Under/Over performing teams

[Foxyg1396]

This article will go through every single team in the league judging how they perform based on roster, division, and conference. Some teams will be marked as overperforming, some will be marked as underperforming, others will be performing where they should based on these factors.

New Jersey Nets (1st in East, 59-15 at time of writing)
With Sampson, Chambers, Jordan, Pierce, and Stipanovich, the Nets are performing exactly where they should be. Coming off of an MVP season and a championship, Sampson is easily one of the best centers in the game. Chambers provides a really nice and efficient number 2, moving him to SF makes the paint a nightmare for any team they come up against. Mitchell Jordan is one of the most efficient passing guards in the league averaging 8 and a half assists a game on just over 2 turnovers. He’s also a great scoring option for the Nets. They are likely making another finals appearance as well as a back to back championship.

Philadelphia 76ers (3rd in East, 51-26 at time of writing)
The Sixers are likely over performing, granted the have easily the best player in the decade. No player comes even close to being this dominant for this long, and he is looking to add to his already massive trophy case this year. However as a team they rely so heavily on Moses that they only have one player topping 13.1 points a game. They’re not very good at rebounding, and they don’t have a particularly good defense. Cheeks seems to have added some back court life with his ability to get steals, and they are top 3 in field goal percentage and free throw percentage. However those seem to be the only things they are great at. Middle of the pack in everything else.

Toronto Raptors (5th in East, 46-29 at time of writing)
The raptors record reflects similarly to how they are performing. The raptors have the best ball movement in the league, they are number 1 in assist per game by more than 1 assist. They are also top 3 in turnovers a game, they hold onto the ball really well. They shoot really well, being top 5 in field goal and free throw percentage in the league. Roy Tarpley adds a lot to this team as a number 1 scoring option.

Boston Celtics (6th in East, 44-32 at time of writing)
The Celtics are probably underperforming because of the division they are in (easily the most competitive division in the league). They have a number of players scoring more than 15 points a game and are one of the best blocking teams in the league. They also have one of the best defenses in the league allowing only 91 points per contest. They have a couple of drawbacks though, being one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the league and having a pretty mediocre offense scoring only 94.4 points per game. Maybe the point gap would be larger if they didn’t play in the Atlantic division.

Miami Heat (7th in East, 41-33 at time of writing)
The Heat are performing close to where they should be. Having DJ and JBC, they have one of the best 1-2 punches in the league. With Porter growing into a solid point guard, they have a solid lineup for this year. They haven’t done a whole lot of trading to get pieces around JBC so they may not make anything of it before his contract expires. Playing in the Atlantic division is rough for anyone, but they haven’t been able to stand up to the giants at all.

New York Knicks (9th in East, 38-37 at time of writing)
The Knicks are underperforming. With the roster they have, they should be playing better than they are. Especially since they are almost out of the playoffs after being in the finals just 2 years ago. The Knicks have the roster to be in the playoffs at the very least, but when compared to the rest of the Atlantic division (minus the Magic) they don’t have the ability to stand up to the rest of the teams.

Orlando Magic (15th in East, 5-68 at time of writing)
The Magic are performing exactly where they should be. Simply put the Magic have nobody (outside of a rookie Pooh Richardson) and they are clearly tanking to get that number 1 draft pick this year. They will not get to 10 wins this year and everything about their team supports that.

Chicago Bulls (2nd in East, 47-29 at time of writing)
The Bulls picked up a great second year player in Greg Cadillac Anderson, and as a result are performing close to where they should. Cadillac coming off of a player of the week award is one of the best up and coming players this season. Isiah Thomas and quintin Thomas are one of the best back court 1-2s in the league and Thomas is one of the best PGs in the game. Being 2nd in the east is a great improvement from the last couple years.

