Every Team's X-Factor (Southwest Division)

I’ve now had the benefit of watching a few highlights from regular season games, though there’s a couple of teams on this list I still haven’t gotten a look at.  Anyhow, this is the final edition of “Every Team’s X-Factor” and the only entry of the series to be written after the start of the season.  But the goal remains the same, to identify the player who, even if you never heard of dude before or even if he’s a third-stringer, needs to step up to push the squad to another level.  Or another way of looking at it is finding where a depth deficiency in the roster occurs and then figuring out which NBAer on the team can fill that slot.

DALLAS MAVERICKS: ZACCHARIE RISACHER

Kyrie + Flagg = the best 1 + 3 forward combination in the league?  Nico Harrison wasn’t a dumbass after all?

The Mavs have a deep, versatile roster, more or less built for the modern (pre-Wemby) NBA.  But one thing I did notice is they have a lot of Gs, but I haven’t heard of most of them.  So when Irving inevitably goes down, that may be an area of concern.

But in the meantime, I going to with Zaccharie Risacher.  Fun fact: there’s only three teams (I think) with two no.1 picks on their roster - Philly, Washington and… Dallas.  Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much of these dudes.  But beating the two of the top three teams in the West (OKC and Houston) in consecutive games this past week, any way you cut it, says a lot.

Anyhow, Zach is the x-factor because, first of all he’s coming off the bench, and secondly, he can, in theory, play the 2 through 4.  To note, Aldama - yet another tall, lanky, multi-positional dude - will return eventually, I guess, which would then minimize some of Risacher's x-factorness.  This team’s makeup is similar to the Rockets, very F heavy, designed apparently such that most of the scoring comes from the frontcourt.

HOUSTON ROCKETS: STEVEN ADAMS

Indeed, Houston has Thompson starting at the 2, though he’s more like a 3 or small 4.  But still, they have enough depth in the backcourt to weather injuries.

This roster isn’t lacking in any area per se.  But since I’m forced to pick an x-factor, I’m going with Steven Adams.  Why?  He’s the only like big-big on the team.  And the way Houston insists on keeping him around, past his prime, shows that they perceive the value of having someone his size, as wemby insurance presumably.

MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: SCOTTIE PIPPEN JR.

So as it currently stands, this is the only undefeated team in the league.  Who would’ve thunk it?

I have yet to see these dudes play.  If Ty Jerome, a fukin C-lister, wasn’t playing out of his mind, it’d be easy to just come out and criticize Memphis's rotation.  Dude has made such a name for himself, in just a couple of weeks, that now when I read it, I’m no longer confusing him for a 1970s’ black guy.

If he’s able to sustain it, welcome to both MIP and allstar, Ty.  But as with other pundits, I don’t think that’s particularly likely.

So amongst their other Gs who don’t have much name recognition but need to represent, I’m going with Pippen Jr.  Well actually, he’s the son of an alltime great, which moves you up a grade or two on the celebrity chart by default.  But dude isn’t that popular and also is clearly more than just a nepo baby, having carved out a career for himself and regularly starting for, as it currently stands, the best team in the NBA.

No one saw this coming, but again, the season is a marathon, not a sprint.  But here’s to hoping dudes can maintain.  A formidable team led by a rookie is something the NBA hasn’t had in a long time.

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: YVES MISSI

There are some teams, like the Sixers, who are overtalented in a good way.  While others, like the Pelicans, have compatibility issues.

I’m going with this dude Yves Missi, despite not even knowing how he looks, because there’s been headlines over the past couple of weeks pointing to how his injury throws the frontcourt’s balance off.  According to reports, NOP has another C, Derik Queen, who all-around better than Missi but doesn’t fit as well alongside Zion, the alpha.

The Pelicans are one of those teams that you just get tired of all their issues after awhile, because Missi starting, Queen starting, what fukin difference does it make anyway?  Does one or the other starting means they’re actually going to start winning games?  So at least give us a good show, braintrust.

SAN ANTONIO SPURS: JULIAN CHAMPAGNIE

The Spurs haven’t come out the gate red hot, as they're more or less running lineup experiments, as well as waiting to incorporate Harris.  I’m presuming that Tobias will be the starting 4 which, the more I think about it, may be a desired upgrade over Champagnie.

This team, in terms of their rotation players on average, isn’t really that tall.  They just drafted a couple of bigs, who at first I was speculating would get some run.  But considering this is very much a win-now squad, now that I think about it, they probably won’t.

Kornet can play the 4 but is better served in the middle.  So Julian remains the x-factor, as he was last season, if you could read in-between the lines.

Dude needs to learn how to play bigger than his size or his stretch preferences.  He needs to adopt that Malik Rose spirit, if he can, because once Harris goes to bench, or even likely with Harris is on the court, SA appears as if it’ll once again lack an imposing interior presence when Wemby is out on the perimeter.

CONCLUSION

I'm glad that I'm finally finished with this shit.  What's become obvious in pointing out every team's x-factor is that even though a player may fill a very-important need, in terms of being the last man standing at a position that has depth issues, that still doesn't mean he's actually gonna get run.  Coaches have players they trust and those they don't, and there's also injury issues that need to be taken into consideration.  But that said, I'm hoping to do an update to this series circa midseason, then based on having watched each team play out for a few months.