The Raptors own the NBA’s best record and it’s not because of Kawhi
For the last 5 years, the Raptors have hovered around the top of the Eastern Conference but every year their season ended the same way. Finally, GM Masai Ujiri decided to make a change, firing head coach Dwane Casey and completing a blockbuster trade that moved Demar Derozan for Spurs star Kawhi Leonard. While most thought that Kawhi would lead any change that Toronto would see this year, that hasn’t been completely true. Rookie head coach Nick Nurse has changed the culture in Toronto in ways that Casey never did. The Raptors are finally playing an up-tempo offense instead of the iso heavy sets that doomed them in the playoffs each year. The change is evident in the play of Kyle Lowry who’s played a Steve Nash-esque role in the early season averaging 18 points and 11 assists and running the Toronto offense to perfection. Along with Lowry’s new role, Nurse’s offense has garnered strong contributions from Danny Green and Serge Ibaka, two players coming off of down years, as well as Pascal Siakam, a 3rd year power forward who has developed into the Raptor’s version of Draymond Green. Of course Kawhi has still been great but his play shouldn’t overshadow the contributions of the whole team. The Raptors even went into LA last week and blew out the Lakers without him as they came out of the gates hot with a 40-17 first quarter. It’s early but Nurse seems to have unlocked Toronto’s potential as the best team in the East.
Embiid for MVP and DPOY
Joel Embiid seems to have taken the leap from a young budding star into a top 5 player in the NBA. Through 13 games, Embiid is putting up 28.8 points and 12.8 rebounds, while looking incredibly comfortable doing so. These numbers alone would be impressive but he’s also improved on his already stellar defense. Embiid should warrant some discussion for DPOY as he’s displayed the ability to switch onto perimeter players as well as defend around the rim, where he’s averaging 2.4 blocks a game. Embiid looks much improved after another healthy offseason where he’s been able to acclimate to the fast paced action of the NBA. Let’s not forget that he’s only been playing basketball for nine years, ever since he was just a boy in Cameroon. Not even a decade later, he’s carrying an NBA team on both ends of the court.
The only deterrent to his MVP odds might be the Sixers record. At 8-5, the team has dropped some close games mostly due to a lack of a reliable secondary scorer to complement Embiid. Ben Simmons isn’t that player but the recently acquired Jimmy Butler is. Don’t be surprised to see Embiid’s name alongside those of MVP candidates Steph Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo later in the season.
Houston has problems
The Rockets have come out of the gates this season and fallen flat on their faces. Currently, they sit at 12th in the Western Conference with a disappointing record of 4-7. This may seem unexpected after the terrific season they had last year but there were a ton of signs pointing to this decline. First off, Harden got his MVP award, the carrot on the end of the stick that had pushed him to carry his team these last few years by putting up incredible numbers. So far this year he looks lethargic on offense (and defense but that’s to be expected at this point), something that has bled over to the rest of the team. So much of the offense is dependent on Harden or Chris Paul scoring in isolation that when they fail to break their man down, things like this happen.
Harden isn’t their only problem though. This offseason the Rockets re-signed Chris Paul, a 33 year old injury prone point guard, to a 4-year $160 million dollar contract. So, yes, when Paul is 38, the Rockets will still be paying him $40 million dollars. To go along with this, GM Daryl Morey also signed Michael Carter Williams, who shot an abysmal 33% from the field last year, and Carmelo Anthony, which would have been huge six years ago. Morey also let starting forward Trevor Ariza walk in the offseason as he signed with the Phoenix Suns, the worst team in the West.
All this isn’t to say that the Rockets will continue to play this badly. Harden did miss some games with a hamstring strain and Chris Paul, in typical Chris Paul fashion, managed to get himself suspended in the second game of the season because he poked another man in the eye. There have also been some rumors that Paul has been dealing with an elbow injury that might explain his rough play so far. Eventually, the Rockets will right the ship and find their way back somewhere near the top of the West but they don’t appear to be the same team that challenged the Warriors last year. The Rockets had their shot last year and they missed it. Then they missed 26 more in a row.
The Nuggets deserve some respect
Denver has fallen short of reaching the playoffs by a single game both of the last two years, but have looked like a much improved squad over this opening month of the season. The core of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Gary Harris has lead the Nuggets to a 9-3 record with highlight wins over Golden State and Boston. In those games, Denver showed their resolve as they withstood comeback attempts from some of the league’s best players, which is incredibly impressive for a young team. Just compare them to the 76ers, another young team who many people view as one of the best teams in the league even though they constantly blow big games.
The Nuggets have also just been incredibly fun to watch. Jokic has continued to lead the team as the NBA’s only true point center. He put up 16 assists in a blowout win against Utah, which is something no other big man in the league could do. Murray has also improved drastically this year and even hung 48 points on a salty Kyrie Irving and the Celtics, who hold one of the league’s best defenses. Unfortunately, Denver is a small market team who doesn’t draw as much attention as other big cities but look for that to change if they continue this pace and make some noise in the playoffs this year.
The Kings are good?
Yes, after all these years the Kings look like a legitimately promising team. At 7-6, they’ve put up wins against OKC and Minnesota, both at full strength, and sit higher in the standings than Houston, New Orleans, Utah, and the Lakers. The credit for this sudden improvement should be awarded to their two young stars, De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield. Fox has improved tremendously in his second year as he’s boosted his scoring from 11.6 to 18.5 in the early going as well as a nine point increase in his three point percentage. He’s emerged as the team’s floor general and best player, which isn’t too common for a 21 year old. He also became the youngest player besides Lebron to put up a 35 point triple double, which he did in a blowout win against Atlanta. Hield has also impressed as he’s lived up to his nickname, “Buddy Buckets.” Hield is averaging just short of 20 points and has displayed an ability to score in a hurry, like he did last night against Minnesota when he put up 11 in the 4th quarter of a big Sacramento comeback. This improvement for Hield comes just two years after he was seen as a throw in for the Demarcus Cousins trade between Sacramento and New Orleans.
This Kings team might fly under the radar a bit this season which would be disappointing but understandable. Sacramento has been a struggling organization for so long that fans might not believe that they can keep this up, but this team has shown flashes early on. The Kings have been competitive in nearly every game this year and even took Toronto down to the wire. It’ll be hard for them to maintain their current pace but Sacramento’s young stars are showing that they could be a real problem sometime soon.