Cleveland Cavaliers (4th in East, 48-31 at time of writing)
The Cavs seem to be underperforming a bit. They have one of the most talented front courts in the league. Hakeem is a monster and has been since he came in the league. Derek Harper is one of the most efficient point guards in the game averaging over 7.5 assists per game while only giving the ball up just over 2 times. The Cavs have been pretty dominant in the East the last couple of years largely due to Hakeem being the offensive and defensive monster he is. It wasn’t until last year when the cheater Nets got Sampson did the Cavs take a step back.

Indiana Pacers (8th in East, 38-37 at the time of writing)
The pacers are performing similarly to where they should be. With a young David Robinson, the pacers are a threat to any team in the paint. Add to that Mike Gminski who is averaging 22.4 points a game and a young Mark Jackson running the point, the Pacers are performing well for their positioning.

Atlanta Hawks (10th in East, 37-37 at the time of writing)
The Hawks are likely over performing. This isn’t to say that the Hawks aren’t good enough to be in the playoff conversation, they just have such a young team compared to some other more experienced teams in similar positions right now. They have a great front court in Bowie and Tisdale, while Tucker is manning a majority of the load for the guards. They have a good team, they’re just young and inexperienced. Definitely a team to look at in 2-3 years.

Detroit Pistons (11th in East, 34-41 at the time of writing)
As a whole the Pistons are under performing. They just traded their star player of almost a decade in Magic Johnson, who was great for them, they just couldn’t put any streaks or long playoff runs together. Malone has taken a bit longer to develop than anticipated I’m sure, and now they don’t really have a solid guard to take Magic’s place. But overall this year was a disappointment I’m sure for them as they weren’t able to make any trades to help Magic get some streaks going.

Charlotte Hornets (12th in East, 33-46 at time of writing)
The Hornets are performing a bit over what their roster should right now. Adding Smits was huge for them but getting the number one pick last draft shouldn’t have boosted them to this much. They were one of the worst teams in the league last year, and that was with almost the same roster. They are still not great and will be a lotto team for sure. Another young team that will be interesting to see how they develop.

Milwaukee Bucks (13th in East, 27-47 at time of writing)
The Bucks are performing where they should be right now. The Bucks are a young team with some potential, but no true stars currently. They are currently dead last in field goal percentage and Pippen and Rodman haven’t reached their strides yet, so we will see. With the amount of cap space they have this next year we could potentially see a very different team. But as of right now, they’re not good and their stars haven’t developed for them just yet.

Washington Bullets (14th in East, 20-56 at the time of writing)
The Bullets are performing close to where they should be. Outside of Daugherty, Richmond, and Birdsong their offense is abysmal. They rank last in points per game and that’s behind the Magic who have only won 5 games. Their defense isn’t very good either as they are last in opponent turnovers a game. The bullets just aren’t a very good team. They hope to rebuild around Daugherty in the off-season I’m sure.

Utah Jazz (3rd in West, 46-29 at the time of writing
The Utah Jazz are performing close to where they should be. The jazz have the best outside offense in the league. They make more than two more 3s a game than the next opponents. With Brunamonti and Wood leading the team in points, they have a great offense. Brunamonti is top 3 in 3 point attempts and top 10 in percentage from deep. Adding Mario Gress as another outside threat earlier this year rounded out their offense nicely.

Dallas Mavericks (5th in West, 44-31 at the time of writing)
The Mavericks are playing close to where they should be. Lever has been a crucial pick up for them as they needed a true point guard. Reggie Theus is one of the best scoring options in the league, as he is top 10 in the league in scoring right now. He is also in top 10 in steals per game. The Mavericks are also among the leagues best in terms of taking care of the ball. They are middle of the pack in everything except for free throw shooting (leagues best) and 3 point shooting. (The leagues 3rd worst)

Denver Nuggets (6th in West, 40-36 at the time of writing)
The nuggets seem to be underperforming. With adding stars Stockton, Freeman, and Bird since last year, they seem to be middle of the pack going to the playoffs. This coming after an impressive western conference finals appearance just makes it seem they aren’t performing to their true potential. They have picked things up coming into the playoffs after trading Clyde Drexler, going 10-3 since the trade. We’ll see if they can keep up the streak and make it to the WCF again this year.

