Opening Night Thoughts With The Flagrant 2
So last night was pretty great, even though the season opened on Tuesday, yesterday was really the kick-off for the 2016–2017 season and it was a joy to watch. Here are some of our favorite water cooler topics from opening night:
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is Still Wonderful:
As a MKG fan, it is my job to make sure the world knows that he is still 23 years old, relevant in today’s NBA and most importantly … still effective at playing basketball. All of those three things are true, he is only three or so months older than Buddy Hield, he might finally be healthy and he dropped a cool 23 and 14 last night. Obviously those stats are not going to be close to his season average, but it is a good indicator of what MKG can bring to the Hornet’s this season. He showed his usual brilliance on defense, and even though he didn’t hit too many of his jumpers, he wasn’t afraid to take them. Most importantly though, he was his usual high motor self and it didn’t seem like he was all to concerned with his repaired shoulder.— The Showman
As a Celtics’ Fan, Here is My Opening Thought on Jaylen:
First things first…. His shorts are amazing. Now that we got that out of the way, we can get to the less important stuff. In his first professional game, Jaylen looked great in my opinion. He was more impressive than Smart was in his first game, and definitely will make Gerald Green fight for his minutes when the season gets deep. What makes Brown so interesting is his calmness on the court. If he is nervous, he doesn’t show it and i dig that. In terms of what stood out for actual NBA talent/skill; Jaylen is going to be great as a small-ball 4 for short bursts, his work in the low-post is pretty gnarly and sneaky good and finally that bounce pass to Isaiah was fucking sweet. — The Showman
This James Harden at PG Experiment Will Be Enjoyable
If you are new to the site, or haven’t realized yet but I am a very big fan of James Harden and love that he is now in full-flight PG Mode. I Feel like James Harden has been playing at like 40% PG his entire career just hoping that the day would come that a coach would just full-on anoint him the official PG. Now that the day is here, James Harden messed around and put up 32 and 17. In his first official game as PG, he dropped 17 dimes…. What stopped him from doing this last year? Well he wasn’t the PG … simple as that. James has been fighting his entire career to be labeled as a PG, now he is going to destroy folks. My favorite thing from last night was the number of Kevin Love outlet passes he threw, also the Harden2Capela connection will be the new CP3 to Chandler. — The Showman
I Have to echo this sentiment. James and I had an NBA fantasy draft, and I was slightly dumbfounded when James took JH13 #1 overall. My good buddy who’s opinion I respect a lot, was pissed, and said “I don’t know who just took Harden, but that guy is smarter than you, I would have taken him 1 also.” Then I watched last night and it clicked. Harden is in a free flowing system, and the 14 assists by JH at halftime was an eye opener. This guy is actually a willing passer! Now I’m not naive, he did rack up assists last season, but this feels a little different. If Harden can spearhead a system where they just focus on hitting the open man, this will be a lot of fun. The pringles guy looks to have one more trick up his sleeve. — Nigel
The Suns’ Cerberus of Rookies Will Be Enjoyable But Alex Len Will No
I don’t know if it is because the Suns are not my go-to team to binge watch but man is Alex Len frustrating to watch. It seemed like every time he touched the ball it was this long drawn out attempt to perform an unathletic botchy running hook that didn’t go in. Then I went to bed and woke up to see he had 8 points and 7 boards…. Which isn’t horrific but it still makes me wonder if Alex Len is really this awkward and frustrating of a basketball player. What is fun about the Suns outside of Bledsoe and Booker is that trio of Rookies. I knew Ullis and Chriss would be enjoyable to watch, especially when Chriss tried to dunk on Cousins then didn’t back down from the trash talk but Bender was the one who surprised me the most. He has terrible eastern European swag but in terms of NBA skills, I was left intrigued. In limited minutes, he didn’t look completely lost which was surprising based off of some of his performances in the Summer League. He hit two threes, and his released looked really fluid and smooth for someone his size. — The Showman
Philly Fans Still Exist, And Are Actually Kind of Awesome
Watching the Sixers-Thunder game last night was a blast. Obviously, you come for Russell Westbrook, and for the last 2–4 years in this match up, that’s the only reason you stay. But last night was different. There was a palpable excitement in Philadelphia. One that hasn’t been heard in quite some time. This, without a doubt, is spearheaded by Joel Embiid’s long awaited debut. He was hitting defenders with the dream shake, he was hitting clutch mid range shots, hell, he was even knocking down open 3’s. We love this guy! Let’s not expect the playoffs (Or MVP, as the fans were chanting) but you can expect a little more buzz and optimism in Philly. The process, everyone! — Nigel
We All Wrote Off Anthony Davis, And We Are All Dumb
50/16/7/5/4 is just ridiculous. What’s equally ridiculous is how the NBA community, including fans and pundits all decided to take a long nap on behalf of Anthony Davis. There were polls of who you’d start a franchise around, and Davis, who was typically right at the top, was now nowhere to be found. I guess one season ending injury will do that. He amazingly wasn’t even going top 5 in the two fantasy drafts I did. Now, coming back hungrier and hopefully healthier than ever, Davis has something to prove. However, when you don’t have the best supporting cast and lose to Denver at Home on opening night, people may continue to sleep. One things for sure, we woke up. — Nigel
