Key Takeaways And Notes From Opening Week Of 2022-23 NBA Season
In just over 23 weeks, the 2022-23 NBA season will conclude and teams will be preparing for a potential championship run in the playoffs. There is a lot of basketball to be played between now and then, and I mean A LOT of basketball, but one week of the brand new season is already in the books and we learned a lot over the last seven days!
The opening week of the NBA season supplied us with plenty of nail-biting overtime action, standout rookie performances, young stars making a name for themselves and so much more.
However, there is always bad news attached to good news and while it is very early on in the season, it may be time to write off some teams and their chances of potentially winning a championship or even making the playoffs as a whole!
So much happened during opening week of the 2022-23 NBA season, so let’s dive right in and take a look at some of the biggest takeaways and notes from the first week of NBA action.
Boston Has Not Lost A Step
When the news broke that Ime Udoka was going to be suspended indefinitely for the season by the Boston Celtics, many began to think that the Celtics would deteriorate and not look like the team they were in the NBA Finals a season ago. Well, Boston has begun the 2022-23 season 3-1 and interim head coach Joe Mazzulla has really helped bring a new energy to this Celtics team.
Jayson Tatum is looking like a prime MVP candidate through the first week of the season, Jaylen Brown has not skipped a beat offensively and as a whole, the Celtics have looked much more confident in their abilities to dominate a game from start to finish this season compared to last season.
Perhaps getting to the NBA Finals gave them this sense of confidence, but Mazzulla has really made it a key point of emphasis to push the pace from defense to offense and that is exactly what the Celtics have done. Even with a smaller lineup due to Robert Williams III recovering from offseason knee surgery, the Celtics have looked dominant and like the best team in the Eastern Conference.
The key for Boston this season will not only be locking in defensively, as their defense was the main reason they made the NBA Finals a season ago, but being a more well-rounded offensive team. Bench scoring has not come at a premium for the Celtics over the years and while they could still make some additions ahead of the trade deadline to bolster their overall depth, Malcolm Brogdon has looked like everything the Celtics were missing in the Finals a season ago.
Brogdon can score, he can facilitate and his defensive awareness has helped make the Celtics a top-tier team once again. Boston will be in the playoffs again and as of right now, they are showing no signs of backing down under Joe Mazzulla’s leadership.
The Utah Jazz And San Antonio Spurs Are Tanking For… Wait, No They’re Not!
Victor Wembanyama is going to be the first pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and several front-offices around this league already have his name circled on their whiteboard. Both the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs are two teams many thought would be tanking for Victor, yet they both find themselves with a 3-1 record through the first week of the season.
Wait a second... Aren’t the Jazz and Spurs rebuilding?
The Spurs are definitely rebuilding and we may just simply be looking at a case of a young team starting the season strong against other teams overlooking them, but this is not necessarily the case with the Jazz.
Utah traded away Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanovic this offseason, three key talents that were a part of their core, but these three players were replaced with a plethora of talent. Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Kelly Olynyk, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Talen Horton-Tucker and rookie Walker Kessler all hold their own roles for this Jazz team and so far, their depth has prevailed against the likes of the New Orleans Pelicans, Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, three teams many are expecting to make the playoffs and possibly be Top-4 seed in the Western Conference this year.
The start the Jazz have gotten off to under first-time head coach Will Hardy is truly impressive and perhaps it is reasonable to believe they can sustain some sort of success due to the fact that they have a ton of talented players and a ton of depth on their roster. Nine players on Utah’s roster are averaging at least 17.0 minutes per game and nine different players are averaging at least 6.0 points per game.
The Spurs and Jazz have caught the attention of everyone in this league and while they both could still end up missing the playoffs and with some of the worst records in the league, they are prime examples of the fact that every team in this league has talent and any team can win on any given night.
Los Angeles Cannot Afford To Wait In Trade Talks
The Los Angeles Clippers are fantastic and will most likely be in the Western Conference Finals this season, so if you thought this section was going to be about them, you either didn't watch the first week of the NBA season or you are a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers that is in denial.
The Lakers really do not have much going for them right now and “success” is a word that is hard to associate with this team right now… and that is a nice way of putting things!
General manager Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front-office do not have much time to make a move and while it is hard to judge a team that is 0-3, Los Angeles has already seen how this story ends. Russell Westbrook is not the one to blame for all of their misfortunes, but he simply does not fit in with this team’s philosophy and the Lakers must find a way to move him for an established contributor that can gel with this team immediately or else they will miss the playoffs once again.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis can only do so much for this team and that is very apparent through their first three games of the year, as James and Davis have combined to average 52.0 points, 19.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 3.7 steals and 3.6 blocks per game for the Lakers. James and Davis have even combined to score 50.3 percent of the Lakers’ total points this season and they have made 51.8 percent of the team’s total shots.
