Mid-Season Look: Thundercats

The last of our mid-season-ish division looks focuses on Thundercats, who sport three teams over 0.500 and challenges last week’s Silverhawks for “best division in SlamNation." [2016 Previews: Playoff Teams | Non-Playoff Teams]

Team Spade (9-3)
There’s no question that Team Spade been one of the best squads during Randall’s tenure as owner, and it’s possible that this is the best iteration yet. Spade started off the season a blistering 5-1 before going “only” 4-2 recently. Health has been a big issue for Spade since its inception and this year has actually been not too bad — with one notable exception. Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Love, Kyle Korver, and Eric Gordon have all logged 30+ GP.

Jrue Holiday recently posted back-to-back double digit assist games and it looks like Brandon Jennings is back on the court too, albeit in limited minutes. The big health exception mentioned earlier was the loss of Eric Bledsoe for the season but honestly, Ish Smith has been averaging 19.8 PTS, 7.5 AST, 1.8 STL, 48.5 FG% since his trade to Philadelphia and he looks like he’ll continue those stat lines all season long.

This is just a balanced balanced team, with no terrible categories and a lovely second in 3PT and FT%, third in STL, and fifth in PTS.  The Kobe Bryant farewell tour is well on its way and the future Hall of Famer has put up 7-8-5-5 points in his last four games, which as to be a career low. None of that will stop Randall for challenging for the best of Russell Conference though, and it looks like they’ll cruise to a top slot in the post-season.

Chunky Monkeys (7-4-1)
You know who was supposed to be ruling the roost in Russell Conference, nevermind just Thundercats division? The Chunky Monkeys that’s who! After trading for LeBron James and Kyle Lowry, GM Evan pushed all his future chips into a championship push and saw his newly assembled super team come out of the gates 5-0-1. Great work right?! But then during the next six weeks they played four winning teams and two losing squads and came out of it 2-4, with those wins coming only against the two losers. That’s not the sign of a contender.

So what’s wrong? The Monkeys are tops in AST and FT%, second in PTS and STL, fourth in 3PT, while being below average in BLK and second-to-last in TOs (as expected). They’re not going to win FG% very often with James Harden, Lowry, and Jeff Teague chucking up semi-bricks, and even Marc Gasol has been an uncharacteristic 44.3 FG%. There’s only so much LeBron James and his 50.0 FG% can do… The real problem is the same one as before though: the front line can’t really REB or BLK. It’s basically just Gasol and LeBron out there and both are averaging only about 7.0+ REB a game. And nobody really BLK much on this team. We feel like there needs to be a deal here for a true center, even at the cost of losing some wiggle room in the other categories. Maybe deal all those excess categories for a big man?

For a team with preseason championship aspirations, it’s time to go all-in even more and try to plug the holes so the back half of the regular season can become a true tune up for a title run.

Funk Coalition (6-6)
Is this how a multi-cat punt strategy is supposed to work? GM Jon spent a long time assembling a team of fantasy outcasts and so far this season it’s kind of working. Big emphasis on the “kind of.” Funk is, by design, last in FT%, 3PT, and third-to-last in PTS. That means they better rock all the other categories. Which they sort of do. But not enough. Although they’re first in REB, second in FG%, fourth in STL, and fifth in AST and BLK, they’re also fifth-worse in TOs, essentially punting there too. So if they can’t win with their REB / FG% / AST / STL / BLK combo, they’re toast. Still, going 0.500 is a feat for this team and they won’t be the worst team in SlamNation this year.

Number one overall draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns has been better than advertised, with 15.5 PTS, 9.5 REB, 1.7 BLK, on 52.3 FG% on the year. He’s should be a franchise player of the next decade. Along with Andre Drummond’s monster season, and DeAndre Jordan alongside, the three big men basically grab every REB in sight and protect the rim pretty well. And the weirdo backcourt has finally been healthy and productive all season. Ricky Rubio lead the league in STL, Michael Carter-Williams is right behind him recently (plus approaching his 76ers era type all-around numbers again), and Rajon Rondo is having a huge bounce back year in Sacramento while leading the league in AST by a landslide.

There’s a closing stretch of six straight games against teams with winning records coming up so we’ll see if Funk Coalition is up to the task of getting into the playoffs or if they’ll be exposed and re-enter the Toilet Bowl once again.

NJ All-Stars (2-9-1)
For some reason, we thought that losing LeBron James wouldn’t necessarily tank NJ All-Stars and get them an automatic bid to the Toilet Bowl. Well, we were wrong. Like 0-7-1 to start the season wrong. Eddie’s new look team is awful, and it’s not only losing The King, but also what this team doesn’t do well, which is just about everything. There’s no real strengths here and All-Stars are also second-to-last in FG%, third-to-last in REB, and last in BLK.

But first with the good news. Paul George is back and playing at an MVP level, with 23.9 PTS, 7.4 REB, 4.0 AST, 2.9 3PT, 2.0 3PT, albeit on a back breaking 41.2 FG%. Reggie Jackson is also having a career year, but also on a poor 43.9 FG%. Tobias Harris has been solid so far, Nikola Mirotic started off the season on fire before fading badly and um, Nikola Jokic looks interesting?

Part of the problem, short term aside, is that Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker don’t necessarily look like fantasy franchise players. Wiggins scores a lot but doesn’t really put up much in the way of other stats, averaging not even close to a STL, BLK, or 3PT per game. Parker doesn’t look like Carmelo-anything, and is only putting up 12.1 PTS, 4.8 REB, 0.9 STL in the past month, and that’s his best stats recently. Notice neither of these guys add 3PT to a team’s bottom line? That’s problematic. George and Jackson will need more help to sniff a deep Toilet Bowl run, and it’ll be interesting to see what GM Eddie does in the wake of the giant LBJ trade. NJ All-Stars championship in 2018?!

