Jordan Mickey is following the new “3-and-B” archetype
The Celtics simply didn’t have the roster space for Mickey, but his unique skill set should still land him on another NBA roster.

(Getty Images)
NBA players usually hit their prime seasons around age 28, and the duration of their mini-golden age varies greatly. The reason it takes them six or seven years to realize their ultimate peak potential is due to the ongoing development of skills. Shooting, dribbling, passing, decision-making, defensive awareness and so many more skills are teachable and players have the ability to heighten these traits.
Blocking shots is not included in a list of teachable skills on purpose — players either have it, or they don’t. Just being 7-foot or having elite athleticism is not enough to morph into a shot blocker. A prime example, is Blake Griffin. His athleticism and leaping ability is other-worldly, yet he hasn’t averaged even one block per game in any of his seven seasons so far and last year blocked only 25 shots in over 2,000 minutes played. This skill is innate. It’s more about timing and defensive placement than anything else, and players rarely increase their shot blocking ability for these reasons.
Jordan Mickey is a 6-foot-8 forward who possesses this uncanny ability to block or alter shots at the rim. Unfortunately after two seasons with the Boston Celtics, Mickey finds himself without an NBA home at just 23-years old. Brad Stevens has a backlog of talent and assets to work with and simply could not find minutes for the bouncy forward.
A brief history of the elusive 50/40/90 in the G League

In the 16-year history of the NBA’s minor league not a single player has achieved the feat. Will it ever happen?
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Luckily for Mickey he spent a lot of time over the past two seasons with the Maine Red Claws honing his skills and adding a 3-point threat to his game. Scott Morrison was the head coach of Maine for the past three seasons — he’s now an assistant coach with the Celtics — and 2W10D talked to him recently about Mickey’s time with them.
“A lot of great guys came to Maine during my time there, but Jordan approached his time as professionally as possible; more so than any of the others. He was always part of the team, not thinking of himself higher due to being ‘an NBA guy’, and he was always showing up early or staying late to work on the extra things.”
Under Morrison, Maine played a Houston Rockets style of play with layups or 3-pointers being the main focus of their offense. Morrison spoke about Mickey’s overall improvement as well saying, “The two biggest things he was able to improve were his outside shot and his defense. He was always a capable shooter, but his work turned him into a consistent shooter. We do a lot of switching in Maine so his lateral quickness improved tremendously as well.”
People covering the NBA — and basketball as a whole — love to create categories of skills for players. There are specialists, like 3-point shooters, shot blockers, on-ball defenders and much more but one of the more popular monikers right now is that of a “3-and-D” player. Just as it sounds these players excel at hitting 3-pointers as well as defending, and these two skills are evolving into a prerequisite for players now, rather than an outlier skill set.
Another fun nickname for players is dubbing them a unicorn. These players obviously have outlier skills which make them unique, hence the name. Players with size are doing the same things as many guards in the league — see Antetokounmpo, Giannis — but there are still specialty players out there.
There’s a new archetype of players rising up and a perfect name for them would be 3-and-B players. These are players who can hit daggers from distance on one end, and erase shots with ease on the other.

Above are the five players who hit at least 50 3-pointers and had 100 blocks last season in the NBA. I fully expected to see a larger list when those parameters were set for a 3-and-B player, but alas here we are. This confirms the rarity of the combination of skill sets, however. Players who can perform both of these skills at the highest level are extremely valuable and while they still have flaws — as with all players — they are paramount in today’s NBA.
Comparatively, this skill set was even more rare in the G League last season with only two players achieving the feat.

Mickey only played 12 games with Maine last season averaging 20.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. With a minimum 10 games played he was second in the league in blocks per game and with the above projections at 50 games, he would have led the league in total blocks. The parameters for a 3-and-B player in the G League were 30 3-pointers and 61 blocks parsed down due to their shorter season.
Mickey’s outside shooting over the past two seasons holds an extremely small sample size as he’s gone 22-of-52 from distance, but this past season his outside shooting was more pronounced. He made twice as many 3s (14) as the previous season and played 11 less games with Maine. Every single one of his made 3s was assisted, and almost every one was out of the pick-and-roll.

