Which teams will regress / under perform 2023

[Galou]

Nets

I can't wait to laugh

Trash team

[shakes0]

I'll go with regression for fully half of these teams ...

Nets, Sixers, Knicks, Bulls,
Hawks, Clippers, Portland, Lakers

partially for age and injury issues ... but more importantly too much drama distracting from the real task

Atlanta is a very odd inclusion. they already regressed quite a bit last year and made the play in. You think there’s a chance they don’t even make the play in this year? Keep in mind they just added a certified all star guard in the off season.

Yea very odd to even suggest there’s a chance they would regress this year.

They lost two shooters in Gallo and Huerter. Plus, we have yet to see how Trae/Murray is going to work.

their biggest weakness was defense and they greatly improved on that front. They have plenty of shooting already. Getting rid of Gallo and Huerter is a massive plus for this team.

[shakes0]

Atlanta is a very odd inclusion. they already regressed quite a bit last year and made the play in. You think there’s a chance they don’t even make the play in this year? Keep in mind they just added a certified all star guard in the off season.

Yea very odd to even suggest there’s a chance they would regress this year.

They lost two shooters in Gallo and Huerter. Plus, we have yet to see how Trae/Murray is going to work.

Yeah, lots of flash and style ... not so sure about the heart and the D. Anyway, I had seven teams but had already written "half" so I felt compelled to add one more ... did think of Charlotte and New Orleans.

With all three of those teams - like you say - you should be better to call it "regression" now .

what the F are you talking about? All they did was improve their defense and heart this off season.

[jbk1234]

Atlanta is a very odd inclusion. they already regressed quite a bit last year and made the play in. You think there’s a chance they don’t even make the play in this year? Keep in mind they just added a certified all star guard in the off season.

Yea very odd to even suggest there’s a chance they would regress this year.

They lost two shooters in Gallo and Huerter. Plus, we have yet to see how Trae/Murray is going to work.

their biggest weakness was defense and they greatly improved on that front. They have plenty of shooting already. Getting rid of Gallo and Huerter is a massive plus for this team.

Perhaps, but they're going to see a lot of box and one on Trae with four defenders in or around the paint now. Hunter could stay healthy and break out this season, but they pretty much need that to happen.

[ropjhk]

Suns won 64 games last season. They will have internal growth but CP3 could drop off at any time now. How will Ayton play? How will other players respond to having been in trade rumours? Considering that they won so many games last season I'd say they are a likely candidate to give up some wins next season.

[Long2_noD]

Grizz will have a worse record, if Morant plays more games than last season.

Change my mind.

[BlueHeat]

I'm going to say my own team... the Heat. Did absolutely nothing this offseason to make ourselves better. We still have time, but I'm pessimistic in the front office these days.

[pipfan]

I think my Bulls will be a better team (assuming Lavine/Ball are healthy) but might not win more games. DDR will not be as good, and the East is A LOT tougher this year. Hopefully we can finish with a 5/6 seed, but I think we will be in the Playin

[Hoop Heavy]

They lost two shooters in Gallo and Huerter. Plus, we have yet to see how Trae/Murray is going to work.

Yeah, lots of flash and style ... not so sure about the heart and the D. Anyway, I had seven teams but had already written "half" so I felt compelled to add one more ... did think of Charlotte and New Orleans.

With all three of those teams - like you say - you should be better to call it "regression" now .

what the F are you talking about? All they did was improve their defense and heart this off season.

Sorry, am I insulting your team. I don't follow the Hawks. Give it a rest!

I already acknowledged that they weren't part of the main list ... and were part of a sub-list created to add to my intuitive first seven teams - teams on that sub-list were considered by me better than the original seven (but not really good) with the Hornets, Pelicans etc.

I'm not so sure Murray and Young will work together - in terms of net (compared to their combined production last year) offensive points and more importantly D.

[Fencer reregistered]

Heat - losing Tucker, ageing Butler & Lowry (who already declined)
Suns - certainly not picking them to 1st, weird team "chemistry" now with Ayton & I just don't believe CP3 will hold up anymore
Hornets - lose Bridges with nothing to replace him
Jazz - because obviously loss of Gobert & eventually Mitchell, clearly want to tank
Spurs - they clearly want to tank too lol
Grizz - not so much they regress as others are healthy again ie/ LAC & DEN who are actually better than them
Mavs - maaaybe but obviously Luka gets hurt and the season is a wrap lol

Thanks for finally mentioning the Spurs. They dumped one good player midseason and another over the summer.

[Jadoogar]

Heat - losing Tucker, ageing Butler & Lowry (who already declined)
Suns - certainly not picking them to 1st, weird team "chemistry" now with Ayton & I just don't believe CP3 will hold up anymore
Hornets - lose Bridges with nothing to replace him
Jazz - because obviously loss of Gobert & eventually Mitchell, clearly want to tank
Spurs - they clearly want to tank too lol
Grizz - not so much they regress as others are healthy again ie/ LAC & DEN who are actually better than them
Mavs - maaaybe but obviously Luka gets hurt and the season is a wrap lol

Thanks for finally mentioning the Spurs. They dumped one good player midseason and another over the summer.

i don't think Spurs and Jazz fit the spirit of the question. These teams are actively trying to tank, their regression is planned.

