Sports
7 NBA Teams Nobody Is Talking About but Should Be – Bleacher Report
Attention in the NBA is a fickle beast.
Established contenders such as the Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns enjoy plenty of it, though the rub is the increased pressure that comes with such intense scrutiny. The same is true of big-market squads perpetually propped up by relentless media coverage, in some cases deserved and undeserved in others (see: Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks).
Throw in dynastic organizations trying to hold on for a little longer—the Golden State Warriors, for example—and the collective basketball consciousness has almost exhausted its share of the attention pie.
However, a handful of squads deserve more. Far more.
Whether buoyed by stars surging higher up the individual ladder, bolstered by incoming talents, overshadowed by off-court drama or simply in possession of so much upside that mini-breakouts are all but guaranteed, these seven teams deserve more love during the late-offseason portion of the NBA calendar.
That will change if they start winning games that count at higher rates than expected.
Luka Dončić is coming off a season in which he averaged an eye-popping 32.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 8.0 assists, but the best is yet to come for the Dallas Mavericks megastar.
Even though the 24-year-old is coming off that sensational individual effort and has received fringe MVP consideration each of his past four go-rounds, he’s primed to enter the 2023-24 campaign motivated to lift the Mavericks into title contention alongside the uber-talented but enigmatic Kyrie Irving.
Tim Hardaway Jr., Grant Williams, Seth Curry, Dwight Powell, Richaun Holmes and Co., admittedly, comprise a forgettable supporting cast. But the NBA is a star-driven league, and it’s tough to sniff at that two-headed backcourt monster.
The Dončić-Irving duo yielded just a 4.2 net rating last year, careening down the stretch to fall shy of both .500 and a playoff berth, but continuity has never been a negative in the Association.
Plus, Dončić, following offseason after offseason in which conditioning concerns popped up, has seemed like he’s in the best shape of his career while torching the FIBA World Cup competition.
Forget about the putrid 22-60 record earned under Stephen Silas in 2022-23. Don’t worry about the failure to win a playoff series—or even advance to the postseason—since James Harden led the charge in 2019-20. Overlook the fact that the 59 combined victories over the last three seasons barely outpace the Milwaukee Bucks’ tally from last year alone (58).
This is just about raw talent.
The Houston Rockets have Jabari Smith Jr., the No. 3 overall pick of the 2022 NBA draft, ready to lift off during his sophomore season, and Tari Eason joined him as an All-Rookie member. Alperen Şengün averaged an efficient 14.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists after the All-Star break, and Jalen Green is a walking bucket looking to put all the pieces together.
And the list of young and intriguing contributors goes on, especially since incoming rookies Amen Thompson (No. 4 overall) and Cam Whitmore (No. 20 overall) are entering the fold.
With Ime Udoka steering the spacecraft from the sidelines, and both Fred VanVleet and—caveat: far less impactful—Dillon Brooks coming aboard to push them into win-now mode, the Rockets suddenly have an intriguing mix of veteran savvy and youthful upside.
Ja Morant is, rather understandably, probably the first player who comes to mind when pondering the Memphis Grizzlies.
Considering he will begin a 25-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the league as soon as the 2023-24 campaign begins, it’s not the most positive initial association despite his all-world talent.
Except…the Grizz were somehow better with him off the floor in 2021-22 (see: 4.9 net rating with and 6.6 net rating without) and overcame his injury- and suspension-related absences last year by playing slightly better than break-even basketball with him in street clothes or riding the pine.
That’s less a condemnation of Morant’s obvious ability and more a confirmation of the depth of talent and impressive system built by the burgeoning Beale Street contenders.
Now, with Marcus Smart and Derrick Rose entering the picture, Memphis should enjoy more stability at point guard even with the instability that seems to circle Morant these days.
The defense could be off-the-charts good when Smart, Steven Adams and Desmond Bane play alongside reigning Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. And the offense won’t be too shabby, either.
Don’t be surprised when Memphis is already established as a legitimate contender before Morant logs a single minute.
