With each new NBA season comes new surprises and storylines. Those can mostly be broken down into good, bad, and ugly. Good, of course, are positive stories, successes, and accomplishments. Bad are negative ones, and ugly? You can probably figure that out. With that being said, I have a list of ten that I feel fall into these respective categories heading into the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Ahead of 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend:
The Good: Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and the Baby Thunder
What a year it’s been for Oklahoma City. Sam Presti’s petri dish of a rebuild is well ahead of schedule, flourishing under fourth-year coach Mark Daigneault. Oklahoma City sits at 33-15, just a game behind #1 Minnesota, despite the fact that every player in OKC’s rotation outside of Vasilije Micic and Kenrich Williams is 25 or under. It starts at the top – superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is in the midst of a career year, and garnering serious MVP buzz in the process. He’s fully bought in on the defensive end, and others have followed suit. Rookie Chet Holmgren has been a two-way star, averaging nearly three blocks a night to go with his 17/8/3. Second-year man Jalen Williams is building on a good rookie year – he’s garnering serious Most Improved Player consideration while boosting his numbers across the board.
To boot, the roster is loaded with young contributors like Lu Dort and Cason Wallace, and the cherry on top? The Thunder still own thirty-five picks over the next seven years, and the young roster is trending up. Oklahoma City is built to contend in the future. The fact that they’re contending at this level, this early, is impressive.
The Bad: Jordan Poole and the Washington Wizards
Writing and explaining a list of every Wizards’ organizational failure in the last decade could easily fill a short novel. I’ll spare you that list, but you get the idea. With that knowledge, it’s no surprise that the trade of former franchise stalwart Bradley Beal for the much-maligned Jordan Poole has gone as poorly as it has. Poole, pegged by many as a breakout candidate, is instead having one of the worst seasons in recent memory. His scoring is down, his efficiency is near the first percentile, and the already-awful Wizards get ten points worse per 100 possessions with Poole on the floor. He’s been doing things like this almost every night:
The Wizards are bad – really bad – and they’re not rich with assets. They’re well over the salary cap and have close to $215 million tied up in Poole and Kyle Kuzma alone. They’re hemorrhaging fans, points, losses, and the Poole experiment is already tilting toward catastrophe.
The Good: The Indiana Pacers Go as Tyrese Haliburton (and Aaron Nesmith?) Take Them
It’s only right that I talk about a successful rebuild to get the bitter taste of talking about Washington out of my mouth. Just a year removed from finishing 35-47, the Pacers find themselves firmly in the playoff picture and came within a game of winning the inaugural In-Season Tournament. Just weeks ago, they swung a trade for star Pascal Siakam. This step towards contention is unexpected for a team Vegas projected at 38.5 wins (they’re now on pace for 50), but it isn’t a fluke.
What’s driving this improvement? A leap from superstar guard Tyrese Haliburton was always in the cards, sure, but a leap from Aaron Nesmith? Not as much. Nesmith is shooting an eye-popping 46% from beyond the arc, up 10% from last season. He’s also embracing the other side of the ball, often taking the hardest defensive matchup. Outside of his time with Benn Mathurin (who is a net rating killer), lineups including Nesmith are slaughtering opponents. This isn’t to say Nesmith is solely, or even mostly, responsible for the Pacers success. He’s a role player, the bench as a whole has been great, and everybody is shooting well. But, don’t you dare overlook Nesmith – his gritty, hard-nosed style paired with his remarkable shooting is helping take Indiana to new heights.
The Bad: The Charlotte Hornets
2023 has been yet another unremarkable chapter in the tortured history of the Charlotte Hornets. It’s almost impressive to be as bad, for as long, as Charlotte has. They haven’t seen fifty wins since 1998, haven’t won a playoff series since 2002, and this year’s iteration won’t threaten either of those marks. This isn’t to say the roster is devoid of talent; LaMelo Ball is a premier offensive engine, #2 pick Brandon Miller has been excellent, and the team is stocked with (theoretically) useful rotational guys such as PJ Washington and Gordon Hayward.
It just hasn’t mattered. Charlotte is actually regressing as their team comes of age. With virtually the same core, they won 43 games two years ago; they’re on pace for 18 this year. The Hornets do everything poorly; they rank in the NBA’s bottom five in offense, defense, rebounding, and free throw rate. There’s no way to quantify culture, but they’d surely rank in the bottom five there as well. Just look at this clip of Charlotte’s bench laughing while their coach gets tossed in the midst of another home blowout. It’s a mess in Charlotte, and if history is any indicator, it won’t be getting better anytime soon.
The Good: Isaiah Hartenstein
Two years ago, the idea that the New York Knicks could be second in the East on the backs of Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, and Isaiah Hartenstein might get you checked into a low-grade mental facility. The Knicks are the Knicks, and they go as far as superstars take them. Their allure is solely the fact that they play in New York City. Turning a Knicks team into a grit-and-grind contender with a bunch of non-household names is a laughable idea.
Take a deep breath; it’s really happening. Brunson and Randle have been great, but it’s Hartenstein that’s been unbelievable. He’s started 20 games to great success, posting a +31 net rating. The Knicks are 15-6 in games he’s started, and 13-4 in games he’s played over 30 minutes. Once regarded as one-dimensional, Hartenstein’s been outstanding on both ends. Sure, his baseline stats may not be mind-blowing; disregard those. New York scores, assists, rebounds, and defends at much higher clips with him on the floor. He’s having a great season, doing all the little things right, and his play is spurring the Knicks to second in the East. Overlooked due to counting stats, Hartenstein’s case as a top ten center in basketball is gaining steam; he’s on fire, and so are the Knicks.
