NBANBAIt’s early and it’s messy, but the NBA season is already bursting with intrigue. We’re back.Getty Images/Ringer illustrationBy Michael PinaNov. 11, 1:22 pm UTC • 17 minThere are simply too many things happening in the NBA right now to focus on just one story line, so I chose 11 observations and—based on everything I’ve absorbed from watching games and scanning myriad statistical resources covering the first three weeks—wrote about them. We’ve got small-sample-size theater, aesthetic appraisal, and consequential issues that are likely to affect the season’s bigger picture. Plus, of course, a few fake trades. Let’s dive in. (All stats and records are as of Monday’s games.)1. The Chicago Bulls are not who we thought they were. Just like we all anticipated, the 6-3 Chicago Bulls are must-see TV, zipping up and down the court, sharing the ball, attacking the rim, and looking like a sum that’s much greater than its individual parts. According to Sportradar, the Bulls lead the league in percentage of possessions that include four or more passes. They keep working possessions until the defense breaks, flowing from action to action, constantly moving, cutting, and screening for one another. Everyone’s role makes sense. Featuring Kevin Huerter and Patrick Williams in your starting lineup is no bueno. Bringing them off the bench is gravy. Tre Jones is a pest in the best ways. Nikola Vucevic looks rejuvenated and carefree. Matas Buzelis is a budding second-year star who rarely displays the overeagerness that someone his age usually succumbs to. And then there’s Josh Giddey, who is damn near averaging 23-point triple-doubles, making 3s, and getting to the free throw line. It’s very early, but when I saw that he was ranked eighth in Basketball Reference’s MVP tracker last week, my first reaction was that whoever created that formula needed to go back to the drawing board. Eighth? He should be in the top five! Speaking of disrespect: I thought that Dyson Daniels had made a mistake by agreeing to the same contract Giddey had with Chicago (four years, $100 million) one month later in Atlanta. At the time, I believed that Daniels had more upside and a skill set that made more sense in a winning situation. Last year’s Most Improved Player may still turn his extension into a team-friendly steal, but if Giddey maintains his play for another couple of months, he’ll be on one of the more team-friendly contracts in the entire league: a 23-year-old All-Star who’s positioned to lead the Bulls into a real playoff series, off the treadmill of mediocrity. It’s still worth asking whether this hot start is real, though. Chicago ranks second in win differential, which essentially means that its record is not endorsed by its net rating. The starting lineup—without Coby White, who, keep in mind, led the team in scoring last season—is –22 in 74 minutes and turns the ball over a ton. No defense is allowing more shots at the rim. None of this is ideal. But my counter to that is that the Bulls currently possess something that can’t be quantified and hasn’t been seen around the United Center in about a decade: good vibes! They play fast, hard, and together, and they have a sensible hierarchy and a roster that’s young enough to believe in itself. A top-four seed may not be in the cards, but a step in the right direction is. (And at what point will the Giddey-Caruso trade become a draw?)2. Let’s consider three fake Ja Morant trades. Last week, the Grizzlies gave a one-game suspension to the most popular and talented player they’ve ever employed for conduct that was detrimental to the team. Upset about Tuomas Iisalo’s new substitution pattern—which emphasizes shorter stints and more substitutions—Morant has sulked through several postgame media sessions while showing no accountability or awareness, less than six months after he was reportedly the root cause of his previous head coach’s dismissal.Breaking news: Ja Morant’s petulance has evidently failed to alleviate any concern held by teams around the league that might be interested in acquiring him before the trade deadline, which is a shame.When he’s at his best, it’s easier to catch a butterfly with chopsticks than it is to stay in front of Morant. He’s elusive, electric, and so, so, so fast. The conundrum Memphis currently finds itself in, though, is that Morant’s “best” doesn’t shine through as often as it used to. He’s more of a streaking comet now, with volatile production that stacks on top of the flaws that were always there: Morant still isn’t a good defender, and he still can’t shoot. Last year, his on-ball percentage was 36.3 percent. Today, he leads the league at 45.4 percent while making just 44.8 percent of his 2-point shots and a heinous 14.8 percent of his 3s and playing in an offense that’s 5.1 points per 100 possessions below league average when he’s on the court. That’s