Biggest surprise so far?

Profound23 · Post #61 » by **Profound23** » Sun Dec 3, 2023 1:26 am

DCasey91 wrote:
Profound23 wrote:Minnesota was in the playoffs last year and has a good roster.
OKC just needed Chet to progress and stay healthy.

I don't think either of those teams are considered surprises. Orlando definitely is. Most people had Paolo as a bust and Miami was not supposed to even sniff the playoffs.

Who had Paolo a bust? And you said most??

Anyway it’s the Rockets no way I would have considered them to be .500 right now

Rockets are a great call, will be interesting to see if they can continue this success or evolve.

Big J · Post #62 » by **Big J** » Sun Dec 3, 2023 2:12 am

OKC. I'm surprised they aren't tanking again for the millionth time.

shrink · Post #63 » by **shrink** » Sun Dec 3, 2023 4:15 am

I voted Orlando, but the teams MIN has beat are surprising. Here are the top 6 teams in Net Rating this year.

9.5 BOS
8.5 OKC
7.0 PHI
6.5 MIN
5.8 NYK
5.2 DEN

MIN has played each of these teams, and is 5-0.

I thought MIN could do well this year, but 5-0 is still a big surprise.

JRoy · Post #64 » by **JRoy** » Sun Dec 3, 2023 4:17 am

I didn’t expect ORL to be so good. I really don’t they’re guards.

Well done ORL.

shrink · Post #65 » by **shrink** » Sun Dec 3, 2023 4:20 am

My post made me curious. ORL has had the second easiest schedule in the NBA so far. Only the Suns has been easier.

PeteyPablo · Post #66 » by **PeteyPablo** » Sun Dec 3, 2023 8:54 pm

The league is about 25% through the season this weekend.

We all have our teams we root for and from a distance a team or teams we watch secondary for fun.

What story lines or record do you find either a surprise, a disappointment or just entertaining ?

My 2 cents that no on asked for :

Surprises:

Wolves - they are off to a great start. They have talent at all positions from young to older. Will they drop off as the league starts to game plan for them ? Why are they winning? I have not watched a game yet.

Okc - no surprise but more of a realization of youth and talent coming together.

Clippers - there was talk all summer about a Harden trade and then it was dead and then 3 weeks into the season it happened. Now they are figuring out how to incorporate the system along with PG and Terminator.

basketballRob · Post #67 » by **basketballRob** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 12:00 am

shrink wrote:My post made me curious. ORL has had the second easiest schedule in the NBA so far. Only the Suns has been easier.

Where's the link to find that info? It doesn't say here that the Magic have had the second easiest.

The Magic have had the 9th easiest and 4 b2b so far.

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Pointgod · Post #68 » by **Pointgod** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 12:54 am

I had the Wolves top 4 in the West, had Houston fighting for the play-in, called the Grizzlies struggling and thought Orlando would be good but not this good. Orlando has one of the best defenses in the league and is a top 3 seed in the East. Kudos to Jamal Mosley and the team for playing their asses off while missing Fultz and WCJ for most of the season. About time Orlando fans had something to cheer for.

nbafan38 · Post #69 » by **nbafan38** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 12:57 am

Magic. I expected them to get better but not this much better this fast.

hyper316 · Post #70 » by **hyper316** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 3:54 am

baldur wrote:It's houston.

They are 8-9, being around .500 is a massive surprise?

baldur · Post #71 » by **baldur** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 4:16 am

hyper316 wrote:
baldur wrote:It's houston.

They are 8-9, being around .500 is a massive surprise?

Did you check the date of my post and houston's then record?

madskillz8 · Post #72 » by **madskillz8** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 4:34 am

baldur wrote:
hyper316 wrote:
baldur wrote:It's houston.

They are 8-9, being around .500 is a massive surprise?

Did you check the date of my post and houston's then record?

Who cares whether they're 9-8 and 8-9 at that point? They're not making playoffs this year. Yet they consistently put a competitive product on the court up to date- it is like night and day compared to last year.

That's something no one expected at the beginning of the season. And they already blew out Kings (twice) and Lakers with 20+. It is a a massive surprise IMHO, after hearing how awful FVV is from Raptors fans all off-season. Not even mentioning the crap Dillon Brooks (deservedly) got after that Lakers series.

Post #73 » by **THE J0KER** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 4:58 am

I'm one of the 4% who voted for OKC!

Orlando's W-L record is (by far) the biggest surprise of course, but the eye test says it is not for real and they will be down from 70% to 55% (still a very positive achievement, their best in the past 10 seasons).

