Steph Self-Assists, Kawhi Does Kobe, Portland's ATO Magic: Adam Mares' NBA Wraparound

Editor's Note: Welcome to VICE Sports' new NBA Wraparound, a regular feature in which Adam Mares breaks down plays, trends, and all the cool stuff happening in the association.

What a start.

In the first 10 days of the 2016-17 NBA season, we've seen two 50-point games and pair of teams score 100 points through three quarters.We've seen the Cleveland Cavaliers remain unbeaten, and the Golden State Warriors both give and receive nationally-televised beatdowns. We've also seen the long-overdue debut of Joel "The Process" Embiid, a player who has single-handedly made the worst team in the league must-see TV.

And yet, there's so much more going on.

We're living in a golden age of NBA basketball; sometimes, it can be hard to keep up. Enter NBA Wraparound, where I'll highlight a handful of unique and interesting observations from around the league: player skill sets and idiosyncrasies, coaching trends, play breakdowns, and funky lineup choices that otherwise go unnoticed.

Let's take a look at this week's notes.

It's rare that a player creates a new, iconic shot, pass, or dribble move in today's NBA. Dirk Nowitzki invented the one-legged fallaway years ago; since then, several players have stolen the move and put their own spin on it. But something entirely sui generis? Basketball has been played for more than a century. We've seen it all before.

Enter the Adams push shot. It's a one-handed touch-shot that the Oklahoma City center uses to score from just outside of the restricted area. This thing is equal parts awkward and beautiful. It combines the touch of a floater, the positioning of a jump hook, and the footwork of a jump shot. Adams has looked pretty confident going to it throughout the preseason and the first week of the regular season. It's probably not the type of shot that you want to take ten times per game, but Adams has never had an issue with shot selection. Adding this weapon to his arsenal can only help an Oklahoma City offense that is in desperate need of scoring. And hey, it's quickly becoming a signature play.

Portland coach Terry Stotts is a wizard when it comes to end-of-game plays out of a timeout (ATOs). Just check out these two gems from the first four games of the season. In the first clip from a Blazers-Denver Nuggets game, Stotts sets up a curl screen at the elbow that catches Emmanuel Mudiay trailing Damian Lillard, who gets a wide open layup to tie the score.

The play is so deadly because every player on the court is a threat to score. Allen Crabbe sprints to the corner, vacating the painted area. C.J. McCollum creates gravity by running off of the elbow screen and into the far wing. Myers Leonard is a threat to step out and hit a game-winning three if the defense sags off or tries to double-team Lillard. And Mason Plumlee is tall enough to see over the defense and make the proper read.

After the game, Nuggets fans and coaches were angry that Kenneth Faried didn't track Lillard on the curl—but just a few days later, we got to see what happens when the defender in his position tracks the ball. Stotts set up a similar action, but this time the defender sinks to take away the Lillard curl before having to sprint back up when Leonard turns to re-screen CJ McCollum. This creates an opportunity for Leonard to slip into the newly vacated painted area for an easy layup.

I watched these two plays 100 times and I still can't figure out how to defend it properly. Stotts has created a Catch-22 that forces defenders to pick between a handful of bad options. And the best part is that there are plenty of little tweaks and adjustments that can create new dynamics out of this basic setup. Look for the Blazers to go back to this set throughout the year but with little differences that will keep players and coaches guessing.

One of the most underrated components of Golden State's high-powered offense last season was the nifty passing of Andrew Bogut. Bogut had career-lows in terms of usage percentage over the last two seasons, but still managed to put up career highs in assist percentage. In other words, he was used less as a scorer and more as a passer than ever before—and boy, did he have some fun passes. My favorites were the through the legs and/or around the back passes that he'd use to lead Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson into open shots or turn into give-and-gos for lobs.

Unfortunately, Bogut has yet to develop the same chemistry with his new Dallas Mavericks teammates. Let's hope that's temporary.

