Granted it’s still early but there’s three teams who have burst out the blocks and not all as expected. The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have made predictably clear statements to kick off this campaign and while most people expected this, there are factors that still make them special.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are yet to see Pau Gasol in yellow and purple and even Andrew Bynum has been missing of late. While Kobe Bryant has had a huge impact on the Lakers success so far, the Lakers have seen next to nothing from both Farmar and Lamar Kardashian. The likes of Josh Powell, Shannon Brown and DJ MBenga have lifted their respective games to bridge the gap while the Lakers endure some spotty performances from Ron Artest as he gets acclimated to LA. The Lakers still have a lot of growing and improving to do, which is a scary prospect for a lot of teams wanting to win in June.
Boston Celtics
In Boston, the “Three Party” have been great as always but it’s newly contracted Rajon Rondo, the ever-emotional Eddie House and new additions Marquis Daniels, Shelden Williams and Rasheed Wallace that have been most impressive. Greatness is expected from Allen, Pierce and KG as they are all well established stars but losing Big Baby Davis was significant even if Celtic fans didn’t want to admit it. The real surprise is how ably Shelden Williams is filling in for Davis off the pine and how ‘Sheed is spending 90% of his time outside the arc. But for all their talk of winning 72 games they are best served not worrying until playoffs as they don’t need home court to dominate, they need healthy bodies.
Phoenix Suns
The third team on this list is the surprising, yet not so surprising Phoenix Suns. With Nash still playing like he’s 25 and Amare looking like he’s genuinely interested again, the Suns are looking great. The emergence of Jared Dudley and the re-emergence, again of Grant Hill have made this team fun to watch and almost invincible to this point. Hill’s re-invention as the new Matrix at 37 years old is impressive to say the least. All that time on the bench in Orlando and subsequently removing his name from Rich DeVos’ Christmas card list could now been seen as the perfect medicine to keep his legs fresher than the 31 year old Kobe Bryant’s. The win over the Celtics validated this run. If all the W’s were against weak teams, Miami would’ve made this list instead.
Even Amare is surprised at the start Phoenix have had
Let’s face it, every fan of every team will have experienced some disappointment this season. Even Boston fans would be disappointed that their Celtics aren’t undefeated. Same goes for Laker fans. But there have definitely been some teams that have promised one thing and delivered a lot less. Here are some examples:
Cleveland
The Big Shaq-upuncture is poking holes in the Cavaliers water-tight mojo from last year. It’s not all the big fella’s fault, but he wants the spotlight and now he has it. We love Shaquille O’Neal here at 2SOTH but something’s got to change in Cleveland or it’s going to be a long disappointing season. A lot at this early stage needs to be said for John Kuester, the former offensive coordinator of the Cavs. And as the days and losses go by, a lot less needs to be said for Head Coach Mike Brown and his offensive chops. LeBron James is still doing his thing but it is eerily like the 2006 Cavs right now. The “Main Man” LeBron does everything while the “Rain Men” ala Dustin Hoffman, not Shawn Kemp stand around trying not to fart or get in the way.
Utah
Gary Busey’s timeless quote from Point Break, “Hey Utah, get me two!” may apply to the Jazz at this point. After starting with a 3-4 record, Utah now have the chance to give their team two wins in a row when they face the Celtics in Boston on Wednesday night. Ouch. Utah have as much chance of winning that game as Dennis Rodman has of unseating Rocky Anderson as the Mayor of Salt Lake City. Carlos Boozer has great averages thus far but he is practically front-running to start the season and Utah will let him in an effort to increase his trade value. His big games have come against the Knicks, Kings and Clippers with the exception of a 27 & 14 game against the Spurs. Deron Williams looks like he is on a mission to force his way into the All-Star game and he’s the most overdue player in the league. It’s impressive that this kid is averaging close to 11 assists per game again. He certainly delivers the ball well and the Jazz are shooting the ball at just over 47% from the field. The main problem seems to be some flaky home losses to Houston and Sacramento respectively. The once “invincible in Utah” Jazz would be 5-2 with those two in the bag and no one would think that was abnormal.
