Biggest surprise so far?

[giberish]

I'd say Orlando, and maybe Houston.

Minny and OKC are well set up to win a lot of regular season games - especially compared to all the more marquee WC teams with older stars and thin rosters (NO would also be there if they could stay healthy and you could trust them). Both were already in or near the playoffs last year and likely better. I wouldn't put either as a title contender yet - they both need some playoff experience past the 1st round - but this could be the year one or both start getting that experience.

I had Orlando in the 7-11 group in the EC, so being near or slightly above .500 wouldn't be a shock but for now they're well above that.

[cgf]

Not sure how to vote. Thunder don't feel like much of a surprise after their ascent last year. But I'm not sure how to vote between Minny & Orlando. Both are doing better than I expected, but I expected the Magic & Pacers to be in the play-in mix this season, and the Wolves were already a playoff team; with a good showing against the eventual champs.

I think Orlando is surprising me more, but none of these are really shocks. I think I'm more surprised that the Hawks haven't been better under Snyder, or what a mess the Bucks D has been whenever I've watched them.

[BigGargamel]

Thunder and Timberwolves aren’t a surprise. I had them both taking huge jumps this year.

Orlando would win this poll. Their defense is legit and they have quite a few guys who can create their own offense. I don’t think they’ll end up a 50 win team but a winning record is a real possibility.

[Showdown]

Magic. I expected Houston to be dangerous because they had a lot of talented players plus signed good vets,Thunder did better than expected but they have a lot of talented players and it was time to translate into wins and team success,Wolves played really good against Denver in the PO so it was expected to play good but since West is really good no one could guarantee that they will be safe for going into PO. Magic are surprise to me because although they had some talented scorers and wings with good defense and wingspan they didn't look dangerous because each player had some kind of flaw or question mark when it comes to its skilset and they already had some talented teams in last few season but didn't made next step so they were seen same way as we see Hornets.

[JShuttlesworth]

I had the Thunder pencilled i to finish 4th in the West, so I'll say I'm most surprised by the TWolves and Magic

[shrink]

Almost everybody in general chat had the Wolves missing the playoffs after we made it twice in a row, and most recently with KAT missing 50 games.

True, but opinions on the Wolves were all over the board, both here and on the national media. Some predicted MIN wouldn’t be a top team, but could get home court advantage. Others thought that MIN wouldn’t even make the Play In tournament, in the tough West.

It’s early, and I think the Wolves remain a tough team to predict, so I don’t mind anyone’s predictions. I will say that it has felt a bit vindicating to see the general public start to question some Timberwolves myths that were often repeated.

[Yoshun]

I'd say Orlando. I knew they had a good defense, they're exceeding expectations though. They have a really good young core.

[Message Boar]

As a Magic fan, I went with the Timberwolves for me.

I guess being a fan I was higher on our upcoming season than outsiders, perhaps (they're still a positive surprise to me too, of course). Still a lot of season left, I'm sure we'll come back down to earth to some extent.

[MrBigShot]

Twolves being #1 is a surprise, as is chet being all star caliber right out of the gate. The magic at 12-5 is also pretty damn impressive.

[UcanUwill]

I understand that Orlando objectively is most surprising. Maybe Houston as well.

But to me personally, Minnesota and even Dallas are more surprising, I just thought those teams would be dysfunctional, I did have faith for those teams to have better record than maybe Houston or Orlando, but at the same time, I am very surprised that they are functional teams that overall, regarded with championship ceiling in a moment I write this comment. I thought they would be wreck, not bottomfeeders, but just no man land scrubs not fitting with each other.

I dont think OKC is surprising at all. We knew they were super talented, and it seems like its due.

[Up-And-Coming]

Houston I thought would still be a bottom 12-13 seed. I expected Orlando to make a leap considering their young core. I thought they’d be a playoff team in the East, however I didn’t predict they’d be number 1.

[Pachinko_]

No surprises. BBall reference has a page where you can look up standings at any point in time in previous years, and you can see every year early in the season there are various random teams on top and good teams in the bottom (because they don't care).
And then the playoffs come and order is restored.

