Can these teams be fixed?

[celticsclay]

We are now into January so we have a pretty decent sample size. Some high profile teams are really underachieving. Do we think any of these teams can be fixed?

1) Suns - They have only had their big three for a handful of games. Beal seems like he may finally be healthy, but it is unclear if he is enough to right the ship. They have zero flexibility to make trades and it seems like they may end up stuck in play-in range even with good health. Are there any moves they can make? Do they have enough talent to turn it around?

2) Golden State - The draymond suspension has not helped them at all, but everyone outside of Curry seems to be having some issues. Klay looks quite washed up. Wiggins seems to have fallen off a cliff since his personal isues last month. They have a couple of rookies that are playing well, but how do they fix this to get above .500?

3) Lakers - After really playing 110% intensity to win the in-season tournament the team has struggled mightily. Perhaps more concerning they have experienced near perfect health from AD and Lebron which is a miracle given their age and injury histories. Defenses have targeted Reaves non stop on defense after he was exposed in international play and they really don't seem to have a third player behind Davis or Lebron (it is not russell or reaves who have both come off the bench at times). They also have very limited assets to make a trade. Is there anything they can do? Or is this more Jordan Wizards stage of Lebron's career.

4) Hawks - They offloaded Collins over the summer, but have struggled more than ever and are currently sitting in 10th at 5 games under .500. There have been rumors of trading Murray or other players. Will that help them? How do they get out of NBA purgatory.

[Who]

I like the Suns three guard backcourt

G: Grayson Allen, Eric Gordon
G: Bradley Beal

Grayson Allen has been a nice surprise this year. I only thought of him as a spot up shooter and streaky scorer but he has done well handling the ball and initiating the offense for PHX. He has played some good physical defense when not asked to guard players bigger than him. He won't confuse anyone with a real PG but he is a much better all-round player than I realized.

The only issue with that backcourt is that it forces Devin Booker to be a SF. He is a two guard. Not a three. It makes PHX too small on the perimeter and fails to give them enough help on defense or rebounding.

[Goldstar88]

Suns need to get healthy. Not sure if that will happen, though. Warriors need to make a trade, probably Wiggins. Also need Draymond back. Hawks are just terrible defensively and a lot of it is Trae Young. Not sure they can fix that with him on the team.

[Who]

4) Hawks - They offloaded Collins over the summer, but have struggled more than ever and are currently sitting in 10th at 5 games under .500. There have been rumors of trading Murray or other players. Will that help them? How do they get out of NBA purgatory.

Trading Dejounte Murray would be great for the Hawks. He is too duplicative of Trae Young as both are primary ball-handling PGs. Too much overlap. Trading Dejounte would help rebalance their team and take them from a .500 team to a 45-47 win type team. Not a game changer but a move in the positive direction.


Jalen Johnson has been a great boost to ATL. He is going for 15ppg and 8rpg with strong 3PT% and is regarded as their best defensive player. His growth has been a major boost to them. I see him and Trae as their core players.

Elsewhere, the team has failed to make inroads. They drafted a bunch of wings who did not pan out for them. Cam Reddish. DeAndre Hunter. Kevin Huerter. Huerter is probably the best of the three of them and he is only an average SG. They got rid of Reddish. Huerter is gone.

DeAndre Hunter is the only one left and he isn't up to the job. He is not a starting caliber player. He is a player like Grant Williams. Hunter has conned people with his draft pick and ppg numbers. He is another Grant Williams. A solid bench PF/SF. Nothing more, nothing less.

Then they added Saddiq Bey but he has shown he is nothing more than a solid bench piece. Not starter material. He got too much attention putting up empty stats on lousy DET teams.

Finally, they have a problem at center. Capela is getting older. He is not part of their long term plans. Okungwu has played very well as a bench player but has flattered to deceive when asked to take a larger role as a starter. He gets away with his lack of size againt less talented bench dudes but struggles against starting caliber big men. So he does not appear to be an answer.

That means they have only two legit long term starters:

PG - Trae or Dejounte
PF - Jalen Johnson

The rest of the team isn't good enough. It needs to be torn down and totally rebuilt.

[Who]

2) Golden State - The draymond suspension has not helped them at all, but everyone outside of Curry seems to be having some issues. Klay looks quite washed up. Wiggins seems to have fallen off a cliff since his personal isues last month. They have a couple of rookies that are playing well, but how do they fix this to get above .500?

Golden State need a major trade.

They have only one high level player on their roster in Steph Curry. The rest are all role players. Steph needs some help.

