Are the Thunder really back? Are the Pistons for real? And who is the most disappointing? Our 5-on-5 roundtable breaks down the first week of the NBA season.
1. What was the highlight of the first week?
Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN.com: Now back in business: The Oklahoma City Thunder. While we were debating whether 18 minutes a night of Enes Kanter's defense or Dion Waiters' Dion Waiters-ness would doom OKC off the bench, we forgot that their core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka might be the best collection of pure talent and incomparable length in the league, Monday's loss notwithstanding.
Amin Elhassan, ESPN Insider: Steph Curry, supernova. It started with the opening quarter of opening night and blazed all the way through the 53-point eruption versus New Orleans on Saturday, including 28 in the third quarter. You know that Blake Griffin Kia commercial about being in the zone? Curry has a time share there, and he has lived there for the past 12 months. Unreal.
Tom Haberstroh, ESPN Insider: Stephen Curry's 4-pointer dance in front of former Golden State assistant coaches Alvin Gentry and Darren Erman. That was pinnacle Curry: mercilessly slaying opponents and loving every second of it. Curry has scored 10 more points than James Harden and Derrick Rose combined this season in 50 fewer field goal attempts. I mean, what?
Marc Stein, ESPN.com: Wardell Stephen Curry. I had a front-row seat for his 24-point first quarter on opening night, which he then proceeded to top inside a week with Saturday's 53-point special. Ridiculous. Once he gets going, you can't stop yourself from making stunned eye contact with the person next to you after each successive bucket as if you can't have possibly seen what you just saw. Who in this league is a better entertainer?
Brian Windhorst, ESPN.com: Without a doubt, the Bucks' opening at home for the first time since 1984. No, seriously, on the whole it was surely Curry's awesome start of his MVP defense. The best single event had to be the Thunder-Magic overtime shot-making and scoring extravaganza.
2. Which team or player has been the most pleasant surprise?
Arnovitz: Also back in business: Kevin Love. Between the grief he got last season as a misfit toy and the season-ending left shoulder injury, it was easy to forget that this guy can score every which way. Far more than just a floor spacer and pick-and-pop specialist this season, Love is now driving back door, posting up guards like D-Wade on the switch, running defenders like Zach Randolph ragged, scoring off small-big pindowns and helping himself to anything that caroms off the glass.
Elhassan: The incredible jump shooting of Ricard Rubio. We can't even call him Ricky Rubio anymore! Ricky was a gun-shy child whose amazing passing was simply a side effect of not being able to score and having no inclination to do so. Ricard is a confident midrange artist, shooting almost 45 percent percent on pull-up J's and almost 58 percent eFG on shots after seven-plus dribbles, his most frequent attempt type. Now his passing isn't something defenders can anticipate and play off him for. ¡Viva Ricard!
Haberstroh: Karl-Anthony Towns. He's making everyone who didn't pick him for rookie of the year look like fools (me included). KAT is averaging 17.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in his first three games. The last player to match those numbers in his first three career games? Some guy named Shaq. Reminder: Towns is still a teenager.
Stein: Give it up for Wes Matthews. He looks very, very good for someone who underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles as recently as March. He's making 3s and playing Wessy Wes D already. No injury has been historically harder on NBA players than Achilles tears, but Matthews' comeback is off to a promising start.
Windhorst: The Detroit Pistons firmly believed they were vastly improved and their retrofitted roster would allow Andre Drummond to flourish. So perhaps not a surprise, but definitely a positive start for a team that should be intriguing even if no networks think so; they were scheduled for ZERO national TV games.
3. Which team or player has been the most disappointing?
Arnovitz: The Indiana Pacers. These things take time, so it's unreasonable to expect a team and coaching staff that has fashioned an identity over the past few years to completely change course on a dime, especially with an odd assortment of personnel. They've reaped zero of the offensive benefits the extra space is supposed to provide and lost their defensive mojo. It shouldn't be this bad.