gross. So, with that all said, if you’re asking why any team would be willing to sacrifice valuable commodities for someone who’s unaccommodating, frail, and guaranteed $126.5 million through 2028 … well, you probably have an answer about why Morant probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. He’s super expensive and doesn’t have the kind of malleable skill set that, once upon a time, allowed the Brooklyn Nets to get two rotation players and a first-round pick for Kyrie Irving. The comp has enough similarities to work, though, since both are/were tantalizing, injury-prone talents who came with off-court baggage and persistent questions about their character. Of course, none of that truth will stop me from proposing these three hypothetical trades! (Warning: The returns here are low. Like, really low.) Bulls receive Morant; Grizzlies receive Coby White and Zach Collins.I mentioned this on The Zach Lowe Show last week, and I understand why it’s not the most popular idea. Chicago would add about $9 million to this year’s payroll but remain well under the tax. It would also attach $87 million to its cap sheet over the next two seasons. Is that the absolute worst way for Chicago to spend money? Especially if Morant gets his shit together and stays healthy? Giddey is currently making nearly 40 percent of his 3s, and Morant’s fit with Buzelis would be fine. Squint, and you’ll see the outline of a very fun team with real upside. White is very good but about to sign a new contract that could potentially exceed Morant’s total earnings. To the Bulls fans who are finally in a good headspace when they watch their favorite team play every week and are screaming at me to keep my ideas to myself, I hear you. Chicago may finally be on the right track, and a trade for Morant could stunt the momentum this young nucleus is riding. But on the other hand, what does Chicago really have to lose by adding someone this talented? Can the Bulls be this year’s Indiana Pacers, or, more realistically, are they still several rungs below the Cavaliers, the Knicks, and a handful of other teams that are off to slower starts than was expected? On the other side of this, Memphis would get a point guard who can shoot, cap relief, and—unrelated to this deal but worth mentioning—possibly two lottery picks in this year’s draft.Suns receive Morant; Grizzlies receive Jalen Green. This proposal’s realism is a splash of cold water in the face of anyone who thinks that the Grizzlies can get a bounty for Morant, a one-time universally beloved megastar who once appeared to be at the ground floor of a Hall of Fame career. Such a bummer. Even worse, the Suns could look at the age gap between these two players, consider which guard is a better complement to Devin Booker, and politely decline!Timberwolves receive Morant; Grizzlies receive Jaden McDaniels, Rob Dillingham, and Mike Conley.Minnesota is not nearly desperate enough to do this, and I’m not sure what it would take for the team to get there, beyond some behind-the-scenes lobbying from Anthony Edwards—who is smart enough to understand that losing McDaniels (a very early candidate for Most Improved Player) would be massive. But the Timberwolves are still searching for a long-term solution at point guard. A revitalized Morant, Edwards, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, and Terrence Shannon Jr. starting five would be light on shooting. But I thought the same thing when the Timberwolves traded away Karl-Anthony Towns, and they still made it back to the conference finals. It’s an intriguing deal to consider, nonetheless. Broaching a Morant trade would also be an entry point into a hard conversation about Dillingham, last year’s eighth pick, who, when he isn’t losing minutes to Bones Hyland and 38-year-old Mike Conley, has looked lost. Dillingham should get better, eventually, but the early returns have not been encouraging for the franchise, which sacrificed a future first-round pick and a pick swap to get him. At some point the Timberwolves will have to remake their identity in a post-Gobert universe. That day is not here yet, but it will arrive during Ant’s prime. In that future moment, would having one of the most athletic backcourts in the history of basketball make sense? Probably not, but it’d be extremely fun to watch. 