NBA 2015 First Impressions:
I haven’t watched too many games yet but here are my NBA
2015 first impressions thus far…
1. The Knicks don’t suck as badly as they did last
year. I might actually watch them play a
game this year. It’d be nice if they weren’t
blacked out from my league pass. How
badly do I want to watch a game though?
Badly enough to go to a bar? Perhaps
not. We shall see…
2. The Lakers are bad.
Kobe is not good. Byron Scott is
clueless. The team is not turning it
around any time soon and I think they’re over-valuing the potential of their
young players.
3. Miami is not going to be as good as their starting lineup
makes them seem they should be on paper.
I just don’t believe in this team.
In the east they should win a bunch of games but I feel like the Dragic
trade was over-sold. He’s a nice player
but he really had one fluky season in which he played slightly better than he
was. His stats were always over-inflated
due to Phoenix’s style. Wade is getting
a bit old. He’s still good but he’s not
carrying a team and he’s definitely going to be injured at some point. Deng is close to cooked. Thibadeux played him way too many minutes and
the Chicago medical staff screwed him way too hard. Who really knows what Whiteside really is? As a team they don’t really have any overall
plan or cohesiveness yet. There’s still
plenty of time and in the east everyone has a chance to break through, but with
Miami I just don’t quite believe…
4. Golden State is still the best team in the league…
5. I am definitely not buying Houston stock. They’ve got some talent but I don’t really
like most of it. Harden is an over-rated
chucker. When he’s on he’s great. When he shoots 4 for 15 he sucks. They’re going to need a lot of vintage Howard
and we just may be past the point he can stay healthy for a full year. And even healthy he’s not what he once
was. Houston’s depth is nice but a lot
of it is unproven and consequently ill defined.
Having too many guys who think they should be on the court with a
significant role can be both good and bad.
If I’m any of the other contenders (OKC, San Antonio, The Clippers,
Golden State) Houston just doesn’t scare me…
6. I don’t know how many wins it’s going to translate into
this year but Orlando and Minnesota are finally interesting. They’re both playing hard and have actual
talent with real potential. The former
point is the key though. I’ve been
impressed with Rubio so far. He finally
seems like his jumper might be serviceable.
He’s shooting with confidence which is half the battle, and all he needs
to be able to do is hit just enough jumpers to keep teams honest. Learning how to finish in the paint would be
nice but running and coordinating an attack is a skill not many point guards
have these day. Towns looks really good
to me and I love Garnett in the role of mentor.
Garnett’s energy is precisely what Minnesota needs. Their talent is rife with real potential but
none of those dudes is demonstrably intense.
Watching Garnett pushing Wiggins mentally is fascinating. He’s constantly encouraging both Towns and
Wiggins to be aggressive. They both seem
low key so I think it’s a really nice balance.
Minnesota might not be good enough to make the playoffs yet but they’re
going to be a tough out night in and night out.
The future looks real bright in Minnesota from where I’m standing…
7. Let’s put Detroit in the above category of extremely
interesting. Getting traded was easily
the best thing that’s happened in Marcus Morris’ career. He’s getting minutes and actually looks
good. Drummond is freaking huge and
athletic. I might have to change my
opinion of Reggie Jackson a bit. He’s a
total chucker but he’s not terrible.
Really the lesson here is that coaching makes a big difference. Getting players to play hard and have a plan
of some sort isn’t easy and it changes everything…
8. Chicago may have the most talent of any team in the East
but something is off to me. Maybe
there’s too much redundancy. I’m worried
that Hoiberg is just an ok coach. This
team needs someone who can force dudes to fall in line. Like Houston they have a large number of real
NBA players but that also means they have too many guys who expect to be on the
court and who think they should have the ball.
I like Derek Rose a lot but he’s at a bit of a crossroads
career-wise. He’s almost got the talent
to take over like he used to but he’s lost just enough that he absolutely has
to change his style of play. He can’t be
taking hero ball buzzer chucks like he did tonight against Detroit. Right now the team is too dependent on Aaron
Brooks actually having a significant role.
This is problematic. He’s a semi
capable scorer but doesn’t really get anyone else involved. Is Hoiberg the guy to harness all the crazy
diverse talent on this team? I’m not
sure. Right now they seem like a bunch
of good individuals rather than a team….
9. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are awesome. But the Thunder seem too dependent on the
both of them being great every night.
Ibaka is hit and miss. It worries
me that they don’t have a real 5 players to put on the court at any one
time. They’ve got a lot of question
marks but I suppose if you’ve got two of the best few players in the league
most nights it won’t matter. And in the
playoffs two overwhelming talents like that will scare anyone…
10. Is it possible that Toronto is going to be better than I
thought they were? I’ve been surprised
by how well they’ve played so far. I’m a
little skeptical because if Lowry goes down with an injury they’re in a lot of
trouble. He rarely plays an injury free
season.
Demare Carroll is a good basketball player…
11. The Nets are joining Philly as the two teams that even a
junky like me cannot be bothered to watch for the most part. I’m vaguely interested in Okafor, which might
mean that the Nets are now the least interesting team in the NBA. Amazing!
Makes me glad they’re blacked out from my league pass. I also think I’m boycotting Prokerov. He seems quirky interesting but he also seems
like a buffoon. The video of him at the
Nets’ practice is absurd. That dude is
also way too tight with Putin. Their
future is even more grim than their present and hangs over everything they do
like a dark cloud. They sold everything
for a title shot that never even got off the ground floor…
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