Disappointments From The First Half Of The Season
With every season we have expectations for teams/players. Some teams have added lots of talent but things haven’t worked out. Others just haven’t played to the level that we expected them to. The same goes for players. Some players are expected to breakout or have a bounce back year. It doesn’t happen all the time. Today I will be going over the biggest disappointments from the first half of the 2020-21 season.
Teams
Some teams were supposed to make big strides. They added some new pieces and were supposed to be better than they currently are. Yes they can still turn their season around in the 2nd half however as of right now they are disappointments.
Sacramento Kings
The Kings have been bad for a long time and their rebuild never seemed to go anywhere. However over the past few years through the draft and free agency they have build a young squad who had playoff hopes this season. Their roster definitely looks like one who should be making the postseason, even in the loaded West:
De’Aaron Fox: 23 points and 8 assists
Buddy Hield: 16 points on 38% 3-PT
Harrison Barnes: 17 points and 6 rebounds
Marvin Bagley: 14 points and 7 rebounds
Richuan Holmes: 13 points and 8 rebounds
(R) Tyrese Haliburton: 13 points and 5 assists
This team has a lot of good players. De’Aaron Fox is having a career after signing a massive extension and was a borderline All-Star. Buddy Hield is one of the best shooters in the league. Harrison Barnes can do it all. While Marvin Bagley isn’t better than Luka Doncic he’s still solid. Richuan Holmes was a steal in the 2019 free agency. Oh yeah they also have the steal of the draft. At the very least this team should be one of the 10 best teams in the conference, even if it the West.
But alas they are not. But it’s not the offense. Like I said above the Kings have a lot of talent on that end. They have the 9th best offense in the league and they are very good at a lot of things:
– #9 in scoring
– #9 in FG %
– #9 in assists
They have a very good offense but that’s not there problem. So how did they end up on this list? A couple reasons but it can be summed up like this;
Luke Walton & Defense
These two go hand in hand so I’ll start with Walton. I never really got why he was coach. Yes he was an assistant coach with the 2016 Warriors and was interim head coach and got them off to a 39-4 record. After that’s it’s not great. He coached the young Lakers and their one disastrous season with Lebron. He then went to the Kings where he shouldn’t even have gotten the job.
This is because Dave Joerger should have never been fired. Joerger was the long-time Memphis coach and took the Kings job before the 2016-17 season. After a couple poor seasons the Kings were good in the 18-19 season. The Kings were playing fast and they won 39 games. Those 39 games were the highest win total for the Kings since the 2005-06 season. That was also the last time the Kings made the playoffs. So you would think Joerger would have the job longer? Wrong.
I know that Joerger didn’t get along with his players. But you would think they would see this success and see where things went for at least one more year? No. They hired Walton and the Kings were worse. With the season being shortened last year they won 31 games with a 0.431 win percentage. In a whole 82 game season they would have won around 35-36 games. That’s less than what they got with Joerger. So maybe he was the right guy for the job.
But now in this season with all this talent they should have been competing for the postseason for the first time in a long time? No. The Kings are bad defensively. Like really bad. They are very easily the #30 defense in the league for a lot of reasons:
#30 in opponent ppg (120.4)
#30 in opponent FG% (49.3%)
#30 in opponent 3-PT% (40.3%)
Yeah it’s bad and it really shouldn’t be. Luke Walton should be fired after this season. It’s clear. I really don’t know how he is still a coach in the league just because he was associated with one of the greatest teams ever. He has made the Kings worse and they still haven’t gotten back to where Joerger got them. The defense is embarrassing. With all their talent on offense their defense just overshadows that. It’s sad for Kings fans because this team is talented. Really, really talented. Yet they are still the dregs of the West.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have been a very good team the last few years. 2x MVP and DPOY Giannis Antetokounmpo. All-Star Khris Middleton and a very good supporting cast that is at it’s best right now. Jrue Holiday, Donte DiVincenzo, and Bobby Portis are just some of the notable names of the best supporting cast the Bucks have had during this 3 year span. In the first two they were shut down in the postseason. But with this roster I thought they’d be different and that they had a chance to win a title. Oh how wrong I was.
Let me introduce you guys to one of the “best” coaches in the league. He’s won 329 games in his career and has won 58% of them. He had won 32 playoff games. He has won Coach of the Year twice. He won it one time in 2015 with the Hawks and once with the Bucks in 2019. His name is Mike Budenholzer.
