Mid Season Report Cards

[Marcos_Beck]

Quick article written from my phone with reports to all 30 teams for the first quarter of the season!! Enjoy!! (In parentheses grades from 1/4 season reports.)

GRADE: A
- Denver Nuggets (A)
- Miami Heat (A)
- Brooklyn Nets (B)
- Dallas Mavericks (B)

How does a team trade Ben Simmons and take no steps back? How does a GM-less team leads the tough West? Is that the year Brooklyn wins it all even without a GM? Is being without a GM the way to go? Does Zion wins a ring before Luka?

GRADE: B
- Boston Celtics (B)
- Golden State Warriors (B)
- Memphis Grizzlies (B)
- Milwaukee Bucks (B)
- Philadelphia 76ers (B)
- Portland Trailblazers (B)
- Cleveland Cavaliers (C)
- Houston Rockets (D)

Impressive jump from the Rockets to salvage the season when things were not looking good. Cavs have also been playing much better and just made a trade that can turn them into possible threats. Doug is turning the Blazers into a force and Halliburton is turning from bust to star right in front of our eyes. The rest of the teams remain doing what they were expected to, and firmly in playoff route.

GRADE: C
- Atlanta Hawks (A)
- New Orleans Pelicans (A)
- Charlotte Hornets (C)
- New York Knicks (C)
- Phoenix Suns (C)
- Toronto Raptors (C)

Charlotte continues to develop a MVP-caliber player in Jovic, who shows no signs of slowing down. Andrew blames Knicks records on injuries and has Luka playing as well as he has ever been, but is that enough to be a contender or are they supposed to be there? The next 20 games or so will determine a lot for those 5 teams other than the Hornets as they make a playoff push.

GRADE: D
- Indiana Pacers (C)
- Orlando Magic (C)
- San Antonio Spurs (C)
- Sacramento Kings (C)
- Detroit Pistons (D)
- Los Angeles Clippers (D)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (D)
- Chicago Bulls (F)

Minny still hasn’t figured it out yet, but are within playoff reach. So does the Spurs who continue to play .500 ball despite a really good starting unit. Sacramento has more talent than their record shows, even though youth might be hurting them right now. It’s hard to figure out if they belong on C or D but given their manager’s success, expectations were a bit higher. Bulls are pushing but not where they should be yet and Magic / Pacers have not been able to take the next step so far… Clippers and Pistons had no expectations for the year but have no good news also. At least they are not complete failures as struggles were expected and both have their picks.

GRADE: F
- Los Angeles Lakers (D)
- Oklahoma City Thunder (D)
- Utah Jazz (F)
- Washington Wizards (F)

What a rough season for the Jazz, even though they are playing better, expectations were much higher than that, and they still have some ground to cover in order to fight for postseason. Am I being too hard on Jon? I honestly don’t think so, this is a former champ with an excellent roster and unable to consistently win like he did last year. Gary already punted the season which is sad to see but probably for the best… And the Lakers are only here because their roster seems to be able to fight for a play in spot, but their GM has been fantastic trying to put Purple and Gold back into the radar.