(The original article was published on December 2. The content of The article is The analysis of The Athletic website experts, which does not represent The translator’s point of view)
The new season has been playing for more than six weeks, and the sun is currently ranked first in the West, and jazz once occupied the first position. The Knicks led by sibodu struggled in defense, and the Timberwolves could not even protect the rebound. We were surprised by a quarter of the season, some of which were big, small, good and bad. The Athletic website invited NBA experts who know each team best to talk about The most unexpected things of each team.
West
Phoenix Sun
Still a winning team
Doug Haller: the sun has been full of drama at the beginning of this season. The boss savall’s mess and claude’s disappearance, elton looks unhappy. After the start of the season, Cameron Johnson suffered a knee injury and played only 8 games in the first 20 games. Then Paul hurt his heel and played only 10 games. However, the sun is still the first in the West? What a surprise! Sun has MVP candidate Booker and a group of talented players around him, but it seems that it will take some time for the sun to find the real rhythm. The spirit of the Sun’s unremitting efforts in the face of various adversity is worthy of praise, and their desire for the championship is underestimated.
Denver Nuggets
Yokedge’s adjustment
Sam Amick: the nuggets are competing for the no. 1 position in the west, and jokiki, who has taken two MVP sessions (with an average of 22.7 points, 9.8 rebounds and 8.9 assists), no longer has to play the role of denver superman. Yokki has adjusted his mode of play to make a bigger stage for Murray and PROTONIC. If the Nuggets want to compete for the championship, the two players must stand out. In the subtle and necessary change of yokiki, there is silk quilt bright spot of neglect. Although yokedge’s average score dropped to 22.7 points from 27.1 points in the previous season, he can still get the 22+9+8 data mentioned above, this kind of data has only appeared 13 times in the history of the alliance.
New Orleans pelican
Changing adaptability
Will Guillory: pelican has been dealing with injuries of core players. Considering the team’s recent history, this may not be surprising. The most shocking part of this season is that pelicans have never lost their rhythm in response to the changing lineup. Although Ingram, CJ-mccolum and Zion missed a total of 15 games, Pelican still achieved 13-8 losses after 21 games. Pelican’s expected starting line-up this season (Zion, Ingram, CJ, Herbert Jones and varanchunas) only played 10 times, and they still tried every means to piece together the line-up, played the sixth attack of the league and the fourth defense of the league. The depth of Pelican’s lineup is obvious, and I have never seen such a deep lineup in Pelican before. When everyone finally becomes healthy, Pelicans will only become stronger.
Memphis Grizzly Bear
Unplanned helper
Zach Harper: In the absence of Bain and little Jaron Jackson for such a long time, conch and Ardahan Ma’s contribution so far is a surprise. Conchar made some contributions last season, but now he has more playing time and more important roles. This season is the second season of the Ardahan horse, and it is already a guy who needs to increase his playing time. The players of the grizzly bear can stand up when the team needs it, which is one of the best performances in the league.
Sacramento King
Score performance
Sam Amick: when Mike Brown was hired as the head coach by the King in early May, his attention was completely focused on improving the team’s defense. Not only the absence of the playoff in the past 16 years, it clearly shows that the King’s defense needs training, but also coach Brown has always been a coach who pays attention to defense and has a professional counterpart. Instead of attacking in the past 20 games, this energetic King has made a strong start. Their offensive efficiency can rank fifth in the league, compared with the 24th League at the end of last season, it has made great progress. The core fox of the team hardly needs to fight alone any more. All the king’s people, from sabonis to schult, monk and terence davis, are powerful scoring points. The King’s average score (119.9) was the second highest in the league, higher than the 16th (110.3) of the league under the coaching of Coach Walton and kingtry last season.
Golden State Warriors
Defensive efficiency
Anthony Slater: The defensive efficiency of warriors in the regular season last season was 106.6, the second in the league and the playoff. In the first few months of this season, the warrior’s defensive efficiency completely collapsed. By November, the warrior’s defensive efficiency (113.3) ranked 22nd in the league. What is the reason? There are more young people in the rotation team, and the veterans didn’t fight that hard. Gary Peyton II and little Otto left PROTONIC, mike Brown, the former defense coach of warriors, went to be the king’s coach. Even Dream Green’s voice at the defensive end of the field has temporarily become weaker, but the situation has improved recently. Moving Wiseman and Moody out of the rotation lineup and strengthening the team’s defensive efforts, the Warriors have ranked ninth in the league in the last 12 games (110.5). Warriors need to be better if they want to defend their titles, and the current development trend of the team is correct.
