By Zach Jacovini
Staff Writer
The 2020-2021 NBA season took place after the shortest off-season in league history. Heavily favored contenders like the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers fell short of expectations, and many fanatics believed that the upcoming season would provide a return to normalcy. This couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
Many teams that had successful playoff campaigns in the previous season, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks find themselves struggling as we approach the all-star break, with most of them posting sub .500 records.
These teams that were once thought to be title contenders, now struggling, has led to a massive shake-up in both the eastern and western conference standings. For fans and sports betters alike, this has caused preseason predictions to be, in some cases, wildly wrong.
Some fans may point to the unexpected successes of other teams, such as the Memphis Grizzlies, led by superstar point-guard Ja Morant and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who possess a wealth of young talent in players such as point-guard Darius Garland and center/power-forward Evan Mobley to blame for the shake-up in standings. Perhaps the biggest reason for the lack of success by certain teams is due to the continued presence of the pandemic and the surge of the omicron variant.
In an effort to support this claim, I’m going to analyze a few of the teams that have fallen short of expectations this season and decide if the reason for a particular team's lack of winning is due to player availability issues caused by Covid-19, or simply poor team/player performances.
*player stats courtesy of nba.com
*team records as of 2/2/22
*# of missed days due to COVID as of 1/29/22, stats courtesy of Fansure
Atlanta Hawks (25-28/10th in Eastern Conference)
After a 2020-2021 campaign in which the Atlanta Hawks defeated the New York Knicks, and the number one seeded Philadelipha 76ers, many thought this year would be the year where the Hawks finally put it all together to make a championship run.
However, this simply has not been the case as we approach the all-star break. As it currently stands, the Hawks possess a record of 25-28, two games below the .500 mark. The Hawks rank number three overall in terms of player days missed due to being in health and safety protocols with a whopping 139 player days missed. Not only have the Hawks as a team been ravaged by Covid-19, their best players seem to be the ones that have missed the most amount of times. Players crucial to their success last season such as power-forward John Collins, point-guard Trae Young and shooting-guard Kevin Huerter have all spent five plus days in Covid-19 protocol, leaving the Hawks shorthanded plenty of nights this season.
Los Angeles Lakers (26-28/Ninth in Western Conference)
Coming into the season, sports analysts and Lakers fans alike pegged this team as a potential “superteam,” one that would enable small-forward Lebron James to continue to chase championships. In the off-season, after a disappointing first-round loss to the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers made major changes to their roster, trading away players such as center Montrezz Harrel, power/small-forward Kyle Kuzma and shooting-guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. But in return, the Lakers added talent such as star point-guard Russell Westbrook, shooting-guard Malik Monk and center Dwight Howard. With these changes in place, many believed that the Lakers had gotten significantly better as a team, to the point where a pre-season power rankings list on NBA.com ranked the Lakers as the number three overall team in the association.
As of now, things are far from perfect in the city of angels. Continued poor shooting from new additions such as Russel Westbrook and a lack of team chemistry has led to major turmoil for the Lakers. So much so that many believe the team's coach, Frank Vogel, could be on his way out of LA after winning a title just two seasons ago. To make it worse for the Lakers, their issues cannot simply be pinned on a Covid-19 outbreak.
Currently, the Lakers are ranked as the 22nd overall team in terms of players missing days in health and safety protocols, with under 100 player days missed. Compared to much of the association, the Lakers have been relatively spared from outbreaks of the virus, and their best players such as Lebron James and power-forward/center Anthony Davis have missed little to no time due to Covid-19.
New York Knicks (24-29/12th in Eastern Conference)
While the Knicks fell short to the Atlanta Hawks in five games during last season's playoffs, many thought that with a slightly retooled roster, the Knicks could be in for big things this season. With additions such as point-guard Kemba Walker and shooting-guard Evan Fourneir, the Knicks did their best to add talented shooters to surround the NBA’s most improved player of the year award winner in Julius Randle.
When you combine the Knicks’ struggles with Covid, as well as players not performing to their potential, it’s no wonder the Knicks are where they are.
The Knicks are currently ranked 16th overall in terms of player days missed due to players being in Covid-19 protocol and some of their best players such as shooting-guard RJ Barrett, center Nerlins Noel, and forward Julius Randle have spent their share of time out of the lineup.
