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It took an unusual amount of ink, focus, caffeine and pre-game nap to stay on top of all the drama of the NBA. this season.
Without a daily diary, it would be easy to forget that the Oklahoma City Thunder did not win its first game for 12 days, or that Blake Griffin scored 50 points against Philadelphia, or that Luke Walton's run with the Lakers Los Angeles seemed one day to be in his last days.
Barely a fraction of the way this season, a team of New York Times writers and sports friends are ready to think.
Here are their takeaway at the beginning of the season:
The Celtics were supposed to be better than that
The Boston Celtics may have four leading players in next year's draft: the Kings (first protégé), the Grizzlies (1-8 protected) and the Clippers (1-14 protected), in addition to theirs. We are almost a quarter of the way through the season. Who would have thought that the Celtics would be on the verge of being among the top picks by the end of the season?
I am hyperbolic. But we have passed the stage "it is too early" to evaluate the team and the results are disappointing. Boston lost at home against a terrible Knicks team. Before that, there was a four-run fourth-quarter lead against a tired Charlotte Hornets team. It's simply confusing. One of their victories required an unlikely late return to another planet against an objectively bad Phoenix team. And it's not as if the Celtics were the only team to have incorporated players into new roles.
Brad Stevens offense moves the ball well (in the top half of the league in percentage of attendance) and easily generates open looks. It is not a lethargy either: the players seem to like playing between them and for Stevens. And besides, how is it that we have one of the best defenses of the league without playing hard?
But appearances are simply not on the downside, any more than shooting around the paint, in the rare cases where players are actually trying to go to the edge. The offensive aims to highlight the talent of the alignment in shooting. Everyone has a semblance of rider. In the N.B.A. today, it should theoretically be a deadly offense. At first, it was easy to say that bricks were a bug, not a feature. Now, you have to wonder if there is not more going on here. Boston draws less than 35% of goals to 3 points, which is well below the league average.
When open looks did not fall, Boston did not find an alternative. The Celtics are near the bottom of the league and are at the edge of every game. You can get by if the offense hits his jumpers, which is not the case. And when the ball hits the paint, in the restricted area, the Celtics shoot 61%, also below the mediocre.
And then there is Gordon Hayward, who clearly needs time. I was expecting his explosive on the ledge to need time, not his 3-point shot, which is 28% stuck. Lesson: Do not rely on all the off-season training videos you see on the players filming.
So, these are the worrying signs. The positive points? The talent is there. And it is with Kyrie Irving who plays one of the best bullets of his career. After a slow start, he fires nearly 50% of the peloton and is in the top 10 in plus-minus. Jayson Tatum withdraws from his collapse, pulling 45% of the ground in November, against 40% in October. It must be believed that Jaylen Brown is better than the 40% he's pulling off the pitch.
Boston has won major victories against other powers of the Eastern Conference: Toronto, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. I'm still betting on Boston to go to N.B.A. final because Stevens is an expert in adjustments and, frankly, in this league, talented players in their first win. But if mediocrity continues, I have to wonder if Danny Ainge will eventually regret not acting more aggressively to exchange Brown for Kawhi Leonard.
And the biggest plus point: look at all these selection projects next year, if things do not work!
California returns to the wild and wild West
The California contingent of NB went crazy. The two-time defending Golden State Warriors are dealing with – dare I say it? – some malfunction. The Los Angeles Lakers and their team of unsuitable toys suddenly find themselves behind the one and only LeBron James. The Los Angeles Clippers, who were unlikely to even compete for a playoff spot, are emerging as one of the most dangerous teams in the Western Conference. And the kings of Sacramento – well, at least kings are still kings, apparently ravaged by the drama of the front office.
Here in California, where I have moved for the season, high is low, left is right and not much makes sense, starting with the Warriors, which I I visited in late October. At the time, their season was going well, which was not surprising. I wrote about they had a lot of fun, months after a championship season that apparently got its share of waved backstage. But they had a good time again and understood: Draymond Green stated that he had set a goal of no longer complaining to the referees.
My article has not aged well. A little nicer and kinder, Green burst in front of Kevin Durant's face earlier this month, and the fallout was something to behold. The warriors have lost a lot of games. Stephen Curry was sidelined with an injury. And questions remain about Durant's future with the team, with the looming free agency this summer.
I think it's fair to say that no one could have predicted this kind of drama unfolding in Oakland. And although I would be shocked to see the Warriors continue to struggle – an impressive talent tends to offset a multitude of sins – the past two weeks have illustrated the fragile nature of a team's chemistry, even when this team is an established superpower.
Speaking of superpowers, James does it again: turn a strange group of inexperienced players and recovery projects into something that looks like a competitor, or at least a competitive team. Not long ago, Rajon Rondo tried to counter Chris Paul of Houston Rockets, and Magic Johnson, the team's president, shouted to coach Luke Walton, raising concerns about job security. from Walton. But the Lakers now have a good cohesion compared to the Warriors, and who saw that coming?
James, of course, deserves a lot of credit. At the age of 34 and in his 16th season, he plays among the best basketball players of his career.
The Clippers have also been exciting to watch. They have fierce defenders and players who know their roles, and they are go about their business in their own way: without a resident superstar, prove that there may well be more than one way to win in the N.B.A. modern.
Retain the hype (that is, do not trust the process yet)
This might not work for the Philadelphia 76ers. Jimmy Butler could take off after the season. It could further erode the trust of Markelle Fultz. He might not be good enough to be the second best player of a championship team.
