Early Season Surprises
The Chicago Bulls are winless! This is crazy, because the entire core returns with one more year of experience. You would expect a team fielding such great, young talent to get rolling after playing together for a couple of years. What is equally shocking is the fact that a Scott Skiles team is giving up over 96ppg thus far. I guess the trade rumors and the contract situation for Deng and Gordon are taking a serious toll on the team.
New Jersey cannot score! Through their first four games, the team is only averaging 90 ppg, yet they are 3 - 1. What is not surprising? Vince Carter’s terrible start. Too many jumpers. Told you so.
Indiana is winning! At the time I was putting this list together, the Pacers were undefeated. Well, the lost last night, but they are still playing very good basketball. If Danny Granger continues to go for 22 points per night, you can just go ahead and pencil him in for Most Improved.
Washington’s entire ugliness! Their point differential has been dreadful, and the concerns about Agent Zero’s knee are legitimate. I would be very concerned about my picks if this were not the first week of the season.
Morris Almond really did go to classes at Rice! Check out his blog, and you will understand what I am getting at. It is well written and sharp. I would really like the guy if he were not a member of the Utah Jazz.
The Los Angeles Clippers! Not just their undefeated start, which has been amazing, but the way they are doing it. Cat Mobley is coming off the bench and averaging 23.3 points per game. Quentin Ross is not even playing, and he used t be their defensive guru. Chris Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Kaman is averaging over 16 rebounds per game. I know it is early, and they cannot keep this up, can they?
New Orleans record and point differential! They are 4 - 1 and Peja has actually been healthy enough to play through five games. What is equally as shocking is the fact that their point differential through their first four games was 13.3 points. They were not just winning, they were blowing the doors off their competition.
Milwaukee’s Defense! I will never understand how a team with Michael Redd, Chairman Yi, Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villenueva will lead the league in points allowed per game. Redd is a pure shooter and I love him, but his defense is not exactly awe-inspiring.
NBA.com has a really cool fantasy game out there that is free to everyone. If you are into money/finance/the stock market/etc. as well as the NBA, this game is perfect for you. It is called NBA Stock Exchange, and I have created a league. If you would like to join, click here.
Create a team, and then register for the NBA Hoops Blog League:
League Name: NBA Hoops.Blog.com
League ID: 134076
League Password: nba
Who knows, if we can get enough people in this thing, there might even be a prize.
I will be back tomorrow with Week 2 of the 2nd Half NFL picks. We are off to a good start after going 9-5 last week.
