Rockets, Magic, Mavericks, how come the "muscle teams" without point guards can t function?

In addition, the Rockets and Mavericks in the Western Conference both lost two games. I wonder how many people could have predicted this before the start of the game?

The three teams have made big investments and made big moves during the offseason.

The Rockets bought Durant at a low price, the Magic acquired Desmond Bane in the first round of 5+Pop, and the Mavericks got the No. 1 pick, "Son of America" ​​Flagg.

At the same time, they are both the teams with the thickest lineups in the East and West. The Mavericks can have the luxury of fielding the third-best lineup of Nembhard Martin Jr., Powell-Exum, and the Magic probably have the deepest forward reserves in the East. The Rockets, their fans, already regard themselves as the biggest challenger to the Thunder's title defense.

It’s just that they have a common core problem, the lack of core defenders, or the current distribution of ball rights is extremely chaotic.

Among them, the Rockets are the most unlucky. They originally built a "large lineup" that can really challenge the Thunder in the Western Conference. However, before the start of the season, team leader and core guard VanVleet was reimbursed for the season. In addition, the team encountered the first hard hit in the offseason due to the introduction of electric fan Finney Smith, which made it impossible to sign any more reinforcements.

Originally thought that the Rockets' lineup depth could last until December, waiting for VanVleet's new contract to be unfrozen to make a deal, but they suffered a blow at the start of the game.

The double overtime loss to the Thunder in the opening game was excusable, but the first game at home was overturned by the Detroit Pistons, which made many people break the defense, especially when the opponent was missing its main center for most of the time (Jalen Duren was directly ejected for elbowing Thompson).

But Amen Thompson was not only beaten in the game, but now it seems that he is also the biggest victim of VanVleet's absence.

Without Lao Fan to clear the field and direct traffic for him, Amen, who has been given high hopes this season, is a bit like a headless fly.

In the playoffs last season, he averaged 15.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.7 turnovers per game, with a shooting percentage of 49.4%.

In the first two games of the season, he averaged 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 3.0 turnovers per game, with a shooting percentage of 40.0%.

He cannot be the team's organizer for the time being. He can only rely on defense and conversion/semi-conversion scoring, and he is still playing the so-called "talented ball."

As for Shepard, his hard talent is limited and he is temporarily unable to kill with the ball. It seems that his organizational potential has not yet been realized at the NBA level, but the Rockets have no time to slowly improve him.

So now the Rockets are pointing at Shen Jing and Durant to practice alone.

Although Shen Jing is a fire dragon with organizational attributes, in the final analysis, he cannot completely replace the defender's offensive initiation. After all, Teacher Yue must have Murray by his side.

Durant made 18 of 34 shots in two games and scored a total of 60 points. He is still the top output at the "double bonus stick" level.

But the problem is, Lao Du has been playing like this all his life. You can let him make a hard pass, but let him drive his teammates? He is not James after all.

It seems that the Rockets' internal potential development is not going smoothly. They are now relying on the basic defense and the personal firepower of the two big players to support them until a suitable transaction occurs for reinforcement.

The only hidden danger is that nothing will happen to Shen Jing and Adu's thighs.

The Mavericks lost Doncic last season, a historic ball-handling core, and it will be too difficult to find a replacement for a while.

At the same time, it should be noted that in recent years, due to Dongzi's super ball-carrying attributes, the Mavericks have not invested much in this area. Especially after having Irving, the team's backcourt reserves are luxurious, and the focus of investment is the frontcourt.

Now that the Eastern European group has lost and suffered injuries, can they only start from scratch again?

Although fans are shouting "Fire Nicco (Fire Harrison)", he actually did a job this offseason.

Persuaded Irving to cut his salary and renew his contract, leaving room to sign D'Angelo Russell. With the Mavericks' luxurious configuration in other positions, they should have been able to sustain until Irving returned.

But for some unknown reason, Kidd, as the NBA's legendary point guard, seems to look down on the former No. 2 pick.

Not only did he not have a starting position in the first two games, but he also played a total of 23 minutes and scored 7 points and 6 assists.

On the contrary, Flagg, the top pick, has been given more of a ball-carrying role, but it is a bit overwhelming to expect a young man who has only played in college for one year to immediately serve as the team's brains.

As strong as James, he did not lead the team to the playoffs in the first year.

Flagg has 14.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in two games, but has already committed 8 turnovers. His experience and skills are not yet able to complete the job.

Unlike the Rockets, who met strong opponents twice, the Mavericks lost to the Washington Wizards in the second game. I wonder if they can survive until Irving comes back in the fiercely competitive Western Conference this season.

The Magic can be called the rocket of the East.

The rebuilding head coach Mosley has built a young team with defense as the foundation. In recent seasons, their offensive and defensive rankings in the league have been seriously inverted (last season, they were 2nd in defense and 27th in offense).

This season, taking advantage of the fall of two strong opponents, the Celtics and Pacers, they spent a lot of money to acquire striker Bane, which showed their determination to win in the moment.

But at the point guard position, they still chose to trust Suggs, who has more outstanding engineer attributes but can be called a glass man (he missed 111 games in the first four seasons of his career). Today he missed the Bulls due to injury.

They also introduced backup guard Tyus Jones during the offseason. He was the brains on the court of the "No Mo Bears" team back then. However, this point guard, who is only 1.88 meters tall, can take over temporarily. If he is really asked to link up with big players such as Banchero and Wagner Jr., he really does not have the strength..

In fact, there is one person who can be said to be a cure-all for the three teams.

Dennis Schroeder led Germany to complete the Fiba World Cup-European Cup double slam this offseason and is already the world's top point guard.

But he is not reused in the NBA. He is a free agent this year, but the above three teams have no intention of him. Instead, the Kings, who are overcrowded in the backcourt, snatched him.

Now Westbrook still has to divide the time.