Los Angeles Clippers
Offensive struggle
Law Murray: Considering the attendance rate of players, this is an understandable accident to some extent. Leonard played only five games, greatly reducing the upper limit that the Clippers expected to reach on the offensive end. Now Paul George and Kennard have been absent for two weeks. The Clippers ranked in the bottom ten of the league last season when players were absent in a large area. It can be seen that it is still very uncomfortable to be ranked in the top five this season, but the attack of the Clippers has improved recently.
Utah Jazz
Number of wins
Tony Jones: For a team that most people think the record will be at the bottom and can only win 25 games throughout the season, it is really a big achievement for jazz to win 13 of the first 24 games in the tough start. So far, jazz has played the most away games for all teams in the league. They have played the most back-to-back games and played the most four-day and three-day games. At the same time, most of jazz’s opponents are playoff teams. At the same time, Conley, the most important player of jazz, missed 6 games. If the Jazz played so well by the trade deadline, it would be interesting to see how they would operate the lineup. Will Jazz strengthen? Or selling it?
Portland Trail Blazers
Gerami Grant’s outstanding performance
Jason Quick: people’s expectation for Grant is the upgrade of the pioneer’s power forward position, but his significance to the pioneer is far more than that. In short, grant is the MVP of the blazers after playing a quarter of the season. He can get 21.5 points 4.4 rebounds in the game, and his value far exceeds the part that can be reflected in the statistics. There are also three explosive scoring shows (44 points, 37 points, 30 points). Grant is also the strongest and most comprehensive defender of the Trail Blazers. He often defends the control guard opposite, helping the Trail Blazers’ poor defense become commendable. So far in the season, Grant has hit the winning goal, with a three-point shooting rate of 48.5 percent, and his influence in the Trailblazers’ dressing room is increasing.
Dallas Lone Ranger
Josh Green
Tim Cato: the game style of josh green, influenced by the australian football rules he contacted during his growing up, is full of sports spirit and dynamic aesthetic feeling. Josh Green’s polishing of basketball skills, including shooting and defense, made him shine in the third season of his career. It was unfair to him that the Lone Ranger could have chosen other newcomers instead of the discussion of Josh Green, which kept him in the shadow all the time. This season, josh green has already played. Every minute on the court, he has an inexhaustible motivation and continues to influence the game.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Backboard performance does not improve
Jon Krawczynski: Timberwolves traded in Gobel this summer and got the best rebounder in the league, but Timberwolves did not differ significantly in rebounding performance. Last season, Timberwolves ranked 28th in the league in terms of defensive rebound rate (70.6%). Although they ranked 24th this season, the defensive rebound rate was lower (70.2%). The dominance of Gobel and downs in the inner line has not been reached, which makes people feel that the deal of Timberwolves is worth the money. Gobel has admitted that the pace of some nights is slow, and his performance on the court does seem so. Considering how much the Timberwolves paid for him, the state of Gobel is the biggest problem.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Alexander’s rapid growth
Andrew Schlecht: in the past 20 games, alexander can score 31.1 points 4.9 rebounds 6.1 assists 1.7 steals 1.2 cap, compared with last season’s 24.5 points 5 rebounds 5.9 assists 1.3 steals 0.8 cap, all kinds of data have been comprehensively improved, which is a huge leap forward. NBA history has played at least 30+5+6, and there is also a player who steals 1 cap, only james and wade. Alexander ranked first in the league at the critical moment, scored fifth in the penalty area and fifth in the league with free throws (92% hit rate). In the post-weishao era, thunder finally found a star who could be the cornerstone of team building.
Los Angeles Lakers
The development of Austin Reeves and Lonnie Walker
Jovan Buha: the lakers need some young role players to make a leap this season. Reeves and lonnie walker are playing the best level of their career, especially as scorers. The upper limit of these two players is higher than the previous expectation. Walker plays the role of malik-monk, which is not only the terminator full of athletic ability, but also the fatal threat of middle distance. Reeves is a dynamic player and organizer who can stand on freethrow line frequently. The three hit rates this season are close to 50+40+90. If the Lakers can quietly squeeze into the playoff play-off, the breakthrough of these two players must be part of the reason.
Houston Rocket
The combination of little Kenyon Martin and tarry Ethan
Kelly Iko: From the perspective of the whole team, according to the statistics of the Glass website Cleaning, the rocket’s attack efficiency (109.4) ranked 27th in the league and the defense efficiency (116.7) ranked 28th in the league. The Rockets played in the squad every night almost had no positive impact, except those with Martin and Ethan. The two played line up combination for at least 30 minutes together. There were about three sets (up to seven sets), and the net efficiency was all positive. The combination of martin and ethan’s energy, athletic ability and aggressiveness at both ends of the stadium is very appealing. Why don’t rockets often send them to play together?
