The 5 Most Surprising Things We've Seen in the NBA This Season

Oct 29, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; View of Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard (39) as he awaits action during the third quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

If you weren’t paying attention, the Rockets were a pretty good defensive team two seasons ago, finishing 7th in defensive rating. Last season they regressed to finish 17th. This year, the Rockets have been a defensive disaster, currently ranking 21st in defensive rating as of Tuesday and showing little signs of giving a damn about playing the kind of meaningful defense that carries a team deep in the playoffs. To give you an idea of how bad it’s been so far, the Knicks—the truly putrid and going nowhere forever Knicks—actually own a better defensive rating than Houston.

The Rockets view themselves as NBA title contenders, but legit title contenders always find themselves amongst the league’s best when it comes to net rating. And guess where the Rockets currently stand in net rating? Middle of the pack. Which is a drastic improvement of where the team stood a week ago so, yeah, the whole small sample size argument is ringing in our eyes. 

If you don’t know what net rating it is, it’s a simple math equation where you take a team’s average points scored per 100 possessions and subtract the average points allowed per 100 possessions. The top five teams in the net rating this season are the Celtics, Bucks, Lakers, Suns, and Raptors—four of of the five you would consider legit contenders before the season started. The Rockets, on the other hand, currently own a net rating of 2.0, good enough for 13th. It’s an improvement where they were two weeks ago, but it ain't good. We all know Mike D’Antoni isn’t a defensive genius. He, to put it succinctly, values other aspects of the game. But maybe saying goodbye to assistant coach Jeff Bedzelik, who basically served as the Rockets defensive coordinator the past few seasons, wasn’t such a good idea after all.

The Rockets, of course, have a ton of time to improve since it’s incredibly early. And the numbers are better than what they were seven days ago. But the team isn't passing the defensive eye test right now and the early returns don’t paint the picture of the Rockets being serious championship threat come the spring. The crazy thing is GM Daryl Morey said in a radio interview last week that the Rockets have the ability to be a top 10 defense. Ability is one thing. Commitment is another and there are times the Rockets barely show it.  

The Lakers were laughed at when they signed Dwight Howard for practically nothing so he could be a backup big. But the jokes on all of us who ridiculed Howard and Los Angeles because Dwight’s been pretty good so far, canning the clown act and putting up better than expected numbers through the Lakers first 10 games.

Howard and the Lakers, who had some defensive questions that needed to be answered entering the season, have been among the league’s better defensive squads so far. Surprising a good amount of people, including yours truly, who thought LA would have issues defending at times. Los Angeles is the second best team in the league when it comes to defensive rating (Utah’s first) and Howard owns the second best defensive box plus/minus in the league, trailing only Jonathan Isaac of the Magic. He’s also 15th in the league in defensive win shares, which is pretty damn respectable for a guy who currently serves as a backup. Offensively, it's been up and down. But he's not there to score. When Howard finishes with a double-double it's a bonus for the Lakers. 

At age 33 and a ton of surgeries later, Howard’s never going to be what he was during his days in Orlando or Houston, but the future Hall of Famer (he’s going to make it, don’t laugh) can still have a big impact with his rebounding and shot blocking capabilities. The smart money would’ve been on Howard acting like a fool and getting the boot out of Los Angeles (they didn’t even fully guarantee his contract) for a second time after his first stint in purple and gold was a spectacular disaster. The Lakers are easily one of the best teams in the league at 8-2 and have the potential to be ferocious if Howard’s teammates keep that same energy. Looks like Dwight has finally grown up.

As of right now, yeah. The Suns are good. Shockingly.

If you took Phoenix’s season total over 28.5 wins in Vegas, I would’ve called you nuts. Because what have the Suns shown us recently, including some less than stellar draft selections over the last handful of years, that would make you believe the turnaround had finally arrived? But under new coach Monty Williams, the Suns appear to have their shit together and are busting up teams who aren’t taking them seriously. 

They aren't just beating up on the worst of the NBA either, as they almost pulled out a win vs. LeBron and the Lakers before Kyle Kuzma saved the day. But make no mistake, this team doesn't seem like a fluke or a flash in the pan. They're among the league leaders in both FG% and assists, a prime indicator that this success will continue. 

Phoenix used to be the NBA’s doormat but at 6-4, the Suns are anything but scrubs. Not having Deandre Ayton for 25 games will hurt for sure after he got nabbed for taking a banned substance, but Phoenix is playing balanced basketball and not just relying on Devin Booker to score 40 in order to win games against the likes of the Sixers, Nets, and Clippers with narrow losses to the Jazz, Nuggets, and Lakers. Phoenix currently sits at fourth in net rating. Predictably a superior offensive team, the Suns are third in offensive rating. Who knows if they can keep this up because dysfunction has been the standing operating procedure in Phoenix under owner Robert Sarver?

So definitely praise Williams for the job he’s done coaching this group. Ricky Rubio has been a nice addition, dishing out a ton of dimes. Booker is scoring as usual, Aron Baynes is providing defense and hitting 47 percent of his 3-pointers, and Kelly Oubre Jr. looks like he’s taking his game up a notch. What we do know is the Suns look like they’re capable of playing competitive, competent basketball for the first time in what feels like forever and no longer are they a guaranteed win on the schedule for the rest of the league.

The defending NBA champs are currently 7-3 and playing without four of their best players from last year’s title team. Looking at the roster right now, Toronto shouldn’t be this good. Yet analytically speaking, they’re one of the top teams in the league. Yeah, it’s a small sample size, but put some respect on the Raptors’ name as an Eastern Conference contender.

Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green currently play basketball in Los Angeles, albeit on different teams, while Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry are missing in action for the Raptors with injuries. Toronto barely resembles the Raptors we saw this past June, but entering action Monday night they were a top five team in net rating, effective field goal percentage, and are top eight in offensive and defensive rating. Led by Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, Toronto plays as hard as anyone in the league, pesters teams defensively, and nearly pulled off the ultra impressive sweep of the Lakers and Clippers on consecutive nights.

“Back-to-backs are tough and this is one of the toughest ones you can play,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said Monday.

They fell short of beating arguably the NBA’s two best teams on consecutive nights, but the Raptors deserve credit for overcoming an 11-point deficit to the Lakers to win Sunday and holding Leonard in check offensively Monday. Chris Boucher and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson have stepped up in the absence of others and maybe it’s time to start thinking about how the Raptors will be a massive pain in the ass to play when their point guard is healthy and one of their best bigs off the bench is available again.   

“I think we’re showing that those guys that aren’t playing can maybe help us,” VanVleet said. “We know that we’re a tough bunch. We’re going to fight hard, our defense is really good, we know that we’ve got to fix some things on offense.”

VanVleet was being modest after the Clippers loss. While Los Angeles deserved credit for getting the win, Toronto was a few foul calls and rimmed out layups and threes away from the most impressive two wins of the season. 

Before the season, most experts projected the Cavs to be one of the worst teams in the NBA. Even myself, a Cavs fan, didn't think they'd be any good. Hell, I didn't even think they'd be that fun to watch. Man, was I wrong. How about this stat: Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson are averaging a double-double to start the season. The only duo on the same team putting up those numbers to start the season? Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

Thompson is playing like a legit All-Star while the young backcourt of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton are growing up every game. It's still not perfect for either player, but they're showing real flashes every single night. The Cavs are suddenly a young, scrappy bunch who never seem to be out of a game. That's really all you can ask for out of a young team. I'm not sure they're actually good and probably won't win more than 30 games, but coach John Beilein is laying the foundation for success in Cleveland. — ZF