Speaking of the Warriors and give-and-go's, one of the most fun actions in their offense is the Steph Curry secondary assist to himself. A secondary assist, or hockey assist, is when a player throws a pass that leads to an assist. Curry is the king of hockey assists that end with him scoring. Perhaps we should coin these plays "give-and-go assists."

Curry's skill set makes this action such a potent weapon. He's a phenomenal shooter, a great finisher at the rim, and moves well off of the ball. But the thing that brings it all together is his ability to see the play a few steps ahead. On some possessions, he'll come down the court and see Draymond Green's man sagging too far off into the paint, throw a quick pass to Green, and then run right off of Green's hip, essentially turning Green into a screener while his man isn't in position to help. On other possessions, he simply catches his defender sleeping for a split-second once the ball leaves his hands on the pass, opening up just enough room for him to sprint into open space.

In the closing minutes of the first quarter of the Cavaliers' opening night win over the Knicks, head coach Ty Lue made a simple-yet-brilliant substitution. He brought Lebron James and Kyrie Irving back into the game for one offensive possession with just nine seconds left, and paired them with three spot up shooters in Mike Dunleavy, Kevin Love, and Channing Frye. That lineup couldn't guard a sofa—but for this nine seconds, defense wasn't a factor since the Cavs stayed on the offensive end of the court.

The Knicks failed to counter, leaving Willy Hernangomez in the game to cover Kevin Love. I can't say for certain if James knew where the pass would go the moment he stepped on the court, but chances are high that he could've predicted New York's rookie big man would bite hard on help in the paint, leaving Love open in the corner. If you look closely, you can see James raise his hand up to signal the made three the moment he let's the pass go.

It was a simple substitution, but little calls like that are often the difference between closing a quarter up 10 points instead of seven, and sometimes that margin means the difference between winning and losing.

It has been well-publicized that San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard spent the summer working out with Kobe Bryant, and early returns suggest that the rest of the league should be terrified. These "former legend mentors current star" stories are often over-hyped. Dwight Howard, for example, didn't turn into some kind of dream-shaking wizard after spending a few days with Hakeem Olajuwon. But in Leonard's case, Bryant might actually be the perfect mentor.

Say what you will about Bryant's efficiency or selfishness, but the guy had textbook footwork and fundamentals on offense. He was also an on-the-court killer, willing and able to hoist up a shot in any type of situation. Leonard has spent the last several years as a somewhat passive offensive player, staying within the framework of the Spurs' very balanced offensive approach. But adding some of Bryant's fully array of scoring moves—and more of his soloist mentality—to Leonard's selfless approach might end up creating a perfect offensive force.

Leonard is currently scoring 1.0 points per possession on isolations, a mark higher than James, Curry, and Paul George. He's also drawing a shooting foul on a league-leading 31 percent of his isolation possessions. And just look at the footwork on this one-dribble pull up! It's straight out of the Bryant playbook. Leonard has improved every year he has been in the league, is still improving, and is just 25 years old. Look out.

I don't have video of this one, so let me describe it: in the second quarter of a Boston-Chicago game, Jae Crowder grabbed a defensive rebound and immediately crashed into Jimmy Butler, who had planted his feet in the direction that Crowder was falling. The ref blew the whistle and called Crowder for a charge.

The charge call is designed to prevent offensive players from barreling through defensive players. Technically, that is exactly what Crowder did. However, Crowder didn't have anywhere else to go! He wasn't attacking or making a scoring move, he was merely trying to dribble the ball out of the backcourt. More importantly, Butler wasn't actually trying to defend Crowder—he was only trying to get Crowder to crash into him.

This type of rule-gaming shouldn't be allowed. It's annoying, it's cheap, and to the extent it encourages unnecessary collisions, it's also dangerous. The NBA needs to either have its officials swallow their whistles on these plays, or change the rules entirely and ban charges in the backcourt.

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