Klay Thompson needs to go. GSW will never do it. They are committed to allowing their Big Three to finish their careers there and it is going to stop them from challenging for another title. Steph still has another title run in him. Maybe a few. They need to be cut-throat and get him the help.

Klay was great for Steph in part because of his defense. He helped balance that perimeter D next to Steph. Ever since the injury, he can no longer play D at an above average rate anymore. Steph needs quality defenders alongside him. Like Jokic does in DEN. Or Luka in DAL. They can't carry these bad defenders next to them.

Golden State's defense has been this bad because of the downfall of their perimeter defense. There is no way a defense-only role player like Gary Payton III should have as large an impact as he does for them. Or did particularly in the 2022 Finals against us. And it is precisely because he is their only guard who can play plus defense. Top notch defense to be more precise. Steph was their next best defender. Then Klay. Then Poole now Podziemski. And CP3.

CP3 has been a massive failure for GSW. He makes them too small. They shift Klay to SF. Klay doesn't rebound. CP3 doesn't rebound. Steph barely rebounds. So GSW gets no rebounding from 3 perimeter spots. It makes them too small. They get beaten up. They cannot compete in the playoffs playing like this. They have to get their size back. They have to get their defense back. They have to restore their perimeter defense. And to do that they have to get rid of Klay. And probably CP3 as well.

GSW needs to go all in. Youngsters, picks, and old big contracts like Klay & CP3 into trades to bring back win-now players. Go all-in on Steph's last few years. If they do that, they have another title run in them. If they don't, they will be a middle of the road team as they are now.

They have to chose loyalty to their old guard or ambition to win another Championship.

I hope they choose winning.

[Who]

3) Lakers - After really playing 110% intensity to win the in-season tournament the team has struggled mightily. Perhaps more concerning they have experienced near perfect health from AD and Lebron which is a miracle given their age and injury histories. Defenses have targeted Reaves non stop on defense after he was exposed in international play and they really don't seem to have a third player behind Davis or Lebron (it is not russell or reaves who have both come off the bench at times). They also have very limited assets to make a trade. Is there anything they can do? Or is this more Jordan Wizards stage of Lebron's career.

The Lakers are largely what they were last year. A team in the bottom half of the playoff picture in the West. They are not a title contender. They were not last year either. They got a fortunate draw. If MEM had not of been so badly injured, the Lakers would have lost in the first round. Then they got lucky with the 2nd round draw.

They actually have the top of their roster right. LeBron and AD are bringing it. It is their supporting cast that is killing them.

They did well with their changes midway through last season to elevate them from a non-playoff team to a lower half playoff seed. They need another big boost again. It sounds like D'Angelo Russell will be the one they trade. They have one draft pick way off into the future in 2029 or something like that which they can trade.

It is not clear what they can get in the trade market for that but that is the hand they have left to play. It won't make them a frontrunner in the West but maybe could make them a darkhorse candidate. Then again, maybe not. Maybe they will just go from a low seed playoff team to a mid seed playoff team and still have no hope of a title run.

Outside of that, or trading A Reaves, I do not see much else that they can do. Nothing that would substantially change their team. Just musical chairs type moves. 

[Who]

We are now into January so we have a pretty decent sample size. Some high profile teams are really underachieving. Do we think any of these teams can be fixed?

1) Suns - They have only had their big three for a handful of games. Beal seems like he may finally be healthy, but it is unclear if he is enough to right the ship. They have zero flexibility to make trades and it seems like they may end up stuck in play-in range even with good health. Are there any moves they can make? Do they have enough talent to turn it around?

PHX we haven't really seen yet. Too many injuries.

After injuries, I see coaching as their next biggest issue. I do not like all the small-ball lineups. I want them to start Metu or Bates-Diop next to Durant at forward. Beef up their defense & rebounding. They have enough scoring with their Big Three that they do not need to go smaller again to get more offense on the floor. That is a mistake.

We don't have a good picture of this team yet because of all the injuries. Nurkic at center is a problem for them but it will be hard to replace him with a center who can actually play some defense. They do not have much if anything to trade with him. They have traded everything they have for Durant & Beal. I don't think they have any other assets. So that is the position you would like to see them upgrade but I don't think they have any real possibility to upgrade it.

[theswitch]

4) Hawks - They offloaded Collins over the summer, but have struggled more than ever and are currently sitting in 10th at 5 games under .500. There have been rumors of trading Murray or other players. Will that help them? How do they get out of NBA purgatory.

