1 Thing Each NBA Team Must Improve Upon — Pt. 2
What some squads need to get right for this upcoming season.
Houston Rockets
Everything: The Houston Rockets are truly a rebuilding team and that’s okay, but with a roster make-up of primarily shoot-first young prospects, there is understandably much to be desired for the future. The Rockets turnover the ball at the worst rate in the league, with 16.5% of their total possessions ending in such a way. Furthermore, on possessions that do keep their hands on, they rank 26th for points per 100 possessions, illustrating overall offensive inefficiency. On defense it gets worse. They allow the most points per 100 possessions in the NBA, and their nonchalant defense promotes the second highest eFG% by opponents in the league. This Houston squad also pretty much avoids the paint at all costs, most of their shots come from behind the three-point line, where they aren’t particularly adept at anyways. Growing pains, am I right?
Indiana Pacers
Building More Around Myles Turner: When Myles Turner occupied the floor during the 2021–2022 season, opponents found their ORtg plummeting by an average of 7.1 points. Turner’s defensive contributions are evident if you just look at his 2.8 BPG last year, but the Indiana Pacers have done little to incorporate him within their offense, and generally seem helpless throughout half-court sets because of it. The Pacers’ assist percentage increased by an average of 3.3% whenever Turner was subbed out last campaign, but still managed to rank 4th in the league for close-range shot frequency. That being said, Turner and Tyrese Haliburton never shared the same lineup together due to Turner’s frequent health issues. After Haliburton was traded to the Pacers from the Kings, his playmaking and overall offensive impact soared to unprecedented heights, with his APG per 100 possessions increasing from 10.4 to 13 and his ORtg growing from 117 to 123. With the Pacers seemingly still invested in the Turner project, hopefully Haliburton can reignite the hype that surrounded the shot-blocking specialist.
Los Angeles Clippers
Half-Court Offense: This criticism generally relies on how John Wall is implemented into the Los Angeles Clippers’ roster. After ranking 4th in the league in the ‘20-’21 season for their half-court set frequency, the absences of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George took away their funnel for playmaking. Additionally, Reggie Jackson is not a facilitator, as painfully apparent by the Clippers’ assist percentage dramatically increasing from 57.3% to 63.8% when he was off the floor last season. During the peak of John Wall’s career (2016–2017), the former Kentucky Wildcat would raise the Washington Wizards’ assist percentage by 1.6% when he was handling the rock. Assuming Wall takes a backseat to Leonard and George in scoring production, we could see a pass-first Wall of old. This also banks on whether or not he is provided legitimate playmaking duties alongside his two co-stars, as 5 years of recurring injuries can obviously make a coach hesitant when delegating minutes.
Los Angeles Lakers
Perimeter Shooting: Excluding Malik Monk, who left the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency, and Carmelo Anthony, who does not seem like will be re-signed, this Lakers squad has one player who hit more than 100 threes last season: LeBron James. Yes, the recently acquired Lonnie Walker Jr. hit this mark as well, but out of the Lakers’ last regular season roster, LeBron is the only remnant that achieved that total. For the past two seasons, the Lakers have not ranked within the top half of the league for three-point shooting percentages from any location along the perimeter. Even though the Lakers play the most efficiently when they focus on slashing to the rim and dominating in the paint, a kick-out safety net would be nice. This exact backup plan was essential to their 2020 title run, that saw them finish the regular season ranked 8th in made corner-three percentage, as opposed 24th and 20th in the following two seasons respectively. The Lakers did little to bolster this aspect of their offensive game, so they better hope that players like Walker Jr., Kendrick Nunn and (I guess) Patrick Beverley can shoot lights-out.
