Five teams know it’s turnaround time

OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 4:46 p.m. ET Dec. 22, 2009

Sean Deveney

Coming into the season, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich knew how his team had approached the early season in the past — get off to a decent but unremarkable start, tinker with lineups and prepare to ramp up for a run in the season’s second half.

But he also knew he couldn't take that approach this year, not with key new players such as Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess and rookie DeJuan Blair in the rotation. The goal was to start fast and not look back. “I don’t think we have the luxury to take it easy early on,” Popovich said.

The fast start, though, did not come, and despite a stretch of four wins in their last five games, the Spurs haven’t looked like the model of efficiency on both ends of the floor that they usually are. There’s still time, of course, but for the Spurs and four other teams that were expected to be much better than they are, this is a critical part of the schedule. A good run now can turn around these teams’ early season foibles — as long as they make some changes:

Chicago Bulls
One of two things has to happen for the Bulls: Either someone needs to wake up John Salmons, who has followed up one of the best shooting years of his career with the worst shooting year of his career, or they need to go get a scorer. The team let Ben Gordon go this summer for big-picture reasons, and no one has stepped forward to replace him. If Salmons were shooting like he did last year, the offense wouldn’t be languishing. “We just have to stick with it,” Salmons said. “We’re struggling now, but we know we have the talent here to get it done.”

Chances for a turnaround: Moderately likely.

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New Orleans Hornets
Get younger. New coach Jeff Bower has been giving the team’s two rookies — Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison — increased minutes, and that’s a good start. Bower, though, will also have to grit his teeth and give minutes to 2007 first-round bust Julian Wright, because the problem here is that every rotation player around Chris Paul and David West isn’t particularly athletic or simply can’t keep up on the defensive end. Wright is certainly not known for his defensive prowess, but he at least has the tools to be a good defender, which is the best the Hornets can do at this point.

Chances for a turnaround: Unlikely.

Toronto Raptors
As long as the Raptors start Andrea Bargnani at center, they’re not going to be the kind of team that can dominate inside or play robust in-the-paint defense. They’re always going allow a certain amount of penetration, and they’re always going to get pushed around by bigger post men. But that’s not why their defense has been struggling — it’s the perimeter that is killing them. Toronto has given up the most 3-pointers in the league and allows opponents to shoot 37.2 percent from behind the arc, sixth-worst in the NBA. “We’ve got to improve our defensive intensity in every aspect,” Raptors forward Chris Bosh said. “Inside, outside, in the middle. Everywhere.”

Chances for a turnaround: Likely.

San Antonio Spurs
Let Richard Jefferson play. Popovich hasn’t been entirely happy with the performance of Jefferson, the team’s prized offseason acquisition, and for a while, Jefferson found his minutes slashed. Popovich was sending Jefferson a message, and while that can have some long-term value, Jefferson’s biggest problem is a lack of confidence — he seems to have little idea where he fits into the offense, and it is affecting his overall game. The Spurs put a big chunk of their season on Jefferson when they traded for him. They’ve got to get him on the floor and hope for the best.

Chances for a turnaround: Very likely.

Washington Wizards
There are two glaring holes. First is simply sharing the ball. Way too often, especially for a team coached by Flip Saunders, the Wizards get too caught up in one-on-one play. They rank near the bottom of the league in assists. The second problem is perimeter shooting. Mike Miller was supposed to solve that problem, but Miller is still out with a calf injury, and the guys the Wizards have hoisting long balls now have been terrible — Gilbert Arenas is shooting 32.8 percent from the arc, while Caron Butler is at 29.8 percent. It’s simple, guys: Pass, and shoot.

Chances for a turnaround: Middling.

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