Although shorter than usual, this NBA season is still long on all goals. No one is too high or too low after 3 weeks of action, while there are still six months left and more until a team closes this with a ring.
However, we enter this year with expectations, some remain dissatisfied.
Without proclaiming those first permanent disappointments, we highlighted the players, the teams, the tactics and everything that disappointed us or that did live up to what we expected.
If some of these disorders persist, they may otherwise encounter promising campaigns. In rare cases, especially with regard to injuries, the damage is irreparable.
Yes, we’re dealing with tranquilizers. But look to see the positives. You can’t a sadness without identifying it beforehand.
The Atlanta Hawks had a lot to gain.
They have permeated the list of off-season veteran skills, adding Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Rajon Rondo; Clint Capela, last year’s great addition through trade, is healthy; Bring Young offends himself, and De’Andre Hunter spins. out to have taken a leap.
Given all this new skill and prospective and the legitimacy of the team’s playoff aspirations, the Hawks don’t want that.
This, to be precise, is the disconnect between Young and John Collins.
According to Sam Amick and Chris Kirschner of Athletic, Collins criticized Young for filming the team’s film, expressing complaints about the game creator’s operation.
“There was no exchange between the two,” Amick and Kirschner reported, “but the sharp complaint caught the attention of the audience. And Young, according to sources, then clarified to others that he disagreed with Collins’ assessment. “
Maybe it’s Collins who’s for the most key in a walking year (restricted loose agent), or maybe other Hawks express their Young-style criticisms, which, without blaming, can be dominant. aggression and power in the next Atlanta game (Kobe Bryant in 2010, anyone?), may have been interpreted as a challenge “are you sure that’s what you want?”
The Hawks have a genuine chance of doing some damage this year, however, if their lack of being on the same page cuts the locker room in part and weakens their product on the court.
First of all, this slot constant for Tristan Thompson, whose on-court presence this year coincides with alarming spikes in opponent’s attempt rate and edge accuracy – this isn’t exactly the deterrent effect you expect from your starting center. . . . you passed the intermediate level total.
He would then move on to Daniel Theis, a regular starter with Thompson in the Boston Celtics’ First Doubtful Unit. No player in the Boston rotation has had a more negative effect on the team’s offensive or defensive rating.
Basketball is a team sport, so let’s share the percentage of sadness in a similar way in this case, and he and Thompson share the blame.
The Celtics lost Gordon Hayward at the loose firm and did play a minute with Kemba Walker (knee) on the ground. His greatest disorders were intended to be the intensity of the wings and the creation of shots. They are also disorders, but the big men’s game is what holds the Celtics the most.
It’s not that the Brooklyn Nets lack length, they play two traditional centers in front of DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen, and Kevin Durant’s telescopic limbs don’t exactly put him at a disadvantage in 4.
Still, the Nets rank 25th in defensive rebounding, key to their strangely slow start. These guys were a respectable twelfth in that same stat last year, and they didn’t lose any key players in the zone before the offseason. It’s hard to figure out what’s wrong with glass.
Perhaps the Nets, like many other groups with championship ambitions, are making their way, or perhaps because they know that the December and January games matter less than the May and June games, did not create the urgency to deal with the little things. This discomfort would also come to your rotation problems.
Not to be overlooked, Brooklyn, like many this year, has rarely had all his hands on deck.
Despite giving too many second-chance opportunities to the war parties, the Nets are among the 10 most sensitive in the defensive standings, with an offensive that seems destined to end up among the most productive in the league (even though they have performed lower so far). Nets may become dominant on either side if they receive some additional advice.
Devonte ‘Graham was among the league’s funniest surprises last year, as the no. 34 in 2018 shook a terrible rookie season to the Charlotte Hornets’ top productive player. He led the Bugs in minutes, points and general attendances. , steals and triples, which gives the team one of the most valuable offensive weapons out there: a headbutt manager who can shoot and hit a three.
After an escape like this, it would have been wise to anticipate a regression for this season, but no one expected so much retrospective.
