What is up, fellow Thermo nuclear a effort, I and Damn Valley coming
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a minute over here very quickly, before we get started on Every NBA Team's
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to all those things are in the podcast and YouTube descriptions. Let's dig into
this. I have not looked at it yet. The Bleacher Bleacher reports Every
NBA Team's Biggest Appoinment so Far, written by one of my co workers,
Zach Zach Buckley reacting to it in real time, giving my off the cuff
stuff because I don't really want this to last longer than fifteen twenty minutes.
So we'll just see. Let's just see how my guy did. Let's just
see one month into this season, what the disappointments are Trey Young. Trey
Young shooting for the Atlanta Hawks. Yeah, he's definitely adjusting to a new
role, so I get it. I think the Hawks shooting in general has
been a disappointment. I know they haven't had by Danovich there just yet.
And Jon Murray's actually be hitting a higher clipped in his catch and shoot threes
and I think many people expected, but they're just not taking or making enough
threes in general. Trey's playing off the ball a little bit more. It's
definitely a little bit disappointing though that he is as efficient relative to what he
normally does. Boston Celtics defense is decline. Yeah, I would say that's
probably been a disappointment just because you look at their shot profile defensively and it's
fine, but teams are hitting a lot of those looks. They don't have
rw RW three though, excuse me, so I don't believe that that would
be sustainable. They'll get better. Also, their offense is really good.
Jason Tatum's the top five of the MVP ladder right now. So definitely disappointing,
but I don't know how concerning, to be honest with you, Brooklyn
has bends him is his lack of impact. I'm actually recording this immediately after
watching him have a pretty big impact on their Thursday night game against the Oh
my god, why am I blanking on the Blazers? Wow? Who they
just played? He looked really good before he fouled out. I think he's
gonna end up being a defensive difference maker. I think you really need to
look for It's not even the scoring. It's not even necessarily better foul shooting
or even being is itty aggression level for sure, It's just like, don't
get rid of the ball before you're getting the free flow line so much it
feels like he's trying to get rid of it too early in transition too.
I have hope for him, but yeah, that's been the biggest disappotment unless
you count Kyrie Irving just sucking as a human being. But why give Kyrie
Irving the benefit of the doubt at this point. Charlotte Hornet's scoring shortage,
that's probably fair. I think there was the expectation that this team they're twenty
eighth and points points scored per possession, which is not good twenty ninth and
affective field goal percentage. Lamellos missed time, Rosier has missed a bunch of
time. They're running a lot of stuff through PJ. Washington. Gordon Hayward's
injured already, So I understand this disappointment is probably spot on. Their defense
has been bottom ten now, it started off a little bit frisky. They
just don't have the personnel to be any better than this. They're a team
that I think should absolutely tank. I have no qualms there unless you count
you know, Lamello having missed so much time before coming back, that's fine,
and now he's dealing with ankle stuff again. Chicago Bulls and Nie mcattack.
Yeah, you look at this team and they're like, oh, they're
twenty fourth in points score per possession. They've dealt with some injuries. I
think when you look at Zach Lavine's body availability to start the year, but
at the same time, like you kind of look at the personnel and it's,
oh, they're not going to be good. The fact that they are
still eleventh in defense, that's actually surprised me when you look at the personnel.
Patrick Williams felt like he was trying to figure some stuff out offensively,
but when you kind of look at you know, they don't have Lonzo ball
right now. I think that's a big deal when it comes to there they're
shooting, and also just like their shot location, because you know you're gonna
take a lot of mid rangers with jamardros in there. But this is their
offense is definitely been a disappointment and it certainly contributed to them being a few
games under five hundred at the moment. And I don't know if you're trying
to single out like a player who's been the most disappointing, Like, I
don't know that you can necessarily target one unless you were expecting a monster leap
from a Kobe White or Patrick Williams, then I think it's fair to look
at one player moving on to the Cleveland Cavaliers crunch time collapses. Yeah,
that's probably pretty fair too. I think I would still go with Isaaca Coro
here, just not even really a part of the short term picture anymore.