Utah need to get 2 from somewhere... bring on Gary Busey
New Jersey
With all the Lebron talk, potential Russian invasion, the move to Brooklyn, Jay-Z’s latest album and the team’s heavy reliance on Devin Harris, no one said it would be easy in New Jersey this year. But 0-9? Courtney Lee must be crying himself to sleep after his Magical rookie season last year in Orlando. The only shining light for the Nets has been the gallant play of Brook Lopez. If he walked into the Locker Room after a game and kicked a teammate to death, no one could really fault him. Hell, I’d applaud. He is the only player seemingly displaying level NBA effort on a nightly basis. The Nets may erect a bronze statue in Brooklyn in future to commemorate this first fortnight level of.. err… something. With 3 of their top 4 scorers out of action, including a bout of swine flu for CDR, it would be a surprise if the Nets can conjure up anything close to a heartbeat in the coming week. Of course tragedy equals opportunity… we may see the Nets on the rise soon… or not. I’ll suggest not.
Toronto
The acquisition of Hedo Turkoglu is supposed to be the move that not only lifts the Raptors further towards elite status in the East, but it is also the primary aid for keeping Chris Bosh in Canada beyond June 2010. Kicking off this season’s campaign with a 3-4 record is not what management had in mind. Bosh is playing out of his mind and Bargnani has been solid, at least at the offensive end. On defence he’s been offensive too. Calderon’s assist numbers, (6.4apg) have been somewhat shallow and one wonders what the problem is? He played better than this last year while injuried. The Raptors are shooting .485 from the field and averaging 109ppg as a team so there should be assists to go around. As usual, Rasho Nesterovic would be better served randomly floating in a homemade hot air balloon over Colorado. Overall, after taking the first game against Cleveland, the Raptors really should’ve kicked off this season with a better record.
Team Defence
I don’t know if teams are smoking crack at quarter breaks but there is an unusually high amount of insane scoring quarters so far in this young season, where teams come out and show absolutely no defensive effort for an entire quarter allowing their opponents to hang 40+ points on them. The Pistons barely got started against Orlando, only getting involved in the second period, Minnesota laid down against Golden State on Monday and the latest example is the Mavs 39 point cakewalk in the fourth quarter against the Rockets. There have been another 6 examples of this behaviour so far in 09/10.
Golden State showing the new craze in the NBA. No D at all.
Surprise Surprise!!
As always, there are a few surprise stories already in season 09/10. Here we take a look at some of the nice and not so nice surprises so far…
Gilbert Arenas
We’ve all heard Gilbert talk big talk about this recovery in the offseason. In fact it’s become a bit of a summer hit around DC. This time it turned out to be more than the Hibachi crying wolf as he appears back to his old self. Unfortunately so do the Wizards as they are once again looking like a .500 team.
Brandon Jennings
This kid can play. After a stellar start to his career in the NBA, Jennings is proving the haters wrong with some very strong performances for the Bucks. He’s had a couple of rookie mistakes late in games but by leading his team in points AND assists, it’s safe to say Brandon has made a great impression in Wisconsin.
Elton Brand
Elton is playing like Vin Baker… the latter years. The only thing Brand is doing well is Free Throw shooting where he is up 10% to .833. If this gets any worse he is going to be the highest paid guy to go from All-Star to 10th man in one year since Jamal Magloire.
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder have taken the next step in their development. It was anticipated it would happen, but not this soon. They look like a playoff team out West and Thabo Sefalosha beating out impressive rookie James Harden for the start at shooting guard with his excellent performance is a big part of the reason.
Houston Rockets
It’s like a broken record but how do these guys remain competitive? If nothing else, the Rockets have heart. With a 6’6” center they really are the little team that could in the early going of the season. The addition of Trevor Ariza has been a welcome one and Aaron Brooks continues to impress. The biggest difference might Chuck Hayes as he is once again providing amazing defence in the middle, but also contributing a bit on offence as well.