Karl-Anthony Towns, understandably, took plenty of flak for a massively disappointing playoff series against the eventual champions in which he averaged 18.2 points and 10.2 rebounds but slashed just 45.7/25.0/75.0 and consistently seemed to shrink from the moment.
The Denver Nuggets flat-out crushed the Minnesota Timberwolves when the big man was on the floor.
And yet, Towns is a 27-year-old with three All-Star appearances under his belt, and it’s not like his borderline-generational offensive talent as a stretch big has just evaporated. Plus, that postseason “effort” came against a brutal matchup in Nikola Jokić and on the heels of a regular season in which he played just 29 games. He’d only suited up in eight contests following an absence that began on Nov. 30 and lasted for nearly four months.
Criticizing Minnesota is easy after the blockbuster Rudy Gobert acquisition fell flat on its face. But the Stifle Tower has now had a year to adjust to his new surroundings, and he’ll build up more chemistry with Towns if the two stay jointly healthy.
And Anthony Edwards is poised to make the difficult leap to true stardom after his ostentatious offensive output in the series loss to Denver.
Maybe the focus won’t remain on Towns after all.
Technically, the New Orleans Pelicans have been the subject of plenty of chatter throughout the 2023 offseason. But since the conversations have largely revolved around a wide variety of negatively slanted Zion Williamson-related subjects, none of which are anything more than tangential to his on-court efforts, that’s a bit different than the types of discussions germane to our purposes.
Meaningful dialogue about the Pelicans’ ability to make noise in a highly competitive Western Conference has, by comparison, been scarce.
It shouldn’t be.
Williamson’s mere presence changes everything. So long as he’s available, he’s a scheme-altering talent who can single-handedly propel New Orleans. Sure, he’s only played 29 games over the last two seasons, but let’s not forget how special those outings were as he averaged 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists while shooting 60.8 percent from the field.
Oh, and the Pelicans are rather talented even when the 23-year-old doesn’t factor into the equation. With CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Trey Murphy III, Jonas Valančiūnas, Herb Jones, Jose Alvarado and Larry Nance Jr. populating the depth chart, this is a playoff contender sans Williamson.
With him, true contention is a realistic ceiling.
Remember when the world was writing off the Oklahoma City Thunder because their wealth of draft picks and dedication to letting young talent develop on the fly was antithetical to competing for a playoff berth?
So much for that.
The Thunder came tantalizingly close to crashing the postseason party last year, posting a 40-42 record and taking down the New Orleans Pelicans with a road play-in victory before getting blown out by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
However, that high-stakes failure should only motivate a young and improving outfit bolstered by even more talent in 2023-24.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has arrived as a bona fide superstar who can elevate the floor of any lineup, and the level of play around him is only getting stronger. Chet Holmgren will be looking to make a delayed Rookie of the Year push, Jalen Williams is striving to prove he had a legitimate case to topple Paolo Banchero in last year’s voting, and Josh Giddey is trying to bolster his own application for celestial status.
The Thunder have a large range of potential outcomes in 2023-24, but everything coalescing during Mark Daigneault’s fourth season in charge should have them playing well into late April.
We’re at least a year away from the Orlando Magic playing for anything more than a low-end playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, but even those relatively limited aspirations outshine popular perception of the supposed bottom-dwellers.
Orlando won 21 of its last 45 games in 2022-23 while establishing itself as an upper-echelon defensive outfit, and the young core should only improve.
Paolo Banchero is coming off a Rookie of the Year-winning effort and has plenty of room to grow as he plays more meaningful minutes and starts cutting back on some of the decision-making faux pas and shooting-efficiency mistakes that plagued him during his debut campaign.
Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr. and Markelle Fultz are all trending in the right direction, and the Magic have so much upside scattered throughout the roster that someone will surely experience an unexpected breakout.
What if Jalen Suggs, still just 22 years old and in possession of plentiful pedigree, rights the ship during his third go-round? What happens when Anthony Black goes from No. 6 pick in the 2023 draft to immediate contributor thanks to his unselfishness and defensive chops? Options abound in Orlando.
All stats, unless otherwise indicated, courtesy of NBA.com and Basketball Reference.
