Community Shootaround News & Rumors

With the lone exception of the Spurs, all of the NBA’s teams have played between 18 and 20 games so far this season (San Antonio is at 17), meaning we’re just about at the one-quarter mark of the season. With that in mind, we’re taking stock today of the top performances of 2021/22 to date.

The NBA’s top scorer so far is the same player who finished atop the leaderboard last season: Stephen Curry. Curry’s 28.2 PPG is nearly four full points below his 2020/21 average, but it looks like he’ll have a much stronger case for Most Valuable Player consideration this time around based on his team’s performance.

The Warriors, who finished just a few games above .500 and didn’t make the playoffs last season, have a league-best 16-2 record this season — and they’re still waiting to add Klay Thompson and James Wiseman to their rotation. Curry has led the charge, knocking down 41.8% of an eye-popping 12.9 three-point attempts per game, while chipping in 6.8 APG and 5.8 RPG. Golden State plays like an average team when Curry sits (-0.3 net rating) and an all-time juggernaut when he’s on the court (+20.4).

As the top scorer on the NBA’s best team, Curry would almost certainly win the MVP award if the season ended today, but if he or the Warriors slow down, there are plenty of other contenders to consider, starting with last year’s winner.

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has matched last season’s scoring average (26.4 PPG) while establishing new career-highs in RPG (13.6), FG% (.593), and 3PT% (.410) in the early going. He also leads Denver in APG (6.4), and the gap between the team’s net rating when he’s on the court (+12.6) and off it (-14.6) is even bigger than Curry’s.

Unfortunately, that net rating with Jokic off the court may be the thing that ultimately sinks his chances. The injury-plagued Nuggets have been brutal whenever the reigning MVP sits and it’s led to a middle-of-the-pack 10-10 record so far. Like Curry a year ago, Jokic isn’t going to win another MVP award if his team finishes in play-in range.

How about another star on a No. 1 seed then? The 14-5 Nets, who have a two-game cushion in the Eastern Conference, have been led by a version of Kevin Durant playing at the height of his powers. He’s right behind Curry for the scoring lead (28.1 PPG) and has posted a career-best .556 FG% to go along with 7.6 RPG and 5.3 APG. Brooklyn has a +6.0 net rating when he plays, compared to +0.3 when he sits.

Durant’s case will be hurt a little by the fact that he has another former MVP – James Harden – helping him out, but if the Nets finish atop the East without Kyrie Irving playing at all, that’ll be a point in Durant’s favor.

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Clippers forward Paul George, Heat swingman Jimmy Butler, Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Suns guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker, and Bulls wings Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are some of the other stars who would be in the conversation if the season ended today. Sixers center Joel Embiid and Lakers forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis are among the others who could force their way into the conversation if they stay healthy and their teams move up the standings.

We want to know what you think. Is Curry the MVP so far? Who is the biggest threat to take the award from him if everyone stays healthy? Are there any dark-horse candidates you like? What would your five-man ballot look like at this point?

Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

Luke Walton became the first head coach to be let go during the 2021/22 NBA season earlier this week, but he may not be the last.

Although coaching changes happen most frequently in the spring once a team’s season has ended, some clubs decide not to wait that long, preferring to get a head-start on the transition midway through the year. Given the success Nate McMillan had in turning the Hawks’ season around when he took over for Lloyd Pierce in March, it’s possible we’ll see a couple more teams besides the Kings try to replicate that reversal of fortune with an in-season change.

With that in mind, we want to know which head coaches you believe will be most at risk during the 2021/22 season.

A report earlier today from Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report suggested that Stephen Silas of the Rockets may be the next coach to find himself on the hot seat. Houston has been the NBA’s worst team so far this season, with a 1-16 record, a 15-game losing streak, and a last-place ranking in several important offensive categories.

Still, the Rockets didn’t enter the season with postseason aspirations, and Silas has another year left on his contract after this season. Would a team on track to finish at the bottom of the NBA standings really be in a rush to make a midseason change and commit to paying two coaches for the next year-and-a-half, with a playoff berth seemingly multiple years away?

Sports betting site BetOnline.ag has Silas listed third in its odds for the next NBA head coach to be fired. Pistons head coach Dwane Casey, whose team is off to a 4-13 start, is atop that list. Like Silas, Casey wasn’t expected to lead his club to the playoffs this season, but there was an expectation that the Pistons would perhaps be a little more competitive than they have been.

On the other hand, with the exception of a blowout home loss to the Kings, the Pistons have been beaten by good teams so far, and all indications are that the organization thinks highly of Casey. In fact, he signed a contract extension just six months ago, locking him up through 2023/24. If things really go south in Detroit this season, maybe he finds himself on the hot seat, but I’m skeptical we’re at that point yet.

BetOnline.ag lists Frank Vogel of the Lakers between Casey and Silas as the second-most likely candidate to be the next coach fired.

The Lakers entered the season with championship aspirations but have underachieved so far, posting a 9-10 record. LeBron James‘ absences due to injuries and a one-game suspension have contributed to Los Angeles’ struggles (the team is 4-7 without him), but even with James in the lineup, the club has looked disjointed and inconsistent.

