Written and media by Christian Caldozo.
With summer ending and fall approaching, it is about that time of the year again when NBA basketball makes a return! The offseason of 2017 has to be one of the most exciting off-seasons. This offseason included many big trades, a free agent signing frenzy, and a very good rookie class, in which the NBA has not seen in a while. With only one week until the regular season starts, fans are anticipating a great season for the NBA.
In only one week there have been many impressions made about the new super teams, as well as the old, familiar teams. Starting with day one of the NBA preseason, the defending champs known as the Golden State Warriors look better than ever and appear ready for another championship. Although they had lost to the Nuggets, one can still see the high-powered team is ready to start the season. No doubt about it, the NBA will see Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry rise to be MVP candidates for this season. Moving along to southern California, the NBA looks at the highly anticipated Los Angeles Lakers. With all the hype surrounding rookie Lonzo Ball, fans are expecting a great preseason debut from him. He did not necessarily live up to expectation as he only posted five points, eight assists, and seven rebounds. Regardless, there are still high expectations for the summer league MVP.
The new super teams of the NBA start with the Oklahoma City Thunder. New faces Paul George and Carmelo Anthony added 34 points combined in their first preseason game against the Houston Rockets. The addition of Chris Paul helped the Rockets to get the win over the Thunder. This is largely due in part to his addition of 11 points and seven assists. The new era Celtics also offer hope with new players Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. Both added 14 points combined and came out victorious over the Charlotte Hornets. Lastly, the Minnesota Timberwolves also made a victory during their first day of preseason action against the Lakers. Their “Big Three,” which consists of Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Jimmy Butler, combined for 34 points.
With all the anticipation of the new teams and rookies, one can say it was expected for this first week to go as well as it did. However, one player caught everyone by surprise. That player happens to be Kyle Kuzma of the Los Angeles Lakers. So far in this preseason, he has been putting up impressive numbers averaging 19.5 points per game and four rebound per game, with only four games in the preseason so far. This is impressive considering he was the 27th pick of this year’s draft, and critics are starting to ask if Kyle Kuzma is the real deal. If he keeps playing like this, he can without a doubt make a run for the Rookie of the Year.
With the first week of the preseason done, fans are overall excited for the regular season to begin. With such interesting teams this year, one can expect a very eventful season consisting of new rivalries, faces, and teams. If you haven’t already, be sure to watch the season opener of the NBA that aired on October 17!
