(The original text was published on November 18. The author is an expert group on The Athletic website. The content of The article does not represent The translator’s point of view)

The 2022-23 season has started for a month. For many fans of the team, optimism has gradually evolved into uneasiness and confusion, and it is difficult to find out the reason, even the fans of defending champion Warriors. This kind of emotion also spread to those who know NBA teams best, even for those best teams, their worries linger. NBA experts on The Athletic website analyzed The most worrying problems of NBA teams one month after The start of The season.

Eastern

Boston Celtics

Jay King: Lowe’s health problems

Although the suspension of coach Wu ducurno and the absence of Lowe at the beginning of the season brought great impact to the Celtics, the advance momentum of the Celtics was still unstoppable. However, they still need Lowe’s return and play high-level games. The absence of Lowe made the Celtics’s defensive end have loopholes, and at the same time exposed the lack of the depth of the front-court lineup. The Celtics can now make Cornett, Griffin and von Lai top for a while, but if Lowe’s knee problem persists throughout the season, the Celtics will sooner or later be unable to bear it. Lowe’s injury history is worrying. As long as he can recover, it will bring great changes to Celts.

Milwaukee Bucks

Eric Nehm: can the attacking end get better?

So far, the stag’s lineup is not healthy this season. COINER and Middleton still haven’t played a game yet. Holladey and brother alphabet have missed some games, so there are enough reasons to believe that the stag’s attack, which is currently ranked 10th in the league, will become better. But before that, attack was the most worrying issue for bucks. It is worth mentioning that during the coaching period of coach Budenholzer, the attack in the playoffs has always been a problem.

Atlanta Hawks

Jeff Schultz: What happened to Trey Yang’s shooting?

For Eagles, the good news is that the problem they are most worried about is not the defense problem they have been worried about before. Before last Thursday, the team’s defensive efficiency was 111, ranking 12th in the league. Compared with the 113.7th in the league last season (26th in the league), there was a big improvement. However, surprisingly, Trey Yang’s shooting performance was very difficult, but this did not affect his score. Trey-Yang field can still score 27 points, leading the Eagle team. However, after 14 games, Trey-Yang’s field goal percentage was only 37.8 percent, the lowest in his career, 46 percent last season, 30.9 percent in three points and 38.2 percent last season. The three-point performance of the Eagle team ranked 28th in the league. In this respect, they are expected to improve in the future, especially after Bogdan recovered from a knee injury.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Kelsey Russo: recent struggles on the defensive side

As of November 17, the Knight’s defensive efficiency (109.5) could still rank 6th in the league, but the situation has changed badly recently. Recently, the Knight has suffered five consecutive defeats, losing successively to the Clippers, Kings, Warriors, Timberwolves and stag, winning 129 points in a single game by Timberwolves, the King scored 127 points in a single game (five consecutive defeats have ended recently). The Knight must find a way to return to the strong defensive team and play the defensive level last season.

Indiana Pacers

Bob Kravitz: How did you start to rot?

It sounds a bit crazy, but the most worrying problem for walkers is indeed how to continue the great career of wenbanyama. In the past, jazz and Thunder were used as examples. The Pacers before Friday ranked sixth in the East with a total record of 7 wins and 6 losses (now 9 wins and 6 losses are the fifth in the East), and their bad performance was very bad, the game was very smooth and the three-point performance was crazy. This is not the Pacers’s plan this season. Matherin has become the best player in this rookie, not the first star of bankero. Turner’s average score hit a new high in his career. Halliburton got the attention of the fastest progressive player award. There are still many such situations in the Pacers. At some point in the season, Pacers president Pritchard will have to trade Turner and Hilde. Turner will become a free agent after the season ends. Hilde plays well but the contract is not small. The current problem for Pacers is that the decision to break up the rosters and start to rot becomes more and more difficult.

Washington Wizards

Josh Robbins: unstable defense

The Wizard’s defense has been ups and downs. In the five games from October 28 to November 4, the wizard’s ace defender Wright did not appear, and Goodwin, who integrated attack and defense, has not yet entered the rotation. Wright is still a long way from the return. Bill has just finished the return of the war-lacking period after triggering the health and security agreement. If the Wizards want to compete for the playoff seats, they must play a strong defensive performance, especially the defense of the external line.

Toronto Raptors

Eric Korean: the downturn in the second year of Barnes

The Raptors need to recover, and the team’s half-time attack is still a big problem. Judging from the expectation of Barnes, the performance at the beginning of the season was moderate and occasionally showed some organizational skills, but the shooting performance in various positions on the court declined, especially after siacam was injured. For a young player who wants to take on a larger role, it can be expected that there will be some struggles. The return of siacam will bring Barnes back to the expected level in all aspects.