Now looking at that resume he would look like one of the best coaches in the league. He’s been very successful and done great things with two difference organizations. He’s well respected. And yet the Bucks are on this list, why? Let me explain.
Mike Budenholzer’s system is one of the most basic in the league. I don’t see anything complex going on while I watch. I see the same things over and over again and it’s the main reason the Bucks have imploded in the postseason the last two years. Many put blame on Giannis but none of this is on him. It’s all on Budenholzer.
When you look at the Bucks offense it’s very good:
– 2nd best offense in the league
– 2nd in points per game (118.8)
-4th in FG% (48.5%)
-4th in 3-PT% (38.8%)
All of those are impressive, in the regular season. Giannis has been amazing the last few years however the Bucks use him in the exact same ways on offense. It’s give him the ball on the top and treat him like the guard. Since Giannis a freak of nature he can get an efficient 30 points per game and win two MVP’s doing that. But when teams in the postseason build a wall the Bucks lose. Because they do the same thing over and over again.
And the most frustrating thing is that their are so many other ways to use Giannis, a generational talent. He isn’t a guard he’s a center. Put him on the block and let him post people up. Giannis gets 3.3 post ups per game. For reference Joel Embiid gets 9.2. Giannis gets 1.03 points per post up. That is more than Julius Randle (0.98) and he Randle gets more post-ups (4.3). Giannis is effective in the post.
Giannis shoots 56% from the field in the post. Joel Embiid is closer to 50%. I know he gets more post touches but the Bucks don’t even give Giannis more post touches. Giannis is solid in the post with the touches he gets. The problem with that is the Bucks don’t use him at all down low.
The Bucks can also use Giannis as the pick and roll roller, letting him get right to the front of the rim where nearly 80% of shots come from. As a pick and roll roller this season, Giannis is getting 1.7 possessions this season. Now Giannis only averages 0.93 points per roll this season. He’s shooting above 50% from the field. I just wish the Bucks would give him the ball more in the two ways I just laid out. However Mike Budenholzer thinks that Giannis averaging 30 doing the same exact thing is good.
Giannis is great but he would be greater if he wasn’t just doing drives. He average 11.6 drives per game and he averages 8 points per drive. That’s decent but it’s like he does it all the time. Maybe some changes? No? Ok.
Don’t get me started on the defense. They have some very good defenders like Jrue Holiday and Donte DiVincenzo on the perimeter and yet the Bucks are horrible at defending the 3. Because the way that Mike Budenholzer has things set up the Bucks don’t defend 3’s.
The Bucks are 26th in opponent 3-PT makes per game (14.1 3-PT)
The Bucks are 19th in opponent 3-PT% (37.4%)
They just don’t defend the 3-PT line. It’s why teams beat them more often than not. The Bucks continue to play Brook Lopez although he hasn’t been the same defender that he was last year. Last year his defensive rating was 100 (very good) and he was All-Defensive Second Team. This year the defensive rating is back up to 111 (which is ok). He’s not the same.
The Bucks just pack the paint and hope that teams don’t make 3’s. not a recipe for success in today’s NBA.
All in all, Mike Budenholzer is bad. He uses Giannis the same ways year after year and never tries to expand Giannis’s game because he’s won two MVP’s so everything is alright. He refuses to guard the 3-PT line and that’s how the Heat beat them last year. The Bucks aren’t going to a Final with this man. There are coaches like Nick Nurse and Erik Spoelstra in the East that will put this guy in a box because they are far superior coaches. Hope Giannis enjoys that big contract extension because I wouldn’t be in Milwaukee if I was him.
New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans are in a unique situation. Currently on their roster they have two All-Star wings. That’s pretty good but it’s been done before. Oh, they are both under 24 years old. Now you’ve got my attention. Zion Williamson is a generational talent and Brandon Ingram isn’t so bad himself. But as of right now the Pelicans are 11th in the West. How did this happen? Let’s get into it.
Offense
With two extremely young All-Star forwards you would think the offense would be fine. It’s not. The Pelicans lack shooting, and a lot of it. With Zion Williamson down the low the spacing isn’t great. So a team should get lots of shooters. 29 teams would do that, but the Pelicans won’t (now what I think about it the Kings and T-Wolves would also mess this up but you get the point).
