NBA Rumors and NBA News Today: Draymond Explains Warriors’ “Strategy” vs Celtics

There's never a boring day in the NBA. Whether it's because of the games on the court or the conversations off of it, every single day brings its own batch of NBA rumors and NBA news.

Here's what you need to know about what's going on in the NBA today — the rumors and news for Friday, March 8.

Draymond Green Explains Warriors' Strategy Against Celtics

There's no two ways about it: The Boston Celtics absolutely destroyed the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, beating up on Draymond & Co. to the tune of a 52-point margin of victory.

That epic beatdown was jumpstarted by a 19-point first quarter from Jaylen Brown, whom the Warriors let shoot freely from deep to begin the game. On Tuesday, Green explained what went into Golden State's thinking:

Green: "We didn't implement that defensive game plan because we thought Jaylen Brown can't make shots. You implement that defensive game plan because you feel like he's going to take it upon himself to shoot more and more and more and more and take their offense out of rhythm. You take their offense out of rhythm, it makes it a lot easier to beat them.

"Yes, you usually employ that game plan with guys who aren't as good of shooters as Jaylen Brown, but in saying that, Jaylen Brown is a 34% 3-point shooter going into the game. So you're not overly worried that Jaylen Brown is going to start hitting 3s and start hitting 3s. And he did. He made them.

"Guess what? You go into that game 3-0 on the road trip. You got a free swing. If you can come out of that road and you're 3-1 with that road trip that we had? You feel pretty good about yourself. So you go in with a free swing, you implement this game plan, and it didn't work. We move on."

It's good to have a strategy. But when you lose by FIFTY, you might want to just take the L and not explain how things went so poorly.

Heat to Add Former Blazers Point Guard

… no, not that one. Sorry, Miami fans.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday afternoon that Patty Mills will be signing with the Miami Heat. Mills was waived by the Atlanta Hawks last week.

Wembanyama Already Impatient?

On Tuesday, this clip from ESPN's NBA Today went viral because of a discussion around the mindset of all-galaxy rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama and whether he would have patience with the San Antonio Spurs methodically building a team around him.

The consensus was that Wembanyama staying patient is unlikely, although former Spur Danny Green had a different perspective. It's worth watching the clip if for no other reason than to see Green push back against the narrative.

Our Matt Moore weighed in on the rumors surrounding Wembanyama:

This isn’t entirely out of left field. Wembanyama is a lot of things: a once-in-a-lifetime phenom, a fierce competitor, a generational physical presence. But he is also a player who has clearly established his brand and is self-aware enough to guide his career arc. His interviews pre-draft were focused on immediate success. He is not just “happy to be here.”

So if his management, or camp, or whoever inform Shelburne that he is eager to compete and not waste time, it’s her job to share that information with the audience. It’s truthful and transparent.

But at the same time, we can ignore this in terms of a “what does it mean” standpoint. For starters, Wembanyama is under contract for the next four seasons, and then will accept the max extension he’ll be offered as every other player has done. No max-offer player has turned down the rookie extension; it’s too much guaranteed money, the first that really sets you up for the rest of your life.

“But what if he does?!” people who just happen to wear Lakers jerseys and Yankees caps will ask.

He won’t. There’s a reason it literally has not happened before.

For more of Moore's take on Wembanyama's patience, head over to Will Victor Wembanyama Stay Patient With the Spurs? Here’s the Real Answer.

As an aside, Wembanyama is 100-1 to record a quadruple-double in a regular season game this year at FanDuel Sportsbook.

An Explanation For All the NBA Unders

In a recent edition of his newsletter, longtime NBA analyst Tom Haberstroh dove into the numbers and made the case that NBA officials have potentially changed the way they interpret certain rules, such as when offensive players generate contact, and whether those moments are being called as fouls on the defense. According to Haberstroh, free-throw rate across the NBA is down about 10% from January to February and down 20% in February relative to November, which is a historical outlier.

Matt Moore took that observation a step further. According to Moore on Monday night's live edition of "Buckets", the NBA's top-five teams in free-throw rate this season have gone 26-5 to the under since the All-Star break.

Those five teams, for the record, are the Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns (who play tonight against the Denver Nuggets), Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

But it's not just the teams taking the most free throws that are seeing an effect — it's also the teams that give up the fewest free throws. The bottom-five teams in opponent free-throw rate since the All-Star break are 23-6-1 to the under, a 79.3% clip.

It's a small sample size in both instances, but the different data points might offer a glimpse into the current NBA scoring environment. Be careful, though, as Moore also noted that the sportsbooks seem to be adjusting already.