1 Thing Each NBA Team Must Improve Upon — Pt. 3
The finale of league-wide improvements!
Oklahoma City Thunder
Perimeter Defense: With the loss of their 2022 2nd pick of the NBA draft, Chet Holmgren, it is essential that the Thunder establish an outer-layer of stop-shopping to relieve some of the rookie’s duties for his return. Everybody is aware of Holmgren’s stature, and especially if they end up getting the 2023 #1 prospect Victor Wembanyama, their front-court will be composed of two extremely lanky and raw talents. The Thunder were able to generally hold their own against keeping opponents to around an average eFG%, but they were letting far too many chances come to fruition, as depicted by the fact that opposing teams shot almost 40% of their total chances from beyond the arc. Lu Dort is the only member of the Thunder roster who is truly proficient in one-on-one matchups, so Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander must prove their worth in ways that doesn’t include their offensive output.
Orlando Magic
Concise Rotation: The Orlando Magic have two starting-caliber centers in Wendell Carter Jr. and Mo Bamba, in addition to Moritz Wagner (who has moved to the 5 occasionally) and Bol Bol coming off of the bench. About $28 million of the Magic’s payroll is going to be allocated among big-men, none of whom have been close to overperforming within their roles. More than this though, the Magic have no true players to throw on the wings, as Terrence Ross desperately wants to leave the organization, and Paolo Banchero, Jonathan Isaac and Chuma Okeke are closer to stretch-forwards. Franz Wagner is the only player who can move to the 3, and that is a lot of responsibility to place on a budding sophomore. The Magic must decide if they want to play really big, or risk overworking young talent.
Philadelphia 76ers
Reinforcing the Paint: The Philadelphia 76ers should seemingly be dominant in the paint with Joel Embiid as their franchise cornerstone, and they are… when he is on the floor. When Embiid rested during the 2021–2022 regular season, opponents saw an average of a 4.3-point increase in their ORtg. Where did most of those buckets come from? The paint. This is painfully evident by the fact that the 76ers ranked 20th in opponent field goal percentage within 4 feet of the basket, even with arguably the most dominant center in the league. Out of the 76ers’ top-20 5-man lineups for last season, every single one of them included Joel Embiid or Andre Drummond, the latter of which was traded mid-season. Understandably, this left a 7-foot sized hole that Doc Rivers clearly did not have faith in Paul Reed or Charles Bassey to fill, leaving a washed-up DeAndre Jordan to assist the frontcourt at the start of the postseason. That was until Rivers finally conceded by playing his prospects, after the sheer inefficiency produced by Jordan. Montrezl Harrell will certainly increase Philly’s offensive output off the bench, but their interior defense will remain a liability as long as Embiid is sitting.
Phoenix Suns
Transition Defense: The Phoenix Suns don’t have many shortcomings, excluding their horrendous combustion against the Dallas Mavericks last postseason. That being said, Phoenix ranks second to last in preventing transition plays off of steals, suggesting that the sluggish Deandre Ayton and the defensively inept Chris Paul and Devin Booker have trouble retreating after turning the ball over. This is supported by Paul’s bottom 2nd-percentile ranking in defensive miles traveled per 75 possessions, alongside Booker’s similarly lacking performance within the same statistic (12th percentile). The Suns are a tight group of interweaving playing styles, but they can’t just expect Mikal Bridges to do all of the heavy lifting on the other side of the ball.
Portland Trail Blazers
Attack the Rim More Efficiently: Last season can be written off as a tanking/begging Damian Lillard to stay-year for the Portland Trail Blazers, but having a healthy Dame back won’t immediately resolve their greater structural issues. Since the 2015–2016 season, the Blazers have ranked in the bottom third of the league for close-range shooting accuracy (within 4 feet of the rim). They ranked dead-last in the 2021–2022 campaign, which can be attributed to Jusuf Nurkic having no real playmakers to facilitate his offense, as well as a lineup that constantly underwent changes, as no player on the roster played more than 60 games last season. The introduction of Jerami Grant, and reintegration of Lillard, should relieve the Blazers’ freestyle offense that effectively discarded their past year. Although, Anfernee Simons is considerably less of a slasher and playmaker than CJ McCollum was, so it’ll be a challenge to orchestrate a fluid offense with two ball-dominant guards making up the Portland backcourt.
