Welcome back to A Farewell to Takes, our quick trip around the NBA and WNBA. I was joined by Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson on The Old Man and the Three last week to take a deep dive into the NBA season so far. Legs also joined me for today’s episode of The Old Man and the Three Things where we discussed Devin Booker’s game-winner, Jalen Brunson as an elite point guard, and the incredible play of Jaime Jaquez Jr.

In this week’s A Farewell to Takes we’re giving you:

• Steve Jones Jr. of The Dunker Spot shares his thoughts on “traditional” point guards

• Nekias Duncan of The Dunker Spot shares Volume 5 of his series, Screen Time

• Tommy shares who he’s been following

• Tommy on the best thing he ate last week

Thanks, as always, for reading! And a reminder that our merch shop is having a sale with everything 15% off. Go check it out! —JJ

What is a “traditional” point guard?

Every season, pick a team out of a hat, and there is an out cry for them to have a “traditional” point guard. The feeling tends to speak that teams need someone to keep a team organized, to set guys up and make sure they score. I understand the sentiment and the value behind it, but I am lost as to what it fully means in today’s game.

Don’t get me wrong, point guard play is still very important. I’d point to the impact Mike Conley has for Minnesota in making sure that they get into their offense. But it’s the fact that he can also knock down shots, he can also play off ball and attack closeouts that really drives it home. Look no further than the impact Fred VanVleet has had on the Houston Rockets. VanVleet is currently third in the NBA in assists per game (9.0) while also only averaging 1.6 turnovers a game. A big part of the Rockets success has been based on the fact that VanVleet’s persistence on making the right read and the right play and keeping ball movement up. He’s also third on the Rockets in field goals attempted a night with 14.5. Duality is key here.

Today’s game is based on pace and tempo, versatility and playmaking. Turn a game on, and you’re likely to see any number of people initiate a set. A variety of teams allow whoever got the rebound to push the ball themselves, there are throw aheads into drive and kick, most teams will play through their big man trailing in transition. Execution is important and sets are still run, but the days of that running exclusively through a point guard are behind us.

If we’re boiling it down to simply getting someone who can keep the offense organized, what does that mean to you? Dribbling the ball up, starting a set and going to the corner is fine … but what is the threat to the defense? How much attention can you garner? What type of plays can you create? What type of coverage are you getting and what does that open up for your team?

The key to today’s game is creating an advantage against a defense and maintaining an advantage against a defense. It’s less about who brings the ball up and more about what impact they have with it. Quick decisions, forced rotations, ball movement are all things that can tilt a defense. In pick-and-roll, you need a combination of skills to create a play. Is your shooting good enough to get two on the ball? Can you see the weakside rotation once you’ve drawn help? Can you read the drop defense and force that big to commit? Is it more important to set an offense up or to draw help, force a defense to rotate and allow your team to play out of it?

Different players create different skill sets. The league just has too much talent and too much versatility to simply boil it down to one position of need. Having multiple playmakers on the court is key and being able to spread those responsibilities throughout your team can have a huge impact on success. Forcing a defense to defend multiple actions tends to have more of an impact than waiting on one person to create everything. And if you can’t impact the game on and off the ball, your time getting limited is becoming the tradition. —Steve

Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson joined JJ on The Old Man and the Three for an early season deep dive. They discuss James Harden’s situation and career, the lack of modern-era rivalries, fear of other players in the NBA, and more.

YouTube | Wondery+ | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | wherever you listen to your podcasts

Screen Time, Vol. 5: Onyeka Okongwu

Offenses have never been more lethal than they are in this era. With primary ball-handlers becoming larger, the collective shooting range expanding and teams leaning further into the importance of spacing, it’s becoming even more difficult to keep the ball out of the basket.

With the game expanding, screening has become even more important. A well-placed off-ball pick can free a movement shooter for a triple or a catch-and-drive. On-ball screens can make shifty ball-handlers even harder to deal with in pick-and-roll and open the door for dump-offs, lobs and fruitful catch-and-shoot opportunities.

Screeners come in all sizes these days, ranging from the burly centers to mismatch-causing smalls. I can’t overstate how important guard-screening has become, especially late in games.

