Quarter-pole reviews: how's your team doing?

[loserX]

With teams at or near the 20-game mark, this seems like as good as time as any to do some reviewing!

After ~20 games, how is your team doing relative to expectations?

How have your offseason moves panned out so far?

Still a lot of season left to go by the deadline, but how does your trade outlook seem at the moment, if any? What are your greatest needs? Are they different than they were on July 1st?

As always, multiple opinions are welcomed! We've got a lot of smart people on this board, so feel free to post on your team even if someone else has already done so!

[loserX]

One fan's take on the

Utah Jazz

Utah underwent a very well-known transformation in the offseason, shipping out jumbo defenders for shooters and ball-movers to help juice up the offence, hoping that Gobert's presence and Quin's schemes would keep the defence afloat.

For the most part, the second half worked: despite getting pounded in Toronto last night, the defence has remained one of the league's best. The team is smart and continues to work hard...and Rudy is a force of nature.

And yet the team is 12-8, 6th in the WC (to be fair, it's still early enough that there hasn't been much separation in the rankings): good, but there have been problems.

As far as offseason additions go:
- Bogdanovic has been very, very good.
- Conley has been very, very inconsistent. (He started out *atrocious* but has mixed in better games recently. Still, inconsistency is not what you expect from Mike Conley!)
- Jeff Green has been very, very bad.
- Ed Davis has been very, very not on the floor much because he got injured.

The real problems for Utah are on the bench. We spent a lot of assets on one starter and a lot of capspace on another, so our bench resources were limited to exceptions and late 2nd-round draft picks. The bench has really struggled especially with Green's play, Ed Davis' absence, and an uncharacteristic slump from Joe Ingles (Zach Lowe has pointed to the absence of Joe's best PNR partner: Derrick Favors).

As for our trade outlook: there probably isn't much. Core guys aren't going anywhere, and our bench players have tiny contracts and little value. Tough to make any sort of productive deal there, and big changes are unlikely anyway after all the offseason upheaval. More likely that we just hope Conley and Ingles get their footing, and maybe we look for more help on the waiver wire post-deadline.

[Mykhyn]

Well.. Our mascot started driving a tank...

[MoneyTalks41890]

My take on the Thunder:

-SGA has been up and down, but it's pretty clear that having CP and Gallo around has been a plus for his development. Ultimately I would still like to clear the way for him to take the keys at the 1.

-Schroder has been remarkably consistent in being relatively unremarkable. He has big games and big plays, but his stats are still mediocre. I'm fine keeping him if he's good absorbing the backup guard minutes. He hasn't done enough to change other team's minds about him and generate value.

-Adams has been struggling with injury. I would like to see his minutes remain around the 25 mark so he can get healthier and let Noel get about the same. Don't see either of them being moved, but I'm concerned about Adams durability long term if he can't take some of the wear and tear off during the RS.

-CP and Gallo are just too darn good to be on a rebuilding team. CP has shown that he's still an elite PG on both sides of the ball. Contract and age are a worry, but he hasn't cratered the way some predicted. Gallo deserves to be on a contender. The guy is just lights out from 3 and is also a very good post player.

-Ferg and Bazley have really shown some talent this year, and I think the experience with the vets is helping them too. I like their long term potential.

I think overall the team is doing about what we thought they would with a mix of vets and young guys. Winning too many games to effectively tank and too few to make the playoffs (which shouldnt be a goal). I do think they have been surprisingly competitive, they had a very good SRS ranking recently, but OKC needs to get a high pick this year, and while the vet assist in the development department has been good, there just isnt enough talent on this team to be competitive once the vets move on.

[nomansland]

They're playing worse than I expected but their record is better than I expected, if that makes sense.

Barton has been a pleasant surprise, Jokic has been a disappointment.

Murray's defense has been much better than expected, Harris' offense has been worse than expected.

Over the course of the season these things should even out. Tomorrow's game vs. LA should tell us a lot.

