Around The NBA: Week 3

AROUND THE NBA:

The “tanking” Jazz are now sitting atop the West with a 9-3 record. They’re playing tremendous team basketball being led by a Bulls legend, Lauri Markkanen (is it me or do all Bulls players take off after leaving?). The team is in the top ten in both offensive & defensive rating against good competition—Coach Will Hardy is really rallying this team. Danny Ainge must be in shambles, owning a supposedly tanking team that’s absolutely taking off. Fun stuff, man.

The Milwaukee Bucks are just doing their thing, man. Not many are talking about them—me included. They started off scorching hot going undefeated their first nine games, experiencing their first loss of the season last night to the Young-less Hawks. Remember, they’re doing all of this without Khris Middleton—absurd stuff. Giannis is playing at an MVP level but somehow took another leap as a defender, with an absurd defensive rating of 97.0. The Bucks have three players on the MVP ladder with Giannis leading the way followed by Holiday & Lopez. With Middleton on the way, the Bucks will only get scarier.

I know I talked about the Cavaliers last week, but they deserve to be continuously talked about. Now that Garland is back, we were able to look at what the Cavs look like at full health & boy, do they look mean. Mitchell is still playing great basketball along with Garland, who hasn’t lost a beat. Bickerstaff is coaching this team exceptionally well leading them to an overall first net rating with defensive rating being second & offensive rating being fourth—who would’ve thought? Also, shoutout Kevin Love for having the highest plus-minus this season at +108.

I want to take a short moment to talk about the Indiana Pacers as well. The Kings are definitely regretting their decision to trade a franchise point guard like Tyrese Haliburton—the kid is hooping. If Myles Turner can stay healthy, they’ll be a fun team to watch, especially with the emergence of Benedict Mathurin off the bench.

The Warriors might be in trouble. Steph is playing unworldly, but the team just doesn’t look right. I mean the guy is shooting at ridiculous numbers with a 68.5 true shooting percentage—just unfair. He’s leading the team in the major three categories, but the Warriors can’t figure it out with a net rating of negative 3.2, 22nd in the league.

Luka Magic, baby. He’s leading the Mavericks once again this season with no game under 30 points yet. He’s playing a whole different game than pretty much everyone averaging 36/8/8 on 52% shooting. He’s the isolation king averaging 1.05 points per possession on isolations—simply ruthless. Turn on the TV & watch this guy cook.

Everyone knew the Memphis Grizzlies would be good but man, are they good. Honestly statsiticis wise, they’re sort of middle in the pack, but they benefit from having arguably the most electrifying playing in Ja Morant. They shoot the three really well & have great depth—all without another young star in Jaren Jackson Jr. Morant practically owns the paint as he leads the league in points per game on drives yet again.

I always say I won’t talk about the Lakers but it’s always right there. They’re not playing well but got to give Russ a shoutout for absolutely hooping off the bench. I’m sure it’s not something he wants to do but he’s rolling with it & is looking good.

Jamal Murray is returning to his old self & it’ll be scary for the league. Murray is averaging 19 points on nearly 48% shooting the past four games, really helping out Jokic. MPJ is slowly picking up where he left off, let’s just hope he can stay healthy. Jokic is Jokic—not much else to say to be very honest.

Paolo Banchero. I’ve talked about him in the past two posts & he simply deserves another one. He’s looking so comfortable out there averaging 23.5 points per game to go along with 8 rebounds on 46% shooting—incredible stuff for a rookie. Only Kevin Durant has more 20-point games this season than him as well. The Magic found their guy & I really hope they can build around him.