One New Year's Resolution for Each NBA Team in 2017
Normal people use the blank slate of each new year to renew commitments in diets they won't follow and workout regimens they don't have the stamina for beyond Jan. 2. But for NBA teams, calendar turns are a chance to shape the rest of the season using meaningful sample sizes.
Every squad has a concrete idea of where it stands and what it's capable of as the campaign nears the halfway point. Each New Year's resolution will be crafted in the eyes of these expectations.
What can every NBA team do to maximize the rest of its season? Which bad habits must be kicked? What lineup changes should be made? Who should be targeted before February's trade deadline?
Contenders will aim to entrench themselves in the championship pursuit. Rebuilding teams should accept their fate and focus on the big picture. And the fringe-postseason outfits have the option of chasing low-seeded playoff berths or joining the restructuring ranks.
Atlanta Hawks: Playing with Consistency
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The Atlanta Hawks are that Rubik's Cube you just can't crack.
They opened 2016-17 with three consecutive victories. Then they lost two straight. But then they won six in a row. After that, they lost 10 of 11.
Since then, the Hawks are 6-4 over the last 10 games. Their defense remains inside the top seven of points allowed per 100 possessions; their offense has settled in as one of the NBA's 10 worst.
Dennis Schroder is finally a statistical plus on the more glamorous end, but Atlanta is using Kent Bazemore, Malcolm Delaney and Tim Hardaway Jr. to initiate the offense whenever he sits—often to the detriment of the team's already shaky scoring ability.
Oh, and the opposition is manhandling the Hawks' most used lineup/preferred starting five. The combination of Dwight Howard, Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, Bazemore and Schroder gets outscored by 7.8 points per 100 possessions—a league-worst differential.
Atlanta's offensive warts are unsolvable without a trade. The rotation needs another playmaker and shooter. But the defense shouldn't be this turbulent. And the starting lineup blends enough complementary skills to routinely play better than the Philadelphia 76ers.
Boston Celtics: Figure Out the Three-Point Shooting
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With injuries tearing through the rotation, the Boston Celtics were shooting about as many three-pointers per game as the Golden State Warriors through the first 18 games of the season. And they were knocking them down 36.1 percent of the time.
During the month of December, while enjoying a relatively healthy roster, the Celtics are connecting on less than 34 percent of their threebies—roughly bottom-five efficiency. The offense has suffered as a result, even with Boston limiting its turnovers.
This dip in shooting has coincided with a defensive resurgence. The Celtics are seventh in points allowed per 100 possessions since the start of December. The rim protection has tightened up, and their wings are doing a fantastic job helping them survive—though not thrive—on the defensive glass.
But Boston is too balanced on paper to be a one-side calling card. And the offense can't rediscover its three-point swag so long as Isaiah Thomas is the sole lifeline.
Thomas is shooting under 34 percent from distance, but his drives are a boon for surrounding shooters. The Celtics' three-point accuracy plummets whenever he's off the floor, and neither Terry Rozier nor Marcus Smart rivals that dribble penetration when he sits—a huge problem when both backups are also misfiring from beyond the arc.
There are enough weapons on the roster for Boston to find internal solutions. Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder are hitting more than 40 percent of their triples; at least one of the slumping Al Horford, Kelly Olynyk and Rozier should improve.
In the meantime, the Celtics need Rozier and Smart to focus on attacking the basket and passing off drives. That's the best, and perhaps only, way they'll make do from downtown whenever Thomas takes a breather.
Brooklyn Nets: Hash Out a Concrete Rotation
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Jeremy Lin's latest hamstring injury is the enemy of the Brooklyn Nets' New Year's resolution.
He missed 17 games earlier in the season with a strained left hamstring. Less than 10 appearances into his return, he reaggravated the injury during Monday's victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Although the Nets aren't playing for anything other than developmental baby steps, this lack of continuity is damning. They have deployed 12 different starting fives through 31 tilts, and only one of their lineups has logged more than 50 minutes.
Is Bojan Bogdanovic's starter's role safe? Can Joe Harris play himself back into the opening lineup? Will Sean Kilpatrick stick with the starting five or be subbed out, as a second-unit anchor, for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson?
Can Isaiah Whitehead be used as part of dual-point guard lineups beside Lin? Should head coach Kenny Atkinson experiment more with Caris LeVert, Bogdanovic and Hollis-Jefferson as small-ball 4s, with Trevor Booker or Brook Lopez at the 5?
These are just a few of the questions Brooklyn must aim to answer in 2017. But once the answer is there, it needs to stick with something, anything.
Charlotte Hornets: Blow Up the Frontcourt...Sort Of
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Charlotte's frontcourt members rank 19th in offensive efficiency, according to HoopsStats.com. Its backup forwards (26th) and centers (21st) have been even worse during the month of December.
