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NBA Overreactions from Week 1: Bucks and Nuggets are Cooked; Victor Wembanyama has real DPOY competition

Posted on by Pranco
NBA Overreactions from Week 1: Bucks and Nuggets are Cooked; Victor Wembanyama has real DPOY competition

The NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s dangerous to draw too many conclusions after the first week.

It’s also a lot of fun to jump, which is why we throw caution to the wind and declare that we can already separate the contenders from the pretenders.

Two teams have already separated from the pack and appear fairly unstoppable. We can even guess who will have the best defense, the best bench and which rookie will be the stealer of the draft.

Here’s what we learned about the competition after the first set of matches.

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NBA Week 1 Overreactions

Nobody catches the Celtics

You know you’re untouchable when people start claiming that the way you play is unfair.

That’s what happened next the Celtics tied the record for 3s in a game during their season-opening win against the Knicks, prompting whining that their three-point strategy is both too boring and too dominant.

The Celtics broke the record for the most efficient offense of all time last year. They look even better this year, and they I don’t even have Kristaps Porzingis yet. That’s a big help for the rest of the league.

Jayson Tatum reworked his shot during the offseasonand he is now completely unstoppable when that pull-up 3 falls. He is shooting 48.4 percent just on that shot after that reach 27.4 percent during the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Tatum is continually overlooked in the MVP discussion, but he’s going to win the award and the Celtics will go to another ring if he can stay above 40 percent on that shot.

MORE: Jayson Tatum’s improved shooting form could make him the NBA’s MVP

The Nuggets are deep fried

The offseason loss of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and the disappearance of Jamal Murray may have torpedoed the Nuggets’ chances this season. Their spacing looked absolutely terrible.

“We’re not a good shooting team, except for Mike and Jamal,” Nikola Jokic said after the Nuggets managed just 87 points in their opener. “We’re all a bit of pork belly, not pork belly, just average shooters.”

Jokic tried to fix these issues himself, going 7-for-12 from deep and dropping 41 points in the team’s second game. They still lost, leaving the Nuggets at 0-2 and at the bottom of the West.

The bank in Denver was a disaster. Russell Westbrook has battled his way to a 2-of-18 start, including 1-of-9 from 3. His best contribution as a Nugget has been stealing Lu Dort’s shoe while playing. His first shot as a Jokic teammate missed the rim by more than five feet.

Dario Saric was unplayable as a backup big. Teams attacked him relentlessly on defense, and he was a complete blank on offense.

Jokic will be Jokic, but Denver won’t win the title this year.

POSITIONAL RANKINGS: PG | S.G | SF | P.F | c

The Thunder will have the best defense in the league

Victor Wembanyama was the overwhelming preseason favorite for Defensive Player of the Year. Chet Holmgren is the second-year player who may have a better chance of winning the award. Wemby is still stuck with poor defensive teammates, while Holmgren is surrounded by the elite of the elite on the perimeter.

The Thunder are going to be a deflection machine this year. Alex Caruso Last season led the league in that category and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished third. They all handled the ball so much in the first game of the season that the scorers had no idea who to attribute the steal to. Caruso somehow finished with zero in his debut despite being a wrecking ball on that end of the floor.

Caruso only had to play 19 minutes in that first game due to the Thunder’s dominance. It’s unfair to have him on the roster when Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and breakout candidate Aaron Wiggins are also handcuffing opponents with the ball.

The Thunder may have six of the top 20 perimeter defenders in the league and a top three rim protector behind them. They’re going to overlap the field when it comes to getting stops.

Ranking of the NBA’s best defensemen: 100-11 | 10-1

Buddy Hield wins Sixth Man of the Year from the best bench in the NBA

I have a good feeling about it my predictions about prices so far (Just make sure you skip the Rookie of the Year part). I slipped Hield into the Klay Thompson role and exploded as a bench scorer for Sixth Man honors. He has done just that to start the year.

Hield is averaging 19.0 points while playing just 20.8 minutes per game. He’s shooting 52.0 percent from 3 on 8.3 attempts and seems like the perfect fit for this movement-heavy Warriors system.

Hield’s biggest hurdle may be Steve Kerr’s erratic decisions. Hield was the first player to report from the bench, but hasn’t played much due to the Warriors’ depth. Where most coaches go with a 10-man rotation, Kerr stated that he will play against twelve guys because “this is the deepest team I have ever coached.”

Hield is going to get even more looks Curry is nursing a sprained ankle he suffered in the team’s third game.

MORE: Expert NBA award predictions for the 2024-2025 season

The Bucks are old, slow and fading fast

The Bucks defeated a skeletal Sixers team in their first game of the year and then lost by double digits to bad teams in the Bulls and Nets. They miss Khris Middletonbut they looked completely confused on both sides of the ball. They couldn’t keep up with the Bulls and their execution against the Nets looked like it came from a team trying to tank.

The Bucks shouldn’t be that bad with Giannis Antetokounmpo still playing like a top five player in the league, but their coaching stinks, their depth stinks even worse and they don’t have the trade assets or financial flexibility to make improvements.

Milwaukee didn’t get here overnight – it’s been a series of small missteps by Jon Horst dating back to trading Donte DiVincenzo for a clearly washed-out Serge Ibaka. The Bucks are miles behind the Celtics and look much worse than the Cavs and Knicks.

MORE: Find out how Lakers plan to develop Bronny James in the G League

Yves Missi is the stem of the design

The Pelicans received a lot of criticism for entering the year without a great center prospect. Daniel Theis started the first game and the plan was to play 6-7 winger Herb Jones at center.

However, New Orleans had an ace up its sleeve.

No. 21 pick Yves Missi would be too raw to contribute much. In a simplified role similar to what Dereck Lively II gave the Mavs last year, Missi instead looked incredible. His job is to block shots and finish lobs, and his A+ athleticism allows him to do that.

Missi also has some subtler skills that make him a fun player. He’s a good screener – the Pelicans scored 24 points off his screens in their opener against the Bulls, as noted by Pelicans writer Shamit Dua. No other player has made more points through their screens in their team’s opener.

It’s only a matter of time before Missi supplants Theis as the starter for the Pelicans. This was a difficult concept lesson to evaluate, and it seems like everyone missed a lot of time with Missi.