The Phoenix Suns are pretty good so far

The Suns have been perennial bottom feeders in the West for a while, but it looks like they have made some steady improvements thanks to a new coach along with players like Ricky Rubio. They’ve started off with a 4-2 record and, more surprisingly, have done it with last year’s top draft pick DeAndre Ayton getting a long suspension after the first game of the season.

Their two losses have only come by a combined two points, as well. They dropped games against the Jazz, where they led most of the game before messing up the final few minutes of the fourth quarter, and the Clippers, who had Kawhi Leonard on the floor. They were also the first team to hand the 76ers a loss this season.

The Miami Heat could be a dark horse contender this year

Jimmy Butler has only played in three games so far this season, due to the birth of his daughter, but the Miami Heat still find themselves with a 5-1 record. That’s nothing short of amazing, considering their leading scorer is rookie Kendrick Nunn, who is being aided by another first-year player in Tyler Herro.

The Heat currently have EIGHT players averaging double digit points every night. They also beat the Bucks without Jimmy Buckets on the floor.

Butler may have found himself in the perfect situation in Miami, where he can focus on affecting the game in ways other than scoring. There’s a reason he’s been highly regarded as an elite two-way player, and it finally looks like he might be playing on a team that is in sync with his work ethic.

Oh, and we’re not saying that Butler isn’t great when he does suit up. Check out this monster game against the Hawks in the video below. He barely scored but was undeniably the best player on the floor with a +21 differential and a statline of 5 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists, 6 steals, and 3 blocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F82U503fW_I

The Golden State Warriors are utterly lost

Before the start of the season, we predicted that the Warriors would need an MVP-level performance from Steph Curry to fight for the playoffs. Just two weeks into the season, it looked like the Warriors’ playoff hopes were completely lost. Even with Steph on the court, the Warriors were getting beaten handily on a nightly basis. Then, in a game against the Suns, Steph broke his hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19KwcyXSH0

Draymond Green announced that he would be out for a few games due to a torn ligament on his finger, as well. This compounds the Warriors’ depth problems even more, as D’Angelo Russell is also working his way back from an ankle tweak.

Everyone knew that the Dubs would struggle after the loss of Kevin Durant and the long-term injury to Klay Thompson. However, no one could have predicted that they would be projected to compete for a high lottery pick this early on in the season. They did pick up their second victory against the Blazers today, but how far their patch-up squad can go remains to be seen.

Remember, this was a team that was touted to be a fringe title contender even with the loss of KD and Thompson. Curry’s injury has thrown them out of those rankings.

The Toronto Raptors are showing a lot of heart without Kawhi

On a surface level, a 4-2 record to start the season could be considered to be within expectations for a defending NBA champion. This doesn’t really ring true for the Raptors, though, as they lost two key pieces of their rotation in Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and 3-and-D specialist Danny Green to the Clippers and Lakers.

When you take that into account, it’s actually amazing that the Raptors are looking to book themselves a playoff berth, even in a weak Eastern Conference. Their only losses so far have come to the stronger teams from their conference in the form of the Celtics and Bucks.

Pascial Siakam is playing like a beast, and completely looks like he deserves the $130 million contract extension that he inked prior to the season. He’s averaging 26 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists with a 1.1 assist to turnover ratio. Kyle Lowry is back to his scoring ways, averaging 24 points along with 5 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1 steal per game.

Fred VanVleet, who had a number of shining moments in the playoffs, is also putting up 16.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game.

No one’s saying that the Raptors are threatening to win the title again, but no one expected them to be this good without the Klaw either.

How bad the Houston Rockets can be on an off night

All of us knew that that duo of James Harden and Russell Westbrook would be able to put up monster numbers in some of their games this season. Harden has already had a 59 point scoring night, and Westbrook is a nightly triple-double threat as usual. They even managed to score 159 points in FOUR QUARTERS against the Wizards.

What we didn’t know, however, is just how terrible that could be on an off night. They had already managed to drop a huge lead to the Bucks in their season opener and lose to the struggling Nets, but their destruction at the hands of the Heat was nothing short of amazing. You would have thought that PJ Tucker would have been the worst player on the floor with a plus-minus of -41, but Westbrook posted a -46 differential in just 26 minutes of game time. It was a historically bad performance that will be remembered for the ages.

https://youtu.be/vLoD7_RGQPk

They got back into the winning column with a win against the Grizzlies today, but it’s going to take a long time to get the stink that comes with that Heat loss.

The Sacramento Kings may be going back to being the Kangz

The Kings were the surprise of the season last year, managing to post up a 39-41 record that led many to believe that they were on the verge of competing for the playoffs thanks to a core of De’aron Fox, Buddy Hield, and Marvin Bagley. They got destroyed by the Suns in their season opener, which also saw Bagley get injured for a few weeks. Promising youngster Harry Giles still hasn’t suited up yet.

Things haven’t panned out as planned, with new coach Luke Walton starting the season with a five-game losing streak that saw them drop double digit leads to multiple opponents before finally grinding out two victories for a 2-5 record.

The Kings still haven’t figured out how to play competitive basketball in the third quarter, which was still the same problem they had last season. Expect it to be a long season for the long-suffering fanbase, who haven’t seen a playoff game since 2006.