Philadelphia 76ers

Rich Hofmann: offensive performance (especially when there is no Harden)

Even though enbide did not play the data of 59+11+8+7, he has actually recovered the status of MVP level, which is good news for 76 people. The problem is that 76 people have reached the point where they need enbide to play such data to defeat the Jazz. What is particularly worrying is that the attack tactics of 76 people are full of individual singles. Maxi and Harris were struggling in their shooting performance. Without Harden, 76 people had to rely on the defensive end to win. Coach Rivers must find ways to let more role players participate in the attack and make enbide play more easily.

Brooklyn basketable nets

Alex Schiffer: I don’t know where to start?

Can I only choose one worry point? Simmons went through back surgery and didn’t play for 16 months. It seemed that he couldn’t find the state at all. He also missed many games because of knee pain (Simmons gradually recovered the state at present). Owen is suspended and the return time is unknown (he has finished his comeback against the grizzly bear today). All these put pressure on Durant, who led the team alone, which was one of the reasons why he applied for a deal this summer. At present, the winning rate of basketable nets has not reached 50%. Can this situation be maintained?

New York Knicks

Fred Katz: unexpected Projection Problem

The Knicks ranked 28th in the league with only one player in the team (Obi-tuoping) who shot more than 34 percent. Just a month ago, tuoping is also considered to be a player who does not have the ability to shoot. This is not just the problem that Knicks need to score at downtown. It is difficult for the starting lineup to open the field. Especially when Mitchell Robinson was healthy, four people in the Knicks starter preferred to be shot in the middle distance, and Randle even wanted to hit Huanglong in the penalty area. Barrett’s shooting made people feel suffocated, brunson still needs time to get rid of those fancy low moves. Robinson is an attacking basket player and an attacking rebounder. Even Redish, the flank player who just played the first, likes to break through. Knicks are looking for other scoring methods, such as speeding up offensive tempo, but once they fall into the position to attack, the space on the court will soon become crowded.

Miami Heat

Joe Vardon: lineup structure

When Butler can play, the Heat looks like the team that is only one goal away from the finals. On the contrary, the game was very chaotic, and the three-point goal did not fall into RIM as smoothly as last season. The heat has not yet returned to Oladipo, and Croal has been absent for a lot of time due to injuries recently. They can help the team. However, even if Croal and Oladipo return, the Heat still needs the help of stellus and Duncan Robinson. This is one of them. On the other hand, the heat is not good at defense now. The defense efficiency is only the 18th in the league. The impact of the heat after losing PJ-Tucker is obvious. The problems of injury and lineup structure are very prominent. If you want to choose the one with the biggest problem, considering that the heat has not played its due level at both ends of attack and defense, I will think that the lineup structure is their biggest problem.

Chicago Bull

Darnell Mayberry: the strength cannot be improved

Short-term worries have turned into cruel facts. The strength of the bull’s lineup is very general, and the unstable state is also annoying. In the long run, what is more worrying is that the Bulls gradually accept this fact, and the team’s performance at the beginning of the season and long-term prospects are hard to be optimistic. Various problems surrounding the bull are fermenting, but few solutions are available.

Orlando Magic

Mike Vorkunov: Which defenders can Magic rely on for a long time?

The super forward (bankelo) played well in magic, while those defenders did not perform well. The attack end of sagos is still struggling. According to data from The Glass website Cleaning, The error rate of sagos is only better than that of The League’s 11% players, cole Anthony’s assists and mismatches are only over 17 percent of players, and only 41.5 percent field goal percentage. So far, bankelo has done everything he can do for magic. The fact is that magic does need him in these aspects. At some point in the future, magic will bring Fultz back. Maybe he can help, but there is still a lot of uncertainty.

Charlotte wasp

Joe Vardon: lingering injuries

In the 16 games that coach Clifford coached Hornets, the team’s defensive performance (20th in the league) was better than that of last season (26th in the league). The most worrying problem of the Hornets was Injuries. Until last weekend, three goals had been absent from the match due to ankle problems. Another old acquaintance, Hayward, missed most of the games from November to today due to shoulder problems. Any wasp fan can prove that Hayward really can’t keep healthy all the time. His huge contract has deeply hurt this team, and this trend cannot be seen to end. The Hornets had a record of 4 wins and 12 losses before last Friday. After Powell’s return, the team’s offensive ability will be improved, but will the defense be affected? (Three goals missed 13 games in a row due to injury. They just returned and played 2 games. They hurt their ankles in the game against Pacers on the 17th and were listed as missing again)

Detroit Piston

James L.Edwards III: how to move forward with injuries?