[penbeast0]

Wizards:

Positives: Beal has stayed healthy and is scoring 28 ppg (although part of that is the "brain trust" playing him high minutes with no days off), center Thomas Bryant has continued where he left off last season with decent scoring and good effort while his backup, Mo Wagner, has been much better than we thought (especially after a miserable summer league), and Davis Bertrans has been extremely efficient.

Negatives: Man, the defense has been SUCK. The bigs don't help, the guards don't cover anyone (even Beal has been awful defensively after looking pretty decent until last year), Bertrans and Hachimura aren't helping either. The PG play has been poor, Isaiah Thomas has been good at scoring but gives it back and more on the other end and hasn't really been setting the table for the other players, Ish has been reserve level, etc. Troy Brown has been disappointing in what we hoped (and expected) would be a breakout season and CJ Miles, before his recent injury, has been awful. Bonga has been our best SF (when Bertrans isn't shifting over) which is not a good thing.

Overall grade: Disappointing. Don't care about W/L, but wanted intelligent use of Beal, development of Rui, Troy, Bryant, and the guys we got from LA, and some signs of team defense. Hasn't happened much.

[babyjax13]

Jazz (Again)
Positives: Bojan, he is just awesome. Donovan's improved play. The defense has been pretty good.

Negatives: It's a list, a long one. Conley has looked like an average starter, and we were paying Rubio half of Conley's salary and had two more first round picks plus Crowder...large opportunity cost for what has been a lateral move, and I'd imagine we'd be scary good had we not made the move (I still support it, though, gotta take a swing). The bench, it's horrendous. Mudiay drives, Green shoots, Ingles tries to create, but has no one to create with, and he isn't getting spotup opportunities. Our starting unit is not a problem, but the bench is god-awful. We also aren't running our full offense.

Trades? If we could get a bench shooter with some gravity (Wayne Ellington, cough) I think that would help tremendously, especially if it allowed us to swap Ingles for O'neale into the starting lineup. Someone who is a PnR threat off the bench would be good, too.

Grade: C-, I expected to see signs of improvement by now, but we seem to be regressing.

[Texas Chuck]

I think the Mavs season can only be graded as an A+. Team is winning at an unexpected clip, albeit with a pretty soft early schedule, the team plays an entertaining brand of basketball with a historically good offense.

And most importantly the guy the franchise is counting on to lead them in a post-Dirk world is doing stuff no player his age has ever done and he's a legit MVP candidate. This season was all about Luka taking the next step, and he took a giant leap instead.

Any Mavs fan posting anything else is getting greedy or picking nits. This season is outrageously good nearly a 1/4 of the way through.

[BongBoyKlay]

Warriors:

Compared to preseason expectations: horrible

Compared to expectations post-Steph injury: pretty good

Positives: The young guys are getting a lot of minutes and have shown some signs of improvement. Paschall has been the biggest surprise, and he seems like he can be a starter/6th man for us going forward when we compete again next year. Don't want to make any conclusions about Poole because it is way too early to tell. The trade for Spellman has looked good due to the shooting, hustle, and defense he has shown thus far. I think he still has a lot of untapped potential that can be reached if he can continue to lose weight. Another surprise has been Bowman who looks like he can be a good 3rd pg next year to back up Steph and DLO (if he isn't traded).

Negatives: Injuries have ruined the season from a competitive standpoint, but it is still a lot of fun watching the young guys compete. Injuries also make it hard to evaluate a lot of the talent that was brought in to help compete for a playoff spot. WCS still looks like he has no motivation, and I hope the Warriors will be able to trade him this season to open up more minutes for the young guys.

Trade outlook: The vet signings over the summer seem to have worked out pretty well as Burks and GR3 have definitely improved their stock and can be used as trade pieces to net a pick or young player from a contender that needs wing depth. A lot also depends on if the Warriors plan on trading DLO or not. Dec 15th is coming up soon, but I doubt that the Warriors will look to trade him so soon without seeing him play with the full roster. The team still needs a 3 and D wing and a center, but the high draft pick that we should get will definitely help in addressing one of those problems.

