Domantas Sabonis has been a central figure to the Sacramento fairytale so far this season. Photo: Getty Images.
The NBA season is past its halfway point so let’s hand out some mid-season grades!
We’ve already given out grades to the Eastern Conference and one half of the West, so today we cast our eye over the other half of the Western Conference.
These grades are doled out relative to a team’s expectations, so whilst the Thunder and the Blazers sport similar records, their grades will be very different.
*All win-loss records are as they were at the time of writing
New Orleans Pelicans (26-23): A
Once again, the Pelicans have been held back from reaching their full potential by injuries to key players, this time Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and defensive ace Herbert Jones.
It’s a testament to the ridiculous depth of this squad, as well as the play of CJ McCollum, that they’re hanging onto the fourth seed in a ridiculously crowded West.
The Pelicans have got performances from somebody amongst their ensemble cast whenever they’ve needed them. Be it Trey Murphy, Jose Alvarado, Dyson Daniels, Naji Marshall or Jonas Valanciunas, somebody always seems to step up on cue with a big game.
That said, the Pelicans’ five-game skid suggests that the magic dust is wearing off and the return of those key players is more urgent than initially thought.
Having Jones, Williamson and Ingram playing consistently will allow the Pellies to build upon what has already proven to be a very good season.
Oklahoma City Thunder (23-25): A
For all the hand wringing about the Thunder’s barefaced tanking efforts (ie. trading every veteran not pop-riveted down and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ‘injuries’), they’ve been truly bad for all of two seasons.
Now they’re a legitimate threat to make the playoffs even with prized second overall pick Chet Holmgren yet to take to the court.
‘SGA’ is a nightmare to guard; a slinky with a jump shot. He’s taken the art of deceleration to levels that would make prime James Harden proud. He’s a scorer, a playmaker and a defensive stopper all rolled into one and is a (very near) future MVP candidate.
Around SGA, Josh Giddey’s preternatural feel for the game is being augmented by an increasingly effective jump shot, Jalen Williams and Lu Dort are hardnosed wings, Kenrich Williams has become a genuine leader and even Mike Muscala is proving a valuable commodity.
Just for a moment, imagine this team with Holmgren in place of Muscala. Is that not the core of a playoff team?
Phoenix Suns (25-25): D
The Suns’ championship chances appears to be, ahem, setting.
Last season’s epic playoff meltdown to the Mavericks, Chris Paul ageing, Devin Booker’s injury, the soon-to-be-lifted spectre of Robert Sarver and whatever the hell is going on between the franchise and Deandre Ayton has coalesced to sap the life out of a team that last season dominated the regular season and just 18 months ago held a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.
There have been some wins around the edges this season with Damion Lee exceeding expectations, Landry Shamet performing well and Jock Landale a pleasant addition to the rotation. They’re minor players, though.
That doesn’t matter, however, if Booker doesn’t come back soon, Ayton doesn’t rediscover his fire and Paul can’t reverse the ageing process.
PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO THRIVE BY BECOMING AN OFFICIAL FOOTYOLOGY PATRON. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.
Portland Trailblazers (23-25): C
As their record suggests, Portland is a bang average basketball team.
That represents an improvement on last season, without doubt, however it doesn’t hide the fact that the team could see out the remainder of Damian Lillard’s prime without playoff basketball.
That makes me a little sad.
After the team stagnated under the former front office regime, new general manager Joe Cronin has rebuilt much of the cast around Lillard, with McCollum, Norm Powell and Robert Covington gone.
Replacing them are Jerami Grant, Gary Payton II and Josh Hart, with Anfernee Simons given a promotion. The results are pretty much the same.
The Blazers are still a team with a high-scoring, though defensively, awful backcourt. Their frontcourt defence is still solid, if a little overrated.
Jusuf Nurkic continues to do just enough to be effective though not enough to be a true difference maker.
As David Bryne once said:
Sacramento Kings (27-20): A+
How could the Kings, the feel-good story of the NBA, garner anything less than an A+ grading?
Prior to the season I thought that Sacramento could be a sneaky League Pass darling based on a delightful offence led by Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox, and a defence that might concede as much as the offence scores.
That has proven true with the Kings just a hair behind Denver for the NBA’s best offensive rating yet just 25th on defence. What wasn’t expected was for the Kings to be on pace to win 50+ games for the first time in 18 years.
Kevin Huerter has proven a wonderful addition and Keegan Murray has more than justified his somewhat surprising fourth overall selection.
After not making the playoffs since 2006 (Andrea Bargnani, who hasn’t been an NBA player for over seven years, was the No.1 pick that year) the Kings, at long last, look like they’re back.
LIGHT THE BEAM!!!
San Antonio Spurs (14-35): B+
The Spurs were expecting to be terrible and this grade is awarded within that context.
San Antonio, for the first time in about three decades, is genuinely focused on development.
To that end, mission accomplished. Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson are both averaging career-highs across the board, with fellow youngsters in Tre Jones and Romeo Langford, as well as rookies Jeremy Sochan and Malaki Branham, all showing something.
Expect the Spurs to be players at the trade deadline, be it taking on long-term bad money from other teams – with the obligatory cost of draft assets, of course – or moving on from their remaining veterans in Josh Richardson, Jakob Poeltl and Doug McDermott.
All in all, the Spurs’ efforts to land Victor Wembanyama are as on track as they could possibly be.
Utah Jazz (25-26): A
It’s almost certain that the Jazz’s primary aim for this season was to land themselves a franchise-changing future superstar in the season’s draft.
Wembanyama or Scoot Henderson would have been a wonderful compensation for moving on from former stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert as well as key wing Bojan Bogdanovic.
As it stands, the Jazz have played their way out of contention for those two gems, sitting just inside the play-in picture with a mish-mash of castoffs and role players.
They’ve found a possible tentpole player in Lauri Markkanen who is finally realising his potential, they have an elite marksman in Malik Beasley and possibly their starting centre for the next decade in Walker Kessler … and that’s before we even start to talk about the war chest of draft picks coming Utah’s way.
It is expected that the Jazz will continue to shed veterans either before the trade deadline or at season’s end.
Mike Conley, Jordan Clarkson and possibly Beasley will garner lots of attention. Even if they are traded and the Jazz miss a playoff berth, this season has been a great success for the Jazz.
To find more of Jarrod Prosser’s content visit vendettasportsmedia.com
