14 things to know about the NBA’s return

As the NBA prepares to un-press the pause button on the season we asked some of our team site communities to list a few important things for fans to know. Here’s just a smattering of juicy tidbits to help us all reengage with the league and prepare for Bubble Ball.

You’d be forgiven if you forgot the Toronto Raptors are the defending NBA champs. It’s been over a year now since The North brought home the Larry O’Brien and once Kawhi went west so did all the media attention. But the Raptors are healthy, have a great coach, have the second-best NBA defense and Marc Gasol is still ticking. Don’t sleep on Toronto.

We can admit here, between friends, that the Raptors are not considered the favourites to win the 2020 NBA title. The smarter money is betting on LeBron James and the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks. This is a fair stance to take; those are three really good teams.

But, it bears mentioning: the Raptors were the fourth team in that little mix and spent most of the season playing a man, or two, or three (or four?) down.

The most exciting young player in the league has returned and we get to see him turning defenses into confused piles of shivering goo. Like this:

Orlando sits comfortably in the eighth spot in the East where they have the goal of holding off the Wizards for the right to “play” in the first round against a Milwaukee (probably) juggernaut. Fun. But it’s not all bad for the “home” team:

Make no mistake about it, the Magic put together a thoroughly scorching 12-game burst before the hiatus hit, seemingly flipping the switch in the time found between heartbeats. Orlando emerged as the league’s most dangerous scoring outfit, morphing their moribund pre-February 10 offensive rating of 105.5 (26th) into a gold standard of 118.2 (1st).

The Sacramento Kings enjoy the support of one of the most loyal fan bases in the NBA who absolutely deserve a shot at the postseason for the first time since 2006. They’ll need to reverse their trend of slow starts including a 2-6 record over the first eight games of part one of the this season. Good luck with that.

The Phoenix Suns will say all the right things about fighting for that eighth spot but without Kelly Oubre (knee) their already dim chances are...dimmer. Of course, fans will be watching to see if Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton do that Phoenix thing and “show promise” but more eyes will be on free agent Aaron Baynes.

Basically the entire Suns’ frontcourt is able to hit the open market this offseason, with Baynes chief among them. His impact on this group is unmistakable, and he fits their offensive system well. One could even imagine that his comfort might allow the Suns to nab him for a price tag beneath his $10 million cap hold. What happens over the course of the eight games in Orlando could be the deciding factor for Baynes’ future in the Valley.

No John Wall still. Bradley Beal is undecided. David Bertans is out. But hey, at least Washington Wizards are bad at defense.

They’ve allowed 115.8 points per 100 possessions — second worst mark in NBA history — and that’s an improvement over where they were earlier in the season.

Houston traded away their starting bigs and I guess will use 6’5” P.J. Tucker and the aging Tyson Chandler against the likes of Rudy Gobert, Nikola Jokic, and Anthony Davis. Huh. Ok. At least James Harden has bought into the “Pocket Rockets” by seemingly dropping his own extra baggage.

The Memphis Grizzlies are currently a playoff team and their young studs want to keep it that way by fighting off a bevy of competitors. Meanwhile, likely Rookie of the Year Ja Morant will be looking to prove he’s deserving of the title despite Zion Williamson’s injury shortened season. And sophomore Jaren Jackson Jr. has to be excited about the chance to play meaningful games. We’re excited for him too.

While Zion was elite in 19 games played prior to the suspension of the season, Ja’s 59 game sample size is extremely impressive in and of itself. He is a human highlight reel with a remarkable ability to take games over in the fourth quarter and a willingness to get his teammates involved early and often to get their confidence up. He’s cocky and brash in the very best way, willing to take on all comers and embrace the underdog mentality that both he and Memphis have had for the longest time.

The best team in the NBA by both record and stats hope their momentum from the season will translate to the Bubble. Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has already proven his chops as a great player and now has the chance to jump to the next level and join the conversation as one of the greatest players ever. That kind of thing happens in the postseason. The X factor for this team is the Lopez twins home court advantage of playing at a Disney facility. This might just give the Bucks an unfair edge.

