Throughout the season, when there is not a major overarching storyline to discuss or a game I find interesting, I want to present my thoughts about each week. This can include trends, observations, and pre-hot take thoughts that may arise in my mind. I also want to give out awards when I see fit. For example, I want to give out my award for Best Photo of the Week or my personal Player of the Week. I think this is all pretty self explanatory but I guess I just wanted to make these types of posts more like casual blog posts rather than long columns or articles like I usually post in my season previews. A note first: whenever I refer to stats it will follow points, rebounds, and then assists with other stats being clarified if included. With all of that out of the way, let's jump into my thoughts!
1. There is a ton of scoring so far this season. It is not unusual to see teams score a lot to start the year because many defensive schemes are not perfected yet and chemistry has not been established yet among new teammates. This seems a little unusual though. So far this year 15 teams have allowed on average more than 110 points per game. To give context this is actually about the same as last year. The main difference is that the Lakers' giving up 131 points per game is far and away the highest amount in these two years. Last year in comparison as well, only 10 teams averaged more than 110 through the first week of the year. I do not think these numbers say much and I think that they will go down. My only recommendation is that if you bet on NBA games, bet the over for the next week and then hammer the under once Vegas adjusts the lines in response to this scoring.
2. There are not as many fouls as there were in the preseason! We were all worried about that, but like usual, calls that were overemphasized in preseason are no longer being called as frequently to start the year.
3. Is Josh Hart the Lakers' best player (excluding LeBron)? So far this year, Josh Hart is averaging 17 points a game with 47% shooting from 3 and an effective field goal percentage of 64%. Maybe the Summer League play was not a fluke and he will be an MVP candidate??? Nah, just a guy to keep an eye on for 6th Man or Most Improved.
4. Speaking of the Lakers, they look uncomfortable on offense. The Veterans of the Lakers all look comfortable running with LeBron and seem to play off him well. The younger Lakers' core look like they are still figuring out how to play with a guy like LeBron.
5. The Thunder are...bad? They are one of the two winless teams in the NBA (Lakers are the other) and gave up 131 points to the Kings which leads me to another question...
a. The Kings are good?? They almost beat the Jazz and they beat the Thunder in OKC...maybe they have what it takes to compete? Maybe this is just the early time of year when anyone can win a game before the good teams find their stride.
6. Is Nikola Jokic an MVP candidate? He's averaging 26, 10, and 7 with 50% shooting from 3. He also took down the defending champs on Sunday. He has a case for sure so far.
7. Trae Young has no problem getting his shot off. He looked like Oklahoma Trae Young against the Cavaliers (yes I understand it is the Cavs) but there were genuine concerns that he would not be fast enough to shoot over NBA defenders. This proved to not be a problem.
8. Klay Thompson has forgotten how to shoot 3s??? he's shooting 13.6% from 3 on 5.5 attempts per game. His struggles have clearly impacted the Warriors' offense as it has not gotten off to the start they wanted to.
9. Deandre Ayton is too good at scoring in the post for someone so young. The first bucket of his career was an and-one drop step over Luka Doncic. He immediately recognized the mismatch, protected the ball, and scored. That was just one example of his post scoring. His mid range jumper looks good and hes averaging 14 and 10 to start the year. He looks like an NBA veteran already.
10. My personal Conference Players of the Week.
Out west I have to give it to Nikola Jokic. So I agree with the NBA's award on this one.
In the East, if Kemba Walker was not averaging 33 a game then I'd give it to Kyle Lowry who I think has been better overall this year. Lowry has impressed my defensively and is averaging over 20 a game. So that's a long winded way of say Kemba Walker is my Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
11. Finally: the Photo of the Week. This was the easiest award to give out:
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