January marks the point of every NBA season where we begin to hear of NBA rookies — having now surpassed the number of organized games and minutes they’ve ever played in one season at the high school or college levels — showing signs of fatigue enhanced by arm wrestling with the greatest athletes in the world and the constant travel. This mid-season fatigue, evidenced by measurable decreases in productivity, is otherwise referred to as “hitting the wall.”
This season we’re hearing it about rookies like Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Chicago’s Lauri Markkenen. We’re even hearing about a third-year player like New York’s Kristaps Porzingis. The All-Star Break can’t come quickly enough for a multitude of rookies and veterans alike, as most teams have already played close to 60 percent of their season schedules, and the players need a recharge.
Meanwhile, as a fan and NBA League Pass subscriber, several nights per week I like to come home from work and decompress for awhile. Everyone has their way of doing that — I like to watch a good, competitive basketball game. Wednesday is usually a good night for that because there’s usually a healthy slate of games.
But I gotta say, either I’m just getting old or by January (for the last few years), most of the playoff teams have been decided already and the games just aren’t that appetizing (or both, but it’s definitely at least one). Tonight I wanted to come home from work and kick my feet up to watch hoops for a couple of hours before preparing for the next work day. So I check the schedule of the earlier games, which reveals the following matchups:
New Orleans Pelicans (25-21) at Charlotte Hornets (19-26)
The New Orleans Pelicans just had two of their players named as starters for the 2018 All-Star Game, yet they’re no lock to qualify for postseason play in the Western Conference. Anthony Davis is always worth watching as is Demarcus Cousins, but rest of the roster is mostly anonymous.
The small-market Charlotte Hornets are in top half of the NBA in team payroll, and word is out that they’re looking to unload the salaries of some of their veteran players, as it appears the Hornets will miss out on the playoffs in the Eastern Conference yet again, so how engaged are their players, really?
Utah Jazz (19-28) at Detroit Pistons (22-23)
Two teams slip-slidin’ away in their respective conference standings. The Jazz were expected to take a hit after advancing a round in the 2017 NBA Western Conference Playoffs, then losing Gordon Hayward to the Celtics in free agency. With Rudy Gobert missing a chunk of time, only the surprising performance of rookie Donovan Mitchell has kept the team from the depths of their conference. And he may be starting to hit the wall, too.
The Pistons started the season hot but are in the midst of a full swoon and have fallen out of the top eight spots in the Eastern Conference. They lost PG Reggie Jackson for an extended period, but the problems started even before that.
Phoenix Suns (17-30) at Indiana Pacers (25-22)
Phoenix is grooming kids and trying to unload veterans in another year of rebuilding, though they do have some youngsters worth watching. But like most bad teams, they seldom win on the road.
Indiana started off quickly, then faded some before finding themselves again and their see-saw act is still good enough for 6th place in the Eastern Conference. Victor Oladipo has been fun to watch all season.
Chicago Bulls (18-29) at Philadelphia 76ers (22-21)
The Bulls actually got a nice haul from the Jimmy Butler trade, especially with Zach Lavine returning and Kris Dunn having a breakout season, but the Bulls are rebuilding.
The Sixers are a few years ahead of the Bulls in their “process”, but like most of the Eastern Conference teams, they’ve struggled to find consistency and are still winning about half their games. They’re fun to watch of you enjoy watching the growth of young players.
Toronto Raptors (31-14) at Atlanta Hawks (14-32)
The Raptors remain one of the Eastern Conference’s top entries, but no one really takes them seriously or considers them a threat to reach the NBA Finals.
The Hawks have already won more games than many predicted, but they’ll still finish with one of the league’s worst records and are difficult to watch.
Houston Rockets (33-12) at Dallas Mavericks (16-31)
The Rockets are probably the main threat (real or imagined) to the Golden State Warriors drive to a fourth consecutive NBA Finals appearance.
Though they’ve been better lately, the Dallas Mavericks are lottery-bound once again and watching Dirk Nowitzki trying to ball with all these 20-somethings is painful, but they do have the emerging Dennis Smith, Jr. and all those millions of dollars they saved after being rejected by Nerlens Noel.
San Antonio Spurs (31-18) at Memphis Grizzlies (17-29)
Even without Kawhi Leonard, who won’t play many games this season, the Spurs are still formidable, at least in the regular-season. But they are no threat to the Warriors without Leonard.
Memphis’ season unraveled early, with the injury to Mike Conley and the firing of David Fizdale, so for the first time in several years, the Grizzlies aren’t scaring people. Without Tyreke Evans, they’re making a bid for the league’s worst record.
Those were the games with starting times between 7:00PM and 8:00PM, Eastern Time.
Not really an appetizing matchup in the bunch, and this is without Orlando, New York, Brooklyn or Sacramento playing. Most of those games were either non-competitive, played in mostly empty arenas, or were meaningless (or some combination of the three).
This is not new, especially with the early-starting Eastern Conference games. With most teams in the conference being mediocre or just plain bad for several years, and with most of the league’s superstars concentrated in a handful of the league’s 30 teams, compelling matchups are difficult to find, and as the season wears on the most “meaningful” games will involve teams fighting for the eighth seed in both conferences, teams hovering around the .500 mark fighting for the right to lose in the first round of the playoffs.
A true basketball fan can watch a game at any level and find something interesting going on – an emerging player or team, a storyline, etc. — and I’m usually there. I watched DePaul versus Georgetown play in a depressingly dark, empty building in DC tonight, and enjoyed it.
It’s January, and like many of these talented NBA rookies, I will recover after the All-Star Break in February.
But this fan has hit the wall.
