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Early NBA Season Thoughts – Eastern Conference
- The Milwaukee Bucks early season has not looked good. Last night’s blowout loss to the Memphis Grizzlies was just the latest in a series of bad games. It’s early in the season but the Bucks have now lost four straight including losses to the Nets and Bulls. In fact their best game in this stretch was against the Celtics where they hung in for almost three quarters. Hiring Doc Rivers in the middle of last season does not seem like the answer as he has a losing record since becoming their coach. In the Bucks defense Khris Middleton has been injured often. It’s really difficult to figure out if this is the new normal or just a bad stretch. If it continues the Bucks have some major personnel decisions to make.
- Another early season surprise is the start the Cleveland Cavaliers have had. Going into tonight’s game against a depleted Orlando Magic, Paolo Banchero is out, the Cavs are 5-0. The Cavs are responding to Kenny Atkinson’s coaching as well the new found compatibility of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.
- One of the best scorers in the NBA and least known is Cam Thomas of the Brooklyn Nets. Thomas is only in his fourth season with the Nets. Last year playing just over thirty-one minutes a game he averaged over twenty-two points per game. This year in five games he’s averaging over twenty-seven points per game. If you aren’t aware he is the youngest player in NBA History to score forty points in three straight games. To be fair there are concerns about his defense and passing abilities however it looks like Thomas will cash in as he is a restricted free agent this summer.
- Don’t look now but the Chicago Bulls are 2-2 in the early season. More importantly one of the guys fueling their start is Zach LaVine. LaVine is the guy nobody wanted as the Bulls have spent much of the last year trying to trade him. LaVine is averaging twenty-six points a game and shooting forty-six percent from three.
Early NBA Season Thoughts – Western Conference
- In the era of load management please take a look at what Nikola Jokic did this week. On Monday against the Toronto Raptors he played forty-three minutes in the Denver Nuggets overtime win. Then on Tuesday, he played forty minutes in Denver’s overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets. So much for load management.
- The Utah Jazz and Danny Ainge are in an interesting early season situation. Ainge, the architect of the Celtics 2008 title and the guy that drafted Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, will be in his position as CEO of Basketball Operations for three years in December. They have begun the season losing their first five games. During his time as the CEO Ainge has amassed numerous draft picks in trading Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. The problem is the Jazz have made little improvement. Can anyone figure out what they are trying to do.
- Watching the Sacramento Kings is like eating a stew without salt, something is missing. I know De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis are really good players however they seem like a team good enough to beat the bad teams but not good enough to beat the good teams. If they had a theme song it would be, “Stuck In The Middle With You”.
