has eluded Cousins throughout his career.

"He’s a sweetheart," Joerger says without a hint of irony. "We get along great."

"He’s amazingly talented," Joerger continued. "We watched his talent get better every year from the other sideline. Like man, this guy just keeps getting better. And then when I got to coach him, I’m like, holy cow. He is incredibly talented. And then, the way that he has gone about his business and grown. Again from the other sideline to now here, he has really grown in the way he handles his business. Whether it’s practice, shootarounds, games, dealing with officials, handling adversity. Those two things have impressed me."

So again, what do you do with Cousins? On the court, there’s almost nothing you can’t do with Cousins. He can shoot from distance or dominate inside. He can pick and pop or put it on the floor and drive. He’s too powerful for just about everyone in the league in the post and too quick for most. When teams double, he’ll pick them apart with passes to cutters or open shooters on the wing.

"You don’t really appreciate it too much when you’re on the other team but when you get here you realize how good he actually is," Ty Lawson said after the team’s shootaround. "I like to get him in pick-and-roll, take his defender away from him for one or two seconds throw it back and he can basically do whatever he wants. Take the shot, get into the paint. To be that big and do that much stuff on the court? James (Harden) could do a lot but DeMarcus, I don’t think anybody can stop him."

So far this season, no one really has, despite the fact that he’s playing with a broken finger. Not that his aching digit has stopped him from piling up Xbox numbers. Coming into Friday night’s game with the Celtics he had scored 141 points and grabbed 55 rebounds over his last four contests. And it’s not like he’s had a ton of help, Rudy Gay’s solid campaign notwithstanding. As good as Cousins has been, the Kings have been brutal offensively without him, scoring just 95 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the bench per NBA.com.

Key to his evolution as a player this season has been trading inefficient long twos for higher-efficiency threes. It’s an evolution that’s not specific to Cousins as all across the league big men who used to set up shop between the circle and the arc are now drifting beyond the 3-point line.

"With him and the rest of the league, everyone’s playing so far off in pick and rolls with their centers," Joerger said. "You can see now the adjustment is being made where fives are picking and popping to (the 3-point line). All you gotta do is make one out of three to shoot 50 percent from two."

That was his percentage last season, but this year he’s making them at a 39 percent clip. Boogie’s long-range marksmanship has been a boon for a Kings’ club that lacks consistent outside shooting. Of course, there’s a balance that needs to be struck for a player who can so readily dominate in the paint.

"It’s an effective tool for us," Joerger said. "For a guy like DeMarcus, it’s just picking and choosing your spots when you can attack. Sometimes guys are going to dare you to shoot that because that’s better for them to pick that poison then you driving and getting an and-one. He worked on it over the summer. It’s not like it just started for him."

That’s essentially what went down on Friday against the Celtics. The C’s dared him to shoot from the outside and their strategy was effective. In the second half, Cousins moved closer to the basket and bully-balled his way to a tough 28 points on 26 shots. When the inevitable double-teams came, he fired off nifty passes for layups and open threes.

But the Kings faltered in all too familiar ways. They were stagnant at the beginning, which has been a season-long malady, and dug themselves a 13-point hole. They rallied but came undone whenever Cousins was off the floor. When he had to go back to the locker room after catching an elbow near the eye, a four-point spread became eight and the Kings went scoreless during that span. He returned, sans stitches, and nearly pulled off the comeback. But afterward, there were the all-too-familiar laments.

"If we don’t figure this thing out we’re going to continue to have these types of games and just another losing season," Cousins said. "Like I’ve been saying all season, if we want to change the whole thing around then we have to hold ourselves accountable and take responsibility for our effort."

What do you do? What can you do? The saga of Boogie Cousins continues.

The Most Valuable Player debate is shaping up to be a fascinating exercise this season. What will voters value more: overwhelming individual statistics propping up good but not great teams, or eye-popping numbers on championship contenders? The twist this year is there are multiple players who fit each category and none of them may wind up being the two-time defending award winner. Here’s a snapshot top five that will be subject to change throughout the season.

LeBron James: The best player of his generation and one of the greatest of all time sits on the doorstep of MVP immortality. James owns four MVPs and one more would tie him with Bill Russell and Michael Jordan for second behind Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s six. That’s a killer narrative before you add in the raw numbers: 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists for a team solidly in first place in its conference and on track for a third straight Finals appearance. LeBron is (still) the best player in the world. That’s his argument and it’s a compelling one in a crowded field.

Kawhi Leonard: The Spurs’ baton has been passed, and it rests in Leonard’s oversized hands. He’s scoring at an elite level with proper efficiency and he’s already the game’s best wing defender for a team that will win 60-plus games. Leonard finished second in the voting last year, vaulting past the other names on this list, so his value is well established. The case is being made that he’s still getting better as an all-around performer and an emerging team leader. The Spurs won’t go out of their way to make it and Leonard is the furthest thing from a gloryhound, but his game more than speaks for itself.

James Harden: A funny thing happened to Harden this season: he’s become likeable. While his uber-efficient game was always respected, there was a grimness to his approach that left many (myself included) feeling cold. Now unlocked as the primary everything in Mike D’Antoni’s free-flowing system, Harden has a shot at leading the league in points and assists for the first time since the great Tiny Archibald turned the trick in 1973. Harden’s scoring has always been sublime, but his brilliant passing has turned Clint Capela into a sensation. It’s fun to watch Harden dominate and the Rockets are a little bit better than we suspected. That’s a strong combination.

Russell Westbrook: The dude is averaging a triple-double. By doing literally everything, he’s keeping OKC in playoff contention. This really comes down to how you feel about the triple-double and whether you think it’s an unimpeachable milestone or a freak statistical blip. Much like Miguel Cabrera’s triple-crown, this pursuit will generate a thousand thinkpieces between now and April. My own feeling is that triple-doubles are cool as hell but not nearly as important as they’re made out to be, much like triple crowns. That doesn’t take anything away from what Westbrook is doing, but in this tight field even that may not be enough.

Kevin Durant: Durant’s averaging 27 points per game with a True Shooting percentage of .681. That’s higher than Steph Curry’s .669 mark last season and way above his career average of .607. Durant hasn’t had to sacrifice much and the Warriors are even better offensively than we thought they’d be. That shouldn’t be taken for granted. Many a star player has struggled with the transition to a new team. Still, the Warriors’ success in general and KD’s numbers in particular have been taken as a given. They, and he, have to do extraordinary things to shock us this season. That holds for Steph Curry, as well. That will be difficult in this environment for many reasons, not the least of which is the presence of other deserving players doing extraordinary things under more trying circumstances.

Others: Curry, Jimmy Butler, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins.

BOSTON -- Patrick Patterson took seven shots on Friday against the Celtics and missed five of them. He scored only 5 points in 30 minutes of action, but he grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out 4 assists while guarding everyone from small forwards to Al Horford. Most importantly, the Raptors were 13 points better than the Celtics while Patterson was on the court.

Individual plus/minus from game to game is a notoriously fluky statistic. Some nights it can mean a lot. Other nights, it’s just random noise. In Patterson’s case it reveals a great deal. Throughout the season, the Raps are 13 points better 100 possessions with Patterson in the game, and their alternative lineup with Patterson joining the four starters in place of rookie Pascal Siakam is a whopping 23 points better than the opposition per 100 possessions.

"He’s a glue guy," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "A lot of his measurements can’t be measured by numbers. His energy, his intellect helps us. He’s our spirit on the court. Rebounding, defending different positions. He’s a multi-faceted utility guy for us."

There isn’t a single player who dreamed of playing in the NBA who thought to himself, "One day I’m going to be a multi-faceted utility guy," but Patterson had plenty of practice along the way. He was the man in high school until he teamed up with O.J. Mayo and learned how to facilitate. He was the man for two seasons at Kentucky before John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe showed up and he had to learn how to fit in with all that star power.

"Throughout my life being able to cope, to change, and to adjust and being in the NBA it’s the same exact thing," Patterson told me before Friday’s game. "You have your superstars. You have your No. 1 and No. 2 and then the rest of the guys you have to figure out how to be effective and cause change in the game. That’s what I learned throughout the years."

Patterson learned how to impact the game with his versatility. He can guard big forwards and centers. His ability to shoot from distance and spread the floor is his main calling card, but he’s also an effective rebounder and willing passer. He’s become an essential component of what the Raptors do on a nightly basis.

Friday marked the third anniversary of a seven-player trade that sent Rudy Gay to the Kings. At the time the deal was thought to be a precursor to a massive roster purge under GM Masai Ujiri. But when a separate deal for Kyle Lowry fell apart, the new-look Raptors were born.

Patterson’s the only one left standing on the Toronto side, although the other players involved have continued to churn out dividends. John Salmons was traded for Lucas Nogueira, who has become a valuable reserve big man, and Lou Williams, who won a Sixth Man award in his only season in Toronto. Greivis Vasquez was flipped to the Bucks for the draft rights to Norm Powell and a future first rounder.