Graham’s three-point shot was not fair to 29. 8% (37. 3% last year), however, it is his internal arch paintings that raise the red flags. sensible scorer through two points. His 39. 7% good fortune rate was the lowest among players who attempted at least three hundred and two.
So far this year, that number has dropped to 28. 0%, and that’s after what he said a mid-range bombing (a five-theme season cap) opposed to the New York Knicks on Monday. It’s almost unsinkable.
The Chicago Bulls’ horrible defensive functionality is largely due to bad luck, as rival groups convert shots at unsustainable rates. If groups hit at opposite league average rates, the Bulls would allow an effective cash percentage in the middle of the group.
Chicago can’t do much for the opponent’s fate.
Changes, though? Yes, the Bulls have to blame themselves.
Zach LaVine and Coby White, Chicago’s two most sensitive shipowners, have the largest combined rotation of any back-back duo in the league. LaVine is close to the most sensitive gift board (second with 45), while White, who has already 8 games with at least 3 coughs, is only outdoors the most sensible 10 with 33.
When you’re at a disadvantage in terms of maximum night skills and are looking to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2017, you can’t fight. Right now, the Bulls are their worst enemy.
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ formidable defensive performance, produced through an unsustainable opponent’s turnover rate, is the main explanation for why they exceeded modest expectations in the first 3 weeks of the season.
But the most encouraging progression of the year, and one that is genuine, is in the back area. In fact, “feeling” is the word, because Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, aka “Sexland,” seemed like viable cornerstones before they got hurt.
Both fell to the shelf, Garland with a shoulder injury and Sexton with an ankle problem, which interrupted a magnificent combination of skill sets. Garland’s passes shone, as did his deep shot. perimeter through attacking the basket with abandonment. Garland’s appearance of a sophomore’s finale allowed Sexton to do what he does (score) while minimizing the third-year goalkeeper’s weakness as a facilitator.
They rolled it up.
The fact that those two can’t stay healthy, expand chemistry, and remain Cleveland’s ridiculous defensive start is a major disappointment. On the plus side, none of the escort injuries are serious. The Cavs still have many games to enjoy the welcome. progression of its exciting back zone.
From an entertainment point of view, we inspired Luka Doncic to grab the ball as much as possible, but the Dallas Mavericks are leaning even more towards their long-term MVP this season, and that can lead to family disorders across the field.
Doncic has shown a habit of dressing as in his career, perhaps partly due to suspicious conditioning, but also due to the most likely final results of a team that has no other smart means to drive an attack. forgive the Mavericks for their trust in Doncic at the beginning of the season.
The poor functionality of the Dallas clutch last season, which we might characterize as abnormal, is inextricably connected to the fact that Doncic struggled with fatigue at the end of the game and the defenses that knew preventing it meant preventing them. Mavs.
That’s why he’s concerned that Doncic’s average ownership time is longer than a year ago.
Dallas added side defense during the off-season, most commonly in the form of Josh Richardson. The Mavs needed help there. But early symptoms suggest that they once returned by imposing a heavy offensive burden on Doncic. He can handle that game-to-game, but it looks like Dallas is getting ready to face similar fights on the road.
The Denver Nuggets’ defense is a concern, ranked 25th in the league in the team’s first 10 games. With skillful wear and tear in the off-season, led by Jerami Grant’s departure, and a reputation for being (let’s put kindly) strict for this. purpose, this specific fight is a big surprise.
Michael Porter Jr. ‘s minimal impact on the Nuggets season is the biggest disappointment. The striker of the time of year was on everyone’s apparent escape list, however, he is in his 40s at the start of the season. They last a minimum of 10 days, more than the seven-day era that has already set him aside, according to Stadium’s Shams Charania and The Athletic.
In total, MPJ is about to miss at least four of Denver’s first thirteen games.
He is never smart when a key element of the list wastes time, however, he pretended to be the year Porter developed a chemistry with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray as a full-time starter. As the season approached, it’s elegant to say that Porter would make it establish the Denver roof. A small organizational crusade would make the Nuggets a true competitor in theory.