But good for the 76ers who finally pushed their chips in the middle of the table and who succeeded.
This is not an anti-process speech, or at least not quite. This is a plea for a more realistic understanding of the typical development path and the fact that few young players actually become stars. Each team has finally a young player that the fans would surf, who is sure to be a star and that the team refuses to negotiate.
For fans of Golden State Warriors like me, this player was Anthony Randolph, who had promised to be a hybrid of Lamar Odom and Kevin Garnett. In six N.B.A. seasons, Randolph started with just 43 games and 7.1 points on average. For Mavericks fans, this player was Rodrigue Beaubois. Declared "untouchable" by Mark Cuban, he lasted four seasons in the league.
Fultz, Lonzo Ball and Jayson Tatum – the top three picks in last year's draft – are all struggling. The same goes for Donovan Mitchell, rookie of the year. At the same time, De'Aaron Fox and Zach Collins are impressive after the rookie season.
All this to say that young players are difficult to evaluate and that the vast majority of them do not become stars. In 2013, there is Giannis Antetokounmpo and perhaps Victor Oladipo. As of 2014, there is Joel Embiid. Since 2015, there are not yet, unless you want to bet the farm on Karl-Anthony Towns or Kristaps Porzingis.
If Philadelphia ignites in the playoffs, Butler goes away and Dario Saric turns into a star, the 76ers will look silly. But the biggest sin is the ability to acquire a star in the hope that your young player becomes one.
Christmas arrived early this year
Cynics will tell you that there is little reason to follow N.B.A. regular season. Not before Christmas, anyway.
As N.B.A. addicted, I love when cynics are forced to stuff it.
We are about quarterback of the 82 games and the Golden State Warriors were on a very deadly pace with 52 wins at the outset of Friday. As many people feared, they did not escape and there was a corresponding flood of surprises in the league.
We may have already seen the biggest blockbuster of the season we are going to have with the November 12 move from Jimmy Butler of Minnesota to Philadelphia. We unfortunately saw Carmelo Anthony's relay when a Houston Rocket went out faster than expected. And we witnessed an offensive eruption that quickly generated five games at 50 points – and a goalkeeper at 60-point guard Charlotte Kemba Walker – after only 10 games of 50 points last season.
Meanwhile, the big geek in me can not stop checking the rankings every day – even at this early stage – because of the unplanned chaos of both conferences.
In the East of the Renaissance: Toronto, Milwaukee and Philadelphia play better than Boston, which means the Celtics will not have that supposed free pass for the N.B.A. finals. The unexpected battle for a top-four ranking – get into the conversation with the undisputed Indiana Pacers – has silenced the idea that this conference should cease to exist after LeBron James moves to Hollywood.
In the West, meanwhile, Portland, Memphis and the Los Angeles Clippers are overjoyed, offsetting the mediocre debut of the more established types of Houston, Utah and San Antonio.
The rules have not changed; only eight teams in each conference can access the playoffs. But take a look at the West-West scale and you will only see a team of 15 – Phoenix – that can be considered uncompetitive.
How many wins will it take to get a playoff spot in the West? Are we still sure that the LeBron Lakers will be one of those eight teams? The biggest threat to Golden State's bid for the sixth of three N.B.A. the story – apart from the warriors themselves – does it lie in the west or east?
We may be able to give clearer predictions on how to answer these thorny questions when we reach the midpoint of the regular season in January.
Again, given the frenetic scenario we have seen so far throughout the legislature, that may not be the case.
A new rule gives sneakerheads their due
When the N.B.A. changed rule before the season by allowing players to wear the color shoes of their choice, tennis players rejoice. Six weeks after the start of the season, that's what the color change brought: at the opening of the season, the Houston Rockets striker PJ Tucker, the "Sneaker Champ" in title (there is such a thing), wearing three different pairs. One of them was a black and purple Nike Kobe 1, signed by Kobe Bryant.
A kaleidoscope of yellow ocher, cinnamon-roasted cinnamon (part of the Kyrie Irving cereal pack) and green Grinch took center stage. In the middle of this explosion of colors, there were floral motifs from a Chinese line, a pair inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog and a shoe with a caricature version of Rosa Parks on his heel – as if we needed more of evidence that the NBA is a lot more fun than his stodgy pro counterparts.
Spencer Dinwiddie, the net keeper, will likely wear a different line of sneakers every game. For the Nets game against the 76ers on Sunday, he will debut with his Creed shoe, a nod to the roots of Rocky and the release of the film "Creed II".
Dinwiddie has unveiled a media shoe, a sport shoe that is close to our hearts, in the first game of the Nets against the Knicks. She thanked the news agencies for their hard work. (Really!) It included the ESPN, NBA TV, Bleacher Report, New York Post and New York Times logos.
Against Detroit, he wore the shoes paying tribute to Rosa Park. After the creator of Marvel Comics Stan Lee is dead, Dinwiddie called an audible and helped design a tribute shoe. Its brand, K8IROS, has honored other sports and entertainment legends, with sneakers inspired by Colin Kaepernick, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Allen Iverson and Jesse Owens, which have been auctioned off for charity.
Signature shoes have long been a benchmark for success in the league, but Dinwiddie thinks about what he's doing – with N.B.A. loose. rules – can lead to even more fun on the field. "It would be crazy to see everyone trying and expressing themselves in the way they want to express themselves," he said.
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