Yes, we know the season is still young. There are a lot of games left to be played in what should be a great year, but still, it seems there’ll be a surprise for us waiting around every corner.
This season has already given us some unexpected gut-punches in the first two weeks of the season. Even before opening week ended, we were treated to some moves that garnered a lot of attention and excitement, and I think the regular season will have the same compelling feel as the offseason did.
With that being said, let’s get into all of the story lines that we’ve seen thus far. Some of them have been, well, shocking to say the least. Others have been kind of expected. That doesn’t make them any less captivating though.
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10. THE CLIPPERS CHANGE IN PHILOSOPHY
With Chris Paul, everyone expected the Clippers to be good this season. The question was whether they’d be championship-caliber good. Through the first seven games of the season, though, they’ve looked like they’ll have a shot to win the Western Conference.
The season is still young, and you don’t want to necessarily say the Clippers are a championship contender just yet when it’s so early, especially since not many picked them to win the Pacific Division against their “roommates.”
With their history, putting the words championship and Clippers in the same sentence seems pretty absurd. But this is a different Clipper team. They’ve even improved tremendously from last season.
On the defensive end, the Clippers went from being 18th in defensive rating last year to being ninth in that category so far this season (all stats via basketball-reference.com). Also, in order to take advantage of their incredible depth and athleticism, they have moved considerably higher in pace – which is how many possessions a team accumulates per game – from 27th last season to fifth this year, while they rank third in the entire league in offensive efficiency. The Clippers have considerably improved on both ends of the floor with new pieces like Jamal Crawford and improvements from players like Eric Bledsoe.
I think that they have a great chance to be around in June if they continue to play this way.
9. DERON WILLIAMS’ SLOW START
Deron Williams is off to a slow start once again… except this time, he’s surrounded by arguably the best talent he’s ever had. While he’s shooting a much higher percentage from the field right now – increasing from 40 to 45 percent – he’s down in many other statistical categories.
Williams is averaging 7.2 assists per game, which is the lowest since his rookie campaign, and only 16.0 points per game, which would be the lowest since his sophomore campaign.
A few years ago, Williams was considered the best point guard in the NBA by many pundits. But right now, Chris Paul is obviously miles ahead of him and a few others have jumped him as well. We can add Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook to that list. Some even argue that Kyrie Irving is better, especially after the duel between Irving and Williams last night.
Throughout the season, we will see if Williams can return to form or not. With all of the moves and additions Brooklyn made over the last few seasons, Williams has no excuse to be performing so poorly on both ends of the floor.
8. THE BOBCATS BEING COMPETITIVE
Don’t look now, but what was arguably the worst team in NBA history is actually sitting pretty at .500. The Bobcats improved their record last night after defeating the lowly Wizards, 92-76. Kemba Walker has a PER of 24.1 and has been playing lights out.
They now look like an NBA team as opposed to a squad assembled off the street two hours before the game started. It seems like the trio of Rich Cho, Michael Jordan and Mike Dunlap actually have this team improving.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist seems like the right pick, too. He brings energy to the floor every single night and had his best game as a pro (25 points, 12 rebounds) three nights ago in a 101-97 victory over Dallas. He’s averaging 12.2 points per game, 7.6 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
The Bobcats may not be a playoff contender, but they will be competitive, and in a few years, we could see them battling for a playoff spot.
7. THE SUCCESS OF THE MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
After losing their two best players – and a third productive one in Chase Budinger while Brandon Roy has sat out the past two games to rest his knees – the Minnesota Timberwolves are 5-2. This seems to happen every year. A team without any true star power comes together as a collective unit and manages to hold down the fort until a franchise player comes back.
This shows how good of a coach Rick Adelman actually is. For the Wolves to be on a 5-2 tear right now without Kevin Love or Ricky Rubio is incredible. Adelman has Luke Ridnour and Nikola Pekovic stepping up for the Wolves right now and it’s working.
Andrei Kirilenko has done wonders for them on both ends of the floor by playing efficiently, and also stopping the opposition when asked to do so. When the Wolves’ two stars come back into the fold, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
6. THE SUCCESS OF THE DALLAS MAVERICKS
The Dallas Mavericks’ success is just as perplexing. Despite losing their past three games, they’ve been one of the best offensive teams in the league, even without Dirk Nowitzki. They’re in the same conundrum the Timberwolves are in without their best player, and yet it hasn’t really mattered.