Mid-Season Look: Silverhawks

We took a look at Transformers (and Voltron) earlier, so let’s stay with the Chamberlain Conference and take a gander at Silverhawks! [2016 Previews: Playoff Teams | Non-Playoff Teams]

Sour Snails (11-0)
Seriously, how could this team get any better? We know the top six by now: Curry, Westbrook, Klay, Jimmy Butler, Boogie, Rudy Gay. Snails is ranked first in PTS, 3PT, STL, second in AST and REB, third in FG%, and about middle of the pack in FT% and BLK. Sure, they’re last in TOs but that’s not exactly going to get anyone a win against them.

It’s a little strange that Snails is slightly lower in FT% than usual but we’re attributing that to DeMarcus Cousins’ 74.5 FG% on 9.7 attempts a game, offsetting Russell Westbrook, Jimmy Butler, and Stephen Curry’s dead-eye from the free throw line. Trieu is still tinkering with the back end of his lineup, as he searches for a big man to pair with Cousins. Joakim Noah hasn’t been the answer so there was a trade for Gorgui Dieng that has so far been a wash. But GM Trieu is still unearthing gems, as Jordan Clarkson has found a nice role off the bench, averaging 15.1 PTS, 4.4 REB, 3.0 AST, 1.6 STL over his last month of games.

Can anybody win against this squad? Perhaps an all-bigs team? Snails won’t see Funk Coalition this season and already toppled Soup Dumplings in WK5. Maybe during this week’s matchup, a Finals rematch actually, against High Riser could yield a loss. Otherwise it’s cruise control for Snails as they try to keep everyone healthy for another deep playoff run.

Fat Jubas (7-3-1)
If Snails is undefeated heading into the last week of the regular season, it’ll be up to Fat Jubas to dethrone them. They almost did it in WK8, but fell one category short. The Jubas are a team rejuvenated. Well, technically they were pretty darn good last year, finishing with a 11-6-2 record, but this year's team has won five of its last six and just looks better overall. The additions of 2016 first round pick CJ McCollum and pre-draft trade acquisition Chris Bosh have helped transform this team. McCollum is averaging 20.9 PTS, 4.4 AST, 1.2 STL, and 2.5 3PT during his breakout year while Bosh has been quietly dropped in 19.1 PTS, 8.0 REB, 1.7 3PT per game after coming back from chest surgery.

Oh yeah, and to lock up GM of the Year for Eric, free agent Will Barton has emerged as the Nuggets’ best player and is averaging 18.1 PTS, 3.3 AST, 2.1 3PT for the past month. Mix in the return of Nicolas Batum and his astonishing 6.6 AST and suddenly Chris Paul and Gordon Hayward have a nice toy box full of pieces to contend with. Overall, Jubas are second in FT%, third in 3PT, fifth in PTS and AST -- lacking only a rim protector -- and are otherwise looking toward a smooth regular season and a sweet cruise into the playoffs.

Fob Stars (6-4-1)
It’s starting to look like there could be three Silverhawks teams headed to the post-season. Fob Stars picked up only four wins all of last year but are now nipping at Fat Jubas’ heels for second place in the division. After starting off 1-4, the Fobs had a five game winning streak going before a close loss versus High Riser last week. Sure, their schedule has been pretty soft, with only two opponents over 0.500, but wins are wins!

This team features almost no strengths but also not many weaknesses either, aside from ranking second-to-last in AST. Young guys Trey Burke and Nerlens Noel have had trouble getting on Coach Jimmy’s good side as they have been seeing less time than Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson, and Mason Plumlee. It looks like Fob Stars is spreading the floor more this year, and while we’d still have rather kept Khris Middleton over Ryan Anderson, the white man's stretch four is back with 16.7 PTS, 6.3 REB, and 1.9 3PT this season.

Also, Kent Bazemore has been incredible this year — after we mocked him in the pre-draft review — with 14.5 PTS, 5.2 REB, 2.1 3PT, 1.3 STL on 46.4 FG% over the past month. With 2016 #2 overall pick D’Angelo Russell finally flashing some signs, it looks like GM Jimmy has plenty of pieces to shuffle around, or to possibly trade. Zach Randolph anyone?

Jedi Knights (1-10)
After two seasons of back-to-back five win seasons and a flurry of trades, Jedi Knights seem to be back where they started: at the bottom. Currently on a seven game losing skid, the end isn’t in sight for Jedi either. Can Rey and Finn save this team? Not when they couldn’t even save Force Awakens! AmIright?!

The problems for Jedi begin in the backcourt, where Deron Williams and Bradley Beal have been in and out of the lineup. Beal is just returning to action and old man Williams sits a lot for Dallas, and Coach Lum hasn’t been able to reliably put him into the lineup. 2016 #3 overall pick Emmanuel Mudiay has been injured too, and generally not as good as advertised. That has left Monta Ellis as the only source of consistency among the guards, and even he is down to 13.3 PTS in Indianapolis, although he’s finally hitting almost one 3PT per game.

The “strength” of the team right now is with the four athletic forwards: Thaddeus Young (9.2 REB, 1.5 STL, 51.5 FG%), Otto Porter Jr. (1.6 STL), Al-Farouq Aminu (6.7 REB, 1.6 3PT), and Jeff Green. Each of them are better served as secondary pieces and none of them score much, contributing to Jedi’s last place ranking in PTS — they’re also last in REB. As for the frontline, Roy Hibbert is borderline droppable, serving as a BLK specialist only, and Al Jefferson has been on both suspension and injury leave. Basically time’s for wheel’em and deal’em Lum to get into action again, or maybe he'll just wait out the injuries and see what he can salvage as Jedi prepares for yet another Toilet Bowl.