Bottom-ten in half-court defense since March, and the film shows a team hunting steals instead of finishing possessions.
Scouts who have tracked this draft class since last summer keep coming back to the same word: physicality. The lottery names carry NBA frames already, and the workout circuit is only sharpening the separation at the top of the board.
The margin for error at this stage of the season is razor thin, and both benches knew it. Every possession in the fourth quarter was contested like a playoff closeout, with coaches burning timeouts early to stop runs before they became avalanches.
League executives polled this week were split on the question, but the consensus was clear on one point: the price of standing still in this conference is higher than the price of overpaying. The teams at the top are not waiting around.
