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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
NBA Finals 2025: The Thunder's GOAT? Alex Caruso is more than just a basketball version of the Tasmanian Devil
The pinky finger on Alex Caruso's right hand doesn't look like a typical pinky. Around the middle knuckle, it bulges as if a small marble was implanted under the skin. It will come as no surprise to anyone who's watched Caruso play basketball that this slight disfiguration is the result of him throwing his body around the court. 'Somebody stepped on it while I was on the ground during a game,' Caruso said during a phone interview before the 2025 NBA Finals. What might be surprising, though, is how old he was when the injury occurred. Advertisement 'I think it was in, like, the first or second grade,' he said. So, yes, the player we've seen throughout the playoffs, and in his first season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and really over the past five seasons, is who Caruso has always been. The running, the diving, the swiping, that blur of activity that looks like a tornado with arms — it all comes naturally to him. On the court, it's Caruso's version of breathing. (James Pawelczyk/Yahoo Sports Illustration) 'I remember when he first started playing with us,' recalled Jason Bullard, a medical equipment salesman who was part of a group of 30- and 40-year-olds from the College Station, Texas area, with whom Caruso played pick-up with while in middle school. 'He'd run around, guard everybody, take the ball and go, and just create all sorts of chaos,' Bullard added. 'Some guys would even get annoyed. It'd be like, 'Who's this little kid running around trying to steal the ball from us every time?' Advertisement Caruso had joined the game — consisting of local businessmen, blue collar workers, a professor at Texas A&M — after stumbling upon it one night at the park down the road from his house. He'd skip dinner, show up with his own ball 30 minutes before they'd begin and pretend he was there to shoot around, all in the hope that they'd need one more. Within about a year, he was a regular. That capacity for wreaking havoc on the court is what propelled Caruso, now 31, from an undrafted guard in 2016, one close to accepting a contract to play overseas, into the NBA. But what's transformed him into into one of the great role players of this decade, someone who, following the Thunder's 123-107 series-tying Game 2 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Sunday night's Finals matchup, is now just three wins away from a second ring, has been his ability to both build on those skills and refine them. These days, Caruso is more than just a basketball version of the Tasmanian Devil. In fact, ask him about his style propensity for creating chaos and he'll balk at that description. 'I think when you use the word 'chaos,' it's for the other team,' he said. 'Creating chaos for them and making them have to think and second-guess things. Advertisement 'For us, I'm trying to be settling and create a rhythm and flow.' More than that, Caruso added, he's trying to 'have an understanding of what we're gonna do and then putting guys in positions where they can just play and don't have to think.' It took time for Caruso to reach this point. 'He needed to refine that risk/reward balance that he has down so well now,' said Coby Karl, who coached Caruso in the Lakers' G League program. Karl remembers speaking to current Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault during the 2017-18 season, when Daigneault was leading the Thunder's G League team. The conversation turned to Caruso, who had spent the previous season with Daigneault before being let go by the Thunder. 'He described him as Brett Favre,' Karl recalled. 'It was like, whether he was trying to thread a needle on a pass or jump a passing lane for a steal, he was always going to go for it.' When Caruso reunited with Daigneault on the Thunder last summer following a trade from the Chicago Bulls, he had become the 2.0 version of himself, a player whose ability to process the game has become as essential to his ability to impact it. Thunder coaches and players have marveled all year at how well Caruso is both able to absorb game plans and identify the strengths and weaknesses of opposing players. It's why so many credit him for the Thunder's leap from fourth in defensive rating last season to first this season — despite Caruso averaging just 19.2 minutes per game in the regular season. [Mark Daignault] described him as Brett Favre. Whether he was trying to thread a needle on a pass or jump a passing lane for a steal, he was always going to go for it. Coby Karl, former G League coach 'One of the most important things that he's come in here and taught us is the importance of executing the details,' Thunder big man Chet Holmgren said before the Finals. 