Rumble Pt. 2
We continue on our tour across the league
Welcome back to our rumble across the NBA.
Cleveland Cavaliers – The Cavaliers are entering Year 4 of their rebuild following the departure of LeBron James. After prioritizing their backcourt following Bron’s departure, selecting Collin Sexton followed by Darius Garland a year later, the Cavs selected a wing in Isaac Okoro in 2020. The Cavs have gone big with their latest acquisitions. This past summer they selected 7-foot gazelle Evan Mobley while paying big money to bring back shot-blocking extraordinaire Jarrett Allen.
The Cavs still have a Kevin Love problem, seeing as they are paying him a lot of money and he doesn’t project to play. He’s also not interested in a buyout. And if I got paid 60 million dollars to chill in Cleveland, I’d do it too. Lauri Markkanen was Cleveland’s big free-agent move, but with their big men, it appears they have no choice but to bring him off the bench. But if they are playing him at the 3, then I think we must start an investigation as to whether Koby Altman is running a Ponzi scheme to tank his draft pick for Chet Holmgren.
Dallas Mavericks – Luka Doncic has taken James Harden’s mantle as the guy in Texas whose team you just should pencil into the playoffs because of the sheer volume of his production, as well as the mantle of getting body-shamed while also putting up triple-doubles.
Tim Hardaway Jr. has become one of my favorite role players in the league, never afraid to launch from 3 and coming through at a 39 percent rate last season. Kristaps Porzingis appeared to improve his lower body strength last season and was better at posting up mismatches last season. And again, they have Luka.
Their floor is high. But this team’s ceiling is limited, at least right now, until they have some more reliable play in the paint. Maxi Kleber had a career season from the 3-point line last season, will that regress? Can a youngster like Josh Green crack the wing rotation? And can Jason Kidd actually figure it out in a non-toxic way that doesn’t alienate the entire group?
Denver Nuggets – What can I say about these guys that isn’t already being said? Nikola Jokic is the MVP and after last season, it’s a safe bet to say he’s going to figure out a way to get better. He may very well repeat as MVP. Michael Porter Jr. emerged as a real force, especially from the outside, getting his shot off easily with Jokic setting him up. And the arrival of Aaron Gordon had them playing great basketball, even after tragically losing Jamal Murray to a torn ACL. They were still good enough to beat Portland in 6, undermanned as they were.
While Murray probably won’t be back to himself immediately when he returns, growth from Jokic and Porter alone will likely keep the Nuggets in the upper echelon of the West until he gets there. Perhaps the only hope they won’t continue that path is if their success with Gordon fails to repeat itself. But so long as Jokic is around, it’s hard to imagine anyone on the Nuggets failing to rise with the tide. They’re going to be a very good team once again.
Detroit Pistons – The Pistons allowed Jerami Grant to cook in every 4th quarter of every close game and the result was the No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. With it, the Pistons selected Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham, the closest to a consensus No. 1 since Markelle Fultz. And since Cade is not in the anxiety-filled Philadelphia market and rather a sleepy Pistons franchise, who even in good times struggle to get market share, I have a feeling Cade’s rookie season won’t be as cursed as Fultz’s. And he looks to be the kind of guy Detroit hasn’t had in a while, being a real star talent people want to see.
Cade’s style of play will lend itself to making the Pistons a hotter ticket. At 6-8 with point guard skills and playing for the Pistons, he’s already drawn comparisons to Grant Hill because of his ball-handling and vision. But his ability to score at all three levels should make the Pistons a fun watch. After Jerami Grant practiced being The Guy for a year, adding Cade might help Grant land in a role more suited to him and the Pistons for mutual success. If this was The Plan all along, Troy Weaver needs a raise. This year should be a fun year to be a Pistons fan. How long has it been since anybody said that?
Golden State Warriors – Stephen Curry proved to us once again that he is a 1 of 1. You probably didn’t need a refresher on that, but Curry almost single-handedly willed the Warriors to the postseason. They were madly close to sending the Lakers to the 8th seed, only to lose to the Memphis Grizzlies in the second play-in game and miss out on the postseason entirely.
Curry should once again prove to be an issue for everyone in the league. He continues to break defenses with his combination of range, ball-handling, passing, and constant off-ball movement. Draymond Green is still a disruptive presence on defense and offensively he can still wreak havoc as a screener, but his struggling 3-point shot and general inability to score have proven problematic in recent seasons. But more importantly, the rest of their roster seems ill-equipped to the task of helping the Warriors return to elite form.
Klay Thompson still isn’t practicing and when he starts, there’s no guarantee he will be the same Klay after suffering a torn ACL and a torn Achilles. If he is, that’s a win not just for the Warriors but for all basketball fans. Andrew Wiggins got vaccinated, which was a big deal because their issues on the wing would have been even more apparent had he not been.
They added Otto Porter in the offseason, but behind him, they’ve got two first-round picks and a collection of journeymen. It also remains to be seen whether 2020 No. 2 pick James Wiseman, who was benched last season as the Warriors tried to make the playoffs, will make his way back into the rotation.