Midseason 2019: Pacific

The second in our series, the Pacific ranked out as the worst division in the league last we checked. But it houses two powerhouse teams, as well as three of the league’s worst teams. Let’s take a look! [ Midseason Division Rankings | Preseason Pacific Preview ]

GSW, Brent (74-43)
With the league’s leading offense, GSW has suffered only two losses on the season, in WK1 to LAC and WK11 to IND. Other than that, it’s been smooth sailing for this group. With James Harden and LaMarcus Aldridge leading the way, it’s likely GSW will take the division, as they have been relatively healthy all year and the team behind them just lost a major piece. They are the second best team in the West and fifth overall so far.

GSW is top ranked in PTS, AST, and 3PT on the year, and they’ve been doing it with contributions from the whole roster as they have nine players who average double figures in points per game. Besides Harden and Aldridge, Derrick Rose has been a huge boon, as has the all around contributions from Will Barton. Imagine if this team had Brandon Ingram as well, who was moved out mid-October — and led to the trade away and return of Eric Paschall. Still, Brent got Barton and Bogdan Bogdanovic in return, and they’ve helped fuel this team’s depth and success.

That top ranked offense is paired a seventh ranked offense, and their ODE split of 1/7/20 on the season is quite impressive — although that defense has slipped to twelfth over the past month. Their only areas of concern are maybe FG% and REB, but nobody can be perfect. GSW is a true contender, and their title window is open right now with a roster that is top heavy on veterans. GM Brent has been active too, with seven total trades so far — bringing in Terence Ross, Justin Holiday, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Will Barton, Isaiah Hartenstein, Eric Paschall, Kadeem Allen — and has three of their next RD1s already traded away. However, they have plenty of RD2s and additional assets to deal as they push their way toward a title run.

LAL, Son (69-46-2)
Despite losing Jonathan Isaac for the season, our glorious commissioner is not resting on his laurels. Son completed his fifth and six trades of the season just this week, bringing in Ish Smith and Alex Caruso for some backcourt help to support Spencer Dinwiddie and Tomas Satoransky — and new/old Hawk Jeff Teague. Overall, they are nipping at GSW’s heels for the Pacific title and are fourth in the conference, and ninth overall. Just like predicted?

However, there’s no doubt losing Isaac will hurt LAL's third rated defense — they’ve already dipped to seventh over the past month. Still, their offense is now league average and their efficiency is climbing. They had only suffered two losses in their first six weeks — to GSW and BKN — but have dropped games to UTA, CHI, IND, and likely DET over the past two months. Note that was four of the top eight teams in Razzball, meaning LAL needs just a bit more juice possibly, to get to true contender status.

Led by Bam Adebayo and Isaac, LAL was ranked top three in both BLK and STL, with high marks in AST and FG% as well. They suffer badly in 3PT, TO and FT%, but there’s still plenty of picks for Son to use if he wants to find some additional help. The playoffs are definitely in the picture and it’s likely LAL could prove a dark horse if they can continue to improve that offense while Bam keeps destroying everyone in his path.

LAC, Joe (44-72-1)
As for that other Los Angeles team, LAC Joe got started in the auction late and was hoping Dejounte Murray and Caris LeVert would be able to lead this team to a decent record. Well, that dream is out the window. Both Murray and LeVert have underwhelmed and the rest of this roster has mostly followed suit. Where art thou Jerami Grant? The good news is that rookie defensive menace Matisse Thybulle is getting starting and well, that’s about it. LAC is a bottom five team in the standings and will have to turn their focus toward the future for sure.

They’ve participated in three trades this season, bringing in the likes of Bryn Forbes, Jared Dudley, and Semi Ojeleye. They have an extra five RD1s coming in over the next few years, as well as a few of BKN’s RD2s. For a losing team, LAC actually has an okay ODE with 20/19/25 splits over the past month, and are pretty good at 3PT, where they are league average. There’s the core of a good young defense here, but a tough rebuild is likely ahead. At least they’ve taken down GSW in WK1, and have racked up wins versus fellow bottom feeders SAC, PHX, and OKC. It’s gonna be a long road to respectability but we believe in LAC Joe!

SAC, Andrew (41-73-3)
As the third worst team in RDA, SAC features a sputtery offense and a bottom ten defense. But hey, at least their efficiency is good, although that is likely due to their second worst Games Played total at 318 (24.5 avg). They’ve picked up wins versus PHX and OKC this season, and had a tie versus DEN in WK8. Plus they took a top team, MIN, to the wire in WK9. That’s was the season's competitive high point. Oh they also have Paul George and Jimmy Butler, that’s pretty swell right?

We’ll skip the ODE ratings here, except to highlight SAC’s not bad FG% and BLK, the latter which is impressive because they’ve had such low Games Played. Suffice to say, they’re terrible everywhere else. Andrew has participated in three trades this season, most prominently the flip of Wendell Carter Jr. for Myles Turner. There’s a chance Mo Bamba and PER star Christian Wood start to get more time down the stretch so SAC could get a look at what a fully formed squad next year might look like. They have most of their picks moving forward and even as they tank down the stretch, the fine duo of PG13 and Jimmy could be enough to take them more seriously next season.

PHX, Chad (28-85-4)
And here we are, the worst team in RDA, a full two wins below the lowly MIL, who have been full on tank for a while. PHX has a GP of +80 on MIL but yet are doing worse than them. At an average of 25.9 GP per week for PHX, that’s almost three more weeks worth of stats to accumulate. That's, um, impressive.

However we are not here to bury, but to raise up! PHX has upped their Games Played over the past month, to a respectable league average, and have seen their ratings rise as a result. Of course, they are still bottom ten in every category — save TOs — but that little boost means Chad is paying attention and lurking...

And oh look, what is that? The number one rookie coming back in a historic first game? Yes, Zion Williamson has appeared on the scene and with Ben Simmons getting full control in Philadelphia, it’s likely PHX could get out of the absolute cellar. After an auction that had $275 going to Zion, Simmons, and RJ Barrett, the rest of this roster is threadbare. Who is the fourth best guy on this team? Svi Mykhailuk?! Also congrats to PHX for having Semi Ojeleye, who has been on and off so many rosters this season.

We’re real curious what Zion and Ben can do together, and while PHX has only one win this season — versus SAS in WK11 — it’s possible they could take another this week versus MIL because well, Zion is here! There’s a long rebuild ahead for this franchise but there’s two unique talents to build around and we’re excited to see where PHX will go moving forward.