One Glaring Issue Every NBA Team Needs to Fix

The NBA season is now, finally, completely underway. Every team has had a chance to play. We've had the opportunity to see everyone play. We've seen the strengths and the weaknesses of every team. 

We also have an idea of what the weakness is of every NBA team. Even the Miami Heat have a weakness, though they may not seem like it. 

Here's the biggest weakness of every NBA team. 

Atlanta Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks might not have looked like they have any weaknesses in their first game of the season. They didn't just beat the New Jersey Nets; they beat the ever-loving snot out of them.

It's probably best to not get carried away with that, though. 

The Hawks have been in need of a quality NBA center for years. Zaza Pachulia and Vladimir Radmanovic are not enough to get this core to the next level. 

Part of the reason that this core has never succeeded is that they are having to put Al Horford at the center and play Josh Smith at power forward. As a result, they are consistently undersized. 

Atlanta needs to acquire a legitimate starting center if they want to get to the next level. Essentially, they are no different or worse than the team that got ousted last year by the Bulls. 

Boston Celtics

It's early in the season, but guess who is dead last in defense in the NBA in defense?

If you guessed the Boston Celtics, which, face it, would have been a reasonable guess since this is the Boston Celtics slide, you would have guessed right. 

Part of this is the opponents they've played—no question. Boston's first two games have been against Miami and the Knicks, two of the better, if not the two best offenses in the league. Still, they've given up 110 points per game and their opponents have shot .567 from the field.

That's not the kind of championship defense the Celtics have been featuring the last few years, and that's no way to win this year. While some of this is going to be solved by playing inferior competition and by getting back into game rhythm, there is cause for concern. 

The Celtics never solved their interior defense problems last year. They have given up 33 percent more points in the paint this year than they did last year (though again, it's early).

Shoring up the interior defense is their biggest concern right now. 

Charlotte Bobcats

The Bobcats are putting together a team that is inexplicably short. They are considering pairing the 6'0" DJ Augustin with the 6'1" Kemba Walker. They are doing this while starting a 6'8" center in Boris Diaw.

They have two seven-footers, but the two combined for 36 total minutes in their first game. Apart from that, they have no one on their roster over 6'9". The Bobcats' most glaring weakness is size. 

Bismack Biyombo, by the way, has great potential based on what I saw of him in the Heat game, but he's still a long way from being a finished project. 

The Bobcats are going to struggle in the middle this year. They gave the Heat a great challenge, but mostly because the Heat have the same weakness and weren't able to exploit it. 

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls' biggest weakness this year is not shooting guard, which is a good thing. However, that doesn't mean they don't have a most obvious glaring weakness. 

This was an issue they had before, but addressing the shooting guard issue makes it somehow more apparent. The Bulls' biggest need now is a player who can come in and score off the bench. CJ Watson provides some of that, but not enough. 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Gilbert Arenas is available. 

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers right now have one weakness that only time can solve, literally. They have a huge lack of experience on their roster.

Combined, they have a total of 48 years of playing experience. Of those 48 years, 27 come form Antawn Jamison, Anthony Parker and Anderson Varejao. 

Each of those veterans could be trade bait for another team this year. The reality is that this team is going to a youth movement, and is doing it whole-hog. It's a good move as they'll have about $28 million in cap space as a result of their moves. 

Letting their young players gain experience by playing this year is the only way to solve the experience problem. Cavalier fans just shouldn't be expecting too much in the way of winning this year. 

Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are struggling at the start of the season and it has more than a little to do with Tyson Chandler.

Brendan Haywood is just not the right type of defender to fill in for him. The Mavs reliance on zone defense made it critical that they have a center who had speed and quickness and could rotate. Haywood just is not in that mold. 

The Mavericks' most glaring weakness is the lack of a mobile center. 

Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets opened up the season destroying the defending champion Dallas Mavericks, and then the next game they destroyed the Utah Jazz in equally impressive fashion. 

After two games, their average margin of victory is 19.5 points. 

The Nuggets will put together a great regular season and will win a lot of games. The problem they'll have is that once they get to the postseason, they don't have what Charles Barkley would call "That Guy." 