The Pelicans don’t have shooters. JJ Redick who is one of the greatest shooters of all-time is declining. Lonzo Ball is having his best shooting year and Eric Bledose is good but there aren’t any other good shooters. Everybody else is streaky and not reliable. To make matters worse the Pelicans have Steven Adams.
Adams is a great defender and brick wall. But he can’t space the floor and it makes it incredibly hard for Zion to score. Now he still scores because he’s Zion but putting a rock in the paint doesn’t help him. Even worse than that, because New Orleans loves to make things worse, is that they signed him to a 2-year extension. Yikes.
So the Pelicans lack spacing and that hinders both Ingram and Zion as they don’t have space to operate. But they are still very good. But the Pelicans also don’t play to their strengths. The Pelicans are the 19th fastest team in the league. Playing fast would help them. Lonzo and Zion are the perfect duo with lobs from everywhere. Brandon Ingram would have more space. Playing faster seems like the move.
But because Steven Adams is on the floor they won’t do it. Adams isn’t exactly fast or nimble. So the Pelicans will play in half-court sets where defenses can set up and ignore their inconsistent shooters. Excellent.
Defense
The offense is a mess but the defense is puzzling to me. Stan Van Gundy is a veteran coach and one of the best defensive coaches in the league now. Just to put into perspective into how good of a defensive coach Van Gundy is, he has coached for 3 teams excluding the Pelicans and coached for 11 full seasons (he resigned during the 2005-06 season with the Heat after just 21 games. The Heat had the 9th best defense that year under Pat Riley and they won a ring). But in 11 full seasons as a coach, Van Gundy is one of the best.
2003-04 Heat: 9th ranked defense
2004-05 Heat: 6th ranked defense
2007-08 Magic: 6th ranked defense
2008-09 Magic: 1st ranked defense (Finals appearance)
2009-10 Magic: 3rd ranked defense
2010-11 Magic: 3rd ranked defense
2011-12 Magic: 12 ranked defense
2014-15 Pistons: 19th ranked defense
2015-16 Pistons: 12 ranked defense
2016-17 Pistons: 8th ranked defense
2017-18 Pistons: 10th ranked defense
As you can see Van Gundy is good at defense. In two full years with the Heat he was always in the top-10 defensively. In 5 years with the Magic he had a top-6 defense in 4 out of 5 years. In the one year he didn’t have a top-6 defense was in 2011-12 when he has a 12th ranked defense, which isn’t even bad.
He turned the Pistons into a solid defensive team in his 4 years there. So if I’m counting right Van Gundy has coached 11 full years as a coach. In those 11 years he has finished with a top-10 defense in 8 years. He had a streak of 6 straight coaching years with a top-10 defense. He’s pretty good at defense. Let’s look at the 2020-21 Pelicans
2020-21 Pelicans – 36 games – 29th ranked defense
Yeah something’s not right with that. The Pelicans are just bad defensively. And they have guys who have been good defenders throughout their career. But something is off this year. I will show you a player’s average defensive rating for their career and the defensive rating they are putting up this year.
Steven Adams – 7 seasons – Avg. Defensive Rating – 105.28
Steven Adams Defensive Rating This Season W/ New Orleans: 116
Eric Bledsoe – 10 seasons – Avg. Defensive Rating – 105.9
Eric Bledsoe Defensive Rating This Season W/ New Orleans – 119
Lonzo Ball Defensive Rating Before This Year: 108.6
Lonzo Ball Defensive Rating This Season: 116
Brandon Ingram Defensive Rating Before This Year: 112
Brandon Ingram Defensive Rating This Season: 118
You get my point? The Pelicans defenders have gotten significantly worse this year. Steven Adams was a very good center defensively and now he’s one of the worst starters in the league. Eric Bledsoe is in the same boat. Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram have also regressed in this area.
To make things worse there’s more than that. JJ Redick has a defensive rating of 121. Zion has a defensive rating of 117. Josh Hart had a rating of 116. This team is poor defensively.
They are:
26th in opponent FG% (47.6%)
30th in opponent 3-PT makes per game (15.6)
28th in opponent 3-PT% (39.3%)
It’s bad on that end as Van Gundy’s defensive mastermind has not translated with this team. It’s just like the Kings. Their terrible defense overshadows their offense. The problem is the Pelicans are also seriously flawed on offense.
