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Ten most surprising developments thus far in NBA season

Kristaps Porzingis is a name to watch as NBA trades go down

It’s only been roughly two weeks since the start of the NBA season, but there’s already a lot we can gather from it. Without question, some disappointing developments have taken place.

There have, however, also been a lot of surprising developments. Take the starts of the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks and Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference as case studies. All three have played tremendous basketball thus far.

Meanwhile, a couple youngsters have rebounded on new teams after struggles last season. One of those guys, D’Angelo Russell, is the face of an offense that’s among the highest scoring in the NBA.

These are among the 10 most surprising developments thus far in the NBA season.

Orlando Magic’s start 

Aaron Gordon has his Magic playing great ball.

We focused prior to the season on the fact that Frank Vogel’s honeymoon in Orlando was over. Epcot was no longer going to be accepting free admittance. The veteran head coach got the word, because his Magic team is playing tremendous basketball.

Following Monday’s 16-point win over New Orleans, the Magic find themselves at 5-2 on the season. Their five wins have also come by an average of 15 points. This is a clear indication that the young team is playing consistently good basketball. It starts with the emergence of Aaron Gordon as an actual basketball player rather than an athlete. He’s averaging north of 20 points per game.

Meanwhile, center Nikola Vucevic is a larger part of the offensive scheme after struggling to fit in last season. He’s also averaging 20-plus points while shooting at a 56 percent mark from the field. Orlando might not be a top-end contender back east, but it would not be a shock to see this team vie for a playoff spot in 2017-18.

The Clippers without Chris Paul 

Sure Los Angeles yielded 141 points in a blowout loss to Golden State on Monday. It’s the team’s 11th consecutive defeat against the defending champs. This doesn’t take away from what the Clippers did in the five games prior to that, winning four of five to start the season. They’re doing it with an odd mix of second-tier options playing behind Blake Griffin following the offseason trade of Chris Paul.

Patrick Beverley has worked wonders for the Clippers. Meanwhile, fellow recent acquisition Danilo Gallinari is adding a solid perimeter threat to go with Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in the front court. This had the Clippers at 4-1 with the best scoring defense in the NBA entering this week’s action. Not bad at all.

Dynamic duo in Philly 

Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons might be the next dynamic duo.

Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid are wreaking havoc on opposing NBA teams thus far this season. The two combined for 46 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists in Monday’s surprising road win over the Houston Rockets. Having played just seven games together, it’s astonishing how well the two have performed on the court.

Sure losing Markelle Fultz to a shoulder injury hurts Philly. The team also blew a golden opportunity against these very same Rockets at home last week. Even then, there’s a whole lot to like about what Simmons and Embiid bring to the table. It will be incredibly fun to watch the two mature together as the season progresses.

Victor Oladipo standing out in Indiana

With a 3-3 record this season, the Pacers have been much more competitive than most figured they would be. A lot of that has to do with the way Oladipo has performed early in his Indiana career. Through the first six games, the guard is averaging 25.5 points and shooting at a 50 percent mark from the field. Even more surprisingly, he’s hitting on 47 percent of his threes.

These numbers might not be sustainable moving forward. But if the Pacers can get 20-plus per from Oladipo on average, they’ll have a nice running partner with fellow youngster Myles Turner. That’s big, especially after the team received a ton of flack for the return it got in the Paul George trade.

D’Angelo Russell and the Nets`

Nets' D'Angelo Russell looking to make impact for new team.

Brooklyn enters Tuesday’s action having lost two in a row. That’s fine and dandy. It’s going to be a tough season for the Nets, even if they are a surprising 3-4 on the year. What we have to look at here is progression from the youngsters. And that starts with De’Angelo Russell.

Russell is averaging 19.8 points and shooting at a remarkable (for his standards) 45 percent from the field. A change of scenery from Los Angeles surely has helped the still young point guard. Talent was never an issue here. Instead, it was all about maturity. Now the face of the Nets’ franchise, Russell has taken this new role and is running with it. He also has the team averaging nearly 115 points per game. That’s pretty insane stuff.

Grizzlies change of pace

Memphis is not only a surprising 5-1 on the season, it is doing this in the most Western Conference of ways. Known previously as a slow-it-down, defensive first team, Memphis is averaging north of 100 points per game. It also boasts the 14th-best offensive rating in the NBA after finishing last season in the bottom five.

In an interesting turn, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley have also taken a liking to this new system. The two veterans are averaging a combined 39.3 points on the season. We’re not too sure if this success will be sustainable moving forward. What we do know is that Memphis has already beaten the likes of Houston (twice) and Golden State on the season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s freakish start

NBA Playoffs, Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Greek Freak is still only 22 years old. That’s absolutely insane in and of itself considering how much Giannis improved in each of his first four NBA seasons. But he’s taken that to a whole new level thus far this year.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 34.7 points, 10.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.0 steals in six games. He’s also shooting at a 63 percent mark from the field and is averaging 1.6 points per shot. We have been waiting for his offensive game to evolve. And now that this has happened, there’s very little doubt that this Bucks star will be a top-five NBA player for the next decade-plus. His skill set is just absurd. Now that everything is coming together, the sky is almost literally the limit here.

Stan Van Gundy saving his job

The lock-down defense we saw from Avery Bradley and the Detroit Pistons late in Sunday’s win over Golden State was something to behold. It helped that the Warriors were playing careless basketball, but we have to give credit where it’s due.

The Pistons find themselves at a surprising 5-2 on the season and with a solid mix on both ends. Tobias Harris is taking on that lead-scorer role many figured he’d shine in when Detroit acquired him a couple years back. The vet is averaging north of 20 points per game while shooting at a 50 percent mark from the field. This has Detroit in the top 11 of the NBA in scoring.

On the other end, Bradley continues to play elite defense for a team that ranks in the top eight in points allowed. Much like with Orlando and Philadelphia, this might not mean a top-five seed back east. But it could very well force Detroit into the playoff conversation.

Knicks with a strong start

Not many people had New York winning three of its first six games after the team moved on from Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony in the offseason. It’s been the unicorn show on Broadway, and we’re just visitors to the awesomeness. Kristaps Porzingis dropped 38 points in a 116-110 win over Denver on Monday night.

He’s now hit the 30-point plateau in three consecutive games, including a surprise 19-point road win against the Cavaliers this past weekend. The team has also seen solid performances from new acquisitions Enes Kanter and Tim Hardaway Jr. thus far on the young season. At the very least, New York is more competitive and has an eye on the future. That’s not a bad thing following the disastrous Phil Jackson era.

The rookies

We can talk about the aforementioned Ben Simmons because he is technically a rookie after missing last season. And man, he’s playing tremendous all-around basketball this season. The former No. 1 pick is averaging north of 18 points to go with 9.4 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game.

In Boston, fellow lottery pick Jayson Tatum is also playing excellent ball. He put up just seven points in Monday’s win over San Antonio, but still added 11 rebounds with the Celtics finishing plus-10 when he was on the court. Prior to that outing, Tatum was averaging 15.2 points and shooting at a 51 percent clip from the field.

Despite some major struggles shooting, Lonzo Ball is also doing a bit of everything. His game is comparable to Simmons in that he’s averaging double-digit points to go with seven-plus rebounds and seven-plus assists per game. We’re figuring Ball will get his shooting touch, at which point he’ll join the Rookie of the Year conversation.

Lesser-known rookies making strong impacts this season include Lauri Markkanen (Bulls), Jordan Bell (Warriors) and Dennis Smith Jr. (Mavericks). It’s been a darn good early-season performance from a bunch of rookies, and that bodes well for the NBA moving forward.

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