[Coxy]

Warriors

We really had no idea what this season was going to be, maybe the playoffs, maybe late lotto? With Klay out, no Iggy, no Durant, bunch of young guys, who knew. Add in 5 straight trips to the finals, our ball club was tired. With Curry, Draymond and DLo injured for extended periods, we weren’t going to be factoring in any sort of success this season, SO, the tank was on with giving all of the young guys serious run to figure out who was going to be a keeper for next season.

So, dead last or there about is where we want to be, which is where we are, so a disaster when looking at our current standards, but a big time blessing in disguise potentially.

[blind prophet]

Kings 8-10

I picked them to win more, than most Kings fans. Would of had them about 11-7, but injuries and horrible start. So decent considering.

Joseph has looked just as we thought he would and boy has it come in handy. Elite defense, starting with Fox injured.

Holmes seems like a bargain and fits in well with the team.

Ariza is hardly noticeable, heck Justin James a second rounder is doing just fine considering.

Dedmon has been horrible. 2 years of his 3 year deal guaranteed, not looking good.

Guy has been tearing it up in G league.

Giles has been hurt and not really doing much. Buddy and Bogi inconsistent.

Give the Kings and coaching staff a C+ considering injuries. Vlade or the front office a D.

[pillwenney]

Kings

Full-On Positives

Barnes (having signed his extension) - I understand why the world thought Barnes was overpaid this summer. I agreed with them. And maybe he still ultimately will be. But he has been worth his contract so far. He's playing the best ball of his career--excelling both off the ball, and on the ball, playing solid D, and scoring more efficiently than ever. Part of it is a good (but not seemingly unsustainable) start shooting, but a lot of it has been that he has more aggressively attacked the basket. This is also helped by the fact that he often plays with great shooting, so the floor is well spaced--which it needs to be for a subpar passer like him.

Regardless, our ability to go to him when we need a bucket is one of top 2 or 3 reasons that this team is currently tied for the 8th seed right now, and not at the bottom of the west.

Richaun Holmes - I remember watching him play a few times over the last few years and wondering why he seemed to play so well against the Kings. I figured it was a function of WCS always getting dominated by anyone with any kind of motor.

Turns out Holmes is just really, really good. He's that weird, rare uncovered gem that was in front of everyone's faces this whole time. He's outstanding over all defensively, plays with great energy, rim-runs really well, and has an automatic 12 foot push shot when his rim runs are closed. The only negative of this signing is that he's going to get paid big time in a couple of seasons.


Mostly Positives

Luke Walton - It's hard to believe I'm saying this after the dreadful first five games of the season. The team looked apathetic, directionless, and totally unprepared.

What's happened since then, however, has been pretty remarkable. Walton has this team playing the best defense a Kings team has played in recent memory, and with a grit and moxy that keeps them in every game, despite a current drop in offensive firepower. The real test will be to see how he incorporates Fox and Bagley back into the team, but with what he's been given so far, I'm very encouraged.

Cory Joseph - We all pretty much know what Cory Joseph is at this point. He's a good backup that, unfortunately for the Kings, has been thrust into a starter's role. He should have been running the offense less earlier in the year (Bogdanovic should be running the bench), and he's certainly not a plus there now, but he'll be fine there when gets back into a backup role (again, assuming Bogdan runs the bench this time).

Defensively though, he's been really important. Part of it has been his individual defense, but a bigger part has been in the development of a defensive culture. Is he worth his contract? Probably not over all. But his role in helping to get the team to buy in defensively is pretty damn important.

Justin James - The Kings maligned second round pick hasn't set the world on fire, but he's been legitimately solid. He plays hard, he's athletic, he generally does the right thing, and he's not...completely devoid of skill. One could very well see him become a consistent contributor in the future.

Neutral

Buddy Hield - Buddy has not played up to a contract that I considered a steal--not yet at least. The truth is, the Kings' slower pace (and, related, lack of Fox) has hurt him pretty badly this season, and his numbers have suffered as a result. Buddy thrives not just from typical walk-into-it transition 3s, but from the nonstop, fast-play chaos we had last year. That's when he's able to really leverage his elite conditioning off the ball, and becomes a huge pain in the ass to guard. There's also talk that a finger injury is impacting his shot.

