5 NBA teams that have not performed as well as their strength on paper
With ample data of around 55+ games at our hands, it has become fairly easy to connect the dots in hindsight for this regular season. As the 2019-20 NBA campaign nears its dawn, we can juxtapose projections from the pre-season with what we have witnessed so far.
Many of the proposed storylines withered away as the season progressed, and many new ones emerged. One of the more riveting aspects came through from the rosters that had sufficient quality talent heading into the season but failed to live up to the hype.
The playoff bracket in both the conferences is almost set. But the intriguing detail still lies in the unprecedented rankings of some squads on their respective leaderboards. In this piece, we will take a quick look at the five teams that looked solid on paper but have failed to deliver proportionally on the floor so far.
#5 San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs have made the playoffs 39 times out of their 43 seasons, and are now expected to miss the postseason for the first time in over 20 years. The DeRozan-Aldridge pairing lost in the first round last season, but it looks like that won't be the case this year. The Spurs are currently 24-32 (0.429) on the season, 3.5 games behind the 8th seed Memphis Grizzlies.
Even with six players averaging double-digits in scoring on this roster, San Antonio have found it hard to register wins all year long. Impacted by the mid-range game of their two leading scorers, they have the second-lowest three-point attempts (28.4) this year.
Aldridge is having an ordinary year scoring-wise, and the support crew of Rudy Gay, Patty Mills, and Dejounte Murray have been ineffective in making a major splash.