Aspects of this offensive downturn were visible in the offseason tea leaves: The Hornets lost Al Jefferson, their most self-sufficient frontcourt scorer. Jeremy Lin signed with the Nets, diminishing the offense's pick-and-roll appeal. And Courtney Lee took his three-point shooting to the New York Knicks, making it easier for opposing defenses to wall off the paint against Charlotte's ball-handlers and divers.
With the exception of Cody Zeller, master screener, the Hornets' current bigs don't have booming offensive stocks. Roy Hibbert is a non-threat, and Frank Kaminsky needs to hone his jumper at the NBA level.
Shifting Marvin Williams—who has struggled in every facet of the game for much of this season—to the 5 should be the top priority for an offense that's not conjuring enough looks inside five feet of the bucket.
The Hornets have done a nice job maintaining average three-point accuracy, but the prospect of pairing Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Williams up front lets them dot the arc with four players at all times—five if you buy into Kidd-Gilchrist's volume on long twos.
This Williams-Kidd-Gilchrist dyad has seen just 14 minutes of spin this season, during which time the defense has wilted, according to NBAWowy. But the offense has gone full supernova, putting up 140.7(!) points per 100 possessions—a small-sample detonation worthy of a more protracted look.
Chicago Bulls: Stagger Rondo and Wade Even More
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Second-chance opportunities cannot, in fact, prop up an above-average offense. The Chicago Bulls are learning this the hard way.
It doesn't help that their free-throw rate has taken an unsubtle nosedive. But a dearth of shooting remains the bigger concern.
Chicago places 29th in effective field-goal percentage and doesn't even bother pretending it has the personnel to chuck threes. No other team in the NBA is averaging fewer deep-ball attempts, and head coach Fred Hoiberg has his troops trying—and failing—to feast on looks inside the paint and restricted area.
Shooting was always going to be the Bulls' downfall. Their best frontcourt floor-spacer, Nikola Mirotic, has never been a consistent sniper; their actual best frontcourt floor-spacer, Doug McDermott, can't stay healthy.
Paring Rajon Rondo with Dwyane Wade in the backcourt hasn't helped matters. Both players are career non-threats from three-point range, and Chicago is putting down less than 28 percent of its treys whenever they share the floor.
Play one of them without the other, and the Bulls are OK—not great, or even good, but better. Lineups that feature just Wade are hitting around 33 percent of their triples, according to NBAWowy. That number is a tick better when Rondo plays by himself.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Acquire Depth
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Downplaying the Cleveland Cavaliers' Christmas Day victory over the Warriors is pointless. That win was significant—a sign the preconceived gap between these two teams isn't that large.
Context is important, though. Golden State built a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and, arguably, gave away the game. Cleveland was shooting under 35 percent from the field entering that final frame and, more importantly, limited itself to an eight-man rotation.
Shallow personnel armories can work in the playoffs, when teams champion "No tomorrow!" mantras. But the Cavaliers have nearly two-thirds of a season to get through and need more bodies.
J.R. Smith won't return until it's warm outside after having surgery on his right thumb. Chris Andersen is done for the year with a torn ACL. Mike Dunleavy has been mostly unplayable. And the backup point guard situation has been a wreck following the departure of Matthew Dellavedova and retirement of Mo Williams.
Cleveland does have a handful of trade exceptions, but using them will cost approximately a crap ton in luxury-tax payments. That won't deter general manager David Griffin from making a deal, according to USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt—provided it's for the right asset. (Tyreke Evans' ears are probably burning right now.)
And the Cavaliers better hope such a player exists. Giving meaningful minutes to Kay Felder, DeAndre Liggins and Jordan McRae is not a long-term solution to their injury- and exit-plagued depth chart.
Dallas Mavericks: Attack the Rim
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As fun as it is watching Harrison Barnes toil away in isolation (it's not), the Dallas Mavericks need to inject some variety into their offensive scheme.
Head coach Rick Carlisle, to his credit, is adding flavor the best he can. As ESPN.com's Zach Lowe wrote:
"A month ago, it was painful to watch these guys grind for 80 points. In some games, it seemed like every play was an isolation for Harrison Barnes on the block or at Dirk's old spot smack in the middle of the foul line. Barnes managed, but going to that well over and over is the sign of a dead-in-the-water offense. The Mavs just didn't really have anyone else who could dribble.
With Williams and Barea back, Dallas can lean on the good ol' spread pick-and-roll. Williams has been hot, and Dorian Finney-Smith looks like a real find.
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Even with burgeoning silver linings, the Mavericks continue to lack that explosive punch. They are dead last in shots generated around the restricted area and 29th in free-throw rate—shortcomings that remain prevalent during this mini-resurgence.
