Is there a new change of forces in NBA?
As I see sports, one ideal condition of a league is to be balanced, meaning that every team is almost at the same level as the others. Of course, some organizations which are well-led take better decisions than the others so they are greater but as a summary, that’s how I see an ideal sports competition. Fortunately, NBA is a league of surprises so on any given night the result of a game can be totally different than expected. At the same time, the past 4 or 5 years were dominated by Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and then by teams such as Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics or Oklahoma City Thunder.
With the exception of Cleveland Cavaliers, which was left without LeBron James, all the other teams were expected to be forces in this season too. But now, 20 games into the regular season, the situation is different. The Western Conference is led by the Los Angeles Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Memphis Grizzlies, all having 12 wins and 6 losses. This is really surprising because the Clippers and the Grizzlies don’t have any superstar. In fact, the best player of the Doc Rivers’ team is Lou Williams, who comes off the bench. But the roster is very well built, with players such as Patrick Beverley, Tobias Harris, Marcin Gortat, Danilo Gallinari or Avery Bradley. In the case of the Memphis Grizzlies, the leader of the team is Marc Gasol, who averages 17.6 ppg, 9.8 rpg, and 3.9 apg. The roster trained by J.B. Bickerstaff is a combination of veterans such as Omri Casspi and Mike Conley and of young players such as Jaren Jackson Jr. or Jevon Carter.
Another two teams that weren’t expected to play so good are the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. The first organization is the second-most successful franchise in the history of the NBA, but in the last 8 years, they didn’t have so much success. Now, with the addition of LeBron James, they are on a good road and have won 9 out of the last 11 games. Therefore, with a record of 11-7, the Lakers stand on the 7th position in the West. The next team in the standings is Sacramento Kings, which has 10 wins and 8 losses. This comes as a big surprise because the team from California is situated better than Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz, which were all in the playoffs last season. The best players of Sacramento Kings are De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Willie Cauley-Stein, all players under 26 years.
In the Eastern Conference, one of the biggest surprises is the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that has a record of 13-5. The best player on this club is Giannis Antetokounmpo, who averages 26.8 ppg, 12.7 rpg, and 5.6 apg. Another organization that I didn’t expect to go so well is Detroit Pistons. With athletes such as Blake Griffin or Andre Drummond, the persons who lead this team managed to hire Dwayne Casey as the coach. The results were seen immediately, as the Detroit Pistons started this season with 9 wins and 7 losses, standing on the 5th position in the Eastern Conference.
It is interesting to see if these 6 teams can manage to continue this good form and keep their spot in the playoffs. If this would happen, then it is very probable that we will assist in the near future to a change of forces in the Nord-American Basketball League.
David Istrate, info@brainbasketball.net
