NBA 2018-19: 5 Early Impressions from Preseason

The NBA preseason is a great chance for rookies to get their feet wet playing against actual NBA players, newly acquired players to get to know their new teammates and vice versa and players on unguaranteed/summer contracts to fight for a roster spot.

But it is also our chance to get an early glimpse of what the upcoming season might look like.

New plays and lineups are tried out for the first time and will reflect partially to what will actually happen on the court in the regular season, players show us how they worked and improved upon different aspects of their game.

Even though the NBA has gradually shortened the preseason in order to reduce the load and start the regular season earlier, we still get around three to five games from each team. This amount of basketball action is enough to teach us several key notes ahead of the new season.

Here are 5 early impressions from preseason games played thus far:

#1 Coming back from a long-term injury will take longer

Tough injuries plagued some of the league's best last year. The most memorable one is probably Gordon Hayward's, five minutes into the Celtics' season opener. Hayward worked all season long on his rehab process, returning to the court for the 2018-19 preseason. So far, Hayward is shooting just 25% from the field, including an even more underwhelming 1 of 10 from three-point range.

Another All-Star who missed most of last season is Kawhi Leonard. For him, it wasn't only about coming back to basketball shape, it was also about incorporating into a new system.

In his two preseason games with the Raptors, Kawhi slowly showed signs of the player he was before the injury, but displayed a sharp decrease in two specific fields. He struggled shooting from beyond the arc (1 of 6) and from the free-throw line (52.6%). While his three-point struggles are understandable and should improve when he will find his rhythm, low percentage from the free-throw line shows how unengaged he was in basketball during his rehab process.

Even though these struggles are comprehensible, it would be worth checking up on their stats as the season progresses.

#2 LA-Bron shows impressive signs

It is just the preseason, but Lakers fans have something to be optimistic about

When the greatest player on the planet joins the greatest franchise in modern basketball, safe to say, they will be put under the microscope. With LeBron on board, we should expect nothing less than a postseason run from the Lakers, despite the fact they lacked one for the last five years.

Even though LeBron's signing received positive comments, the acquisitions that followed it left many people baffled and confused. The Lakers, in need of three-point shooters to accommodate LeBron's set of skills, signed Rondo, Stephenson and McGee, none of which is a consistent threat from downtown.

Nevertheless, there is a reason to be optimistic about them.

Unlike last year's Cavs, the Lakers will not have to depend on LeBron to create all scoring opportunities. Rondo and Stephenson are great ball handlers, and so are pre-existing Lakers, Ingram and Ball. With a lot of chance-creators on the squad, Luke Walton's team will be better at getting out of tough situations.

This version of the Los Angeles Lakers might not be the best shooting team in the league, but it will surely be one of the most fast-paced and fluid teams on offense this year.

#3 New rule changes don't speed up the game, they slow it down

Referees have been over-officiating this preseason

After shortening the amount and length of timeouts and restricting free-throw shooters from roaming around between shots in 2017, the NBA decided to adopt the European approach towards shot clock reset after an offensive rebound. The clock will reset to 14 rather than the previous 24, potentially creating more possessions, which will lead to more points.

However, this is not the most prominent rule change that has been affecting the game.

Officials were guided to focus on the obstruction of "Freedom of Movement"; more specifically, they were instructed to put an emphasis on the use of hands. Players are not allowed to place their hands on an opponent's midsection, regardless of whether or not they are attempting to move. This results in significantly more foul calls; teams are averaging around 27 fouls per game in this preseason, 5 fouls more than they did in the previous one.

The number of fouls should decrease as the regular season begins. However, if this trend continues, we should still expect around 20% more fouls called in this season compared to last season, contradicting the league's approach towards speeding up the game.

#4 Everybody is trying to shoot three-pointers

Andre Drummond has been working on his three-point shot

It's not a secret that the league is becoming much more centered around three-point shooting. In today's game, a power forward with a long-range shot becomes a default, and teams are looking for a "Stretch-5", a big man with range. Therefore, it's not a surprise many more centers are starting to work on their shooting.

Aside from players like Embiid, Towns and the Gasol brothers, who are known for their shooting abilities, there is a significant movement of NBA big-men who are taking more shots from the three-point line. Atlanta's new center, Alex Len, attempted at least one three-pointer in each of his three preseason games with the Hawks. He made three of those, half of the amount he made in his first 335 games in his NBA career.

Another example is Andre Drummond. Drummond made 30 three-point attempts in his six-year career, but 16 of those were heaves. In the preseason, however, he took six shots from downtown, from an average distance of about 25 feet, which is quite standard.

Players allow themselves to take riskier shots in preseason, but it is also a preview of what the NBA's future will look like.

#5 Take everything you see in perspective

There is no need to over-read into the preseason, NBA fans

There are conclusions that can be drawn from preseason and will reflect on the regular season, but we still have to remember this is not really the NBA.

Some of those games were drastically one-sided, like Utah's game against the Australian team, Perth Wildcats. The Jazz won by 58 points, grabbing a 20-point lead less than 7 minutes in and never looking back. This is not a proper preparation before a tough Western Conference.

Moreover, even when playing against other NBA teams, coaches tend to expand their rotation dramatically. In a game where 18 players are involved for just one side, it is tough to get a full-game impression from a team.

The final point is that players are already focused on the regular season. Players with a guaranteed roster place try to avoid contact to preserve their health; players who are fighting for a spot will try to pad their stats, creating deceiving numbers.

Our impulses make us create exaggerated speculations about the new season based on what we see in the preseason. It's OK to have early impressions, just don’t overreact to it.