Three trends to expect early in the NBA season
With games like the Nov. 3 clash between Kevin Durant and his ex-Oklahoma City Thunder teammates and storylines like the new-look New York Knicks with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Courtney Lee and Brandon Jennings commandeering headlines, it'll be easy to look past some of the league's most intriguing trends during the early portion of the 2016-17 season. Being so, we picked three things to expect as the year gets rolling.
Mr. November: Indiana Pacers forward Paul George finished the 2015-16 regular season with averages of 23.1 points, 7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.9 steals and shot 41.8% from the field and 37.1% from beyond the arc. Top tier numbers, for sure, but nothing compared to what he did at the beginning of the season. George came out of the starting gates on fire, averaging 29.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 47.5% from the field and 49% from three in 13 games (11 wins) in November. This year, with Jeff Teague in town running the show at point guard, and with the Pacers looking to be one of the NBA's most explosive offenses, keep an early eye on George, who told Sirius XM NBA radio that his personal goal for this season is to win MVP.
Super Spurs: Gregg Popovich's San Antonio Spurs get out to a hot start year after year. They've won at least six of their first 10 games in each of the past six seasons, and although Tim Duncan may be gone, is there any reason to expect anything less in 2016-17? With two-time Defensive Player of the Year and MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard leading the charge, accompanied by LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol in the frontcourt, the Spurs are as much of a lock as anyone to pick up where they left off and quickly climb to the top of the standings.
Downtown Dubs: While it may take some time for the new and improved Golden State Warriors to blend and effectively distribute the basketball between such a surplus of talent, you can expect one thing to stay the same from day one: they're going to let it fly from deep. The Warriors have upped their early-season (November) three-point shooting in each of the past four years — from 6.4 makes per game in 2012 to 9.3 in 2013 to 9.9 in 2014 to 13.5 in 2015 — thanks to the emergence of two of the deadliest shooters in NBA history in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Now, with another sharpshooter in the mix in Durant, expect the upward trend to continue from the get go.
Follow AJ Neuharth-Keusch on Twitter @tweetAJNK