Patterson was worth the price in his own right. Before the trade, the Raps were a listless also-ran. Since that deal, the Raptors have compiled the best record in the Eastern Conference and the fourth best in the league overall behind only Golden State, San Antonio, and the Clippers. They made the playoffs three straight years and reached the conference finals after winning a franchise-best 56 games. Little did Patterson, or anyone else involved in the deal, realize that the balance of power in the East had just flipped.

"Not at all. I never saw this when I first got traded to Toronto," Patterson said. "But I’m happy. I’m ecstatic. I’m proud of everyone."

In order to discuss the Toronto Raptors properly, we should start by pretending that we’re not talking about the Raptors. Our collective subconscious on the matter is already kicking into overdrive telling us things like the Raps are good, but not great, or that they are admirably competitive, but fatally flawed.

Even as they are in the midst of the best era in franchise history and winners of eight of their last nine, that subconscious knowledge has the perverse effect of belittling their accomplishments and selling them short. It’s difficult to see improvement when the big picture hasn’t changed all that much. Difficult as it may be, we should try to examine the Raptors without bias or preconceived notion.

We should start on the offensive end where they score more points per 100 possessions than anyone besides the Warriors. They shoot it better than just about everyone else too, and they are also stingy with the ball and active on the offensive glass. They are, simply, an offensive juggernaut.

This is true even while DeMar DeRozan single-handedly tries to bring back the mid-range game against all the rules of science and evolution. In his antiquated quest, DeRozan has been a revelation. He began the year by scoring at an unsustainable rate and adjusted by becoming more of a playmaker as defenses began to hone in on his straight-ahead game.

"He’s growing up right before us," Casey said. "He’s not getting sped up by the defense. Double teams don’t bother him anymore. He makes good decisions out of double teams."

They also have one of the game’s great point guards in Lowry, who continues to get better even as his age suggests he should be starting to decline. In DeRozan and Lowry, they have two legit All-Stars performers and Olympians. Only a handful of teams can say the same. To complement them, the Raptors have loads of shooting scattered around the perimeter and an effective big man to clean things up in Jonas Valanciunas.

Their bench is also one of the best in the league. Per our Raptors HQ, the Raptors’ subs out-perform every other reserve group in the league by a substantial margin. The Lowry + Four Reserves alignment has been particularly stellar. That was true last season, as well, but those awesome backup lineups were often forced to compensate for a starting five that was a net negative. This season, the combination of a healthier DeMarre Carroll and the addition of Siakam has shaved almost four points off their margin.

"They can play big at the start of the game and then they transition into a real skilled, athletic smaller team," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. "They’re scoring at an incredible rate."

By general consensus and backed with empirical data, the Raptors are one of the best teams in the league. They are a handful to defend and just as good on the road as they are at home. They have experience, continuity, and a taste for the big time action in the postseason. Were it anyone else, we’d call the Raptors a contender and see how things play out before passing judgment.

There are, however, two main concerns and they are big ones. First, the Raps are mediocre defensively. Second, the Cleveland Cavaliers exist.

On the first, Toronto’s defensive issues are the bane of Casey’s existence. He arrived in town with a mandate to fix the D and the team has ranged from solid to meh during his tenure. Currently, they are meh.

On the second, a little context is necessary. It’s simply not true that the Raps can’t beat the Cavs. They took two out of three during the regular season last year and two more in the conference finals. It’s just that their margin for error is incredibly small. Casey even acknowledged after their latest setback on Monday (a 116-112 Cavs win in Toronto) that this team needs to "play a perfect game against a team like that." They didn’t.

They are expecting injured free agent forward Jared Sullinger to return in the next month or so and he should provide an upgrade over Siakam, particularly on the defensive boards. Short of making a big move for someone like Paul Millsap, the Raptors are right back where we thought they’d be: a little bit better than last year, but still not good enough to reach the Finals.

And yet, that is a massive improvement from where they were three years ago. To consider that the Raptors are clearly the second-best team in their conference and one of the handful of truly good teams in the league says an awful lot about how far they’ve come and how close they are to where they want to be. In any other venture and maybe any other sport, this would be viewed as a remarkable turnaround. The final step, as always, is the toughest.

"We watched a lot of the Cleveland Cavaliers and how they were able to take care of business," Patterson said. "Although we went seven games each round, we learned what it takes to get to the next round, and how valuable homecourt advantage is and how valuable it is to protect homecourt."

Take it from the glue guy. The Raptors are learning their lessons and getting better. At the end of the day, that’s all they can do.

Among my unwritten NBA rules are that I won’t rush into a League Pass relationship before playing the field first. The first quarter of the season is for speed dating, but now it’s time to commit. My highly subjective criteria are as follows: I like competitive teams who rarely appear on national television that play a unique style and ideally have a highly combustible/entertaining superstar. They should be spread out geographically and time zones. Here are my five.

Charlotte: What the Hornets lack in star power, they make up for with a strong team concept based on bedrock defensive principles and smart offensive players. I know, sounds boring as hell. But the fun is in the details. Whether it’s a well-timed Cody Zeller screen or Michael Kidd Gilchrist’s defensive rotations, the Hornets are a delight if you’re into tactical strategy and execution. Throw in the potential for late-game Kemba Walker heroics and they have become my go-to early-evening choice.

Milwaukee: The Bucks have always been a curiosity, but now that Giannis Antetokounmpo has been fully empowered to run wild, they are a League Pass no-brainer. The Giannis phenomenon is reminiscent of the Anthony Davis Experience two years ago. Even if you’re not watching, Basketball Twitter will pull you back in because something crazy happened that you must see. With a core group all under the age of 26 that includes high-scoring forward Jabari Parker, this year’s Bucks are either the dawn of a new juggernaut or a wonderfully flawed experiment.

Houston: James Harden’s entire existence changed dramatically when Mike D’Antoni entered the picture and Harden’s the obvious draw here. The man does everything, much like former teammate Russell Westbrook, but Harden gets there at his own pace. Languid where Russ is manic, Harden is the Eddie Hazel to Russ’ blitzkrieg bop. With Harden surrounded by a collection of veteran castoffs enjoying their own mid-life renaissances -- including their star-crossed coach -- the Rockets have reversed their fate as also-rans. They are once again cast as spoilers to the elite hierarchy, which suits them perfectly.

Portland: The Blazers appeared to graduate from League Pass cult status after reaching the second round of the playoffs last season. Yet their rise to the upper echelon has stalled this season leaving them in a fascinating place as they plot their next move. They are still good, and Dame Lillard is a joy, but there’s also a sense that the pieces may not be exactly right. Who goes, who stays, and who will emerge as core members underpins everything and turns their games into nightly referendums. Plus, they have the best road uniforms in the league.

Sacramento: The Kings are only mildly competitive and aren’t blessed with a collection of young talent, or even much upside. But they do have DeMarcus Cousins and the potential for anarchy is high. On any given night, Boogie could completely dominate the game, or destroy its flow with an ill-timed tantrum. He might even do both in the same game. For those of us on the East Coast, the Kings are the perfect late-night junk food before the inevitable crash.

Others: Toronto, Detroit, Minnesota, Denver.

BOSTON -- Steve Clifford, the affable but understated coach of the Charlotte Hornets, didn’t want to hear about the frigid temperatures surrounding the Garden or winds whipping down from the north. "I’m from Vermont," he said as he walked out to the court for a morning shootaround. "This is when we would go to the lake."

There is no artifice to Clifford. Even when delivering a stern message about his team’s lack of toughness in a loss to Washington earlier this week, he was even-handed and precise. It’s hard to argue when you know he’s right. The Hornets had been getting shredded, giving up 115 points per 100 possessions during a three-game losing streak that he later called the worst stretch since he’s been in Charlotte.

When Clifford took over, the team was still known as the Bobcats and just one year removed from its disastrous 7-59 season. They were a faceless entity with little foundation. Now in his fourth season, the Hornets have an identity and it’s one that’s crafted in Clifford’s steady image.

An assistant coach for 13 years before getting the top job, Clifford worked for both Van Gundys, starting with Jeff in New York and Houston before joining Stan in Orlando. He may have been an anonymous dude in a suit to most NBA fans, but those who knew raved about his teaching methods. Clifford long ago paid his dues, yet he still works like the lowest man on the ladder, spending long hours immersed in video. He’s not a huge personality, but his direct manner is appreciated by his players.

"He’s the best. He’s the absolute best," veteran forward Marvin Williams told me. "He’s the most fair coach I’ve ever been around. He’s the most fun coach I’ve ever been around. He’s not really into coming in and practicing two, three hours a day, every day. He just wants you to really focus on what you’re doing when you’re in the gym. That’s not a lot to ask from any coach. Players enjoy playing for him. I know that’s why Nic (Batum) came back. That’s why I came back. Coach Clifford was a huge reason why I wanted to stay in Charlotte."

