Week 2 News recap and Roze's 5 Things.

Week 2 news recap is a crowded list obviously injuries are part of the NBA game, but it is really unfortunate for some teams in the league already. A reminder that next week will feature our first standings update of where teams are positioned so far. The standings will be updated each Saturday before Sunday games are played. 

News Recap 

Monday October 28th 

The Warriors were without star player Steph Curry due to a left ankle sprain. He'll be re evaluated in a week. 

Jay Huff was converted from a two-way contract to a standard 4 year deal by the Memphis Grizzlies. The backup center is having a great start to the season averaging close to 15 points a game and shooting over 50% from three. 

Taylor Hendricks suffered a dislocated ankle and fractured fibula for the Utah Jazz. He will miss the rest of the season. really sad to see this for a young player, who was expected to play a lot for the Jazz. 

Both Joel Embiid and Paul George will be re evaluated in a week. Neither have made their debut for the 1-4 76ers yet this year. 

Rudy Gay retired from basketball after 17 seasons. 

Lonzo Ball suffered a right wrist injury he will be re evaluated in 10 days. 

Wednesday October 30th

Scottie Barnes suffered an orbital fracture to his face and will be out for at least 3 weeks. 

Thursday October 31st 

Bucks are declining Marjon Beauchamp's  team option making him a restricted free agent after the season. This is a really unfortunate miss for the Bucks in the draft as they need young players to help them out. Beauchamp saw time last year, but Doc Rivers has not played him much since becoming head coach. 

The Lakers are declining Jalen Hood-Schifino's team option. This will make him a restricted free agent at the end of his contract with the Lakers. 

Paolo Banchero will be sidelined for at least 4-6 week with a torn right oblique. 

Friday November 1st 

Herb Jones will be out for 2-4 weeks with a shoulder strain and CJ McCollum will miss 2-3 weeks with a groin injury. The Pelicans are really bitten with the injury bug as these two, Trey Murphy, and Dejounte Murray are all out now for the team. 

Saturday November 2nd

Jaylen Nowell has signed a deal with the Pelicans to help give them some more healthy players.

Isaiah Jackson suffered a torn Achilles and will miss the rest of the season. The Pacers will now be down both Jackson and James Wiseman for the year. 

Roze's 5 things 

1. Is it time to worry about the Nuggets lack of shooting?  

So the Nuggets are 3-3 after they blew out the Jazz last night and Nikola Jokic is off to probably his best start in his career. He averaging  a 30 point triple-double on absurd shooting splits, 56% from the floor and 59%!!!!! from three. So why am I concerned about the Nuggets? Well for starters Jokic has the highest usage rating of his career so far at 31% before last night's game. Yes, their losses are to the Clippers, Thunder, and Timberwolves all respectful teams to lose to, but going into overtime vs the Nets and Raptors should not happen for a team trying to win the Western Conference. So where is the losses coming from? The three point line. The Nuggets are 29th in attempted threes per game and 22nd in made threes par game. Two areas that the Nuggets have to improve if they want to compete with the top of the West. Mainly Jamal Murray, Michael Porter, and Julian Strawther have to get going. The nuggets don't have the luxury of missing shots unfortunately, even Jokic said last week the only real shooters on the floor are Jamal and Mike. The games against the Timberwolves and Jazz were encouraging though, but Jamal Murray has not looked great so far this season. He's been slow and taking a lot more two point jump shots. He shooting 37% from the field and 30% from three. He's also at a career low so far for three attempted per game and something that could be telling for the team as a whole. While the Nuggets did look better Thursday and Saturday, I'm still a little worried about this team overall. 

2. The Chet and Wembanyama rivalry. 

Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama do not like each other and I absolutely love it. The NBA needs a little nasty to it. Luka and Booker going back and forth was really one of the few times we've seen player's dislike for each other spill over to the court, but this feels different. Booker and Luka are competitive and give each other their flowers, but Wembanyama can't even say Chet's name. He doesn't like him and it's fun to watch on the floor. Both guys seem to always save their best for each other. Wednesday night saw Holmgren get the best of Wembanyama with both the win and better stat line as well. This feels like the beginning of long rivalry in the NBA and I love it. I think Wembanyama is the better player than Chet, but Chet has the better team. You can say stats and the matchup matter, but winning in the rivalry also matters. Let's not forget Luka absolutely torched Booker and the suns on their home floor in game 7 in 2022 and that's been helped to settle a lot of the debates so far between those two. Chet's team is far better than Wembanyama's but all Wembanyama needs is a couple of wins and it'll start shift some discourses. It'll be fun to see them matchup in the future. 