To win in the postseason, you need that player who can pick up and carry the team, and the Nuggets don't have him. That's their most glaring weakness.

Detroit Pistons

The problem with this title is that it's "Glaring Weakness" and not "Glaring Weaknesses." There are only about 150 or so weaknesses which glare in regards to the Detroit Pistons.

Which one is the "most" glaring?

Perhaps the most devastating is the inexplicable commitment to the past. I still don't understand then re-signing of Tayshaun Prince. Austin Daye is the future and his day has come. It's time to put him in the starting lineup. 

There seems to be a reluctance to start Brandon Knight at the point and sliding over Rodney Stuckey to the more natural shooting guard spot, or even to let him come off the bench and be the sixth man. 

When you're going into rebuilding mode, someone forgot to tell the Pistons that "re" is a part of it. 

For the Pistons, the most glaring weakness is a lack of clear and decisive focus on the future. 

Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors have a new philosophy this year. Now they are all about defense. It's the thing they really needed to do. Over the last five years, they've had the worst defense in the NBA. You simply cannot win consistently in this league without playing both ends of the court. 

Mark Jackson brings a new defensive mentality and through the first three games, they have a defensive rating of 100.2. That's pretty good. 

The defense will be up and down, but the mentality is there. The biggest weakness here is going to be experience in running it. The best part for Golden State is that their most glaring weakness will improve as the season goes on. 

The Warriors are my candidate to be this year's "Memphis," the team surprises everyone and makes the postseason. (The Clippers aren't going to "surprise" anyone.)

Houston Rockets

After an offseason filled with trying to find a center to replace the great Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets finally were able to land their 34th choice, Samuel Dalembert. 

Alright, maybe he wasn't their 34th choice, but it sure did seem that way. After striking out through various means with Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Nene, the Rockets finally landed Dalembert. 

There's a reason he was their fourth choice. The others all offer offense as well as defense. Dalembert offers 8.1 points per game over the course of his career. That's not too exciting. 

Luis Scola had a breakout year last year and is a reasonably adept low-post scorer, but he's not Blake Griffin. The Rockets need a center who can score, and Dalembert isn't it.

Their most glaring weakness is scoring from the 5. 

Indiana Pacers

The Indiana Pacers are a quality NBA team after they had a splendid offseason. They acquired George Hill and David West and they did so while protecting the pocket book. The team still has $14 million in cap space to spend, so they can still work a trade in a salary-absorbing move. 

Currently, they are starting Paul George at shooting guard and he's a marginally capable player there, but they could use an upgrade. That's why they were chasing after Jamal Crawford in the offseason. 

The problem with George is that while he's a pretty good offensive player, he's not a very good defensive one, and he also can't hit the three, notwithstanding his 6-for-10 start from deep. If that's a sustainable thing, then I'll retract this, but I need to see more than two games before I'm ready to pencil in a change.

Last year he only made .5 threes per game and shot just .297 from deep. 

Right now, the Pacers would be better served with a better spot-up shooter from the 2 and having George as a sixth man. Still, we're talking about tweaks here, and the Pacers are primed to be a top-five team in the Eastern Conference.

Los Angeles Clippers

Perhaps it's the years he spent in Chicago "coaching" the Bulls to underachieving 41-41 records, but if there's a head coach in the NBA that can take a loaded team and make them mediocre, it's the unimaginative Vinny Del Negro.

Or as I like to think of him, Vinny Del Idiot. 

While Tom Thibodeau deserved the Coach of the Year award, he probably needs to give a little credit to Del Negro. If it weren't for his lack of ability to even point out the most basic things, like telling Luol Deng step back a foot and take the three rather than shoot a two with his heel on the three-point line. 

The biggest weakness on the Clippers doesn't even take any time to think of an answer: It's coaching. If they win, it will be in spite of him, not because of him. 

Los Angeles Lakers

Lakers fans are funny. When Pau Gasol is discussed as a trade piece, he's incredible. When they refer to him as being a piece that's a part of their future, he's hopeless. 