Elhassan: The Pelicans. The hope is this can all be a distant bad memory they'll laugh about in a few months and call a character-building experience, but right now, it looks ugly. Yes, injuries have ravaged the Pelicans' roster, leaving them without a capable playmaker on the floor for long stretches, but New Orleans has looked discombobulated and scrambled, and Anthony Davis looks like he's forcing a lot of shots. The Pelicans are winless in three games, and they have a tough road ahead of them this month with dates against Atlanta (twice), the Spurs, OKC and the Clippers.
Haberstroh: Has to be the Western Conference finalist Houston Rockets. Sure, they're missing most of their frontcourt this season, but opening the season with a trio of 20-point blowouts is the stuff of nightmares. Beating OKC on Monday night must've felt good for Harden on a million levels.
Stein: The Rockets, until their Monday night awakening against OKC, were the runaway choice here. They looked so disjointed and flat in their first three games. For a team that went all the way to the Western Conference finals last season and then got deeper this past offseason, it was puzzling and troubling. Let's see if it was just one of those weird three-game midseason blips happening at the start of the season.
Windhorst: I know the Rockets had a nice bounce-back win over the Thunder, but they still have been disappointing to say the least. Even last night we didn't see the super-efficient Harden that got my MVP vote. The Rockets were still down big at home before they made their second-half run. There are injuries, I'm quite aware, but I think the Rockets would admit they're disappointed early on.
4. Buy or sell the Pistons? (And why?)
Arnovitz: Sell, only in the sense that they won't still be atop the Eastern Conference at Christmas. But if you're looking for a capable half-court team that has the nastiest pick-and-roll finisher this side of Blake Griffin, a competent, well-coached defense and some pretty interesting young wings, the Pistons can service all your No. 5-8 seed needs.
Elhassan: Depends on what I'm buying them for! If it's for a playoff berth in the East, then yes. The roster this season is more appropriately equipped to play Stan Van Gundy's coaching vision, with Drummond as devastating roll man and four perimeter players surrounding him, including stretch-4 type talents in Ersan Ilyasova and Marcus Morris. Also, playing in the East helps!
Haberstroh: Buy. We shouldn't be too surprised by this considering Reggie Jackson averaged 19.9 points, 10.9 assists and 4.9 rebounds in the final 16 games last season and Drummond just turned 22. Van Gundy has this group of youngsters playing some great ball on both ends.
Stein: If by "buy" you're asking if I see them as playoff material, sure. I can buy the Pistons cracking the top eight in the East. I'd stop short of saying it'll happen for sure, because the Jodie Meeks injury is a big one for them. But Drummond looks pretty comfortable in the Dwight Howard role he has now under Van Gundy, who is putting together a decent facsimile of those Dwight teams in Orlando. The reality, though, is that the Pistons really need the locals to start buying in. Saw a lot of empty seats down low at the home opener. Discouraging.
Windhorst: Not buying or selling. It's too early to make any judgments. They go to West Coast later this week; let's see how they handle that and check back.
5. Buy or sell the Thunder? (And why?)
Arnovitz: Buy the Thunder because you like nice things like sleek vehicles that feature the finest engineering, a well-tuned suspension and sporty options. Go ahead, treat yourself.
Elhassan: Buy, a million times over. We've said it again and again: When healthy, the core of this roster is a threat to win 55-plus consistently by just rolling the ball out there. The growing pains will come from trying to incorporate the peripheral pieces and use them for their strengths while minimizing their weaknesses. If they can continue to defend while Kanter is on the floor (103.1 DRtg. in about 82 minutes of action), OKC will stand as the biggest threat to Golden State's reign of terror.
Haberstroh: Buy. They employ Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. The team won't shoot 40 percent from deep all season, but as long as OKC has those two superstars in uniform, they'll be title contenders regardless of who's coaching them. They're that dominant.
Stein: Buy. In terms of them being a force to be reckoned with, yes, they're back. The team D is an issue and the new coach is still adapting to the NBA, but we knew those things going in. The West got even tougher than it was because the Thunder are the Thunder again.
Windhorst: Not buying or selling. It's too early to make any judgments. But I will say this: An argument could be made that they have the most talented roster in the league. With that being the case, when they are healthy, it should be no surprise they rack up wins. The defense is worrisome at times, but there's no questioning the firepower.