'You'll see so many times he makes a huge play out there, and it really comes down to inches. Was he in the right spot by a few inches? Was he able to reach the ball and poke it away by a few inches? That comes down to knowing where you need to be and when you need to be there, what you need to do and how to execute it. He's really come in and preached the importance of that, kind of shown us firsthand what that looks like.' Advertisement It's been a role-reversal for Caruso. Last time he was playing for a contender was with the Lakers during the 2019-20 season, when he was the newbie trying to soak up as much as possible from veteran teammates. There, Caruso was able to earn the equivalent of an NBA master's degree. The key, he said, was having the confidence to speak up and share his thoughts, despite being a 25-year-old out of the G League. 'I wasn't afraid to be wrong,' he said, 'and that helped me grow. A lot of times you get corrected through mistakes.' In LA, playing alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Caruso perfected the role of wingman to the stars. Lakers coaches marveled at how on defense he'd often predict on which plays LeBron preferred to stay home and then make his rotation for him, or on offense how he seemed to know precisely when to make an off-ball cut not to receive the ball himself but to trigger a shift that would benefit a teammate. And of course there were the more obvious plays, the 3s and fast breaks and steals and deflections. Caruso became one of the most feared defenders in the league, a key cog in the Lakers' 2020 title run. Alex Caruso played a critical role for the Lakers during their 2020 title run. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) By the time he left as a free agent for the Bulls in 2021, Caruso was ready to lead an NBA team on his own. Like in LA, his basketball IQ awed Chicago's coaching staff, as did the way he'd just step onto the court with, in the words of former Bulls assistant Josh Longstaff, 'an infectious energy.' Advertisement But what impressed the group the most was his understanding of how to communicate with teammates. Say a player was having difficulty absorbing a scheme or concept during a walkthrough the morning of a game. 'If it's somebody who could be coached hard, he'd give them, like, a stern 'Come on!' clap and say, 'We need to get this right!'' Longstaff said. 'And if it's someone who needed to be approached more gently, he'd take his time, pull him aside and say something along the lines of, 'We need you for this game, if you get in the game, we need you to do this and this,' and he'd do all this while putting his arm on their shoulder.' The Bulls gave Caruso a bigger role, and he responded with his best statistical seasons, along with a pair of All-Defensive team honors. Chicago, however, wasn't ready to compete for a title. The Thunder were — and they were looking for one more piece to help snap their championship puzzle into place. General manager Sam Presti, who had let Caruso walk eight years earlier, believed Caruso was it. Because of the skills he'd always possessed but also the new ones he'd added along the way. 'I think it helps elevate the whole group if you can have those types of brains, and we really wanted the heart and the head in the building,' Presti said during a preseason press conference after acquiring Caruso in a trade for 21-year-old point guard Josh Giddey. Presti's evaluation and instincts turned out to be right. On the court, Caruso's impact is evident. The Thunder's already historic point-differential improves when he's playing. He's spent the playoffs shadowing, and locking down, players of all skills and sizes, from explosive guards like Ja Morant, to bruising giants like Nikola Jokic. No NBA player has deflected more passes per possession this postseason. He's drilled more than 40% of his triples. In December, the Thunder signed him to a four-year, $81 million extension. Advertisement But ask Caruso to name some of the moments he's most proud of, and he'll point to a game where he scored just two points in less than 10 minutes of action. It was Game 2 of the second round. The Thunder were facing the Nuggets, and coming off a crushing 121-119 home loss, one in which the Thunder had blown a double-digit lead. In the locker room afterward, Caruso could sense 'some angst and frustration from the guys,' he said. It reminded him of his 2020 title run, when the Lakers had dropped the first game in each of the first two rounds. 'I remember very specifically having those conversations with LeBron, [Rajon] Rondo and the other older guys during that run,' Caruso said. 'And their basic message was, 'We're going to go back and watch film and we'll see that we messed up game plan stuff, and that's all easy to fix.' And so here he was, sitting in a cold tub following a Game 1 playoff loss five years later, ready to impart the same lesson. 'I said to the group, 'It was our mistakes. We gave it to them, we're gonna correct it, and it will be fine,'' he recalled. The Thunder came out the next game and ran the Nuggets off the floor in a 43-point win. Following their Game 1 loss in the Finals, the Thunder were back in a similar situation. And once again, Caruso was a calming influence for the group. When speaking to reporters the day after the loss, he singled out a few areas where he believed the Thunder could improve — 'being a little more efficient in transition and maybe not forcing it at the rim and playing off two feet early in the game and spraying the ball a little' — but he made clear that he wasn't alarmed. Advertisement Two days later, the Thunder were back on the floor, and this time Caruso decided he was going to take matters into his own hands. He was everywhere, swarming ball-handlers and blowing up screens and flying up and down the court and draining 3s. He finished with 20 points — a mark he never hit during the regular season — in 27 minutes of action off the bench, including four 3s, propelling Oklahoma City to victory. After the game, a reporter asked Holmgren about Caruso's 'energy levels for a 30-year-old man.' Holmgren smiled as he contemplated how to respond. 'Don't disrespect our GOAT like that,' he said.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