That was someone who he still can be really good defensively, but it's just
so much of an offensive nonentity it puts their three spot in a bind.
Even though you have Dean Wade, who's played good minutes for them, Carras
Lavert at the three. It's works for stretches as well. The crunch time
collapses, they'll certainly matter, and those are spot on. They were.
I think they start off the season eight and one or whatever it was,
So I think you look at this team and yeah, that's a little bit
disappointing, But the three spot in general could be build a disappointment that they
haven't been more aggressive and trying to fix it. But it's early, so
I would just say Isaaca a kind of just fading from the picture. Bigger
deal to me Dallas Maverick support shooters, Yeah, I get it. You
know Spencer din when he's been a better shooter than I thought basically since he
arrived in Dallas last season to Martawick Junior off to a really slow start.
I think the MAVs have missed like the largest share of wide open threes in
the league. I actually don't. I don't know. I should have checked
that before I hopped on here. But again reacting live, so I totally
get this disappointment. What I would say is the bigger disappointment to me is
them not figuring out a way to use Luca differently or diversify their offense more.
I know a lot of people think he can't play a different way,
and a lot of people think that the MAVs aren't built to let him play
a different way. I agree with the ladder, but try and lean into
more of wood Dinwoodie and Dontege together and sort of say fuck the defense because
you're over taxing Dontech right now before the playoffs and like you're only two games
under five hundred. It's cool that you're top ten in both offense and defense,
but there's like a level of unsustainability here, so you want the support
shooters. I guess to do more bullocks. Seems like he's coming on a
little bit. He can't not play Maxi Kleeboff. He's not hitting his threes
because of how to port is to you, how important is to see you
defensively. I think it's more so we're not being able to diversify the offense,
even relative to their personnel, dever nuggets, leaky defense. I mostly
agree here. There's been some wonky bench stuff, but seeing Michael Porter Junior
cook with a lot of bench units is a big deal. Bone Thailand and
him have had some nice minutes together. If you can tread water even a
little bit without Nakole Yokitch and Jamal Murray on the floor, that's a huge
win. Specifically the rim protection, though in Denver a lot of people are
gonna put that on Yokitch that they're allowing like seventy percent shooting at the rim
and a lot of it. More, it comes back to ball containment when
you're sort of looking at okay, Jamal Murray isn't all the way back here.
When it is the bench you see Bone Thailand getting blown by Michael Porter
Junior not making the right or consistent reads on the back line. It goes
beyond Nikola Yokich. If you're gonna bring him up to the level of the
screen, you need to have trustworthy people behind him. A lot of people
thought maybe one that could be Michael Porter Junior just because of his physical capabilities.
Maybe it can. We haven't seen Aaron Gordon a lot in that role
because he still fends a bunch from point of attack. I think KCP has
been good for this team mostly on offense. Bruce Brown's injected some life and
you look at their top end line ups They've been good defensively. The starting
unit has been pretty good. Replaced Michael Porter Junior with Bruce Brown. That
line has been pretty good. Pull Jamal Murray for Bruce Brown and just go
with that lineup. It's been pretty good defensively. You do I think you
want more better ball containment. I would say, just looking at that percentage
at the rim, how they've defended drives. They're written moments where it's looked
okay, I just wonder if it's gonna hold up against playoff defenses. The
Nuggets were in my title pick FYS, so I'm just of the mind that
they will be Detroit Piston's offensive inconsistency. This is fair. I think I'd
probably go with, hey, can we see more inventive lineups from Dwayne Casey
that don't include eight jillion bigs. I get the you know, I kind
of get not staggering Jay and Ivy and Kid cunning him more. Because you
want them to play together long term. You need to figure out whether they
can co exist at the same time. Like, let's explore that a little
bit more, and like build lineups around Kid that have more shooting. It's
almost like you're going into every lineup, and because of who's like the big
and his chemistry with John durn Is good, you're just saying we're gonna have
at least two non shooters on the court. You can get the four if
you want to play Bay Livers Boyobardanovitch with Kaide and then a big. Maybe
it's Stewart who's been chucking threes or during That would be my biggest disappointment.