Some of this is unavoidable. Most of the primary ball-handlers aren't career attackers, and Dallas doesn't employ a host of rim-running bigs. But Barnes shouldn't be averaging under five drives per game with his usage. Ditto for a healthy Deron Williams.
The Mavericks have the personnel to average more downhill assaults than the Sacramento Kings, and they need to start playing like it.
Denver Nuggets: Get Jokic to Keep His Hands to Himself
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Nikola Jokic nuance matters this much to the Denver Nuggets. He is the only surefire superstar prospect on the roster, so his evolution into a higher-usage megastud is of the utmost importance.
Nothing sinister jumps out of Jokic's game—a great sign. His three-point shooting is underdeveloped, but he's not yet a volume gunner. He is opportunistic from three-point land and draining 62.5 percent of his long-range missiles since moving into the starting lineup.
Defending in space and transition, without fouling in excess, is the lone knock on Jokic. He averages more fouls per 36 minutes than any of Denver's other everyday players and, as Adam Fromal wrote for NBA Math, gets a little too handsy in transition:
"Far too often, the sophomore center gets frustrated by a missed shot or failed rebounding attempt and lashes out. His actions could technically be labeled as steal attempts, but they're half-hearted endeavors that cause entirely too much harm. He's already committed eight of these unfortunate plays in 28 games. ...
More than a few times, the big man has stopped a transition attempt with a foul when his team was in position to play quality defense. He's also willing to hold guards and make ill-advised steal attempts as soon as he's beat in the half-court set, even if there's someone there to cover for him. In late-game situations, he's too willing to take the intentional foul, in spite of his importance to the Nuggets' schemes.
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Many of these warts will disappear in time. Jokic is only 21, and Denver's defense improves by noticeable margins with him on the court. His struggles guarding players on the move will merely be the difference between him being a great player and really great player.
For the sake of the Nuggets' rebuild, though, they can't afford for Jokic to be anything less than the best possible version of himself.
Detroit Pistons: Play with More Pace
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Reggie Jackson's return to the lineup has, shockingly, stunted the Detroit Pistons' offensive output. Their 21st-place scoring machine gets worse with him in the game, and he's committing a bunch of turnovers when orchestrating pick-and-rolls.
Swapping out Tobias Harris from the starting five for Jon Leuer could do some good in the long term. Detroit surrounds Jackson with too many ball-dominant non-shooters, and he's hardly an average off-action killer himself.
Tinkering with the starting lineup doesn't make all those issues go away, however. Marcus Morris and Harris are best suited as small-ball 4s but must still soak up time at the 3. Stanley Johnson won't suddenly morph into a lights-out shooter, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's career-best showing from different area codes shouldn't be viewed as the new normal.
In the absence of guaranteed space, the Pistons need to play with speed. They rank 27th in pace and are giving defenses too much time to get set. As ESPN.com's Zach Lowe observed:
"There is something a little overly scripted about Detroit's possessions. They start every trip with some sort of set play -- a Jackson-Andre Drummond pick-and-roll, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope flying from the corner to take dribble handoff, or some action for one of their tweener forwards.
If the defense handles that, things just kind of stall.
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Few teams average more shot attempts than the Pistons inside seven seconds of the shot clock. Even fewer rely on looks inside four seconds.
Abandoning half-court pick-and-rolls for more fast breaks off defensive rebounds and drives early in the shot clock are a must at this point. And if that doesn't unclog the offense, Detroit will have to consider dealing one or two of its ball-dominant wings.
Golden State Warriors: Unlocking Last Year's Steph
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Kevin Durant's transition into the Warriors offense has been mostly seamless.
Stephen Curry's adjustments are a different story.
Golden State is running Curry off the ball more than last season—a sound, if obvious, solution to the superfluous number of shooters on the roster. But this quasi-complementary role is messing with his rhythm and efficiency:
Curry is swishing a greater percentage of his catch-and-shoot opportunities, but pulling the ball out of his hands inherently curtails his it factor. There is only so much damage he can do running off curls or setting picks—even though he's one of the best screen-setting guards in the league.
Champagne problems? Most definitely. But everyone needs to feel comfortable within the offense, and there are games, such as Christmas Day's loss to the Cavaliers, where Curry looks off.
Getting last year's Steph to come out and play has to be Golden State's main focus. Redistributing touches and roles, even if only slightly, is the best way to try dragging him out of this half-funk.
Houston Rockets: Commit Fewer Turnovers
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The Houston Rockets are everything we projected them to be. And they can be even more.
Which is scary.
A top-three offense that's married to the three-pointer won't make anyone faint. Mike D'Antoni is the head coach, and James Harden is the point guard, after all. Houston's brand of offense was inevitable.
