Surprising
Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies… currently the 7th and 8th seed in the Western Conference respectively. Not many (if any) experts predicted either of these teams to be in the playoff hunt, in fact, many thought these might be the bottom two teams in the West. Oklahoma City’s backcourt of CP3, SGA and Schroder has been amazing and currently have them 23-18 at the halfway mark. A lot of talk about OKC possibly being a trade suitor at the deadline is a little surprising as they have played so well so far as a group despite having a top 5 strength of schedule. I expect OKC to stay the course and hold onto the 7 seed throughout the second half of the season. The Grizzlies are currently holding onto the 8 seed by 1 game with not too many teams far behind that. Ja Morant looks SPECIAL so far and is a big reason for their first-half success averaging 18/3/7. Another star for Memphis has been Jaren Jackson Jr. in his second season out of Michigan State. As great as they have played so far the Western Conference is not an easy place to sneak into the playoffs especially when 2 of your biggest stars are 20-year-olds without much experience. I hope they keep it up because of course, I want to see Ja and company in the playoffs, but I don’t see Damian Lillard and the Trailblazers missing out which means someone has to go.
Luka’s Rise to MVP Level… after his rookie season, everyone kind of knew that Luka was special and in time he would be a star of the league and even possibly MVP one day. I don’t know how many people thought he would be an MVP candidate in only his second year in the association though. Through the halfway mark he’s averaging just under a triple-double on the season 28 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 9 assists. A lot of casual NBA fans might be looking at what Westbrook’s done recently and not realize how INSANE that is to average a triple-double ESPECIALLY in only your second year in the league. He’s on pace for historic numbers in both usage and player efficiency ratings so he’s doing everything for the Mavs and he’s doing it well. The fact that he fell to the 3rd spot in the draft and has already become a fan favorite. This guy is an NBA League Pass favorite every time I have a chance to watch a Dallas game I have to tune in to see what this guy is gonna do.
The Heat’s Young Core… has been nothing short of amazing tonight. Of course, Jimmy Butler has still been the bonafide leader of this team but statistically, he’s not shooting the ball as well as previous seasons. The combo of Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro, and Duncan Robinson have averaged over 40 points a game combined for a team who wasn’t sure who would step up next to Jimmy Butler before the season started. Robinson played in a total of 15 games last year and Nunn and Herro are both rookies but this season they have stepped up and combined to start 78 games for the Heat. Miami is currently sitting in the 2nd spot in the East behind Milwaukee who seemingly has the first seed locked up leaving about 5 teams to battle it out for the two seed to claim home-court advantage and to stay away from Giannis. I don’t know how effective Nunn and company can stay but if Dragic and Adebayo pick it up they might not need to rely on them as much anyways. The Heat got off to a hot start to begin the season at home, but they’ve been TERRIBLE on the road and because of that I don’t see them holding onto the 2nd seed. I think they struggle a little more in the second half of the season and eventually fall to the 5th or 6th seed before the playoffs start.
Disappointing
Eastern Conference Competitiveness… the drop off between the Milwaukee Bucks and the second-best team, whoever that might be, in the conference is about as large as the drop off between the Nets and Magic and the 9th best team in the conference. At the midway point, it appears that Milwaukee Bucks have the top spot locked in… then there’s a fight for spots 2-6 between Miami, Boston, Toronto, Indy, and Philly… then the Magic and the Nets… then everyone else. You don’t want to end the season as the 8th seed and have to face Milwaukee in the first round and you probably would rather avoid the 4/5 seed as well to prevent a second round matchup if there’s anything you can do. Record-wise the top of the East matches up with the top of the West, but the talent disparity is obvious when you watch the games.
Injuries… have affected this season and some of the league's biggest stars. Coming into the season we knew we would be without KD, Klay, and Nurkic but throughout the first half, we’ve already missed Steph, Kyrie, Zion, Embiid, Beal, Griffin, and KAT for extended periods. We should see some of those guys back for the second half of the season which will be nice as no one likes injuries but with ‘Load Management’ becoming all the rage in the NBA I don’t know how many of these guys will be playing every day when they are cleared at least not until the playoffs.
The Trailblazers Start to the Season... has not been what they were hoping for and a team who was just in the Western Conference Finals last year is currently in 11th in the West. According to reports they expect to get Nurkic back in around a month, which will be a huge addition although he will probably have his minutes limited for a while. They just created more cap space in a trade with the Sacramento Kings where they sent Kent Bazemore among others for most notably Trevor Ariza and sets up the possibility for more moves in the future. Portland is only three games out of the playoffs currently, but they are 4-10 since December 23rd so they will need to turn it around quickly. Lillard and McCollum is such an underappreciated backcourt and often get overlooked, so it will be interesting to see how they respond to a disappointing first half of the season.