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.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> and Kenrich Williams<\/a> is 25 or under. It starts at the top – superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> 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<\/a> has been a two-way star, averaging nearly three blocks a night to go with his 17\/8\/3. Second-year man Jalen Williams<\/a> is building on a good rookie year – he’s garnering serious Most Improved Player consideration while boosting his numbers across the board.<\/p>\n To boot, the roster is loaded with young contributors like Lu Dort<\/a> and Cason Wallace<\/a>, and the cherry on top? The Thunder still\u00a0<\/em>own\u00a0thirty-five <\/strong>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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> for the much-maligned Jordan Poole<\/a> 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<\/em> per 100 possessions with Poole on the floor. He’s been doing things like this almost every night:<\/p>\nThe Bad: Jordan Poole and the Washington Wizards<\/h3>\n