St Anthony Homa Thorn
German-Wassel projection
Slater Anthony: Wassell in the rookie season averaged only 2.4 points, with a hit rate of 34%. In the second season, his average number of three-point shots increased to 5.4, and his hit rate also increased to 36.1. While doubling the number of shots, the hit rate is also higher, and there is a trend to continue to improve, so the leap of Wassell’s third season should be predicted. Wassell has entered the elite level this season, with an average of 7.2 points and a hit rate. In 17 games, he hit 52 points and ranked 20th in the league. This is a huge growth for one of the few cornerstone players in Spurs.
Eastern
Boston Celtics
Historical attack
Jay King: even if Lowe was injured and missed, the Celtics still played the highest offensive efficiency in NBA history. This season, they scored 5 more points per hundred returns than the second best team in the league, and there was no 5 points between the second sun and the 15th pioneer. After last season’s trading deadline, the Celtics’s scoring method made people expect them to play a very good attack again. However, the Celts are far from attacking very well now. They are unstoppable whirlwinds of attack.
Jared Weiss: The Celtics continued some of the principles established by the offensive end last season, reaching a high level far ahead of the whole league this season. The Celtics are emphasizing the advance in the conversion attack, and at the same time they know when to consume time, thus reducing the opponent’s attack round. When the ball falls to the half-time position to attack, the Celtics’s decision is fast and stable, and their ability to create vacant shooting opportunities makes other teams in the league out of reach.
Milwaukee Bucks
Jay Wang-Carter became a threat
Eric Nehm: even though carter played well with the bucks after being laid off in February this year, even the most optimistic fans did not expect him to play so well in the second season of the bucks. Carter started 20 games this season, twice as many as the first four seasons of his NBA career. At present, Carter’s average playing time (27.5 minutes) has set a new career high, with 9.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.4 steals, and a three-point hit rate. Carter not only did so much on the offensive side, but also on the defensive side was another threat besides Zhu holerdi.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The seamless connection between Donovan and Mitchell
Kelsey Russo: the talent and personality of mitchell are undeniable, which has been reflected since he put on the knight’s shirt and walked on the court and started to play with garland in the back court. When a player is traded and the next family is not sure at first, there is usually an adjustment period for the player to go to the new team. Mitchell and Garland created a selfless chemical reaction that can help them and their teammates play more smoothly in the game. Although the Knight encountered some injuries, he could still rank third in the east.
Atlanta Hawks
Rookie AJ-Griffin
Mike Vorkunov: AJ griffin, who was chosen by eagle in 16th of this year’s draft conference, is a treasure. The eagle needs to add reliable flanking players around Trey-Yang and de Zhangtai-Murray. Griffin seems to be the right person. In the past seven games, Griffin scored double in five games, with an average playing time of 24.9 minutes. Griffin continued Duke’s shooting feel, with a three-point shooting rate of 38% so far. If griffin can continue to play so well, keep healthy and break the current rotation system of the team, there will be another reliable player around the eagle’s backcourt double team, even if he is only a rookie.
Indiana Pacers
Andrew nemhard
Bob Kravitz: The Pacers are one of the most surprising teams this season. The unexpected players on their squad list are naturally one by one: Halliburton, Turner, masserin, Hilde, neismith, jay Smith. In my opinion, the most surprising thing for me is the second round of Sumed hamhard. He played a mature game, with 7 points in the 21-minute average, and 7 of the 16 games he played were the first. Nemhard’s adaptability is very strong. No matter which players Carlyle coach sends to play, he can fit in perfectly, which is beyond my expectation.
Brooklyn basketable nets
Nicholas Claxton
Alex Schiffer: during the off-season basketable nets, he renewed Claxton with a two-year contract of 20 million dollars. So far, he has been very healthy and stable. He can get 12 points and nearly 9 rebounds in the game. Clarkston’s field goal percentage has always been at the top of the league, ranking in the top five cap, and occasionally showing excellent decision-making ability during his tenure at the University of Georgia. Clarkston’s matches have always been of this level, with the emphasis on keeping healthy and getting the chance to perform. Claxton proved this just after a quarter of the season.
Toronto Raptors
Number of goals scored per hundred rounds
Eric Korea: last season, the Raptors scored 7.2 more goals per hundred returns than their opponents by virtue of their outstanding mistakes in forcing opponents and their dominance in attacking rebounds. This is the biggest lead in the league. Some people think that it is impossible for Raptors to carry out the competition plan well when studying videos. Now it seems that there is a big mistake. This season, the Raptors have increased their lead per hundred rounds to 8.9 goals. At the same time, they are also the team that scored the most goals in the whole league, making the opponent score the least. The defensive rebound rate has also increased from the 23rd to the 10th, enabling the Raptors to continue to develop their own lineup advantages.