Truthfully, he's still a top-15 player, possibly even top 10. I don't get why people are crying that "Kobe needs help."

No, Kobe Bryant does not need "help" so much as he needs the fountain of youth. 

He's looked fine for the start of the season, even playing through a torn ligament in his wrist. However, as the season progresses, time will catch up with Old Man Kobe. He still has the same fight, but he no longer has the same ability to "take over games." 

The biggest weakness facing the Lakers is age, particularly that of Kobe Bryant. 

Memphis Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies made a remarkable midseason transition last year when they went to being a more "inside-out" team. They decided to get their scoring from their center, Marc Gasol, and their power forward, Zach Randolph, after their leading scorer, small forward Rudy Gay, went down to injury. 

It worked. The Grizzlies won the first playoff series in team history and then gave the Thunder a run for their money. Now they have to rework Gay into that lineup. 

The biggest weakness for Memphis right now becomes an identity crisis. How much to do they rely on their best player, and how much on the style that got them to the postseason and into the second round?

If they find a way to complement one another, this team will be fearsome. 

Miami Heat

The Miami Heat made a big mistake in going after Shane Battier in the offseason, and that's got nothing to do with the qualities of Battier as a player.

There was no point in the offseason last year where I found myself thinking, "what they really need is a backup wing to help out on their defense."

Yet to hear all the press rave about how they addressed an actual need—they didn't. It is a fact, not an opinion, that last year, the Heat were 27th in efficiency differential from the center position. 

The fact is that right now they might be even worse off there than they were last year. They should have used their mid-level exception to chase a starting center. It was their most glaring weakness last year and that's where they lost in the Finals.  

They are weaker there this year. 

Milwaukee Bucks

The MIlwaukee Bucks are an incredibly average team. Their starting five is average. Their bench is average. Scott Skiles is an average coach. They have maybe one player, Andrew Bogut, who you could even argue is top five at his position, but even that's being a little generous. 

The only other player that's even in the conversation for top 10 at his position is Brandon Jennings, but again, that's a bit generous. 

On the bright side, everyone is top 20 at their respective positions—sort of.

Average. 

The Bucks' real weakness is the lack of a "max contract" player. Their problem is they are too good to get him and not good enough to win without him. They are going to be in the quagmire of mediocrity for years to come. 

Minnesota Timberwolves

For those who like such metrics or interesting things, the Minnesota Timberwolves star forward Kevin Love had 16.7 Wins Against Replacement Player last year. According to Pro Basketball Prospectus' downloadable season preview, the 96.1 percent of the Timberwolves wins he accounted for is an NBA record. 

This year, the Wolves have done more to surround him with talent, including adding Ricky Rubio, who is finally coming over and Derrick Williams, whom they acquired through the draft. 

They also, more importantly, hired Rick Adelman as the head coach. Love promises to be the role of Chris Webber in a new-spun Minnesota offense and a lot of prognosticators (present company included), feel this is a step in the right direction.

For Minnesota, the biggest issue is going to be defense. While they've picked up a lot of offensive talent, it's hard to see where the defense is going to be coming from.  

New Jersey Nets

The New Jersey Nets acquired Deron Williams in the shock of all deadline moves last year and since then have been struggling to add a player to help him out. They've been unsuccessful. 

While they've tried and tried to get Dwight Howard, they seem to be hitting a wall, and it got even more difficult when Brook Lopez went down for six weeks with a foot fracture. 

Now the Nets are without a great scorer. Williams is a good scorer, but he's not Derrick Rose, who can take a game over with his scoring. Williams has only broken 40 twice in his career, and has only topped 30 points 30 times. Rose has two and 31 in over 200 fewer games played. 

The Nets' biggest weakness right now is they don't have a go-to scorer. 

New Orleans Hornets

The New Orleans Hornets did a great job in the Chris Paul trade, and the haul they got back (The Paul Haul?) is far better than what they would have gotten in the Lakers trade. 

The problem with these kinds of trades, though, is that you end up in a transition situation where you have no real identity. You just have a bunch of pieces your are trying to fit together. 

