The Utah have not been playing as expected to start the season, but they aren’t the only ones.
The Utah Jazz are not off to a good start to this season. They’re 2-4 through six and the season is on the verge of getting away from them already, and we’re not even through one full month of play yet. The team is only through six games, and a two-game winning streak brings the team back from the brink, but they have to actually win the next two games.
With each loss, the team continues to defy early season projections, bringing us one step closer to a full rebuild, instead of the reloading process we all thought the Jazz were engaging in. They’re not the only team who aren’t following the script.
So we’re looking at the Jazz and some other teams who are not performing as expected.
The Utah Jazz (2-4)
We thought the Jazz could struggle on defense, just considering who they have there. We did not, however, expect them to struggle on offense as well. They are 13th in the league in points per game, but they’re 17th in field goal percentage. And while as a team they’re doing well from three (10th), most of that is due to Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen is the only player who is shooting over 40% from three while taking more than 2 full shots per game from beyond the arc.
And with the well-documented early season struggles of Jordan Clarkson shooting the ball and the volume of shots he’s taking, it’s not exactly looking to get any better.
Miami Heat (2-4)
The Miami Heat are one of the NBA’s golden franchises and for good reason; the Heat Culture that the team embodies is only helping them gain more fame and notoriety. The fact the Heat haven’t really rebuilt since drafting Dwayne Wade shows you that the team is quite good at finding gems and turning them into star players. It also doesn’t hurt that Miami is a place players want to be.
But the start of the 2023-2024 season has been anything but kind to the team. They are just 24th in the league in points per game, and 21st in field goal percentage. Defensively, they’re even worse. They are 4th worst in the league in made shots, with the Heat’s opponents converting just shy of 50% of their shots. A lot of that damage is coming from three, as they are fifth in opponents’ three-point shooting.
And you can’t blame all this on a few guys either, as everyone has looked bad for the Heat. Jimmy Butler seems older and slower and isn’t putting on great performances, and the team may be leaning too hard on Kevin Love for minutes. Love, who was never a good defensive player, is playing 22 minutes and has already missed three of six games. Clearly, the Heat have issues that shuffling around their roster may not help.
Cleveland Cavaliers (2-4)
The Cleveland Cavaliers are sort of in the same spot that the Miami Heat are, with a poor offense that’s underdeveloped, but they’re at least a good defense. They’re 13th in the league in points per game, not great, but far from bad, and are 14th in the league in shooting percentages against.
The issues come offensively, as they are 27th in the league in points per game, with just over 105 points per game. They’re also only 25th in shooting percentages for the squad, and just 23rd in three-point shots made. This is a team that’s not very good offensively and that’s not shocking, considering that Darius Garland has missed time, and the bench is far from what it was.
Caris LeVert is now their full-time sixth man, and he’s been awful for them. So has new starter Max Strus, who’s hitting just 35% of his shots taken. Then you have Georges Niang, former Jazz forward, who’s shooting just 28% from the field.
Four of their top nine players in shots per game have shot under 40% from the floor to start the year, and of all the guys to get regular minutes only Isaac Okoro is hitting more than 39% of his three-point shots.
Clearly, the offense was not supposed to have stalled this badly to start things but the hope is that when Garland comes back the team will look much better.
San Antonio Spurs (3-2)
Now, on the flip side of things, the San Antonio Spurs are actually a team with a winning record, and as of Nov. 4 is the 7th best team in the Western Conference. They would be a play-in team if the season ended right now. That’s wild to think about and yes, they’re only five games into their season, but they took back-to-back games against Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns and pushed the Dallas Mavericks all game long.
They’re a good team. They’ll likely fall back down to Earth, but they’re a good team. At least scoring the ball. They’re 11th in the league in points per, 13th in field goal percentage, and 15th in three-pointers made.
That said, they are bad on defense, ranking 28th in the league in points against, 30th in the league in field goal percentage against, and 25th in the league in three-pointers against.
Still, Victor Wembanyama has been as advertised. So while the defense will soon be the cause of their downfall, the Spurs at least can be satisfied knowing that their rookie pick was everything he was presented to be.
Newcomer Cedi Osman has also been huge for the team. He’s shooting just shy of 60% from the floor and 50% from three to start the season, scoring 12 points a game in 20 minutes of action. Shooting guard Devin Vassell is also off to a wickedly good start, shooting 53% from the floor and 41% from three, while dropping 19.4 points per.
The Spurs may be bad on defense, but this offense is going to be hard to stop.