He and Demetrius Jackson were a deadly combination in the pick-and-roll as you see here. Jackson demands the double coming off the screen leaving too much space for Mickey to hit the deep 3-pointer. His motion isn’t as fluid as it could be, but he catches and rises on balance nonetheless.

There is zero hesitation on this shot from Mickey, which is huge for efficiency. We see players catch, hesitate and then try to pull up once the defender has already recovered, and those shots go in with much less regularity than open ones. Again, all in one motion for Mickey with the catch, rise and release and his mechanics look pretty good here.
While his 3-pointer is still developing, his shot blocking and timing are already at elite levels for his age.

This block is unreal. Jon Octeus had a poster in mind and Mickey was having none of it. He jumps straight up and denies the dunk attempt, without fouling and he keeps the ball in play as a bonus.
Mickey was great as the help defender in terms of protecting the rim, but he also showed the ability to block shots as the primary post defender last season.

He denies Shawn Long with ease here, holding his ground after catching a shoulder to the chest. Long was later called up and earned a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers (and was subsequently traded to Houston), so he was no slouch in the post.
The real test for Mickey is his lateral quickness, because a 6-foot-8 forward in the NBA has to possess the ability to switch onto quicker players and hold their own.

Kay Felder is diminutive, but lightning quick with the ball in his hands and Mickey is able to switch onto him, keep him in front and then recover for the blocked shot. Notice that he kept this ball in play as well. It was rare to see Mickey spike the ball out of bounds and the majority of his blocks ignited a fast break the other way for his team, which is absolutely a skill and shows high basketball IQ as well.
In these next two clips, Mickey switches onto Tyrone Wallace again showing his ability to move laterally, recover and erase what might usually be an easy two points.

Wallace clearly didn’t learn and came back for more later.

Jordan Mickey is not the next Draymond Green, Serge Ibaka or Kristaps Porzingis but he does possess the rare ability to step out and knock down a 3, and sprint back to block a shot on the other end.
Mickey is just 23-years old and already has two full seasons of improvement under his belt. Just because the Celtics didn’t have room for him, does not mean he can’t find the right opportunity with another club and contribute.
At the very least Mickey should be receiving two-way contract offers and perhaps the Rockets will come calling and pair him up with former teammate Demetrius Jackson. Those two had great chemistry with Maine and would be devastating to watch for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Thanks to Adam Johnson.
NBAJordan MickeyBoston CelticsDraymond GreenKristaps Porzingis
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If I'm Mickey with the way the Heat condition/develop their players -- I would have went for Miami regardless if Knicks were interested or not.

CrushAlot wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:I would have preferred Mickey over the 2 guys we just signed but the PLAYER has to want the organization as well.

If I'm Mickey with the way the Heat condition/develop their players -- I would have went for Miami regardless if Knicks were interested or not.

Great point about Miami's player development program. Also, no state income tax makes his deal worth more than if he signed with another team.

The job Miami did transforming their team back into contenders in such a short timeframe with no upper tier draft pick is nothing short of sensational

Back that up too.....
http://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/04/13/heat-better-in-second-half-of-season-than-any-other-team-that-ever-missed-playoffs/

BRIGGS wrote:

Knickoftime wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:I would have preferred Mickey over the 2 guys we just signed but the PLAYER has to want the organization as well.

If I'm Mickey with the way the Heat condition/develop their players -- I would have went for Miami regardless if Knicks were interested or not.

Great point about Miami's player development program. Also, no state income tax makes his deal worth more than if he signed with another team.

The job Miami did transforming their team back into contenders in such a short timeframe with no upper tier draft pick is nothing short of sensational

But short of warranted. They were a lottery team, they aren't contenders until they contend.

In other words, they aren't Eastern conference "monsters" yet.

A team that can go 30-10 in the 2nd half of the season should be considered an elite team. They added a lot of size and versatility and lost almost no one. They will add back Winslow to a core of perimeter players that may be top 5 in the NBA depth and talent wise--all with out 1 pick over 9

They shouldn't be considered an elite team until they're an elite team, unless you're fixated on predictions, which are pointless.