The tough performance of the piston at the beginning of the season is not surprising. They are a young team, and the schedule at the beginning of the season is so difficult to play. The real concern is whether they can smoothly advance to the next stage of reconstruction and find a way to solve so many injury problems. Bagley was absent for a month. As soon as he returned, Stewart fell down again because of a toe injury. Last week, kangningham missed the match because of pain in his left lower leg. The return time may be next week, next month or even the end of the year (the latest news is that kangningham may encounter a stress fracture of the tibia, expected to be out for a long time). Injuries have long been common in NBA, but the piston’s injuries this year are really serious. So many young key players can’t play, the piston must find the motivation to move on.

West

Utah Jazz

Tony Jones: Defensive in mistakes and conversions

In fact, the mistake and the defense in the conversion are the same problem. The Jazz performed very badly in both aspects. After the start of 10 wins and 3 losses, they suffered three consecutive losses. The Jazz made 21 mistakes in losing to the Knicks, and the defense in the team conversion ranked in the top three in the bottom of the league. In other words, when the Jazz makes a mistake on the offensive side, the opponent will get an easy chance to lay down the basket when launching the conversion attack. Jazz coach will Hardy said: “Our performance in defense is actually very bad.” But ironically, Jazz’s defense in half-time battle ranks second in the league, so if jazz can control their mistakes well, then their defense will be very good.

Phoenix Sun

Doug Haller: Booker’s durability

Cameron Johnson suffered from endless lack of battle due to knee injuries and Paul’s heel injuries. Booker’s burden was very heavy, but he was fully capable of solving these problems. He can always make the right choice when he encounters the situation that his opponent is bag clip. In the game lost to the heat on Monday, Booker played the whole second half, with an average playing time of 36.8 minutes as a career high, ranking top ten in the league. The average playing time of Booker last season was 34.5 minutes, ranking 21st in the league. Booker can deal with these problems in the short term, but if this becomes the norm and Booker becomes the only hope for the Sun to win, it will seriously damage his production throughout the season.

Portland Trail Blazers

Jason Quick: durability and stability of nurkich

No matter what problems the pioneers pointed out, it would make me feel a little picky, because the pioneers really performed very well in the start of 10 wins and 4 losses. I am a little worried about the health of the team. Lillard has been absent for 5 games, anfanni Simmons has been absent for 2 games, and nurkiki has been absent for 4 games. But the depth of the team’s squad has been filled by players like yubanks and Winslow, so I would think nurkiki is the most important issue for the Blazers. The big player has been stable this season, contributing 12.6 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Even before the basketable Nets game, the performance of the three-point goal was 11 out of 6. If we want to find out the current Hidden Danger of pioneers, it is nurkich’s persistence and stability. When some game Blazers go to ubanks and Winslow to play small balls, nurkiki is not a good choice. Recently, nurkiki is still struggling with injuries, which makes him unable to play for four consecutive games. Although it was a little unfair for him to pick nurkiki out alone, he felt that he did not perform beyond expectations like the whole pioneer. If nurkiki’s health problem still cannot be solved or stability cannot be found, the center position of the pioneer may still be a problem. However, history tells us that when nurkich can fight and make contributions, the Pioneers often reach the best state.

Denver Nuggets

Sam Amick: the state of Murray’s return to injury

Murray has been playing more and more like himself in the past few weeks. The 25-year-old player who had suffered a tear in the anterior cross ligament was used to recover his injuries throughout the last season plus the previous half of the season. Therefore, the unfamiliar performance at the beginning of this season is understandable. Now his score is getting higher and higher, and he gradually finds back the state of self-confidence. If Murray can continue a stable state, the Nuggets will be a strong contender for the championship, but it is still not conclusive.

Sacramento King

Sam Amick: how to improve defensive performance?

In the past 16 years, the King’s defense has been terrible, which is closely related to their failure in the playoffs for many years. The king is the longest team in the four major sports leagues in North America and has never appeared on the playoff stage since 2007. However, although the Kings in the past few weeks seem capable of breaking this embarrassing record, their poor defense still exists. The King’s defensive efficiency ranks 26th in the league. If they want to become a playoff team under the leadership of Cainiao coach Mike Brown, the defensive efficiency must be greatly improved. As next year’s trading deadline approaches, we have reason to believe that the king will seek big players with athletic ability to improve the team’s defense through trading.

Memphis Grizzly Bear

John Hollinger: The Replacements

The grizzly bear performed very well after the start, but obviously the replacements can’t lead the team as he did a year ago. The impact of Melton’s departure is particularly obvious. Bain will be absent for several weeks due to a sprained big toe. Clark is full of energy in the position of No. 5 substitute, and the score performance of Tyus Jones is still stable. But after losing Melton and Carl Anderson, the grizzly bear needs to rely more on the rookie or marginal players who are not fully prepared in the 2-4 position.

