Thurs, Feb 27th, 2020

Tatum’s February — Buyout tracker — Heat struggling — 76ers sadness

February 27, 2020

Thursday, Feb 27th, 2020

  

  The Opening Tip

  • Jayson Tatum’s scoring explosion  

  • A look at the buyout market

  • The 76ers got blown out by the Cavs last night

  • Russell Westbrook isn’t slowing down

Tonight's must-watch games

1. The Lead: Jayson Tatum’s 2019-20 scoring average, by month

Ever since Jayson Tatum decided to press fast forward on his career timelapse, he’s been doing Kevin McHale and Larry Bird things.There are plenty of stats to describe his sudden ascent, which continued with 33 points last night against the Jazz, but the most basic and telling is his monthly scoring average, graphed above, which hovered in the low-20s for the first four months of the season then spiked by 10 points in February.Want us to run through some other stats? Ok, fine.His February shooting numbers:

  • 51.4 percent overall, 50 percent from 3 on 8.7 attempts per game

His touches per game, pre and post-scoring explosion:

  • From Oct. through Jan.: 66.3

  • From Feb. 1 through last night: 73.2 

His scoring before and after his beard connected:

  • Before: 21.5

  • After: 30.5

Take a look at Tatum’s shot chart from the Lakers game on Sunday,

, for a good representation of how he’s completely ditched the long 2 in favor of 3s, hard drives and shots in the paint:

That’s 2020 basketball in a nutshell, and Tatum has the perfect repertoire to thrive in it.Also: In general, it has to help to not have Kyrie Irving on your left shoulder telling you to shoot that long 2-pointer the entire organization asked you not to.

2. We found a Cavs highlight

Sure, the Cavs haven’t made the playoffs without LeBron on their team since the Clinton Era, but at least Collin Sexton had this sweet basket on the 76ers last night.

Oh, and the Cavs won, 108-94.

3. The buyout market tracker   

The de facto deadline for players to be bought out is March 1, as anyone still on one team by then won’t be eligible for the postseason on another.The guys who have already been bought out and joined a new team: 

  • Marvin Williams -- bought out by Charlotte, signed with Milwaukee

  • Reggie Jackson -- bought out by Detroit, signed with Clippers

  • Markieff Morris -- bought out by Detroit, signed with Lakers

  • DeMarre Carroll -- inexplicably bought out by San Antonio, signed with Rockets

The guys who have been waived/bought out and have not yet signed with a new team:

  • Isaiah Thomas -- waived by the Clippers 😢 

  • Tyler Johnson -- waived by the Suns

  • Dion Waiters -- waived by the Heat (the Lakers might scoop him up)

The players who still might get bought out: 

  • Tristan Thompson, who would be the most sought-after buyout guy in a while, should the Cavs do the smart thing and let him go 

  • Evan Turner, who is currently in limbo in Minnesota 

4. Minnesota’s entire team blocks Jimmy Butler at the rim

Miami blew a 12-point lead last night with four minutes left, with Jimmy Butler’s blocked field goal attempt being the game-clincher for the Wolves.

The Heat have now lost seven of nine going back to Feb. 5.

5. By the numbers

Plus-37

Russell Westbrook scored 35 points and was a plus-37 last night in a blowout win over the Grizzlies. Since going to micro-ball, Houston is 6-2. Since 2020 started, Westbrook is up to 32.4 points per game on 53 percent shooting. 

9-21

After another inexplicable loss to the Cavs last night, the 76ers are 9-21 on the road. You know who also has a 9-21 record on the road? The Knicks.

  4 coaches

With J.B. Bickerstaff officially taking over in Cleveland, second-year player Collin Sexton has now played for four coaches: Ty Lue, Larry Drew, John Beilein and now Bickerstaff.

  14-10

If the Thunder finish 14-10 or better, they’ll reach the 50-win mark for the first time since Kevin Durant left, all in a season they were presumed to be tanking. Also, the Rockets and Thunder are currently matched up in the four-five slot.

  98 touches

Nikola Jokic leads the league in touches per game, at 98. He’s also the only “big man” among the top … touchers?The top-five: 

  1. Jokic, 98

  2. LeBron, 93

  3. Luka Doncic, 92.8

  4. Ben Simmons, 92.2

  5. Devonte’ Graham, 90.1 

6. Derrick Jones Jr. is a freak athlete

Can't. Stop. Watching.

 7.  Quick hits 

  • Joel Embiid left the 76ers-Cavs game last night with a shoulder injury and won’t play tonight against the Knicks. 

  • Russell Westbrookgot T’d up for screaming and-1 last night. It’s his 14th T of the season. Two more and he’ll be suspended for a game. 

  • In case you haven’t seen Kyle Lowry’s new move -- to squirm between his defender’s legs and hope for a foul -- here it is.

  • Robert Covington, averaging 3.6 blocks over his last five games, is out here swatting everything. 

  • From Reddit:Andrew Wiggins hasn’t won in his last 19 games played.

 8.  Off the press 

  • Bald jokes, acne taunts and F-bombs: The secret behind Rutgers' rise this college basketball season [Yahoo! Sports]

  • How Kristaps Porzingis sets up Luka Doncic and the NBA's best offense [ESPN+]

  • Ben Simmons’ injury means Tobias Harris must earn his contract [The Philadelphia Inquirer]