Improving upon a defense that hovers around the bottom 10 in points scored per 100 possessions has to be a goal, but it's not the goal. Some of the Rockets' most used combinations hold their own against rival offenses, and they don't have the rangy depth to make internal or instant leaps.
Besides, Houston has found ways to tread water without Harden on the floor since the return of Patrick Beverley. The defense has keyed survival in these situations, which is about the extent of this team's potential.
Turnovers are something the Rockets can actually control. They have the third-highest cough-up rate in the league and are particularly mistake-prone when initiating pick-and-rolls.
Harden is posting an acceptable turnover ratio overall, but he concedes more than 20 percent of his possessions as the pick-and-roll author. Houston's secondary ball-handlers aren't much better, and the bigs aren't protecting the rock when rolling toward the basket—fundamental flaws a little more self-awareness should cure.
Indiana Pacers: Improve Transition Offense
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The Indiana Pacers defense is once again better than the offense.
The problem? Indiana is just 17th in defensive efficiency and flirting with bottom-10 placement on the offensive side.
Team president Larry Bird is none too happy with this development after using the offseason to invest in offensive firepower, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com. True to his vision, the Pacers are playing faster; they rank 10th in pace.
But that speed hasn't translated to easy scoring opportunities.
Indiana is recording a lower effective field-goal percentage in transition than Brooklyn's band of prospects and placeholders, and the offense is tied for last in field-goal attempts generated within the first three seconds of the shot clock.
All of this would be fine if the Pacers were a defensive titan. But they're not. And while there is no offensive panacea on the roster, Indiana can drum up its peak by getting into sets quicker following a made shot—something it has been so-so at doing all year, per Inpredictable.
Los Angeles Clippers: Don't Trade a Future First-Rounder
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People are more inclined to talk about the Los Angeles Clippers parlaying Blake Griffin into an assortment of mid-end assets than about head coach and president Doc Rivers mortgaging the future for a chance to strengthen the current core.
This was weird last season, and it's weirder now.
Griffin's trade value has never been lower. He's working his way back from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and becomes a free agent in July. Interested teams aren't forking over a small fortune to grab his Bird rights.
Any return the Clippers get, however impressive, won't yield instant returns. It takes time to integrate multiple starting-level pieces, and the franchise isn't blessed with unlimited time. It's more tempting for Rivers to dangle first-round bait, in 2022 or later, and cap dreck (Wesley Johnson, Paul Pierce, etc.) for the rights to a splashy wing or small-ball 4.
But that's also the more damaging approach.
Chris Paul and J.J. Redick, like Griffin, will be free agents at season's end. The last thing the Clippers want to do is see part or all of their nucleus flee Los Angeles, only to be hamstrung by draft-pick commitments as they begin to rebuild.
If there was a way to definitively bridge the chasm between them and the Warriors, that's one thing. But there isn't, so for the sanctity of the big picture, the Clippers must resign themselves to playing out this season as currently constructed.
Los Angeles Lakers: Get Defensive Up Front
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Designing a good defense around a gaggle of kiddies takes time, and there is no need for the Los Angeles Lakers to rush the process.
Racking up losses increases the likelihood they retain this year's first-round selection. And there is no feasible scenario in which the defense comfortably escapes its bottom-two placement. But the Lakers need to try, and they don't have the backcourt assets necessary to reinvent the perimeter picture.
They do, however, have the frontcourt flexibility to anchor change.
Larry Nance Jr. is sidelined with a bone bruise in his left knee, which allows Los Angeles to test out some different lineup combinations. Nance has been the team's best two-way contributor but doesn't offer cross-position versatility on defense.
Tarik Black and Brandon Ingram do. The Lakers have played like a top-five defense in the 281 minutes they've shared the floor—without giving up any offensive ground.
Investing more time in this duo comes at the expense of Julius Randle and Timofey Mozgov, but the Lakers should be concerned with assembling the most switch-friendly defense possible. Black and Ingram fit like a glove beside Luol Deng, and that's enough to warrant a rotation—and perhaps starting-lineup—shake-up.
Memphis Grizzlies: Unearth Offensive Upside
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Injuries have not done the Memphis Grizzlies any favors this season, but the offense is inexcusably bad.
Philadelphia is the only team averaging fewer points per 100 possessions, and Memphis owns the league's worst effective field-goal percentage. Mike Conley runs a 16th-place offense when he's in the game, which is simultaneously a harbinger of his immense value and extremely depressing.
Unearthing offensive upside in a team that, inadvertently or deliberately, isn't built to score won't be a simple process. The Grizzlies don't have a mess of trade assets laying around, and some of their highest-scoring five-man combos will leave core members—namely Tony Allen and Zach Randolph—tethered to the bench.
But head coach David Fizdale shouldn't care.