Like Casey, Vogel received a contract extension earlier this year. However, that extension didn’t really represent a massive vote of confidence. Entering the final season of the three-year contract he signed in 2019, Vogel had just one year tacked onto his deal, despite winning a title in 2020. Since his one-year extension only covers 2022/23, it wouldn’t necessarily preclude the Lakers from making a change if their struggles continue.

What do you think? Are Silas, Casey, or Vogel in any real trouble yet? Is there another head coach whose job security looks more tenuous to you? Do you think we’ll get any more in-season coaching changes in 2021/22?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

During the 21st century, Eastern Conference teams have had a winning record in games against Western Conference teams just once in 22 seasons. That happened in the 2008/09 campaign, when the East put up a 231-219 record (.513) vs. the West.

In every other season since 1999/2000, Western teams have had a winning record against Eastern opponents, often by a wide margin. The East’s second-best result came in 2015/16, when it posted a 218-232 (.484) mark vs. the West.

These numbers are a simple way of illustrating what most NBA fans view as common knowledge: For at least the last two decades, the West has been the stronger and deeper of the two conferences.

In the early going of the 2021/22 season, however, there’s reason to believe that the tide might be shifting. Even after Western teams won all three games against Eastern opponents on Monday night, the East has a 22-19 record in inter-conference games so far this season.

It’s obviously way too early in the year to draw any conclusions, but it’s not too early to start making some predictions based on what we’ve seen so far.

Among the East’s current top eight teams, the Sixers, Heat, Knicks, and Nets were expected to be here, but the Bulls, Wizards, Cavaliers, and Raptors have exceeded expectations so far. Some of those clubs might slow down, but some of their gains could be for real, and they all at least look capable of remaining in the play-in mix.

Further down the standings, the Hornets (5-6) are about where we expected, while the Bucks (4-6), Celtics (4-6), Hawks (4-7), and Pacers (4-7) are actually underachieving so far — we can probably expect more from most or all of them.

The Magic and Pistons, at the bottom of the conference standings, will likely remain there and lose a lot of games. But even so, that leaves 13 teams in the East with realistic playoff or play-in aspirations.

The West looks pretty deep too, but it may not have as many obvious breakout teams — its top nine clubs so far are identical to last year’s, albeit in a different order. There also aren’t as many underachievers in the West that we can count on seeing improvements from. The Lakers have been a little disappointing, but they’re still above .500 at 6-5.

With all that in mind, we want to know what you think. Has the Eastern Conference finally caught up to the Western Conference this season, or is the West still the more dominant conference overall? Do you expect the East to post at least a .500 record against the West this season for just the second time this century?

Head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts.

Entering the 2021/22 season, the Lakers and Nets were widely viewed as the frontrunners to reach the NBA Finals. When ESPN polled 16 of its NBA experts on predictions for the coming season, 10 picked the Lakers to win the West and 10 chose the Nets to win the East.

So far though, Los Angeles and Brooklyn have been inconsistent and underwhelming, posting matching 2-3 records. The Lakers lost two home games to open the season, then blew a 26-point lead in Oklahoma City on Wednesday against the winless Thunder. The Nets, meanwhile, have lost three games by double-digits — one in Milwaukee and two at home, vs. the Hornets and Heat.

It’s far, far too early for either team to panic. LeBron James has missed two games for the Lakers and James Harden is still working his way back from a hamstring injury for the Nets. And with the exception of the Lakers’ disaster in OKC, both teams’ losses so far have come against pretty tough opponents.

Still, the early-season results can’t be written off entirely. James has been increasingly affected by injuries in recent years — if that trend continues this season, it’ll have a significant impact on a top-heavy Lakers team. The club acquired Russell Westbrook over the summer in part to have another star available when James or Anthony Davis miss time, but Westbrook has gotten off to a shaky start in L.A., averaging just 17.8 PPG (his lowest mark since 2009/10) and turning the ball over six times per game. His fit on this Lakers roster was an open question entering the season, and it doesn’t seem as if the team has fully figured it out.

As for the Nets, the impact of Kyrie Irving‘s absence shouldn’t be understated. Brooklyn is supposed to have one of the best offenses in league history, but through five games, the club’s offensive rating is an ugly 100.6 — only Detroit and New Orleans have been worse. Harden expects to be back to his old self soon, but he’s certainly not benefiting from the NBA’s reduction on foul calls when offensive players go out of their way to initiate contact.

Again, it’s too early for a sub-.500 record to be a major concern for either of these teams, whose rosters are heavy on star power and veteran experience. But the expectations in Los Angeles and Brooklyn are high. Anything less than an NBA Finals appearance will be a letdown, so there’s not much room for error.

Many of the NBA’s other sub-.500 teams aren’t surprising, but the Celtics (2-3), Pacers (1-4), Suns (1-3), and Clippers (1-3) certainly would’ve hoped for better starts.

We want to know what you think. Is it still too early to draw any conclusions about any of this season’s slow starters? Or has some of what you’ve seen from the Lakers, the Nets, or other sub-.500 clubs made you skeptical of their ability to meet preseason expectations?