The Lakers depth is truly non-existent right now, they are the worst perimeter shooting team in the league and if they hold out until Thanksgiving to make a trade, they are putting themselves farther and farther away from the Western Conference playoff picture.
I normally do not advocate for teams hitting the “panic button” after just one week, but for the Lakers, this is a very appropriate reaction to have right now, especially since the mentality with LeBron James on the roster is “championship or bust.”
The Kings Are The Best Winless Team In The League
Look, the Sacramento Kings have been the laughing stock of the NBA for quite some time now and quite honestly, it had gotten to the point where their lack of success was not really funny anymore. The Kings had an awesome offseason for once and while they have begun the 2022-23 season 0-3, I am still all-in on them being a successful team.
Mike Brown is a fantastic coach in this league and it is very clear to see that he has already changed the atmosphere and attitude of this franchise in his short time in Sacramento. This fanbase has been energized and the Kings’ players have seemed to be in good spirits despite their slow start to the new season, which is a good sign to see.
De’Aaron Fox has made improvement to his game under Brown’s leadership this offseason, Kevin Huerter has been an electric perimeter threat for Sacramento and rookie sensation Keegan Murray has a chance to be the next big thing for the Kings. We will touch on Murray a little bit later.
We are not talking about winning a championship in Sacramento this season, but making the playoffs is definitely not out of the question for this team. I fully expect them to be around a .500 team all season long and if they do so, the Kings will have a chance to earn a playoff spot via the Play-In Tournament.
This team is fun to watch for once and as they continue to work on certain things in games and during practice, improvements will continue to show for the Sacramento Kings.
Don’t Sleep On The Knicks, Who Live In A City That Never Sleeps
The pressure on every single sports franchise in New York City is insurmountable, as no team can truly live up to the expectations placed on them in this city even if they win a championship! For the New York Knicks, success was the only expectation thrown their way entering the year and the Knicks have silently been one of the most successful teams in the league, as they currently find themselves 2-1 with wins over the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons.
I know, that does not really sound too impressive, but they almost beat the Memphis Grizzlies on the road in their season opener, as they lost this game by three points in overtime. The fact of the matter is that Jalen Brunson has looked like the lost puzzle piece for this Knicks’ offense and the confidence they lost a season ago has seemed to return.
The biggest question mark for the Knicks in the offseason was whether or not they could correct their flaws on offense and through three games this year, New York ranks third in made shots per game, sixth in points per game and tenth in assists per game. Not to mention, the Knicks are the third-best rebounding team in the NBA right now.
Both Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein look like two very underrated signings made this past offseason so far and the Knicks’ depth has come to play, which is a good sign for a team that struggled offensively last year.
If this continues and the Knicks can continue to build on their secondary depth, they will be a playoff team this season.
Paolo Banchero, Bennedict Mathurin, Keegan Murray… These Rookies Are Special!
Last season’s rookie class was very impressive with the likes of Scottie Barnes, Evan Mobley, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green, but this year’s rookie class has a chance to exceed expectations.
The Orlando Magic got exactly what they needed with the first overall pick in this year’s draft with Paolo Banchero, as he has played at an All-Star level to begin the season. The first overall pick is averaging 22.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and has shot 42.6 percent from the floor in four games and he became the first rookie since LeBron James in 2003 to record 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in his NBA debut.
Chet Holmgren, the second overall pick in this year’s draft, may not be around to possibly steal the Rookie of the Year award away from Banchero, but Indiana Pacers’ rookie Bennedict Mathurin definitely has something to say about throwing his name in the hat for this award.
Mathurin has looked like the second-coming of Paul George for Pacers fans this season, as the rookie wing has averaged 22.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and has shot 48.4 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from three-point range off-the-bench.
You want to talk about more rookie standouts through the first week of the season?
The Detroit Pistons have found something with Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren after drafting Cade Cunningham first overall last year, Jabari Smith Jr. has looked like a key double-double threat for the Houston Rockets at the power forward position, Shaedon Sharpe has shown flashes of his brilliance on the offensive-end of the floor with the Portland Trail Blazers and how could we forget Sacramento Kings’ forward Keegan Murray?
He did miss Sacramento’s first game of the season as he recovered from being in the league’s health and safety protocols, but in his first two games of the season, Murray has averaged 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and has shot 43.8 percent from three-point range.
I absolutely love this year’s rookie class and between their natural scoring abilities and their athleticism, we could very well be looking at a group that is ready to dominate in this league for a long-time to come with many more names expected to have breakout performances this year.
The Fast Break Podcast hosted by our own Brett Siegel is now LIVE!
Be sure to catch up on the latest news and intel from around the league by checking out The Fast Break Podcast, now streaming on Apple Podcasts and Spotify with new episodes releasing every Friday.
