March basketball is hot

We live a few miles away from where 'Hoosiers' was filmed, and a short drive away from where the other parts of 'Hoosiers' were filmed, and a longer drive to where the other parts of 'Hoosiers' were filmed, everywhere around me looks like the part in 'Hoosiers' where they're in 'Hoosiers.' I've been up and down the Monon Line, no pine-rail, several times this month. It is beautiful here, spring blooming, cars chalked with congratulations for making Semi-State.

March Madness. The roars from across river, as the hometown Purdue Boilermakers ascend to another Sweet Sixteen. Kids and parents, no hoop in sight, still taking advantage of the open driveway and sneaking sunshine, working the kinks out of that dribble, dad promising everyone that we'll get the family pass to the Y, once we look at the schedule online.

I live only miles away from the grave of Homer Stonebraker, who used to average 25 a game. The other team averaged 17.

It is a glorious time to be in Indiana, to love basketball. To spend days and nights inside, ignoring the NCAA tournaments, ignoring Semi-State and even State, watching the same dumb NBA teams over and over, knowing I made the right call.

No team is more of an NBA team than the Phoenix Suns, and aren't these Phoenix Suns playing well? Four of five for Mike Budenholzer's club. They're the only team getting to the Bulls right now. The Suns are one of the few that beat the Cavaliers and Phoenix didn't need tanking to topple Toronto, who stunk from the beginning of Phoenix' 40-point win over the visiting Raptors.

It ends here, the lowest-ranked team they'll take on over the next nine games will be Minnesota, arguably the most dominant club in March. Bucks on Monday, Bucks next Tuesday, Celtics in town on Wednesday, Rockets, Warriors, Thunder, at Celtics, at Knicks. And at Minnesota, the easy one.

It might be enough, Phoenix owns the tiebreaker over Dallas and certainly the edge in depth, the Suns are slapping at balls on the freeway for once, a rare look for the fourth-worst defense in the NBA. Credit Cody Martin plus rookies Oso Ighodaro and Ryan Dunn.

Devin Booker will:

Standing at his locker, Booker was asked about a word Budenholzer has used when discussing the reversal — deflections.

Have those numbers over the last three games been up?

“Yep,” Booker said.

Substantially?

“Yeah.”

What would you attribute that to?

“Those three guys that are in the lineup,” Booker said. “But I keep saying, just being connected. You’re moving as one. We’re covering (for) each other on defensive breakdowns and everybody’s making the extra effort to rotate for each other, and at the same time, making sure we secure the ball and rebound.”

This is a theme Booker explored earlier in the week:

"Talent only gets you so far," Booker told FOX Sports. "I've been on teams with less talent that found ways to get more wins. It's just the little things. What people always say, the details of the game. Although it sounds like we should know that at this part of our careers, it's just something you need to form and develop and learn through trial and error."

Like trying out Bol Bol and realizing your error upon learning that Bol Bol might be the worst defensive player in NBA history.

Suns are tied for No. 10 and with the league's toughest schedule remaining, and (technical) No. 11 Dallas may return Anthony Davis soon.

Alas, that's April, hot March still has another six days left. Or seven. However many days March left has in it, there it is. Hot.

ATLANTA

The 35-36 Hawks are No. 7 in the East, in little danger of losing ground to the 33-38 Orlando Magic. Atlanta will not catch up to Detroit, this team was always going to play its way in, but it won't fall out of the tournament despite several chances to swing sour.

Can't cloud these Hawks with caveats, we respect the way the group banded together when it didn't have to. Jalen Johnson was lost midseason and a disruptive trade deadline gave ATL every chance it needed to pack in. Strong leadership and new blood made sure it remained fun to be a Hawk.

There was no losing that Play-In slot and Atlanta never intended to, the team owes its unprotected 2025 first-round draft pick to San Antonio because that's a dance the old general manager thought we all enjoyed. The Hawks earned a little luck in the last lottery, jumping No. 10 to No. 1, from Cody Williams territory (uh, he's had his moments) to Zaccharie Risacher (ooh, la la), and will earn Sacramento's first-rounder if the pick (currently slated for No. 14) lands outside the top 12.