Philadelphia 76ers
Toughness
Rich Hofmann: after 20 games in the season, Harden played 9 games, enbide played 12 games and Maxi played 15 games. As some role players (especially Milton, who once dropped out of the rotation lineup at the beginning of the season) stood out, the winning rate of 76 players was more than half after a quarter of the match. Although 76 people have a bad start this season, they have shown the depth of the team’s lineup in recent weeks.
Miami Heat
Carl Lowry’s health
Joe Vardon: The 36-year-old Lowry played very hard last season. For some reasons, he missed 19 games in the regular season and then missed most of the playoffs due to Achilles tendon injury. So far this season, lorry is working hard! His games were divided into 14.6 points, which was higher than last season, but part of the reason was that Butler, Croal and Oladipo missed some games, and even some were absent until now. At the age of Lowry, the first quarter of the season looked healthy and strong, which was really a surprise to some extent.
Washington Wizards
Jordan Goodwin’s contribution
Josh Robbins: players with two-way contracts rarely play a key role in NBA, and Goodwin is an exception. When Wright suffered severe hamstring strain in the fourth game of the Wizards, the Wizards lost the most destructive outside defender and the team’s No. 2 point guard. Coach onselde put Goodwin into the rotation team in the tenth match. Since then, Goodwin has always been the mainstay of Wizards. His energy at the defensive end can inspire those more experienced teammates. It can be said that Goodwin saved the game of the first quarter of the Wizards.
New York Knicks
Non-Cedar defense
Fred Katz: I know the Knicks don’t have enough holding player, and I also know that Mitchell Robinson, the main defensive force of this team, was absent for a period of time because of a knee injury, and their top outside defensive elite grammes couldn’t be hit because of foot injuries. However, we cannot ignore the defense problem of Knicks. After 22 games this season, the Knicks, coached by SIBO, ranked 26th in the league in terms of defensive efficiency. This kind of thing is very surprising. The Knicks put together a strong but inflexible lineup, and the defensive rebound rate throughout the season has been hovering in the top five of the league’s bottom. The opponent’s flanking players and defenders can always rush into the inside line from the outside line to grab the offensive rebound, and then pull out to play for another 14 seconds. The communication when the Knicks were removed was gone, and sometimes it was really hard to understand what they were doing on the court. The Knicks didn’t have much defensive talent in the team last season, but they still found a way to defend against the 11th in the league. The Knicks are likely to make some positive progress next, but the 26th defense of the league is really surprising.
Chicago Bull
Veteran free agent
Darnell Mayberry: entering this season, most of them think that Lavin and Caruso will have a strong influence on the court, while Goran Dragic and Drummond have a weaker influence. On the contrary, the Bull’s two ordinary contracts are very important for consolidating the team’s bench, improving the rebound dilemma last season and bringing the team leadership on the court, help the bull stabilize when the game is not good.
Charlotte wasp
Dennis Smith
Joe Vardon: After a good start to Dennis Smith’s career, there have been few opportunities to play in the past three seasons. However, he had a recovery in the Wasp. In the past 15 games, he started 11 games. The average score (9.3 points) was not bad, and the assists (5.7 points) set a new career high. This summer, Smith spent most of his time without team contact. Due to the injuries of Bauer and rozil, the wasp gave him a chance. Although the Hornets lost 15 games in the first 21 games of this season and Hayward was going to deal with injuries again, Smith’s play was definitely a surprise.
Detroit Piston
Kilian Hays shot
James L. Edwards III: The first two years after the No. 7 show in 2020 entered NBA, he has always been one of the defenders with the lowest jump shot efficiency in the league. In the past few weeks, the middle distance jumper has become a stable attack method for Hays, and has become one of the most outstanding receive the ball shooters of the piston. Due to the slow start, Hays’s overall shooting data has not reached the required level, but he feels that he has ushered in a turning point.
Orlando Magic
Bohr
Mike Vorkunov: Bohr’s performance in Magic this season is really surprising. It not only proves that a 2.18-meter-tall player can also have such skilled skills, but also reveals his potential in NBA. Magic is the first team to give Bohr the regular playing time. Bohr is a low-key candidate for the best progressive player. Magic can use Bohr in a large technical lineup, and Bohr also shows his talent in outside shooting and ball control. For a player who had only 328 minutes to play in the first three seasons of his career, Bohr’s performance was surprising enough.
Original: The Athletic NBA Staff
Compile: Li Taibai
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