3. Joel Embiid’s defense is a stress test.Embiid is clearly not operating at the peak of his powers. The good news is that he’s steadily ramping u and increasing his minutes. The bad news, so far, is that Embiid doesn’t seem anywhere close to resembling the MVP candidate he was just two years ago, and there’s no guarantee that we'll ever see that player again. His free throw rate is at a career-low mark, and for the first time in his career, he’s taking more above-the-break 3s than shots at the rim. The Sixers are painfully slow when he’s on the court, and he's been one of the most detrimental players in the league when defending in transition. The story that these numbers tell is not encouraging. Watching him is even worse: I wrote about the Sixers a few weeks ago but assumed that Embiid would have shown more physical progress by now, especially as his minutes restriction has increased. Instead, he’s still moving like a shell of his former self, with no lift around the basket and waning interest on defense. It’s a bit harsh to pin last week’s meltdown in Chicago on Embiid, there’s a very good chance that the Sixers would have won that game if Nick Nurse had left his highest-paid player on the bench in crunch time. Instead, their offense calcified around post touches that went absolutely nowhere. Embiid should still be able to score efficiently if he can start drawing fouls anywhere near the same rate he’s accustomed to, but concerns about the 31-year-old’s body are prevalent, and the team effectively functions with a split personality when he does and does not play. Some of Embiid’s on/off shooting splits reveal a good amount of bad luck that should eventually take a turn in his favor. But his rebounding rate is at a career low, and even though he has an impressive block rate, he no longer intimidates ball handlers at the rim. When guys turn the corner and see Embiid in a drop, they don’t settle like they used to. It’s still very early, but life on the wrong side of 30 with multiple surgeries in your rearview mirror is no joke. There’s a chance that he’ll round into form and start ripping off 35-point, 13-rebound performances that simultaneously reassert that he’s a game-changing defensive paint presence. Or, for all we know, this could be as good as it gets. 4. Please retire the “Notorious BI3” nickname.In spite of his recent decision to spike a water bottle, watch it smash into a game attendant’s face, pretend nothing happened, and then get fined $25K by the NBA, I still like Brandon Ingram . He looks pretty good in a Raptors uniform and is positioned to be the closer that they need. But his new nickname—which he gave himself to honor the fact that Toronto is the third team he’s played for—is absolutely horrendous. Whoever decided to blast “NOTORIOUS” over the Scotiabank Arena PA system whenever Ingram scores a basket should have all decision-making responsibilities revoked, if for no other reason than that the Bucks have been doing the same thing for Giannis Antetokounmpo for at least five years. (I do love “the Jaime Highway,” though. A-plus work all around with that one.)5. Egor Demin!!!!! Brooklyn’s rookie point guard is not setting the world on fire—his first start didn’t come until Friday night, and in 181 total minutes he’s taken a grand total of 10 shots inside the arc—but it’s perfectly fair to view him as an intriguing candlelight flickering in the NBA’s darkest corner.Stylistically, Demin was my favorite player in his draft class. The eighth pick’s size, spontaneity, and vision are three unteachable qualities that make him a fascinating floor general, someone who’s tall enough to see over a throng of defenders and find the open man. Even when he picks up his dribble a second too soon—a bad habit that the teenager should correct in time—Demin’s awareness tends to bail him out. This is an “eyes in the back of his head” kind of player who’s already kryptonite for opposing teams that go on autopilot defending a high pick-and-roll. He can sense when a defender in the strongside corner is leaning one step closer to the paint than he should be. He’ll whip a pass to a teammate moving on the weakside before the roll man even releases to suck in any help, and Demin knows what's going to happen before he releases the ball. Demin has a long way to go before he can threaten opponents with his shot and really accentuate the creative decisions that are already popping up here and there. But he’s not even 10 games into his career. For now, watching him learn on the fly is the most valid reason to catch a Nets game. The Nets are currently plagued by the worst defense in NBA history, and it will be a miracle if this team wins 20 games.6. Nikola Jokic is an absolute blur.Denver is averaging 20.4 fast-break points per 100 possessions with Jokic on the court. That’s good for first in the league. It averages just 7.5 (!) when he’s on the bench. That’s good for last in the league. Jokic has always loved to play fast. His favorite thing in life—short of an emotional horse race—might be that precious gap between the end of one play and the start of another, when, in one motion, he’ll corral a defensive rebound, swivel his hips, and uncork an 80-foot deep ball for the touchdown. It’s a thrilling sequence. But the Nuggets have never played this fast or been this effective in transition with Jokic on the court. Just something to keep an eye