The way Rick Carlisle has these guys playing is phenomenal. He has O.J. Mayo – who I’m down on – averaging 21.4 points per game with a 19.3 PER. Carlisle also has Darren Collison playing like the point guard that filled in for Chris Paul a few years back.
Carlisle’s team consists of a bunch of no-names, and has-beens and he’s turned them into things that other teams missed out on. The perfect example would be Mayo. The Grizzlies took away his qualifying offer and let him go. Now we’re all seeing what he’s capable of doing.
5. DAMIAN LILLARD’S FAST START
Damian Lillard is off to a great start, averaging 17.9 points and 6.3 assists per game. There’s obviously a lot of potential here – he was the first rookie since Grant Hill to score 20-plus points in his first three games as a pro.
Pairing him with LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum have catapulted Lillard into some great company, and depending on how Terry Stotts manages his minutes this season, he could really be a force. Right now he’s playing 37.9 minutes per game. That’s a pretty hefty amount of time; college games don’t last more than 40 minutes unless they go into overtime.
Despite all of this responsibility, Lillard is a force for the Blazers and he has given them a bright spot at the guard position.
4. ANDREW BYNUM’S KNEE PROBLEMS
When the Philadelphia 76ers got involved in the swap of Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum, they knew this was a possibility. Bynum was just coming off of knee surgery, and he had had the same struggles in past years. But for it to be so soon is shocking. Bynum was reportedly going to be out for the first few weeks of the season. Now they’re saying that it’ll be at the end or middle of December at the earliest, if not mid-January.
The 76ers are being patient, and Jrue Holiday is playing exceptionally well, but they’ll end up in a big hole if Bynum doesn’t come back soon. Holiday can’t sustain this type of play all season long. Bynum needs to be the anchor.
3. MIKE D’ANTONI’S HIRING and PHIL JACKSON’S REJECTION
This was a double whammy. The Lakers killed two birds with one stone. They hired Mike D’Antoni and his “Seven Seconds or Less” offense while dismissing Phil Jackson and the triangle offense.
I think this hire was the right decision, but it was surprising nonetheless because everyone thought this was Phil Jackson’s job to lose. There are contradicting reports saying Phil asked for too much, and there are others saying the Lakers thought Mike D’Antoni was better for the job.
Either way, it caused a huge wave in the media and the social networking world. The Lakers rejected Phil Jackson after he won five championships with them? What?!? That can’t be true. As shocking as it was, Laker fans must move on. There will be no Phil Jackson on that Lakers bench, and no triangle on the Staples Center floor.
2. JAMES HARDEN’S FAST START
James Harden is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, but the big question was could he keep playing at that elite level without having Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook take pressure off him? He was coming off of a legendary true shooting percentage season (66 perecnt) that ranked in the top 25 of all time last year, and he actually kept that pace through his first three games as a Houston Rocket.
Harden has predictably slowed down now as he’s played better defenses and people have figured out how to guard him (by taking away lanes on the perimeter). But he’s still averaging 25.9 points per game along with 4.6 assists. He’s been playing as well as he can for the Rockets and has been putting up All-Star-caliber numbers.
Can he do that ’til season’s end? We’ll see. But for now we have to enjoy the start his start.
1. THE LAKERS FIRE MIKE BROWN
This was the most shocking move of the NBA season thus far. The Lakers fired Mike Brown after only five games in the young season. The Lakers started off 1-4 but there was still plenty of time and plenty of talent – things would’ve gotten better.
I don’t think the Lakers made the right decision firing him over the Princeton offense. At the end of the day, the Lakers’ offense wasn’t the problem. The real problem was the team’s chemistry and how well they gelled with their defensive rotations. Steve Nash wasn’t healthy and wasn’t available, and the bench play was abysmal. I don’t think they gave Brown a fair shake at his job at all. He only had one full training camp as the Lakers’ coach and actually, being of the lockout, hadn’t even coached a full season. In total, Mike Brown was the Lakers coach for 71 regular season games, and for a majority of that time there, he was questioned consistently by fans. He never got the benefit of the doubt even though he once coached Cleveland to the NBA Finals in 2007 and won 66 games during the 2009 season.
What has been the most surprising turn of events so far this season?
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