Clifford may be the draw, but it’s not that the Hornets lack for talent. Point guard Kemba Walker has elevated his game from really good to near-elite status. He’s scoring more efficiently at the basket and knocking down over 41 percent of his shots from behind the arc. The Hornets believe that Walker would have been an All-Star last season if their record had been better. There’s no question he’s in the mix this year.

Beyond Walker, they have an emerging big man in Cody Zeller who can score, rebound, and set screens. In Williams, they have a versatile defender who has been a reliable stretch four to space the court. Batum is an underrated wing who can handle the ball and shoot from deep, while Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is one of the best end-to-end defenders in the league. It’s not the most exciting core, but it’s been an effective one.

What they lack in star power they make up for with preparation and rock-solid defense. They are stingy with the ball and smart on offense. They are connected on defense and strong on the boards. Those are the hallmarks of Clifford’s teams, which makes it all the more jarring when things start to slip.

The trouble began with a five-game road trip that opened with a LeBron blitzkrieg in Cleveland and continued with a blowout in Indiana. Wednesday’s game against the Wizards offered a chance at redemption, but the Hornets played one of their worst games of the season and Clifford lamented his team’s lack of physicality. Playing without Walker on Friday, they blew a second-half lead against the Celtics and were outscored 15-0 to open the fourth quarter.

Before the week, the Hornets had been playing quite well. They had won six of eight and were climbing back into the upper tier of the Eastern Conference standings. This has become a routine occurrence for the Hornets this season. They’ve had good runs followed by bad ones and then they go through the whole cycle again looking for equilibrium.

"We’ve been up and down with our play to this point," Clifford said. "We’ve had, even within games, really good stretches and then we haven’t sustained the play we need to be a good team. The other night (against Washington) it was just mistakes. Frankly it was embarrassing defensively. Let’s put it this way: If we’re going to be a team that can make the playoffs and then be factor in the playoffs, we need to be a top-five, top-six defensive team."

By the numbers, the Hornets are not far from that goal. According to basketball-reference, they ranked seventh in points allowed per 100 possessions coming into the weekend’s slate of games. There is nothing fancy about their approach. They get back on defense, defend without fouling, and control the defensive boards. Unless they don’t, and that’s when the problems start.

"It’s the defense," Williams said. "No question. When our defense is on point we win games. When our defense is not there we never even give ourselves a chance to win games. We just have to defend more consistently."

Defense has been a staple of Clifford’s tenure in Charlotte, beginning in the 2013-14 season when he transformed an unremarkable collection of players into a top-five unit that made the playoffs for only the second time in franchise history. After taking a step back the following season, their offense finally caught up and helped produce a 48-win team.

It’s that offense that has taken a sharp turn this season, plunging from a solid ninth to a mediocre 15th. Some of that can be pinned on the loss of valuable role players like Jeremy Lin, Al Jefferson, and Courtney Lee. That was the cost of retaining Williams and Batum, who enjoyed career seasons just as they hit free agency. Yet, the offensive issues don’t concern Clifford too much.

"I believe we can be good offensively," Clifford said. "We’re not going to be top five in offense. We just don’t have the points in our lineup. We can be good. We can be hard to guard. Last year we were ninth in offense. We have to get back to a similar place. I think we can as the year goes on, but we’re not right now. If we’re not real good defensively, we just won’t have enough offense to be that good."

As it stands, the Hornets take up residence in the most nebulous space in the league, that being the middle of the Eastern Conference. As of Friday night, exactly one game separated teams from third to ninth. It’s not the worst place to be: six of those teams will make the playoffs and it would be a major jolt if the Hornets are not among them.

"I think we’re OK," Williams said Friday morning. "Coach doesn’t necessary gripe on the wins and losses. He cares about how we’re playing."

Right on cue, Clifford praised his team’s effort against the Celtics. It was a loss but one they could accept. With Walker back in the lineup the next night, the Hornets gutted out a win in Atlanta and salvaged the final game of their trip in signature style. They’re not flashy or otherworldly. They’re just good. Like their coach.

We have the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement and it didn’t even take a lockout to get a deal done. While the full CBA details have yet to materialize and the documents itself if not yet ratified, we do have a decent grasp of the fundamentals. Here are five takeaways.

The Banana Boat Rule is a tradeoff for keeping the max: Numerous studies indicate that superstars are worth way more than their assigned max contract slot. That’s essentially a hard cap on the best players the league has to offer. With superstars replacing journeymen on the union negotiating team, CBA-watchers wondered if they would use their collective might to abolish the max entirely. They didn’t, but they did get something tangible that should benefit players in the long run by raising the allowable age for max deals from 36 to 38. Yes, Chris Paul, LeBron James, and Carmelo Anthony will likely cash in with one more gigantic payday thanks to the provision. You can consider it back-pay for services rendered or you can see it as a gift for future generations.

There’s something in there for the trusty vets too: One of the odd casualties of the revenue spike were free agents looking for a mid-level exception last summer. Those types of deals had long been one of the great union gains for the rank-and-file and a staple of free agency expenditures. Because exceptions were not tied to the cap, the salary slot stayed where it was last summer. That will change under the new CBA, meaning that as revenue rises, so does the value of a mid-level deal. That also holds true other exceptions like the bi-annual and the veteran minimum. All salaries are expected to rise by 45 percent and all players will receive a benefit under this deal.

Getting serious about the D-League: In its decade and a half of existence, the D-League has neither been a true minor league nor a viable financial alternative for non-NBA players. Yet, the D-League has made tremendous advances over the last few years, producing its share of late-blooming gems and creating a system where the vast majority of franchises have a stake in their own teams. There’s tremendous untapped potential here and the new CBA addresses it. On the development front, two-way contracts (two per team) will create opportunities for second round picks and undrafted free agents. Financially, D-League salaries will also rise making the league a more viable destination for non-NBA veterans. Both should improve the quality of play, which should also aid development. Again, the money is being spread around to all corners.

The Designated Player Rule is a landmine: The league has a long history of reacting to player independence with additional rules to incentivize them to stay in one place throughout their career. This CBA allows teams to sign certain players that meet star-level criteria to longer extensions and for more money. It also forces the player’s hand earlier in the process. They’d have to really want out to turn down the extension. It’s an anti Super Team measure, but short of abolishing free agency entirely, there is no CBA mechanism that can counter a player’s willful desire for independence. Additionally, the criteria will reflect awards that are voted on by the media, meaning the press has a gigantic conflict of interest. We saw it happen with Anthony Davis last spring and we will undoubtedly see it again.

Zero-and-two is an interesting idea: Just as in the last CBA negotiations, both sides agreed to table the requirements for college-eligible players to a later date. That means one-and-done remains intact. That’s unfortunate because no one likes one-and-done. Without knowing the full details, the zero-and-two proposal advanced by the union sounds like it would mirror baseball’s system. Essentially, players could be eligible for the draft out of high school, but if they go to college they would need to stay for two years before entering the draft. The details matter greatly. Would prep prospects lose their NCAA eligibility if they declared and went undrafted? Could prospects retain the right to decide after the draft, as in baseball where players can elect to go to college regardless of whether they’re drafted? Let’s hope both sides return to this issue. The status quo isn’t untenable but it’s wildly unpopular.

BOSTON -- The following things should not be mentioned to Russell Westbrook: triple doubles and the pursuit thereof, Kevin Durant, rest, his shot selection, his usage rate, et cetera, et cetera.

When he is asked about any of these things, Westbrook tends to shut down the questioner with an icy stare much to the delight of websites like the one you’re reading. When he does answer in any way, his words rocket around the internet and find their way onto websites like the one you’re reading. Either way he makes great, if reluctant, content.

On the list of approved Russ topics: his teammates. Seriously, his eyes light up when the attention is directed elsewhere.

"That’s the best part of the game, to see the smiles on their faces and the breakthroughs they have as individuals," Westbrook said. "Once you put in all the work pre-practice and post-practice and see it in a game and see it in play, that’s a great feeling."

It’s easy to say Westbrook is misunderstood, but that doesn’t get us anywhere useful. The truth is we’ve never been able to truly understand Russ as a player, or what makes him tick. Better to suggest that Westbrook is the most interesting player in the NBA this season precisely because he’s the most inscrutable. Peruse any of the in-season lists for Most Valuable Player and Westbrook is at the top of every one. Peruse any of the numerous media outlets that cover the sport and you won’t find a single soft-focus feature or profile.

Beyond banal daily quotes, his game does all the talking. It’s a steady assault from the opening tip to the final buzzer, filled with end-to-end dashes, brilliant passes, clutch threes, and monstrous dunks. Russ plays with one speed and that speed is always revved to the highest levels of his speedometer. That it burns hotter than everyone else’s is his greatest strength. Asking him to temper his approach is counterproductive at best and sheer negligence at worst.