[3ddman23]

The magic have been a surprise without question( as a magic fan). They are truly doing it with youth. They don't have notable veterans, they don't have an all star player( yet), it's just a bunch of young dudes and the corpse of ingles and g. Harris( although they have been solid). They are playing for each other and fully locked in. Hopefully they can keep it up.

[OxAndFox]

Almost everybody in general chat had the Wolves missing the playoffs after we made it twice in a row, and most recently with KAT missing 50 games.

Anyone who thought that is foolish. We just saw the Kings make a huge jump and we have seen Anthony Edwards getting better every year. I don't think they finish #1 in the West, but I just assumed most people expected Minnesota to be in the upper echelon of the Western Conference.

If the TWolves had McDaniels in the playoffs last season they would have at minimum made the WCF. They would have given the Nuggets fits too. If only someone stopped him from punching the damn wall. This season they're genuine championship material.

As to the poll. I went with other. Houston. Think they've done a great job this season so far. Gotta tip my hat to Brooks. Didn't want him anywhere near Sacramento, but damn we could use him.

[NEM]

Thunder aren't a huge surprise, but Chet's further along than most expected. Timberwolves looked like they were figuring it out last year, and seemingly had the right pieces.

Despite the Magic having a few decent pieces like Banchero and Wagner, I think they were expected to be a bottom feeder again. They're probably the biggest surprise.

Who expected to be bottom feeders? We were 29-28 after a 5-20 start last season because we had no healthy guards the first 20-25 games. Even that 29-28 is an aberration because the last 4 games we sat everyone because we had been eliminated, so really when we were healthy last year, we were 29-24, which is a 45 win pace. What Orlando is doing isn’t a surprise if you paid any attention at all to the number one pick last season.

Edit: and that was without Jonathan Isaac btw, who to the casual fan may seem arbitrary as he plays limited minutes by design, but his impact in those minutes cannot be understated.

[Deivork]

Pacers, Magic and Rockets have been a pleasant surprise.

[basketballRob]

The Magic are a big surprise to people that don't follow the Magic. They still think the Magic will end a play-in team at best.

I was listening to Ryan Russillo last week, and you can tell they were being forced to talk about the Magic. Then he made a comment that Gary Harris might help a playoff team.


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[Deivork]

Houston is a good call, they have come back to earth a little bit (still winless on the road) but overall a great improvement.

They are a great example of what getting a couple veterans can do for a young, directionless team. I'm not even a FVV fan but there is no doubt is a competent NBA point guard. Even if they had to overpay, it fits their timeline because their young guys are cheap for now. More young teams need to do this rather than just committing to the "all guys need to be the same age" approach.

Good point but it's "easy" to say with hindsight. Many of us were crapping on them for those moves but along with hiring Udoka it seems to be panning out. Not saying that you're wrong, (not sure if we can generalize though, every team is different) just that people are soo ready to crap on moves that others make.

[shrink]

Who expected to be bottom feeders? We were 29-28 after a 5-20 start last season because we had no healthy guards the first 20-25 games. Even that 29-28 is an aberration because the last 4 games we sat everyone because we had been eliminated, so really when we were healthy last year, we were 29-24, which is a 45 win pace. What Orlando is doing isn’t a surprise if you paid any attention at all to the number one pick last season.

If you take out the times when we got losses because of our excuses, look how we were over .500!

I blame you for not paying any attention!

[MarcusBrody]

I chose the Magic. I did not see them being as solid as they are this year, though I thought that they had potential to be good in the next few years.

I chose the Timberwolves as my "surprise" team and predicted them having a solid playoff run in the pre-season prediction thread, so they're out as I somewhat expected success (though not to be leading the West) and I think that a lot of people expected OKC to be pretty decent this year given that they were a playin team and just below .500 last year with a very young team and an emerging star. I think that Houston's decent play is a bigger surprise than either of those two for me.