Top Five Most Surprising Things In The NBA This Season
In the off-season, new additions and other things raise expectations from NBA fans, but just like every season, we are disappointed by a number of things.
The Houston Rockets Are A Bad Defensive Team
It’s clear that the Rockets are one of the best offensive teams in the league. However, it takes more than offense to win a championship, which the Rockets seem to be lacking in that certain area.
With the addition of Russell Westbrook in the off-season, it became a definite possibility that the Rockets could be serious championship contenders. As it has been clear that the Rockets do not have any strong defensive players, it was expected they would make some adjustments — they haven’t.
Two seasons ago, the Rockets were ranked 7th in defensive rating, and this year, they are ranked 21st, a team that definitely needs help defensively.
Dwight Howard Has Become Impressive Again
The Los Angeles Lakers decided to take a chance on former Defensive Player of the Year in Howard. Howard has struggled with injuries the past few years in the NBA, but he’s showing no signs of an injury now.
Howard is in his second stint with the Lakers, as the first season was an unsuccessful travesty as the three star players, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, and Howard himself all became severely injured.
This season, Howard has been open to playing whatever role the team needs, and has been stepping in for his teammates when they need him. Currently, Howard is averaging 7.6 points per game, and 7.7 rebounds per game on an impressive 76 percent from the field.
The Phoenix Suns Are A Decent Team
The Suns haven’t been a successful team since Steve Nash, but this year, they may have figured out what they needed in order to win.
The Suns are 7-4, and sitting in fifth place in the western conference, two games behind the first seed. The Suns are now equipped with some lethal three-point shooters in Devin Booker, Dario Saric, and Aron Baynes.
As the team’s leader, Booker is averaging 25.5 points per game, and 6 assists per game. Booker has the “clutch factor,” which helps him be there for his team when they need him most. In this season, it has certainly been successful.
The Toronto Raptors Don’t Need Kawhi Leonard
Most people thought Leonard was the only reason that the Raptors won last year’s championship. However, it takes more than one man to win a championship.
This season, the Raptors are proving how good they are without Leonard, and that although he was the key to their championship, he wasn’t the only one on the team. The Raptors are 8-3 right now, tied with the second and third seed in the eastern conference.
Pascal Siakam has been the key to the Raptors’ success this year. Head coach Nick Nurse has said that Siakam has the green light to shoot whenever he wants. Siakam has taken advantage of that as he is averaging 27.2 points per game, 9.2 rebounds per game, and 3.8 assists per game.
The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Not That Bad
Without Kyrie Irving or LeBron James, the Cavs have not been successful in any shape, form, or fashion. However, this year appears to be different.
One impressive statistic about this team is that Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson are both averaging double-doubles to start this season. There’s only one other duo in the NBA accomplish such a task, and those two would be LeBron James, and Anthony Davis.
The Cavs are 4-7 to start the season, sitting in the 11th spot in the eastern conference so they could certainly use improvement, but until then, they could potentially be a fun team to watch.
Thanks for reading! Tristan is a Writer for Playmaker HQ who covers all sports. You can follow him on Instagram @TristanMeltonHQ. Stay tuned for future articles.