Vince Carter, James Ennis, JaMychal Green, Marc Gasol and Conley are tallying an unfathomable 126.2 points per 100 possessions when playing together. They've only logged 45 minutes across 12 games, but that makes them Memphis' third-most popular unit.
Chandler Parsons should be useful as a stretch 4 when he works through the rust and can be subbed in for Green. That lineup with Parsons has seen only a minute of action but, on paper, culls even more offensive versatility from a rigid setup.
Memphis will always manufacture enough defense. Depending on these two lineups—extensively—is one of the few possible paths toward respectability on the other side.
Miami Heat: Generate More (Non-Dragic) Ball Movement
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Goran Dragic is the lifeblood of the Miami Heat offense. The team goes from watchable when he's running the show to offensively inept whenever he rides the pine.
Such heavy reliance would be a problem if Dragic factored into Miami's big picture. But he doesn't, so it's even worse. He turns 31 in May, and the Heat are rebuilding. Their windows no longer align.
Trading him for a medley of picks and prospects has its merits. It's also offensive suicide.
Miami ranks in the bottom five of assist percentage and is 30th in secondary dimes. The rest of the offense has to figure out how to move the ball independent of Dragic if team president Pat Riley genuinely wants to move him.
Tyler Johnson is already being showed the point guard ropes, and Justise Winslow is coordinating more pick-and-rolls than ever. They should be awarded even more responsibilities, and Josh Richardson—who at times flashed promise as an on-ball facilitator last year—needs to be handed a similar job description.
Dealing Dragic makes it easier to divvy up touches, but the floor general is, for the time being, a necessary safety net—if only because Hassan Whiteside's offensive worth grazes rock bottom without him. Head coach Erik Spoelstra will have to consider using Dragic off the ball more to strike balance between player development and immediate concerns.
Milwaukee Bucks: Better Crunch-Time Execution
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Remove close games from the equation, and the Milwaukee Bucks would be contending for one of the Eastern Conference's top three playoff seeds.
Seventeen of their first 29 contests have entered crunch-time situations—defined as the final five minutes of games in which no team is ahead or behind by more than five points. The Bucks are 7-10 in those matchups, with a league-worst offense and net rating.
Experience will heal some of Milwaukee's late-game wounds. Giannis Antetokounmpo (22) and Jabari Parker (21) are still young, and head coach Jason Kidd is just starting to trust rookie Malcolm Brogdon enough to slot him ahead of Matthew Dellavedova in the fourth quarter.
Strained spacing only makes things worse: The Bucks are shooting an unbelievably bad 15.8 percent from deep during crunch time. Defenses are packing the paint, and Milwaukee doesn't have the orbiting snipers to make them pay—rendering Antetokounmpo and Parker drives almost useless.
Extracting more three-point shooting out of this team without Khris Middleton as an option will be tough, if not impossible. But Milwaukee should consider sacrificing defense for offense and roll with Mirza Teletovic or Antetokounmpo at the 5 down the stretch instead of John Henson or Greg Monroe.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Use Zach LaVine as a Second-Unit Superhero
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Three of the Minnesota Timberwolves' six most used lineups include Zach LaVine, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins. All of them are defensive disasters.
Not one of these three is older than 21, and we have to believe head coach/defensive mastermind Tom Thibodeau can groom at least two of them into plus stoppers. Until then, the Timberwolves should relegate LaVine to second-unit duty—or, at minimum, starkly stagger the minutes of him and Wiggins.
Demoting Towns isn't an option; he's also not the problem. Ricky Rubio isn't able to cover up for LaVine and Wiggins' deficiencies, and the defense's malleability is stretched wafer-thin with Gorgui Dieng and Towns sharing the frontcourt.
Separating LaVine and Wiggins makes the most sense. It doesn't resolve everything, but Towns and Wiggins have been effective when playing on their own:
| 154 | 110.4 (5) | 103.9 (13) | 6.5 (6) | |
| 94 | 103.3 (19) | 114.9 (30) | -11.6 (30) |
Someone has to replace LaVine during protracted stagger periods. Kris Dunn fits the defensive bill, but then that leaves LaVine on an island in the second unit. Brandon Rush doesn't play, Shabazz Muhammad makes things worse, and Tyus Jones doesn't have the size to defend 2s.
Tweaking the rotation, let alone the starting five, probably demands the Timberwolves poach an outside wing (Tony Allen!). But Thibodeau already staggers LaVine's and Wiggins' minutes to a small degree, so he should see the benefit of jumping through those hoops to make it work.
New York Knicks: More Unicorn at the 5
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Basketball unicorns belong at the 5. Kristaps Porzingis spends nearly two-thirds of his court time at the 4, where he can be a liability when switching onto ball-handlers. What gives?