The Bad: Andrew Wiggins and the Aging Warriors
It’s been a weird year by the Bay. The Warriors are awful – which is something no Warriors team (excluding the injury-riddled 2020) has been in over a decade. Why is Golden State so bad? Draymond Green has missed time, and Klay Thompson has been poor, but the lion’s share of the blame belongs to Andrew Wiggins. In a league where you need a big, versatile wing to win, the Warriors are suddenly without one.
All of Wiggins’s counting stats are down rather substantially from last year, and his efficiency has plummeted. On top of his offensive struggles, his defense has regressed massively. With Wiggins on the floor, opponents’ offenses perform like the record-setting Pacers; with him sitting, opposing offenses are middle of the pack. His net rating is down seventeen points from last season. Regression of this caliber is perplexing for a 29-year-old and has been a major factor in the Warriors’ demise.
The Good: Minnesota’s New Purple People Eaters*
I’ve had a soft spot for the Timberwolves ever since I happened to be in the Target Center for their infamous 2022 Play-In win that Patrick Beverley celebrated like a championship. It’s nice, then, that two years later, they look the part of actual championship contenders. Minnesota has played their way to first in the West, spearheaded by Anthony Edwards and a stifling defense. It’s beautiful to watch, really; every Timberwolf has fully bought into head coach Chris Finch’s defense-first mentality, and it’s paying off.
They’re led by generational defender Rudy Gobert, and they rank in the top five in opponent eFG%, rebounding percentage, and opponent 3PM. They play slow, methodical offense, and have just enough firepower (Anthony Edwards) to wear teams down slowly. There are no weak links to this team. For any NBA fans grumbling about a lack of intensity, or defense, watch a Timberwolves game. You’ll see rather quickly – it might not quite be 2000s basketball, but I’m sure Kevin Garnett is proud.
* The Purple People Eaters was the nickname for the dominant Minnesota Vikings defensive line of the late 60s and early 70s.
The Bad: Records are Made to Be Broken But Not This Easily
I should start this section by saying I really enjoy the modern NBA. What isn’t fun about seeing 7’+ guys fluidly pull up from three, or hit a Shammgod? Nothing. It’s all fun, and it’s good for the game. However, this level of skill is coming with massive jumps in scoring, and some records are starting to feel… meaningless. In the span of four days, we saw four different guys crack 60 points, with Luka Doncic touching 73. I won’t pretend like I don’t enjoy it; I watched every one of those games, and it’s incredibly cool to see that type of dominance.
But, there comes a certain point, and I think we’ve reached it, where the scales tip too far. It’s no longer impressive to score 30, or 40; superstars are almost expected to have those sort of games. The NBA has 47 guys averaging 20 or more, up from 19 ten years ago, and 17 ten years before that. The scoring boom is fun, and I’ll never be the one to sit here and tell you that it isn’t. Just remember, yesterday’s price is not today’s price; 30 points today could be 4o tomorrow, and so on.
The Good: The In-Season Tournament
Speaking of basketball evolution, we had a brand-new competition introduced into the NBA this season. I’ll admit that I was initially skeptical – why mess with a league that I’ve always loved just the way it was? I’m man enough to admit when I was wrong, and I was wrong. From the jump, the tournament gave the early regular season more importance, more storylines, and more competitiveness. It’s a needed jolt for what can feel like a drawn-out, monotone regular season, and it did its job well.
However, I can’t just blindly compliment the tournament; there are a couple of changes I’d make. I didn’t love how early it ended – a final on December 9 leaves 4+ months of the regular season to go on afterward. Make it longer! Eight group-stage games with a final in, say, late February would be perfect, ending the tournament right as we hit the home stretch of the regular season. I’d also sweeten the pot – match the $500k per player with a $500k donation to the charity of each player’s choice. Finally, fix the courts. Nobody liked those abominations. There are plenty of ways to make the Tournament special without blinding the fans. Overall, though, the Tournament was great. Even if every idea isn’t the best, it’s good to see the NBA is willing to experiment and evolve; the Tournament is a good evolution.
The Ugly: Monty Williams, the Catastrophic Pistons, and a Lack of Free Wings
It’s hard to put into words just how damaging this season has been for Monty Williams and the Detroit Pistons. They’re a shocking 6-41, and the peripherals don’t look much better. There was some hope for a positive campaign at the beginning of the season, but what’s ensued has been disastrous. Any number you can find for the Pistons has been awful. They eased past the NBA record for consecutive losses with 28, their offense is bad, and their defense is nonexistent.
Yes, the roster is young, but several guys they were expecting to take a step forward this season have taken two steps back. High draft picks like Killian Hayes, Kevin Knox, and James Wiseman have proven useless at best and detrimental at worst. Rookie Ausar Thompson is having one of the worst shooting seasons in recent memory. Whatever is going around Detroit has even made its way to the veterans – twelfth-year man Alec Burks is shooting an unfathomable 39% from inside the arc.
There are a few bright spots in the darkness of it all: Cade Cunningham looks good, and Jalen Duren has been solid when healthy. Overall, though, there’s been a staggering internal recession, which has, for better or worse, brought up criticisms of Monty; he’s been accused of everything from being a poor game manager to a nonexistent motivator. It’s been a remarkable fall from grace from Williams’s status as one of the game’s best coaches. He was on top of the world after his 2021 trip to the Finals with Phoenix. Now, you’ve got to figure he’s coaching for his job just a few months into his Detroit tenure.
You know the worst part of it all? The city of Detroit went without free Wingstop wings for two whole months during that infamous streak. Wings, and wins, have been at a premium for the Pistons this season. With some fierce competition from Washington and Charlotte, they take the cake as the ugliest story from the first half of this NBA season.
