1/4 of the 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!!

GRADE: A
- Atlanta Hawks
- Denver Nuggets
- Miami Heat
- New Orleans Pelicans

Both conference leaders with only 4 losses so far, Miami and Denver were not expected to be that good: one traded two of its best players away and the other has no GM. But the real surprises are Atlanta and Pelicans: both teams were left out of postseason last year and only registered 7 losses so far. Plus, the Pelicans also lost their GM this offseason. Considering Silogical is basically a ChatGPT machine, does IA handles teams better than we humans do?

GRADE: B
- Boston Celtics
- Brooklyn Nets
- Dallas Mavericks
- Golden State Warriors
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Portland Trailblazers

All those teams are in pretty similar position: they are playing solid basketball and are right where they are expected to be. There’s a point for some to go a bit higher but overall they have been playing to their talent level but haven’t been enough for Conference lead so far. With many strong teams in this list, don’t let that B grade disbelief you that these teams are not contenders: they are just doing their job very well but nothing spectacular.

GRADE: C
- Charlotte Hornets
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Indiana Pacers
- New York Knicks
- Orlando Magic
- Phoenix Suns
- Sacramento Kings
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors

These teams are right around where they should be, mostly. The Hornets are in the early stages of their rebuild and Jovic has been a massive success. He is their season and he has been as good as any rookie can be. Cavs, Suns and Raptors, Magic and Pacers have losing records, but are close enough to turn it around and are playing solid when compared to expectations as teams that misses postseason last year. Knicks and Kings are also two winning teams that could be better but don’t deserve worse grades. Spurs are really the exception here as their roster suggests they could be better but it seems like they found their footing after a really rough start, I’m willing to bet they will be much better than they started the season from now on.

GRADE: D
- Detroit Pistons
- Houston Rockets
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Oklahoma City Thunder

These teams are either underperforming or expected to be that bad. D isn’t a bad grade for teams like Pistons, Clippers and Lakers who are really in rebuild mode (although gold and purple doesn’t have it’s own pick, there’s nothing it can do as it needs to keep adding talent and youth). If they were winning a bit more they would get a C like the Hornets but there aren’t many positives in their seasons, although it’s expected. The other teams, though, have been disappointing so far. Not too disastrous like those in grade F, but you can question what’s happening to those teams. Trades on the horizon for Wolves, Thunder and Rockets?

GRADE: F
- Chicago Bulls
- Utah Jazz
- Washington Wizards

That’s where it gets rough. Those three teams are way below expectations so far. The Bulls have remain atrocious offensively even if they made some moves to improve on that end of the floor, and their amazing season last year is a thing of the past. The Jazz are one of the most talented teams in the West and had a fantastic 4-5 seed battle against the Rockets last year, there’s absolutely no reason for the team to be that bad so far, but the Nunn trade could be very helpful long term. Wizards were expected to fight for a play in spot and not lose their first 8 in a row, specially with Snailmagic around. All of them have their picks which is great when things are not working, but they have enough talent or produced good enough results the past years to still turn it around. Will it happen or will those teams fight for Wemby or Cade in the offseason?

[Stockton12]

i was waiting for rating z lol

we have lost quiet a few close games ..still early season but maybe playoffs are out of reach for us

[bt]

Great effort from a phone haha. Also like how you ranked teams not just based on record but how they're faring in regards to how you think they should have.

I feel like we're a tiny bit better than our record indicates. Prior to getting hammered in our last game, out point differential was +4.3 (is still +3.3) which was/is good for 6th/7th best in the league I think so probably should have produced more wins but despite the changes this season and still trying to work out the best way to play, we're just bumbling along pretty much until the latter changes.. or we make a trade.

I'm a big fan of point differential to show a teams strength so teams like Dallas (13-7 but only a +0.6) and Minnesota (8-9 but a +3) I expect to change around shortly.

[rh0xxy]

Pretty spot on. We're definitely should have been better than this after our season success last year.

[Andrewu91]

Not bad. Discounting the record of our tough division, we have gone 9-4 against every other team. Still 2-5 against the division is still bad

[KW]

D feels right. The rookies aren't ready yet but we've been trying to get them minutes before the D-League season starts. Hoping for an improvement now that we've sent them down. Especially Lofton, who's actually been good offensively but is nowhere close on defense

[AlexS]

Thanks for putting this list together!

Can't argue with a D rating with our record. It's been a strange season so far with injuries and a decent # of sims where depth chart didn't go through or an injury before the sim messed up our rotations.

We have the #6 net rating (and #1 defensive rating) so I'm anticipating our record will turn around. Hopefully our offense comes together if we can get a run of injury free games.

[Marcos_Beck]

Thanks for putting this list together!

Can't argue with a D rating with our record. It's been a strange season so far with injuries and a decent # of sims where depth chart didn't go through or an injury before the sim messed up our rotations.

We have the #6 net rating (and #1 defensive rating) so I'm anticipating our record will turn around. Hopefully our offense comes together if we can get a run of injury free games.

These are strong numbers overall and suggests you’ll improve that record over the time.

I think I’ve never seen so many capable playoff teams in the CSL before. Many teams will have to prove they are contenders, but like 70% of the league is probably ready for playoff basketball right now. In a league where it’s usually championship or bust, this is a surprising number..

[TheTwoWallaces]

Yea I mean we suck but we knew we'd suck. Our rookies are off to a good start which makes this season feel like a B for us.

[hardenwithnod]

Yeah we have been trash so far, so no surprise with that rating.

[cb4raptorscb4]

Hard to argue with these! I think Utah is quite a bit better than WAS/CHI, and they have a much closer point differential. It's amazing how Silo continues to have the Heat rolling after trading Simmons.

[Flaming Homer]

Nice recap Marcos.

Good to see Atlanta on top and not the bottom like most of the last years lol.
but we had a very very easy schedule to start the season. I hope we can hold on to a playoff spot this year but I think Ryan's first power ranking will show how our schedule fares compared to our competition.

[Silogical]

I think a lot of teams would be 15-5 with my schedule. Im not that happy with cam he is way better than this, hoping with the instructions he can turn it wround.

[GreenBear]

The Pelicans will almost assuredly come back down to Earth. They're playing great basketball at the moment, but they are largely the same team that's struggled the past few years. Guys like Bamba won't continue to shoot nearly 10% higher than last season.

The Hawks, Heat and Nuggets are indeed playing great ball. Not surprised at all that Silo has the Heat humming already. The Hawks have taken a nice step forward after being a one-and-done play-in team last year. I thought the Nuggets would be improved on last year, but they've exploded. Bam was a great addition, and the DC/strat changes between seasons have been excellent.

The Wolves, Thunder and Rockets may be down at the moment, but they won't stay down. They have really talented rosters and are run by GMs that know what they're doing.

The Jazz are the biggest surprise. They were excellent last year and all of their core players are back. I know Phil must be disappointed, but I don't think they're far away from being a real force in the West like last year.

[emplep7]

D is generous for us. We’ve been awful but a part of me is torn about whether I want to rip some walls down and go young.