Pre-season? We're talking about Pre-season!?

[MexicanMamba]

Word count: 1,172


The beloved and always trustworthy preseason results are now up, which means that the season is officially getting under way. Before Sim 1 on Friday, allow me to take a deeper look into what we got to see in the preseason though! Will these things be consistent with regular season results? In most cases, probably not, but won’t stop me getting these few points for talking about it now!



Five Surprises:



1. Frank Daily: Scoring Machine (!?)



When the Pistons dealt for Daily, I think almost everyone knew that it was to add another powerful defensive presence to an already loaded defensive roster. The past two seasons he has averaged over 2 steals per game and did so again this preseason. What no one, including Scott, would have anticipated is that he would come out firing in the preseason and averaging 25 points per game. To this point in his career his season high in scoring was last season’s 12.3 split between Detroit and Chicago. He was such a non-factor, that the Pistons dealt him for an aging Ferguson Olney because he was more “game ready”. I don’t anticipate this being a very sustainable result into the regular season, but perhaps Scott unlocked something in Daily by putting him as the 6th man.



2. No Defense in Phoenix



I know the Suns GM well, and his thought process behind putting the roster together that he did was that it would give him flexibility and defense to go along with He Hor and Ronny Asher’s primo scoring abilities. On paper it looked like he was primed to be one of the league’s top defensive teams too. Camp was a big blow to his ultimate goals, with defensive ace Immanuel Quickley getting devastated. After preseason though, he is close to dead last in points against, which is a far cry from what the team expected to be. Granted he did play Zaire Wade, THT, Sneed, and Bey during this preseason run. We’ll see how the regular season treats the defense, but it probably is at least a little alarming.



3. A Cavalier Attitude



The fact that the Cavs have a scoring bump after adding Michael Sneed is not really a surprise, I suppose. It should have been expected. However, the Cavs have so badly needed a jolt in their scoring that I still think it is worth a mention here. After the preseason, the Cavaliers are the 7th highest scoring team in the league, tied with the Clippers at 119 PPG, with Sneed averaging 28 of those. I do think they need to keep an eye on any potential trades to get Sneed some scoring help to maintain such a pace (Jere Bailey probably isn’t the guy you want to rely on to be your 2nd scorer) and really, they should have brought back Scottie Barnes, but it’s a positive start and hopefully a sign that things are getting more fun in Cleveland.



4. Rise of the Wolf



The Minnesota Timberwolves are not going to be a team chasing a championship, but they are a team that should be fun to follow and track the progression of these young players from now to where they were the more recent seasons. Thybulle, Durrenberger, Moody are all highly capable wings that still are not at their absolute peak as players. Durrenberger is still growing. Lyman Bradley is not going to scare anyone with his offense, but his defense is solid and he’s still relatively young. $50mil man, Gary Giles, was a massive overpay in free agency, but he obviously heard all that kind of talk because he just went out and averaged 23 points per game during those 6 games. A playoff berth is not out of the question here and perhaps, it should be expected.



5. The Fang-less Nets



One of the better overall off-seasons belonged to the Brooklyn Nets. First, they flipped superstar Fang Shuo for the #1 overall pick, opening a door to their future. Then they had their entire team ready for training camp, with multiple players making great strides in their development, including Dr. Andrews, who is ready to make some noise individually (23-10 pace in the preseason). He also added Scottie Barnes in free agency to pick up at least a small bit of the slack left by Fang. Going 4-2 in the preseason was a bit of a surprise for a team likely expecting a big step back after dealing their star. While I would be shocked if this continued into the regular season (a -2.5 differential to go along with that 4-2 record does not bode particularly well for the future), the Nets are a team that probably won’t be terrible this season and are well suited for their future at this point.





All Pre-season Team:



Center: Jericho Sims, Bucks. 25.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.2 blocks.

After an impressive jump in camp, and on a team severely lacking in ready-made talent, Sims is going to thrive this season as the 1 and only option. If he isn’t traded to a team with more pieces that take his shine away, this spot is probably his in the real All-Star and All-League categories as well.


Power Forward: Evan Mobley, Raptors. 26.3 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.7 blocks.

Though currently listed as a Center, and he could very well play there during the regular season, he played all of the preseason as a Power Forward and did very well. I think Mobley is going to be a mainstay on lists like this for seasons to come as long as the new Raptors GM can keep pieces around him.


Small Forward: Saddiq Bey, Nuggets. 32.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals.

Nothing surprising about this performance. Bey has been a star and after an impressive camp, he’s primed to take that step into superstardom. Also helps that there aren’t too many other scoring options on this team to pull focus from him. He will get just about every wing touch the Nuggets have this season, and for good reason.


Shooting Guard: Michael Sneed, Cavaliers. 28.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 1.7 steals.

There were a few options that I could have gone with for this spot, but why not show some more Cavs love? 28-8-7 is a hell of a run for this preseason and I don’t believe he will suffer much drop-off once the real games start.


Point Guard: He Hor, Suns. 33 points, 13.3 assists, 2 steals.

Though he did not go full purple as I expected him to, he may instead just kick open the door of the MVP conversation this season. I think Hayes and Dort were probably the top vote getters last season, they both took a step back this off-season due to age. He Hor mostly got stronger and while I am positive both his scoring and assist numbers will drop, they probably won’t have a sharp drop, leaving an opportunity for him to gobble up some MVP votes.


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[TheSyndicate]

He Hor is only purple due to potential ratings over 100, I think…

[MexicanMamba]

He Hor is only purple due to potential ratings over 100, I think…

He came really close to hitting it this off-season. Even if he had it wouldve been very short lived. Though at this point, yes, it's unlikely he actually hits it.

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[greepleairport]

+5