[Hoop Heavy]

Heat - losing Tucker, ageing Butler & Lowry (who already declined)
Suns - certainly not picking them to 1st, weird team "chemistry" now with Ayton & I just don't believe CP3 will hold up anymore
Hornets - lose Bridges with nothing to replace him
Jazz - because obviously loss of Gobert & eventually Mitchell, clearly want to tank
Spurs - they clearly want to tank too lol
Grizz - not so much they regress as others are healthy again ie/ LAC & DEN who are actually better than them
Mavs - maaaybe but obviously Luka gets hurt and the season is a wrap lol

Thanks for finally mentioning the Spurs. They dumped one good player midseason and another over the summer.

i don't think Spurs and Jazz fit the spirit of the question. These teams are actively trying to tank, their regression is planned.

Yeah, I agree.


There's a difference between riding lower in the water and punching a big hole in the bottom of your boat.


regression is failing to maintain the heights of ones success ... not purposefully sinking to the bottom

[MrGoat]

The Heat seems like a solid option. Butler went off in the playoffs like he did in 2020 but when he does that it seems he doesn't recover fully the next season. Suns seem like a solid option in the West, CP3 suddenly just looked done in the second round and he's only getting older.

[Fencer reregistered]

Reminder: Injuries will help balance the numbers. A few teams will be good enough to match or exceed last season's win total with normal health, but fall short due to bad injury luck.

[Fencer reregistered]

Heat - losing Tucker, ageing Butler & Lowry (who already declined)
Suns - certainly not picking them to 1st, weird team "chemistry" now with Ayton & I just don't believe CP3 will hold up anymore
Hornets - lose Bridges with nothing to replace him
Jazz - because obviously loss of Gobert & eventually Mitchell, clearly want to tank
Spurs - they clearly want to tank too lol
Grizz - not so much they regress as others are healthy again ie/ LAC & DEN who are actually better than them
Mavs - maaaybe but obviously Luka gets hurt and the season is a wrap lol

Thanks for finally mentioning the Spurs. They dumped one good player midseason and another over the summer.

i don't think Spurs and Jazz fit the spirit of the question. These teams are actively trying to tank, their regression is planned.

They do help balance the numbers against teams who got better.

[Bank Shot]

The Grizz are probably the best bet in the West. No JJJ for a while and they lost a couple of nice pieces in Anderson and Melton. The Suns will win less this year but I'm not sure they'll be much worse. They may just not take the regular season as seriously. I think the Bulls are going to be a play-in team this year. Their hot start last year was a bit of a fluke and DD is probably going to come back to earth a bit. The Heat have some red flags but it's hard to bet on a Spo team underachieving.

[facothomas22]

Teams will regress.

Washington Wizards(if they were smart, they would be looking towards unloading their veteran players for draft picks).
Phoenix Suns
LA Lakers
Chicago Bulls
Miami Heat(Running it back with basically the same roster, minus PJ Tucker doesn't sound ideal to me)
Dallas Mavericks

Teams that may due to significant regression

Utah Jazz(of course they would since they have already traded Rudy Gobert and will very likely trade Mitchell before the start of the season)
San Antonio Spurs
Charlotte Hornets


Teams that will progress.

LA Clippers(If both of their stars are healthy, they're title favorites).
Orlando Magic
Denver Nuggets
Brooklyn Nets(hard to image that this season is going as bad as last season)
New Orleans Pelicans
Detroit Pistons

Teams that may be due for significant progression

Minnesota Timberwolves
Sacramento Kings
Atlanta Hawks

[theFireBlanket]

Utah will find out that Gobert is a much larger part of their success than they realize. They will miss the playoffs altogether.

Ainge knew that. They're totally punting the present & stockpiling picks. If they wanted to compete yet, Beverly wouldn't have just been sent to LALA land.

+ Mitchell is being shopped til someone budges on more draft capital.

[Curmudgeon]

Injuries are such a huge factor. Gallinari just limped off the court in Italy with what could be a serious knee injury. That's one rotation player less for the Celtics.

There will be other injuries to other teams. If Embiid misses serious time, you can forget about the Sixers' season. Same with Luka in Dallas or Giannis in Milwaukee.

On the other hand, you never know what unheralded player will step up and help his team win 5-6 games more than the predictions, like Jordan Poole for the Warriors. The line between stars and journeymen isn't that great in the NBA. A young player who puts in some hard work in the offseason and gets some swagger from early successes can make a big difference. For example, no one picks the Pistons to do anything but if some of their talented young players show up they could win 45 games.

[Blame Rasho]

I fully expect the spurs to win like only 20 games after losing Murray. I don’t see where the scoring and distribution comes from.