The 2021-22 NBA season is still fairly young, with almost every team playing at least 12 games. While some things we expected are happening, there are always surprises. Some of the positives include the Washington Wizards' 9-3 start, Paul George's MVP-caliber play, and the excitement surrounding the Charlotte Hornets. However, just like in every season of the league, the negatives are also there. Here are three early disappointments in the 2021-22 NBA season.
Early 2021-22 NBA disappointments
While no one seriously expected the Pelicans to challenge for a title, it is still very disappointing to see them with just two wins in 14 games. Obviously, the Pelicans are far from contention, as their core is still fairly young. Still, an effort to reach the playoffs, or at least the play-in tournament, was a realistic expectation.
The continued absence of Zion Williamson is obviously a big problem. The young stud is the perceived first option of the Pelicans going forward. They used the first pick on the former Duke forward in 2019, and it was widely expected that he would push them to the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Pelicans, he has had injury issues galore. He is currently out and has not played yet due to a foot issue, and he also clearly has some weight issues to go with the injury.
It is not just Williamson, though, as Brandon Ingram has also missed some time with his own injury. But even setting that aside, this New Orleans team has been atrocious defensively, which Zion and Ingram might not help that much at this point. Losing Lonzo Ball in free agency impacted that end of the floor severely.
The Pelicans will be better when healthy, but it's still hard to see them being all that good. Plus, we have no idea when Zion is even coming back.
The Lakers are 7-6 on the season and could easily have a worse record. It would be very easy to pin all the blame on Russell Westbrook. However, while Westbrook has struggled at times in his debut season with the Lakers, it is not only him. Los Angeles blew two huge leads against the Oklahoma City Thunder and got embarrassed in recent games against the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves. You can't blame just one player for that.
You can't talk about the Lakers' struggles without talking about injuries. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Talen Horton-Tucker, Wayne Ellington, Kendrick Nunn, and Austin Reaves have all missed multiple games with some sort of injury issue. James is still out due to an abdominal muscle strain, so it's hard to judge the Lakers when he's missing extended time. Davis is dealing with a thumb issue, and the frontcourt rotation is fairly thin without the former Pelicans star.
In terms of pure gameplay, the Lakers have been bad offensively and mediocre at best on defense. They have not been able to score easy points and rely on individual heroics. Their fourth-best scorer is 37-year-old Carmelo Anthony, which is a credit to his career revival but also an alarm that other players must step up to the plate. Westbrook is shooting under 30% from 3 and losing 5.3 possessions per game, which should not be acceptable. If they want to seriously contend, the Lakers will need to pick up the pace and play better on both ends.
Of course, getting LeBron back soon is key.
3. Damian Lillard and James Harden
As everyone around the NBA is aware, there were some big changes in the offseason. After repeated calls to curb the free-throw numbers of some players, the NBA changed the rules in terms of “overt, abrupt or abnormal non-basketball moves.”
Additionally, the official ball changed from the standard Spalding to the new Wilson ball, which some players have complained about as shooting has been down to start the season. No two players were hit by these rules like Brooklyn Nets star James Harden and Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard.
Starting with Harden, the Nets star has fallen from 24.6 points per game last season to only 19.8 points per game this season. He's only taking 5.5 free throws per game (8.7 per game for his career) and hasn't looked nearly as explosive as in the past after a hamstring injury last season. There is still a lot of season to be played, though, and Harden did showcase his full talent against the Pelicans (39 points, 12 assists). Still, it has been a disappointing start.
Lillard has clearly also been affected by both the new rules and the changing of the ball. A clear superstar the last couple of seasons, Lillard is at 20.0 points per game on abysmal shooting splits of 38.0/26.8/84.1. Additionally, he has dropped from 7.2 free-throw attempts per game to 3.4 this year. The Blazers have gotten good contributions from players like Anfernee Simons and Norman Powell to somewhat cover for Lillard, but they are still struggling with a 6-7 record. It will be interesting to see if Lillard adjusts over the season to the new ball and increases his numbers, or if he continues with this poor spell.
The Blazers are certainly hoping that he will bounce back.
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