Maybe that lends itself to offensive inconsistency, but I would go with lineups more
than more than anything here, and maybe some of their defensive coverages. They've
had a lot of switching, and James Edward the third wrote a great article
about this for the Athletics, So maybe you're that's there. The offensive consistency.
It's like it's just a bunch of young guys, so you would almost
expect it. But to not see more inventiveness from them, that's a little
bit or a lot of it disappointing. Golden State Clay Thompson's tough start.
Yeah, I'm just this dude is still working his way back from two major
injuries, sort of didn't play a lot last year. I'm more disappointed in
Jordan Pool, I think because you even I guess, go with the bench
cold James Wiseman if you want to not even the rotation right now he's in
the G League. Maybe even go with cominga a little bit because he hasn't
played more minutes. But it's really, you know what, the bench you
knew was always going to be hit or missed. They invested so much of
the even if you don't expect them to play. You have Kaminga, Moody
and Wiseman taking up roster spots, so that limited the amount of depth that
you could acquire. So I think looking at the bench, you understood even
with Igodala on the payroll, I'm Dante DiVincenzo getting injured to start, you
could see like how the bench minutes would be dicey. But Jordan Pool has
just been mattingly inconsistent, and he had like a really good stretch and then
cools all the way off in the latest Warriors road loss to the Suns,
and it's just a waste of Steph Curry playing like a top three player once
again. Houston rockets Jabar Smith's junior sluggish start. I can't call this the
biggest disappointment for them. He's just a rookie. I think they've tried to
let him do too much on offense. I'd rather see him. He's done
a lot of play finishing. I want to see even more of that.
Though. My biggest disappointments for the Rockets is maybe it's Steven Silas as the
head coach. This is someone who I don't know that he's overseen enough development.
Why aren't they running more stuff through Alpah and Shanegun. Why isn't there
more off ball movement when Shangun has the ball? Why is this team still
not acquired? Just sort of like an offensive stewart of floor general so that
Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Junior aren't the guys you're tasking to creating offense for
others at every single turn. So that would be an disappointment in the front
office. But looking at the personnel they have, I would like to see
them. I liked it. We've seen a little bit more Usman Grubo looks
like a defensive monster. Hit a couple threes the other night too. That
jumper not pretty looking and it takes a while, but it was falling.
My whole thing is just you have alpren Janoon, he's probably your best player
at this point. Run more stuff through him, because that's sort of the
way to counteract the lack of a conventional floor general. And he had a
pacers kristin war Day's Rocky Road. Yeah, this is maybe a good one
for me. It might be my favorite. Dusoce Brisette has just been so
inconsistently in the rotation. But yeah, I think this is fair and it's
kind of hard. He just might end up being the odd man out when
you're looking at how well some of these guys are playing. Buddy Heeled,
Ben Nick Mathin Tyrese Haliburton of course looks like a looks like an All Star
basically right now, where does he fit long term? We saw some struggles
from him even over you know when he was playing over the summer. Did
he fade after last year's Hot Stars of Rookie? Still a faith is him,
especially if you're going to view him as someone who is kind of like
your fourth option in general or fifth option like in your rotation. But you
wanted to see a little bit more diversive talents from him on offense this year,
So like, yeah, he's had like some moments, but shooting thirty
four point two percent on three is not great. I would I think that's
fair, But it's also like a little bit expected. Was this an unexpected
disappointment? I think the degree to which it has been on offense Los Angeles
Clippers atrocious attack. Yeah, it's the offense a quiet Leonard's injury that's obviously
just came back. That's obviously disappointing. The three point shooting has been a
big wolf. It's peaked up a little bit, but you know, if
we had to identify one player, Reggie Jackson's kind of perked up too,
at least from beyond the arc. Norman Powell has been a borderline disaster though,
like not really playing great defense. His shot has been coming and going,
and if he's not going to give you rim pressure in threes, his
value to this team becomes really weird. I'm starting to wonder whether the Clippers
need to almost make a consolidation trade because they're they're too deep with not the
right amount of players, and it does feel like the need though when you
look at their offense, another change of pace initiator. Maybe Kauai takes care
of some of that with Paul George. I think John Wall has given them
a little bit of that that's never ablitly been Reggie Jackson's style from sort of
that stand still facilitation position, set things up, go through the motions.