Forget about the roofs. It’s just a shame Porter can’t throw himself to the ground.
Blake Griffin is the same guy this season.
Maybe we’d waited for him after so many surgeries that are attacking athletics. The maximum recent operation took place just over a year ago and was, at that time, the time it was performed on his left knee in 8 months.
The six-time All-Star has never reached the hoop less and has its lowest rate of loose shots: dead gifts as its explosion and rebound, which have faded in recent seasons, have disappeared.
Griffin remains a professional smuggler and deserves a lot of credit for transforming his game, while his global athletics has disappeared over the past decade, but early symptoms imply that his frame will no longer allow him to play as he wants.
Kelly Oubre Jr. will have the wisest Stephen Curry the rest of the time to even smell the 35. 2% he achieved from a distance last year. That’s how deep the gap with the Golden State Warriors’ largest addition of low-season wings, which features a traditionally low pass rate that will take a long time to get out of adolescence.
Nor was the bow much larger, if it wasn’t a matte, Oubre simply couldn’t do anything with his first handful of games with the Dubs.
He warmed up in recent years and shot four of six from diversity in the Warriors’ 31-point thrashing of the Sacramento Kings on January 4. Perhaps because his shot did not fall, he was subjected to forced practice in traffic, several open men missed. consistent with the game and a general lack of sense of offense from Golden State. He’s also in Curry’s way.
Live thread over D and author of several key slaps at first, Oubre had his moments, but the warriors want more than moments, they want it to become again a reliable capture and shooting option, which will bring some convenience and reduce their other mistakes.
All teams are hard to compare this season, but few do as dead a review as the Houston Rockets. Even if we could draw conclusions from it, it wouldn’t matter because we know that James Harden’s eventual release will replace everything.
It’s like being a civil engineer comparing plans just before Godzilla enters town. Things will be different after the turmoil.
It would be great to see harden’s five-man unit, John Wall, Eric Gordon, PJ Tucker and Christian Wood beat their wary parties on both sides in a small sample. And it would be fun to evaluate Harden’s domino effects at its lowest level. rate of use since 2013-14.
Evaluating a team that will go through big adjustments is a waste. Who cares how Wall and Harden coexist when they no longer share the same costume?
For Houston observers and enthusiasts who would probably only like to make an industry and move on, it’s infinitely frustrating to stay in limbo.
Injuries are disappointing in all circumstances; Canopy many more before we end up here. But T. J. La Warren’s absence from surgery for a stress fracture on his left foot is daunting.
The Indiana Pacers have something to do this year, and a healthy Warren may have turned a very smart season into a special season.
Domantas Sabonis intimidates everyone while enjoying more varied everyday offensive jobs under new head coach Nate Bjorkgren. Myles Turner rejects shots at a historical rate. Victor Oladipo is approaching himself. It gives the impression that Malcolm Brogdon never fails.
Imagine what Indy can do with a three-point shooter with dead eyes on the wing who can make his own shot and face difficult adverse battles defensively. Warren would have rounded things up perfectly for the Pacers, who can still be one of the four most sensitive groups in the East without him.
Hoping that Warren will regain all his strength and slip into this void of the wing. Everyone needs to see what this Indiana team can do with a full roster.
Either way, the Los Angeles Clippers were going to spend this season in the shadow of the collapse of their bubble. You can’t blow up a 3-1 seed so dramatically without it persisting, without observers wondering if, in competition. , there’s anything with you.
That’s why Kawhi Leonard and the Clips didn’t want Stephen Curry’s fireworks that lit up the same fragility they were charged for last year.
Containing Curry on a good streak is almost impossible, and you can bet that’s what the Clippers will say after Steph’s 38 problems catalyze a 22-point home run.
However, the Golden State Warriors, who nevertheless passed the Clippers a 115-105 defeat on Friday, are an imperfect team looking to locate themselves early, had nothing to do with a team of Clips that threatened the name that added skill. The off-season, especially when Los Angeles recently recalled how short a great advantage can be.
