Early NBA Surprises

I know it's early in the season, but Atlanta's 4-2 first place start is pretty shocking. A couple of their wins (New York and Toronto) have been against the NBA bottom-feeders, but their wins against Cleveland and Orlando have been impressive. Although it's been only 6 games, they sit on top of the Eastern Conference.


Utah's 6-1 start is somewhat surprising. Having Carlos Boozer healthy and effective helps. The impressive start by 2nd year point guard Deron Williams has also helped the cause.


Boston's 1-5 start has also been pretty surprising. I didn't think they would be elite this year, but I figured they'd be better than half the teams in the conference. Dallas is off to a 2-4 start. How many people saw that coming?


Individually, Atlanta's Joe Johnson is off to a somewhat surprising start. His scoring is up 8.6 pts/gm and his rebounding is up 1.6 rbs/gm. His assists are down, but that's because he's shouldering more of the scoring load. I wish the Celtics would draft players like Joe Johnson. Portland's Zach Randolph is also off to an impressive start. He's always had the talent, he's just not always motivated. His scoring is up 9.3 pts/gm and more importantly his rebounding is up 2.3 rbs/gm. The fact that Charlotte's Emeka Okafur is still healthy is more surprising than his 18.2 pts/gm and 12.2 rbs/gm start. He's always had talent. He just seems to get hurt so often. Deron Williams ranks fourth in the league with 8.7 helpers per game. Jarrett Jack is coming along with 13.3 pts/gm and 6.6 assists/gm.



Clipper forward Elton Brand's scoring is down 9 pts/gm, but the Clippers are winning, which is what matters. Utah's Andrei Kirilenko is scoring 6.9 less pts/gm, rebounding 1.6 less boards/gm, handing out 1.3 less assists/gm, getting .8 less steals/gm, and blocking 0.6 less shots a game.


Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O'Neal, and Jason Richardson's numbers are off, but they are coming back from injuries. Like I said, it's early, but here are some of the surprises of this young NBA season.

Do you have any to add? Comments are welcomed.