由Gemini Pro人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
凯文·佩尔顿(Kevin Pelton)ESPN高级撰稿人2024年4月14日，上午8:00 ET
联合撰稿人，职业篮球远景系列
曾担任印第安纳步行者队顾问
开发了WARP评级和SCHOENE系统
随着2023-24年NBA常规赛于星期日结束，你将如何评价你的球队的表现？
在季后赛成果至上并且通常与我们期盼的常规赛表现脱节的世界中，这个问题的回答很微妙。去年，湖人队和热火队令人失望地参加了附加赛，却获得了分区决赛(在迈阿密获得了胜利)的门票。
尽管如此，这些结果令人着迷，因为它们非常不可思议。即使在过去四个季后赛中，排名第一的球队更有可能在分区决赛前被淘汰，排名前三的球队(42%)进入最后四强的几率仍然几乎是排名范围外的三倍(15%)。
鉴于常规赛如何设定季后赛，让我们看看在进入赛季和在此过程中面对的伤病的情况下，所有30支球队的表现如何–尽管知道另一场附加赛可能会在5月底之前让人们觉得这些看起来愚蠢。我还包含了我1月份中期评估的成绩以进行比较。
成绩跳转：A | B | C | D | F
底特律活塞队
成绩：F
中期成绩：F
好消息是活塞队在1月底和2月初表现得足够好–在22场比赛中积攒了14场胜利中的8场–避免了将历史最多输球次数添加到他们历史性28连败的记录中。坏消息是其他所有事情。新教练蒙蒂·威廉姆斯花了很长时间才找到合适阵容，以便让有前途的年轻后卫凯德·坎宁安和杰登·艾维发挥作用，基利安·海斯首发，直至交易截止日期被放弃。(他还没有在NBA复出。)底特律本来应该在坎宁安在2022-23年缺席70场比赛后有所改善。相反，活塞队以队史最差战绩结束了本赛季。
华盛顿奇才队
成绩：D-
中期成绩：C-
费力地注视，你会在奇才队艰难的赛季中发现一些积极因素。德尼·阿夫迪亚成长为一个合格的首发，而乐透新秀比拉勒·库利巴利作为19岁的新秀表现得很稳重。尽管华盛顿知道这将是一场乐透竞选，但奇才队肯定希望乔丹·普尔能表现得更好，他短暂地被淘汰，这是他四年合约的第一个赛季，该合约将为他支付平均3000多万美元，直到2026-27年。
亚特兰大老鹰队
成绩：D-
中期成绩：D
与排在这个成绩附近球队不同，老鹰队有机会通过附加赛拯救一个失败的赛季。作为东部第10号种子，这不太可能实现–需要在没有突破前锋杰伦·约翰逊的情况下在客场连赢两场–因此，在连续三次季后赛出场后，他们可能会面临一次乐透抽奖。老鹰队本赛季的失利归因于作为二人组合时，德琼特·穆雷和特雷·杨无法像明星后卫单独比赛时那样获得相同的产出，而老鹰队现在面临这个难题：本休赛期他们必须交易其中的一个，才能重建球队。
多伦多猛龙队
成绩：D
中期成绩：C-
很难相信猛龙队本赛季开始时希望他们能在去年的附加赛失利中进步。相反，多伦多发现自己在交易了首发OG·阿努诺比和帕斯卡尔·西亚卡姆后，成为了联盟最差的球队之一。好处是入选全明星的斯科蒂·巴恩斯的发展。巴恩斯由新人RJ·巴雷特和伊曼纽尔·奎克利陪伴，是下一支优秀猛龙队的核心。但多伦多依靠不要在乐透抽奖中滑坡，才能将今年被前六保护的首轮选秀权添加到那个小组中。
夏洛特黄蜂队
成绩：D
中期成绩：D
60场失利紧随一年前27胜55负之后，至少帮助黄蜂队接受了一次重建。他们首先通过在中期交易首发PJ·华盛顿和特里·罗齐尔，增加了选秀权，并见证了2号新秀布兰登·米勒成长为进攻的核心人物。如果夏洛特本赛季缺席合计123场比赛后，能够让拉梅洛·鲍尔和中锋马克·威廉姆斯健康，那么会出现一个有竞争力的核心团队，而黄蜂队还可以获得另一个高乐透签。
布鲁克林篮网队
成绩：D
中期成绩：D+
12月16日(13胜12负)后的500强以上，篮网队此后的表现是NBA最差的球队之一。米卡尔·布里奇斯在进攻中的领导作用下挣扎，本·西蒙斯只打了15场比赛，一支建立在防守多变性的球队最终在防守方面排名倒数第十。更糟糕的是，篮网队不会因此得到一个乐透选秀权而烦恼，将今年的选秀权作为詹姆斯·哈登交易的一部分送给了火箭队。
波特兰开拓者队
成绩：D+
中期成绩：C-
本赛季发生在开拓者队身上的最好的事情是，联盟其他垫底球队糟糕透顶，让开拓者队匹配过去25个赛季所有其他球队合计的60分失败总次数(两次)成为关注焦点。从长远来看，对开拓者队最重要的将是斯科特·亨德森在新秀赛季可以预见地苦苦挣扎于效率后如何应对。
圣安东尼奥马刺队
成绩：C-
中期成绩：D+
自将维克多·文班亚马移至中锋位置并开始特雷·琼斯打控球后线卫，圣安东尼奥的竞争力如此之强，很难理解为什么马刺队等了这么长时间才做出这些改变。尽管如此，本赛季从来都不是关于胜利和失败的，20岁的文班亚马发展成为一支力量，预示着马刺队的未来。
迈阿密热火队
成绩：C-
中期成绩：C
连续第二年，迈阿密的季后赛之旅将通过附加赛进行。这次有更少的理由相信热火队的未开发潜力。在2022-23年常规赛表现不佳(34%，NBA排名第27位)之后，迈阿密本赛季排名第13位，命中率为37%。正是49%的糟糕内线命中率毁了热火队的进攻。但是，当谈到季后赛时，没有人会抹去迈阿密队。