2025 NBA Playoffs: Who runs the league? 4 generations of stars are battling like never before
The longevity of LeBron James and others of his age has provided us with yet another never-before-seen NBA revelation: four generations of superstars, all playing at once, each with championship aspirations. There used to be a pattern to these things. The league's youngest generation would take its licks from establishment superstars, eventually taking over, and the veterans would go gentle into that good night. One generation would cede control of the NBA, as another seized it, and a third would rise behind them. Advertisement Rinse and repeat forever. Or so we thought. There are two factions — one featuring Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who have each banked rings, and another boasting the league's three title favorites — battling for control of today's NBA, and a generation on both sides of them looking to disrupt our expectations for this year's tournament. They are the legends among us, ages 22 to 40, spanning two decades of drafts. Let us get to them. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration) The Old Guys (2003-09 NBA drafts) LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers Age: 40 (Dec. 30, 1984) | Draft: 2003 (1st) Al Horford, Boston Celtics Age: 38 (June 3, 1986) | Draft: 2007 (3rd) Advertisement Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors Age: 37 (March 14, 1988) | Draft: 2009 (7th) Russell Westbrook, Denver Nuggets Age: 36 (Nov. 12, 1988) | Draft: 2008 (4th) James Harden, Los Angeles Clippers Age: 35 (Aug. 26, 1989) | Draft: 2009 (3rd) Last year Al Horford captured the NBA championship that had eluded his 16-year career. His 186 playoff games were the most ever for a first-time winner. It was one of the great stories of 2024. As Celtics exec Brad Stevens told Yahoo Sports in January, "If you take all of the joy each one of us experienced winning last year, I think all of us would say a piece of that joy, if not a large portion of it in my eyes, was for Al." Advertisement There are few more enjoyable storylines in sports than The Old Guy Has Still Got It. Like Horford, a 34-year-old Jrue Holiday, the 17th pick in the 2009 draft, started for Boston. Both put finishing touches on Hall of Fame résumés. There is a certain satisfaction to seeing a one-time star ease into a contributor's capacity, just so he can stick around awhile longer, chasing that championship high. Why Bradley Beal reportedly bristled at the idea of playing a Holiday-esque role is a question we all want answered, for as H.G. Wells once said, "Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative." Russell Westbrook, the NBA's 2017 MVP, has this opportunity in front of him, coming off the bench for a Nuggets team that has its sights set on a second championship in three seasons. He is one of nine title-less players in NBA history to have played at least 1,000 regular-season games and 100 playoff games. Not that he will reject all of the flaws that have led him to a sixth team in seven seasons. But he might. Advertisement This may well be Westbrook's last chance to contribute to a contender, and we get to watch him try. But can this generation still drive winning? This is something Stephen Curry, LeBron James and James Harden, each with responsibilities greater than the next, should be asking themselves. Do we still have it? This two-month playoff stretch is a slog, as demanding as anything in the sport. It requires everything they have left, just about every other night, wherever the games are played. Unlike their peers, who have transitioned beyond stardom, if these three are not at their absolute best, their teams have no chance. And they are old, at least in the NBA sense. Make no mistake. Nobody used to be this good for this long. If there is a fountain of youth, it runs through James' veins. He has altered what we thought possible, and Curry is following his lead. Nobody even thought Harden could still do what he is doing at the age of 35. Advertisement What redemption it would be if Harden were to win. There is little left to write of the legacies of James and Curry but perhaps the greatest chapter of all. A fifth ring would, at the very least, draw James closer to Michael Jordan in the G.O.A.T. debate. Curry's fifth would force us to reckon with a different argument. Each has his shot, even if it is a long one, at defeating Father Time, and for that we tune in year after year, reckoning with our own mortality, hoping we can delay the tolls of time for as long as they have. The Getting Old Guys (2010-14 NBA drafts) Jimmy