The Phoenix Suns nearly returned from a 31-point deficit on January 3.
This is just another example of Los Angeles’ unique ability to make great profits, a skill you’d have to wait to shake.
Each team relies heavily on its most productive player, however, Los Angeles Lakers’ low-season moves focused largely on building a team that can at least walk on water every time LeBron James leaves the ground. less James has to play the year, the more rested he will be for the playoff games that matter most.
So far, the movements in Los Angeles have paid off.
The Lakers have outperformed James in the area, to a greater extent this season than the previous season.
Didn’t The Watch Harrell and Dennis Schroder intend to weigh the units at the moment?Wouldn’t Marc Gasol’s death be the offense on its own?
Not so much.
Look, the Lakers are the most productive team in the league, so you have to dig deep to locate something disappointing. Realistically, James will rest a lot whenever he wants, and it’s not that L. A. will fight to win matches. But given the desire to reduce the use of an 18-year-old veterinarian, at least it is worth noting what seems like a failure at this early stage.
I don’t know where he placed himself on the list of the expected top facets of the 2020-21 season, but the year of the ja Morant-Jaren Jackson Jr. partnership moment is way up.
Jackson has yet to play this year and does not have an exact schedule to return from his torn meniscus, and Morant’s sprained ankle came with a recovery estimate of three to five weeks on December 29. The importance of Morant’s term is expected to return. to come to the back of that window.
Morant is a head-to-head clash with elite handles, vision and speed, the best way to attack downhill on the pick-and-roll or opposite a floor absolutely aside in isolation. Jackson is a high-volume three-point shooter with an average length valid at 6’11”. It’s hard to locate a couple of young stars whose games are bigger than Morant and Jackson’s.
It’s a shame we haven’t noticed the percentage reps this year, and assuming the Grizzs are as careful as they are, we may not see them talking tandem for months.
One would think that a team that broke into the 2020 final would have the bases run, but the Miami Heat this season violating a basic precept of smart basketball: taking care of rock.
Heat leads the league in revenue percentage, which, combined with an incredibly low offensive bounce rate, means they lose ownership war considerably. Miami was 20th in ball losses last year, so the lack of protection of the ball does not come out of nowhere. But when a team is as successful as the Heat, needless to say that identifying the few apparent weaknesses would be easy.
Apparently not.
The upshot of all this is that Miami, despite having an effective cash target percentage in the top five in 3 weeks, only has attack 19. This is what happens when empty goods are stacked and rarely obtained. opportunity opportunities for now.
An equal attack on passes and movement may lend to ball losses, but the Heat is a well-trained veteran team. They’re bigger than that.
The tactical rigidity of the Milwaukee Bucks is a mainstay in the Department of Disappointment, the newest access being the Utah Jazz that shakes change-resistant Bucks with pick-and-rolls on call on Friday.
Milwaukee adjusted in the middle of the moment, but, get me ready if you’ve ever heard this, it’s too late. Jazz won with a final score of 131-118.
It’s a damaged record at this point, however the Bucks are too stagnant on both sides. And yes, even though they have additional wrinkles here and there, we have now spent 3 years in which Milwaukee adheres to relatively strict (highly successful) principles in normalcy. season, to see them fail in the playoffs.
A game in January doesn’t matter to a team with name aspirations and the highest net score in the league, but you can’t forget even the probably insignificant top defeat when it’s the result of the same thing that defeated the Bucks in the last two playoffs. .
You can’t see a single sadness for the Minnesota Timberwolves, not in a season that was so fast in the South that the team’s most productive hope might be losing enough games to remain the first three pick outs owed to the Warriors in 2021. Drought.
Karl-Anthony Towns dislocated his left wrist on December 26 and missed six games. Jarret Culver still can’t shoot. Anthony Edwards is doing nothing to dispel considerations that he would be a goalscorer in empty numbers and D’Angelo Russell (a member of the pantheon of the same club) gets his stats while recently to lead to victory.
The Wolves were erased in Russell’s minutes, which is a challenge as he played more than on the team other than Malik Beasley.