It'd be cool to see them acquire like a Mike Conley at the Tradeline or
Monte Morris if he becomes available in Phoenix. I think someone like that would
go a long way for this team. Los Angeles Lakers Lebron James showing his
age. Yeah, I mean that's probably just more important, important than his
than their situation with Russ, who's been better since he's coming off the bench,
but the Lakers have not really been so much better overall. I think
you could have gone with Anthony Davis. He's sort of really come on over
the past couple of games. But I thought he or I was hoping he
was going to have a monster season, but he's sort of just falling out
of the top fifteen player conversation. And that's if he's done that. Lebron
is about to turn thirty nine, thirty eight, whatever it is like,
this is just yeah, he turns thirty eight in December. That's it's it's
a disappointment, but it's oh, Lebron's human dealing with an injury. Didn't
you look really good to start the season before the injury. Kind of felt
like he was a little bit mortal. I just it's Anthony Davis for me.
But he's been he's been good on defense for points. You could just
go with the Lakers. I look, actually, look, the disappointment here
is the front office, just the fact that they didn't do more of the
off season to deepen the rotation with non guards. You don't have to acquire
all these guards. Yeah, it's cool that you've seen some nice moments from
Lonnie Walker the fourth this year, But if you were going to get him
and then go ahead and trade for Patrick Beverley and you kept Kendrick Not on
the roster, you still have Russell Westbrook, You go and sign Dennis Shrewder.
Come on, can we get some wings on this team? Where are
all the wings? You weren't flexible, but you could have done a better
job. And the fact that they didn't try to address the Russ situation better
over the off season. If you didn't want to make the trade, I
kind of understand it, but you were then committing to okay, another gap
year when the Bron's about the turn thirty eight. So my biggest disappointment is
just management continuing to be incompetent Memphis Grizzlies no defensive playmaking. Is that a
disappointment when Jared Jackson Junior missed so much time? Yeah, I mean their
defense has been rockier than I expected. He's come back and they already look,
he didn't look great on offense, but he was already showing signs of
life up for defense. Seeing sort of that their their defense has shrunk though.
You know, they were one of the best defensive teams in the league
last year, down to eighteenth and points allowed possession this year. A lot
of that just has to do without Jarren Jacksons. You're being there. But
Zach Buckley makes a good point here. They forced turnovers at a very high
clip. They're now in the bottom ten in forcing turnovers this year. No
Danthe Melton, no Kyle Anderson. Those were guys were very important in addition
to Jared Jackson Junior being injured. Maybe that picks up now that Triple J
is back, though Miami Heat Kyle Lowry's lost step. Yeah, I think
you could just push it further that they didn't do enough over the offseason either.
They were kind of receiving a pass because the Lakers and the Nets just
just suck. But like you know, I don't really know how to tell
you here. Like they they're old, and so maybe you expect some regression.
Lowry's been definitely up in down this year, and maybe mostly down.
The four spots been tough to lock down. That's not really Cale Martin's role,
even though like when he had to fill in as a starter that you
get it, it can work, but some of those lineups have gotten killed.
You can't rely on Bam. I think to be more aggressive on offense,
we're sort of that ship is sailed. Is him becoming like this top
ten player, top fifteen Byron offense? He might win Defensive Player of the
Year just given how well he's defended this season and overall, but offensively,
I don't know what else you're gonna expect from him. We've seen some like
weirdly human knights from Jimmy Butler. Why did it? Wasn't this team more
aggressive on the trademarkt They have picks that they can move, they have salary
and Duncan Robinson. It seems like they're probably on the verge for a trade
for Jay Crowder maybe, but that would help. I still think their half
court offense needs some extra jet fuel. Tyler Hero has actually been really good,
and even when Jimmy Butler's on, I don't know that you can expect
Kyle Lowry to be sort of an All Star at his age, even though
that's the contract you signed him to. Certainly Duncan Robinson's declining role in three
point percentage stings as well. But the half court offense, in je role,
I think you could see the potential for issues cropping up, especially when
PJ. Tucker left and you just lost that element of his not just what
he does on defense, but him being a little bit of a you know,
a motherfucker on the offensive glass and helping you get those boards. That's
been big for them. And so it's just the point that they just weren't
a little bit more aggressive over the offseason. I know they had financial constraints,
but again they were like tangentially involved in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes that then
were you know, flipped over turned over, But I don't, you know,
I think that you still could have gone other ways there. And I
know, look you keV Kayleb Martin, so I understand the spending limitations on
Miami, but I would have liked to have seen them just done anything to
deepen, strengthen, augment their half court offense. Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Bricks,
Well, that's fucked up. That's good, but that's fucked up.