San Antonio Spurs (7th in West, 39-36 at the time of writing)
The Spurs are performing similar to where they should be. The Spurs added an incredible center in Melvin Turpin this last off season. With KJ still growing and young, they have a great young core to improve upon in the next couple of years. They are middle of the pack in almost every category. As such they’re about middle of the pack in the west.

Minnesota Timberwolves (10th in West, 31-46 at the time of writing)
With all of the injuries that have happened to this team, they are performing close to where they should. Unfortunately the Boston bug that plagued them last year traveled to Minnesota, and they had two of their main contributors injured halfway through the season. Since then, they haven’t been able to pick up their team against tough opponents.

Houston Rockets (11th in West, 30-47 at the time of writing)
The Rockets are likely underperforming. With Dantley and Parish, while they are aging, the Rockets should likely be performing better than they are currently. They have a decent squad, who outside of Dantley and Parish is relatively young. So they might be able to turn it around next year with Dantley expiring this year.

Phoenix Suns (12th in West, 29-47 at the time of writing)
The suns are performing where they should be. With an insanely young team with a ton of players still on rookie contracts they have an undeveloped team. They have a few outliers including Alton Lister, and Mychal Thompson as far as age goes. As a whole this is a young team with no real scorers so they are performing close to where they should.

Portland Trailblazers (1st in West, 52-24 at the time of writing)
The only reason that the trailblazers are even relevant is because of MJ. He has completely carried this team this year, averaging 31.9 points a game shooting almost 48 percent from the field. They lead the league in blocks and are 2nd in rebounds, but without MJ their offense wouldn’t be close to what it is.

Vancouver Grizzlies (2nd in West, 50-26 at the time of writing)
The Grizzlies are performing close to where they should be. As the amount of trades that the Grizzlies do is more than most teams combined, this team is a bit harder to judge. But with Drazen and Kerr, and early in the season Laimbeer and later Cartwright, the offense and rebounding of the Grizzlies is among the best in the league. They are in the top 3 for 3 point percentage with Drazen, Banks, and Kerr leading that charge. Banks is a great 2nd round draft for the Grizzlies, and even though they lost John Stockton, their team didn’t suffer that much.

Sacramento Kings (4th in West, 47-31 at the time of writing)
The Kings are performing at a high level this year, hard to tell if they’re over performing or if they’re performing at their peak. Oscar Schmidt is on fire this season scoring 29 points a game. Buck Williams has been great for them this season as well, averaging almost 19 points a game. Both of them are averaging more than 9 rebounds a game. And they’ve gone on a nice run in the later half of the season.

Los Angeles Lakers (7th in West, 40-36 at the time of writing)
The Lakers are underperforming this season. With Nique getting his skull broken by the Nets (of course it was them) they have a star down for a good portion of the season. DG is as good as ever for them scoring 26.6 points a game. Johnny Dawkins has been a great point guard for them (at least better than Drew was last year) with Dawkins, and Nique out for a majority of this next sim we will see how the last couple of sims go for them.

Golden State Warriors (9th in West, 37-39 at the time of writing)
The warriors are probably over performing currently. After being among the worst and shipping out some players last season to tank, they added Danny Manning, who has been a crucial addition to their offense. Manning won rookie of the month this last month and has carried the warriors to number 9 in the west.

Los Angeles Clippers (13th in West, 25-53 at the time of writing)
The clippers are performing similarly to where they should right now. The clippers have one of the worst defenses in the league and their record reflects that. The only bright spot in their offense is point guard Jim Brogan averaging 20.6 points and 7.6 assists per game. Without him, they may look like the Magic.