"I just read and react," he said, providing a perfect distillation of his work. "The game will tell you what to do on the floor, and that’s what I try to do."

Of course, those instincts are fortified by hours of film work and prep, which is not for public consumption. What he does and how he goes about doing it are different things. So, round and round it goes. On the court, Westbrook is a delight. His numbers are eye-popping, but it’s the visceral feel of watching him play that truly sets him apart from everyone else. Off the court, he’s a cypher, at least to everyone outside the Oklahoma City bubble.

There is one maddening question at the heart of any Russell Westbrook discussion: is this a good thing? Can your best player soak up so many tangible things in the box score, and still be a positive influence on a winning culture? This is the crux of the Westbrook debate and to the Thunder, the answer is obvious.

"He’s a guy that impacts the game maybe like no other player in this league," his coach Billy Donovan said. "Because he’s so rare and impacts the game in so many different ways, you see the usage and the amount of time he’s playing and say, ‘is this sustainable?’ I look at it the other way. Are we playing the right way, are we playing together as a team, and what are his minutes like? This is not a guy that’s playing 42 minutes a night. When he goes out there he’s going to play to who he is, and I think he also understands that in order for our team to be the best we can be he’s got to incorporate and help everybody grow as players."

The Thunder are a decent, but hardly great team. They’ll make the playoffs but aren’t expected to do much damage once they get there. Maybe they’ll exact a pound of flesh from some contender forced to keep up with Westbrook. Maybe they’ll even win a round against the right match-up, but no one is seriously considering them a threat to emerge from the Western Conference.

That’s to be expected, considering the way they lost Durant in the offseason. General manager Sam Presti didn’t have a lot of time to recover, but he had already managed to pull off a coup when he traded veteran Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo and rookie big man Domantis Sabonis. Would they be better with Ibaka in the lineup today? Probably, but Presti has always played the long game even before KD jumped ship.

There may not be a second star on the roster at the moment, but Oladipo was coming along before a wrist sprain knocked him out of the lineup. Steven Adams is the kind of burly but skilled big man anyone would want and Enes Kanter has been a reliable bench scorer. The bulk of their roster is made up on young players in their early 20s. Some of them are rookies, while the rest are playing meaningful minutes for the first time in their careers. Given the parameters in place, Westbrook’s dominating presence is absolutely necessary.

What the Thunder are and what they can be with the benefit of time are not the same thing. This is obviously a transition year and it speaks well to the amount of talent Presti and his crew have amassed that they haven’t completely fallen apart. Unlike so many other teams that lost a great player, the Thunder haven’t cratered into the abyss.

There’s a decent core to begin the rebuilding process, but the Thunder’s continued relevance mostly speaks to how overwhelming a force Westbrook is and where he ranks among the game’s elite. The mark of a great player isn’t just winning championships and awards, it’s making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. In his own way, Westbrook has done exactly that.

Presti’s challenge, assuming Westbrook does stay in OKC for the duration, is to construct a team around his unique franchise player. To that end, Presti and the Thunder were given a gift -- some would call it overdue payback -- when they were granted an exception under the new terms of the collective bargaining agreement. As reported by Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, both the Thunder and the Rockets could grant the newly created super max upon their superstars: Westbrook and James Harden, respectively. That would allow OKC to re-sign Westbrook this summer to a five-year extension worth $219 million on top of the $28.5 million he’d make in 2017-18.

Given the new rules, it’s possible that we could see a future when single-star franchises become the norm. As with all CBA talk, we won’t know the full extent of the rules for years to come, and it will be at least that long before the cap spike begins to level off and we get a truer picture of the landscape. As they were under the prior CBA, the Thunder will be a fascinating test case.

While that’s an interesting academic exercise, it gets away from the very reason that makes Westbrook so compelling. Consider the final stretch of their game against the Celtics on Friday: tie game, on the road, with his counterpart Isaiah Thomas beginning to heat up. Westbrook scored 17 of the Thunder’s final 20 points. He converted an and-one. He knocked down threes in front of Marcus Smart and then Avery Bradley. He shimmied. He stared. He drove daggers through the parquet.

"Why not?" he said. "That’s my motto. That’s what I stand by. That’s what I believe in. Just continue to tell yourself ‘why not?’ Continue to strive and make the right play to help your team win."

Russell Westbrook was everything and the Thunder needed everything he had to give. The subsequent triple double -- 45 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists -- was beside the point. He’s made the entire concept seem superfluous and there’s no point in asking about it anymore. It’s just there to be marveled at, and it’s phenomenal to behold. Why not, indeed.

Christmas Day is the NBA’s version of Festivus. There are so many games and so much family time to be shared that we thought it would be helpful to provide a few conversation starters to bring everyone under our big tent.

Boston vs. New York: Isaiah Thomas is averaging 27 points a game. No, they’re not related. Kristaps Porzingis is what Dave DeBusschere would have been if they let big men shoot from distance. Also his mixtape is fire. Please tell me more about the ‘80s Celtics or the 1969 Knicks. That never gets old.

Golden State vs. Cleveland: LeBron James is the best player since Michael Jordan, and when it’s all said and done there will be a debate between who was better. Kevin Durant prioritized quality of life in his work decision and we all should be so fortunate as to have agency over our own destinies. (Wait, this got contentious. Let’s steer it toward safer ground.) Did you know Tristan Thompson is dating a Kardashian? Those Steph Currys make for some fine tennis shoes.

San Antonio vs. Chicago: Do you side with Gibbon’s classical formulation or Demandt’s sprawling rationale regarding the fall of Rome? I’m torn between Pop-Kerr in 2020, or Kerr-Pop. The secret to the Spurs success is it’s a secret. Think about that. Jimmy Butler is the second best player in the East. Probably.

OKC vs. Minnesota: Unicorns are mythical creatures who shoot threes and something-something. Look, no one really knows what makes a unicorn but there’s one right there. His name is KAT and he gets yarn. It’s pronounced Thibs, like thimble. Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple double … just like Oscar Robertson. Please tell me more stories about Oscar Robertson. That never gets old.

Clippers vs. Lakers: Finally, everyone else is asleep and we can all get back to doing what we always do at 10:30 on a Sunday night: make jokes about the Clippers. Thanks to everyone for reading. Safe travels and be excellent to one another.

BOSTON -- Rudy Gobert is a star. How you feel about that statement depends on two primary factors: how much you value defense, and how much you watch the Utah Jazz.

Gobert’s defensive value is been well-established at this point. He’s a shot-blocking machine who’s figured out how to defend the entire paint. Other big men have stretched the limits of verticality, few have done it with such dexterity. Gobert is so effective that most teams don’t even try to go down low when he’s in the game, and fewer still are successful.

That ability has made him the linchpin of the fourth-rated defense in the league and a leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year (along with Kawhi Leonard, Draymond Green, and Marc Gasol). Utah’s top-flight defense, by the way, has been without George Hill for much of the season, as well as Derrick Favors for almost half. NBA defense is rarely about one player, no matter how dynamic. For every action, there’s a reaction and for everything you take away, something else opens up.

How vital is Gobert in this equation? When he’s on the court, the Jazz allow 99.9 points per 100 possessions. When he’s on the bench that number skyrockets to 106.2. With Gobert locking down the paint, his teammates can concentrate on taking away the 3-point line, which they do better than anyone else in the league. That leaves inefficient long twos as the shot of choice against Utah.

What’s elevated Gobert from the ranks of intriguing young talent into All-Star consideration has been a steadier offensive game. He’s averaging double figures in scoring for the first time in his career and shooting an absurd 67 percent from the floor, with an improved free throw shooting stroke to go with it. He doesn’t possess unicorn range by any means, but Gobert has become stronger and more sure of himself around the rim. He’s no longer just a passive participant in Utah’s offensive flow, he’s a main actor.

"I used to be more nervous," Gobert said. "Now I’m just playing, having fun."

As with his defense, Gobert’s offensive impact is contextual. When he’s on the court, the Jazz score 108.1 points per 100 possessions and 103.9 when he’s off. The true mark of a star is that they make everyone else on the court better. Traditionally, that’s been the role of a playmaking scorer. In Gobert’s case, his very presence attracts so much attention that everyone else is free to do their thing. That includes Gordon Hayward, who is also having a breakthrough campaign.

"He’s so big that if he catches the ball on a roll, even if you’re there and he’s inside six feet of the basket, there’s a good chance you and the ball are going in the basket together," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "He’s great on lobs. He’s gotten better at finishing in traffic. He’s a good offensive rebounder. And then they’ve got a bunch of guys who can really shoot the ball, so he gets looks because you’re worried about the 3-point line. He’s a really good player."

The context is important because when you watch Gobert play, you still shake your head in amazement at some of the things he can do. Against the Raptors on Thursday, Gobert got the ball above the 3-point line with fellow 7-footer Jonas Valanciunas guarding him closely. Gobert needed all of two dribbles to fly past Jonas and dunk all over Canada. It was the kind of play that makes you wonder just how much potential is still left to be tapped.