Minnesota, with the worst one-mile score in the league, is in a bad position.
This team is never going to be objectively smart this year, however, starting this rotten threat (3-7) ruins the progression of young players. And let’s face it, this year turns out to be ah 3 weeks later, so the wolves are already betting on the future.
Stan Van Gundy is not uptempo, so the most planned speed of New Orleans pelicans is easy to see coming.
That makes it less daunting.
The Pels have Zion Williamson, one of the highs impossible to withstand downhill forces in the league, and Lonzo Ball is as smart in a break start as there are Brandon Ingram can run, and Eric Bledsoe remains a very sensible athlete in his career. 31-year season, not JJ Redick, which can sneak much more smoothly into the transition than in the middle.
The New Orleans defensive has improved, but his speed has risen from fourth place in the league last year to 25 this season. The Pelicans are also ranked 26th because of problems consistent with half-court play. So, in addition to the visual control that says those kids run, the numbers recommend they don’t bet on their strengths.
This is all a commitment, and Van Gundy’s personal speed tastes have produced effects elsewhere. However, from an entertainment point of view, it’s a shame that you don’t let the Pels through more often.
The New York Knicks enjoy the race for the duration as a three-point regression looms at both ends of the terrain.
Austin Rivers reached 45. 0% of its three, Alec Burks at 66. 7% before his ankle sprain and Kevin Knox scratched it at an equivalent rate of 40. 0%. Don’t fake Frank Ntilikina (55. 6%) o Julius Randle (35. 0%). Each of these figures would be considered maximum professionals.
You can simply argue that Reggie Bullock, which has the most productive long-term record on the list, was less accurate than expected, but its change from a conversion rate of 33. 3% will not compensate for the imminent cooling of the rest of the list. .
Even more troubling is the way new York warplanes fired. The Knicks allow 39. 8% of opposing shots to come out beyond the goal, the seventh in the league. They also allow the third number of open triples in the league, but their three-point opponent percentage is the third lowest.
When those numbers are normalized, you’ll be saddened by the idea that New York’s luck will never end.
The Oklahoma City Thunder controlled to succeed in a total of 18 first-round selections until 2027, so their rebuilding efforts don’t count as much in their own position in the lottery. However, the most productive way to raise the elite skill is to catch it at the top of the lottery. project.
So far, OKC is also gaining a little bit to take this route.
It’s not the worst-case scenario to be in, because much of Thunder’s good fortune is the result of young players succeeding in the main roles. Thai Gilgeous-Alexander has taken a step forward in all spaces and is intended for several star games. one of 8 players with an average of at least 20 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Luguentz Dort is now reliable in intensity and profiles as a high-end 3 wing and D in a reduced price contract. Darius Bazley and Hamidou Diallo also show more common flashes.
As the year approached, it became clear that the Thunders were not designed to win. That’s not the point. According to this logic, a record of around 0. 500 is at least unexpected, even disappointing.
Maybe when OKC returns to Al Horford and George Hill to have more options, losses will nevertheless begin to accumulate.
This one’s as simple as it is.
It sucks that Markelle Fultz misses the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
No, the former Overall No. 1 didn’t have much of a year, shot 39. 4% of the area and averaged 12. 9 points consistent with the game when he fell, but for a player whose early career scored through so many misfortunes and injuries, it’s a devastating blow. You are now guaranteed to play less than 20 games in 3 of your 4 professional seasons.
It’s also a hit for the Orlando Magic. They’ve noticed enough of Fultz to give it an extension of $50 million before the season and are painfully thin to the point that he. Rookie Cole Anthony will have as many rehearsals as he can handle, and maybe if he does something with them, he’ll count as a ray of hope.
Saying Ben Simmons is the same doesn’t mean Ben Simmons is bad because, well. . . Ben Simmons is good.
How is this for in-depth analysis?