Seattle SuperSonics (14th in West, 20-53 at the time of writing)
The Sonics are performing close to where they should be, they picked up rookies Rex Chapman, and Jose Vargas this last draft and Vargas hasn’t seen a ton of court time but looks to have some potential. Chapman has a long way to go before he can be a viable option for them. The only redeeming factor they have is Phil Ford, who is averaging 17 points a game. The Sonics have an even worse defense than the clippers, and virtually no offense. They are definitely looking to add a top rookie this off season to go alongside Chapman and Vargas.

[lukeyrid13]

Good stuff.
Pretty much spot on about everything...especially the nefarious Nets.

[offtheheezy]

Good article!

I think Heat have taken a huge step back from Bird to Dennis Johnson. JBC is such a beast though. Kings seemed to have developed a team around Oscar. Bulls are great this year too.

Most surprised about Rockets (although Dantley has been out for a while even when healthy) and the Cavs.

[Boom]

Good article!

I think Heat have taken a huge step back from Bird to Dennis Johnson. JBC is such a beast though. Kings seemed to have developed a team around Oscar. Bulls are great this year too.

Most surprised about Rockets (although Dantley has been out for a while even when healthy) and the Cavs.

Best player missed 19 games. Traded away my 2nd best player before the seasons started and the rest of the West got better. I think 8th seed was the ceiling if everything had gone right.

[offtheheezy]

Good article!

I think Heat have taken a huge step back from Bird to Dennis Johnson. JBC is such a beast though. Kings seemed to have developed a team around Oscar. Bulls are great this year too.

Most surprised about Rockets (although Dantley has been out for a while even when healthy) and the Cavs.

Best player missed 19 games. Traded away my 2nd best player before the seasons started and the rest of the West got better. I think 8th seed was the ceiling if everything had gone right.

I just thought Dantley and Parish would be enough. Shows the impact Chambers had on the team in years prior!

[Foxyg1396]

Good article!

I think Heat have taken a huge step back from Bird to Dennis Johnson. JBC is such a beast though. Kings seemed to have developed a team around Oscar. Bulls are great this year too.

Most surprised about Rockets (although Dantley has been out for a while even when healthy) and the Cavs.

Best player missed 19 games. Traded away my 2nd best player before the seasons started and the rest of the West got better. I think 8th seed was the ceiling if everything had gone right.

I just thought Dantley and Parish would be enough. Shows the impact Chambers had on the team in years prior!

That was pretty much my thoughts, that’s why I said they are slightly underperforming

[lukeyrid13]

Heat are just aren't active enough to build around JBC. It's honestly too bad he left the Kings. They would an absolute force to deal with had he stayed with Oscar.

[offtheheezy]

Heat are just aren't active enough to build around JBC. It's honestly too bad he left the Kings. They would an absolute force to deal with had he stayed with Oscar.

JBC - Buck - Oscar - Paxson

what a team back then, although they got Buck back.

[lukeyrid13]

Heat are just aren't active enough to build around JBC. It's honestly too bad he left the Kings. They would an absolute force to deal with had he stayed with Oscar.

JBC - Buck - Oscar - Paxson

what a team back then, although they got Buck back.

And if they had an active GM at the time, likely could have had someone like Brogan for a 1st to round out that squad.

[UOducksTK1]

Fair on Celtics. Although if Scott didn't miss nearly 40 days, and I interpolated our record with him to the games without him, we have the 3rd best record in the East.

[Skyhooker]

Good job.
I still only have you 3 cause you don't appreciate team building skills

[FlDuckFan]

I'm way better at tanking than winning. Still hate it .

[Foxyg1396]

When this gets done can I do
+5
Barkley:
Inside scoring
Strength
Offensive rebounds
Defensive rebounds
Jump shot

Stockton
3 point shot
Jump shot
On ball defense
Handling
Passing

[Oregon Ownage]

Barkley:
Inside scoring

Inside went from B to B+