"What’s the one thing we’re going to work on? There isn’t one," said Utah assistant coach Alex Jensen, who has worked closely with Gobert since he came into the league. "Offensively, and even defensively, the potential is a lot higher than where he is right now. That’s the thing that makes him different. He’s hungry and not satisfied with signing the (4-year, $104 million) contract. He does want to be the best."

That move against Toronto would have seemed impossible two years ago when Gobert burst on the scene. The sheer force of his Stifle Tower presence was obvious, but he seemed unsure and tentative on the offensive end and his shot-blocking ability masked his inexperience on defense.

All of that is coming together this season and none of it is happening by accident. From the moment he entered the league, Gobert has had to prove to himself and everyone else just how good he can be. His blossoming is the result of hours of work, primarily alongside Jensen.

"They have a unique bond," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "He’s unforgiving and Rudy likes that."

Or as Gobert put it, "He believed in me even when I wasn’t playing. He tells me the truth, not what I want to hear. That’s great. He helped me a lot to get better every day and he’s treated me the same way."

The two first became acquainted during their first seasons in Utah. Gobert was the raw rookie, drafted at the end of the first round. Jensen was the first-year assistant. Gobert rarely played apart from D-League assignments, so he spent most of his time working on his game with Jensen. As Jensen recounts, Gobert was there every day, ready to work.

What stood out to the coach was that Gobert not only wanted to get better, he liked to play. That’s not always the case with project big men. If anything, Jensen needed to focus Gobert on making small gains that would allow the rest of his game to flourish.

"Rudy’s one of those guys who will come in at the end of the season and he’ll want to work on everything," Jensen said. "I told him his first year, if you can go vertical at the rim and make free throws you’ll play for a long time and make a lot of money. He’s surpassed that."

It helped that Gobert arrived with a chip on his shoulder. Projected to go higher in the draft, he slid all the way to the 27th pick, where the Jazz scooped him up. Sitting on the bench during his rookie year only added to his desire to show people that he belonged. He got his chance midway through his second year and helped turn the Jazz from a middling team into a defensive juggernaut.

A breakthrough was expected last year, but a knee injury cost him 20 games and limited his effectiveness. Seen by many as a looming power coming into the season, Utah failed to make the playoffs and Gobert stagnated. From such disappointments are great players born. Gobert got stronger during his rehab and over the summer. He worked on his core and lower body strength. He always had decent hands, but now when he catches the ball he’s stronger and more sure of himself.

"Before he used to catch and any little bump would affect him, especially in traffic," Jensen said. "It’s funny how that works. Just like not playing and falling in the draft, I think (coming back from an injury) was a blessing in the long run. It accelerates the process. Usually guys get serious about their health and their routine later in their career. That showed him how fragile it is."

Gobert has been anything but fragile this season. He’s started every game for Utah -- the only member of the starting five to do so -- and has emerged as the team’s primary interior force. The extension he signed in the offseason is further validation of his emergence as a franchise cornerstone.

Gobert’s been feeling himself a bit too, telling ESPN’s Tim McMahon earlier this season that he viewed himself as the best center in the league. While he lacks the nouveau appeal of the emerging wave of 3-point shooting giants, Gobert’s old-school game makes him delightfully anachronistic, if not wholly unique. He’s a throwback to the way big men used to play, albeit with athleticism to spare and a work ethic to be the best.

"Rudy’s competitive," Snyder said. "It burns in him. He wants to be really, really good. Anyone that talks to him, that resonates. There’s a confidence that I don’t think is misplaced. The goals that he has for himself are really high. We’ll see over the course of his career if they’re achievable. I don’t think he’s one to put a ceiling on that."

He’s not, and no one else should either. Rudy Gobert has arrived, even as his vast potential has yet to catch up to his long frame.

As we say goodbye to 2016, let’s take one last look back on the year that was and the storylines that defined the league.

The vindication of LeBron James: By the time the Finals rolled around, LeBron presented us with yet another riddle in his complex contextual puzzle. Assuming the Cavs lost to the Warriors -- and that was the general consensus -- Bron would have been 2-4 in the Finals and 0-for-2 against Steph Curry and company. Calling him the greatest player of his generation was a formality, but placing him among the All-Time All-Timers with a losing Finals record was a trickier proposition. Instead, James rallied the Cavs from a 3-1 deficit and enjoyed his signature moment, breaking down in tears after completing the comeback. He’s still playing for history, but his place among the immortals is no longer up for debate.

The Warrior effect: The Warriors changed the geometry of the court when they unleashed their Death Lineup on the league. Teams had played small before, but never this well. The switch-everything counter unveiled by Gregg Popovich and employed by the Cavs in the Finals, placed a renewed emphasis on defensive speed and versatility bringing the stylistic template for this era full circle. The Warriors then went out and added the ultimate complimentary weapon in Kevin Durant. In response, the new collective bargaining agreement implements measures that make attracting superstars to super-teams a losing financial proposition. Everyone is adjusting to the Warriors. Maybe Joe Lacob was right, after all.

Russell Westbrook (and James Harden) versus the world: One of the byproducts of super-teams in Cleveland and Golden State has been the elevation of players operating in one-star franchises. Consider that while LeBron and KD may be the two best players in the league, Westbrook and Harden have taken the lead in the MVP race by doing everything for their respective teams. The league would like to keep it that way with the new CBA, shifting the focus from a place where teams are able to "share stars" (but not accumulate them) to one where there’s a singular player in every city. The latter gambit didn’t quite work. Whether the new one takes hold will define the league’s direction over the next few years.

Kobe, KG, and Timmy say goodbye: While lacking the definitiveness of the Bird-Magic rivalry and the singularity of Jordan’s domination, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and Tim Duncan defined their eras and brought the league into the 21st Century. Each went out in their own inimitable manner. Kobe embarked on a season-long farewell tour. KG held on till the bitter end. Timmy simply went away. They’ll all meet again in Springfield as soon as they’re eligible. All three were special players and the league they left behind is in even better hands than when they arrived.

This is truly Adam Silver’s league now: It’s been three years since Silver officially took the reins from David Stern and in that time we’ve seen a kinder, gentler NBA office. Not that Silver is a pushover by any means, but from ridding the league of Donald Sterling to reaching a new CBA deal with the NBPA, we have entered a stage of relative peace and prosperity not seen since the halcyon days of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. There are sizable issues still to be worked out. They include the transformation from a television league to a digital one, and the NBA’s sometimes uneasy balance between being a progressive institution and its corporate instincts. Yet, for the first time in a long time, the NBA has been more proactive than reactive and that’s a credit to Silver’s leadership.

The only rivalry that matters returns on Monday night when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit Oracle Arena for the first time since completing their historic championship comeback. That’s a tough statement to accept for those of us immersed in the day-to-day fluctuations of a season that lasts half the calendar year, but it’s an accurate one. Everything that happens in the league gets filtered through a Cavs-Warriors prism, from transactions to team-building to collective bargaining agreements.

When a player like Kyle Korver becomes available, Cavs GM David Griffin pounces, mortgaging more parts of a future whose bill he may never care to pay. When a player like Kevin Durant becomes a free agent, Warriors GM Bob Myers wastes no time putting in place a plan that took years of planning and no small amount of good fortune to pull off. There is no tomorrow for either of these teams, only today and the immediate future. Griffin and Myers have both used that to their tactical advantage.

Other teams must operate on a different calculus. Should they go all-in on a move that may handicap them for years in an effort to take one more inspired swing right now? That’s the kind of question facing Toronto GM Masai Ujiri as he weighs whether there’s a trade that would truly alter his team’s equation against Cleveland. Or consider the dilemma of the other GMs, who must balance a need to be competitive with the realization that championship dreams may be better served in years to come.

The new CBA, meanwhile, will impose rules to entice franchise players to remain with the team that drafted them throughout their prime years. That’s a reaction to Kevin Durant’s decision to come to Golden State, which happened under rules that were in place as a reaction to LeBron James moving to Miami. The path to acquiring superstars who could compete with these two juggernauts is growing more narrow even as the new CBA attempts to level the playing field for the future.

The context is different, but this rivalry has become to this era what the Lakers and Celtics were to the ‘80s. The Cavs and Warriors are the axis points around which everything else revolves, and that has been a boon to the league. Rue the existence of superteams all you want, but the ratings reflect an intense interest that transcend normal NBA parameters. Their Christmas Day game registered the highest ratings in their time slot in a dozen years and their Finals broke records.

What makes this even more compelling is that the Warriors-Cavs rivalry shoots to another dimension when they meet on the court. Their encounters have become capital-E Events and every quote, subtweet, and side-eyed glance is tinged with melodrama and double meaning. The games have not only produced fantastic theater, they’ve had far-reaching consequences.