Mo Gueye entered the frontcourt fray upon Jalen's injury and coach Quin Snyder put up with the trips and slips along the way, Dominic Barlow stepped into the deep reserve role with starter's accuracy. The trade deadline was a major win, Caris LeVert had every reason to mope amid the move to Fulton County, instead he's thrived, 16 points per game, 14 turnovers in 444 minutes a Hawk.

LeVert already scored more (7136 points) than Ralph Sampson in his NBA career, can Caris catch George Mikan? About 3000 points to go, Caris LeVert turns 31 in August.

This bench is packed: Georges Niang averages 13.4 points off the pine as a Hawk, 45/42/81 splits, unreal chatter.

Immaculate chatter.

Terance Mann is ultracapable, makes nearly 54 percent of his shots and over 40 percent of his threes, earns stops, hits the glass as a guard. The Hawks are out several significant players which Atlanta counted upon — Kobe Bufkin, Larry Nance Jr., kinda Clint Capela maybe – yet field an enviable rotation every night out.

This a home run, the Hawks played a dozen of the team's last 16 games at home and ended with a 9-7 mark. This isn't enough to suspect the club of overachieving in the postseason, let alone ensuring a Play-In conquest for the No. 7-seeded Hawks, but it does put Atlanta in place to land that particular seed. The team is two up on Orlando, the teams pair in Florida on April 8 and in Georgia on the final game of the season.

The NBA should just let that be the Play-In Game. Nationally televise that on Sunday and in the Play-In slot show Game 3 of the 1996 opening round series between the Hawks and Magic instead. Let this advertisement loose beforehand, no viewer can turn down a setup this sultry:

The rookie performed wonderfully since his "rookie hiatus," a break in January that Zaccharie Risacher (still only 19, holding his own against Jimmy Butler in wins) badly needed. A dozen points and four rebounds in 24 minutes per game as an NBA teenager is strong stuff.

The sound efficiency marks (81 turnovers in 64 games, 44/35/72) were aided by the winter respite, something I'd encourage as prerequisite for all NBA rookies before they are allowed to go on vacation over the All-Star break. Whether we have a 7-foot Jones Fracture candidate or wispy, 6-6 point forward, these guys need some time off.

No NBA games for anyone under 22 from Dec. 18 through Jan. 6. Too many rookies on the Christmas Day roster? Start winter break on Dec. 26 instead.

CHICAGO

Accomplishments the 2024-25 Chicago Bulls may claim.

1. They won the Kevin Huerter Draft

Not deal, but draft.

Atlanta traded off Huerter's four-year, $65 million extension a week after the Hawks dealt for Dejounte Murray in 2022, the Hawks will earn the Sacramento first-rounder mentioned above. For this, Atlanta comes in second.

Sacramento sent out a pick for Kevin in 2022 and he worked exceptionally well in his first season with the club, though Huerter did not put the Kings over the top, eventually settling into an uneasy bench role.

The Kings earned a 2027 first-round pick from San Antonio in exchange for dumping Huerter last February, San Antonio could be the best team in the NBA by that point.

And that was only because Sacramento was allowed to make that marvelous De'Aaron Fox-for-Zach LaVine upgrade, in the same way old supper club owners were allowed to sell their operations to the mob.

A great deal, once LaVine comes off the books. Problem is, mob got the books, Zach will be around past 2027.

For this, Sacramento comes in last.

The Bulls? Huerter averages 16.7 points per game as a Bulls starter, 54 percent from deep, he scored 25 in Chicago's win over Sacramento because the NBA is corny, its players do that:

Huerter makes $17.99 million next year.

How will the Bulls ruin this?