Simmons, however, is way up the list of players who, we all agree, can be better. Perhaps it can’t be, and it’s unfair that there won’t be an easy expansion in the spaces we’d prefer, yet it’s still true that the Philadelphia 76ers’ Double All-Star is as useless as shooter, fault shooter and pick-and-roll orchestrator as ever before.
Derek Bodner of Athletic has damaged Simmons’ unre interesting pick-and-roll work, and we have to look at the numbers to check Simmons’ lack of progress elsewhere.
It is less accurate than ever outdoors 3 feet and has not controlled a two-point jump off the track all year round. In addition, Simmons continues to avoid playing the records, contorting himself into positions and widening the difficulty in his arrivals. while the most productive course would use its giant frame to start the touch. His loose throw rate is slightly higher than last year, however, Simmons makes only 60. 9% of his gifts. It seems unlikely that its low accuracy and the discomfort of the visual band will motivate more aggression.
We wouldn’t be stacking Simmons if the Sixers list hadn’t changed, but that’s the case, and all the extra shots have obviously produced greater effects on Joel Embiid, who has grown up as a double-team pin and leads a master class. in the draw every single night. The same changed situations that gain advantages that Embiid also deserves for Simmons’ growth.
So far that’s happened.
Chris Paul and Devin Booker are widely used escorts, so putting them together in the same back zone would minimize touch time and have an effect on the game of the other Phoenix Suns.
Turns out Deandre Ayton can do even more.
Ayton has had a season forged so far. His actual shot percentage, rebound rate and loose shot rate are ahead of last year’s pace, but he doesn’t break the offensive glass as he did before, and although he has improved his ability to make contact, Ayton ranks 25th in loose shots among qualified centers. His mid-range jumper is more reliable than the big highs, but there’s still no genuine excuse for an athlete of Ayton’s caliber to reach the foul line so rarely.
Ideally, Ayton would have responded to a smaller role by seize new opportunities. Teams pay much of their attention to Paul and Booker, which necessarily makes Ayton a lower defensive priority. -De facto reflected image of the opponent.
Turn things the other way, and it’s commendable that a general selection No. 1 voluntarily recoils when its paper is normally expected to grow and its production takes off. Still, if we choose a wonderful start for the Suns, it’s fair to say that Ayton can do more on the margins to put the Suns on top.
I was one of those who gobbled up the Kool-Aid, confident that the Portland Trail Blazers acquisitions of Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr. consolidated the only gaps on the list. Two defensively tough strikers, in addition to the dynamic score of The Back Zone and a healthy Jusuf Nurkic in the middle, made a convention final realistic.
That may still be the case, but the first effects of this season suggest that Covington and Jones may not settle for themselves. In addition, Portland remains ill-equipped to take care of floor spacing centers and pick-and-roll traction bases.
Zach Collins, with some other surgery, could have given Portland more versatility. It made sense as an opposite response to the 5 elastic and small. Covington and Jones played for a positive blank score in their shared minutes, even though the maximum of that good fortune came from the attack generated through Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, not the elite prevention force.
Perhaps Covington and Jones will do an even larger edition of Al-Farouq Aminu and Moe Harkless, the attack duo who helped the Blazers succeed in the 2018 West Final, and perhaps head coach Terry Stotts will reduce the minutes involving Enes Kanter and Carmelo Anthony (Portland’s). maximum bank tandem used), the overall defensive score of the team will improve.
The Blazers still have the ability to go far, but compared to the expectations generated by what gave the impression of being a low-season killer, too many obvious disorders persist.
“For me, it’s about understanding the consistency of doing it for long periods of time,” Sacramento Kings head coach Luke Walton told journalists Jason Jones of The Athletic. “Both groups will run and everything else, but it’s about being smart. consistent and do it over and over again. I know it sounds boring, but that’s what smart groups do. “
The evaluation follows the Kings’ 125-99 loss to the Blazers on January 9, just a day after the team turned around and gave the Toronto Raptors a franchise record of 144. It’s not like those guys have the worst defensive score. in the league.
The problem: Walton’s comments may have been extracted, almost randomly, at any time from the coach’s tenure or, to blame Walton, almost anywhere in the last 15 years.