孟菲斯灰熊队
成绩：C-
中期成绩：C-
诚然，考虑到导致孟菲斯本赛季使用创纪录的33名球员的受伤情况，这感觉很苛刻。由于这个不断变化的阵容，教练泰勒·詹金斯跑了51个不同的首发阵容。对于灰熊队来说，本赛季更多的是不完整的，他们在新秀GG杰克逊和文斯·威廉姆斯二世这两个有前途的角色球员中找到了，后者本赛季以一份双向合同开始。尽管如此，对于一支51场胜利的球队来说，这是一个失落的赛季，而灰熊队也突然面临奢侈税问题，迫使他们中期交易受伤的中锋史蒂文·亚当斯。
芝加哥公牛队
成绩：C-
中期成绩：C-
公牛队似乎几个月来一直锁定在附加赛上，并且在去年在客场比赛后，至少将主场对阵老鹰队进行9-10比赛。公牛队想要接近50%，需要靠英雄事迹，主要是来自德罗赞，公牛队并不是联盟中排名前19的得分优于对手的球队之一。
金州勇士队
成绩：C-
中期成绩：D
勇士队能否拯救看起来像一个失败的赛季？3月底至4月初的9比1的延伸显示了希望，但金州周五在主场输给新奥尔良鹈鹕队，让勇士队失去了进入7-8附加赛的最佳机会。因此，他们下周很可能需要赢两次才能进入季后赛。金州在德雷蒙德·格林阵容中的50场胜利中表现出色，显示出他在赛季上半期的停赛是多么昂贵。
犹他爵士队
成绩：C
中期成绩：B
连续第二年，爵士队在交易截止日期放弃了附加赛竞赛。虽然今年的交易没有那么引人注目，但犹他放弃了在前10
原文如下：
From honor roll to summer school: Full regular-season grades for all 30 NBA teams
Kevin Pelton, ESPN Senior WriterApr 14, 2024, 08:00 AM ET
Close Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series
Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers
Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system
As the 2023-24 NBA regular season ends Sunday, how would you grade your team’s performance?
That question is trickier to answer in a world where playoff results are paramount and often more disconnected from the regular-season performance that we’ve come to expect. Last year, the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat turned disappointing trips to the play-in tournament into spots in the conference finals (and a win there, in Miami’s case).
Still, those results were captivating because they were so unlikely. Even in the topsy-turvy past four postseasons, when No. 1 seeds were more likely to be eliminated before the conference finals, the odds of making the final four as a top-three seed (42%) were still nearly triple the odds outside that range (15%).
Given the way the regular season sets up the playoffs, let’s look at how all 30 teams did relative to expectations coming into the season and the injuries they faced along the way – with the knowledge that another run from the play-in could make these look silly by late May. I’ve also included my grades from our midterm assessment in January for comparison.
