Early season suprises?

Ed Pinkney · Post #1 » by **Ed Pinkney** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:09 am

I know it's only been a week but what have you found suprising so far?

For me:

New Orleans, Washington and Golden State being as ordinary as they have been considering some of the talent they have on their teams.

Miami, Phoenix, Denver all coming out so strong. I would not have picked any of them as early division leaders.

Milwaukee, Sacramento, Houston not struggling as much as everyone thought they would.

Individually, a couple for me have been Brandon Jennings and Sheldon Williams.

Thoughts?

Post #2 » by **ParticleMan** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:21 am

mia is definitely an early surprise. okc looks pretty good too. i figured phx would be good but they look back to normal, ie pre-shaq, which is scary.

cle is a surprise in the other way-- 3 losses already? same with SA, i expected them to come out strong.
not too surprised about washington. arenas or no, they still can't play D, so still won't win consistently.
new york has also been surprising. i thought a d'antoni team wouldn't start 1-7. NJ is surprising at 0-7 but injuries have been a big part of that.
gs's season was torpedoed before it started by sjax drama.

SonicYouth34 · Post #3 » by **SonicYouth34** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:28 am

I'm very surprised by the Rockets. They have such a scrappy team, but they're hanging in there with the big dogs. Brooks/Ariza/Landry have been playing very well.

I'm also dissapointed by Tyreke Evans. His first couple games haven't been that great, but since he moved off the ball he's been playing much better.

bendyone · Post #4 » by **bendyone** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:37 am

Im on the Sheldon surprise wagon

GoGoCeltics · Post #5 » by **GoGoCeltics** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:21 am

Going into this season, I thought Sacramento would go 0-82. I'm exaggerating a little, but not by much. Then they lost Kevin Martin (who was averaging over 30 per) and I thought they would definitely not get a win until he came back. They are 2-0 since then... whaaa?? Sure it was against an awful GS team and a struggling Utah team, but still...

I also thought Houston would be awful, but they are 4-3 with one of those losses a 1-point OT loss to the Lakers. Not bad.

Who would have any clue that MILWAUKEE would have the second best defense so far (at least points-wise)? Ok, none of their opponents have been respectable offensive teams, but I definitely would not have had them at 3-2 through 5 games. They have had 8 different starters in 5 games and Redd has only played in 2 games. Huh.

Other than that, I was kind of surprised by the lack of individual surprises, if that makes sense. It's amazing how after just the first 3-4 games, the leader boards are already what you'd expect. Kobe/Melo/Martin/Bosh/Wade lead in scoring. Yawn. Nash/Deron/CP3/Rondo/Kidd lead in assists. I could've told you that before the season began. I guess I wouldn't have pegged Marc Gasol up there in rebounding, but on a fast Memphis team I'm not surprised.

Cyclical · Post #6 » by **Cyclical** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:41 am

Jennings is definitely a huge surprise for me. I actually watched a couple of games of his Italian team and couldn't see what the fuss is about. The system is so different and there's really no room for individual / athletic play. He didn't fit in at all... Looking pretty great now.

captain green · Post #7 » by **captain green** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:44 am

Williams I thought would be decent, surprised better than expected.
Clevland 3 loses all ready.
Utah 4 losses all ready
New Orleans 5 losses all ready

Scalamental · Post #8 » by **Scalamental** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:56 am

bendyone wrote:Im on the Sheldon surprise wagon

Same here twice over. I was surprised it took him this long to get his role going, surprised it happened on the c's.

SonicYouth34 · Post #9 » by **SonicYouth34** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:05 am

Scalamental wrote:
bendyone wrote:Im on the Sheldon surprise wagon

Same here twice over. I was surprised it took him this long to get his role going, surprised it happened on the c's.

The C's are good at working with undersized four's. Baby, Powe and now Shelden.

Though I have to say I'm very happy with his production.

OBisHalJordan · Post #10 » by **OBisHalJordan** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:43 pm

shelden williams

cloverleaf · Post #11 » by **cloverleaf** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:27 pm

SonicYouth34 wrote:
Scalamental wrote:
bendyone wrote:Im on the Sheldon surprise wagon

Same here twice over. I was surprised it took him this long to get his role going, surprised it happened on the c's.

The C's are good at working with undersized four's. Baby, Powe and now Shelden.

Though I have to say I'm very happy with his production.

There was Gomes too. And Shelden was my immediate thought when I saw the title to this thread.

MyInsatiableOne · Post #12 » by **MyInsatiableOne** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:56 pm

Scalamental wrote:
bendyone wrote:Im on the Sheldon surprise wagon

Same here twice over. I was surprised it took him this long to get his role going, surprised it happened on the c's.

Count me in on the bandwagon as well!

Hemingway · Post #13 » by **Hemingway** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:18 pm

MD has really surprised me. I guess only because I didn't really know his game and don't get my hopes up on guys I don't really know, but he is looking to be one of Danny's better finds at least as far as fit to the team.

BakersDozen · Post #14 » by **BakersDozen** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:19 pm

how about Marc Gasol? 16 pts 11 boards. That LA/Memphis trade doesnt look as bad now.

TheOGJabroni · Post #15 » by **TheOGJabroni** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:37 pm

Shelden Williams for sure. I hope Glen Davis has to work for any minutes on this team and isn't just given PT at Williams' expense.

Also, Big Al. I still follow him very close and it's sad to see the situation he is in right now. On the GB, there is a thread Why Does Big Al Suck? The dude just came off major knee surgery, and has an awful/brand new team around him, what do people expect? So, I guess I'm not surprised with Al's struggles, just people's reaction more than anything.