But why have one giant center when you can have two, and when they happen to have overlapping skill sets, physical profiles, and genetic backgrounds? Twin brother Robin was an offseason acquisition that guaranteed the Bucks would have 48 minutes of Lopez to throw at any other big man they might come across, and Robin shoots threes now too!

When Damian Lillard gets rolling there’s nothing that can stop him. He’ll need to bring all of those powers to the effort if the Blazers are going to both catch the Grizzlies and hold off four other teams for the final spot. But if anyone can do it...

During the 2019-20 campaign the star point guard is averaging career highs in points (28.9) and assists (7.8) per game. He’s also posting his best field goal percentage (45.7) and tied for his best 3-point shooting season (39.4%). This is all while being the league leader in minutes per game (36.9).

Lakers Exceptionalism is alive and well in Los Angeles and pretty much everywhere else basketball and shoes and culture exists. It’s been a tragic year for the team and that was before, ya know, everything. But The King seems focused on using his incredible platform for incredible things and the longer he’s playing and getting attention the more good he can do. LeBron will be heading into the Bubble postseason fully rested and highly motivated so even me, a lifelong Lakers Hater, wouldn’t bet against another Laker ring.

Avery Bradley was originally on the roster, but won’t travel with the Lakers to Orlando for personal reasons. The Lakers have replaced him with J.R Smith, a move they just made official on Wednesday. We will update this section when and if they add anyone else. For example, general manager Rob Pelinka says they still are not certain if Howard is going or not.

When Russell Westbrook left for the Rockets we all thought the Thunder run was done. But Chris Paul is having an exceptional season and as a high-mileage vet should benefit from the long layoff.

It has been brilliant to watch Chris Paul take on a leadership role with the Thunder. When the trade was made, there was a feeling that Paul did not want to be in Oklahoma. Paul is at the stage of his career where he wants to be contending titles. Oklahoma City are not a team challenging for the Larry O’Brien trophy at the moment.

OKC is only 1.5 games behind Denver for the third spot in the West and while home court advantage isn’t a thing this year the seeding advantage is still important to the team’s chances of pushing the LA teams in the playoffs.

Paul George is healthy. The Clips added some needed depth with Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson and whatever Joakim Noah has left in his energy tanks. But mostly, if we’ve learned anything about the NBA over the last fiver years or so it’s to never discount Kawhi Leonard in the postseason. This all brings us to the possibility (probability really) of an epic crosstown series played on the other side of the country without the benefit of celebrity fans sitting court side. Less circus, more basketball - sounds great to me!

The Clippers have the best lineup (that has played at least 50 minutes together) in the NBA since the All-Star break. The Clippers’ bench extends beyond just Williams and Harrell. The best five-man unit in the league (+35.7 net rating over 60 minutes) since the All-Star break belongs to the Clippers reserves: Jackson, Williams, Landry Shamet, JaMychal Green, and Harrell. The Clippers starters come in seventh at +19.4.

The New Orleans Pelicans head to Orlando in 10th place but are considered by many to be favorites to overtake the Grizzlies and steal the final playoff spot. Why? Maybe it’s the development of Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram combined with Mr. Inevitable Zion Williamson. But mostly you can credit the combined play of their entire starting five who put up a league-best (from Jan 22 on) +26.3 net rating. That’s nuts.

Zanos did return to wreak havoc upon the mere mortals of the NBA...

[...]His efficiency as a scorer has been off the charts, even as he adjusts to the size and speed of the NBA game. Williamson converted almost 59 percent of his field goal attempts, while averaging 23.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists.

Reports are that Zion is in phenomenal shape heading into the restart. If he could perform like that while working himself into basketball condition, just imagine what a healthy Williamson will do to opponents that are now realizing that they must adjust to him.