This season, I want to keep tabs on who is — and isn’t — getting the job done as screeners. Every week, I’ll be highlighting a handful of the most powerful or shameful screen-setters in the league.

Let’s get into volume five. All stats are from November 20th onward, unless otherwise noted.

Screener of the Week: Hawks big man Onyeka Okongwu

The concept of "position battles" in the NBA doesn't typically hold the same weight for me as it does in football. With where the league is going and how lineups are constructed, it feels like "just play them together" is becoming a more common answer whenever that "issue" arises. It does get a little dicey when talking about centers, though; that's what makes the center situation in Atlanta so interesting.

Clint Capela has been, and still is, quite good at basketball. His blend of rim-running (and late seals), rebounding, and rim protection has been key to virtually every bit of success the Hawks have had while he's been there. His understudy, Onyeka Okongwu, represents the next era in a way. More sleek, faster, bouncier, more switchable, more comfortable with the ball in his hands. He's firmly good, but it's still unclear if he's flat-out better than Capela yet; or if he is, if the gap is wide enough to consider wholesale changes at the position yet.

While we wait on that shift, it's been fun watching Okongwu grow in some of the quieter skills. His work as a screener may be the most Bam-like quality he has; he doesn't make contact all the time — 53.4% contact rate this week, per — but he gets you out of there when he does. Opponents were wiped out by his screens 5.8% of the time this week, the second highest rate in the league behind last week's SotW Brook Lopez (10.3%), who continues to mollywop people.

You can see Okongwu figuring out how to marry his frame and athleticism in real time. He's getting better and using the right angle to get Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, or Bogdan Bogdanovic open. More importantly, he's gaining a better rhythm of when he should be putting on the hard hat instead of using his speed advantage to fly behind backpedaling defenders.

This week was a fun one for him — and for me as a viewer. Beyond the fun, it was a productive week: the Hawks generated over 1.18 points per possession (PPP) on trips featuring an on-ball screen from Okongwu, the 4th best mark among high volume screeners (min. 75 picks).

Stray Thoughts:

• Your most productive on-ball screener this week, minimum of 50 picks set? Nets center Day'Ron Sharpe (75 picks, 1.28 PPP) who did work moving dudes out of the way. Sharpe's lack of speed and vertical pop make him a limited roll threat, but his penchant for head-hunting helped get guards downhill and draw help from elsewhere.

  In the Inverted Division, quick hat tips to Pat Connaughton (16 picks, 1.47 PPP, he's SO FREAKING GOOD at that late flip when screening for Giannis), Buddy Hield (22 picks, 1.43 PPP, he's a regular at this point), Max Strus again (33 picks, most set by a guard this week), and Alex Caruso (17 picks, 1.07 PPP) who easily logged the highest contact rate (88.2%) in the league this week (min. 15 picks, 122 players).

—Nekias

Who Tommy has been following

I would have to imagine many of you reading this letter have come across Thunder Film Room at some point. It’s been a great follow for a while for all things Thunder related, whether it be particular sets they're running or player specific highlights that you may have missed if you didn't watch the game. With the rapid ascension of this young Thunder group, sitting at 2nd in the West with the 2nd best Net Rating in the league, TFR will become even more essential. We would hope the national outlets will highlight Shai and Chet at this point, but the Thunder maximizing guys like Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe are why they are in this position to start the season. There may not be a more exciting young team in the league at this point, and the more outlets that highlight this rise, the better. —Tommy

Best Thing Tommy Ate Last Week: Lobster Bisque at Boston Chowda

I was in Boston on Tuesday to see some of the Bucks players before their game against the Celtics. As is tradition when you step into Boston, you get some chowda. Clam is obviously the classic, but the lobster bisque had been recommended by a few people at Boston Chowda, a stand in Faneuil Hall. It did not disappoint. There's a lobster chowder there that also looked great, as well as lobster rolls and the classic New England clam. But if you're a bisque fan, that would be my rec. —Tommy

Boston Chowda | Instagram | 1 Faneuil Hall Market Pl, Boston, MA 02109

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