Look, they still don't have Chris Middleton, they don't have Pat Connaughton.
Their offense has been rough. Their defense has been the best in the league.
They're not just preventing looks at the rim, but they're also like really
chasing guys off the three point line and going after threes. That's helped.
But they're not shooting the three ball well, and they also have not They've
been uncharacteristically not great in transition. Just something to watch for, and I
still think that they probably should be the favorite in the East. But that's
definitely something that you want to keep in mind. Minnesota Timberwolves below average defense.
Yeah, I just they're like average in defense, and they're really good
and Rudy Goberts on the floor defensively, for the most part, it's the
offense for me, it feels like there's no rhyme or reason what they're doing.
And as I record this and I'm looking at it now, they're thirteenth,
and both offense and defense a lot of early season noise, and there
I just thought that the Rudy Gobert conty Town's parent would be more natural.
But together the Wolves, when they're on the court together, the Wolves have
an offensive rating in the eighth percentile, which is really bad. When you
take Rudy Gobert off the court, the offensive efficiency goes up, but then
your defense implodes. So there's a lot of just warts here. I don't
think they surrounded those two with enough shooting. Anthy Edwards has always been like
a work in progress there. Delo has always been around average or below average.
He certainly blow average this season. Jane McDaniels is not shooting enough threes.
Jalen Nowell is not shot that well on the three ball, even though
he had He's had some explosive moments this season. It's the offense for me
more than the defense. I think I feel like they'll figure it out on
defense, and Town has been bad on defense this year, and I've even
seen some just weird moments from Matthy Edwards and Jane McDaniels as well. The
team in general is just disappointing. I would be more disappointed that there doesn't
feel to be like an offensive rhyme or reason New Orleans Pelicans. CJ McCombs
shooting Funk. My biggest disappointed to be that Zion Williamson isn't running more pick
and rolls. I just feel like it took him. He's run like one
pick and rolling game. I think he's averaging basically, and that's just substantially
down from where he was in twenty twenty twenty one, his last full season.
I know you have more mouths to feed with CJ and brand Ingram in
the Fold, but like when you've seen a lot of his own defenses,
like just give Zion on the ball up top and run some stuff down the
throat to the defense. And CJ McCombs shooting funk is definitely disappointing because he
is traditionally such a good score. I think he will find his way.
Like getting Zion is the Fold, it's or of an adjustment for him than
it will be for brandon Ingram. That being said, I would still go
with I think they probably put like a little too much on CJ. McComb
as a point guard to times, which is why my biggest disappointment is,
why can't we do more zion with that stuff New York Knicks. RJ.
Barrett's stagnation. I might go with Tom Thibodeaux being Tom Thibodeau. I might
even go with the front office doing a piss poor job of opening runway for
playing Obi Toppin. It's Obie Toppin's minutes for me, it's still there.
That's the biggest disappointment. RJ. Barrett. Before the past couple of games,
get like the seven game stretcher, he was on fire from three.
I still think he will be a good set shooter. I think he can
be a better finisher. I think he can have less tunnel vision on his
drives. His defense has been like actually fairly concerning this year, up and
down, but mostly down. And given what you just invested in him,
how important he is to your future. I get it it's him, but
it also could be I think the fact that the way TIBs runs his lineups
also like being unable to create more minutes for Obi top We've seen more of
the Randall top in front court, but not nearly enough to draw conclusions.
