The NBA preseason is a wonderful display of terrible basketball during a time when you’re so starved for hoops that you’d watch literally anything with an orange ball. Between the insanity that is NBA free agency and the excitement of the NBA Draft, preseason acts as our first real look at all the new faces in different places. So while some of the more casual basketball fans might not tune in until the regular season tips off, the real hoop junkies always show up for preseason action. Salute.
Is preseason basketball meaningless? The answer to that question will vary depending on who you talk to. For a veteran team with continuity like, say, the San Antonio Spurs, it’s a lot less valuable than it is for a young team like the Minnesota Timberwolves that is actively trying to find its identity. What the preseason does give us, however, is an opportunity to watch NBA players flourish in a way that just wouldn’t be possible during the grind of an 82-game season when teams stop tinkering with weird lineups and start playing for wins.
An NBA preseason all-star can mean whatever you want to mean. For our purposes here today, we’re looking at players who seemingly play better in preseason when the game is less structured and the competition is worse, but that’s not all.
We’re also focusing on young players that probably received more minutes in preseason than they will in the regular season due to a veteran or two that stands in the way of consistent playing time. Above all else, though, we’re talking about players who captured our interest throughout the first two weeks of October. Who mattered? Where did the highlights come from? That kind of thing. Without further ado, our 2017-18 NBA preseason All-Stars.
Western Conference
Milos Teodosic, Los Angeles Clippers
Welcome to the NBA, Milos Teodosic! If you were impressed by Teodosic’s incredible preseason highlights, you finally figured out why fans of international basketball have been waiting for him to come over and play in the NBA for several years now. Do his preseason numbers line up with some of the elite point guards in the NBA today? No, not really, but this isn’t about that. Teodosic has been the most entertaining basketball player in the world through the first two weeks of October, and for that, he’s earned the nod here.
Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets
Eric Gordon isn’t the most exciting selection, but look, at some point, the numbers speak for themselves. The NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year has been the preseasons best three-point shooter, and it isn’t even close. Gordon chucked up 9.4 three-point attempts in 25.5 preseason minutes per game, and hit them at an absurd .489 clip. When you’re shooting with that volume at that efficiency, you deserve a spot on our made up preseason All-Star team.
Kyle Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers
Kyle Kuzma isn’t playing like a late-first round draft selection, that’s for sure. Kuzma is doing a lot of the same things he did in Vegas summer league in the preseason where competition is noticeably tougher. Through six preseason games, Kuzma averaged 17.3 points, 4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 27.8 minutes while shooting 51.4 percent from the field, and 24.2 percent from three-point range. Beyond the numbers, though, Kuzma is playing with a level of confidence you just don’t see in your average NBA rookie. If Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma pan out, Lakers fans will point towards the 2017 NBA Draft as the night where everything changed.
Taj Gibson, Minnesota Timberwolves
Did you hear the news? Taj Gibson is shooting three-pointers now. No, really. Gibson shot nearly two three-pointers per game for the Timberwolves in preseason play, and the most exciting part is, he’s hitting 60 percent of them. This feels a lot like a preseason aberration, but we’re talking about the preseason All-Stars here. It’s all about preseason aberrations.
If Gibson’s deep shooting is for real, though, the Timberwolves might be even better than we thought.
Alex Len, Phoenix Suns
Alex Len placed a major bet on himself this summer when he signed a $4.1 million qualifying offer to stay with the Phoenix Suns for at least one more year instead of trying to negotiate a long-term deal in restricted free agency. Len has potentially tens of millions of dollars riding on what he does for the Suns this year, and if his preseason production is for real, his bet might just pay off. Len put up 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds on 65.8 percent shooting in 25.2 minutes per game, but that’s not all. He’s blocking shots at a better rate (2.6 per game) than anyone else in preseason play. Can he do this over an 82 game regular season? Who knows, but this is exactly the kind of start he was looking for.
Eastern Conference
Marcus Smart, Boston Celtics
Marcus Smart gets my newly invented offseason award for Most Promoted Weight Loss of the Year. Smart famously lost 20 pounds over the summer, and if preseason returns are any indication, losing all that weight was the right call. Smart’s preseason numbers are impressive across the board, but his 58.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc in three attempts per game means everything for him. Smart’s defense and toughness speaks for itself, and if his preseason shooting is any indication of how he’ll shoot in the regular season, look out, NBA.
Tim Hardaway Jr., New York Knicks
The New York Knicks shocked the world when they signed Tim Hardaway Jr. to a 4-year, $71 million contract this summer. Despite how it looks, that isn’t meant as a knock on Hardaway’s talent. He was good with the Atlanta Hawks in 2016-17, but it sure seemed like an overpay at the time, coupled with the hilarity of the Knicks signing Hardaway to a mega-contract when they just traded him back in 2015. The whole ordeal was very Knicksy.
With that being said, Hardaway Jr. looked like a $71 million dollar man in preseason play, and while five excellent preseason games aren’t necessarily indicative of what Hardaway Jr. is going to give the Knicks over the next four years, but he’s off to a good start.
Justin Holiday, Chicago Bulls
At 28 years old, Justin Holiday has been an NBA journeyman throughout his five-year NBA career. After a decent season with the Knicks in 2016-17, the rebuilding Chicago Bulls tossed a two-year, $9 million contract at him this summer, and the signing was made without much fanfare, but Holiday put up some ridiculous numbers this preseason. In 5 games, Holiday gave the Bulls 18.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals in 27.7 minutes per game, on 45.6 percent shooting from the field, and 52.9 percent shooting from three-point range.
Yes, you can attribute some of these numbers to the Bulls’ general lack of elite offensive talent. Someone has to score, I get it, but Holiday is doing more than that. He’s been the Bulls’ best perimeter defender, too, and his effort for all 27.7 of those minutes has been excellent.
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid only played in two preseason games for the Philadelphia 76ers, but look, he’s Joel Embiid. In his first game for the 76ers, he was as dominant as you can get, turning in highlight after highlight. His second preseason game resulted in a magnificent trash talking back-and-forth with Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside, and we just have to reward that level of preseason entertainment. Just stay healthy now, Jojo.
Dwight Howard, Charlotte Hornets
We do this ‘is he good again?’ thing with Dwight Howard every year, and while the answer is usually somewhere in between good and bad, we’ve got to give it up for preseason Dwight. He’s averaging a near double-double in just 23.7 minutes per game, but that’s nothing new. Howard is a double-double machine, even at his worst, but he’s been good for Charlotte throughout the preseason.
Howard gets a spot on the preseason All-Stars because he’s been the subject of more than a couple of fun highlights, both good and bad, but all extremely Dwight Howard. Is Dwight Howard good again, though? We don’t know! Maybe!