Butler, Golden State Warriors Age: 35 (Sept. 14, 1989) | Draft: 2011 (30th) Advertisement Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers Age: 33 (June 29, 1991) | Draft: 2011 (15th) Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves Age: 32 (June 26, 1992) | Draft: 2013 (27th) Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks Age: 30 (Dec. 6, 1994) | Draft: 2013 (15th) Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets Age: 30 (Feb. 19, 1995) | Draft: 2014 (41st) From 2019-23, one of Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Giannis Antetokounmpo or Nikola Jokić were in the Finals each season, save for 2022, when Curry snared that fourth championship none of us saw coming. That is the thing: The longevity of the generation before them and the rapid rise of the generation behind them has limited this generation's championship window to only a few years. This was not the case in the 1980s, when Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas burned so brightly for a decade, only to flame out, ceding control of the NBA to Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon for most of the 1990s. Advertisement These were long runways before James stretched them even longer. Except, for Antetokounmpo and Jokić, who have five MVPs between them, and who each won a single title, their window may have closed soon after it opened. The next generation took last year's title, and they are the favorites to do it again. Can this group of players, who are getting older themselves, reclaim their era? Each has a title shot, including Rudy Gobert, whose Timberwolves made a run to last season's Western Conference finals. He will have to be better than he has ever been. The others, they just have to be as good as they ever were. Antetokounmpo knows better than anyone how fleeting these things can be. He has shared his burden with Bucks cohorts Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton (the sixth and 39th picks in 2012, respectively), two more members of this generation. Milwaukee traded the oft-injured Middleton. Lillard is not the player he once was, either, and a blood-clotting issue will cost him at least the start of these playoffs. Advertisement The same could be said of Jokić's Nuggets. His supporting cast is crumbling around him, and they can practically feel the draft from the sliver of a window they have left open. Jokić can only hold it himself for so long. Butler sure felt it on the Miami Heat and begged off, joining Curry and Draymond Green (the 35th pick in 2012) on the Warriors, whose dynasty is on its last legs. Or that is what history tells us. There will be questions about the future of Jokić and Antetokounmpo in Denver and Milwaukee if either loses. This is what the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement has wrought, we think. For as much as these stars may be able to play deeper into their careers, it is harder than ever for teams to grow old together. To survive in the NBA as long as James and Curry have is no guarantee. Just ask Leonard. He was the world's best player in 2019, and ever since his knees have tried to take from him what he has left. That we get to see what he has left once more, if his legs allow for it, is a blessing. Can he be Him again? Can any of them be Him again, even for a series or two? What fun it will be to watch. The New Guys (2015-19 NBA drafts) Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks Age: 28 (Aug. 31, 1996) | Draft: 2018 (33rd) Advertisement Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers Age: 28 (Sept. 7, 1996) | Draft: 2017 (13th) Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics Age: 27 (March 3, 1998) | Draft: 2017 (3rd) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder Age: 26 (July 12, 1998) | Draft: 2018 (11th) Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers Age: 26 (Feb. 28, 1999) | Draft: 2018 (3rd) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell are the best players on the three heaviest championship favorites. Luka Dončić reached the Finals last season with his old team and is among the fringe contenders to reach them again with his new team, as are Jalen Brunson's Knicks. All five are between 26 and 28 years old — the precipice of an NBA player's absolute prime, traditionally speaking. Advertisement Does the NBA belong to them now? We could easily envision a world where this generation wins the league's next five titles, leaving Jokić and Antetokounmpo at age 35, as Old Guys, on the other side of it. Tatum has Jaylen Brown (the third pick in 2016), Kristaps Porziņģis (the fourth pick in 2015) and Derrick White (the 29th pick in 2017), along with Horford and Holiday, to share the workload. Together they ran through the league in last season's playoffs, never seeing a sixth game in any series. Can they do it again? It is to what the Knicks have aspired. They feature a handful of players from this generation, including Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns (the first pick in 2015), Mikal Bridges (the 10th pick in 2018), OG Anunoby (the 23rd pick in 2017) and Josh Hart (the 30th pick in 2017). This might be the best they will ever be. Advertisement This is certainly the best we have seen yet from Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA's MVP favorite. His Thunder won 68 games, something only champions have ever done. We might be witnessing the dawn of a new dynasty in OKC. After all, SGA's campaign may be the best for a guard since Jordan. At least since Curry. Unlike Dončić, whose opening is tighter because of James, Gilgeous-Alexander and Mitchell have youth developing behind them, which is why we may see more of them on the game's grandest stage in years to come. And why it may be presumptuous to crown them now. It is all in front of this generation, except ... The Next Guys (2020-24 NBA drafts) Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers Age: 25 (Feb. 29, 2000) | Draft: 2020 (12th) Advertisement Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers Age: 23 (June 18, 2001) | Draft: 2021 (3rd) Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves Age: 23 (Aug. 5, 2001) | Draft: 2020 (1st) Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons Age: 23 (Sept. 25, 2001) | Draft: 2021 (1st) Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic Age: 22 (Nov. 12, 2002) | Draft: 2022 (1st) What if someone from this generation spoils their fun? Both Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards made runs to the conference finals last season, before anyone thought they were ready. There is no other reason but the generations before them that they could not do it again. And who wants to wait his turn? Not Edwards, who thinks of himself ready now. Advertisement Cade Cunningham and Paolo Banchero, recent No. 1 overall picks, have each already made All-Star teams. Playoff success is their next challenge. Each will have a hard time winning a series, but even a few wins in the opening round could convince us that they and their teams are closer to contention than we figured. Someone from this generation will alter our opinion of their trajectory. That is what the games are for. Whoever it is will make us think, Wait, does he belong on this list as a generational talent? Someone who could swipe the league right out from underneath the New Guys. Someone who is not Next but Now. The Houston Rockets, featuring Amen Thompson (the fourth pick in 2023), Jalen Green (the second pick in 2021) and Alperen Şengün (the 16th pick in 2021), are full of these guys. Together they have a title shot. The Thunder have these guys, too. How good Jalen Williams (the 12th pick in 2022) and Chet Holmgren (the second pick in 2022) can be as the Thunder's second an third options will dictate their title chances. Same goes for the Cavaliers, who need Mobley to be as good as he has ever been to win a championship. And we get to watch. Enjoy the 2025 NBA playoffs, everyone. Before Victor Wembanyama gets his time.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
The All-March Sadness Team: Top NBA draft prospects who fell short in NCAA tournament
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration) March Madness is supposed to be about winners, but for NBA scouts, it's just as much about what we learn from the guys who go home early. Some flame out. Others show flashes before their teams fall short. But the tournament can provide both good and bad glimpses of what's to come. So let's build an All-March Sadness team with five starters and two reserves. From microwave scorers with tunnel vision to late-bloomers making a lottery push, here's what we learned about seven prospects on college basketball's biggest stage. There's a moment burned into my brain that crystallizes the worry with Tre Johnson's NBA future. Late in Texas' First Four loss to Xavier, down one with 17 seconds still on the shot clock, Johnson sized up his man and launched a heavily contested step-back 3. He held his pose as the ball clanged off the back iron, taking himself completely out of the play. Xavier grabbed the board, fired an outlet over Johnson's head, and seconds later he was fouling the breakaway scorer for an and-one that buried Texas. It was a trailer for every concern scouts have had about Johnson: erratic shot selection, shaky decision-making and a disengaged defensive motor. Advertisement And yet, I can't forget the highs. Yes, he takes bad shots, but he makes a lot of them. Coming off screens, pulling up, step-backs, leaning 3s. It doesn't matter. He's a microwave scorer trapped in Rodney Terry's unimaginative Texas offense. It's hard to fault a guy for trying to create his own spark when the system gives him nothing. Johnson could be another shot-maker archetype bust prospect like the OJ Mayo, Shabazz Muhammad, and Dion Waiters types that came before him. But then you see the flashes. The moments where he makes the right read. The possessions where he locks in on defense. The emotional swings — his joy when things go well, his frustration when they don't — suggest a player who cares deeply. And that might mean there's more to tap into to make him a shot-making success story like Jamal Murray, Devin Booker, or Jayson Tatum. But without a stable structure and good vets, the habits that held him back at Texas might just be the ones that define him. I can't imagine what it was like to tune into a Baylor game and see VJ Edgecombe play for the first time. You'd see him slingshot off a handoff into the paint, looking like an