Los Angeles Clippers

Law Murray: Leonard can’t fight

Leonard has played only three games this season (he played against Spurs yesterday) and only played one game since the end of the first week of the regular season (counting Spurs games in total). In fact, the most worrying thing was not Leonard’s injury, because the Clippers were not frustrated because of his absence. In fact, the Clippers played almost the same without Leonard. Even if Paul George played very well, it was difficult to stop the influence of the devil’s schedule on the record.

New Orleans pelican

William Guillory: stable defensive performance

Pelican offensive talent can be said to not lose any team in the West. Zion is a monster on the inside. Ingram is one of the top flanks in the league, CJ-mccolum is adapting to become a full-time guard. Varanchusa is a powerful weapon for pelicans in the low position, alvarado and Larry Nance can also help the pelican’s offensive side on the bench. However, Pelicans still cannot achieve the ultimate goal unless Zion, Ingram and mccolum can play a stable defensive performance.

Dallas Lone Ranger

Tim Cato: The long-term problem of ball control

Considering the idea of building a team as a lone ranger, it is almost inevitable to rely highly on Dong Qiqi and Ding Weidi, including scoring, creating shooting opportunities, launching attacks, and even controlling the ball. If Dong Qiqi can’t play, The Lone Ranger is like the game lost to the Rockets, and the lineup looks very weak. If Dong Qiqi is in a good state, The Lone Ranger is still very strong, but in the long run, this is not a sustainable state. This problem may not be solved this season, but it needs to be given priority in the offseason next year.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Jon Krawczynski: can downs and Gobel play together?

Yes, Russell’s score and why Edward didn’t make the leap of the third year are all problems, but the problems of downs and Gobel are more serious. In order to make downs and Gobel teammates, Timberwolves paid a high price and took no small risk. At present, this combination does not look good, and the team’s performance is also very mediocre. There are some small signs that things are starting to develop in a good direction, but from the early feedback, downs, as a power forward, is going through a difficult period, there is no partner with Russell and Edwards on the offensive side as the Timberwolves expected. It is still too early to make a conclusion, but the fact is that we have not seen downs and Gobel play their due ruling power, which is the problem that forest Wolves need to worry most.

Golden State Warriors

Anthony Slater: growth status of young people

Wiseman has gone to the development league. Cuminga and Moody’s are on the edge of the rotating lineup. Baldwin and Rawlings have no chance to play. The situation of Wiseman, cuminga and Moody’s all encountered obstacles in the process of growth. If you don’t get enough exercise, it’s hard to get better. The young warriors need more opportunities to play, but this is difficult to achieve in a Warrior team that needs to win in the library. On the other hand, these five young people, together with the unactivated igodala and the vacant lineup position for the purpose of provincial taxes, have brought great losses to the Warriors. Last season the Warriors won the championship with the depth of the lineup, but now their depth looks very weak.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Andrew Schlecht: can these young players shoot?

The real situation of this Thunder team is that they have no pressure at all. If they can win, then the reconstruction plan has been completed ahead of schedule and the future has come. If you can’t win the ball, then it will not affect the reconstruction plan, and it is just a bad fight for Wen banyama. As Alexander played the performance of the top stars, it became more and more obvious that more projection ability was needed around him. As of Thursday’s 13 games, Thunder’s offensive efficiency ranked 20th in the league, and the third hit rate (34.4%) also ranked 20th in the league. Thunder’s internal likes Mann, Jay Williams and Giang have the opportunity to develop shooting ability, but it is more likely that thunder intends to solve the projection problem through future picks or deals.

Los Angeles Lakers

Jovan Buha: ranking at the bottom of the Alliance

Considering the team structure of the Lakers and the strength of the schedule, the struggle at the beginning of the season was not surprising. At present, the teams they have played are basically playoff level, but few people expect such a bad record. I feel that there are problems in all the things of the Lakers, such as injuries, three-point performance with poor historical levels, defeat at critical moments and two five-game losses. After three wins and ten losses, almost every game must be won by the Lakers, this is a lot of pressure for Cainiao coach and the newly formed team (the Lakers have won three consecutive victories after winning basketable nets, piston and Spurs).

St Anthony Homa Thorn

John Hollinger: Status of veteran

In general, everything is going according to plan for Spurs, while training young players and losing. The problem is that McDermott and Josh Richardson have become the least efficient players in the team. They should have stabilized the situation for young players and made a good deal before the trading deadline next year, however, the current performance of both of them is unstable.

Houston Rocket

Kelly Iko: too many mistakes

The average 17.9 mistakes in the rocket field are the worst in the league. Young players are prone to make mistakes, while the Rockets are mostly young players. Their mistakes often produce snowball effect. The lack of cohesion on the offensive side leads to problems in execution, thus showing a sense of frustration in the whole team. Growing pains are one thing, while the stagnation of the attacking end is another.

Original: The Athletic NBA Staff

Compile: Li Taibai

Discussion & Analysis