I think RJ's an acceptan answer here, Okloma stay founder, lou Dort's offensive
skid probably fair, but they're just I guess, because the team is exceeding
expectations, it's tough for me to look at them and say, all right,
like, yeah, that's killer. You know she's playing the top ten
guy right now, who cares the thunder R nineteenth and offensive efficiency overall,
I probably would like to see more from them on offense. The disappointment that
they haven't done more to sort of flesh out the shooting on this team,
supporting shooting, to flesh out the secondary creation. Yeah, you still have
you'll get some of that from John Williams, and you have Josh Giddy,
but the minutes without Shay Gilja Axander have been an unmitigated disaster. And I
know that you weren't necessarily trying to win any titles this year. I would
have liked to have seen them do more, to maybe add another veteran to
the fool who might have been able to do that. I don't think you
were counting on chet Holm to do that, even when he was healthy.
I've been very impressed with Alexei Polkashevski and sort of the secondary stuff that he's
done always super complimentary. So I think if you're just expecting lou Dort,
who you know, it's not even just the three pointer, Like, he's
just not shooting as well on his drives either compared to last season. That's
been part of his appeals that he's able to get going downhill and finish some
tough shots. So, and I do think he's an underrated passer, but
I think that's fair to go with that Lando Magic attacks from the injury bugs,
Yeah, because I would like to go with guard play, but they've
just been so injured that how do you go with guard play. Some the
lineups they've had to run out are truly funky as hell, and I love
it. And I think you look at the players on this team and it's
no one. No one's like underachieving. I think Joe and Suggs has had
some really big moments when he's been healthy and people are too down on him.
I'm certainly not knowing when Jonathan Isaac is gonna come back still after all
this time as a bummer Klante being banged up, mark El folks being banged
up. It just really sucks. So like there's the absence of guard play.
I could you be disappointed in that? Like mo Bamba it feels like
bull balls come on. So now Mobamba just doesn't exist a lot of the
time. So there's that. I just yeah, it's probably injuries. It's
just picking injuries is disappointment. That could be why don't we pick that for
Kawhi Leonard with the Clippers. But if you're gonna say guard play, a
lot of it could be traced back to injuries. So I'll step at four
Orlando this time. Even look, palaban Caro missing time like that really sucks.
You want to see palle ban Caro in in every single game. I
guess I've just been like the Magic had been fun watched for me overall,
Them and the Rockets are two teams that I've actually watched more of early on
in the season than I thought I was going to. So you know,
I guess, like, yeah, and everyone's been been banged up. So
he mentioned Zach mentions Movaner. So yeah, I mean, if we're getting
that deep, it's it's actually guard play. But guard play can be traced
back to the injuries. Philadphis twenty six ers middling offense. You mean to
tell me a Doc Rivers coach to offense that had James Harden until he got
injured and Joel Embiid is running at a sloth space. That does not shock
me. Sixteenth and points per possession, Yeah, that's not great. They've
shouldered a lot with Tyrese Maxie and Joel Embiide and Harden's up absence. I
think Tobias Harris has been fine for the most Like he's Tobias Harris if you
watched him on ball this season compared to or decision making on the ball compared
like two seasons ago. He's a lot quicker there. But they still like
the and she's just sort of blot. I don't know if that has a
lot to do with the James Harden injury and that's thinned them out a little
bit. But this is this is a team that you would expect to rank
higher than sixteenth on the offensive, and they are. I'm looking now,
they're fifth on defense. I want to see if they'd come up. But
I actually think that their biggest disappointment. I know it's picked up the transition
defense is just still not great. Guys, Like this is a team that's
still sometimes it was with Joe James Harden on the court, but like this
is still a team that wasn't consistently getting back in transition. And as we
record this, let's just see their transition defense still ranks twenty fifth in the
league, so or twenty second. Let's say twenty fifth twenty second, still
not great. You would like them to be better after you know, they
signed the Ampy Mount and Daniel House junior Phoenix Suns. No resolution the Jay
Crowder situation. Yeah, that's fair, sort of no trade here. Their
bench has been a lot better than I would have predicted. I thought they
were gonna be much shallower, but they've gotten some good minutes from Cameron Payne
this year and Chris Paul's absence, Tory Craig Joyne, Washington juniors giving them
a good minutes. Jack Landale looks really good. I couldn't the biggest disappointment
be Drayton. Is it time to just readjust the expectation, think, Okay,
he's a really good center, but that's all he's ever gonna be.