Trading Dejounte Murray would be great for the Hawks. He is too duplicative of Trae Young as both are primary ball-handling PGs. Too much overlap. Trading Dejounte would help rebalance their team and take them from a .500 team to a 45-47 win type team. Not a game changer but a move in the positive direction.


Jalen Johnson has been a great boost to ATL. He is going for 15ppg and 8rpg with strong 3PT% and is regarded as their best defensive player. His growth has been a major boost to them. I see him and Trae as their core players.

Elsewhere, the team has failed to make inroads. They drafted a bunch of wings who did not pan out for them. Cam Reddish. DeAndre Hunter. Kevin Huerter. Huerter is probably the best of the three of them and he is only an average SG. They got rid of Reddish. Huerter is gone.

DeAndre Hunter is the only one left and he isn't up to the job. He is not a starting caliber player. He is a player like Grant Williams. Hunter has conned people with his draft pick and ppg numbers. He is another Grant Williams. A solid bench PF/SF. Nothing more, nothing less.

Then they added Saddiq Bey but he has shown he is nothing more than a solid bench piece. Not starter material. He got too much attention putting up empty stats on lousy DET teams.

Finally, they have a problem at center. Capela is getting older. He is not part of their long term plans. Okungwu has played very well as a bench player but has flattered to deceive when asked to take a larger role as a starter. He gets away with his lack of size againt less talented bench dudes but struggles against starting caliber big men. So he does not appear to be an answer.

That means they have only two legit long term starters:

PG - Trae or Dejounte
PF - Jalen Johnson

The rest of the team isn't good enough. It needs to be torn down and totally rebuilt.

Bogdanovic should have some trade value. 40% three-point shooter on major volume, doesn't need the ball in his hands. Size at 225 pounds. Probably not enough defense to be a high level starter but a nice player.

[Phantom255x]

Only the Suns I think, and that also involves them staying healthy and building chemistry which are hardly guarantees. Reminds me of the Nets "Big 3" with Kyrie/Harden/Durant (and to a lesser extent, what they tried with Kyrie/Simmons/Durant). Might just never work out.

Hawks are just stuck in mediocrity. It's easy to say they need to find multiple pieces around Young but idk how they realistically can. Young himself is a bit limited in certain areas.

Warriors and Lakers, idk. You can't discount Curry and Lebron, but I don't think their rosters are good enough. Lebron and AD are putting up numbers and the Lakers are still losing a lot. And as mentioned, a lot of the guys around Curry are struggling, including Klay who looks washed. It's also looking likely one of the teams makes the play-in, the other is outright not in the Top-10 of the West. Things can change but that's how it's trending. If the Lakers are able to make a run, it's because they made moves at the deadline AND their path is a bit easy depending on injuries to other guys and how things shake out. That's how they made a run last year until Denver just swept them

[Moranis]

Hawks should sell off everyone and tank.  They don't have the players or assets to move into real contention.  I know they won't do that, but they should.

An interesting trade that I know will never happen, but something like it should is

Draymond and Wiggins

For

Capela and Bogdanovic

I think both teams would be improved with that sort of move.

[TheBig3]

Hawks should sell off everyone and tank.  They don't have the players or assets to move into real contention.  I know they won't do that, but they should.

An interesting trade that I know will never happen, but something like it should is

Draymond and Wiggins

For

Capela and Bogdanovic

I think both teams would be improved with that sort of move.

Draymond is toxic, not sure anyone would touch him except maybe the Lakers

[Moranis]

Hawks should sell off everyone and tank.  They don't have the players or assets to move into real contention.  I know they won't do that, but they should.

An interesting trade that I know will never happen, but something like it should is

Draymond and Wiggins

For

Capela and Bogdanovic

I think both teams would be improved with that sort of move.

Draymond is toxic, not sure anyone would touch him except maybe the Lakers

he is what Trae Young needs

[Roy H.]

Lakers players are trying to get Darvin Ham fired..  I'm sure that will fix them.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Hawks should sell off everyone and tank.  They don't have the players or assets to move into real contention.  I know they won't do that, but they should.

An interesting trade that I know will never happen, but something like it should is

Draymond and Wiggins

For

Capela and Bogdanovic

I think both teams would be improved with that sort of move.

Draymond is toxic, not sure anyone would touch him except maybe the Lakers

he is what Trae Young needs

I kinda' like that.

[celticsclay]

Lakers players are trying to get Darvin Ham fired..  I'm sure that will fix them.

I saw that. What coach is even available that would replace him?