"We have three capable centers in [Joakim Noah], Kyle [O'Quinn] and Willy [Hernangomez], [who] played really well in Denver," Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek said, per Bleacher Report's Yaron Weitzman, "so if we play KP more at the 5, it kind of takes away those minutes for those guys."
It's almost like the Knicks shouldn't have shelled out $72.6 million for Noah to play their best player's ideal position, right?
Hernangomez and O'Quinn aren't going away, nor should they. And New York isn't paying Noah top dollar to collect dust on the bench (though it probably should). This logjam is indefinite, and yet sticking Porzingis at the 5 still makes too much sense.
He is already a stingy rim protector despite frequently defending from the outside in. And where floor-spacing power forwards are now the standard, sweet-shooting 5s continue to be massive tactical advantages.
Lineups that feature Porzingis playing without another big are pumping in more than 120 points per 100 possessions, according to NBAWowy. The sample size is small (125 minutes), and New York is allowing almost as many points (118.8) as it's scoring.
But the future of this core, assuming it has one, lies with Carmelo Anthony at power forward and Porzingis at center. The Knicks need to make time for that partnership to marinate—even if it means bruising a few egos along the way.
New Orleans Pelicans: Fewer Isolations
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Just eight teams have burned through more isolation possessions than the New Orleans Pelicans. Around half of those squads—Portland Trail Blazers, Cavaliers, Clippers, Rockets—cycle through one-on-one sets by choice. The rest do so out of necessity.
New Orleans is among those without other options. Anthony Davis is its offensive lifeline, and Jrue Holiday is the only other player who bears a partial resemblance to a second-in-command.
The Pelicans assist on a healthy number of buckets (59.9 percent), but their ball movement is suspect. They are 16th in passing and place 25th in secondary assists—troubling numbers for an offense that's 25th in points scored per 100 possessions.
Davis could defer more for someone with his usage, but he's registering a career-best assist percentage. And who exactly should he be passing to?
Surfing the trade market for a true difference-maker is out of the question. The Pelicans are in no position to deal any first-rounders, and anyone of consequence will cost a king's ransom.
Setting more screens and flinging passes off the bounce, though, doesn't require a roster overhaul.
Orlando Magic: Trade Nikola Vucevic
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On a recent episode of The Lowe Post podcast, ESPN.com's Brian Windhorst noted the Orlando Magic have been trying like mad to move center Nikola Vucevic.
And it's time they got a deal done.
Vucevic has no future with the Magic. They didn't give up Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis just to let Serge Ibaka walk in free agency, and Bismack Biyombo is in the first season of a tough-to-move, four-year, $68 million pact.
Tack on the second-lowest effective field-goal percentage of Vucevic's career to that frontcourt pileup, and Orlando is left with no leverage.
Suitors will gladly absorb the four years and $48 million remaining on his deal, and his rim protection has been adequate when he's allowed to set up shop around the bucket. But the Magic have Aaron Gordon, a power forward with a stretch center's ceiling, playing small forward within an offense that can't score.
At this point, the sole focus has to be cleaning up an unworkable logjam, almost irrespective of the return—though trying to sell Portland on a deal built around Allen Crabbe is definitely something Orlando should do.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Trade for a Shooter
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The Oklahoma City Thunder need a shooter. Any shooter. So long as said shooter can actually shoot.
Surrounding Russell Westbrook with more than one, maybe two, above-average assassins would be a godsend for the offense. Oklahoma City is 28th in three-point marksmanship and 27th in catch-and-shoot accuracy.
While their outside acumen doesn't jump with Westbrook, the Thunder score like a top-eight offense whenever he's running point.
Imagine what they could do if they didn't count Jerami Grant, Joffrey Lauvergne, Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis as their most dependable snipers.
Short on trade assets, the Thunder have to be reasonable in any search for outside help.
Either Omri Casspi or Rudy Gay will be gettable if and when the Sacramento Kings tumble out of the Western Conference's playoff race. Allen Crabbe would be the perfect Westbrook complement if Oklahoma City can cobble together a package that matches his $18.5 million annual salary but doesn't make Portland vomit. Joe Ingles, Doug McDermott, Lance Thomas and Hollis Thompson would all move the spot-up needle as well.
Philadelphia 76ers: Get the Frontcourt in Order
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Here we are again, for the umpteenth time, talking about how the Sixers need to get their frontcourt house fixed.
Joel Embiid, Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor cannot exist in the same rotation. None of them should be spending ample time at power forward, and keeping even two of them does a disservice to the team's real 4s—Richaun Holmes, Ersan Ilyasova, Dario Saric and, eventually, Ben Simmons.
Okafor and Noel are the only ones who might be going anywhere; Embiid is too good.
