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The young core of the Orlando Magic has the team ahead of schedule.With the NBA becoming bigger and bigger, as evidenced by the new television contract that is going to kick in next season and up the salary cap to record levels, there is no shortage of stories to cover in the league.With everyone focusing on the Golden State Warriors quest for 73 wins and the San Antonio Spurs beating teams by record proportions, some stories can slip under the cracks. What follows is a run through of five stories you might have missed during the first two months of the season.
#5 The other half of the Splash Brothers
Who has been the best three-point shooter this season (non-Curry division)?
If I didn’t put the Curry caveat in the question, this would be one of the more pointless questions to ask this season, as Curry has somehow upped his frequency (10.2 per game) while still managing to shoot 44%.
The guy is a video game player. So of the mortal world we had to wade through the aforementioned Durant, Paul George, CJ Miles and Kyle Lowry, but really it was just an exercise in looking for a potential competitor because the answer always was going to be Klay Thompson.
After starting off a little slowly this year, taking less shots and looking a little out of sorts, Klay found his stroke in December, dropping 25 points per game including shooting 45.5% on 9.3 threes per game.
He has gotten so good at getting his picturesque shot off quickly, that it’s allowing him to approach Curry-level frequency and percentage. He is still best as a catch and shoot artist, but showed that his game is ever-developing as he scored 38 points on December 31st vs the Houston Rockets on 6-11 threes. It is quite unfair that the Dubs can roll out Thompson and Curry every game.
#4 KD is not nice
Who is having the best under the radar season?
You hear that yelling coming from the screen? That noise you hear is Kevin Durant letting everyone know who doubted if he would come back to full form this season. With apologies to Andre Drummond, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan in Toronto, or John Wall’s December, among others, there was no one else I could pick for this spot besides the 2014 NBA MVP.
While everyone is marveling at how well Paul George has come back from his broken leg and how Kawhi Leonard has made the leap to bona fide star, Kevin Durant is putting together a season that can rival his MVP season.
He currently sits 4th in the league in scoring (26.8), 3rd in rebounding among small forwards (7.4), 14th in field goal percentage (52%), and 18th in 3-point shooting (41%), all while working to reach another 50-40-90 season (currently shooting 89.1% from the free throw line).
Everyone is marvelling at how well Stephen Curry has been shooting (also looking to go 50-40-90), but KD is nipping at his heels. It feels wrong saying Durant is under the radar, but you just aren’t hearing people talk about him nearly as much as the Warriors or Spurs right now.
#3 The Houston Rockets are still struggling
Who has been the biggest disappointment this season?
Unlike the first two questions, there is really only one answer to this questions so far this season. The Houston Rockets, once billed as a Western Conference Finals contender, look doomed to be in a constant fight against themselves this season, seemingly taking two steps back for every two steps they take forward. They currently sit at 7th place in the Western Conference, but with a record of only 17-19, they are far cry from the lofty goals they set themselves during the summer.
A perfect microcosm for their season are these past two weeks, where they followed up a close win at home against San Antonio, a win that finally pushed them over .500, with a four-game losing streak, including a loss to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans and the Golden State Warriors who were missing four of their top nine players, including MVP Stephen Curry.
They only snapped the losing streak when they got a heroic effort by James Harden in the second half on Monday night vs the Utah Jazz. With Dwight Howard’s play slowly declining, the Rockets have needed Harden to play like the potential MVP he was last season, but instead have gotten an unsteady performance, highlighted by terrible defense that made him a laughing stock at the end of the 2014 season.
#2 The Magic want to make the playoffs
Who is this year’s surprise team?
You could cop out on this answer and say the Golden State Warriors or the San Antonio Spurs because no one expected them to be playing at potential all-time greatest team levels, or you could pick the Dallas Mavericks who are currently four games over .500, despite coming into the season with many questions marks. But the real answer for me is the Orlando Magic who seem to be a year ahead of schedule in seriously challenging for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
After not winning more than 25 games in each of the last three years, the Magic already have 19 wins and are currently tied with the Detroit Pistons after a tough loss to them on Monday night.
They are a balanced team getting production from up and down the roster, with five players averaging double digits in their 12 man rotation. After Evan Fournier got off to a ridiculously hot start, supplanting Victor Oladipo as the starting two guard, Oladipo has picked up his play to make up for Fournier’s recent downturn.
The Magic want to get point guard Elfrid Payton back from an injured ankle, so they can settle on their rotation with Oladipo coming off the bench as a super sub. It’s now playoffs or bust for the Magic.
#1 KAT is a beast
Who has been the best rookie this season?
With apologies to Jahlil Okafor of the Philadelphia 76ers, who has done a decent job offensively for the moribund Sixers, and Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks, who is now the toast of the Big Apple, Karl-Anthony Towns (KAT) has been the best rookie in the league this season.
What sets him apart from Okafor is KAT’s ability to play both ends of the court, while his efficiency has him being a better option than the seemingly gigantic Porzingis.
A quick run through his stats; 15.9 points per game (2nd among rookies), 9.3 rebounds (15th in the league, 1st among rookies), and 1.86 blocks (8th in the league, 2nd among rookies), shows just how well he has acclimated to the NBA, even as a precocious 20-year-old.
What's more, he gets all this done in just 28.9 minutes a game, meaning his per minute production is even better than his raw numbers suggest. I had the chance to watch him in person earlier in the season and it was shocking to see a kid look so comfortable scoring over both shoulders on the block, while also serving as an above average backline defender, no small feat for a rookie big. Oh yeah, he also knocks down 49% of his shots down from 16-23 feet, and he’s only getting started.
