The Other 29 Teams
The Celtics got back to winning basketball this weekend, after showing lackluster effort across large swaths of the past two games, coupled with coaching mistakes. It was good to see, and the team absolutely did not miss Al Horford on Friday night vs. Brooklyn.
Rather than talk about the C's incessantly, I thought it would be fun to give brief (as brief as I can manage) thoughts on the other 29 teams, and nearly three weeks into the season compare what I thought heading into the season to what I've seen so far in some cases.
What do you say we go through this doll by doll, I mean in alphabetical order?
Atlanta: Jalen Johnson is already the third-best player on this team. We saw a lot of this in the playoffs in the spring, he was one of the Hawks who really played with a lot of energy and pride. His .688 two-point field goal percentage right now ranks eighth in the league this season (min. 50 FGA), and he's just one of 22 players this season averaging at least 14 points and eight rebounds per game.
Brooklyn: It's just kind of hard to take them seriously given the way they play. On the nights the three's go down in bunches or they can be on the fast break frequently, they hang in games and will win a decent number. But the best way to get out on the fast break is to play defense, and without Nic Claxton and Ben Simmons they don't do enough of that. They probably won't even with them.
Charlotte: They're allowing 122.4 points per game. Their current 118.8 Defensive Rating is 3.5 points worse than their all-time worst mark as a team, and their Relative Defensive Rating is also their worst mark ever. And Steve Clifford is supposed to be a defensive-minded coach.
Chicago: The most interesting thing they will do in the broader context of the NBA this season will be where they trade DeMar DeRozan.
Cleveland: Hard to write off when they beat Golden State twice, though I think that may have more to do with the fact that the Warriors are still just super small, and have a hard time with any team with real length like Cleveland.
Dallas: So far, I've been very wrong about this team. All the pieces fit together and make sense. That's going to keep them in a lot of games, and they've been winning a lot of 50-50 games. But I will remain skeptical. They are still eighth-worst in terms of points allowed per game, and four of the teams below them – Washington, San Antonio, Charlotte, and Utah – look like the dregs of the league. And they still have Kyrie Irving on the floor and Jason Kidd on the bench, and I'll never trust either of those guys. So we'll see.
Denver: On the other side of the coin, the Nuggets are only allowing 106 points per game, good for third-best in the NBA, after allowing 112.5 points per game and ranking eighth in the NBA last season. That kind of effort shows that they remain hungry, and early on my playoff scenario of them losing in the second round looks pretty farfetched.
Detroit: I am in love with Ausar Thompson. The shooting isn't there yet, but everything else is. The Pistons are going to have a lot of growing pains, but with Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and Thompson, I think they have a really good core. The key for this season will be figuring out who else belongs with them.
Golden State: Not dead yet! Couple of wins that could have been/should have been losses, but they've been doing that for a long time. You have to cut their head off, even now.
Houston: It was starting to come together even before they got Tari Eason back. It's a decently deep team, and they are no longer a night off for good teams, but I won't get too excited until we see more of them on the road. They're 5-1 at home, and 0-2 on the road.
Indiana: The win over Milwaukee this week was really good. I love watching old friend Aaron Nesmith run around and wreak havoc for them. I don't think they're title contenders until they can tighten up the defense, but they can beat anybody with all their firepower.
LA Clippers: I didn't think they were making the top six in the West before they traded for James Harden, and nothing that's happened in the three games Harden has played with them has changed my mind.
LA Lakers: On the bright side, it's been a better start to the season for them than last year. On the downside, being dependent on Austin Reaves for shot creation isn't a great place to be. Last season, Reaves took 18% of his shots in the mid-range (between 10 ft away and the three-point line). This season, that has increased to 29%. He's shooting far worse from just about every area of the floor, and that shot selection is a big part of why.
Memphis: One, Marcus Smart deserves better. Two, Ja Morant is clearly more valuable than we thought. Three, the Grizzlies kind of did this to themselves. They have traded away a lot of talent in the past two years – Jonas Valančiūnas, Trey Murphy III, De'Anthony Melton (who I've written about before), Walker Kessler, and Marcus Sasser – who are healthier and/or more effective than the supporting pieces still there.
Miami: Treading water until Jimmy Butler is ready for the season. Bam Adebayo is having some monster games.
Milwaukee: I continue to think this team is very, very overrated. The only way this Bucks offense will improve is if the ball comes out of Giannis Antetokounmpo's hands and goes to Damian Lillard. But I questioned whether he could stomach that in my season preview, and so far, he's not. His 36.7% usage ranks second in the NBA, just slightly behind Joel Embiid, and and 2.5 percentage points higher than any other player (Luka Doncic ranks third at 34.2%). Lillard has missed two games, so that's part of it, but not enough. They've sacrificed their team defense, and not improved the offense. In fact, so far, their 113.7 Offensive Rating is worse than it was the past three seasons, when it was 115.4, 115.1, and 117.2.
Minnesota: On the one hand, I do think my point about Anthony Edwards' shot selection remains valid. He's taking even more shots from deep mid-range and fewer from three-point land and at the rim. Right now, he's hitting so many of these shots that it doesn't matter. If he shoots .500 all season, it won't matter, and he just might. He was terrifying in that game, and Minnesota as a whole was. They look like a top-six team for sure, but I think they need to move Karl Anthony-Towns before they become title contenders. They played a lot better any time he sat back on the bench.
New Orleans: I'm glad that Zion Williamson is playing.
New York: This season, 84 players have taken at least 100 field goal attempts. Eighty-two of them have an eFG% of at least .430. Trae Young ranks 83rd, at .417. Julius Randle ranks dead last, 84th, at .368. It's not just that he ranks last, it's that he's so far beneath every other player that's troubling.
Oklahoma City: Right where they should be, top six and looming.
Orlando: Sixth in the East, and one of just six teams with a positive point differential.
Philadelphia: I didn't think Kelly Oubre Jr. would work out well for the Sixers. He never passes. But the Sixers need that quick shooting mentality, especially with Georges Niang gone. Would it have worked as well as his shooting percentages drifted back toward his career averages? Maybe not, but we're not going to get to find out now that Oubre Jr. was hit by a car, which sounds awful. Best wishes to him for a speedy recovery.
Phoenix: Both Bradley Beal and Devin Booker have only played two of their first nine games. Kevin Durant has played all nine, and that seems like an aberration. I remain convinced this won't work.
Portland: Poor Robert Williams III. I just want him to one day play a full, 82-game season. I feel like it'll never happen. But if it does, I hope he lands in a great situation like when Shaun Livingston landed with the Warriors.
Sacramento: They really don't have a backup point guard, so the De'Aaron Fox injury is particularly destabilizing.
San Antonio: Moving Jeremy Sochan to point guard is really quite the experiment. I like it! So far, his assists and assist to turnover ratio suggests that it might not be the worst idea ever.
Toronto: The pieces just don't fit together.
Utah: The only team that has played more road games than Utah is Golden State, and Utah is 1-5 in their six road games. Having said that, I still don't see it.
Washington: The problem with this team is that they don't have a single player who projects to be a leading player on a contending team. They have a few guys who could play on a championship team, but without the No. 1 guy, you can't really know if any of these guys will eventually be a good fit on a future Wizards team.