Trivia

Trivia: Which franchise has never finished a season top 10 in both offensive rating and defensive rating?

Dunc'd On Live

Watch Nate's and Danny's visual reactions to the final night of NBA Cup group play, both the Warriors and Rockets losing after being 3-0 and the quarterfinal matchups – and of course their actual basketball analysis:

This episode, on trends that will and won't continue, inspires several of the following Duncs.

Top offense and defense

As Danny noted, six teams rank top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating: Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Boston, Memphis, Dallas and Golden State.

Looking further back, just how rare is that?

Since the NBA expanded to 30 teams for the 2005 season, four teams per season have ranked top 10 in both categories. In the previous eight years, no more than four teams have achieved the double top 10.

If this season's six teams hold, that'd tie for the most in a year, most recently in 2016.

A history of teams finishing in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating with offensive rank, defensive rank:

2025: 6

Oklahoma City Thunder (16-5): 8, 1
Cleveland Cavaliers (19-3): 3, 8
Boston Celtics (18-4): 2, 10
Memphis Grizzlies (14-8): 5, 7
Dallas Mavericks (14-8): 4, 9
Golden State Warriors (12-8): 9, 5

2024: 4

Boston Celtics (64-18): 1, 2
Oklahoma City Thunder (57-25): 3, 4
Denver Nuggets (57-25): 5, 8
New York Knicks (50-32): 7, 9

2023: 3

Boston Celtics (57-25): 2, 2
Cleveland Cavaliers (51-31): 8, 1
Philadelphia 76ers (54-28): 3, 8

2022: 4

Phoenix Suns (64-18): 5, 3
Memphis Grizzlies (56-26): 4, 5
Boston Celtics (51-31): 9, 1
Utah Jazz (49-33): 1, 10

2021: 4

Utah Jazz (52-20): 4, 3
LA Clippers (47-25): 3, 8
Phoenix Suns (51-21): 7, 6
Milwaukee Bucks (46-26): 5, 9

2020: 3

LA Clippers (49-23): 2, 5
Boston Celtics (48-24): 4, 4
Milwaukee Bucks (56-17): 8, 1

2019: 4

Milwaukee Bucks (60-22): 4, 1
Toronto Raptors (58-24): 5, 5
Boston Celtics (49-33): 10, 6
Denver Nuggets (54-28): 7, 10

2018: 3

Toronto Raptors (59-23): 2, 5
Houston Rockets (65-17): 1, 6
Oklahoma City Thunder (48-34): 7, 9

2017: 2

Golden State Warriors (67-15): 1, 2
San Antonio Spurs (61-21): 9, 1

2016: 6

San Antonio Spurs (67-15): 4, 1
Golden State Warriors (73-9): 1, 6
Cleveland Cavaliers (57-25): 3, 10
LA Clippers (53-29): 8, 5
Boston Celtics (48-34): 10, 4
Charlotte Hornets (48-34): 9, 8

2015: 4

Golden State Warriors (67-15): 2, 1
San Antonio Spurs (55-27): 7, 3
Atlanta Hawks (60-22): 6, 5
Portland Trail Blazers (51-31): 8, 9

2014: 4

San Antonio Spurs (62-20): 5, 3
Los Angeles Clippers (57-25): 1, 9
Oklahoma City Thunder (59-23): 7, 5
Toronto Raptors (48-34): 9, 10

2013: 4

Oklahoma City Thunder (60-22): 2, 4
Miami Heat (66-16): 1, 9
San Antonio Spurs (58-24): 7, 3
Los Angeles Clippers (56-26): 4, 8

2012: 4

Chicago Bulls (50-16): 5, 1
Miami Heat (46-20): 6, 4
Oklahoma City Thunder (47-19): 2, 9
Indiana Pacers (42-24): 8, 10

2011: 5

Miami Heat (58-24): 2, 5
San Antonio Spurs (61-21): 3, 9
Los Angeles Lakers (57-25): 7, 6
Orlando Magic (52-30): 10, 4
Dallas Mavericks (57-25): 9, 8

2010: 4

Orlando Magic (59-23): 4, 4
Cleveland Cavaliers (61-21): 5, 8
Utah Jazz (53-29): 7, 10
San Antonio Spurs (50-32): 9, 9

2009: 6

Cleveland Cavaliers (66-16): 4, 2
Boston Celtics (62-20): 5, 3
Los Angeles Lakers (65-17): 3, 6
Orlando Magic (59-23): 9, 1
Denver Nuggets (54-28): 7, 8
Utah Jazz (48-34): 8, 9

