The first week of the 2014-15 NBA season has now come and gone, and there have been a few surprises early on so far this season. Players are adjusting to new teams, new coaches are trying to implement new schemes, and rookies are finding out what it’s like to play with professional basketball players. In today’s social media driven world, everyone wants to overreact to each game and overanalyze what has happened, even after each team has only played a handful of games. It’s real easy to get caught up in what has happened at the beginning of the season, even if the first few games have no bearing on what happens in the coming months. We all fall victim to taking too much from small sample sizes. With that said, here are five way too premature takeaways from the first week of this NBA season that will likely be radically different come March, or even Christmas time.
NBA First Week Takeaways
1) Kobe and the Lakers are the worst team in the West
This one might actually stay true throughout the entire season with the way the Lakers have looked through five games. They Lakers are on pace to be one of the worst defensive teams in NBA history. They brought in Byron Scott to get the team to play defence, after being atrocious on that side of the ball under Mike D’Antoni, but they haven’t shown any signs of improvement. Their best defensive player, Ed Davis, hasn’t been starting, and they haven’t gotten good defensive effort from their guards nor their big men. A team that doesn’t have the talent to compete with most teams around the league has to start defending better to have any chance of winning games.
On the other side of the ball, the Lakers don’t have many options to score besides Kobe Bryant, who has been throwing up shots at a historic rate in his team’s first five games. It’s hard to blame Kobe, who is surrounded by players who struggle to get their own shots. There are no go to options for the Lakers apart from Bryant, and this is where some coaching an schemes might help to generate some offence. Jordan Hill has been a bright spot and always provides energy as well as Ed Davis, but until Nick Young comes back from injury, it will be tough for the Lakers to score the ball efficiently.
All in all, this Lakers team just doesn’t have the players to compete every night in the NBA right now on either side of the ball, and it has shown in the first week. They have a tough upcoming schedule, and it is looking like the Lakers may be in the basement of the West come the end of November. At least it will be fun to watch Kobe shoot 30 times a game..
2) The Houston Rockets Look Like Title Contenders
Last year the Houston Rockets finished fourth in the Western conference and were upset in the first round of the playoffs by Portland. This off-season they let Chandler Parsons walk as a restricted free-agent to Dallas and missed out on Chris Bosh in free agency. Many, including myself, thought that those misses during the off-season might leave Houston in the middle of the pack in the West, still behind San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and the LA Clippers. Early this season however, the Rockets have looked like they don’t need Parsons or Bosh to be a threat to the top teams in the West. They are currently third on offensive efficiency, fifth in defensive efficiency, and second in the NBA in point differential.
It was generally assumed that the Rockets were going to be in the playoffs in the West, but there was always questions about their defence apart from Dwight Howard and Patrick Beverly due to the pace and style of play they play with. If Houston can stay in the top third in defensive efficiency, this is a team that can score with the best in the NBA. James Harden is once again an all-star calibre player and he is getting to the line over twelve times a game to help his 27 points per game average and his efficiency while only shooting 39% from the field early on. Trevor Ariza turned out to be a fine pick-up after Parsons left for Dallas, averaging 17 points early on and shooting an unsustainable 60% from beyond the arc. With the expected drop-off of the Thunder due to the injuries of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, this could be Houston’s chance to secure a top 3 seed or higher in the West and maybe make some noise come playoff time. A lot will depend on how well they can defend throughout the season and if they can stay near the top as a team defensively.
3) Klay Thompson Living Up to his Contract
During the off-season, a lot of noise was made about whether or not the Warriors should trade Klay Thompson to Minnesota for Kevin Love. The Dubs opted not to trade their starting shooting guard, and this past week gave him a new max contract extension. The Warriors showed a lot of faith in Thompson in hoping that him and star point guard Steph Curry can be the best backcourt in the NBA in passing up an opportunity to grab one of the league’s top ten players in Love. So far this season though, Thompson is earning his new contract.
Thompson is averaging 29 points per game and leading the league early on, with the new look Warriors heading into Wednesday’s match-up with the Clippers. I was one of the people who thought the Warriors should have pulled the trigger on a Love deal, but Thompson is playing like he deserves a chance to show he can get it done with this group in Golden State. Obviously I don’t expect this torrid start to continue over 82 games, but if Thompson can be productive throughout the season and be a top level shooting guard, the Warriors may not regret keeping him instead of Love as much as many people thought they would.
4) Can the Thunder Survive Their Injury Woes?
One of the biggest storylines of the pre-season was whether or not the OKC Thunder could survive the loss of Kevin Durant for the early portion of the season. After the first week of the regular season the question changed to whether or not the Thunder will be able to make the playoffs at all in a loaded Western conference after Russell Westbrook suffered a broken hand opening night. The Thunder will be relying on Serge Ibaka, who is a great defensive player, but not someone who can lead a team at this stage of his career, and players like Reggie Jackson and Perry Jones to lead them while their star players are out. Coach Scott Brooks has a difficult time orchestrating any efficient offence when his two stars are healthy, so it will be interesting to see how OKC functions offensively without two of the best isolation players and scorers in the NBA. How big a hole will be too big for OKC before it’s top players return?
The Thunder have to worry about not falling too far behind early in the season with playoff outsiders like Phoenix and New Orleans looking to nab their spot in the tournament. Whether OKC can stay afloat will be one of the more intriguing storylines to follow for the first two months of the season. Low playoff seeds rarely win titles in the NBA, but they would be a nightmare to face in the playoffs in any round if healthy. I wouldn’t count out Westbrook and Durant just yet, but they will have a difficult road ahead of them if they want to win a title this season.
5) Does Anyone Want to Win the Rookie of the Year Award?
This year’s draft class was supposed to be one of the best in some time, with big name players like Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, and Joel Embiid being the tops picks taken. With Embiid injured, many of the draft’s lottery choices have struggled in the first few games of their careers. I wasn’t expecting all-star level play from everyone, but many of the rookies are having a difficult time adjusting to the professional ranks. Parker leads all rookies with 10.5 points per game, but is struggling from the floor. Nerlens Noel has shown some bright spots, but has been inconsistent. Of the nine Rookies averaging over 20 minutes, five are shooting less than 40%, with Parker the only one in double figures scoring the ball. I expect this class of rookies to get adjusted throughout the season and there will likely be some quality players, but in the first few games of the season, no rookie has stood out above the rest. The ROY race will be an interesting one to follow as these young players develop their games at the highest level.
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