Chicago kept its own pick (projected at No. 9) via February's San Antonio/Chicago/Sacramento deal. The Bulls will likely draft just ahead of San Antonio (projected No. 10), who will pick a few spots ahead of where the Kings give Sacramento's first-round pick to Atlanta (projected No. 14). A few spots after that, wherever the Hawks end up, that pick goes to San Antonio (projected No. 16).

How will the Spurs fool the goat-ropers from Chicago and Sacramento all over again?

2. Coby White finally gets to the line.

Difference between good and great. In March, Coby averages 29 a game on 50/35/89 splits, five attempts per game in March. He'll finish the season with more free throw attempts than his first two seasons with the Bulls combined and then they'll have to trade him.

3. Start four white guys and a Black guy named "White."

This hasn't been done since every single NBA team in the 1960s, probably.

4. Patrick Williams is out there.

Kind of. Hit 35 percent of his threes in March, 12-21 inside, tries to throw his butt into screens yet it hardly makes himself available. Patrick does make Simone Fontecchio look like Nate Thurmond on the glass, comparatively. Patrick Williams is only good if he goes 3-3 from three-point land on the night. And even then.

5. Patrick Williams is here.

The Bulls signed Patrick Williams to a four-year, $90 million deal to avoid the embarrassment of Patrick Williams playing better basketball for another (NBA) team.

Instead, he is on the Bulls, trying not to break his foot and knock himself out for the entire 2025-26 season. Maybe that's why the Bulls field him.

Had he signed somewhere else in the offseason, however, history indicates that Patrick Williams would be working wonderfully for his new team. Perhaps the Miami Heat, easing them into a certain postseason seed.

I cannot talk about the Bulls without relying on utter and complete smartass'ry and you deserve better, least of which is the final vowel in "smartassery."

Much better. Long, careful conclusion to Chicago's season to come, before the season ends.

In the meantime, holy Hinsdale:

I was in Hinsdale recently and the best restaurant in town is now a Whole Foods.

It wasn't a good restaurant, but still, terrible parking.

BOSTON

The Celtics haven't been this close to the Cavaliers (five games back) in the 2025 calendar year.

Did they ever make April Fool's calendars? A normal calendar with a joke page where April was supposed to be? Keep it up for a day and then turn another page to the real April? Are 13-page calendars unlucky?

The Celtics are rolling, and the Celtics should be, the team has the third-highest payroll in the NBA, nearing $200 million total. Boston is due to cut the highest payroll in the league in 2025-26 and 2027-28, and the team may vault to the top of the charts for 2026-27 if it re-signs Kristaps Porziņģis (out of Sunday's win, again dealing with an ongoing, non-COVID, illness) to a massive contract extension.

This is why owner Wyc Grousbeck got the hell out, selling the team for over $6 billion, swearing up and down that his impending inability to combine salaries in a trade or deal future first-round picks is what's getting in the way of him owning the Boston Celtics.

Not that quabillzion-buck luxury tax bill.

“Let me put a pin in that balloon too,” Grousbeck said when asked about the challenges of staying in the luxury tax.

What an odd thing to offer to do.

“It’s not the luxury tax bill, it’s the basketball penalties."

There are ways around each. Wyc Grousbeck could absolutely be the leader of a bloated, tax-addled club if he wanted the gig. He doesn't. Can't blame him.

The basketball penalties are real, but they can be overcome. Especially with a two-man core like Boston's.

Wyc doesn't like being called cheap in the same breath he's being credited for cashing out, can't blame this either, but this is absolutely about the luxury tax bill. It is too much for him, personally, to contend with. Whether that is a basketball or business deficiency is left for the radio hosts to conclude.

"The new CBA was designed by the league to stop teams from going crazy. They decided that it’s not good enough to go after the wallets because the fans can be like, ‘Hey find someone who can afford to spend $500 million dollars a year or whatever it is, like the English Premiere League. I know seven guys who own premiere league teams in England with no spending caps and most of them don’t know what the hell is going on.”

Now, don't sound jealous. Can't have it both ways, either: NBA owners like Wyc love to pat themselves on the back for knowing who Torrey Craig and Xavier Tillman are before they meet them. Mark Cuban's parlor trick, capably recalling the qualities of 250 or so current NBA basketball players at a time.