2008: 6

Los Angeles Lakers (57-25): 3, 5
Utah Jazz (54-28): 1, 9
Detroit Pistons (59-23): 7, 4
New Orleans Hornets (56-26): 6, 6
Orlando Magic (52-30): 4, 10
Dallas Mavericks (51-31): 8, 7

2007: 3

Dallas Mavericks (67-15): 2, 5
San Antonio Spurs (58-24): 5, 2
Detroit Pistons (53-29): 6, 6

2006: 4

Detroit Pistons (64-18): 4, 5
San Antonio Spurs (63-19): 10, 1
Dallas Mavericks (60-22): 2, 9
Miami Heat (52-30): 7, 10

2005: 3

San Antonio Spurs (59-23): 8, 1
Miami Heat (59-23): 3, 7
Dallas Mavericks (58-24): 5, 9

Trivia answer

Trivia answer: Just four franchises haven't finished a season top 10 in both offensive rating and defensive rating in the 30-team era.

The Timberwolves (2004) and Kings (2003) did it just before, when there were 29 teams.

The Wizards haven't done it since 1979, back when there were just 22 teams.

And the only franchise never to do it… the Brooklyn Nets.

Washington Wizards

The Wizards aren't just losing.

They're getting rollicked.

Washington (2-17) has gotten outscored by 15.8 points per game!

That's the third-worst margin through 19 games in NBA history. Only the 1970-71 Cavaliers (-16.8) and 1992-93 Mavericks (-16.2) have started worse.

Even the worst-starting Process 76ers team fared better (-13.4 in 2014-15).

Worst scoring margins through 19 games:

Cam Thomas

To find players who are taking and making tough shots, I looked at players with at least 1,000 possessions, an expected effective field-goal percentage based on shot quality below 51% and an actual effective field-goal percentage more than 3.5 percentage points above their expected mark. The parameters produce a dozen players:

10 players who've been All-Stars (DeMar DeRozan, Brandon Ingram, Chris Paul, Jalen Brunson, Jayson Tatum, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Anthony Edwards and Kyrie Irving)
Cam Thomas
Norman Powell

How their effective field-goal percentage shifts from expected to actual:

On the pod, Nate and Danny discussed whether Thomas could keep this torrid pace.

The Nets guard is certainly not among his peers with his current performance.

Adrian Wojnarowski

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated goes way inside Adrian Wojnarowski's decision to leave media. Two scenes from the lead up to the draft stand out, one broadly with former Warriors executive Bob Myers:

During draft week in June, Woj waved over Myers in a hotel lobby. Myers asked how he was doing. As he spoke, Myers noticed tears welling up in Woj’s eyes. “He looked at me and he said, ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore,’ ” Myers recalls. “And I just said, ‘You shouldn’t.’ Because really, what’s it for? I think he felt like the cost to continue to do it was too much.”

And one acutely:

Just before the NBA draft, Woj called Ben. He was leaning toward quitting and wanted to get his son’s take on it. Ben was blunt. “People think your job is great,” Ben said. “I think your job f---ing sucks. Retire—and go travel with Mom.”

Houston Rockets

Rockets coach Ime Udoka got fined $50,000 essentially for telling a referee, "Get some fucking glasses. Open your eyes" then telling the media he told a referee, "Get some fucking glasses. Open your eyes."

Tari Eason got fined $35,000 for throwing a towel and swearing at a fan – a situation that could have been much worse if security didn't stop Eason from running into the stands.

Alperen Sengun also got fined $15,000 for "directing inappropriate language toward a game official," completing Houston's triple play.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers have gotten outscored by 70 points their last two games, the worst margin in consecutive games in the franchise's storied history (via Basketball-Reference).

But they can still overcome the 29-point loss to Minnesota and 41-point loss to Miami.

Somewhat surprisingly, nine teams have lost consecutive games by 70+ and still made the playoffs, most recently San Antonio and Portland in 2018-19. The Trail Blazers even made the 2019 Western Conference finals.

Khris Middleton

Khris Middleton will make his season debut in Bucks-Celtics tomorrow, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN.

Thus ends the stirring saga.

You can decide whether I mean what might have been a pressure campaign to get Middleton to return or Eric Nehm getting repeatedly stonewalled by Doc Rivers while trying to ascertain Middleton's status.

-Dan Feldman

Thursday Daily Duncs (12/5/24)