Jump to grades: A’s | B’s | C’s | D’s | F
Detroit Pistons
Grade: F
Midseason grade: F
The good news is the Pistons did enough in late January and early February – accumulating eight of their 14 wins in a 22-game span – to avoid flirting with adding the most losses in NBA history to their record 28-game losing streak. The bad news is everything else. It took new coach Monty Williams far too long to find a workable lineup to feature promising young guards Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, with Killian Hayes starting right up until being waived at the trade deadline. (He’s yet to resurface in the NBA.) Detroit figured to improve after Cunningham missed 70 games in 2022-23. Instead, the Pistons end the season with the worst record in franchise history.
Washington Wizards
Grade: D-
Midseason grade: C-
Squint hard enough and you can find some positives in a difficult season for the Wizards. Deni Avdija developed into a quality starter, while lottery pick Bilal Coulibaly held his own as a 19-year-old rookie. Despite Washington knowing this would be a lottery campaign, the Wizards surely hoped for better play from Jordan Poole, who was briefly benched in the first season of a four-year contract that will pay him an average of $30-plus million through 2026-27.
Atlanta Hawks
Grade: D-
Midseason grade: D
Unlike the teams near them in these grades, the Hawks have an outside chance of redeeming a lost season via the play-in tournament. That’s unlikely as the 10th seed in the East – needing to win two games on the road without breakout forward Jalen Johnson – so they’re likely facing a trip to the lottery after three consecutive playoff appearances. Atlanta’s season was undone by the inability to get the same production out of Dejounte Murray and Trae Young as a duo as when the star guards played individually, and the Hawks now face the prospect of having to trade one of them this offseason to retool.
Toronto Raptors
Grade: D
Midseason grade: C-
It’s hard to believe the Raptors began this season hoping they could improve on last year’s play-in tournament loss. Instead, Toronto found itself among the league’s worst teams after dealing starters OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam. The upside was the development of first-time All-Star Scottie Barnes. Flanked by newcomers RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, Barnes is the centerpiece of the next good Raptors team. But Toronto is relying on not sliding back in the lottery to add this year’s first-round pick, top-6 protected, to that group.
Charlotte Hornets
Grade: D
Midseason grade: D
A 60-loss season on the heels of going 27-55 a year ago at least helped the Hornets embrace a rebuilding process. They began adding draft picks by dealing starters PJ Washington and Terry Rozier midseason and saw No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller grow into a leading role on offense. If Charlotte can get LaMelo Ball and center Mark Williams healthy after missing a combined 123 games this season, a competitive core will emerge that the Hornets can add to with yet another high lottery pick.
Brooklyn Nets
Grade: D
Midseason grade: D+
Above .500 as late as Dec. 16 (13-12), the Nets were one of the NBA’s worst teams thereafter. Mikal Bridges struggled under the weight of a leading role on offense, Ben Simmons played just 15 games and a team built on defensive versatility finished just outside the bottom 10 on D. Worse yet, Brooklyn won’t get a lottery pick for its troubles, sending this year’s pick to the Rockets as part of the James Harden trade.
Portland Trail Blazers
Grade: D+
Midseason grade: C-
The best thing that happened to the Blazers this season was how awful the other teams in the league’s cellar were, taking attention off Portland matching the total number of 60-point losses (two) by all other teams in the past 25 seasons combined. Long term, the most important thing for the Blazers will be how Scoot Henderson responds after predictably struggling with efficiency as a rookie.
San Antonio Spurs
Grade: C-
Midseason grade: D+
With how competitive San Antonio has been since moving Victor Wembanyama to center and starting Tre Jones at point guard, it’s difficult to understand why the Spurs waited so long to make those moves. Still, this season was never about wins and losses, and Wembanyama’s development into a force at 20 years old bodes well for the Spurs’ future.
Miami Heat
Grade: C-
Midseason grade: C
For a second consecutive year, Miami’s playoff run will go through the play-in tournament. There’s a little less reason to believe in the Heat’s untapped potential this time. After underperforming from 3-point range in the 2022-23 regular season (34%, 27th in the NBA), Miami has ranked 13th at 37% this season. It’s the fourth-worst shooting inside the arc (52%) that has doomed the Heat’s offense. But, when it comes to the playoffs, nobody will ever count out Miami.
