Welcome to the five highest (or lowest) IQ plays of the week. Sure, we love the high-flying dunks and the deep, off-the-dribble step-back threes, but this is a place for the more under-the-radar plays that might not get the credit they deserve — the plays that get the basketball psychos and nerds out of their chairs, the plays that even YOU could make in your weekly men’s league.
Each week, the plays will be ranked from five to one—one being the smartest (or dumbest)—and will only be taken from games that occurred within the past week. In this week’s case, games from October 22nd to October 27th.
5. Anfernee Simons panics
Tell me you’ve never dove on the floor without telling me you’ve never dove on the floor. Simons is clearly new to this whole “trying on defense” thing, so when he gets on the ground for a loose ball (great work!) he completely panics and throws the ball to the wrong teammate. Even though he has Sam Hauser right in front of him, he still passes it to Derrick White, which eliminates the transition advantage and stops what could’ve been an easy Jaylen Brown fast break layup after a kick ahead pass from Hauser. He’ll learn after more reps of actually getting on the floor.
4. Payton Pritchard needs to be sharper
To be honest, I’m very surprised Pritchard didn’t make the correct read on this play. He typically has really solid vision in transition and sees the rim runner effortlessly; but on this play, he totally misses him. As the ball is getting moved up the floor by White, an advantage on the right side of the court begins to materialize. OG Anunoby is either forced to stop Neemias Queta’s rim run to the hoop or stop Hauser’s movement out to the right corner, but he can’t do both. White recognizes this, kicks it to Pritchard, and hopes he’ll make the right read. But he doesn’t—he misses Queta streaking down the floor and ends up getting his corner pass (which wasn’t the right pass anyway) deflected, resulting in a lost advantage. If PP is going to level up this year, his passing instincts are going to be one of the major skills he needs to improve.
3. Smart positioning = easy flopping
Of course it’s White who would make the smartest defensive play of the week. You can tell he’s looking to go over the screen on Tyrese Maxey (obviously), because the guy was already shooting the lights out at this point in the game. But when White sees Quentin Grimes charging at him with all the momentum in the world, he changes his plan. He knows Grimes is probably trying to ghost (fake) the screen and continue running towards the right wing/corner, so he steps right in front of him and takes the contact. Not only does it get Boston a turnover on the play, but it probably makes Grimes think twice before sprinting into any more ghost screens, thus making them less effective moving forward. Big brain moves from DWhite.
2. Josh “slow step” Minott
The slow step is the future of the NBA, and it’s because of plays like this. Every single Detroit player is thrown off by the speed (or lack thereof) with which Minott conducts his steps—and no, it’s not a travel. Stewart literally jumps three (!!!) times within the time it takes Minott to use his two steps. Thompson completely overshoots his contest because he thinks Minott is going up quicker. Holland, Lanier and Green briefly lose sight of their defensive responsibilities because they’re looking at Minott, wondering how he still has the ball but hasn’t traveled. What would’ve probably been a turnover with normal steps turns into a wide open three and poor defensive box out positioning, resulting in an and-one.
1. Awful late double team
To be clear, I love what Simons is trying to do on this play. He sees that the shot clock is winding down and knows that if he can double team Maxey late enough in the clock, he can force the star guard to take an even more contested three than he’s planning on, because a low shot clock means not enough time for Maxey to make the extra pass to Edgecombe and still get the three off. But Simons doubles too early. Way too early. NBA players never seem to know how long two or three seconds is, as evidenced by some heaves being taken with three seconds on the clock when two or three more dribbles would create a far better look. Simons is trying to make the right play, he just does it way too early.