Without this style, and without playing next to a great playmaker, he has had to create his own looks more. He can often do this later in games once he gets going more, but it's tough for him to get started and really score efficiently if this is what he's relying on.

So he hasn't played as well as we need him to yet, but I think he can and will get there.

Mostly negative

Dewayne Dedmon - Dedmon defense and rebounding have been mostly good, and as advertised.

The negative comes offensively. A small part of this has been Walton (stupidly) using him as a ball mover, or a rim runner. But the problem is that, even when used the way he should be used, he's just not making his 3s. There is hope this can improve, but as of now, it makes him not super useful offensively.

All Negative

Trevor Ariza - He's shown signs here and there, and he's been injured to be fair, but I think the dude might be cooked. Hope I'm wrong.


As for non-transaction related players, Fox and Bagley being hurt obviously sucks. Bjelica is what he is, which is maybe a slight net positive over all. Bogdan was really starting to show the player he was this past summer after Joseph left the bench, and before he started playing hurt. Giles' injury history is worrisome, and unless you're utilizing his passing, he's not a super consistently helpful player, so we'll have to see what happens with his playing time this season.

Over all, if I had seen the 8-10 record going into the season, I'd be disappointed. But given that they have played a total of one bad game since their dreadful 0-5 start (and even that was without Bogdanovic, and therefore a huge dearth of shot creation), I still have high hopes for this team.

As I said in the Walton section, the ship has absolutely been righted. But in order for this team to be legitimately good, it'll come down to how Fox and Bagley are reincorporated when they come back.

If we can maintain the same defensive culture, play much faster offensively (that's a big one), thereby utilizing Fox and Hield the most, figure out how to build a great bench out of our really considerable depth, and find a way to make Bagley and Holmes fit, this team will be really good.

[Prospect Dong]

I'm pretty happy with the Grizzlies so far. Honestly, the main thing I'd like is for them to drop a couple more close games and move down the standing some. I really want to keep that top 6 protected pick rather than getting to 33 wins.

The good:

The draft class looks great - it seems reasonable to pencil in Ja and Brandon Clarke as long term starters at the 1 and 4, with a fair bit of hope for something more down the line.

JV, Anderson and Tyus Jones are doing what we signed them for, and look like a pretty elite 6th, 7th, 8th man combo when and if the rest of the starting lineup is improved enough to let them come off the bench.

The bad:

JJJ hasn't taken the jump, or even really the step, we were hoping for. He's young, he came in pretty raw, he's playing on a young, bad team, but still you'd hope for more from a future franchise player at this point.

none of our random collection of reclamation project wings has really popped yet. Related: we're playing the vets too much and not getting to see what we have in our random collection of wings. Bruno and Melton both had great games yesterday. Brooks may or may not have the potential to start for a decent team. We really need to see what we've got before heading into a crucial draft and FA, and it's hard to see Crowder sticking around and becoming our starter of the future - let alone Solomon Hill.

We haven't been able to get anything for Crowder or Iggy yet. I feel like time is on our side, especially with Iggy, but getting a first or multiple good seconds for him would really be the cherry on the top of a great offseason, and lessen the sting of giving up our pick this year or next.

[azwfan]

Warriors:

Compared to preseason expectations: horrible

Compared to expectations post-Steph injury: pretty good

Positives: The young guys are getting a lot of minutes and have shown some signs of improvement. Paschall has been the biggest surprise, and he seems like he can be a starter/6th man for us going forward when we compete again next year. Don't want to make any conclusions about Poole because it is way too early to tell. The trade for Spellman has looked good due to the shooting, hustle, and defense he has shown thus far. I think he still has a lot of untapped potential that can be reached if he can continue to lose weight. Another surprise has been Bowman who looks like he can be a good 3rd pg next year to back up Steph and DLO (if he isn't traded).

Negatives: Injuries have ruined the season from a competitive standpoint, but it is still a lot of fun watching the young guys compete. Injuries also make it hard to evaluate a lot of the talent that was brought in to help compete for a playoff spot. WCS still looks like he has no motivation, and I hope the Warriors will be able to trade him this season to open up more minutes for the young guys.

