The biggest shortcomings of the 10 championship teams in the new season: Rockets control the ball, Lakers defend, Warriors unexpectedly lose

As the preseason is in full swing, the US media "fansided" revealed the fatal shortcomings of 10 championship-level teams in the new season. Among them, the Rockets lack reliable ball handlers, the Lakers have hidden dangers in defense, and the aging Warriors unexpectedly lost.

Tenth place: Pistons (offensive firepower)

The incredible shooting performance of Beasley and Hardaway Jr. was a key factor in the Pistons becoming a dark horse last season. The two left the team one after another during the offseason.

Even if the Pistons introduce players such as Dunloe and LeVert to try to fill the vacancies, the effect and flexibility may not be ideal.

Ninth place: Magic (shooting)

As another dark pony team in the Eastern Conference, the Magic spent a lot of money in the offseason to introduce Bane to try to solve the offense and shooting problems. For this reason, they even hired assistant coach Gord Shamgaard from the Mavericks to try to reshape the offensive system.

However, it is not realistic to completely solve the team's shooting problem through single-point reinforcement. At least it will be difficult to meet the championship level requirements in the short term.

Eighth place: Knicks (difficult to fill dual-core defensive shortcomings)

When one of Brunson and Towns is on the court, the Knicks can also solve the problem through supplementary defense in other positions. However, when the two are on the court at the same time, the Knicks are completely unable to ensure defense, with a defensive efficiency as low as 117.3.

Seventh place: Cavaliers (strong one-on-one defense)

The Cavaliers have shown dominance during the regular season in the past two seasons, thanks to their team-based offense and defense.

Especially on the defensive end, the Cavaliers have delivered top-notch defensive performance through excellent rotations and assisting defense. However, in one-on-one single-point defense on the outside, the Cavaliers are at a disadvantage. They lack absolute defensive strengths. In the new season, they can only expect Hunter and Ball to play a greater role.

Sixth place: Timberwolves (error)

As Edwards grew, the Timberwolves played a ferocious three-point shooting offense and energetic defense, allowing the team to reach the Western Conference Finals for two consecutive years.

However, in terms of error control, the Timberwolves performed poorly, ranking only 12th from the bottom in the league, which also hindered the team's further progress.

Fifth place: Lakers (Defense)

The Lakers are a top-heavy team. They bet too many chips on the offensive end, but lack reliable players on the defensive end.

Ayton is not a top defender, and Smart is no longer at his peak. The three core players Reeves, James and Doncic are weak defensive links most of the time, especially as James ages further.

Fourth place: Clippers (Balance)

The Clippers are one of the biggest winners in the offseason, introducing a number of new players including Los Angeles, Paul, Bill, and Collins.

Injuries seem to be the biggest problem for this Clippers team, but combined with the new lineup, the problem of offensive and defensive imbalance is even more serious.

Players such as Bill, Paul, Jones, and Dunn are all players with too single offensive and defensive functions. Players who can improve the offense will often be held back on the defensive end, and vice versa.

Third place: Nuggets (Defense)

The core theme of the Nuggets on the defensive end is how to protect Jokic and avoid allowing the opponent's small defender to easily switch to defend Jokic.

Therefore, the Nuggets often flank the ball holder on the upper line, forcing him to play the ball, in order to protect Jokic from facing the impact of small defenders.

But this means that if the opponent's ball carrier can quickly release the ball, the Nuggets' wing players will need to rotate quickly to cope with the situation of playing more and less, which will be a big challenge for Cameron Johnson.

Second place: Rockets (possession)

Van Jordan's serious injury is undoubtedly a huge blow to the Rockets. Even if the Rockets can still look forward to two supernovas in Amen and Shepard, a qualified championship-level ball handler requires at least 4-6 years of growth and polishing. The two of them obviously still need time.

From the perspective of competing for the championship, the Rockets can only hope that Shen Jing can continue to transform to share the pressure of holding the ball and organizing.

First place: Thunder (rebounds)

As the defending champion, the Thunder actually have no clear shortcomings, and rebounding is just a relatively weak link compared to other strengths.

In fact, compared to rebounding, injury risks are more concerning for this young defending champion.