“The basketball penalties mean that it’s even more of a premium now to have your basketball general manager be brilliant and lucky,” Grousbeck said. “Because you have to navigate because you can’t stay in the second-apron, nobody will, I predict, for the next 40 years of the CBA, no one is going to stay in the second apron more than two years.”

No, probably because rich and annoying NBA owners will pester Adam Silver until the tax aprons once again become loophole-friendly to the league's premier moneymakers, no pun intended.

In the end, Wyc Grousbeck was a basketball team owner. And then, after the end, we moved onto another basketball team.

PORTLAND

The team is 4-1 since Matisse Thybulle returned, only Sunday's loss to the rip-snortin' Boston Celtics got in the way of the Blazers entering Tuesday with a chance to sweep a homestand. Tuesday is, er, the Cavaliers.

Four outta six ain't bad, when Boston and Cleveland are The Two.

The Top Ten is in play for Portland, the 32-40 Blazers are 2.5 behind No. 10 Phoenix and No. 11 Dallas for the final Play-In spot, Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups is not scoreboard watching, which is not how I'd handle this.

I'd ask for zero instant replays at home, only Phoenix Suns scores and Dallas Mavericks updates. Anthony Davis in rehab? I want Texas Legends gameplay splayed in Portland's arena.

Blazers forward Deni Avdija has to be the one to explain to Kelly that it doesn't work that way:

“[Billups] doesn’t [talk about it], and I’m happy about that,” Avdija said. “I’m the same way. I don’t really pay attention to the standings. I just pay attention to beating the next team we play. Regardless of whether we have a chance or we don’t have a chance, we’re a basketball team and we’re coming to win.”

And, listen, this is the Play-In, Portland won't even have to win that much.

Split the remaining 10 Blazer games, 37-wins might do it, Phoenix relies on two rookies to do all the dirty work and Dallas counts on Kai Jones, like, a lot.

KAI JONES

Kai Jones is hot in March.

One of the coolest stories of the year. Keep truckin' Kai, keep going.

HOUSTON

This is undoubtably a classic Working Harder club, fit for a first-round flameout once the other team begins matching Houston's intensity.

However, that silent trade deadline put a smile on everyone's face, turned in a whole new outlook. This is not a group of right-there vets but a burgeoning cast of prospects mixed with a few who are right there, and in your face. This team isn't overachieving, the Rockets should expect to be better in March than they were in February.

And in April? Well, this column is about March. And in March the Rockets are finally healthy and Amen Thompson won, he won the starting spot.

Jabari Smith Jr. gets to chew up on the second-stringers and I am hardly dismayed by Houston's loss to Denver on Sunday. The Nuggets were visitors, played all the way up in Portland two nights before, running without Nikola Jokic and still led by as many as 19. Worked sound D after a recent swoon and held off Houston's comeback for the win because sometimes shots will not go in. Sometimes, the night calls for clang.

Luckily for Houston, there are up to seven games in an NBA playoff series. None of this one-and-out bullshit.

TIMBERWOLVES

Love everything about Joe Ingles. He even leans left while he talks, too, does Mike Conley do that? Did Anthony Peeler? I know Anthony led with his left.

Joe's marvelous family provided a wonderful moment on Friday evening:

Melting hearts because they're the hottest thing out there, Minnesota hasn't really been out of a game in six weeks, since Cleveland left them in the dust.

Maybe the Laker blowout counts, Wolves only lost that by nine, maybe the Pelicans loss stings, Wolves won it back the next game. Minnesota is 9-3 since the Laker defeat, three losses (one in overtime) by a combined seven points.

Timberwolves fans know these numbers by heart, and want each game to take place hours after the last one. The playoffs cannot get here soon enough, though Chris Finch will happily take in every game available to settle his sets, push for that No. 6 seed.

The Wolves are a half-game behind Golden State, who is on the road without Stephen Curry, who is at home, waking up in pain every time he rolls over in bed.