It was roughly a year ago when the Warriors went to Cleveland and beat the Cavs by 34 points. Within the week, David Blatt was out of a job and Tyronn Lue was elevated to the head coaching position. If the Warriors hadn’t blown a 3-1 lead in the Finals, who knows where Durant would be playing today, or if Kevin Love would still be in Cleveland. Even their considerable realities produce fascinating parallel universes.

As Klay Thompson put it to USA Today, "It's a good rivalry, and it's good for the NBA. It makes it more fun, you know? It's rare in pro sports you get rivalries like this, so we enjoy it, and we embrace it."

As they should. As we all should.

But what of the inherent issue that arises when two teams seem so clearly above the competition? The fear heading into the season was that the inevitable rubber match between the Cavs and Warriors would cast such a large shadow over the regular season that it would be rendered meaningless. That hasn’t happened as we hit the midway point and there are two primary factors at work.

The rise of the high-usage superstar

Long one of the league’s most creative scorers, Isaiah Thomas has raised his scoring average to over 28 points a game in only 33 minutes of action. Thomas can get in the lane with the best of them, and he’s adept at scoring among the trees and getting to the free throw line. That’s always been his bread-and-butter, but he’s also diligently subtracted his already low rate of long two-point shots with even more threes that he makes with even greater accuracy. In his sixth season, Thomas has become an efficency monster.

Part of the reason for IT’s scoring surge has been the addition of Al Horford. While not among the game’s best 3-point shooting centers, Horford’s enough of a threat that as he drifts beyond the arc and pulls defenders with him, Thomas has even more space to cast his magic spells. Watch a Celtics game, and there’s a decent chance Thomas will pull off a handful of scoring binges that will tilt the scoreboard.

This is the NBA right now. Pair a creative ball-handling wizard with an able-shooting big man who also happens to be a great passer, and go to work. Scoring is up to almost unprecedented levels and the rate of 3-point attempts keeps rising. As Zach Lowe wrote recently, it’s difficult to tell if we’ve reached the zenith of the pace-and-space era or if there’s even more room for offenses to create scoring chances.

In a bygone era when hand-checking and rough defense ruled, undermanned teams would slow the pace to a crawl and try to limit the amount of possessions. The thinking was that the fewer chances to score, the closer the score would be at the end. The modern-day counter is math: more shots, more threes, more opportunities to score and level the talent-gap.

It’s not just Thomas who has elevated his game this season. Look around at the ranks of ball-dominant guards currently putting up spectacular numbers. From James Harden and Russell Westbrook out West to the quintet of All-Star caliber point guards in the East, there’s never been a better time to be an empowered guard with a green light. That’s made for a fascinating MVP discussion (see this week’s List) and a surge in individual star power.

With that has also come an explosion of 50-point games. One night Thomas dropped 52 on the Miami Heat on only 26 attempts and the next evening Harden did him one point better when he went for 53 on the Knicks. Westbrook, as you may have heard, is averaging a triple-double and Kyle Lowry has one-upped his career season with an even better campaign. On and on it goes as every night’s slate of games offers the promise of even greater scoring binges.

This really comes down to an aesthetic argument. If ‘90s slowball was your thing, the current version looks absurd. (Shoutout to all the ex-players lamenting the state of the game.) If free-flowing offense is your ticket, then the current NBA product is an exhilarating joyride.

The next generation is fascinating

Every time Kristaps Porzingis pulls up from behind the arc, or Joel Embiid takes someone off the bounce we are witnessing the future in real time. The key phrase this year has been unicorn, a term that has been thrown around so much it’s begun to lose some of its appeal. The short definition is that of a big man who can step out and make threes, but its application extends to a wave of players who are fundamentally changing our perception of what big men can do on the court.

From Karl-Anthony Towns to Embiid and Porzingis we haven’t seen such an influx of versatile, talented big men since the mid ‘80s when Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, and David Robinson burst on the scene. And what of Anthony Davis, the old man of the group whose game has come together a year behind schedule, especially on the defensive end? Add in the wondrous talents of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the mind reels at the possibilities that await the league in a post-Cavs and Warriors future.

That’s the most interesting subplot of this season. In what should be another slog toward an inevitable Finals rematch, we’ve been treated to glimpses of what the future holds for us. Those next-wave players, emboldened by progressive coaching and tactics have been empowered to expand their games and test their limits. All the while, they’re building equity in their franchises and their own bank accounts. This isn’t so much a transition year as a nurturing playground.

There will always be franchises that are smarter, more adaptable, and downright luckier than the rest. There will always be a handful of players who are just a cut above their colleagues. Try as it might, the NBA will never be able to enforce parity the likes of which we see in the other sports. But it is evolving toward a fundamentally different future. That it can take place in the shadow of what has become a rivalry for the ages bodes well for the future, and the present.

As we hit the midpoint of the season it’s as good a time as any to check in on the major award races.

MVP -- LeBron James: Russell Westbrook and James Harden are the presumptive favorites (or is it Harden first and then Westbrook?), but my hypothetical vote still belongs with LeBron. He’s still clearly the best player in the game and that’s not just by reputation and acclaim. He’s also having a fantastic season. His shooting percentages are up and so are his playmaking numbers. LeBron makes everyone around him better, whether it’s Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love or Jordan McRae and DeAndre Liggins. Harden or Westbrook (or Westbrook or Harden) may ultimately prevail here, but the King stays the King.

Rookie -- Joel Embiid: This is the easiest pick on the board, complicated only by the knowledge that Embiid is in his third season with the 76ers but still counts as a rookie based on his injuries. That argument would hold more merit if there was a worthy contender from this year’s freshman class, but there isn’t one. Top pick Ben Simmons hasn’t been on the court yet and the others range from role players to early stages of development. Embiid is also more than the default choice, he’s a potential franchise player. The pickings are slim beyond Embiid with steady second-rounder Malcolm Brogdon and emerging sharpshooter Buddy Hield the best of the underwhelming rest.

Sixth Man -- Eric Gordon: Second only to Steph Curry in made 3-pointers, Gordon has rejuvenated his career after a rocky conclusion to his star-crossed tenure in New Orleans. He’s averaging better than 18 points per game, tops among qualified reserves, and the Rockets are almost 10 points better than their opponents per 100 possessions when he’s on the court. This is a fun race with the usual collection of bench scorers (Lou Williams, Jamal Crawford) and an influx of traditional big men starters like Greg Monroe and the ageless Zach Randolph who have moved to reserve roles. Throw in the essential Patrick Patterson, along with the likes of Tyler Johnson and Enes Kanter and there’s no shortage of candidates.

Coach -- Mike D’Antoni: Gregg Popovich’s continued excellence is a given and Steve Kerr’s ability to blend superstars has been an underplayed storyline this season. There’s also been quality work from Dwane Casey, Ty Lue, Brad Stevens, and David Fizdale. No team, however, has surpassed expectations like D’Antoni’s Rockets and no coach has created a system that has allowed his superstar to flourish the way Harden has this season. Houston’s team defense also falls in the acceptable range, a far cry from its expected abysmal ranking. The Rockets aren’t just a surprise team, they’re legitimately damn good, and D’Antoni is enjoying a sideline renaissance.

Defensive Player -- Rudy Gobert: The last few years have seen the rise of shutdown wing defenders like Kawhi Leonard and the emergence of the versatile player personified by Draymond Green. It may not be a sport for traditional centers anymore, but the bigs are still vital in constructing top-flight defenses. I wrote at length about Gobert’s emergence in last week’s Shootaround, and there are a ton of metrics that bolster his case. The Jazz are monsters when he’s on the court, teams rarely challenge him anymore, and he’s the leader in ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus stat. Green, especially, presents a compelling counter-argument but the vote thus far is with the Stifle Tower.

Most Improved -- Giannis Antetokounmpo: I’m slowly coming around to the merits of this award, even if no two definitions of Most Improved are exactly alike. Do you reward the overwhelmed rookie who becomes a solid role player with more minutes and experience, or the solid player who blossoms into a star? The latter is the toughest leap to make and no one has done this half-season quite like Greek Freak. He’s gone from League Pass curiosity to arguably the second-best player in his conference. His competition for that hypothetical crown is Jimmy Butler, who has his own strong case. Can a player win Most Improved twice?

BOSTON -- It was about this time a year ago when the Portland Trail Blazers went on a heady run that elevated them from the ranks of also-rans into the exalted world of phenoms. Over a nearly two-month stretch the Blazers won 18 of 22 games, captivating their fans with a string of clutch performances and impressive victories.

They then built upon that success in the playoffs by capitalizing on the Clippers’ unfortunate injuries with a first-round upset and offering a reasonably strong accounting of themselves against the Warriors in the second round. Those were good times.

