[JDB12Participant]

The season has started and has been exciting to say the least! We’ve seen some things that were expected and some very unexpected. We’ve had some massive offensive performances already from some big names and had some disappoint. It’s always easy to overreact this early on but with around 79 games left for each team there is time to figure things out for all.

Here are my most noteworthy points a few games in:

Utah is 3-0 beating three very solid teams–all of which I had as top 8 teams in the conference going into the season, Denver, Minnesota, New Orleans. Everyone pegged this as a rebuilding season after dealing Gobert and Mitchell. Is this team better than we thought, or are they simply playing at higher level than is sustainable for them. They have some solid pieces but I put a majority of their talent as top-end 6th man players–Clarkson, Sexton, Markkanen, THT, Beasley, Olynyk, and Conley at this point in his career all fit that mold imo. But they seem to be playing very well together. Will they be a playoff team or are they who we thought they were?

Ja and Tatum seem to be taking another step deeper into the upper echelon of of NBA talent, with imo, the ability to each be considered the top player in the league by years end if they maintain their level of play. At the same time, older and more established cats like Steph Giannis, Jokic, and KD don’t appear to be going anywhere either. (LeBron either, but they are not winning.)

Dame had a rough first game but has followed it with back-to-back 41 point performances. It would be a lot of fun to see him compete for an NBA scoring title and playoff birth again. The Blazers are also 3-0. Grant looks like a great pickup for them on both sides of the floor and look for Simons to hopefully take another step this year.

The top end of the rookie class has performed well. A shame Chet got hurt earlier this year but Mathurin, Banchero, Ivey and Murray have set themselves apart thru 3 games. However, all have losing records. Jabari Smith has been disappointing so far but again, 79 games left.

The Lakers are 0-3 and shooting remains a problem. Personally, I am not surprised, I did not have them as a top 8 team in the West going into this season, but they just have not been able to win games thus far. It’s tough to bet against LeBron, but even if they are healthy and assuming they don’t make any blockbuster trades I don’t see them making the playoffs.

Conversly, their rivals across the country look hungry to run back a Finals run. On top of Tatum trying to assert himself as the leagues best, he and Brown look to be putting themselves as the top duo in the league as well. They have looked dominant and healthy so far. Brogdon was an awesome pickup this offseason. Hopefully Robert Williams can make a quick recovery a return to the team healthy and ready to go well before the playoffs. It doesn’t appear the Udoka scandal have adversely impacted their performance, and Mazzulla looks like he’s doing what he needs to do. Interesting to see how he handles a closer game in the fourth quarter.

Those are my highlights of the early season. Thoughts and input are always welcome! Would love to see this sight buzzing again!

[NorrinRaddParticipant]

Some good takes there. I’d love to see the site buzz again too.

We already have a brawl in the NBA with Toronto and Miami…

I hope the Pelicans main stars are ok after last night’s silly injuries. I had the Lakers 9th in the preseason predictions game. Looks like the Pelicans will be in the Wemby sweepstakes if the Lakers don’t do something. But then maybe it’s better to wait it out a season and not waste assets for the Lakers. AD and LeBron look great. Not much after that. As a team the Laker are terrible this year.

Not surprised to see some gems from this rookie class. Ivey is catching on faster than I thought he would.

[HitsterParticipant]

Of the rookies I’ve been very impressed with “Eggs” Benedict and Banchero so far.

Dame back and playing as well as ever is good to see and I’d be happy to be proved wrong that they should have traded him and entered Wemby stakes.

Magic, Rockets and Thunder being 0-3 won’t bother them as they are still in rebuild. But the likes of Lakers, 76ers losing their opening three games isn’t good for them. Teams can start fast or slowly, we probably have to see about a dozen games before we get a better idea where everyone is.

Celtics look strong again and if they get everyone back fit will go very close. If Utah do better than we think then they can just push rebuild back and have all the picks due its just they miss out on the Wemby stakes.

[ZouldiersParticipant]

I knew Paolo #BancheROTY was going to be good right away but this good like 4 straight 20 point games good like man sheesh dude is miles ahead out of everyone else lol.

Heat sucking this early and a tough road trip ahead man they could be down in the standings early eww.

Shoutout to Jaylen Nowell for becoming that 6th man for the Wolves though. They needed his production lol.

[JDB12Participant]

As a Wolves fan I was happy letting Beasley go (hated the trade as a whole) because I though Nowell would be a cheaper version of what Beasley brought to the table and fortunately it has played out that way.

But you have Paolo miles ahead of everyone other rookie? Mathurin is averaging 22.3ppg, 5.8rpg, 2.0apg on 48/43/79 shooting splits and 23.43 PER. Paolo is at 22.8ppg, 7.5rpg, 3apg on 42/19/81 splits and 22.26 PER playing 5 more MPG than Ben. Mathurin imo has impressed far more than Paolo, but both have been sensational this early.

But I was surprised with the Heat and 76ers start, we’ll see how they play out the next few weeks but there’s a couple decent teams that could find themselves in a hole they didn’t see coming.

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