WIZARDS

The defense always looked passable, now the stats tell us it is passable. Average, which is an accomplishment.

Another accomplishment? Surviving another season twisting words to the faces of understanding media, like the good man Josh Robbins:

But if the Wizards were trying to do their very best to win the game — a game that they trailed 97-88 at the beginning of the third quarter and trailed again by nine points with 5:43 remaining — then why did coach Brian Keefe hold out Jordan Poole, Bub Carrington and [Alex] Sarr for the entire fourth quarter?

Instead, he played [Colby] Jones, Jaylen Martin and JT Thor the entire fourth quarter, Anthony Gill for nearly 11 minutes and Johnson for nearly 10 minutes.

Hi, Kings fans. Colby Jones is balling. Though most of it was against Utah.

“I wanted to see those guys in those environments and what they were going to do,” Keefe said.

Utah's environment, for one. Had to make sure Utah won.

“I thought we made a nice little push there. We got three straight turnovers that led to runouts. Those guys don’t always get the opportunity to play when it’s in the crunch. I want to see how those guys respond to that, how they can execute things that we were doing when out of timeouts. So, we’re always learning. I thought those guys did some good things, though, at the end.”

Keefe isn't wrong. In spite of Washington's many blowouts, we've seen plenty of Carrington and Sarr in charge for pivotal moments of Wizards games.

I promise, there were pivotal moments in Washington Wizards games in 2024-25, you just had to tune into the right moment of the second quarter.

Keefe has a month left of this, and, yeah, the NBA should flatten its lottery odds further.

Nobody should want the worst record in the NBA, but under the current rules the best way to ensure yourself a shot at the top three is to gun for the worst, and hope the losses turn out in your favor. Two or three teams will try the same thing and you cannot control their ineptitude, only yours.

This ain't Bright Ideas Blogging, I'm not asking for new rules or some form of penalty for losing the most games. But it shouldn’t be a goal.

The NBA is so much better than it was before it flattened odds five years ago, but we still have tanking, assured levels of it. The third-worst record is far too gauche for Masai Ujiri, it mustn’t be done. But the Raptors will pretend they like Orlando Robinson long enough to secure the seventh-worst record in the NBA, and a nearly one-in-three shot at the top-four.

As referenced with the Wiz above, some of these players need these representative minutes on the court, genuinely, even Orlando Robinson. And no team in this 2025 lottery (or in most lotteries) comes anywhere close to the Process-Era 76ers, with undrafted guys playing 1776 minutes in a season (while last June’s lottery pick looked on in street clothes).

This isn't Process judgement but reminder: Philly fans had to sit through some shit, but in 2025 the Jazz and Wizards are fun, the Hornets have talent, Brooklyn is a world-beater for three quarters, Zion was one of the best players in the league for another 10 days, there. Again.

March was as good as any month in spite of the "reps," in spite of teams preparing as if the next LeBron James is available with not only the first pick in the 2025 NBA draft, but also the third and fourth selections.

As well they should. They do that every year because tanking is worth it.

The gap between each pick is biggest earlier in the draft; getting the first overall pick really is worth getting excited about, and the average gap between a top three pick and the fourth is roughly 20 regular season wins over a player’s career!

This is one area where television ratings accurately reflect genuine NBA analysis. Millions tune into watch Anthony Davis taken top overall, nobody sticks around for Joey Graham at No. 16.

The differences between the values of draft pick drops off later in the draft, to the point that the gap between the first and second picks is about the same as the gap between the fifteenth and thirtieth picks.

The Wizards genuinely need to see if they have something in Colby Jones, what Jaylen Martin can do above the minors, and if JT Thor (still 22 by 2025 Summer League) is an NBA player or not.

These are not lies, being told to fans, but these are exhibition games sold to fans at regular season prices.

BEAUTIFUL DELILAH

Thanks for reading!

Would we be into a Discord? I have no idea how Discord works (but I'll try strumming it anyway).