It's hard to see how the roles are going to be clearly defined, or whether they will fit in Monty Williams' system. He's established he's a good coach and he'll make it work as best as he can, but you can only do so much with the pieces you have. 

That being said, those pieces aren't that bad. Jarrett Jack is a competent point guard, though he's certainly no Chris Paul. Eric Gordon has the potential to be an All-Star. Carl Landry will offer frontcourt scoring. 

They won't be as good as last year, but they could top 30 wins, and have an outside shot at the postseason. They won't have an identity, though; they'll be plodding from game to game. 

New York Knicks

The New York Knicks acquired Tyson Chandler to fill their biggest need—interior defense—during the offseason. Give them credit for that. 

On the other hand, they dug one hole to fill another, and now they have a serious issue at point guard. It may—and I repeat may—have been filled with the pickup of Baron Davis, who is presently out with a herniated disk in his back. That's the kind of injury that can flare up again and because of that, there are genuine causes for concern.

Additionally, this is a team that is about three players deep. While it's easy to prop up the value of players like Landry Fields and Toney Douglas, keeping things in perspective, these are, at best, decent, young role players. 

This becomes even more critical when you consider the injury history of two of their "big three." Both Tyson Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire have had their share. 

The Knicks' biggest weakness is depth, particularly at the point guard position. 

Oklahoma City Thunder

Right now the biggest weakness with the Oklahoma City Thunder is the increasingly tense relationship between their two star players, Russel Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The essence of the problem is that the player with the more aggressive personality, Westbrook, has the inferior game. 

More and more, this is looking like the old Timberwolves tandem of Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury. Westbrook, who trains with Derrick Rose in the offseason, and who has a similar game, seems to want to be Rose. 

He's not. And truthfully, Rose would love to be in Westbrook's situation where he could just pile up assists dishing to the NBA's leading scorer. 

Westbrook is not the leader of this team. He's not the best player on this team. He's not the player they are looking to score when the games on the line. Westbrook is Robin, and the only person alive who seems to not realize this is Westbrook. 

Yesterday it turned into a shouting match on the bench, and if they don't get this resolved, it's going to be a constant strain on the team. 

Orlando Magic

The words "Dwight Howard" and "weakness" have rarely, if ever, been used in conjunction with one another, but right now the biggest weakness on the Orlando Magic is the uncertainty of the Dwight Howard situation. 

Howard wants to find a world of make-believe where he can pretend that he has absolutely nothing to do with the reason for all the rumors that are swirling around about him. That has something to do with him actually asking to be traded, though. 

Right now, the thing is that it contaminates the entire team. Think back to the Nuggets/Knicks Carmelo Anthony trade last year. How many players were involved? I think it was somewhere around 112. 

Right now, every player on the Magic is wondering about their future. That's going to affect team play. 

Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers are that team in need of the go-to star. Perhaps right now they are the best team in the NBA who doesn't have one. In particular, they need a go-to scorer. 

There was some talk about a trade for Monta Ellis last year, but it seems that he's off the market now. A player the 76ers could look into swapping Iguodala for is Kevin Martin of the Houston Rockets. 

I think that the one advantage they have in trading Iguodala is that they have a player who might be nearly as good, and perhaps with a "T(h)ad" more potential in Thaddeus Young, whom they could move up and into the staring lineup. 

The hangup here would be defense, though. Iguodala is a top-five wing defender and Martin is a poor defender, though head coach Doug Collins could improve that. 

Phoenix Suns

What state is Phoenix in? If you're talking about the actual city, then the correct answer is, of course, Arizona.

If you're talking about the basketball team, it's "denial," as in the Phoenix Suns are in a state of denial. 

They re-singed Grant Hill. Why? To not get back to the playoffs? There's little benefit to struggle to stick around at the .450 winning percentage and the Suns are honestly going to be hard-pressed to get to that point. 

It wasn't that long ago that Steve Nash was surrounded with the likes of Jason Richardson and Amar'e Stoudemire and the Suns were in the Western Conference Finals. Now he's surrounded with the likes of Hakim Warrick and Robin Lopez. Can you say "downgrade"?