Memphis Grizzlies
Grade: C-
Midseason grade: C-
This admittedly feels harsh given the cascade of injuries that forced Memphis to use a record 33 players this season. Because of the revolving door, coach Taylor Jenkins ran out 51 different starting lineups. This season was much more like an incomplete for the Grizzlies, who did find promising role players in rookie GG Jackson and Vince Williams Jr., who began the season on a two-way contract. Nonetheless, it was a lost campaign for a team coming off 51 wins, and the Grizzlies are suddenly staring at luxury-tax concerns that already forced them to deal injured center Steven Adams midseason.
Chicago Bulls
Grade: C-
Midseason grade: C-
The Bulls have been seemingly locked into the play-in for months and fended off the Hawks to at least host this year’s 9-10 matchup after going on the road last season. It took clutch heroics, primarily from DeMar DeRozan, for Chicago to get nearly to .500; the Bulls aren’t one of the 19 teams in the league that have outscored their opponents.
Golden State Warriors
Grade: C-
Midseason grade: D
Can the Warriors still salvage what looked like a lost season? A 9-1 stretch to finish March and begin April showed hope of that, but Golden State’s home loss Friday to the New Orleans Pelicans cost the Warriors their best shot of moving into the 7-8 play-in game. As a result, they’ll likely have to win twice next week just to reach the playoffs. Golden State has played at a 50-win clip with Draymond Green in the lineup, showing how costly his suspensions were in the season’s first half.
Utah Jazz
Grade: C
Midseason grade: B
For a second consecutive year, the Jazz gave up on the play-in race at the trade deadline. Although this year’s deals weren’t as dramatic, Utah shifted focus toward retaining a pick protected in the top 10 and starters shuffled in and out of the lineup. The result: a 5-24 record since the deadline.
Phoenix Suns
Grade: C
Midseason grade: B-
Every time it feels like the Suns are establishing themselves as the contenders they believed they would be after adding Bradley Beal last summer, something goes wrong. In the past week of the regular season, which included home losses to New Orleans and the short-handed Clippers and will likely send Phoenix to the play-in. Although the Suns remain dangerous at their best, the path ahead will be challenging.
Milwaukee Bucks
Grade: C
Midseason grade: C
Bucks fans objected to the idea that the No. 2 seed in the East could earn such a middling grade in January. The past two months have done nothing to improve it. After early signs of improved defense under Doc Rivers, who replaced the fired Adrian Griffin in late January, Milwaukee is back in the middle of the pack. Despite a series of bad losses to lottery-bound teams, the Bucks will finish second in the East if they beat Orlando on the season’s final day. Still, a team with championship expectations after adding Damian Lillard ranks a distant eighth in point differential, a troubling indicator heading into the playoffs.
Los Angeles Lakers
Grade: C
Midseason grade: C-
How difficult has the West been? In the East, the Lakers would enter the final day of the regular season tied for fifth. Out West, they’re locked into the play-in and could finish as low as 10th due to tiebreakers after losing a key game this week at home to the Warriors without injured Anthony Davis. The Lakers have been 16-9 after the break without gaining any ground. Their grade also gets a slight boost by virtue of winning the inaugural in-season tournament.
Sacramento Kings
Grade: B-
Midseason grade: B
After a charmed 2022-23 regular season saw them finish as far and away the league’s healthiest team, the Kings have had to deal with more injury adversity this season. They’re headed into the postseason without guards Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk, the latter of whom was the favorite for Sixth Man of the Year before being sidelined. Friday’s narrow loss to Phoenix means Sacramento could fall all the way to 10th in the West.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Grade: B-
Midseason grade: B
Due in large part to injuries to starters Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell, it feels like we’ve seen several Cavaliers seasons in one. Their midseason grade came just before they peaked at 35-16, riding strong play from their reserves in the absences of Garland and Mobley. Since the All-Star break, Mitchell has seen his scoring average tumble nearly 10 points per game while battling knee soreness. Cleveland has clinched home-court advantage in the first round but feels shaky after losing in the same spot last season.
Philadelphia 76ers
Grade: B
Midseason grade: A
It’s tough to know how much to dock the Sixers for possibly tumbling into the play-in without reigning MVP Joel Embiid, especially since Embiid’s absence overlapped with an injury to key starter De’Anthony Melton and other players being in and out of the lineup. Philadelphia’s real grade is something more like incomplete until we see whether a healthy Embiid can lead a deep playoff run or if we’ll be wondering what might have happened without his midseason knee surgery.
