Describing Every NBA Team Right Now In 5 Words or Less
Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics
It’s going to be difficult for the Boston Celtics to find ways to motivate themselves over the final eight weeks of the season.
They hold a six-game lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers for first place in the East and are now 8.5 games up on the Milwaukee Bucks, the team that was supposed to push the Celtics for the No. 1 seed.
This is a veteran-heavy group that doesn’t need many more regular-season reps together and should be more concerned with just entering the playoffs healthy.
This is a championship-or-bust season for Boston, the NBA’s best team thus far. Staying awake through the remainder of the regular season will the greatest challenge until mid-April.
Atlantic Division: Brooklyn Nets
Maybe Ollie is The Answer
After beginning the season a respectable 12-9 overall, the Nets have plummeted to 9-24 since, causing general manager Sean Marks to make yet another move at head coach.
This represents the fifth coaching change in the last five seasons for Brooklyn and 10th in 12 years since moving from New Jersey. That’s a remarkable amount of turnover for a franchise that now turns to Kevin Ollie as its interim leader.
Brooklyn is in a bit of a mess overall, with its first-round pick owed to the Houston Rockets in 2024 and 2026 with swap rights in 2025 and 2027. As bad as the Nets could be, they won’t control their own first-round pick for another four years.
Brooklyn has no incentive to be bad, which puts even more pressure on Ollie to win. This isn’t a rebuild, it’s a “here’s what we’ve got, now go win with it” deal.
Atlantic Division: New York Knicks
Healthy Bodies Wanted, Please
Just when the Knicks looked like they were rolling toward a No. 2 or 3 seed in the East, OG Anunoby joined Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson on the shelf with an injury.
Now, a four-game losing streak has New York clinging to the No. 4 seed, with the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers not far behind.
The Knicks have set themselves up beautifully yet need some bodies back. The two-man combo of Jalen Brunson and Anunoby was knocking off teams by a whopping 30.2 points per 100 possessions whenever both shared the floor, easily ranking in the 100th percentile via Cleaning the Glass (734 total possessions).
The additions of Bojan Bogdanović and Alec Burks will help, especially since Evan Fournier was simply collecting dust.
When the Knicks get their core back, this will be an extremely dangerous team.
Atlantic Division: Toronto Raptors
Painful Present, Bright Future
This current version of the Raptors looks quite different from the one that began the season, although no one can fault them for shaking up what had become a stale core.
Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Dennis Schröder are all gone, with RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, Ochai Agbaji and others taking their place, along with three extra first-round picks.
However, all this youth movement has made for a painful present, as Toronto’s net rating over its last 10 games (minus-10.8) ranks dead last in the NBA.
This was the right move, though, as there’s a real base to build on, especially with Scottie Barnes now getting to play more point guard.
The Raptors even have a better chance to keep their 2024 first-round pick (top-six protected), which would really help to speed up this reset of the franchise.