This season has not been so kind. The Blazers were inconsistent early and a disaster in December, losing 10 of 11 games. Things finally stabilized a bit and after beating the weary Cleveland Cavaliers at home last week for their fifth victory in eight tries, they were back in control of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. From afar it seemed like they were finally getting it together.

"I did too," coach Terry Stotts said. "Going into the Orlando game there were a lot of positive vibes."

Whatever positivity emanated out of that win over the Cavs, they dissipated by the time they took the floor two nights later against the Magic. The Blazers surrendered 115 points against the middling Magic, one of the worst offensive outfits in the league, and allowed a soul-sucking 36 points in the opening quarter.

Portland followed that up with back-to-back blowout losses on the road against Charlotte and Washington before blowing a double-digit lead in Philly and losing at the buzzer. Which is where we found them on Saturday, preparing to play the Celtics, and once again on the outside of the saddest of playoff pursuits.

"(Disappointment.) That’s the best word," Stotts said. "There is disappointment and you don’t want that to carry over to the next game and you can’t let that disappointment weigh too heavily on you. But yeah, there’s no question there’s disappointment."

If ever a team needed to salvage a game on the back end of a long road trip it was the Blazers. It wasn’t easy -- nothing is for this team -- but after outlasting the Celtics in overtime even the tiniest bit of salvation offers a glimmer of hope.

"There’s always going to be belief," Damian Lillard told me before the game. "I’m always optimistic in every situation. I believe in our group. I believe in what we’re capable of, but I think these times are the hardest. When you’re struggling the easy thing is to stop believing."

There is also a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of a playoff spot that is there’s for the taking. It may be small consolation and it may lead to an inevitable shellacking at the hands of the Warriors, but someone’s going to get that spot and it might as well be them.

"A lot of times when you’re in this situation you don’t have an opportunity to make the playoffs and we still do," Lillard said. "We’ve just got the team that sticks it out all the way through the good times and bad times. There’s always going to be teams that give into it, so we can’t be that team. We’ve got to be the team that keeps fighting and comes out on top and get us a playoff spot."

There is something to be said for small victories here. Their roster is still young (per Basketball-Reference.com only Philly, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota are younger), but it’s also entrenched. Nine of their 10 rotation players are signed through next season, and seven are on long-term deals. Only center Mason Plumlee will be a free agent this summer and he’s restricted. They have a $110 million payroll this season and that’s before C.J. McCollum’s extension kicks in. This season has proven to be either a massive roster miscalculation, or a painful speedbump in what should have always been viewed as a long-term rebuilding process.

Because they are so young, there is always the possibility for growth. To the extent that Portland can improve internally, it’s on the defensive end. Their offense sits below its top-six ranking of a year ago, but actually scores at a tick above their rate from the previous season. With Lillard and McCollum in the backcourt, points should never be a serious problem. It’s on defense where they rank 27th in points allowed per 100 possessions that’s problematic.

There are issues here that are obvious: Lillard and McCollum are not a good defensive backcourt. And some that are not issues at all: the Blazers do a surprisingly good job of protecting the paint without an elite rim protector. Still, this is mostly the same personnel that turned in an adequate performance on the defensive end last season.

They clearly missed the presence of Al Farouq-Aminu, who is their top individual and team defender earlier in the season, but he can’t fix everything. The Blazers were 7-11 when he was out of the lineup and are 12-16 when he plays. Aminu is good, but he’s not a panacea for everything that ails them.

Young Maurice Harkless has all the tools to be an equally capable defender even as he learns the finer points of team defense on the job. Ed Davis also does yeoman work inside, but beyond them are question marks. Short of trying harder and executing better, this roster will never become a defensive juggernaut, but again, it should still be better than what it’s shown.

The Blazers’ biggest problem, however, is the one they can’t control. After outperforming expectations a year ago, they came into the year with outsized projections and a mandate that has eluded them. That coupled with an offseason spending spree that saw Portland lock up youngsters like Harkless, McCollum, Allen Crabbe, and Meyers Leonard and included the expensive importing of Evan Turner, has created a perception that the Blazers are swimming upstream against the current. The season-ending knee injury to Festus Ezeli has also not helped matters.

"We expect a lot out of ourselves, regardless what everybody else expected," Lillard said. "Just like last year, nothing was expected and we still expected a lot of ourselves. We struggled and then we figured it out. It’s hard to be good in this league and when you’re not consistent it’s even harder."

As is often the case when surprising success stories come crashing back to earth a year later, their true level lies somewhere in between last year’s galvanized group and this year’s desultory version. Pragmatism is in short supply in a rabid market like Portland and they are often portrayed as a team in desperate need of a trade. Yet desperation leads to panic and panic often compounds mistakes that didn’t require a fix in the first place.

Blazers general manager Neil Olshey could tinker around on the edges, parting with some combination of his young supporting cast for an interior upgrade. Or he could go for the big shakeup, which would mean entertaining offers for McCollum. That seems unlikely.

Tempting as it may be, McCollum’s 4-year, $106 million extension doesn’t kick in until next season, meaning the Blazers are limited by the amount of salary they could take back. Beyond the cap machinations, such a move doesn’t really fit with Olshey’s M.O. He’s always prioritized drafting and developing players and Lillard and McCollum are two obvious points of pride.

Assuming they stand mostly pat at the deadline, this then falls on the players and coaches to figure it out. Despite it all they still believe in one another and in Lillard they have one of the game’s great leaders. He’s not about to let them wallow.

"It hasn’t been a challenge to keep guys together because we’ve truly have a tight-knit group," Lillard said. "We like each other. We’ve created a great work environment. We enjoy coming to the practice facility and we enjoy being around each other. That’s the hard part. You know we’re working hard. You know we’re together you’re just trying to figure out what do we need to do. Why aren’t we figuring it out faster? That’s been the toughest part. That’s the biggest challenge."

They have less than half the season to figure it out. By then we’ll know just who the Blazers really are and where they go from here.

Now that we have the All-Star starters it’s time to focus on the reserves. Unlike the starters, who were chosen from a combination of fan, media, and player voting, the reserves are chosen by the coaches. Guaranteed there will be at least one controversial decision in each conference.

East Backcourt -- Kyle Lowry, Isaiah Thomas. These were my starter picks so I won’t belabor those arguments, but a point needs to be made about Lowry. Perhaps we have not made the case as forcefully as we should have, or maybe we took for granted that other people around the league recognized just how vital Lowry is to the Raptors’ success. So here goes: Kyle Lowry is the single most important player in Toronto (read: best), as evidenced by the fact that the Raps are significantly better when he’s on the court and much worse when he is not. That’s no knock on DeMar DeRozan, who was elected as a starter. But it is true. Lowry is not only the best player on the Raptors, he’s also the best point guard in the conference. There are a lot of other really good ones, and some may even be more talented, but Lowry stands above them all this season. He should have been a starter and he definitely needs to be a reserve.

East Frontcourt -- Kevin Love, Paul George, Paul Millsap. Let’s say something about the guy who’s missing here before getting to the ones who are on the list. Joel Embiid is amazing. He’s better than anyone thought he would be and he is currently on a fascinating tear through the league. Had he been doing this all season and not held back by a minutes restriction he would not only be on the list, he’d have a damn fine case for starting. But he is, so we’ll award the players who have logged significantly more time for better teams. Kevin Love, by the way, is quietly having the most impactful season of his career. See, it really does take time.

East Wildcards -- Kemba Walker, John Wall. Both have strong cases to be among the starters and both should be in New Orleans even if it means carrying five points guards. If anyone gets snubbed it’s going to be Walker, despite the fact that he is having as strong a season as any of the guards on the list other than Lowry.

West Backcourt -- Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul. Westbrook should have been a starter. He led both the media and the players vote but missed out because he finished behind James Harden and Steph Curry in the fan voting. For everyone screaming about the injustice, it’s on y’all. Paul is hurt and won’t be able to play, but he should be honored anyway. Considering the amount of backcourt talent in the West, his inevitable replacement will be more than worthy.

West Frontcourt -- DeMarcus Cousins, Draymond Green, Marc Gasol. This is difficult but not impossible. Cousins has the numbers. Draymond has the defense, playmaking, and team success. Gasol gets the final spot on the strength of his all-around play and for keeping the Grizzlies competitive through their usual assortment of ailments.

Wildcards -- Gordon Hayward, Rudy Gobert. The Jazz duo get my final two spots over Mike Conley, Klay Thompson, and Damian Lillard. There’s a decent chance at least two of those three will make it to New Orleans anyway, either as reserves or as an injury replacement for Paul. (I’d take Conley under that scenario.) Hayward is quietly averaging 22-6-6, while Gobert -- the leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year -- is a net rating monster.

BOSTON -- At this point in the season, the Houston Rockets’ story has been well told. It’s the tale of an exiled coach joining forces with a maligned superstar under the auspices of a visionary general manager whose foresight had been questioned that produced not just a crowd-pleasing revival, but one of the very best teams in the league.