Of those two, Noel has the most trade value. He is slated for restricted free agency this summer and has an iffy injury history, but he's a viable defensive anchor who can function as a decent rim-runner on a roster with NBA-level shooters. Okafor is trying to stave off extinction.
"I will not make a bad deal for this organization," general manager Bryan Colangelo said of the frontcourt cluster, per CSN Philly's Jessica Camerato.
Great. Grand. Wonderful. But the Sixers need to make some kind of deal, even if they're selling slightly low. The alternative has them paying Noel a ton of money to keep this clunkfest alive or letting him walk over the offseason for nothing in return.
Either of those would be bad deals.
Phoenix Suns: Moar Dragan Bender
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Don't fret if you haven't noticed Dragan Bender. He plays sparingly, sometimes cracking the 20-minute plateau when the Phoenix Suns are getting the snot kicked out of them. Plus, it's difficult to get excited about a teenager shooting under 40 percent from the field.
Look closer, though, and you'll see Bender is oozing potential at every turn.
Phoenix has him shimmying between the 4 and 5 while sprinkling in a little time at the 3, and he's holding his own on defense. His rim protection is a virtual coin toss—a decent number for someone with so little experience—and he owns the best defensive rating among the Suns bigs.
Numbers can be misleading in small samples. Bender isn't yet 300 minutes into his NBA career and needs to get a better feel for the speed of the game on offense. He struggles to make plays off the bounce and commits far too many turnovers for a low-usage, end-of-bench contributor.
Finding him a consistent spot in the rotation amid a glut of towers is a headache, too. The Suns play competitive basketball with some of their veterans on the court, and inserting Bender will adversely impact the win column.
"I have to kill my selfishness," Phoenix head coach Earl Watson told ESPN.com's Zach Lowe of the dilemma. "As a coach, it's, 'Let's win now.'"
With the playoffs a pipe dream, the big picture should take precedent. Winning now when you have the West's second-worst record isn't as important as loosening Bender's training wheels.
Portland Trail Blazers: Play Dame and C.J. Off-Ball More
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If a rival general manager called and said, "Hey! I'll take on Evan Turner's four-year, $70 million cap gunk and send back an expiring contract in return," the Blazers would listen.
In fact, they'd likely have the requisite paperwork drawn up before hanging up the phone.
But shipping out Turner without taking back another cruddy contract or attaching a potent pot-sweetener is an unrealistic fantasy. He has the team's lowest net rating by a mile, in addition to the NBA's third-worst plus-minus.
Portland has to try making this marriage work for the time being. And that entails pulling Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum off the ball.
That was how many, including yours truly, envisioned this partnership working in the first place. Turner was at his best in Boston as a pseudo-point guard, but the Blazers haven't catered to that dynamic enough:
Substantially more of Lillard's and McCollum's field-goal attempts should be coming off the catch with Turner in town. Displacing your two best players from the ball feels disingenuous to the ultimate goal of winning games, but both guards are lethal sharpshooters, and Turner is a niche talent whom the Blazers need to accommodate now that they shelled out the big bucks to keep him around.
Sacramento Kings: Do Not Trade for Evan Turner
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Promising not to trade for Evan Turner is a weird resolution. Only this pledge doesn't actually refer to one name.
It's an umbrella, a metaphor for all pricey players potentially on the chopping block who the Kings could talk themselves into acquiring. Turner is merely a convenient billboard for this oath.
Normal teams stuck in the throes of a decade-long postseason drought might do desperate things to end their dry spell. But these are the Kings—a special kind of wild card.
Couldn't you just picture them taking on the salary of a known name to improve their chances of winning a first-round beatdown at the hands of the Warriors? Which they would point to as progress? Which they would then twist into a free-agency sales pitch for DeMarcus Cousins come 2018?
Resistance is key for Sacramento from now until February's trade deadline. Turner is not the answer at point guard. Joakim Noah isn't at center, either. Giving up 2021 and 2023 first-round picks, plus cap filler, for Tobias Harris won't turn this team into a contender.
If the Kings want to stand pat instead of auctioning off Omri Casspi, Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore, whatever. But they have no business making moves to win now when this nucleus has already reached its ever-low ceiling.
San Antonio Spurs: Give Kyle Anderson Another Shot
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Kyle Anderson is the project the San Antonio Spurs can't seem to finish. He is slow, has an undefined offensive skill set and wasn't able to play himself into a larger role when given the opportunity at the beginning of the season.
Watching Anderson is like watching a rich man's Anthony Bennett (with a higher basketball IQ), who might be a slower, more defensively polished, below-the-rim version of Tyreke Evans.
Whatever Anderson might be, San Antonio should give him another shot. Its defense, while a typical third in points allowed per 100 possessions, could use his matchup malleability.
