Basketball things I'm thankful for

Flyover dribbles, Jordan Ott, the turbocharged Pistons, and more

Here at Basketball Poetry, I’m happy to lean into the schmaltzy American holiday tradition of Things I’m Thankful For. When you write more than a hundred 2,000-word blogs a year, every year, it’s nice to have a built-in framework to ease the brainstorming burden for a few days!

First and foremost, I’m thankful for you, dear reader. And (*coughs*) to prove it, I’m running a Black Friday Sale! Through the end of the week, prices are down 25%, to a mere 30 bucks. Pretty good deal for those aforementioned hundred-plus 2,000-word blogs! Buy for yourself, buy for a friend:

Even if you don’t upgrade, as a thank-you, I’m leaving this article unlocked for everyone. (But, uh, please upgrade anyway!)

Ahem. With the unpleasant but necessary self-promotion out of the way, let’s be real.

Writing without an audience is brutal, soul-sucking work. It wasn’t so long ago that my readership was exclusively comprised of my wonderfully supportive friends and family, who were wondering why I was spamming their inboxes. (No good deed goes unpunished.)

But now, Basketball Poetry is about to crack 6,000 total subscribers (and that’s excluding the hundreds or thousands of bots I’ve manually deleted over the years; count them, and I’m pushing five digits!). I am grateful for each one of you who has joined me on this journey, particularly those of you who have been here for years and never succumbed to the allure of the “Unsubscribe” button.

The thrill of receiving the Substack notification that someone new has signed up has never worn off (and the adrenaline when it’s letting me know someone has become a paying subscriber? A shot of sheer, unadulterated epinephrine that has me juiced like Jason Statham, every time).

I spend hours and hours every day reading, watching, and writing about basketball. It’s fun work, but it’s still work. I’m thankful someone finds it entertaining and/or informative. It would have no meaning otherwise.

So, again, thank you for reading.

Now, let’s meander back to the basketball things I’m grateful for.

1) The Donovan Mitchell flyover gather

When I was in my teens and 20s, the flyover gather (which I’ve also seen called the windmill gather, I think?) was all the rage. Popularized by superstars like Dwyane Wade and Allen Iverson, ballhandlers used it to extend the ball safely past defenders’ grasping arms while driving to the hoop.

The flyover lost a little popularity as guards like James Harden realized that low gathers tended to draw more fouls (why go above the arms when you could go right through them?), so I’m thankful to Donovan Mitchell, among others, for nearly single-handedly making the move cool again these last few seasons:

Here’s hoping others follow his lead.

2) Scottie Barnes, realizing his potential

I’ve never been a huge Scottie Barnes guy. On any given night, he could look like a superstar scorer, lockdown defender, or sweet-passing offensive hub; but on most nights, you’d be lucky to get two of those.

This season, Barnes has put it all together. It doesn’t necessarily show in his box-score stats outside of a slight uptick in efficiency and a downtick in turnovers, but Barnes looks far more comfortable operating as a first-among-equals than as the be-all and end-all on offense. He’s (literally) leaned into setting better screens, finishing stronger, and absolutely destroying people on the defensive end.

Barnes loves his face-up game, but he’s at his best with his back to the basket, where he can atomize smaller defenders into a fine mist…

or pick out cutters with his eagle eye:

I was more optimistic than most about Brandon Ingram’s fit next to Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley, but it was measured optimism, at best. Previous Raptors teams have always felt like a grind, sparks flying as they pushed and pushed a boulder in aimless circles. Atlas, on a perpetually uphill racetrack.

Now, coach Darko Rajakovic has them playing friction-free basketball. It’s been a while since we could say this, but Toronto is a joy to watch.

3) Jordan Ott, coaching like a vet

It’s hard to say enough good things about Phoenix’s new coach, Jordan Ott. I was a little higher on the Suns than most, but 11-7 is beyond what I would’ve expected even with a Charmin-soft schedule artificially boosting some of their metrics.

He’s turned Grayson Allen from spot-up shooter to secondary playmaker (his assist rate is nearly double his previous career-high). He turned the Suns into a top-10 defense, revitalizing center Mark Williams’ career in the process. (Dillon Brooks’ snarling attitude deserves some credit here, too.)

Ott and Co. were the first team to slow the Victor Wembanyama train. He has the Suns playing a varied defensive scheme that changes dramatically every night: Zone, man, hard ball pressure, island defense, wackadoodle double-teams. You name it, he’s tried it.

Somehow, the Suns have a whopping eight players averaging at least a steal per game (and Devin Booker is at 0.9). The passing lanes have branches sticking through them every which way.

Ott has pulled the best from role players like Royce O’Neale, my guy Collin Gillespie, and Ryan Dunn. They’re even smashing the offensive glass, and you know I love that!

Hell, the Suns did something that nobody had done in years by overcoming an eight-point deficit against Minnesota with less than a minute remaining. I watched that game; it was a blast!

I don’t think the Suns are actually the sixth-best team in the West. A thorough loss to a Durant-less Houston last night was sobering, and the rest of December is brutal: Upcoming games against OKC, Denver, the Lakers, Houston a second time, Minnesota, Golden State twice, and the Lakers again will tell us a whole lot about who this team really is. That’s an obstacle course lined with double-bladed axes, spiked pits, trick steps triggering poisonous darts, and a giant rock that drops from the top and starts rolling your way.

