With the 2017-18 season almost three weeks old, it’s time to offer first impressions on what has already been a strange first 2.5 miles of the 82-game marathon known as the NBA regular-season. Most teams have played between seven and ten games already, and, as usual, there have been some surprise teams and players, while others have taken a bit longer to find their games.
Here are one fan’s observations of the early-season action, which includes games through Saturday, November 4th:
The new “player-friendly” NBA regular-season schedule, in addition to reducing the number of games scheduled on consecutive nights, trimmed down the pre-season schedule as well. Coaching staffs were forced to change their practice regimens on the fly, and we saw some sloppy play during the first week.
Basketball injuries happen all the time, but we saw a couple of horrific ones early, particularly to Gordon Hayward and Jeremy Lin, though it’s still unclear if the reduced pre-season schedule made players more susceptible.
During the November 3rd contest between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers, there was a rugby-like scrum for a loose ball, and one of the Nets’ players dove on the floor and gained possession, then called a timeout before a Laker could wrestle the ball from him. Normally, the announcer would call it a smart play, but unfortunately, calling that timeout left the Nets’ coach, Kenny Atkinson, with only one timeout left to utilize with about five minutes remaining in a competitive game. With the rule changes regarding timeouts now in effect, the players as well as the coaches will have to adjust.
Their November 3rd home defeat to the rebuilding Chicago Bulls notwithstanding, the Orlando Magic have ridden strong play from Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic to a 6-3 start. Young team, but several of their players entering their prime years, and it’s time to show some improvement. Nice start.
The Boston Celtics lost free-agent signee Gordon Hayward a few minutes into their season opener in Cleveland and dropped their first two games, but are now effectively playing ‘next man up’ in the form of rookie Jayson Tatum and second-year player Jaylen Brown, winning their last seven games including an impressive comeback win at Oklahoma City on November 3rd.
Many thought the Los Angeles Clippers would drop out of sight after trading Chris Paul over the summer, but they’ve at least gotten off to a nice 5-3 start behind some solid defense and expanded offensive range from Blake Griffin.
The Memphis Grizzlies needed a third scorer to emerge as support for reliables like Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. For now, it appears that Tyreke Evans is that guy, giving the second unit a proven scorer who can create when plays break down. Chandler Parsons is also showing some flashes of his old self. Head Coach David Fizdale is underappreciated at the moment, but that will change.
The Detroit Pistons have started well, winning 7 of their first 10 games, and the addition of Avery Bradley is one of several reasons why. Tobias Harris is playing well, and Andre Drummond is hitting 75 percent of his free throws through 10 games, after connecting on well below 40 percent during his first five NBA seasons. The Pistons are also playing in a brand new downtown arena in Detroit, which sits mostly empty.
The Phoenix Suns got annihilated by over 40 points in two of their first three contests while giving up an average of nearly 130 points, which cost coach Earl Watson his gig. They’re now paying PG Eric Bledsoe to stay away from the team until they can deal him away and have won four of six games under interim coach Jay Triano through November 3rd, including road wins at Washington and Brooklyn. Lots of young talent here.
The New York Knicks lost all five of their pre-season games and their first three regular-season games after dealing away Carmelo Anthony, leading many to believe a 15-win season was in the works. After inserting Jarrett Jack in to the starting lineup and landing a couple of blowout wins over the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers, the Knicks have steadied themselves and are now at .500, while Kristaps Porzingis is already hearing premature “MVP” chants during home games. With 10 of their next 14 games at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks have an opportunity to turn some heads early.
It’s too early to worry about the Cleveland Cavaliers, but it’s clear that the 33-year-old Lebron James, as expected, has lost some of his explosiveness. It’s no disgrace; it’s just his turn. He can still dominate games and is smart enough to figure out how to compensate for when he can’t, but a reliable second scorer will need to emerge (Isaiah Thomas, presumably) if the Cavaliers are to return to the Finals. He’ll have to spread out performances like the 57-point outburst against the Wizards on November 3rd. He’s gonna feel that one later on.
With a 1-9 start the vertically-challenged Dallas Mavericks are rapidly becoming a Western Conference afterthought, and while few were expecting them to be a troublemaker this season, on an individual level it’s already looking like Nerlens Noel is going to regret turning down that $75 million offer to test the free agent market next summer, if he doesn’t already. It’s still early, but barring a major turnaround, It will be difficult to justify giving big bucks to a center averaging 6 points and 6 boards while playing less than 20 minutes per game on a struggling team with little size other than the 39-year-old Dirk Nowitzki, while losing minutes to Salah Mejri.
After a strong preseason, many picked the Brooklyn Nets as a possible surprise team in the Eastern Conference (and, at the very least, the best team in New York) and even after losing Jeremy Lin in the opener managed a 3-2 start. But after beating Cleveland at home, the defensively-challenged Nets have lost four straight games, most recently to the Lakers (and an uncharacteristically monstrous-looking Brook Lopez) in the first of a five-game Western road swing. Afterwards, they’ll come home for three home games against Boston, Utah and Golden State before traveling to Cleveland. A home game with Portland will precede another three-game road trip featuring all Western Conference teams. If they’re not careful, they can fall back out of relevancy before Thanksgiving.
Chicago Bulls’ rookie Lauri Markkenen‘s impressive early-season performance confirms practice combatants Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic were merely “fighting” for the second-string power forward position on a rebuilding team. Imagine that.
Coming into the season, Lonzo Ball received more hype than any other rookie, largely because he has the best hype men (including Magic Johnson), and ESPN was showing many of the Lakers’ games, even during the preseason. He’ll be fine, but he’ll be physically challenged by stronger, unimpressed veterans which will lead to some difficult evenings and more gym work this summer. Teammate Kyle Kuzma, looking every bit the steal as the 27th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, may end up having the better rookie season of the two.
It’s early, but the Knicks (without Carmelo Anthony) and the Indiana Pacers (without Paul George) have similar win-loss records as the Oklahoma City Thunder (with Carmelo Anthony and Paul George). Indiana has Victor Oladipo averaging nearly 25 points per game and Domantis Sabonis – filling in for Myles Turner – putting up impressive rebounding and field goal percentage tallies. Both came to Indiana in the Paul George trade, while George appears to be the third scoring option in OKC.
Given the current state of the NBA, Philadelphia rookie Ben Simmons along with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Utah’s Rudy Gobert are just three refreshing examples of players who can dominate a game without shooting three-pointers.
For those who think non-lottery first-round picks and all second-rounders are negligible, several 2017 late draftees (including the aforementioned Kyle Kuzma) have cracked their team’s rotations are making early contributions. Brooklyn’s Jarrett Allen. Portland’s Caleb Swanigan, Golden State’s Jordan Bell, Charlotte’s Dwayne Bacon, Memphis’ Dillon Brooks and Toronto’s OG Anunoby are just a few.
And finally, in an absolutely horrendous development now officially a trend, NBA bigs like Aaron Gordon, Blake Griffin, Timofey Mozgov, and Nikola Vucevic, have all contracted the three-point flu this season, launching them at a higher rate than we’ve ever seen from them. Brook Lopez caught it last season and still has it. When guys like DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Rudy Gobert, Andre Drummond, Clint Capela and Marcin Gortat start firing from 25-feet away, we’re done.
Favorite “Under The Radar Game” for next week: Philadelphia at Utah (November 7).
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