Pleasant Surprises in the NBA

With Covid and injuries riddling the NBA league wide, it can sometimes be hard to look at the bright side of having this season take place. 

There tends to be more focus on the things that are not happening or not helping the league rather than things that are making this regular season most interesting the NBA has been in over a decade. 

So, to spread a little more positivity on the subject of the 2020-21 season, it feels only right to highlight two of the biggest surprises in the NBA. 

When looking at the Eastern and Western Conference, parody is at an all-time high and the league is chock full of feel-good stories. The two big surprises we will be looking at from both conferences is the Resurgence of the New York Knicks and the Revenge Tour of the Utah Jazz. Let’s get right into it!

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

The New York Knickerbockers Are Back Baby!

New York fans across the globe have probably been screaming to the top of their lungs in excitement. Despite the meteoric rise of the Brooklyn Nets with the arrival of their three superstar talents, the Knicks have to be proud of the program they are building in the background. 

The New York Knicks currently sits in 4th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 34-27 and have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA over the last two weeks. The Knicks have gone 9-1 in their last ten games which is tied for the best record over that stretch with only the surging Washington Wizards and the LA Clippers. This all stems from a few things that the Knicks have done over the course of the last 62 games that no NBA could have anticipated.

Everyone is aware that head coach Tom Thibodeau is known for his defensive expertise and playing his starters heavy minutes throughout the course of the regular season. But I do not think that anybody could have anticipated that the New York Knicks would rank where they are defensively. 

They currently are 1^st in the NBA in Opponents points per game (104.7) and 4^th in Defensive rating (108.3) 61 games deep in the season. They do not have anyone on their roster that is known to be a defensive Stallworth of any kind, but Thibodeau has them playing hard and it is definitely paying off. 

Part of playing hard for Thibodeau is also playing big minutes as mentioned earlier and boy is he making sure his two lead guys are getting their cardio in. Julius Randle and RJ Barrett are currently Top-3 in the league in minutes played with only MVP candidate Nikola Jokic coming between them. These guys are the presumed faces of this franchise and this season they are really showing promising developmental signs that could bode well for the Knicks moving forward. 

Randle, Barrett Growing into Stars

Let’s start with Julius Randle who should be one of the frontrunners for the Most Improved Player award this season. Randle is averaging career-highs in points (24.0), rebounds (10.0), assists (6.0) and steals (1.0). Embracing his new role as a bit of hybrid Point-Forward, Randle has openly embraced being the lead guy in New York and it shows through his shooting volume. 

He is currently shooting 46.2% from the field on a career-high 18.3 attempts and an astounding 41.6% from beyond the arc on a career-high 5.3 attempts a game. In the midst of being named an All-Star this season, Randle has elevated himself from being a solid rotational piece to a guy you can run your offense through and use as legit franchise building blocks. 

Speaking of franchise building blocks, former 3^rd overall pick RJ Barrett is starting to truly prove why he was worth being taken so high coming out of Duke. On the season, Barrett is averaging 17.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists a game which are all a tick above where he was last season. 

Following a relatively quiet rookie season, Barrett has really stepped up his game in Year 2. Although the counting stats might not indicate any kind of drastic jump, Barrett’s shooting stats are a great indicator of his increase in basketball IQ and his improvement as an overall player. 

He is currently shooting 44.7% from the field (40.2% last season), 38.8% from three (32.0% last season) and the biggest jump was from the free throw line as he is shooting 74.4% from the charity strike (61.4% last season).

In past seasons we have seen players like Luka Doncic, Trae Young and others hit the ground running in their rookie seasons and we as fans have become accustomed to this. But in reality, there are more players across the league like Randle, Barrett, Jaylen Brown for the Celtics and more who were top picks that took a little longer to really catch their stride. 

Knicks Are Unconventional and Motivated

This Knicks team also has a handful of feel-good stories like rookie guard Immanuel Quickley who was taken late in the first round and has become an offensive weapon for New York off the bench. Or the reuniting of Tom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose once again after watching Rose waste away in Detroit for a season. 

This team may not have a bona fide superstar on the roster, but man do they have a handful guys who can really play and that play hard. I am not going to call them title contenders or anything. But best believe they will come to play and be a tough out. 

This will be the team’s first Playoff appearance since 2012-13 and I do not think their young guys are going to waste such a great opportunity. If I were anybody else in the Easter Conference, I would not be too excited about catching the Knickerbockers in the first round of the Playoffs. 

Utah Jazz on the Arc of Redemption 

The Utah Jazz are coming off a tough playoff debacle last season as they dropped a 3-1 lead to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. With that in mind, most came into this season believing that the Nuggets would continue to surge leaving the Jazz holding the bag as the next “good but not great” contender in the Western Conference. Instead, we have gotten the complete opposite. 