Phoenix needs to acknowledge the reality here. They are no longer competitive. They need to stop putting band-aids on amputated limbs and pretending that everything is fine. 

Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers have a lot of talent. They have a borderline MVP-caliber player in LaMarcus Aldridge. They have an underrated coach in Nate McMillan. 

They have one of the top five starting fives in the league. They have a very realistic shot of getting to the second round of the postseason, and they have an outside shot of representing the Western Conference in the Finals. 

The biggest problem they face right now is chemistry. They've added a couple of major pieces, including their starting point guard in Raymond Felton, as well as their small forward, Gerald Wallace. While both are good to excellent players, they need to work into the system. 

Whether and how these players and their styles mesh will tell the tale. Right now their weakness though is chemistry, and that's about not having played together.

It's going to improve as the season goes along. 

Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings have a ton of young talent in Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton, DeMarcus Cousins and Jimmer Fredette. The problem with young talent is that "young" also usually goes along with "immature." 

Both in terms of a lack of on-court maturity, which has Evans struggling to learn Paul Westphal's offense, and off-court maturity with the issues that Cousins has faced, this team is going to struggle with maturity issues through the season. 

As with any maturity-related issue, the one and only solution here is time—time to play together, make mistakes and learn. 

Next year the Kings could be a team on the rise, but this year they'll be improved and show flashes, but overall, will struggle. At least they'll be doing it in Sacramento, though. 

San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs just let the new kids on the block know that they aren't going to just waltz in and take over the West. They put what can only be described as an old-school beatdown on the much talked-about Clippers last night. 

What the Spurs did was very much reminiscent of what they did last year. They relied heavily on their enormously underrated backcourt. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are arguably the best backcourt in the league.

Last year they had the best efficiency differential of any backcourt in the NBA.

It's funny that when it's discussed, they seem to get overlooked, though. You would think that the tandem which: a) is the best statistically; and b) has won three rings together might get a little more respect, but nope.

Anyway...

The Spurs have an issue with running this kind of uptempo style: They're too old to do it. They are in danger of having another season where they post a lot of regular season wins and then have a postseason meltdown.  

Toronto Raptors

Can I just type "yes" and move on? Here's a quote from the Pro-Basketball Projection Preview:

"

Everything is pointed at next season. Valanciunas will arrive. The Raptors will have a ton of cap space and will begin the process of finding a ballhandling playmaker to team with Valanciunas and Bargnani.If Bargnani completely flops, Colangelo still has the amnesty clause in his hip pocket. The Raptors should land another top draft pick and the 2012 class appears to be loaded.

"

And this really is the biggest weakness for the Raptors this year. It's that you have to have a "this year." They are a team that is in full-blown rebuilding mode, but that won't start to take traction until next season.

The Raptors will be making their moves next year and this year they are just in minimal maintenance mode. 

In short, the Raptors are going to suck this year and they aren't really worried about it. 

Utah Jazz

After two games, here's where the Jazz stand: They are dead last in margin of victory. They have the third-worst offensive rating, and they have the second-worst defensive rating.

They have two players averaging in double-figures. 

So far it looks like they aren't in danger of fulfilling their biggest weakness, which is that they might accidentally land in the postseason. 

The problem is if they do manage to do that, they lose their first-round pick to the Timberwolves and in a very deep draft.

Utah is not the worst team in the league, they are a borderline .500 team. They need to stay below that borderline.

Cave-us for Davis?

Washington Wizards

There's a fine line between "bravado" and genuine self-confidence. The Wizards right now are on the wrong side of that line. If you really believe you can win, you don't have to resort to a lot of stare-down antics and the like. 

The Wizards have a ton of talent in Nick Young, JaVale McGee and especially John Wall. What they lack is a genuine belief that they can win. It was evident in their first game against the Nets. The closer they got coming back and beating New Jersey, the more discombobulated they became. 

This is a team that needs to find its collective soul and will to win. Once they get there, they will be a playoff-caliber team. They have the talent, but there's more to talent than winning. Perhaps Wall will be the one to take that step and "grow the Wizards" into the next level.