NBA Rumors: Exploring one extremely alarming trend that every season must address before it's too late.
At this point in the season, with the end of the calendar year quickly approaching, most NBA teams have played between 25-30 regular season games. We're at nearly the one-third mark of the season. When it comes to breaking down and analyzing teams, we're no longer dealing with small sample sizes. There are strong conclusions that we can begin to draw for many teams across the league.
Do teams still have the opportunity to change narratives with their play? Absolutely. However, at the same time, it may be considered a bit foolish to expect that after such a solid sample size has been played that we're going to see some huge changes for a ton of teams across the board. That said, there are certainly areas in which every team can improve. Piggybacking off that, we explore one extremely alarming trend that every team must address before it gets too out of hand.
Atlanta Hawks
1 Alarming trend: Trae Young's scoring inefficiency
Trae Young may be averaging a career high in assists so far this season but there's no question that there has to be some concern when it comes to his scoring efficiencies. Young is averaging 12 assists per game but is shooting career lows from the field overall (39%) and from 3-point range (32%). Even though they've been pretty competitive so far this season, you can't help but wonder how much better this team would be if Young was a bit more efficient on the offensive end of the floor.
Boston Celtics
1 Alarming trend: Their struggling defense
Last season, the Boston Celtics were one of the most dominating teams in recent NBA history. A big reason why is their strong play on both ends of the floor. The Celtics weren't just electric on the offensive end of the floor but they were also one of the best defensively. At least so far this season, the Celtics hasn't seen a drop-off compared to where they are ranked opposite the rest of the league. The Celitcs have the ninth best defense so far this season. If Boston is going to repeat as champs, you'd have to imagine that is going to have to improve.
Brooklyn Nets
1 Alarming trend: One of the worst defenses
The Brooklyn Nets have been respectable on the offensive end of the floor but they're on pace to finish with one of the worst defenses in the league. And as the team begins to strip away some of the veteran players off their roster, there's reason to believe it could end up getting worse before it gets better. However, I do suppose that could end up working in the favor of the Nets as they look to finish with a high draft pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.