This Week In The NBA: Premiere Week

 NBA Premiere Week has truly been exciting. Last week was filled with a variety of performances. Let's look at some of the shines and stinkers of the first week of basketball.

Ayden Whyte

Shine: Paolo Banchero

Paolo has been off to a stunning start. In his official NBA debut, he posted up 27 points, 2 blocks, 5 assists, and 9 rebounds. All of this without even attempting a 3 point shot. This makes him the first player since LeBron James to put up 25-5-5 in their rookie debut. If that wasn't impressive enough, he continued to score 20+ points for the next 2 games. I've always been high on Paolo, all of the abilities I predicted he would bring to the court, he's brought (https://unbiased-bball.blogspot.com/2022/10/5-nba-rookies-that-are-ready-to-shake.html). So far he's a monster and I hope he can continue this success for the remainder of the season and put up a Rookie of the Year case.

Stinker: The Los(s) Angeles Lakers

I've built my brand on being impartial and unbiased. However, I must state, I'm extremely happy to see the struggle. It sends a message that super-teams can never, and will never, work. The biggest issue with them has been the ability to shoot. As a team, they've attempted 118 3-pointers and have only made 25. That means the entire team is shooting at 21% roughly, which is a lower percentage than Giannis Antetokounmpo in his entire career (29%). Frankly embarrassing and pathetic for a team with championship ambitions. On the bright side, LeBron is playing at a stunning level, as he normally does. He is averaging 27.3 points, 11 rebounds, and 7.3 assists. Great for him, but his team has yet to win and is lacking cohesiveness.

Shine: Damian Lillard

The Portland Trail-Blazers are currently 3-0 on the season, largely because of Damian Lillard. After missing essentially all of last season with an abdominal injury he sustained in the Olympics, he has a chip on his shoulder entering this season. He's definitely been proving himself and living up to expectations. So far he's averaging 32.2 points and 4.1 assists. He's an absolute scoring barrage and while I don't believe the Blazers can truly compete in the Western Conference, I believe Dame is making an all-star case in his return season.

Stinker: Philadelphia 76ers

Joel Embiid is a guy I had extremely high hopes for, especially considering his previous season. However, in the first 3 games for the 76ers he's not looking like the leader he's meant to be. It's not that he's been a lackluster player. In fact, he's playing at an extremely high level. However, he can't get his team's record to reflect this. They've lost every one of their 3 games and all of them have been extremely winnable. Their issue is defense, and the issue is in Joel. He is the defensive anchor and can't allow other teams to score so easily, especially around the basket. Hopefully, they can sort this out within 2 weeks. They can kiss those championship aspirations goodbye if the defense isn't sorted.

There have been many more both impressive and disappointing performances but if I were to list them all, this article would be too long. Overall, this is panning out to be an extremely exciting NBA season. Hopefully one we can look back on and call a classic.

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