The formula is so brilliant it’s a wonder why anyone (myself included) questioned the ingredients in the first place. Take Mike D’Antoni’s spread-offense, insert a dominant lead guard like James Harden, and sprinkle in a mix of undervalued Daryl Morey role players and you get an all-time offense that will win more than its share of regular season games.

It’s a story that’s irresistible, both for the redemptive tales among its central cast of characters and for providing us with one of the few genuine surprises in the narrative arc of a season that has been otherwise devoid of the unexpected. That it’s been even better than even the most optimistic backers of Rocketball 3.0 could have predicted only adds to the allure. So, yes that story has been told and told well.

"Probably too many times," Morey says with a laugh in the hallway outside the team’s locker room before a game against the Celtics earlier this week. "We haven’t done anything yet."

"We were optimistic," Morey added. "Our goal coming in was to get home court in the West, which we thought was maybe a bit of stretch goal, but we knew we could do it. We obviously struggled last year, but it was mostly the same players that two years ago made the Western Conference finals. So we thought it was possible, even if no one else did. That usually takes 53-55 wins. So far we’re pacing ahead of that, but again, it’s a long way to go."

And so we’re left with a different question to ponder: just how good is this Rockets team, really? In a practical sense they are the third best team in the West. The top two seeds are likely out of reach. Golden State is humming right along toward a 67-win season and the mighty Spurs are on course for their usual 62 wins or so. Morey’s initial projection of 53-55 wins is attainable, however, and that would place Houston in fine position come playoff time.

There are a few signs of slippage. Since finishing off a 20-2 tear from December through the early part of January, a bit of mid-season turbulence has cost the Rockets ground at the top and also allowed the Clippers and Jazz to hang around the race for third. There have been injuries, a loaded schedule, and the occasional off night during this stretch, but no one seems too concerned.

"Sometimes it’s a function of the league," D’Antoni said. "It’s hard to win in this league. It’s hard to win all the time. We’ve had a few injuries but everybody has injuries and everybody has dog days and everybody’s trying to get through it and get to the All-Star break and make your final push. You’re going to take losses, it’s how you bounce back."

That’s the immediate challenge for the Rockets, who left Boston on the wrong end of a hard-fought game against a desperate team. That’ll happen. But over the last few weeks the Rockets have found themselves on the wrong end of a number of those contests. By the numbers, their offense has regressed more than six points per 100 possessions from their 20-2 tear and their defense has slipped from surprisingly good to decidedly mediocre.

The latter is more of a problem than the former. No one doubts their ability to score points, and all good teams go through offensive lulls. The best of the best -- the true elite -- have a rock-solid defensive foundation to carry them through the dog days. That’s the Rockets conundrum: Can they defend well enough to truly make a run?

The conventional wisdom says that you need both a top-10 offense and defense to compete for a championship, but the Rockets’ offensive calculus may allow them to tip those scales in their favor.

"If you have an all-time great offense that changes it a little bit," Morey said. "There’s precedent when the Lakers won (in 2001) with a top offense and a (21st) ranked defense. We’re trying to get in the top 10."

The Rockets currently reside in 17th but the difference between the middle and the top 10 is only a few points. Morey believes that they have the players to make that happen. Clint Capela, Patrick Beverley, and Trevor Ariza are all fine defensive players and their three-headed hybrid center consisting of Capela, Montrezl Harrell, and Nene has been wonderful. Perhaps most encouragingly, they have withstood injuries to several players and managed to cover up for their absences without falling apart.

As brilliant as Harden has been, and he’s been arguably the best player in the league, the Rockets will ultimately rise or fall on the strength of the motley collection of role players that Morey assembled. For as much emphasis that has been placed on his pursuit of superstars, he had done underappreciated work rebuilding the roster. Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, and Nene were added in free agency and second-year players like Harrell and Sam Dekker have assumed larger roles.

Mid-season struggles aside, perhaps the biggest revelation of this Rockets season is how they have blended together so seamlessly. The most empirical of teams, they have solved the biggest riddle of team-building, that of chemistry.

"It’s refreshing," Anderson said. "This season has gone by relatively fast because we’ve really just enjoyed playing basketball. Each guy fits into this system and it’s fun basketball."

Consider the case of Gordon, Anderson’s longtime teammate in New Orleans, who has become one of the leading candidates for Sixth Man of the Year. Morey pursued him years ago when Gordon hit restricted free agency, but the Suns committed first and the Pelicans ultimately matched the offer. He continued to try to pry him out of New Orleans but couldn’t pull off a deal. When the opportunity presented itself in free agency, Morey finally got his man.

"Skill-wise, he’s always been someone we’ve looked at," Morey said. "He’s so good at so many offensive actions: Spot shooting, off the dribble, good at pick and roll, good passer. We thought he was an underrated defender. And then we got the physical info and it was very positive. It was in line with what they were telling us in the process. Things don’t always work out, but he’s such a good fit for Coach D’Antoni."

Gordon’s role is to take some of the scoring and playmaking pressure off of Harden and to be a reliable go-to threat whenever Harden is off the court. Long maligned for a spate of injuries throughout his career, Gordon has produced when healthy. His breakout season comes as no surprise to Anderson, who is also putting up strong numbers as the team’s stretch four.

"It’s fun to see," Anderson said. "It almost feels like he’s been freed. He can just play. I always knew he could play like this. This role is just perfect for him because he can just play his game."

Just as importantly, Gordon willingly accepted the sixth man role early in the season without hesitation or complaint. That left an impression on his teammates and the Rockets have carried that whole one-for-all, all-for-one vibe into their season.

"The third highest paid player on the team, it’s easy to say, ‘I should start’ or stuff like that but he doesn’t have that type of attitude," said Beverley, who took over the starting position. "He has a winning attitude. That’s the biggest thing with this team. We understand our roles and we accept our roles."

Beyond Harden’s magical season and the re-emergence of D’Antoni’s wonderful system, that ability to blend and adapt has formed the backbone of Houston’s success. Neither can prosper without the other and they are nowhere without each other. Subtract Harden from the equation and they are merely an interesting collection of spare parts. Remove those parts and there is no there here. The star, the system, the support, they are all one and the same.

"A lot of stuff makes a winning basketball team, but mostly it’s the heart and pride of the players," D’Antoni said. "When they buy in all together on and off the court it at least gives you a chance. Doesn’t mean you’re going to win, doesn’t mean you’re going to be the best, but you have a chance."

The Rockets have put themselves in position to have a chance. How they recover from their mid-season swoon and how far they eventually go in the postseason will rely on all three elements continuing to work together in harmony. That’s the story that has yet to unfold.

The tweaks the NBA made to All-Star voting produced the intended result. You can argue with a choice or two, but the 10 starters were all worthy choices, as were the 14 reserves selected by the coaches. The word ‘snub’ is a relative one here, but there are always more deserving players than spots and these are the best of the uninvited.

Chris Paul: It’s easy to understand why CP3 wasn’t included by the coaches. He’s been out since mid-January with a torn thumb ligament and won’t return in time to take part in All-Star weekend. By denying Paul a spot on the team, the coaches went ahead and picked his replacement. Injury aside, there’s no rational argument for leaving Paul off the team and it cost him his 10th straight All-Star nod. Maybe his true legacy will be that he is forever underappreciated.

Mike Conley: Speaking of underappreciated, Conley has never been an All-Star despite playing at an "All-Star level" for each of the past four seasons. This season has arguably been his best with career-high marks in scoring, True Shooting and Assist Percentage. He missed a dozen games with a back injury, but his return stabilized the Grizz and he’s logged more than enough minutes for consideration. More than anything, Conley has been a victim of geography, and it’s his dumb luck that he wound up playing for a franchise that began life in the Pacific Time Zone. Some day, Mike. Some day.

Rudy Gobert: While his numbers will never leap off the stat sheet, Gobert has made himself into a legitimate offensive threat while establishing his place as the game’s preeminent defensive big man. Taking DeAndre Jordan over him was fine. Wrong, but fine. Their counting numbers are eerily similar, but Gobert is the more impactful defensive player. That’s proven through wonky stats like ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus and manifests itself in metrics like net rating. Jordan is an terrific player having an excellent season. Gobert’s just been better.

Joel Embiid: At the risk of inflaming the Internet, Embiid simply didn’t play enough minutes relative to his competition. That’s it. That’s the whole argument against him. There’s no denying that he’s been a monster when he’s been on the court and by the end of the year he’ll get longer looks for All-NBA honors. Embiid is a delight and he would have been a lot more fun to include than, say, Paul Millsap. He also won the popular vote, but … yeah.

Damian Lillard: The Blazer guard is having another typically excellent season, even if his team has fallen off from its lofty preseason goals. It’s hard enough to crack the Western Conference squad even when things are going your way in the standings, so it’s perfectly understandable why he wasn’t chosen. Dame’s an All-Star player, with or without the recognition.