Over the summer, it was easy to get lost in all the happenings of the NBA.
The San Antonio Spurs made a huge splash signing LaMarcus Aldridge, the Houston Rockets made a big splash with Ty Lawson and the LA Clippers made a series of splashes of their own.
Kevin Durant returned to fitness for the Oklahoma City Thunder; Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love readied their returns to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In all this, the Golden State Warriors were relatively boring.
They did nothing to alter their main rotation; it was easy to assess this landscape and conclude that, at the very least, the champions were giving some ground to their competitors in the off-season.
What was forgotten was just how much better they were than everyone else last season. And it is coming back into focus.
The Warriors have been every bit still the best team in basketball to begin the season, starting a blistering 7-0 and winning all but two of their games by over 10 points. Stephen Curry has been every bit still the best player, leading the league in scoring to start the year with 33.9 points per game.
While it would be lamentable to miss so much good basketball, it seems it would be possible to tune out of the NBA now, check back in April, and expect Golden State to be in exactly the same place.
A lot of that can be attributed to Curry.
“He’s the best basketball player in the league right now,” was Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari’s straightforward assessment, after his team were beaten 119-104 on Friday.
In a league containing LeBron James, Durant and Anthony Davis, the best player is still Curry. This is true of the past 12 months, and there is every possibility it will still be true of the next 12, or 24, or even 36 months.
If anything can be gleaned from a season this young, Golden State’s and Curry’s remarkable start is a pretty good indication the Warriors were not a beautiful blip. As good as they and he were in 2014/15, they look just as good, maybe even better, in 2015/16.
The numbers are staggering. Last year Golden State outscored opponents by 10.1 points per game and finished with an .817 win percentage. In seven games this year they’ve outscored opponents by 18.3 points per contest and, of course, their winning percentage is 1.000.
Curry, in addition to leading the league in scoring, is shooting 55.3 per cent overall (48.7 last year) and 47.5 per cent from three (44.3 last year). The 27-year-old MVP winner has been worth 2.4 win shares already according to BasketballRefernce – nearly a win more than any other player in the NBA. His PER is over 40. His box plus/minus value on BBref is almost double second-place LeBron’s.
If you’re not into advanced analytics, remember – he leads the league in scoring by over four points per game, shooting over 55 per cent.
Those figures will all come back to Earth to some extent, of course, but nonetheless these are historic territories.
The team made a Facebook post this past weekend to underscore just how historic: "Stephen Curry's 213 points," it read, "are the most in the NBA through the season's first six games since Michael Jordan's in 1989/90."
Curry and Golden State always seem to be conjuring up Jordan and his 1990s Bulls when context is needed. Last year, when they won 83 games, including the play-offs, en route to the title, it was the most since Jordan’s 1996/97 Bulls.
With that mark now met, it seems the Warriors are putting in play a run at the team that preceded the 96/97 Bulls – Jordan’s 1995/96 Bulls, of course, owners of a record-best 72-10 season.
"Seventy two wins, that's a lot of wins, man," guard Klay Thompson said "I don't know if that will be done again, but hey, man, we might be the team to do it ... It will be extremely difficult, but you know? Why not?"
Forget summer shifts, the champions look like they are competing against themselves, and history.
The Pelicans, on the other hand...
Three teams have yet to win a game this season. Two of them, the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets, are both really bad and nobody expected them to be anything else.
The third, though, is befuddling.
Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans have been unfortunate victims of Golden State, twice, but they still should not be 0-6, sporting the league’s worst net rating (-13.3 points per 100 possessions) and sporting nine-plus point losses to the Portland Trail Blazers, Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks.
Their new coach, Alvin Gentry, came from a championship-winning bench in Golden State, where he was an assistant.
Their new assistant, Darren Erman, gained a well-deserved reputation as a defensive guru both with the Warriors and Boston Celtics.
And yet, so far, the Pelicans have been comprehensively bad.
Their defence has especially let them down, allowing a league-worst 111.9 points per 100 possessions so far.
Part of that is the injury absence of Omer Asik, temporarily replaced by suspect defenders.
Part of that is Davis straining a bit defensively – with all his talent, positionally he sometimes looks a bit off, like he is thinking of some way to defend every player on the court.
Part of it is simply that their most important players – the likes of Ryan Anderson, Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday – are just not good defenders and some of their other players – Alonzo Gee, Toney Douglas, Dante Cunningham – are just not really good at all.
But, despite all that, let us venture a not-too-wild guess that this will all turn around in due time.
Gentry is too smart, and Davis too good, for the Pelicans to flounder much longer like this.
There’s some concerning chance they have already lost important ground in a tight conference and there are real personnel issues to address (Ish Smith and Luke Babbitt should not be filling significant roles on any serious team). But, all in all, this will probably appear like just an early-season blip in six months’ time.
The week that was...
Players of the week
• James Harden, Houston Rockets
Has led the Rockets to four straight wins after a flat start, including 89 points in the last two games on 55 per cent shooting.
• Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
Averaged 32 points per game in three wins, carrying a surprisingly capable Portland team that suffered heavy losses this summer.
Teams of the week
• Atlanta Hawks
Another team that many had pegged to drop a peg or two, instead the Hawks have ripped off seven straight wins since losing their season opener to Detroit.
• Detroit Pistons
Speaking of the Pistons, their 4-1 start, which includes wins over Phoenix, Chicago, Utah and Atlanta, might indicate the makings of something interesting for Stan Van Gundy’s squad.
Duds of the week
• Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers
Riding out into the sunset in a blaze of ghastly shooting nights – 5-of-16 on Friday, 4-of-11 on Tuesday and 3-of-15 last Sunday the latest.
• Memphis Grizzlies
Losers of three of four, they’ve fallen against every contending team they’ve faced this year, and look far as could be from being title threats.
... and will be
Games of the week
• Oklahoma City Thunder at Washington Wizards, Tuesday
A chance for those inclined to read tea leaves to see how Kevin Durant, a summer 2016 free agent, feels playing in his hometown against a fancied up-and-coming side.
• Detroit Pistons at Los Angeles Clippers
For the fans of big-man play, it should be a treat watching Andre Drummond, who’s been near-unstoppable this season, go toe-to-toe with DeAndre Jordan.
jraymond@thenational.ae
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