Constant festive failures, unstable strategic decisions, lack of urgency: all this is so familiar to a Kings team that has not reached the playoffs since 2006. The defeat behavior is more deeply rooted in this candor than in almost everyone else.
Someday, kings probably wouldn’t be like that anymore. But it is very likely that “one day” will not take place this season.
We’ve also gone to the injured/unavailable well in this exercise, so we’ll avoid it here. But know that Derrick White betting only one game for the San Antonio Spurs due to another toe injury is a big disappointment.
Instead of white, we have a bugaboo of Spurs to stand out.
This team led the league in mid-frequency last year, and DeMar DeRozan rediscovered that strange, rounded line about 23 feet from the bucket (already up to 3 as last year), the Spurs continue to take a higher percentage of their appearance from outside the paint doors but inside the arch than all the other two teams.
Twice as problematic, San Antonio is on the frequency of three-point attempts.
The Spurs adapt their plans to staff, and it’s true that their top offensive guns of confidence prefer those disused long jumpers, but San Antonio is an attack in the last 10 not because he misses shots, but because he doesn’t pull out the ball. The right ones.
Indiana has had minimal staff turnover this year, but has annoyed its offense by converting its shooting profile. The Spurs continue this change, to their wonderful detriment.
Almost everything in the 2-8 Toronto Raptors started disappointing, but Pascal Siakam, hunting as fragile as in the bubble, sounded the loudest alarms.
A late flowering player whose expansion trajectory appeared to be a directly vertical lineArray . . . Could I lose everything at the same time? Not exactly. Siakam has given the impression of being more comfortable over the past week, but this cold departure remains a genuine concern.
Siakam, after winning the top player ahead in 2018-19 and then taking an even bigger step in the All-NBA point last year, started this drifting season. You may simply not succeed in the cube opposite the smaller players who are at war. matches that had thrown at him, he may simply not locate his firing perimeter and seem lost.
In a season where their home games will be played in Tampa Bay and long-term uncertainty looms over the # 40 icon, Kyle Lowry and architect Masai Ujiri are at # 41; possibly it would be less difficult for things to go completely off the rails.
Maybe it’s just a non-public sadness, because I’m in Nick Nurse’s bag and the Raps, but no one can deny Siakam’s sadness and Toronto’s unstable start.
No one can expect Donovan Mitchell’s 50-point bubble bombing to continue, but it’s fair to expect a significant step forward in his fourth season.
Instead, Mitchell’s scoring power is well below: he shoots less as he should from the area than ever before and is unsuccessful on the line as he has in the last two seasons. In a 12-point loss to the New York Knicks on January 6, Mitchell played 36 minutes and did not attempt a singles shot.
It’s also transparent that Mitchell won’t be the wing bumper the Utah Jazz needs, at least not soon.
The Jazz are loaded and it’s early enough for the slow start of the 2019-2020 All-Star to disappear from memory with a hot week, but after what gave the impression of being a breakthrough in the 2020 playoffs, Mitchell couldn’t take it. the moment.
At least Mitchell’s not alone. Bojan Bogdanovic has been a disaster all year round, but it’s not that important to Utah’s success, so that “honor” belongs to Mitchell.
Bradley Beal played 10 games with at least 40 problems last season, and the Washington Wizards lost nine. And no, Beal wasn’t about the statistics at his team’s expense in any of those matches. He made at least part of his placement attempts at all. still one.
They also lost their 60-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on January 6. Unsurprisingly, no less embarrassing for Beal.
I’m, said Beal, through Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “I’m angry. I’m not going to tell you. Array. . None of my career records have been broken. So I don’t care. You can throw it out the window with the other two or 3 I have. have had. “
He will have to grow old for the Wizards’ two-time All-Star, who has been almost incredibly consistent in his loyalty to a franchise that hasn’t surrounded him with enough skill to make his memorable nights count for something. The individual effort of singles is in vain, but it’s even worse when it happens all the time.
Statistics provided through NBA. com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. They specify the matches played on Tuesday, January 12.