3. Is it now or never for the Bucks? 

While I am worried about the Nuggets, this does not compare to the Bucks. Giannis and Dame are off to great starts individually, I still want to see more pick and rolls or hand-offs with those two, but the rest of the team has been horrible. They're currently 19th in offense and 22nd in defense. The Lineups with Giannis at the 5 compared to running Bobby Portis the center spot have been much better. Obviously Giannis is better than Porter, but has not played well this year at all. The Bucks perimeter defense has also been absolutely terrible this year as well. The lead guard for almost every team they've played has been getting the basket and playmaking for other super easy. Rivers has even elected to go to Andre Jackson off the bench to provide some type of athleticism on the perimeter. The trio of Prince, Lillard, and Trent Jr. Has given up a ton of points in the paint and been very poor on defense. The lineup of Portis, Giannis, Trent Jr, Lillard, and Prince has been outscored by 6.7 points per possession and has defensive rating of 123.4 per 100 possessions, which would be worse in the NBA. The Bucks currently set at 1-5 right now and losers of 5 straight games. Yes, Donovan Mitchell needed game winner to beat them, but losing by 24 to Grizzlies and getting run off the floor against the Nets is embarrassing.  It's also worst noting Giannis has hinted at his displeasure with the Bucks over the last two years and has shown a potential to be the next superstar to see a chance of scenery. The Bucks need to be careful or they won't make the postseason this year. 

4. The Bottom of the East development pieces check-in.  

This section will include some of the pieces important for each of the bottom teams in the East, while they might not be at the bottom currently in the standings, I don't think their fans or front office want to win games this year. Admittedly I don't see very many game recaps and reactions coming from this group so the weekly checkups are a must and the 5 things will mostly take the place for them. 

Pistons - Cade Cunningham

While I could highlight the shooting progression of Jaden Ivey or the play from Jalen Duran so far. Cade Cunningham is the franchise and if he doesn't become the high level three level scoring, playmaking, apex ball handler for the Piston none of this matters. He's off to a great start for the year averaging 25 points per game on 48/41 shooting splits and shooting almost 20 times a game. I love this aggression from Cunningham. Sure the 4.8 turnovers game is way too high, but I don't care about that right now. I want him to get some aggression in attacking the basket taking shots outside his comfort zone and get back to being a dawg. His first couple seasons were cut short with injuries and that can diminish some guys, I'm happy to see Cunningham playing well even if he's throwing the ball to the other team 5 times a game. The Pistons aren't going anywhere so shoot the ball every time down the floor. 

Raptors - Gradey Dick 

RJ Barrett is probably the leading candidate to be most improved player, but Gradey Dick has impressed me so much. He's attacking close outs like crazy and if the defender plays a little bit off of him it is going up. Last year he took more threes and than twos and I think that is partly because he wasn't able to get to his spots on close outs last year. This year that's flipped 55% of his shots this year are twos compared to 45% last year. He's getting to the basket, getting to the mid range, and playing with a ton of confidence so far. Yes. Barrett has looked great as a primary ball handler with no Immanuel Quickly, but Gradey Dick has been phenomenal in becoming a credible scorer. 

Wizards - Bilal Coulibaly   

Sure Jordan Poole looks engaged this year, but Coulibaly is the most important piece to the Wizards so far. He's been great in his second year and looks much more comfortable compared to last year. He's driving the basket and rebounding on the offensive glass great so far this year. His catch and shoot shot is still falling, I do think he needs to speed up the release a little bit, but so far it's working. His drives to the basket so far have been great though. He's finished well above the basket and has been fantastic in transition. He's even looked more comfortable taking some mid range shots as well.  His defense has also been fantastic this year and he'll be someone taking on the toughest matchups this year from other teams. As the year goes on I could also see the Wizards let him start exploring his playmaking ability as well. There's something there I think and could be something like how the Magic experienced with Franz Wagner his first couple seasons, but small doses though. 

5. Anthony Edwards shot chart.

A hot topic of conversation has been the Anthony Edwards shot chart so far in the early season. I love him taking this many threes. Sure sometimes you want him to get downhill instead of settling for a longer three, but the tradeoff is fine so far. He's taking nearly 13 threes a game and making 43% of them. It's not the running off of screen like high volume shooter such as Dame, Curry, or Klay Thompson, it is more isolation out of screens. The bigs they've played so far have wanted to keep Edwards in front instead of giving him lanes to attack and Edwards is taking what they give him. He's been very good at getting angles behind the screen to pick off his defender and force the big to step up. He's been making them so far and he also has known went to attack. Against the Nuggets he got Porter Jr. on the switch and was able to get by him for an easy floater to win the game. Maybe if law of averages start to kick in he'll start missing, but I think the maturity of him to understand he can get to any spot has hit him as well. So keep shooting 13 threes a game Ant-man.