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Here Are The Most Fascinating NBA Storylines of The 2023 Season

Here Are The Most Fascinating NBA Storylines of The 2023 Season

Lila Odinaev  | 1 month ago
Do you know what the best part of the NBA is? The storylines! Fans can never honestly see how the season will materialize, but they can speculate and rank with their help.

Here are a few exciting storylines for the 2022-23 NBA season. Happy reading! 

​Length Rules The Day

Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors outperformed expectations, perhaps due to their significant emphasis on movement and length. The Cavaliers regularly fielded a lineup featuring three 7-footers. On the other hand, the Raptors were in charge of super creative lineups that occasionally had four or even five players who were 6-foot-7 or taller.

The young and emerging Orlando Magic spent some pre-season time experimenting with 6-foot-9 Franz Wagner playing shooting guard. Along with Wagner, the roster houses Paolo Banchero (6-10), Wendell Carter Jr. (6-10), Mo Bamba (7-0), Bol Bol (7-2), and hopefully soon, Jonathan Isaac (6-11). No wonder these groups can serve as the model for future NBA player development.
​Length Rules The Day
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Think about it this way: All physical traits are a double-edged sword. If you're bigger and more robust, you’re more vulnerable to being blown by quicker players.  A player who's stronger than you may want to exploit your defensive matchup if you're a smaller, quicker guard.

You get the best of all worlds when you use these longer, more maneuverable players like Scottie Barnes. On the one hand, you have a player who's tall enough to compete against prominent men inside. On the other hand, he’s also swift enough to keep most players in front of him.

​MVP - A Three-Big Race?

The competition for the award is intense between Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and Nikola Jokic.

Jokic's on/off splits are absurd; when he sits on the bench, the Nuggets' net rating changes by 20 points. When Embiid is on the court, the Sixers are 31-15, which helped them survive the Ben Simmons controversy. Antetokounmpo demonstrates why he can be a threat from both ends of the court.
These players appear to outperform one another. Antetokounmpo had a 50-point loss on February 15. Jokic provided the game-winning assist the following night. The Bucks and Antetokounmpo lost that night, but Embiid scored 42 points.

Don't count out DeMar DeRozan from spoiling the party, even though those three are the MVP front-runners. He led the Bulls in scoring in the ten games before the break with 35.8 points and shot 57.2 percent from the field, helping the team keep a share of the top seed in the East. If he hits more game-winning shots as he did against Atlanta in the Bulls' opening game, his candidacy will advance.

​Same Old Blazers?

Portland hired a new coach in Detroit Pistons legend Chauncey Billups and again tried to make minor roster adjustments around the edges of its roster rather than make a splash move, but has that team fundamentally changed? 
​Same Old Blazers?
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If the preseason's any indication, their defense continues to be dreadful. Perhaps a trade is still a possibility, but until that happens, the Blazers - unless Larry Nance Jr. truly transforms them defensively = appear to be cut from the same cloth as always: Damian Lillard and McCollum must generate and make enough challenging shots to make up for their inability to stop anyone on the opposing end. 

We've seen that the formula has a cap, so even if we've put this story to rest, for the time being, we're still one Lillard trade request away from a potential Portland teardown. 

​A Sleeping Giant In Minnesota

One of the largest deals of the offseason was the Minnesota Timberwolves giving the Utah Jazz Rudy Gobert in return for four players, four first-round picks, and one pick swap.

So far, the alleged defensive shortcomings of Gobert and his new big-man running partner, Karl Anthony-Towns, have received a lot of attention. The critics, however, are not doing enough to praise Chris Finch, Gobert's new coach, or the fact that he is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year.
Finch's innovative defensive system led a subpar defensive group last season to an above-average finish (13th in the league) in our adjusted defensive rating measure. This defensive strategy was built on communication and aggressive ball-screen tactics.

Additionally, Gobert ranked first in the NBA for defensive DRIP (plus-2.5), which calculates a player's impact on a team's plus-minus per 100 defensive possessions.

Putting away historical comparisons, it was never a surprise if the Timberwolves ended up winning the year's playoffs.

​The Rookies

This rookie class was quite interesting. Paolo Banchero ranks number 1 and is followed by the highly touted Bennedict Mathurin. 
​The Rookies
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Additionally, all eyes are on Jaden Ivey and Jabari Smith for their immaculate skills as the third and fourth best rookies of this class.

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✍ WRITTEN BY

Lila Odinaev

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