Trade outlook: The vet signings over the summer seem to have worked out pretty well as Burks and GR3 have definitely improved their stock and can be used as trade pieces to net a pick or young player from a contender that needs wing depth. A lot also depends on if the Warriors plan on trading DLO or not. Dec 15th is coming up soon, but I doubt that the Warriors will look to trade him so soon without seeing him play with the full roster. The team still needs a 3 and D wing and a center, but the high draft pick that we should get will definitely help in addressing one of those problems.

Pretty much agree with all except the Poole part. If we're going to say that Paschall and Spellman are positives. We gotta put Poole in the negatives. Yeah, its not a final answer on his career, but he has been bad to start the season. I don't think there's any way to sugarcoat it.

[pacers33granger]

Obviously we had a lot of roster turnover. Overall I think each move has been at least decent, with some being great.

- Signing Brogdon: has worked out better than we could have hoped for honestly. He's played great on the court and has been a leader from day one.
- Trading for Warren: he's been streaky, but overall pretty good and has given effort on defense. He still gets lost on that end from time to time and has pouted a bit when he's not getting shots; hopefully those issues get ironed out.
- Signing Lamb: another great signing. He's averaged about 17 ppg with solid play all around. Should fit in very nicely as our 6th man once everyone is healthy.
- Signing Holiday: I was kind of skeptical on this one but he's helped keep the team afloat with all the injuries. The one worry is that Nate really seems to like utilizing him, which means less minutes for our young guys (per usual).
- Signing McConnell: best backup PG we've had in a long time. After 2 years of watching CoJo overdribble and fail miserably at running an offense, it's a very nice change to have an actual PG. He has his issues, but this has been a solid signing and he's been another good leader for the team.
- Signing Sampson: he's been as expected. Started a few games for us. Clearly Leaf is not ready (if he ever will be), so having a vet PF was a necessity and you could do worse for the minimum.
- Extending Domas: looks like an absolute steal.
- Drafting Goga: great value at 18 and we've needed minutes from him early on. Could very well be a problem if he develops into a starting caliber center, but that's a future problem and a good one to have.

Overall it's hard not to like how things are going. Nate is even running some real offense (which leads me personally to believe it was more a personnel problem the past few years rather than his inability). The one iffy spot seems to be that there just aren't enough shots to go around (or minutes) and guys seem slightly miffed at times. Once Dipo comes back it may put the hierarchy into a better balance though.

[Trader_Joe]

Nets - mehhh

It was thought this team might start slowly with all the new faces, the China trip and the Chandler suspension, but the injuries have only added to their slow start. The defense was terrible to start, but has come around.

The positives:
Dinwiddie - after a slow start he's been carrying this team
J.Allen - he's rebounding excellently and shooting a ridiculously high percentage while playing solid D.
J.Harris - Mr.Consistent and his passing and D have been improved

The negatives:
Irving - injuries right away and seemingly having a hard time assimilating. He didn't have much of a preseason at all, so I'm hoping he comes back ready to lead and has learned some things watching.
LeVert - also injured yet again, and wasn't playing efficient ball before he went down
Kurucs - big regression, probably because of off-court issues


The off-season acquisitions:
D.Jordan - he's been good on offense and the glass and a leader teaching Allen, but he's not the defender he once was and could lose some weight. Still don't like the contract years or amount
Temple - he's been a nice surprise as I didn't like the signing at first. Nothing great, but he is a glue guy with energy
Nwaba - starting to get back in the rotation, which is good. Less Shumpert and Pinson please
T.Prince - he's had his moments, but he's been more Travis Outlaw than Tasyhaun Prince
Claxton - shows nice potential in limited minutes be still weak and raw
W.Chandler - TBD
K.Durant - TBD

Tough to know what this team really is until after the New Year (Irving back hopefully soon, LeVert as well and W.Chandler 12/15)

[Laimbeer]

[ChettheJet]

I would say

The Chicago Bulls

are a disappointment. Zack Lavine is inconsistent, 49 points, 30, 28 then 10, 14 and when his scoring is down he doesn't step it up with assists or rebounds either. Lauri Markkanen was supposed to become at least a near All Star and he's had a whopping 2 games with 20 points and likewise he doesn't make up for the lack of scoring by being a big time defender or rebounder.

