Early impressions from a noticer.
No, the Boston Celtics have not ruined basketball. You’ll find no one more eager to diminish the accomplishments of the reigning champs than yours truly, but today will not be that day. Yes, they take and make three-pointers at cartoonish levels — as demonstrated in their 29-for-61 demonstration in the season opener — but the NBA would be foolish if they changed the rules to disrupt every fad that hits the league.
It’s a copycat league. Teams are going to take what they see working and try to reap the same rewards. It’s nothing new, we’ve seen it before. The key is that each team has to put their unique spin on it for it to truly work. The Golden State Warriors adopted the Miami Heat’s small ball lineup. The caveat was that they had the best shooting backcourt ever and two all-world defenders/facilitators in Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.
The Houston Rockets were the next team to adapt as they shifted to a strategy that was heavily skewed towards corner threes and shots at the rim. The distinctive factor was that they also had a heliocentric figure that was the system. The James Harden era didn’t net a championship, but there’s always the big “if” when considering Chris Paul’s injury during the 2018 conference finals when the Rockets had the best chance to dethrone the Warriors.
It was just recently that the Minnesota Timberwolves assembled a jumbo-sized roster built for beating one player in mind. So on and so forth. Don’t be surprised if we see the same when it comes to the Celtics and their winning philosophy. Again, we saw the New York Knicks, the team Boston stomped out last week, seemingly built to mirror Boston. The Knickerbockers surrendered just about every remaining asset they had to acquire two rangy wings and a big that can stretch the floor. Remind you of anyone?
As for the three-point attempts, teams will chuck them up, but they’ll also realize you have to actually have capable shooters like Boston does. On top of that, Boston has a lineup capable of switching like none other. Trying to be the Celtics is not going to work unless you have their players. Hence, build your own identity.
Speaking of identities, the Los Angeles Lakers appear to be acclimating to their rookie head coach, JJ Redick, pretty quickly. Does this mean they’ll be a Finals contender? It’s way too early and probably not, but anything is possible. LeShadow GM may have cooked with this hire.
Out East, there looks to be a healthy amount of point guard play. Trae Young and LaMelo Ball (as we are unfortunately aware of) look spry following injury-riddled seasons last year. All-Star spots may be tough to come by in the East this year if you also factor in the likes of Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton and Dame Lillard all vying for the same spots.
As for the local team, there’s signs of life, but the journey to becoming a winner will be just that, a journey. Of highest priority, the Rockets need to prove that they can show consistent focus and productivity throughout 48 minutes. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde halves gag has to end at some point.
The team either shines in the first half and the feeling of doom comes creeping in as the time ticks down, or Houston digs themselves into too deep of a hole and comes up short as part of a frantic comeback. It starts with the starters, first and foremost. Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet have been streaky while Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. have either been forceful or ran over. It’s still early, but some consistency would be nice.
What are you all noticing early on the season, here and elsewhere?