There are going to be nice where he just doesn't play with that force or
thrust and sort of disappears. I don't think that's unfair to go with him,
but you're dealing with the Cam Johnson injury, a CP three injury,
and now all of a sudden, it's okay, Jay Crowder is not there.
That's one of your six best players in theory, and that's just an
empty roster spot now. So not having a resolution, it sounds like we're
getting close. But yeah, that that definitely blows Portland Trailblazer was free throw
shooting. It's hard to find disappointments about this team when they've done everything from
just like they can score the hell out of the ball still, even though
you know, I think when you look at their early season offense and that
they're eighteenth, yeah that's a little bit disappointing, but I think they'll I
think they'll be fine. The fact that they have at the eighth ranked defense
offsets that maybe a big part of the offense is they're getting to the line
at the second highest clip in the league. But when you're not shooting that
well from the charity stripe, it's are we just gonna nit pick here?
So I think you could go with the offense overall, but that is going
to normalize. We've seen them like pull out some you know, good crunch
time offensive sets as well. But I guess free throw shooting is fine for
them. Like, but seventy six point two ranks twenty third. It's like,
how like how many points you're actually leaving on the table there. I
think, if anything, you could be just the offense overall. They committing
maybe a few too many turnovers here. They've actually been a better offensive rebounding
team that I would think when you're running out certain guys, like we've seen
some smaller lineups from them. So I did with free thom because it's so
hard to pick Zacomando. Kings, Harrison Barnes is sagging shooting rates. Yeah,
that's fair. Someone asked me if I thought the Kings were going to
tank this year and trade Harrison Barnes, And I actually think trading Harrison Barnes
at this point might be an anti tanking move. Also, the Kings have
just won five in a row, so no, they were never going to
tank, But that shouldn't have been a question in the first place, or
at this time. Anyway. The Aaron Fox have been a monster, so
a bonus coming on Monk's been good for them. They've gotten a lot of
good minutes from Terence Davis. Keegan Murray has had some rookie struggles, but
he still looked solid getting all the great minutes from Commencing too, like he's
been a nice above the rim threat for him. My actual biggest disappointment might
be that Rashaun Holmes just doesn't exist anymore. He went from one of the
most underrated centers in the league to just sort of outside Sacramental's rotation. Having
Sabonis didn't mitigate him always, But I might be more disappointed than him and
in him than Harrison Barnes. So I think eventually rebounds san Antonio spurs disastrous
defense. Sure, look, they're just so young. I can't I almost
can't bring myself to care about that. Their bottom there, they ring twenty
fifth, they're worst in most offense and defense, and they're dead thirtieth in
defense, and they're also dead dead last in opponent affective field goal percentage.
They don't force turnovers a ton sixteenth in there there, and they suck at
defensive rebounding, which I guess when you look at their rotation after Yaka Peartle
at the five, you kind of understand why they get there. This is
a team that's in full on experimental mode, So I don't really take this
as too much of a criticism if I'm them, I do think they've played
with a lot of energy. I think Jeremy Sowans specifically has looked really good
on defense, and yeah, could they could they be better getting back Yes,
dead last and points allowed per possession after they miss a shot, so
you need to work on things there. But they're just they're so young on
a lot of this team that it's tough to just look at any players like
like they've been really disappointing, Kelly Johnson, Denvassell, They've all been really
good. Like I said, I like Jeremy sowing before Blake Wesley got injured,
he looked really good for this team. So yeah, the disastrous defense
is fine. I would like to see a team that is this youthful and
can get up the floor. I would expect to have a better transition defense.