NBA All-Star plopped onto a college team. But then you'd watch the next 10 minutes and just see him stand in the corner, waiting for the ball to come to him, and wonder what happened to that freakish athlete you just saw. Advertisement This is the Edgecombe experience though. Too often, he doesn't assert himself and instead fades into the background. Will this be a trend moving forward? Or is this a good soldier falling in line behind some upperclassmen teammates? Either way, it's a bit worrisome that in the biggest games of the season Edgecombe didn't take greater control, or wasn't even asked by his head coach to be the man. We know so much about what Edgecombe can do, especially with his downhill attacking, drawn fouls, and some strong defensive stops against Mississippi State. But all season, his shot creation has been limited, and he wasn't able to provide it in a 23-point second-round loss against Duke. Maybe things would have been different for McNeeley had Cooper Flagg elected to attend Connecticut instead of Duke. Without him, McNeeley was forced into a go-to guy role for the Huskies. But he'd be better off in a Klay Thompson-style role — playing off others, spacing the floor, and making quick decisions as a secondary option. Advertisement But March wasn't kind. He missed 18 of his last 21 3-pointers and went just 11-of-28 on twos. For a guy billed as a shooter, the shots didn't fall when the lights got brighter. That said, it was still a productive year. McNeeley showed real value as a big wing with shooting, connective passing and versatility. He moves the ball, he knows where to be and his shot mechanics are clean. But there's no getting around the fact that many of those late-season bricks came against the type of athletes he'll see every night in the NBA. And that's the part that lingers. March Madness was a success for Clifford as an individual. He looked ready to step on an NBA floor today by displaying his defensive versatility, fighting through screens, rotating off-ball and he intercepted two passes. And on offense, he made a positive impact by scoring at the rim and slinging the ball around the floor with 12 assists over two games. Advertisement At the end of a second-round game, he made an over-the-head bullseye pass that put Colorado State ahead before Derik Queen scored on the other end with a buzzer-beater to win it for Maryland. That moment is why Clifford is on this list. He put his team ahead. Colorado State was on the verge of being in the Sweet 16, and he would have had another chance against Florida, who barely squeaked by UConn, to show why he's a worthy lottery pick. Nonetheless, Clifford has shown more than enough to warrant selecting him in the first round. And he could go much higher than expected. Kalkbrenner did his job against Auburn center Johni Broome in the round of 32, stonewalling him on post-ups while also offering his typical rim protection in drop coverage. At 7-foot-2, the Creighton super senior is massive and naturally projects as a rotation big for an NBA team because of his defense alone. Advertisement But his offense is intriguing. He can score inside and run the floor, while also hitting a handful of open 3s. He showed all these goods in the tournament, but nothing that scouts didn't already know. Some team in need of a rotation big will take him, and odds are we'll be seeing more of the same for years to come in the NBA. For a seven-game stretch in the middle of the season, Jackson averaged 22.7 points in 34.3 minutes per game as a starter. It looked like the freshman was trending toward becoming a lottery pick, draining 3s and midrange jumpers off the dribble with great flare and efficiency. But then he hit a wall, lost his playing time, and averaged 8.1 points in 18.3 minutes over his final 14 games. This includes only 27 total forgettable minutes combined in North Carolina's First Four win and opening round loss to Ole Miss. Advertisement North Carolina's defensive rating was 14.7 points better with Jackson off the floor, per CBB Analytics. It's not all his fault, but he often played like he was checked out which is why his minutes dwindled as the season wore on. And unfortunately, he didn't help himself in March with two dud performances. Returning to school or transferring should be his next move, otherwise he risks getting lost in the shuffle of an NBA roster as a second-round pick that a team takes a flyer on. It's quite unbelievable that Luis went from the Big East Player of the Year to betting benched in the closing minutes of St. John's second-round loss to Arkansas. Head coach Rick Pitino was dragged by the media for not plugging Luis back in the game as Arkansas pulled away, outscoring St. John's in the final five minutes. Advertisement But man, Luis was horrible all game long. He shot 3-for-17 from the floor. And he let his horrific shooting performance hurt his normally sound defense. He stopped boxing out. His effort declined. He looked like a deer in the headlights under the bright lights of March Madness. Luis is only a junior and he can return to college if he chooses to. He should. There are more lessons to learn about how to deal with adversity and battle on the biggest stage before things get even harder at the next level.