Minnesota has 4 players who played at least once at an all-star game in the past 3 seasons where only Conley is not in his prime anymore, so you can't call this team the most positive surprise this season just because they are the most negative surprise the previous season.

SGA is not a star anymore but a superstar, and Holmgren against all odds has been playing like a TOP-10 NBA center already since his very first month. OKC is for real for the next 5+ seasons, which is not a big surprise in general after the picks and talents they collected via trades, but I expected a true breakthrough sometime after 2025 not already this season.

Honorable mention: Rockets and Nets. It is very unexpected for me to see them around 50% this season.

Scalabrine · Post #74 » by **Scalabrine** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 6:09 am

nbafan38 wrote:Magic. I expected them to get better but not this much better this fast.

They have a 7-0 record against Hornets, Wizards, Bulls, Blazers, Jazz - All teams most people thought they were better than.
They have a a 3-3 record against Houston, Raptors, Nets, Hawks, Pacers - All teams that many people had them in the same tier as.
They have a 4-3 records against the teams that everyone thought was better than them with wins over Nuggets (without Murray) Bucks (without Dame), Celtics (without Holiday), plus Lakers with losses to the Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks.

They have been really hurt, and they have a bunch of signs pointing towards them being legit... I love the story. BUT lets temper some expectations a little bit still. They have done most of their damage against the bottom 6 teams in the league. Doing their job and winning the games they are supposed to win is a big step, and they have a few other impressive wins in there, but I don't think anyone should be writing them in in pen for anything.

Scalabrine · Post #75 » by **Scalabrine** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 6:11 am

I think its the Thunder or Wolves. I figured best case scenario was gonna be Top 6 for both of them. They have looked like legit contenders. Winning with defense. Star power on both ends. Not only is it more surprising, but it's also much harder to make that jump then it is to do what the Magic have done. I still think the Magic are a play-in team.

BlackThought · Post #76 » by **BlackThought** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 6:42 am

It's Orlando for me. Offense can be streaky but that defense is real.

basketballRob · Post #77 » by **basketballRob** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 1:07 pm

Scalabrine wrote:I think its the Thunder or Wolves. I figured best case scenario was gonna be Top 6 for both of them. They have looked like legit contenders. Winning with defense. Star power on both ends. Not only is it more surprising, but it's also much harder to make that jump then it is to do what the Magic have done. I still think the Magic are a play-in team.

The Magic have had way tougher b2bs than both OKC and Minnesota. The Magic have had 4 against Denver, Nets, Clippers, and Bulls. OKC has had 2 against Detroit and Portland. Minnesota only had one. Boston only 2.

The Knicks have had 5 tough b2bs. So they are probably better than what their record is.

The Magic have also logged a lot of travel miles already with a West Coast trip and going to Mexico.

I'm curious to see how the other teams hold up with the b2bs even out. After Xmas OKC has 4 b2bs in a 3-week period. That's the kind of schedule the Magic just played.

Jadoogar · Post #78 » by **Jadoogar** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 2:51 pm

baldur wrote:
hyper316 wrote:
baldur wrote:It's houston.

They are 8-9, being around .500 is a massive surprise?

Did you check the date of my post and houston's then record?

even still, they were one of the worst teams in the league last year. Their over under was 31.5. If they finish the season around 0.500, it will be a massive surprise.

nbafan38 · Post #79 » by **nbafan38** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 5:59 pm

Scalabrine wrote:
nbafan38 wrote:Magic. I expected them to get better but not this much better this fast.

They have a 7-0 record against Hornets, Wizards, Bulls, Blazers, Jazz - All teams most people thought they were better than.
They have a a 3-3 record against Houston, Raptors, Nets, Hawks, Pacers - All teams that many people had them in the same tier as.
They have a 4-3 records against the teams that everyone thought was better than them with wins over Nuggets (without Murray) Bucks (without Dame), Celtics (without Holiday), plus Lakers with losses to the Lakers, Clippers, Mavericks.

They have been really hurt, and they have a bunch of signs pointing towards them being legit... I love the story. BUT lets temper some expectations a little bit still. They have done most of their damage against the bottom 6 teams in the league. Doing their job and winning the games they are supposed to win is a big step, and they have a few other impressive wins in there, but I don't think anyone should be writing them in in pen for anything.

They may or may not keep up this pace in fact I'd lean they won't but isn't going undefeated against bad teams and playing .500 against teams as good or better than you what good teams do?

TravisScott55 · Post #80 » by **TravisScott55** » Mon Dec 4, 2023 6:20 pm

Magic or Wolves