Coby White is going through the growing pains of a rookie, some great games, some where he's invisible.Wendell Carter doing well, consistent double double though could be more aggressive on offense. Thad Young isn't shooting that well and shooting too much but he probably feels the pressure of the two big scorers not delivering so often. Otto Porter jr., injured and hardly contributing for the money he makes. If he can't stay on the floor he's not worth having around. Tomas Satoransky is finding his way as a starter, has some excellent games scoring wise but when he's not he tries to contribute in other ways. Hutchison injured and missing his chance to start in place of Porter and make strides. Kornet likewise injured so not doing much off the bench. The surprise is Kris Dunn, playing well on offense and near the league lead in steals while only playing part time

People want to bitch about Coach Boylen but if your two veterans Markkanen and Lavine who you count on to be near All stars play like journeymen the rest of the roster can't cover for them,

[BBallFreak]

Miami Heat.

What can I say? Very very happy with the season. We're better than most expected, myself included. I figured we'd be a few games above .500 but this is much better, obviously. We're a strong 14-5 and we're beating who we're supposed to beat. No complaints.

As for the individuals on this team:

Pg:

Kendrick Nunn - Wow, I don't think anyone expected him to be this good. The kid can flat out score and it's made a major difference on this team.

Goran Dragic - Taken to that bench role beautifully and looks rejuvenated. I'm thrilled to see the way he's responded to the challenge of leading the second unit.

Justise Winslow - Incomplete. When he's played, he's been up and down. Definitely has to be respected but his percentages haven't been where they need to be.

Sg:

Jimmy Butler - Better than advertised. He's been unselfish, smart, and clearly is enjoying his role with this team. He seems to really embrace the culture, but of course, we know that can change. I'm encouraged so far.

Tyler Herro - Absolutely love this kid. He is confident! A very good shooter, and obviously quite a bit more. He's been wonderful.

Sf:

Duncan Robinson - He's exceeded expectations. I honestly expected him to be nothing more than an end of the bench guy, but he's really come on strong, and not just with his shooting. He's played solid team defense.

Derrick Jones Jr - Incomplete. I've liked what I've seen from him. He is a very talented and exciting player, but he does us no good injured.

Pf:

Bam Adebayo - WOW! I love this kid. Fantastic defender, but he's been so much more - steals, blocked shots, assists, points - he's everywhere.

Chris Silva - Just tons of energy, but he's still very raw. He needs refinement to his game, but he's in the right system to get it. I eventually see him and Bam playing together quite a bit.

James Johnson - Meh. He came back from his conditioning issues and scored 17. Has barely played since. Something is going on behind the scenes. too bad because his skill set could really fit this team's needs.

Cc:

Meyers Leonard - Better than expected but not starting caliber. His shooting has helped and he's not a dreadful defender but he's clearly just a placeholder.

Kelly Olynyk - His usual talented self. He's not a world-beater, but he's a solid player who helps stretch the floor and isn't afraid to mix it up. He brings a lot to the table but nothing outstanding.

[K_chile22]

Rockets:
Starting five as a unit has been great. Rockets top 6 is really really good (Harden-Russ-House-Tuck-Clint-EG)

But beyond that they need some help. Chandler has been solid but can't handle minute loads larger than like 12 a night, Rivers is a competent 7th man, McLemore has been an ok 9th man whos been asked to do more because of injuries. They need a four to cut PJs minutes desperately, and add some defense. A backup center wouldn't hurt either, but Hartenstein and Clark have shown enough that I'm fine with just giving them those minutes and just trying to stay afloat with those lineups if the cost is anything significant there. Biggest Issue is Russ just has to play better and they need House and EG to stay on the floor. Someone like Bembry would be nice. Not 4 sized but can play with 2 other wing sized dudes, maybe he can be an ok shooter if spoonfed corner 3s, and can defend well at a low salary