The NBA is already in postseason modeat that moment where all eyes are on playoff times, in the weeks where the road will guide the successor to the Golden State Warriors, with those in San Francisco being a real option to repeat the title. But 26 weeks of regular competition are left behind, with teams that have always been in the upper zone, such as Celtics, Bucks, 76ers, Nuggets, Grizzlies o Kings, with players who have not stepped back and with several of them fighting for the MVP race that will be awarded in a few days. Solobasket reviews teams that have searched for excellence, with outstanding players, but also some of them with a very negative reading and already thinking regarding the offseason and how to repair this disastrous season.
great
Mike Brown
It is one of the proper names of the season. Kings returns to the Playoffs following sixteen years without touching them, and does so with his own style, attacking and without regard, finishing the regular season with the best offensive rating in all history and averaging 120.7 points per game.
His final mark says it all, 48-34, starting the course with a hesitant 0-4, losing the first games once morest the Trail Blazers, Clippers, Warriors and Grizzlies. But as the weeks went by, the Brown & Jordi Fernández tandem were able to leave their mark, and Kerr’s former assistant at Warriors knew how to give that push to grow, believe and improve. Thus they came to be placed second, but finally occupy a spectacular third position in the Wild West. In his favor, the enormous game shown by players like Sabonis and Fox, both All-Stars, as well as Huerter, the rookie Keegan Murray or the power of the bench. The season can end with honors if they advance in the Playoffs.
Cleveland Cavaliers defense
The rumor in the NBA world is to see Mobley as the best defender of the course, ahead of players like Giannis, Lopez or Jaren Jackson Jr. But there is one fact that is clear to see the potential of Bickerstaff’s Cavs, 106 points received only during the entire Regular Season.
It has been a very well worked machine, improved from the previous season, leaving their rivals below 100 points on many occasions, a strange aspect in an NBA that seeks a lot of scoring. This defense has led them to win games and finish in fourth position, behind Big Three of the East formed by Bucks – Celtics – Sixers. Elements like Garland, Mitchell, Mobley, Allen or Ricky Rubio himself have allowed JB Bickerstaff and his staff (Buckner, Lowe or Luke Walton) to develop a defensive framework that is difficult to overcome. For all this, the defense of Cavs is outstanding.
71 points from Mitchell and Lillard
The two stellar performances by Donovan Mitchell and Damian Lillard are outstanding, which will remain in the retina of fans and are part of NBA history. Without leaving behind the twenty-five performances of 50 points that the 22-23 season has had.
In a season where no team has reached sixty victories, Mitchell’s 71 points on January 2 once morest the Bulls and Lillard’s 71 once morest the Rockets on February 26, are moments saved for the coming years, being the seventh and eighth player NBA players who scored 70 or more points. The Cavs player will fight for everything in the Playoffs, instead, Lillard may have finished his historic stage (the top scorer in the Oregon franchise) with the Trail Blazers.
notable
New York Knicks
The landing on the offseason of Brunson, the evolution of Grimes and Quickley, the All-Star of Julius Randle, the developed defense of Thibodeau and the return to the Playoffs, makes the course of the Big Apple team remarkable.
It’s not great because Barrett still doesn’t clear up doubts at important moments, because Robinson has missed games through injury and because Madison hasn’t been a stronghold in many moments. His face-to-face once morest the Cavs in the first round sparks can fly, in a few Knickerbockers eager to move forward and leave a mark.
Paolo Banchero
It’s generally been an interesting generation of rookies. The mark they leave will have to be seen in the near future, but the proper name of the course is Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic. Duke’s prospectus and Coack K he has made his mark from day one and his stats are very interesting to think of him as the cornerstone of Florida’s franchise rebuilding. The player with an Italian passport ends with an average of 20 points and seven rebounds.
To highlight the role offered by rookies such as the Canadian Pacers Bennedict Mathurin, the great future of Jaden Ivey or above all, the couple Jalen Williams from OKC and Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz. While thinking regarding the role he can offer in Thunder the pick Two, Chet Holmgren.
Damian Lillard
The Trail Blazers have a lot of decisions to make in the coming weeks, starting with Billiups’ role as head coach. One of them is the role that Lillard will have, leaving behind a spectacular season, often being the only player looking to win. They started the season well, leading the West, but Dame’s injury and the little contribution following the rest made them drop positions until they reached the third from last position in the West.
