Wrapping up the 2nd week of the NBA season so far, there have been a lot of big surprises to start the season. Let’s get into the biggest surprises so far this season…
3. Raptors Starting Off on a Rocky Start (1-5)
Although no one was expecting the Raptors to be Finals contenders this season, they were still expected to be a competitive playoff team in the Eastern conference. With 2 weeks into the season, they look opposite of that. Even though they’ve lost to teams that are really good like the 76ers or Celtics, losses to the Pelicans & Spurs are sort of troubling. Not saying that the Pelicans or Spurs are bad teams, you’d just expect the Raptors to take care of business like last season.
Looking at the statistics, they are ranked 5th worst in scoring per game (106 PPG) as a team and are the 6th worst team in 3 point percentage at a 33.5% clip. Being ranked top 5 and top 6 worst in offensive categories that are extremely important will not be helpful whatsoever.
Although, I think the Raptors will eventually figure things out… It’s still discouraging a little bit at the beginning of the season.
2. Jaylen Brown Breaking Out?
This might be bold, but I always considered Jaylen Brown the best player on the Celtics. Jaylen Brown has all the tools to be a superstar SG in the league. He has explosiveness, shooting, defensive capabilities, and the right mentality to be a superstar SG in this league. I always felt like he was underutilized and sometimes that consistent player the Celtics can always depend on no matter what.
Jaylen Brown has been showing out so far in 8 games averaging 26.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 3.1 APG on 58.1% from the field and 42.9% from three point land. Those are incredibly efficient numbers and if he can keep this up, he could potentially be an All-NBA player this season.
1. Suns look dangerous… Already
The Phoenix Suns are carrying on their impressive play from the bubble into the new regular season. They are currently 5-2 and tied for the 1st seed in the Western Conference. It’s not like they’re beating trash teams and racking up a good record in the first two weeks, they’re winning against good teams. They’ve beat teams like the Mavericks, Jazz, and the Nuggets in the regular season so far.
I’m not going to sit here and say they’re going to be Finals contenders, but they are definitely looking on track to be a top 4 seed in the Western Conference if they keep up this play. They potentially could make some noise in the playoffs with their insane depth.
I’d definitely keep an eye out for the Phoenix Suns if I was a team contending in the Western Conference.