Sacramento Kings
Passing the Ball: The Sacramento Kings have a substantially inefficient half-court offense. The California side ranks 21st for points per 100 half-court possessions and 25th for the frequency of such possessions. De’Aaron Fox’s natural pace makes it intrinsic for the point guard to try to blow by defenders, often leading to reckless turnovers, as emphasized by his isolation turnover rate of 15% (28th percentile). Fox ranks in the 96th percentile for the quantity of his drives to the rim, but only in the 36th percentile for his kick-out rate on such attempts, suggesting that he could be the catalyst for such offensive woes. This isn’t to say that the former Kentucky Wildcat isn’t elite at creating his own shots through this approach, but it is to say that it could be hurting the greater good of his lineups. This seems apparent when you observe that Domantas Sabonis’ shot frequency from within 4 feet of the hoop decreased by 10% once he was traded from the Pacers to the Kings. Sabonis is one of the most efficient post-scorers in the league, and should be treated as so in the forthcoming campaign.
San Antonio Spurs
Develop Prospects While Tanking: It is abundantly apparent that the San Antonio Spurs have fully invested in a complete overhaul of their franchise in order to get the draft rights to top 2023 prospect Victor Wembanyama. After trading Dejounte Murray for a treasure chest of draft picks and a bag of chips, there is no reason why Gregg Popovich shouldn’t hand out minutes to Jeremy Sochan, Josh Primo, and Tre Jones. This is going to be a painful year to watch for Spurs fans, so just prepare for better days ahead.
Toronto Raptors
Overall Shooting: The Toronto Raptors ranked in the bottom third of the league for efficiency in the areas of close-range shooting (within 4 feet of the rim), long mid-range shots (outside 14 feet but within the three-point line), all mid-range shots, and all three-point shots. Ironically, the Canadian club shoots more mid-range shots than any other type. Nick Nurse’s fluid and position-less focus likely can convolute the offensive roles of many of his players, as they’re usually not big enough to post-up, but don’t have extensive perimeter shooting pedigree. Players like Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam rank among the bottom of the league for three-point shooting frequency, but a big-man like Chris Boucher shoots them as much as the top quarter of all players. The lines have become so blurry for what duties each position entails for Nurse that there definitely needs some organization executed in order to construct a fluent offense that coincides with its lineup.
Utah Jazz
Increase Roster Trade Value: It is unclear whether the Jazz want to rebuild through the draft or through ridding themselves of assets, especially after the hefty 4-year/$72 million contract that was handed to Collin Sexton as a result of the Donovan Mitchell trade. Utah’s best bet, assuming their roster remains relatively the same, is to let players like Sexton, Bojan Bogdanovic and Jordan Clarkson do whatever they want on an individual level in order to inflate their stock for future business, especially if they end up wanting to trade up in the 2023 draft for the grand prize of… Victor Wembanyama.
Washington Wizards
Play Faster: Out of the bottom 10 teams in the league for pace (amount of possessions per 48 minutes), the Washington Wizards have the worst Net Rating by a considerable margin. Many of the teams in this bottom third had the luxury of elite isolationists or dominant big-men, such as the Boston Celtics or Philadelphia 76ers, that allowed them to control the pace. Instead, the Wizards fell victim to their naturally sluggish speed, as Bradley Beal does not have a similar level of ability to shake off defenders. Beal often opts for prolonged and contested pull-up jumpers, rather than keeping the play alive through other offensive options. Understandably though, not many of these options exist, aside from a similarly offensively nonchalant Kristaps Porzingis.