So yeah, things aren’t good in New Orleans. They have two dynamic wings and they have absolutely no clue what they are doing. This roster has no shooting, like they are trying to set them up for failure. Their defensive mastermind coach has lost their touch and they have made good defenders look horrible. It’s a shame because Zion and Ingram are great guys to build around. A shame that New Orleans loves to waste generational talents, just ask Chris Paul and Anthony Davis.
Players
Now some players had some high expectations coming into this season. Perhaps they haven’t been what they were supposed to be coming into the league and this was the year things were supposed to come together. Maybe they changed teams and the fresh start wasn’t fresh. Whatever the reason may be some players have disappointed this season and we’ll go over them.
John Collins
Before this season John Collins was offered an extension. Now John Collins was coming off of his best season. After a solid rookie year and a very good sophomore year, Collins turned in his best year yet as he thrived next to Trae Young. Despite being suspended for drug use Collins was excellent and going to get paid big-time as one of the league’s best young forwards,.
Now the Hawks offered Collins a $90 million dollar extension, which is nothing to laugh at. Collins declined it and he said he wanted max money, whether it was from Atlanta or somebody else. So he decided to play this year out and see where the dice landed. The dice landed underneath the furniture because Collins hasn’t been better, he’s been worse this season.
Last years Collins did this:
21.6 points and 10.1 rebounds with 1.6 blocks on 58% shooting from the field and 40% from 3.
Offensive Rating of 124 – Defensive Rating of 112 – Net Rating of +12
Collins was really good. He was shooting it very well from all areas of the floor and was averaging a 20-10 double-double at the age of 22. That sounds max worthy to me. So that $90 million dollar extension sounds disrespectful if I’m Collins and I want max. However Collins would have to prove to the Hawks that he has another great season in him to get that max extention. Things haven’t exactly gone to plan.
This season, here’s what Collins is doing:
18.0 points and 7.6 rebounds with 1 block on 54% shooting and 39% 3-PT
Offensive Rating of 123 – Defensive Rating of 114 – Net Rating of +9
Collins is having a good year but it’s not nearly as good as he was last year. However I don’t doubt he’ll get paid and here’s why. The Hawks got Capela, Gallinari, and Okungwu from the draft. Collins gets less touches and has a lot more competition. He’s still good but the thing is we know what he can be as the #1 option which should really entice teams to go after him.
Collins is only 23 and his game is very well-rounded offensively. So I think that he will get paid, just maybe not by the Hawks. Now if I were the Hawks I would pay him. However maybe they say this regression and don’t want him to get a max extension. That is a likely situation that could happen.
A lot of teams could use Collins if not Atlanta and even with Collin’s dip in production this season he will be getting paid. Just maybe not by Atlanta.
Ja Morant
In the second year of a career players usually show us where they can go. They’ve played a season and learned all the ins and outs of offense and defense. Ja Morant was amazing in his rookie season, winning Rookie of the Year and nearly getting Memphis to the playoffs. So this season expectations were high. And he’s not meeting them.
This is what Ja did in his rookie season:
17.8 points and 7.3 assists on 48% shooting and 34% 3-PT shooting.
Offensive Rating of 109 – Defensive Rating of 113 – Net Rating of -4
Those are really good numbers. He was very efficient for a rookie and he was scoring and passing very well for him being 20 years old. He helped lead a sold Grizzlies team to a near playoff birth after they were expected to be near the bottom of the conference.
Morant was being called better than Zion and people were comparing him as the next superstar of the league. So naturally this second year, where players take the “jump,” was an important year for Morant. Let’s just say that the rookie year was better.
This season here is what Morant is doing this season:
19.8 points and 7.7 assists on 45% shooting and 23% 3-PT shooting.
Offensive Rating of 111 – Defensive Rating of 113 – Net Rating of -2
Morant hasn’t gotten better this year. Sure he’s averaging more points and assists but he’s terrible inefficient. I don’t know how you go from being very efficient for a rookie and then just become below average. The jumpshot still isn’t good. Last year Morant was a good shooter taking 2.7 3’s per game. Solid. This year he’s taking 3.8 3’s and making less of them.
Morant shooting problem is still there and his offense really hasn’t gotten better. The defense is still a problem as this year has been very poor for Morant who thought he was an All-Star. Right, All-Star.