But I’m also confident that the Suns are, at least, competent and professional. This team could’ve been a soulless drag to watch. They aren’t! That starts at the top.

4) MVPs pushing each other to greater heights.

Luka Doncic leads the league in scoring and over-the-head passes. Giannis Antetokounmpo, days from his 31st birthday, is averaging the most dunks of his career (an insane 26% of his FGAs are dunkaroos; get better soon, big guy!). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is scoring better than Michael Jordan ever did while leading a Thunder team that looks like it might never lose again (all without Jalen Williams!). And until last night, Nikola Jokic was leading the league in rebounds and assists (think about that!) while averaging yet another triple-double.

Injuries will have a say, but Victor Wembanyama, Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, Mitchell, and others all have strong claims to the final ballot spot(s).

The top tier of basketball stardom has never been better, and it’s never been more diverse. They all play so differently; they all play so well. It’s a Thanksgiving-level feast for the eyes every night.

5) The Pistons, ahead of schedule

The Detroit Pistons shoot the third-fewest threes in the league. They foul the bejeezus out of opponents. And their superstar, Cade Cunningham, is shooting 28% from deep.

None of that has mattered. Detroit has won 13 in a row and boasts a dominant defense that would make the Wallaces and the Bad Boys proud. What could be more Deeeee-troit Basketball than this?

Despite his struggles from outside, Cunningham has leveled up even further from last year’s Third Team All-NBA form. He’s posting the lowest turnover rate of his career, drawing fouls like never before, and getting to the rim more often than he did even as a rookie. All that despite playing in lineups that seldom feature more than one other shooting threat on the floor. It seems impossible, but the Pistons actually have a top-ten half-court offense!

Cunningham is a basketball contortionist. He’s mastered the subtle art of patient movements in claustrophobic spaces:

Of course, Detroit has been more than just Cunningham. I talked about Duren’s massive leap, and he’s only been better since then. Both Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland will garner major All-Defensive Team looks from me. As he hinted at in the preseason, Isaiah Stewart has been authorized to launch his three-pointer, enabling vicious double-big lineups with Duren that are blitzing opponents. Paul Reed has three hands and uses them to lead the league in deflections per minute.

Duncan Robinson has done his darnedest to replace Malik Beasley’s historically great shooting from last season. Javonte Green was on the scrapheap; now, he’s terrorizing opposing stars from Lauri Markkanen to Tyrese Maxey. And my favorite player from Summer League, Daniss Jenkins, has proven to be the elite two-way backup guard that every team needs.

That’s a lot of guys, without even counting reliable vets Tobias Harris and Caris LeVert! (An X-factor: Jaden Ivey, who just returned to play. Keep an eye on how that impacts the team.)

Very, very little about this Detroit team feels like an accident. If some guys fall off as the year goes on, the Pistons have the depth to replace them without much trouble. They won’t be keen on giving up their top seed to Cleveland or Toronto or anyone else.

6) Instant classics

It felt like we had a ton of blowouts in the early parts of the last few seasons, but this year we’ve seen so many fantastic finishes. It started with the Thunder/Rockets double-OT classic on opening night and has never relented. If you have League Pass, you’re virtually guaranteed a down-to-the-last-possession game or two every single night.

Maybe I’m just a prisoner of the moment, but anecdotally, I can’t remember the last time we had so many close games. It feels like the 2025 playoffs have just continued right into the 25-26 regular season. It’s great.

7) Rollicking rookies

This rookie class has been so much fun beyond Jordan Ott!

Charlotte has been the talk of the rookie town, with Sion James, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and Kon Knueppel all impressing out of the gates.

Knueppel has emerged as the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. He’s averaging a whopping 19.4 points on absurd 65% true shooting. Those are second-best-player-on-a-contender scoring numbers, and he’s a rookie with little supporting talent!

Knueppel’s ability to thrive with and without the ball means he’s a threat next to anyone, from anywhere on the court, at any time. We knew from his Duke days that he would be a deadly spot-up shooter, but I, at least, didn’t know he had this kind of wild self-creation in the bag:

Cooper Flagg’s season has been anchored to the bottom of the Gulf by the leaden chaos in Dallas, but all the things people loved about him in college are still there. Playing on a team without a point guard and whose six¹ best players are all power forwards or centers was never going to end well, but Flagg is enduring. He’ll be just fine.

We discussed Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen’s emergence in New Orleans. Dylan Harper was excelling before his injury. VJ Edgecombe is struggling with his shot now, but scoring 34 points in his debut is proof of ceiling. Tre Johnson is shooting 40% from deep for the Wizards. Ace Bailey is finding his footing in Utah, and Cedric Coward and Will Richard have been steady contributors almost from the jump. Even Caleb Love just dropped 26 points against the Warriors for Portland!

I’m forgetting or omitting a few names for space reasons, but yeah, there have been a lot of rookies to be thankful for.

That’s it! Thanks once more to all of you, and I hope you enjoy the holiday if you celebrate. I’m off for family stuff the rest of the week, but I’ll be back early next week with my first batch of quarterly awards, so keep an eye out for that.

1. Flagg, Anthony Davis, PJ Washington, Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford, Naji Marshall.