With the Celtics starting out 3-0 local optimism continues to be very high. And while it’s just three games, I will say they have done the most important thing they needed to do to show they will be picking up where they were when last season ended: attacking the basket over firing lazy threes. So the season started out as hoped.
Now some thoughts on the opening of the NBA season.
Six Biggest Stories To Start The Year: (1) LeBron James will pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time NBA scoring leader sometime after the new year. (2)How long before it implodes in Brooklyn? (3) Zion is (finally) back and the Pels have him. (4)Drama, drama, drama in Laker-land.(5) When will the Draymond Green departure happen at Golden State? After the sucker punch heard round the Chase Center, the Warriors signaled the end is coming by investing big money in young guys Andrew Wiggins and punch-ee Jordan Poole instead of saving some for when the tiresome Draymond’s deal is up at the end of the year. (6) After giving away its future, will pairing bigs Rudy Gobert and KAT work in Minnesota?
For the record, if passed, Kareem will have held that record for 37 years after surpassing previous leader Wilt Chamberlain’s 31,413 in 1985-86.
NBA 101: Who has committed the most personal fouls in NBA history?
Risers: Following a terrific year as a surprise young team last year until big injuries took their toll, Cleveland can’t be called a dark horse. Especially after adding a 25-point-per-game scorer in Donovan Mitchell to their rising young core led by Darius Garland and soon to be star Evan Mobley in a big trade over the summer. But they’ll be a riser to be reckoned with.
Overrated: 76ers: The Big 3 of Joel Embiid, James Harden and the underrated Tyrese Maxey will do damage in the regular season, but unless more is added to the roster at the deadline I don’t see it in the playoffs for them. Having said that, give Harden credit as he looks like he’s lost the many extra pounds he was hauling around last year. Combine that with taking less to stay in Philly than going for every extra penny in free agency. It says he wants to be part of the solution. Now if he actually starts trying on defense he’ll earn a tip of the cap from skeptics. Which as regular readers know includes me.
L.A. Lakers Saga: What they do depends on two things: (1) The health of ever fragile Anthony Davis. (2) Last year’s disaster wasn’t all his fault, though he did get blamed for all of it. But until Russell Westbrook gets a clue that he is not (and never has been) an actual point guard things won’t get better for him or likely the team either. It’s LBJ’s ball, so learn to incorporate what you do well into playing off the ball over dominating it.
Dark Horses: The East — Toronto. Ever whiny Nick (Good Night) Nurse gets a lot out of his players and basketball chief Masai Ujiri is good at finding unheralded talent. The West — New Orleans. Solid Big 3 and Brandon Ingram is better than almost everyone knows. All they need is luck in the health department.
Sorry, Scal, Jayson Tatum is not quite in the Top 5 players in the league just yet. And while it’s subject to change based on performance, here’s my Top 5 in top-to-bottom order: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. I didn’t want to put Jokic here until his team does something. But consecutive MVPs said to do it. Tatum, Luka Doncic and Ja Morant will be the next three to crash the party as Ja really came into his own last year as a dynamic force. Going for 49 on opening night backs that up
NBA 101 Answer: Since he played 20 years in the NBA, it makes sense Kareem has the most fouls ever with 4,657. By contrast, Wilt, who never fouled out of even one game, incredibly is not even in the Top 250 players of fouls committed. This is even more incredible given that he almost never came out of the game. Overall he had just 2,075. His rival Bill Russell committed 2,593, which ranks 181st. LeBron is 210th with 2,531, and second all-time is Karl Malone with 4,578.
What a way to start a career for Jalen Williams. The 12th overall pick out of Santa Clara’s NBA debut for Oklahoma City lasted all of six minutes before he took one in the head leading to surgery on his orbital bone around his right eye that’ll have him out for the foreseeable future.
Former UMass-Lowell coach and current TNT announcer Stan Van Gundy is not the only (semi) local playing a role in the NBA this year. There’s the guy we called “Little” Stevie Clifford because he looked about 14 when he was a fledgling assistant on Bob Brown’s and Keith Dickson’s staff at Saint Anselm in the ’80s, who’s back in Charlotte as HC again there. And on the bench for the bad guys when Boston played Miami Friday night was one-time Plymouth State hoopster Dan Craig.
Incidentally, if Tatum wants to be the best player in the league he can get there if he learns to channel his emotions and frustrations into mental toughness to play (and lead) through adversity. Step 1: Stop being a crybaby when you don’t agree with calls and just play.
OK, one more, I love Bill Russell as much as anyone and like the idea of the year-long tribute. But the song by the rapper in the Riddler getup (see Batman’s adversaries) on opening night was overkill. A great player and dignified man, but come on, he wasn’t Gandhi.
Email Dave Long at [email protected].