Jalen Williams already gives Oklahoma City a lot of what a wing star is supposed to bring. He can get downhill, finish at the rim, guard multiple spots and serve as a secondary creator next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. What still stands out, though, is the shot from deep.
Grayson Buchanan of NBA On SI pointed to consistent three-point shooting as the last box Williams needs to check. The numbers explain why.
During the regular season, Williams hit only 29.9 percent from beyond the arc and averaged fewer than one made three per game. Then the playoffs arrived, and he knocked down 41.7 percent of his attempts, though on limited volume.
That split tells the whole story: the touch is there, but the steadiness hasn’t fully shown up yet. Williams does not need to turn into a volume shooter for the Thunder.
They already have plenty of offense. What they need is for defenses to believe he’ll take - and make - the open look when it’s there.
That small amount of doubt can open up the floor in a big way for everyone else.
In New York, the center picture is still worth watching even after the Knicks signed James Wiseman and Drew Eubanks. Isaiah De Los Santos of Knicks On SI raised the possibility that the team could still look for another big, and both recent additions are on non-guaranteed contracts.
That doesn’t mean a move is coming. It does mean neither player can get too comfortable. Wiseman has played only a handful of games over the last two seasons because of major injuries, while Eubanks brings experience and a dependable presence, even if his role and production have dropped since he started 22 games for Portland in 2021-22.
The job description at center is straightforward enough. Karl-Anthony Towns and Andre Drummond are expected to handle the real minutes there.
The third big needs to rebound, protect the paint and be ready whenever one of the top two is unavailable. Wiseman brings the more intriguing upside.
Eubanks brings the safer baseline. Camp will decide whether either one is enough.
Orlando has the opposite kind of issue: too many usable pieces and not enough obvious answers. New coach Sean Sweeney now has to sort through it, which is why Ryan Kaminski of Magic On SI laid out five rotation questions before camp.
The first one starts in the middle. Nikola Vucevic, Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Bitadze can all play center, and Paolo Banchero could even finish games there against smaller lineups.
The backcourt is crowded, too. Jalen Suggs is the likely starting point guard heading into camp, but Anthony Black and Jase Richardson can push for minutes. Richardson will also battle veteran Jevon Carter for a reserve job.
There are more moving parts up front as well. Noah Penda and rookie Izaiyah Nelson add to a frontcourt group that already includes Tristan da Silva and Jonathan Isaac.
It’s the kind of depth coaches love to talk about. It stays that way until the minutes get tight and accomplished players start asking why they’re only seeing 12 of them.
In Other News...
Magic Enter Camp With A Rotation Crunch Sean Sweeney Must Solve
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For Sweeney, the real challenge is less about remaking the roster than figuring out how all the pieces fit. Several positional and rotation questions remain unresolved, and the answers figure to hinge on who is healthy, who performs best in camp and which combinations work against different matchups. In a league where depth can become a strength only if the rotations are clean, the Magic enter camp with more stability than uncertainty, but still enough of both to keep the decisions interesting. [Read more 🡒]
Magic Suddenly Face Bigger Questions About Their All In Gamble
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What was supposed to be a confident all-in swing now comes with heavier questions about the front offices read on the teams timeline and upside. With payroll constraints already part of the picture, Orlando has to sort through not just what went wrong, but whether the current foundation can still support the kind of competitive rise the franchise had in mind. [Read more 🡒]
Paolo Banchero May Be Building The Next Step Magic Fans Need
Paolo Banchero spent his offseason working on the parts of his game that can change the shape of the Magics attack, with a clear emphasis on shot creation, shotmaking and finishing. The work has included sessions with Kevin Durant, a useful sign for a young scorer trying to sharpen the details that separate a good offensive engine from a great one.
Orlando also enters the season with a new head coach in Sean Sweeney, and that matters because Bancheros next leap is likely to come not just from more skill work, but from better usage. He wants to become more efficient and more complete, and the Magic have a fresh voice in place to help optimize the role around him as he looks to take a significant step forward. [Read more 🡒]