Marketplace Monday: Playoff Sleepers
Playoffs are right around the corner, with the NBA Play-In Tournament taking place days before the playoffs. Who are five players that are going unnoticed that could make noise in the playoffs?
The NBA Play-In Tournament has gotten a lot of scrutiny from players, general managers, and owners themselves - even though most owners approved this decision. Mark Cuban has been the most substantial name from an owner to voice his disapproval of the Play-In Tournament, despite being one of the many owners who approved the idea before the season was underway.
Moving on, the Play-In Tournament offers teams who struggled early in the season, making a run, later on, a chance to sneak their way into the playoffs. This could potentially cause upsets because teams struggling later on in the season or who have had injuries, undoubtedly making them a first-round exit, could be replaced by teams catching fire and hitting their stride at the perfect time, ultimately replacing them.
The dislike from the Play-In Tournament is that it lessons regular-season wins and losses because if you’re a ten seed, you could have lost 5-10 more games than the seven seed but still have a chance to beat them and get thrust into the playoffs.
Anyways, which players can step up in the NBA Playoffs or Play-In Tournament who are flying under the radar?
Jonas Valančiūnas
Jonas Valančiūnas is the perfect pick and roll partner for rising star Ja Morant. I bet many of you wouldn’t have guessed that Valančiūnas is third in the league at rebounding, averaging 12.6 a contest - which is also his career-high mark.
Where we sit today, the Memphis Grizzlies sit in the eighth seed in the West, with a 29-26 record, meaning they would be a team in the Play-In Tournament. Despite their seeding - I still think that the Grizzlies beat whoever they come up against and snag a spot in the 2020-21 Playoffs. This cant happen, though, without Valančiūnas and his monster rebounding. Valančiūnas is also averaging a career-high in points, putting up 17 a game.
On Top Shot, Valančiūnas has four different Moments, with one as low as $9 and others stretching as high as $5,700. But, if you just wanted the Base Moment, which is the same as the $5,700 legendary Moment, it only lists at $67 for a Season 1 Moment.
Valančiūnas can erupt on any night with rim-rocking dunks and big blocks and will be an integral part of the Grizzlies if they manage to make a Play-In and Playoff run.
Mikal Bridges
Mikal Bridges is the glue for the Phoenix Suns that keeps them chugging along at the top of the Western Conference standings. With Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton being the three-headed monster for the Suns, it’s understandable if you haven’t heard of Bridges, plus the fact that the Suns are a smaller-market team than others, like the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers.
Although they are a smaller-market team compared to both the Los Angeles teams, the standings say otherwise. Where we stand at this moment in time, the Suns are 40-16 - and only 1.5 games behind the number one seeded Utah Jazz. Shockingly, the Suns don’t get more national coverage from the NBA and media members themselves. This whole team is flying under the radar, but particularly Bridges.
Bridges slots in as the teams starting small forward and is putting up averages of 13 points, five boards, two assists, and a block and a steal a game while shooting the three-ball at a 41% clip. To put this in perspective, the league average shooting the three is at 36%, and the spacing he provides around Ayton is essential. Bridges is all over the floor with his elite shooting and elite defensive numbers.
In Bridges’ first Top Shot Moment, he drives hard to the rim along the baseline and slams in two. This is a Season 1 Moment listing for $101 at its floor with only 3,999 minted. His second and final Moment is a Series 2 Moment where he hits the streaking Cameron Johnson with a beautiful no-look pass, with Johnson doing the rest, finishing the odd-man break with a dunk. This only lists for a floor of $5, with the ability for you to reach a two-digit serial for only $84.
Nerlens Noel
Currently, the New York Knicks are on the first six-game win streak since 2014. The Knicks are back, and it couldn’t have happened without Noel and his vicious shot-blocking and ability to guard the rim.
Noel is sitting at fourth in the league at blocked shots per game, averaging 2.1 swats. With Mitchell Robinson fracturing his hand and now his foot, Noel has fit in seamlessly.
The Knicks are clinging to the sixth seed with a 31-27 record, meaning they wouldn’t have to participate in the Play-In Tournament and - would be guaranteed a playoff spot.
Noel only has one Knick Moment on Top Shot, with it being, yeah, you guessed it, a block. It’s hard to score on Noel and the Knicks in general, but Noel is the cog that keeps everything anchored for their defense. His Knicks Moment is listing for a floor of $8, but he also has a Series 1 Moment, where Noel is a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder hammering down a dunk with the game winding down, going for a low of $45.
Robert Williams
Robert Williams was in Brad Stevens’ doghouse last year, but Stevens has finally given Williams the starting job, and Williams has shown why he deserves the nod. Like Noel, Williams is one of the best rim protectors in the NBA, managing to contest nearly everything that comes close to the hoop.
Williams put up a monster line this season, where only he, Nikola Jokić, and Wilt Chamberlain have put up lines like that before, per @StatMuse.
In the ten games Williams has started this year, he’s putting up averages of 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists with a steal, and two blocks per game. Those are incredible numbers for a 23-year-old just scraping the surface of his potential.
Going back to Top Shot, Williams only has one Moment. In it, he sets a hard screen to free up Jaylen Brown, and Brown pays it back by throwing up the alley-oop to Williams, where he catches it with one hand and finishes the easy two. The Moment is listing for a low of $51 because it’s Williams’ first Moment. Williams is a stud.
Terry Rozier
Before LaMelo Ball went down with a fractured right wrist, the Charlotte Hornets looked destined to avoid the Play-In Tournament. But now, they find themselves sitting at the eighth seed with an even 28-28 record and Rozier leading the charge.
Rozier has one-upped himself, follow his breakout campaign last season, with a new career-high in scoring, averaging nearly 21 points a match. Rozier can get hot at any second, and the defense always has to be aware of where Rozier is on the court, considering he’s shooting a scorching 40% from three with eight attempts a game.
If Ball can come back in time for the playoffs or the Play-In Tournament, the Hornets will be absurdly under-seeded and could pull off multiple upsets in the playoffs. Last night, “Scary Terry” led the Hornets to a big win over the Portland Trailblazers with 34 points, eight rebounds, and ten assists. These are just staggering numbers, and you don’t hear Rozier mentioned with some of the better guards in the NBA.
Rozier has multiple Moments on Top Shot, ranging from a game-winning legendary Moment, a big-time jam over Kevin Durant, or even just a coast-to-coast layup. His layup lists for a floor of $6, his challenge Moment flushing home a dunk over Kevin Durant goes for $950 with only 184 minted, and his game-sealing shot over the Golden State Warriors for $1,575.
Honorable Mentions:
Bruce Brown
Donte DiVincenzo
Facundo Campazzo
Jae Crowder
Joe Ingles
John Collins
Norman Powell
Rajon Rondo
Reggie Bullock
Trevor Ariza
All views are my own.