LA Clippers
Grade: B
Midseason grade: A-
A post-All-Star swoon saw the Clippers fall out of the mix for the top three seeds in the West, though they were able to hang on to home-court advantage in the first round thanks to key April wins over the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix without the injured Kawhi Leonard. If Leonard is healthy, the Clippers have a realistic path to the conference finals as long as the Nuggets end up on the other side of the bracket.
New Orleans Pelicans
Grade: B+
Midseason grade: B+
The Pelicans wobbled with Brandon Ingram out of the lineup due to a bone contusion in his knee, losing four straight across March and April, to put themselves in jeopardy of falling into the play-in. They’ve responded with a 4-0 road trip, featuring wins at Golden State, Phoenix and Sacramento and are a win away from clinching the sixth seed. At the center of this run: the resurgent Zion Williamson, who’s already played a career-high 69 games and is peaking heading into his first NBA postseason.
Indiana Pacers
Grade: B+
Midseason grade: B+
Over the second half, the Pacers have shown they’re more than just the Tyrese Haliburton show. Indiana went 6-5 when Haliburton was sidelined by a hamstring strain and survived his decline from 3-point range since returning. The Pacers are still in position to claim a top-6 seed and head directly to the playoffs, a solid step forward after three years in the lottery.
Orlando Magic
Grade: A-
Midseason grade: B+
Rather than fading as the season has gone along, Orlando got stronger after the All-Star break, going 16-10 with a plus-3.6 differential. Alas, things broke poorly for the Magic in terms of schedule and tiebreakers, meaning they could fall into the play-in tournament with a loss Sunday to Milwaukee after being in the mix for the No. 2 seed earlier this week. Either way, Orlando has blown away expectations with a young roster by excelling at the defensive end.
New York Knicks
Grade: A-
Midseason grade: B
Despite playing most of the second half without All-Star Julius Randle and newcomer OG Anunoby, the Knicks are poised to finish no worse than third in the East with a win Sunday. Thursday’s road win over a full-strength Celtics team, albeit one with nothing to play for, showcased how dangerous New York can be in the playoffs even without Randle. Brunson’s breakthrough season, which will surely earn him All-NBA honors, has propelled the Knicks to a strong grade.
Houston Rockets
Grade: A-
Midseason grade: A-
If anything, the Rockets’ outlook looks even rosier than at midseason. Back then, I noted Jalen Green’s stalled development was the one “quibble” with Houston’s season. Green responded by averaging 27.7 points per game on nearly 50/40 shooting in March as the Rockets went 12-3 in the month, showcasing their bright future.
Dallas Mavericks
Grade: A-
Midseason grade: B-
Everything clicked for the Mavericks after they added starters Daniel Gafford and Washington in deadline deals around the same time Kyrie Irving got healthy after missing 22 of the team’s first 49 games. Add in an MVP-caliber campaign from Luka Doncic and Dallas was one of the NBA’s better teams after the break, moving up to the fifth seed in the West a year after finishing outside the top 10.
Denver Nuggets
Grade: A-
Midseason grade: B+
The defending champs locked in after the All-Star break, pushing their point differential from plus-3.1 in the first half to plus-9.4 thereafter – second best in the NBA. Still, Friday’s shocking loss at San Antonio – after leading by 23 in the second half – means the Nuggets are most likely to finish third in the West. Denver won’t be scared by the prospect of heading on the road starting in the second round, having gone 6-3 away from home in last year’s title run, but the path would have been more comfortable as the top seed.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Grade: A
Midseason grade: A
Remarkably, Oklahoma City enters Sunday as the most likely team to claim the No. 1 seed in the West. After losing in the play-in tournament a year ago, the Thunder weren’t considered certain to make the playoffs, let alone finish in the top three. With one of the NBA’s youngest rosters, Oklahoma City is just beginning a promising run.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Grade: A
Midseason grade: A
However Sunday’s three-team battle for home-court advantage throughout the West playoffs goes, Timberwolves fans – like the Thunder – would gladly have taken a top-three seed entering the season. It’s the third time in franchise history Minnesota will host a first-round series, and the Timberwolves stayed in the hunt for first despite playing 17 games without All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, who returned from meniscus surgery on Friday.
Boston Celtics
Grade: A
Midseason grade: A-
In January, I wrote that the Celtics’ biggest challenge was to exceed expectations – they entered the season as title favorites and clearly the NBA’s best team during the regular season. Boston found a way to do exactly that, blowing away the competition in the second half to take a historic 14-game lead on the rest of the Eastern Conference entering the season’s final day. Now, anything less than a return to the NBA Finals would be a crushing disappointment.
via ESPN