Today we are going to discuss the most surprising lineups to start the NBA season.
The Kings’ starting five
De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Keegan Murray, Harrison Barnes, and Domantas Sabonis make up a group that has experienced a variety of things.
Elite rebounders caught around 30% of their own misses while snatching up almost 83% of their opponents’ misses. Even if Barnes and Sabonis so far had terrible luck from beyond the arc, the team has a strong shooting game, making roughly 53% of its shots and 42% of its triples. Furthermore, the defense has played very well. But here’s a crucial point: defensive effort hasn’t suffered.
The Nets’ starting five
Brooklyn has two stars in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, both are members of the exclusive 50-40-90 club in NBA history, and the team’s starting lineup is producing a pitiful 101.5 points per 100 possessions. If you’re keeping track at home, that’s near the bottom of the league horrible; on par with the Lakers’ poor shooting and the Clippers, who have played the majority of this season without Kawhi Leonard.
Once Seth Curry returns, it will be exciting to see how Steve Nash attempts to go small more frequently with Simmons at the center. These kinds of lineups would let the team to make better use of its shooters, but they would also reduce the efficiency of a finesse Brooklyn club on the boards.
The Warriors’ “PSTD” lineup
The Dubs’ young players haven’t performed well as a second unit, and they are primarily to blame for Golden State’s early-season troubles, according to a fairly consistent refrain so far this season.
Particularly struggling, Jonathan Kuminga’s shooting percentage was 33.3%. He, Jordan Poole, and James Wiseman-led lineups have been destroyed by 38.5 points per 100 possessions over the course of the first 28 minutes, while Kuminga, Poole, and Moses Moody-led lineups have fallen by 17.3 points per 100 possessions over the course of the first 22 minutes. Particularly with Wiseman, there isn’t much second-unit coherence at the moment.
Washington’s starting five
The Wizards, who have enjoyed tremendous outcomes when playing Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis, Kyle Kuzma, Deni Avdija, and sure-handed recruit Monte Morris, may become the biggest pleasant surprise on this list. In fact, with that roster, Washington has scored 128.6 points more than any other five-man lineup in the league with at least 50 minutes of action.
In place of Avdija, coach Wes Unseld Jr. decided to switch up his starting five Monday night, including Anthony Gill. He had soft-launched against the Celtics a game earlier by bringing Avdija off the bench to start the second half.
The Clippers’ lineups with Kawhi
For Leonard and Paul George, two players who would show the capacity to contend if both are healthy at once, statistics probably don’t mean that much. But in the 39 minutes those two played together, Los Angeles had a 62.2% true shooting percentage and outscored its opponents by 13.7 points per 100 possessions.
For this club, having Leonard receive more playing time alongside new Clipper John Wall and the other roster additions would be a huge positive. But it appears to be unpredictable right now how frequently we’ll see it this season.
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