The NBA season is just over a week old, so let’s get into some early season notes and takeaways.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are as good as advertised
The Thunder’s offense has been stuck in the mud to start the season. Although I am not worried about it, OKC is 23rd in the NBA with an offensive rating of 108.5. It is their defense that has them off to an elite start. They own the best defense in the league and have the chance to be historically great on that end. It starts with Chet Holmgren who is averaging a league leading 3.5 blocks per game, including a 6 block game Sunday against the Hawks. However, OKC’s defense is about more than just their great rim protector. Alex Caruso has come in and done Alex Caruso things, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands are as good as ever on that end with his 2.5 steals per game and Ousmane Dieng has been a revelation as a small ball center. The Thunder are +13.2 points per 100 when Dieng is playing the center spot, giving up 89.8 points per 100 possessions. They’ll need to find their offense and getting Isaiah Hartenstien will help that but the defense is legit. This is the best team in the west.
The Cavaliers are better than expected
It is early and they could just be hot but the Cleveland Cavaliers have looked really good. Can you guess who has the best offense in the NBA entering Thursday? No, not the Boston Celtics but the Cleveland Cavaliers, who is also the NBA’s only 5-0 team. It, of course, starts and ends with Donovan Mitchell, who looks very comfortable and happy in Cleveland after signing a new 3-year $150.3 million extension this summer. However, the big revelation has been Evan Mobley. His defense is great, like always, but it is the offense that has jumped off the page to start the season. He is averaging 19.2 points per game while shooting 57% from the field and 50% (!) from 3 point range. That 3 point percentage won’t last but 37% last season showed that maybe, just maybe, Mobley had started to turn a corner from 3 and that has held up through 5 games of this season.
The Clippers defense is electric
The Clippers have had their moments of struggling to score in the half court this season, especially when James Harden is off the court. According to PBP Stats, they have an offensive rating of 103.8 in 52 minutes with Harden on the bench. A small sample size but still bad. Which is why the Clippers are built on their defense. 3rd in the NBA entering Thursday, L.A. has been great on the defensive end to start the season. They have been great on that side of the court and will need to be all season because their offense will have a lot of issues until they get Kawhi Leonard back.
The Pelicans look bad
Look, they have been without Trey Murphy all season, will be without Dejounte Murray for an extended period of time and were without Herb Jones and CJ McCollum Wednesday. Yet, that doesn’t change the fact that this is a very flawed roster without a real center. Daniel Theis, Yves Missi and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is just not a center room that can get the job done. None of this excuses the fact that they just went to San Francisco and lost 2 games to a Stephen Curry-less Warriors team. Zion has shown flashes but he was 5/19 in the paint in Wednesday's loss and has had a shaky start to the new year. New Orleans has done a weird job of building the roster. Some of it is around Williamson while some of it is prepared for if Zion gets hurt. I think they need to pick a lane before they are able to really compete in what is a stacked Western Conference.
The Bucks have issues
The Bucks have gotten good starts from Dame and Giannis and it has not mattered, in large part because the defense is bad. Brook Lopez has been a mainstay in protecting the paint for Milwaukee since he signed there in 2018 and this season he has looked old. Their guard, Lillard and Gary Trent Jr., have been traffic cones so even if Lopez was the old Lopez, it probably would not matter because no matter how great your center is if you can’t guard at the point of attack your defense will struggle, just ask the 2020-21 Utah Jazz. The bench isn’t good and Khris Middelton is hurt… again. The Bucks are not in a good sport right now. They simply can’t compete with what the best of the Eastern Conference has to offer.
The Nuggets should ditch the Russell Westbrook thing
The Russell Westbrook experiment in Denver needs to end like the Carmelo Anthony experiment in Houston did, quickly. It has not worked. With Westbrook on the court Denver has a net rating of -19.1, when Westbrook is on the bench, they have had a net rating of 7.7. The Nuggets are 26.8 points per 100 possessions better when Westbrook is not on the court. This isn’t just because all of Westbrook’s minutes have come with Jokic on the bench, in 35 minutes where they pair shares the floor, the Nuggets net rating is -10.8. A small sample sure but that doesn’t mean it is going to get better. The Westbrook experiment has been a mess and the Nuggets need to ditch it, asap.
The Lakers and Suns have modernized
Let’s end on a positive note. Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers were dead last in offensive rebounding, through 5 games, they are 20th with 10.0 offensive rebounds per game. Last season, the Phoenix Suns were 25th in 3 point attempts per game, through 4 games, they are 14th at 37.5 3’s taken per game. A big reason both teams disappointed last season was that they weren’t playing analytically enough, which is big on 3 point attempts, offensive rebounding and not turning the ball over. Sure, they have had their issues, the Lakers are 28th in 3 point attempts and the Suns are last in offensive rebounding but they have improved on the margins something that both of their new coaches wants them to do.
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