The craziest thing about this is that some people were comparing him to Luka and Trae Young as the next big things. I can still see Ja Morant being a great player and a generational cornerstone for Memphis. However he is one of the most overrated players in the league. Maybe let him actually become an All-Star/All-NBA caliber player before saying he’s better than guys like Luka or Trae Young.
Buddy Hield
Buddy Hield was in an interesting place last year with the Kings. Hield is one of the best shooters in the league and is a solid shooting guard. But last year things changed. Bogdan Bogdanovic has emerged as a solid option and the Kings decided to bench Hield for Bogdanovic. Hield was mad but he played his best basketball off the bench.
In the last 28 games of the year, Hield did this off the bench:
17.9 points on 45% 3-PT shooting.
He was on fire and playing really well. In those 28 games the Kings went 16-12. It was a good partnering for both teams. But Hield wanted to be a starter and the trade talks/rumors were hot and heavy. It seemed like Hield was done in Sacramento. But things went in a different route. Bogdan Bogdanovic was set to be traded to Milwaukee but he didn’t want to be traded so it fell through. Bogdan was a restricted free agent that summer.
So Bogdanovic was still on the Kings when the Hawks called. They offered up a sign and trade involving a first round pick. The Kings declined so we all thought they would be re-signing Bogdanovic. Instead he signed with the Hawks and the Kings didn’t get anything. Classic Kings. So now Hield was back to being a starter. It hasn’t worked out great.
This season Hield is averaging:
16.4 points on 39% shooting from the field and 38% 3-PT. 73% of Hield’s shots are coming from the 3-PT line.
So Hield isn’t shooting well but all he shoots are 3’s. So if the 3’s aren’t falling he isn’t doing anything. He is not a passer, not an impressive rebounder and he sure as hell doesn’t play defense. That first round pick sounds nice right about now.
Remember what I said about Hield playing off the bench? Yeah that can happen because the Kings finally drafted. Tyrese Haliburton has easily been the 2nd best rookie this year and he’s been good for the Kings. He can shoot but he’s a team player and much more of a passer. The duo of him and Fox has looked promising.
The Kings should bench Hield. Haliburton isn’t one dimensional like Hield is. You lost on the opportunity to get a first round pick (would have botched the pick anyway), and now you have a chance to do the same thing you did last year but this time with a rookie who can develop. I don’t see what’s wrong with this.
However the Kings won’t do this. Hield is under contract until 2024 (he’ll be 31 by then). Hield’s contract is front-loaded to the money goes down each year but paying him $24.7 million right now seems like too much. Hield had an opportunity with no Bogdanovic to prove he’s good. But it seems the 6th man life is much better for him and the Kings.
Russell Westbrook
Russell Westbrook was a corner stone for the Thunder organization, becoming one of, it not the most loved figure in OKC’s short franchise history. He become one of the best guards in the league. But after another first round loss, Westbrook headed to Houston. Westbrook was good but that got dominated by LA and Houston also hit the reset button. So Westbrook headed to Washington for his 3rd team in as many years.
But Westbrook hasn’t been the same. It’s true that as players get older who rely so heavily on athleticism like Westbrook does they go down in production. But to go from what he was in Houston just a year ago to where he is now is a little shocking.
Last season with the Rockets Westbrook was as good as ever:
27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.0 assists with 1.6 steals on 47% shooting.
Offensive Rating of 106 – Defensive Rating of 109 – Net Rating of -3
Westbrook was very good last year with Houston despite the bubble fiasco in the postseason. Nonetheless when he was paired up with All-Star caliber guard Bradley Beal I expected the Wizards to be a playoff team. They haven’t and some of that has to do with Westbrook’s struggles.
This season Westbrook is doing this:
20.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 9.8 assists on 43% shooting.
Offensive Rating of 98 – Defensive Rating of 112.
Westbrook has been awful scoring wise. He is inefficient and he just can’t seem to stick with his strengths. His offensive rating is the lowest of his career, barely lower than his rookie season (99). This is also the worst defensive season since his rookie season (111). Westbrook has regressed.
Westbrook just doesn’t fit the modern NBA. He is a ball dominant guard who can’t shoot. That’s tough to make work in the NBA. Ben Simmons is kind of like that but at least he plays defense. Westbrook hasn’t looked the same and I don’t know if he’s ever going to be the same. Meanwhile John Wall is having a good bounce-back year. Enjoy the mediocrity Washington.
Who Have Been Your Most Disappointing Teams/Players This Season!
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