The NBA Atlantic Division is certainly not an example of saving the best for last.
We’ve looked at the other five divisions in the NBA through the prism of the most important non-superstar players on each roster, the players who need to be better (or if not better, in tune with their team’s needs and able to meet them) in order for the coming season to reach its goals, and maybe even exceed them.
The Atlantic offers every indication of being a factory of basketball sadness this season. Yet, we’re not going to exclude it from this portion of our season preview.
Here we go:
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BOSTON CELTICS: KELLY OLYNYK
The last image we saw of Olynyk was his awkward and quite disproportionate exhibition of rough play against Kevin Love in the 2015 NBA Playoffs. The vision of what Olynyk can become as a player is evident, but it stands many miles from the reality of what Olynyk is today. Like James Young and Marcus Smart and Evan Turner — all at different stages in their evolutions as NBA players — Olynyk has a long way to go in order to arrive at the ideal version of himself. Making this journey is what the Celtics most centrally and essentially need to begin the long and difficult climb up the ladder in the Eastern Conference.
BROOKLYN NETS: THOMAS ROBINSON
For every NBA career which fulfills its potential, there are dozens if not hundreds more which fall short. Thomas Robinson is only 24 years old, so it’s not as though we should be preparing a funeral dirge for his NBA career. Yet, it’s quite apparent that Robinson is struggling to find a home in the league in more ways than one. Level of play; roster fit; overall logistical situation — you name it, Robinson is still searching for it. He hopes he’s found it in Brooklyn with the Nets, and his new team needs him to take a big forward step. If Robinson can become a “10 and 8” guy on a regular basis by the time his season is done, the Nets — a team in need of a future and a reason to hope — could enter the 2016-2017 season with a lot more optimism than they have right now.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: NIK STAUSKAS
The Sixers are overloaded with big men, a point which needs no elaboration. They are facing the fact that guard Tony Wroten will be out for several weeks. With too many bigs and not enough guards, this leaves Nik Stauskas to figure things out on his own… or at least, it will feel that way in the early stages of the season.
The reason Stauskas became a top-10 NBA draft pick is that he made the leap at Michigan from a catch-and-shoot marksman to a player who could create off the dribble and, at the very least, could carve out space with the dribble. The use of the bounce, in tandem with jab-step moves and well-timed footwork, forced defenders to respect the drive and step back just long enough for Stauskas to then release a jumper with a free shooting hand. Cultivating that package of skills made Stauskas a next-level player.
Yet, after spending time with one dysfunctional NBA organization, he’s landed in another one in Philadelphia. Can he swim on his own for awhile and then work with this imbalanced roster? The Sixers need to have twos and threes to work with their large number of fives and their paucity of ones this season, especially in November and December.
TORONTO RAPTORS: JONAS VALANCIUNAS
When you make Nene and Marcin Gortat look good in the NBA playoffs, you need to improve your game. Let’s see where Valanciunas, newly signed to a deal in Toronto, can take the Raptors — and himself — in the coming season. Toronto’s needs certainly don’t lie primarily on the wings; this ballclub needs a better and more robust low-post presence. Can Valanciunas evolve into that improved presence? He needs to.
NEW YORK KNICKS: ARRON AFFLALO
The Robin Lopez acquisition is just about impossible to knock. The New York Knicks certainly improved as a result of that transaction. With Lopez and Carmelo Anthony in the starting five, the Knicks have better pieces. Their draft selections need time to find themselves, so too much pressure should not be placed on their backs. This leaves Afflalo as the team’s most important non-superstar, non-draftee player, the acquisition who came with question marks.
Can Afflalo work in concert with Melo to make the Knicks’ offense far more dynamic than it was last season? Jose Calderon offers the promise of something good at the point guard spot, but Afflalo needs to be at his best in order to create a truly integrated one-through-five offense. He’s not a bad player, but he’s an unremarkable one.
He’ll need to be just a little more remarkable in the coming season if the Knicks want to sniff the No. 8 seed in the East.
