The NBA season tipped off on October 22. With the start of the NBA season comes a barrage of overreactions. I decided to take a look at some of the overreactions you can take from the first games of the season. This is not an endorsement of the overreactions, simply a thought experiment to see where the NBA stands in the first days of the season.
Overreaction one- Celtics will be a dynasty
The Celtics are the defending champions entering this season. They had an opening day matchup vs. the Knicks in Boston. After receiving their championship rings, the Celtics tied an NBA record with 29 three pointers made to beat the Knicks with ease. Their ability to dominate on both ends is generational. The Knicks are one of the best teams in the east and the Celtics clearly established their dominance.
Overreaction two- Tyrese Haliburton has peaked
In the first half of the 2023- 2024 NBA season, Tyrese Haliburton was leading an elite Pacers offense and was getting serious consideration for MVP. However, over the past calendar year, Haliburton has failed to build on this success. His three point percentage has dipped from 40 percent to 31 percent over the 2024 calendar year. Although early, Haliburton also just hasn’t looked as aggressive at trying to create for himself and others. In the 2024 season, he was fourth in the league in touches. This season he has dipped to 13th. For a playmaking star PG that is not good at all. His poor showing with team USA may still be reaping through to his play right now.
Photo via Wikipedia
Overreaction three- J.J Redick will be a coach of the year candidate
The Lakers had Darvin Ham at coach the previous two seasons. In 2023, he recovered from a horrible start to get the team to the playoffs. However, the good feeling disappeared in year two. Lakers fans became frustrated with Ham’s rotations. Ham was replaced with sharpshooter, friend of LeBron James and podcaster J.J Redick. Redick has created a new offensive system based on off ball movement and so far the Lakers have won all three of their games.
Overreaction four- Rudy Gobert has declined on defense
Rudy Gobert has one of the best defensive resumes of all time with four defensive player of the year awards. However, the first two games saw Gobert combine for just one block. The third game of the season saw Gobert get four blocks, but that was against the Raptors, a team that isn’t very talented offensively. If Gobert continues to struggle to get blocks vs. playoff caliber teams it will be hard for the Timberwolves to get decent seeding. His big contract was already hard to trade as is, if he’s no longer one of the top dogs on defense in the league the Wolves are, for better or worse, stuck with him.
Overreaction five- Damian Lillard is back
Damian Lillard showed serious decline in 2024. He had his worst healthy season since 2015. Lillard was one of the most consistent players in basketball from 2016 to 2023. In the first two games of this season, it looked like Lillard may return to this. He scored 30 points on opening night and 28 points vs. the Bulls. This was his best start to a season since the 2020 season. Despite his scoring the Bucks defense has proven to be a concern. Will Lillard’s scoring be enough? Lillard struggled to score in the third game of the season vs. the Nets, but I still feel confident that Lillard will be able to have a renaissance season on the offensive end.
Overreaction six- Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green won’t work together
This one is the least of an overreaction as this conversation has stemmed back from the offseason. After Alperen Sengun got hurt towards the end of last season, Jalen Green took a huge leap in his play and the Rockets nearly made the play-in tournament. So far, the Rockets are off to a one and two start and Sengun has struggled to find a way to make an impact. The Rockets may be forced to pick between which one of these two young studs they want to build around at the trade deadline.