Although Jokic is playing at an MVP caliber level, his team sits at 4th in the West as a team that has been somewhat inconsistent this season. They will also be missing star point guard Jamal Murray for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. 

On the other end is Utah who has pretty much been healthy all season and sits atop the conference with a record of 44-16. They have arguably been the most complete team all season and it shows in their team depth as well as their balance on both sides of the floor. 

Utah Is the Most Complete Team on Paper

In terms of depth, the Jazz have a Top-3 caliber starting five with Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley in the backcourt, Bojan Bogdanovic and Royce at the wings and Rudy Gobert in the middle. They also have Jordan Clarkson, Joe Ingles and Derrick Favors coming off the bench as three guys who could legitimately start on most other rosters in the NBA. 

Then in terms of their team balance, this team has really improved on both sides of the floor and have solidified them as a Top-5 offensive and defensive squad. Offensively, the Jazz are 3rd in points per game (116.5) and 4^th in offensive rating (117.4) which are both up from them being 10^th in the league last season. 

Defensively they are 4th in opponents points per game (107.3) which is up from 9^th last season. And their most drastic ascension is seen in their defensive rating; they have jumped up from 13^th all the way up to 2nd this season. These team wide improvements are indicative of this team’s continuity and chemistry development this season coming off of last year where this roster was learning to play with one another for the first time. 

Mitchell is Becoming an Offensive Force to be Reckoned With

Starting with Donovan Mitchell, he has officially solidified himself as the head honcho offensively for the Jazz. He has always been the team’s first option, but this season he has truly asserted himself as a high volume iso scoring threat. 

Mitchell is averaging 26.4 points and 5.2 assists (both career-highs) along with 4.4 rebounds a game. As mentioned before, although the points are up, the real indication of Mitchell offensive volume is shown through usage and shooting volume. 

He currently is 4^th in the league in usage percentage (33.4) behind only Luka Doncic, Bradley Beal and Stephen Curry. Surely some elite company when discussing players who are depended on heavily to create offense and keep their teams in ball games. 

Mitchell is shooting 43.8% from the floor on a career-high 20.6 attempts and 38.6% from three on a career-high 8.7 attempts a game. Regardless of how deep this team is on paper, every scouting report knows that the buck stops with Mitchell on offense. But when it comes to the defense, it is all about All-Star Center Rudy Gobert.

Gobert Continues to Reign As the “Stifle Tower”

Gobert this season is averaging 14.4 points and 13.6 rebounds on a league-best 67.1% shooting from the floor. Ironically this is only the 2^nd best shooting season of his career. Defensively he is hands down the anchor inside for the Jazz and the engine that makes their team defense so effective. He is 1^st in defensive win shares and individual defensive rating. 

He also leads the league with 165 total blocks and is 2^nd in blocks per game with a career-high blocks a game. Gobert is up for serious consideration to win his 3^rd Defensive Player of the Year award. If he does win, it would be well deserved when you factor in just how much of an individual impact he has on how the rest of the Jazz’s defense operates. 

Everyone on the Jazz Knows Their Role

Now that we have praised the two All-Stars, it is only right to show love to Utah’s above average supporting cast. Jordan Clarkson and Joe Ingles are both literally jockeying for position amongst themselves for the 6^th Man of the Year Award.

Clarkson is the Jazz’s 2^nd leading scorer with 17.5 points a game on 42.4% shooting from the floor and 34.9% shooting from three. 

Ingles is averaging 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists on 50-40-85 shooting splits. He is shooting 51.7% from the field, a league-high 48.8% from three and 85.7% from the free throw line. 

Then to wrap it all up in a little bow, he leads the league in Effective Field Goal Percentage (69.3%) and True Shooting Percentage (71.1%). 

Regardless of who comes out with the award, one could argue that both of these players are equally deserving of a chance to hoist the trophy in the end. 

Lastly, the tandem of Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley are really showing their worth in this second full season in Utah. The duo is averaging a combined 32 points a game and are both shooting near or above 40% from the field and/or from three. 

Proving the Doubters Wrong

Now despite all this evidence of the Jazz’s dominance this season, a majority of the national media seems to still not be a believer in Utah as a legitimate title contender out of the West. And for somewhat good reasons. 

The Jazz are 20-10 against teams over .500 but a lot of those wins came against teams like the Nets without their stars or the Sixers without Embiid. This team has the requisite tools to play their way into the 2021 NBA Finals. 

Fortunately, the Playoffs are right around the corner and the postseason is the perfect place to put all these trepidations to bed.