The Spurs' pick-and-roll defense is specifically pining for more versatility. They rank in the bottom-seven in ball-handler and roll-man prevention. Tony Parker and Patty Mills cannot stay in front of opposing point guards, and this year's primary interior defenders don't rotate with the savviness of yesteryear's Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw or David West.
Anderson offers Diaw-esque flexibility. He can switch onto attacking drivers but has the girth to protect the paint. His defense has been pretty bad inside six feet of the hoop, but he's holding pick-and-roll ball-handlers to sub-27 percent shooting (albeit in limited action).
Maybe Anderson hasn't done enough to deserve a second (fourth?) chance, but the Spurs are in a weird spot. They need a midseason spark even though they own the NBA's second-best record.
Knowing they're not ones for trade-deadline shake-ups, redoubling their efforts on Anderson's development seems like the best option.
Toronto Raptors: Upgrade Power Forward
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This is the remix of the same song that's been remixed 10 times over since 2014. And we make no apologies—because the Toronto Raptors still need reinforcements at the 4 spot.
Power forward is by far the team's weakest position on both sides of the court, according to HoopsStats.com. A healthy Jared Sullinger beefs up credibility quite a bit, but it comes at the expense of speed and space.
The Raptors have pursued upgrades in the past to no avail. They were involved in the Serge Ibaka sweepstakes before he was sent to the Magic, according to Sportsnet's Michael Grange. They spoke with the Hawks about a Paul Millsap trade ahead of Al Horford's exit, per ESPN.com's Zach Lowe.
General manager Masai Ujiri won't mortgage the future for a small-time bump. Toronto has the picks, prospects and attractive contracts to piece together a blockbuster offer, but it's also in line for a second straight Eastern Conference Finals bid.
Upsetting the Cavaliers is the goal—the only goal. If the Raptors can't do that, running in place as the East's second-best squad is the next best thing.
At the same time, the backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan won't get any better. Lowry is 30 and due max money in free agency over the summer. The Raptors have to start thinking about extensions for Lucas Nogueira (2017) and Norman Powell (2018).
Ujiri can wait for the offseason—when he'll have some breathing room until Lowry presumably re-signs—and run it back next year. But Toronto's core is built to win now, and it looks to be one playmaking 4 away from putting Cleveland on notice.
Utah Jazz: Purchase Vast Amounts of Bubble Wrap Stock
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It's difficult to tell which is more alarming: the corniness level of this joke or the fact that we're only half-kidding.
According to Man Games Lost, injuries have impacted the Utah Jazz more than any other team.
Boris Diaw, Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward and Rodney Hood have all missed time. George Hill has sat out most of the season (and remains on the shelf) with a sprained left big toe. Dante Exum is dealing with tendinitis in his right knee. Alec Burks has yet to play after having ankle surgery.
Utah's most used lineup has logged 85 minutes of total action.
The projected starting five of Rudy Gobert, Favors, Hayward, Hill and Hood has appeared in one game.
Somehow, the Jazz still own a top-seven net rating. Six of their 10 most popular five-man units continue to post what would be league-best differentials, and they're on track to sniff 50 wins.
None of which means Utah is out of the woods.
Avoiding a first-round date with the Warriors shouldn't be a problem, but finishing seventh is a distinct possibility. The Spurs aren't a much better draw, so the Jazz should be focused on doing everything it takes to reach full strength—even if that includes asking the basketball deities for absolution from whatever crimes against the purity of the game they unknowingly committed to earn such rotten luck.
Washington Wizards: Lean on Small Ball
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Contract-year Otto Porter is a beautiful thing that gets even prettier when he moves to power forward.
The Washington Wizards are hanging 114.3 points per 100 possessions on defenses with Porter at the 4, according to NBAWowy—right in line with the Raptors' league-best offensive rating. And they enjoy demonstrative success whenever the starting five subs in Kelly Oubre Jr. for Markieff Morris and Porter slides to power forward.
Washington isn't constructed to play this way for a full 48 minutes. The starting five is a monstrous plus and offers a similar dynamic, with Porter and Morris manning the 3 and 4.
But it's hard to sustain that model without getting quality minutes from at least one more wing off the bench. The Wizards only have Andrew Nicholson and Tomas Satoransky to choose from, and neither cracks the rotation on a regular basis.
Gauging the trade market for low-end options is the obvious play, but Washington had visions of playing with two bigs when it signed the unavailable Ian Mahinmi. That's tough to move away from when the team has almost $28 million annually tied up in Marcin Gortat and Mahinmi.
Still, with Oubre and Porter in tow, the Wizards are best served embracing wing-loaded lineups. They should use the rest of this season, midseason trade or not, to develop this team in that image.
Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com. Salary commitments via Basketball Insiders. Draft-pick commitments from RealGM. Numbers accurate leading into Thursday's games unless otherwise noted.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @danfavale.