So let's go with that. Toronto Raptor Scotty Barnes's offensive woes. Yeah,
I almost want to go with health for this team too, they're beyond
shorthanded. Yes, it looks like he's making everything's happening quicker for him,
at least to start the season. It did. His attacks on the ball
sort of like those spins and throwing up some hook shots, and even his
jumper a little bit set jumper, but he dribbles into some truly junkie twos
and layups. So I get that. The defense is also like, is
he one of the players now where he's first team His reputation on defense seeds
what it actually is in practice, he could be there. He's only a
sophomore though, so but then the Raptors are also going to trial by fire
for a lot of this, and give how much time we've seen Fred van
Fleet miss some time, Pascal Siaka miss sometime. They're putting a lot on
his shoulders. But I think overall, if you are the Raptors, like,
hey, maybe you would have hoped that you weren't as reliant on your
transition offense as you were last season, and yet here we are, your
twenty eighth and half court offense. Why was not like you didn't do anything
to try and address that over the off season. So I think that would
Probably my biggest disappointment is sort of the larger context of the half court offense.
This team really could have used another creator, and I don't think it
was realistic to expect Scottie Barnes to be on the same level as a Pascal
Siakam or a fred van Fleet. There the Utah Jazz turnover trouble, I
just I can't bring myself to be disappointed about anything on the Jazz. I
can't. Their offense has been great. I actually think that they've done a
better job crash than the glass than a lot of people thought. The fact
that they're not the worst defensive team in the league is like a minor accomplishment
to me when you look at their personnel and how many five out of lineups
that they run. So if you want to go with turnovers, yeah,
about twenty third in turnover rate, I'm like kind of disappointed. We haven't
seen the five guard line up yet, just because you have three that you
get to so easily with Jordan Clarkson, Mike Conley and Colin Sexton. That's
just you've already downsized. Let's go with Bulder Tallenthorton Tucker out there, doesn't
he kill Alexander Walker really warrant that much playing time. I think that's really
a fair look at it. But and so we've yeah, but like I
just can't bring myself is that bad? You can let me know when the
comments is that bad that I just can't bring myself to be worried about anything
of the Jazz. I guess the real biggest disappointment is, oh, this
team isn't tanking from wemben Yama. But I'm just I've surpassed that disappointment because
they're so fun to watch, even in some of their their losses. I
just like a turnover, like the turn rate might be a function of the
way they play, how reliant they are on a Jordan Clarkson, how much
stuff they're asking Lowry Marketing and Kelly Olynnock to do. So, if anything,
I wonder with this team and how they play, should there free Like
why don't they get to the line a little bit more? That's a little
bit disappoint pointing. But again I don't have a disappointment for the Jazz.
The Wizards no perimeter punch, uh, Bradley Bo's missed some time too.
That has to hurt. But sitting in they're now. You know, their
half court offense is seventeenth, which is actually higher than I thought, but
they're twenty second overall and point score per possession. They just I don't know
too much. Chris stops in the post at points. Some really good moments
from Kyle Kuzma this year. I just I thought they were gonna use Denny
av a little bit more, but he also looks like he's afraid, excuse
me to shoot threes. I think we've seen a little bit like too much
of a license Ruy hatch Moore, but then he's had some standout games too.
My biggest disappointment, I actually think for the Wizards, who will probably
overachieved defensively once again to start the season. The fact they're above average team.
When you look at some of the lineups they have, I'm just like,
why, why are they so blah? That's I guess, like,
is that a fair disappointment. I just look at them, it's sort of
like they're almost in this Charlotte Hornet's tier where it doesn't feel like they have
like any aspirations to be more than chasing the ten or eleven seed. They
are over five hundred as I record this. My biggest disappointment personally would be
Denny Aftia, though if we're I'm just I'm trolling here. My biggest disappointment
has just been him. He had I think he dropped twenty one the other
night, so that was a career high. But he is just someone who
should be able to be a really good secondary playmaker, be more physical attacking
the basket, and shouldn't be at least afraid to look at the basket when
he has the ball on the perimeter. I hope you enjoy this exercise.
Let me know if you have any thoughts disagreements about the list. Please remember
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