One team that has impressed, and one team that has not one week into the season.
Impressed: Utah Jazz
Photo by Leah Hogsten / The Salt Lake Tribune
The Jazz shipped out their franchise players this off-season when they traded Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland and Rudy Gobert to Minnesota for a plethora of picks and a handful of players. So naturally, the NBA world had penciled in Utah to be amongst the teams fighting for top draft lottery odds in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.
Instead, the Jazz have started the season strong. After suffering their first loss of the season Monday night in Houston, the Jazz are still 3-1 on the young season after impressive wins over Denver, Minnesota, and New Orleans to start the 2022-23 campaign. It's still early, and this team will most likely still lose a lot of games. Ultimately what this says about Utah is that they will not just be a team that gets rolled every night. I expect them to compete with notable NBA names up and down their roster.
While they are clearly missing a star player, this team with the likes of Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley, to name a few, is a roster full of guys fighting for and also trying to make a good impression for their next opportunity in the NBA going forward in one way or another. I expect the Jazz to play hard, and if an opponent takes them lightly, this team is full of players capable of making them pay on a nightly basis.
Not Impressed: Los Angeles Lakers
Photo by Michael Reaves / Getty Images
The Lakers are undoubtedly one of (if not the) most disappointing teams in the short NBA season so far. Last season was filled with injuries, which led to L.A. missing the playoffs. This season they are shooting an abysmal 21.2 percent from three-point land, which is good for worst in the league while averaging just over 39 attempts per contest.
After night one of the season, LeBron noted that the Lakers were not a team made up of shooting. But early on, this alone looks like it could be enough of a reason to make the Lakers hit the panic button after an 0-3 start.
Aside from shooting, the Lakers have played alright so far, especially defensively, and they have also played three good teams to start the season, which has not helped their case. They've lost to the defending champion Warriors on opening night, losing to the Clippers by six points and then the Blazers by just 2 points. This amplifies the fact that if they had some shooters on this team, they might be able to win some games.
Without a change of some sort, though, this Lakers team does not look much improved from last year and will have to lean on James and Anthony Davis to carry a heavy load offensively while remaining healthy.
The most obvious change that could help L.A. is to swap Russell Westbrook and his expiring contract for some shooting to help with floor spacing and help clean up their three-point percentage. Of course, getting someone to take on Westbrook and his contract, even as an expiring deal, is an obstacle in itself, but acquiring shooting assets in return may prove tough for L.A. A few names tied to the Lakers were Buddy Hield, Clarkson, and Mike Conley.