Memphis Grizzlies
Draw More Fouls: It was honestly quite difficult to find an aspect of the Memphis Grizzlies’ game plan that was faulty, so this is more just a nit-pik. Most of the Grizzlies’ offense consists of Ja Morant bursting to the rim, spacing around the perimeter and Steven Adams providing safety in the paint. It is quite easy for Memphis to generally avoid contact because Adams rarely gets offensive opportunities, Morant is incredibly shifty and threes don’t often draw too much contact. Ranking 23rd in the league for free throws per field goal attempt, maybe they should encourage increased aggression? Ja Morant’s mediocre 22.2% contact finishing rate should be delightful in regards to avoiding any major injuries or health concerns, but it also encourages his occasionally spasmodic landings that provide scares for fans everywhere. By leaning more into his matchups, it might be easier to cushion falls, as well as increasing the Grizzlies’ free throw attempts and providing temporary rest for their relentless pace.
Miami Heat
Be More Conservative: The Miami Heat’s starting point-guard, Kyle Lowry, ranks in the 94th percentile for turnovers per game with 2.7, but the larger issue is that the 4 most prominent Miami players all averaged above 2 turnovers per game last season. Lowry’s recklessness is more excusable considering his 7.5 APG, but all those turnovers build up to Miami ranking 3rd to last for turnover percentage. This recklessness occasionally translates to Miami’s defense as well, as they rank 6th for personal fouls per game. Players like Duncan Robinson and Gabe Vincent fouled at a considerably higher rate, even with playing less minutes, than teammates such as Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro. These issues are much more individually-based rather than a representation of the entire squad, so it’ll be interesting to see how head coach Erik Spoelstra handles these struggles
Milwaukee Bucks
Defensive Pressure: From the ‘20-’21 season to the ‘21-’22 season, the Milwaukee Bucks’ SPG decreased by 6.5% and their BPG decreased by 14.3%. Furthermore, the Bucks ranked 4th to last in the league for their opponents’ turnover percentage, supporting their diminishing defensive persistence. Giannis Antetokounmpo was the only player last season who played more than half of the regular season and had a DRtg of below 110. Jrue Holiday and Giannis Antetokounmpo were the only two healthy players last season who could protect the perimeter and the paint respectively, as the Bucks ranked 2nd to last for three-point shooting frequency against them. The return of Brook Lopez will be crucial for reinforcing the 2nd-unit, assuming Bobby Portis moves to the bench, so we’ll see how that unfolds.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Rudy Gobert: It is difficult to identify a certain area for the Minnesota Timberwolves to improve because their entire depth chart has been rearranged. In order to acquire Rudy Gobert, the Wolves gave up Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Leandro Bolmaro, Walker Kessler, and Jarred Vanderbilt. That is about half of a regular rotational unit. There is no telling what this season will entail for the Wolves, especially with Karl-Anthony Towns moving down to the 4-spot for the first time in his NBA career, so any conflicts will likely revolve around the integration of Gobert into the lineup.
New Orleans Pelicans
Spacing: Zion Williamson returning to the New Orleans Pelicans fold could be a spacing nightmare. The Pelicans have ranked in the top 10 of near-rim shooting frequency since 2017, propelling to the top in the league for the stat in Zion’s only full season back in ‘20-’21. Jonas Valančiūnas has predictably been a force in the paint, which has its pros and cons. Defenses realize that the Pelicans have a lackluster perimeter offense because of their over-reliance on Valančiūnas and Williamson’s interior production, as well as CJ McCollum and Brandon Ingram’s isolation tendencies. The Pelicans share the Lakers’ conflict of wielding no true perimeter safety nets, so creativity will be of the essence in order to refrain from a redundant offense.
New York Knicks
Interior Offense: Mitchell Robinson has developed into a brick wall in the paint, contributing to the New York Knicks top-5 ranking for opponents’ close-range field goal percentage for the past two years, but just like Myles Turner, he hasn’t found his niche on the other side of the ball. The Knicks rank 27th in the league for completing shots within 4 feet of the basket. This change has certainly been a product of Julius Randle’s increasing shooting confidence, where 23% of his total field goals attempted were three-pointers, but that has now substantially increased to 31.3%. Jalen Brunson may encourage Randle to inhabit the paint more often, now that there are more perimeter options, but Randle’s inefficient jump-shooting and Mitchell Robinson’s fear of shooting has established New York as an incredibly scarce source of scoring production down low.
