Welcome to the first in a series of blogs on the progress of teams across the NBA. The premise, we’re taking my favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers, picking up 4 more teams (like a pick up game) and we’re writing on the collective success, failures, trades, cuts and so on for that squad. As the season progresses, the 4 will change, as will our outlook on the season.

There will be two perspectives: The backstory and the breakdown. The “backstory” gives some offshoot anecdote about each team, referenced as a solitary player, and also how and what that player brings to this pick up team. The “breakdown” will bring a more comprehensive analysis of the performances of each team, information you could extrapolate to use for fantasy or future outlooks, or even just to save for some hard data, water cooler chatter with friends.

Backstory:

Our first 4 will be the Celtics, Heat, Warriors and Knicks. Day 1 of our newly minted team reads a little like:

Five teams with big NBA history all step into a new season, dragging along fanbases that all expect the same thing: a clear shot at the title. The thing all these teams have in common – seasoned personnel. Each of these teams may have a few new faces to back up their main core, and no one is coming into this season 100% healthy. The idea is how much work these teams need to do to start the season in order to give the league, fans, media and themselves the meeting of expectations set before them.

Lakers –
Okay, so the Lakers open up the season, collectively flat on defense, but somehow make the game into a spectacle in true Laker fashion. Luka goes galactic just to make the game relevant, the Warriors sent a baby-faced assassin in Steph, a gremlin in Jimmy and their on-again, off-again red-headed stepchild Kuminga on a flurry to offensively bury the Lakers. Lack of production, poor shot selection, lack of execution and just… flat energy, all sum up the demise of the Lakers’ opening night. Then, the opposite happens against the Wolves. Maybe it was stern talking, or the need for an extra, live game, but the team looked nothing like the day 1 team (although JJ started the same guys.) Hopefully this team knows what they’re cooking with. They’re 1 of maybe 12 teams that got a win because their “A” guy went nuclear. After a busy offseason with team Slovenia, and an obvious undertaking to get into “better shape” (see: slimmer), Luka cannot afford to have the type of utilization that he’s had these 2 games. It just isn’t sustainable, and won’t measure up against a league that is collectively getting better, tougher and younger. 

Celtics –
The Celtics are not a mess. They are offensively a shell of their former selves, and rightfully so. A majority of their production came purposely from the 3-point line. Thanks to salary caps, taxes, etc, their front office neutered that attack in the offseason, moving key parts to other teams in order to offload salary. Gasoline met the current fire [sale] of this team when the opening week opponents were set – Sixers, Knicks and Pistons. The Sixers are one of this season’s question marks, so it stands to reason that the Celtics weren’t exactly ready for the barrage that they faced from Philly’s newest rookie, VJ Edgecombe. That loss was one thing, but the manner in which the team got outhustled and beat soundly on offense against the Knicks, sum up to one important note: This is going to be a brutal few weeks for the Cs.

The Warriors went through similar pains a couple of seasons ago as Klay Thompson sat injured/on the bench for much of the 2023 season. The team looked for help from just about everywhere (You traded for BUDDY HIELD?), which eventually led to Jimmy Butler – but this Celtics team is fresh off of a Tatum season-ender, plus the hellish offseason. Luckily, the performances of Queta, Hauser and Pritchard all have monumental room to grow this season, possibly to a point of being competitive under the coaching of Mazzulla. Detroit is going to be a test of toughness, and a great barometer for this team.

Miami
The Miami Heat have something cooking, but it has that je ne sais pas. Past the Rozier arrest, this team is a collection of basketball misfits that just seems to work because they’re coached well. Bam is the only sure thing on this team. Everyone else seems to have seasons of good and bad basketball, mostly affected by the overall flow of the game. In other words, they work when the game works. A few of these guys are in the “not working out” realm, for me. Wiggins heads my list, but Davion Mitchell and Nikola Jovic (despite his great showing against Memphis) are on the border. The team is definitely missing  Heero – he has the ability to create his own offense with his shot deep in the clock when the ball isn’t dropping for his team. That’s something Wiggins had, something Jaquez may never find again and something Jovic seems to forget he has. Miami plays New York, and it’s a great test to see which team we’ll have early on. New York has a long lull of offense against the Celtics, which Boston couldn’t take advantage of. If Miami is the team that played Memphis (albeit, a shell of its former self), then this should be a great team. If it’s the one that struggled against Orlando, and levied its FT shooting heavy, then it’s going to be a short walk to Cancun for this team.


Warriors
This team signed and traded its way into becoming the “oldest” team in the NBA – and the only thing I thought of were memes. I figured posts would come about their guys playing in wheelchairs and walkers, Steph playing in a cast and so on. From a Hoops perspective, this team has a collective Basketball IQ, experience and acquisition of accolades to make the Western Conference more than interesting. Pan to opening night and… every person that drafted Curry left game 1 with a huge gap-toothed smile. The only detriment I have to the way the Warriors need to play is that the needed intensity to play in the Western Conference (let alone the Pacific Division) isn’t sustainable with this team. They need more depth and the bench (let’s take out Podz since his role is a proverbial question mark) isn’t dependable. This is week 1, so let’s see the record after Sunday, Nov 2nd.

Knicks

This may be the team out of the five that has the fewest question marks coming into this season, and the highest expectation to succeed. In fact, pundits and social media-ites all agree – the Knicks should be in the Eastern Conference Finals at minimum. There are glaring questions that remain, that could shape those expectations into a more realistic form. To start: How will new Head Coach Mike Brown coach this team compared to Tom Thibodeau? The rotation will need to be deeper than Brown’s predecessor, as last year’s champion, the OKC Thunder, were able to rely on a deeper bench to cover injuries throughout the season, which further emboldened their bench during their playoff run. New York suffered multiple injuries through the playoffs, as too did their offense, allowing a much healthier, deeper Pacers squad to advance. Also, what is the role of Karl-Anthony Towns? I mean, after this offseason of rumors surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo being traded/signing to New York, how will the player handle the lens on this team, on himself and the league at large? Every loss, lack of effort and missed shot will be magnified by 10. To make matters worse, this team opens the 1st 2 weeks in a gauntlet against playoff-ready teams. So far, games 1 and 2 (Cleveland, Boston respectively) have fared well. The team is being played deep into its rotation, and although there isn’t a 30-point game from KAT, Brunson looks healthy, and ready to pick up the slack. Granted a win against a new and developing Boston team could be scrutinized as a booby prize (or whatever you want to call an empty win), but the way the team is gritting out offensive slumps but utilizing great rebounding and harrowing defense has proven that this team is ready to get to Mecca by any means necessary. More to come after the end of week 2.

Overall, one big thing that will be a hot button topic for these teams (and the league) is “health.” Availability is going to be the best ability, and the fall/winter months favor the young and the bold. These amazing games with high individual scoring (AR, Giannis, Luka, Aaron Gordon, etc.) are not the mark of a league that has scoring on the rise again. I believe that these types of games will wither and flame out as the season becomes more demanding, and coaches have more tape to set up defenses for opposing players. Until our next Post Up, enjoy the season!