Lillard wants to compete and has shown it with anthological performances, leaving the door ajar to a possible departure from the Oregon franchise. He’s been an All-Star and won’t wait for anyone, calling the Trail Blazers’ season disappointing and frustrating, winning just 33 wins.
McCollum’s departure might have been the beginning of the end, seeing Lillard finish as the NBA’s third leading scorer with 32.2 points and 10th in assists with 7.3 basket passes. His last game of the season, on March 23 once morest Jazz, he said goodbye with victory and 30 points.
approved
I Morant
His game and stats might put him much higher, even in that A section. He was on the road, the Murray State graduate, leaving great performances, victories for the Grizzlies and a lot of show, finishing in 61 games with averages of 26 points, six rebounds and eight assists.
But everything went wrong with a series of incidents that came to light in February, beginning with the summer threats once morest a security guard and hitting a minor in a friendly match, to reach the video on social networks where he showed a weapon fire, reaching the suspension of Grizzlies and the NBA. The player apologized at the time, returning in the last days of the regular season, hoping to put all these turbulent episodes behind him.
THAT DUDE. pic.twitter.com/6SLavpuhAI
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) April 14, 2023
Brooklyn Nets
Another season full of shocks, changes, but once more with an appearance in the Playoffs. The team from the New York neighborhood, in its eleventh season as the Brooklyn Nets, appear for the eighth time in the Playoffs, but with several difficult moments, beginning with the dismissal of Steve Nash as head coach, placing Jacque Vaughn as head coach, coupled with the departure of Kevin Durant to the Suns and Kyrie Irving to the Mavs. Now it’s time for Dinwiddie, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. With them they will fight for everything, but so many extra-sports moments in the city where all the media have their eyes is not positive. They need calm and seek to grow in a winning project.
Rick Carlisle
It is the name that makes the separation between the pass and the fail. The Pacers were on the right track, with a giant Haliburton, renewing a good Turner, reaching playoff spots months ago, always at the hands of the All-Star point guard who emerged from Iowa State, in his first full season with the Pacers.
But his injury did a lot of damage and they might only win 35 games and they mightn’t enter Play-in. Carlisle needs to find the key, stop the injuries and around Haliburton, Mathurin and Turner build another important project in the state where basketball is not just a sport, but a religion. The fans cannot wait any longer and so they will ask the Ogdensburg-born coach in his second adventure in Indiana, following winning the championship title with the Mavs in 2011.
suspended
Charlotte Hornets
Michael Jordan wants to sell the franchise, the city doesn’t give the necessary support and the team doesn’t help to make people happy with their results. LaMelo Ball has missed a lot of games, Steve Clifford has had injury problems every week and now they think regarding the Wembanyama effect.
“It was a difficult year and for various reasons. From the beginning, we had to deal with roster issues and adversity. When he did get better, it didn’t last long. Melo broke his ankle, right? So it’s hard to look at the season and come to conclusions that focus on the wins. Going into the season, I think our goal was to make the playoffs. Last year, at 43 wins, I thought it was realistic for you to assume you’re going to get better and maybe we might win 43 or win more and fight for a playoff spot. That didn’t happen, as I said for various reasons. To bring the young players, they had a chance to play and give us some information in the future“, thus commented the General Manager Kupchak during the day on Tuesday. The future is not very positive.
New orleans Pelicans / Zion Williamson
Patience may be running out in the Louisiana franchise. One gets to speak of frustration within fur, seeing Zion not play since January 2, when the franchise seemed poised to fight for everything, uniting the power of Williamson, the experience of McCollum and the power of Ingram. But everything went wrong, to finish off it with the elimination in Play-in by the Thunder, ending the season 22-23.
Zion has played in just 114 games out of a possible 308 since the Pelicans drafted him as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 Draft out of Duke. With Williamson and Ingram, New Orleans has only been able to go 13, 11, 9 and 9, this year being the first year with a positive record of victories, 42-40.
Dallas Mavericks
And to the suspense and disappointment, the Mavs of Doncic and Jason Kidd. It has not been the course of the finalists in the West last year. They didn’t have a good offseason, Brunson’s departure didn’t help and they haven’t been able to place Irving in recent weeks either. There comes a moment of important reflection, with important decisions to make, with an interesting high pick in the Draft, where nothing can go wrong, since Doncic wants to win and fight for a ring once more.