{"id":885838,"date":"2026-09-09T15:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/885838\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T15:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:56:19","slug":"something-positive-about-every-nba-team-pt-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/885838\/","title":{"rendered":"Something positive about every NBA team, Pt. II"},"content":{"rendered":"

The middle of my three-part series looking at something every team and fanbase should be excited for. Part I here<\/a>; Part III to follow. <\/p>\n

Reason for optimism: Inner peace<\/p>\n

The Knicks were a bit of a roller coaster last season. The introduction of a new coach, Mike Brown, was necessary but risky. Karl-Anthony Towns complained about his offensive role, the defense was inconsistent, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart were constant targets of frustrated fans demanding benchings, and the team\u2019s depth was a question mark. Sure, they won the NBA Cup, but few saw that as likely to portend a championship. <\/p>\n

Then, May and June happened. The Knicks went on a heater the likes of which we\u2019ve rarely seen before. They also won the Larry O\u2019B. <\/p>\n

Winning puts the mind at ease.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I\u2019m underestimating the subtle evils of Pat Riley\u2019s Disease of More, but it feels like New York comes into this season with a far greater understanding of who they are. More importantly, they believe in themselves. They know that they can outshine even those famous Madison Square Garden spotlights.<\/p>\n

In the words of Mel Brooks, \u201cIt\u2019s good to be the king.\u201d <\/p>\n

Reason for optimism: A defensive renaissance<\/p>\n

The Pelicans aren\u2019t all that far removed from being an excellent defensive team, ranking eighth in points allowed per 100 possessions<\/a> in 2023-24 and sixth the season before. While I don\u2019t expect them to reach anything like those lofty heights, new coach Jamahl Mosley will bring a renewed emphasis on a defensive identity to a roster that felt directionless last season.<\/p>\n

No, there aren\u2019t many talented defenders on the roster, and no, the roster doesn\u2019t make all that much sense. In fact, it\u2019s so poorly constructed that former All-Defensive wing Herb Jones may need to be the team\u2019s starting \u201ccenter\u201d just to get a couple of stops:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But regular-season defense is schemable. Sensible tactics and high effort can make almost any group of NBA-caliber players at least passable on that end, and Mosley, for all his flaws, will get the absolute most of his limited roster. While nobody is putting Trey Murphy, Saddiq Bey, or Zion Williamson on any Best Defender lists, none of those guys are awful, either \u2014 notably, Zion has substantially improved his defense over the years. There\u2019s value in not having a zero on the floor (and that\u2019s only somewhat a Jeremiah Fears joke).<\/p>\n

Even after making a money-shaving trade the other day, the Pelicans are still unsettled. They\u2019re hoping to get Fears and Derik Queen on track after up-and-down rookie campaigns, and they need to decide which of their vets to keep and which to shop around. <\/p>\n

But while New Orleans won\u2019t be good next year, they will be professional. That means something after two straight seasons spent mostly masquerading as clowns, and it\u2019s most likely to show up on the defensive end. <\/p>\n

If Charlotte can end last season ranked 11th on defense, anyone can. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The middle of my three-part series looking at something every team and fanbase should be excited for. Part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-885838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}