This NBA Season Is One of the Craziest Ever

This 75th season of the National Basketball Association has a great variety of reasons to watch it this season. A new, young and hungry generation has filled in holes where many stars have struggled. Players such as Tyrese Maxey, Ja Morant, Tyler Herro, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Zach Lavine, Lamelo Ball, Miles Bridges, Trae Young, Anthony Edwards, Jordan Poole, De’Aaron Fox, and Immanuel Quickley have established themselves as the next pool of talent in the NBA. Surprisingly, some of the league’s former leading scorers have seen their numbers drop this season. Guys such as Damian Lillard, Trae Young, James Harden, Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, and Devin Booker have seen their PPG drop by a good number this season. A lot of this has to do with the new foul rule. Last season, we saw a lot of fouls drawn by the likes of Harden, Young, Chris Paul, Booker, and Kevin Durant. Their numbers have gone down because they are not getting the rest of those points at the free throw line like they were used to. This season, there is a new rule in place that states that there will not be a foul called if the offensive player clearly initiates the contact. An example of this is what Booker and Young love to do. They blow by their defender, then wait until the defender is right behind him. Then they stop on a dime and shoot, the defender runs into him, there is clear contact, and a shooting foul is called. This year the refs hopefully are not going to call that so often anymore.

         Another aspect of this season is the current record of teams and where they are headed. The Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, and the Utah Jazz have had stellar seasons, maintaining the best records in the NBA. The Los Angeles Lakers have had a surprising season so far, to say the least, as they have been at .500 or below for most of the season. The Lakers were the preseason favorite to come out of the West, but the teams that are leading not just their conference, but the league have dominated the Lakers in their regular season matchups. The Lakers also have the oldest NBA roster by far, having an age average of 33.5 years old. The youngest roster in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder, have an age average of 22.8. Staying on the floor has also been an issue for the Lakers. On November 21st, LeBron James nearly decapitated Detroit Pistons big man Isiah Stewart, who proceeded to give us his best Derrick Henry impression as it took nearly the entire Pistons staff, plus security officials, to hold him back as an entire side of his face was covered with blood. It was LeBron’s first suspension of his career. Anthony Davis has also had some knee issues and came back on January 25th after being out for a month. Russell Westbrook’s shot has been sick ever since he left the Thunder, so that is not helping them. A 37-year-old Carmelo Anthony is the Lakers’ most accurate shooter coming off the bench, shooting a solid 43.6% from the field. If the Lakers want to make it out of the West, they will have to get back on track fast, because the Warriors were looking unstoppable without Klay Thompson, who came back on January 9th. The Phoenix Suns have been one of the teams that no one is talking about, but they should be. They went an unrealistic 16-0 run back in November. They opened December by defeating the Warriors, holding Stephen Curry to just 12 points in his MVP campaign. The East, on the other hand, is looking at the Nets, Bucks, Bulls, and the Heat as the top teams. A team that most people thought would be top in the East are the 76ers, who have not been able to find a point guard in Ben Simmons’ absence. The big problem with this team is the point guard position. The current starting point guard, Tyrese Maxey, is a solid role player, but he needs a guy that he can look up to and learn from at his position to take the next step I believe he can take. Ben Simmons was supposed to be that guy. He is not proving to be that guy this season, as he has not played a single game due to his false claim that the organization did not surround him with a good enough team to succeed. The 76ers have a certified All-Star in Joel Embiid, and solid players in Seth Curry, Tobias Harris, and Matisse Thybulle. Simmons is afraid to shoot the ball, scoring only 5 points in an embarrassing Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in last season’s semifinals. He followed this dispiriting performance by coming in at training camp the next season with such a negative attitude it got him kicked out by head coach Doc Rivers. It has come to the point where 76ers fans themselves want Simmons out of Philly. Points guards to consider would be De’Aaron Fox from the Kings, Dejounte Murray from the Spurs, and James Harden from the Nets. The trade deadline is on February 10th.