on. Also, it’s probably worth noting that he currently has the highest assist rate since Russell Westbrook’s MVP-winning 2016-17 season (right now it’s 50.7 percent, with John Stockton’s record 57.5 within reach) and is dishing out the most assists (11.9) anyone ever has while averaging 34 or fewer minutes per game. The most creative, willing, and beneficial passer in NBA history has somehow never led the league in this category. Despite his need to dismiss every statistical phenomenon he’s responsible for whenever they’re brought to his attention, this is starting to feel like something he’s very aware of. 7. The Rockets’ half-court offense is a delightful adventure.I was devastated when Ime Udoka scrapped his unprecedentedly massive starting five after an 0-2 start to the season. But given the success they’ve had with their rotation, which hasn’t stopped using plenty of double-big lineups, it’s hard to argue with the outcome. Since October 27, Houston has owned the NBA’s second-best offense—an impressive feat considering Friday’s debacle of a loss against San Antonio, which was so bad Udoka admitted that the Spurs “kind of punked us out there.”Broadly speaking, I’ve still had fun watching the Rockets inflict punishment with a half-court attack that’s been one of this season’s more pleasant surprises. Yes, they cough the ball up way too often, own the worst 3-point differential in the league, and have converted a highly unsustainable 50 percent of their corner 3s. But there’s also so much more here than just relentless offensive rebounding; the Rockets are creative and selfless, and they do a pretty good job of creating elementary problems that most defenses won’t have an answer for. This is a team with no traditional starting point guard. It’s also a team with multiple skeleton keys who will unlock single coverage if help doesn’t come. And they know it. The Rockets run more isolation plays than any other team. One-on-one, Alperen Sengun, Kevin Durant, and Amen Thompson can all either get a pretty good shot or draw a foul whenever they want. And thanks to the chaos Houston sows with all its offensive rebounds, the Rockets can be even more potent when a mismatch takes shape. In 131 minutes with Thompson, Sengun, and Durant sharing the floor, Houston’s offense has generated 124.6 points per 100 possessions, without the benefit of any 3-point luck.When two of those stars operate in tandem, they’re even harder to stop. Get all three together, and beautiful actions tend to happen. Here they are showing what happens when you give them a little room to operate out of a basic Horns alignment. When two Mavs go with Durant on the initial handoff, Sengun and Thompson run a simple give-and-go right up the gut for a dunk:The defense here is poor (Cooper Flagg does not need to be hugged up on Tari Eason in the weakside corner, and Daniel Gafford should probably dial back his aggression a few degrees), but the leaps Sengun and Thompson have made in the orbit of Durant’s gravity are immensely heartening. (Instead of being overtaxed, KD has the lowest usage rate of his career, and he still hasn’t shot the ball from the midrange nearly as well as he probably soon will.)No one's confusing the Rockets for the 2017 Golden State Warriors, but they do still have a similarly singular look to them, with Point Sengun initiating actions, Thompson functioning at all five positions at any given moment, and Durant backstopping it all as one of the all-time great break-in-case-of-emergency fire axes the league has ever known. It would be incredible if they finished this season with a top-10 offense since they don’t have Fred VanVleet. After the first couple of weeks, it seems more than possible. Mitchell’s ‘2K’ Motivation, Thompson Twins Thriving, Diverse Offenses, and Wemby StrugglesMitchell’s ‘2K’ Motivation, Thompson Twins Thriving, Diverse Offenses, and Wemby StrugglesMitchell and ‘2K,’ Thompson Twins, Diverse Offenses, and WembyMitchell and ‘2K,’ the Thompson Twins, and MoreMitchell’s ‘2K’ Motivation, Thompson Twins Thriving, Diverse Offenses, and Wemby StrugglesMitchell’s ‘2K’ Motivation, Thompson Twins Thriving, Diverse Offenses, and Wemby StrugglesMitchell and ‘2K,’ Thompson Twins, Diverse Offenses, and WembyMitchell and ‘2K,’ the Thompson Twins, and MoreMitchell’s ‘2K’ Motivation, Thompson Twins Thriving, Diverse Offenses, and Wemby StrugglesMitchell’s ‘2K’ Motivation, Thompson Twins Thriving, Diverse Offenses, and Wemby StrugglesMitchell and ‘2K,’ Thompson Twins, Diverse Offenses, and WembyMitchell and ‘2K,’ the Thompson Twins, and More8. What happened to boxing out? The NBA’s average offensive rebound rate in 2021 was 26.3 percent. Right now it’s 30.7. There are several reasons for this, including an increase in larger lineups and even more 3-point attempts that lead to longer bounces off the rim. But something I’ve noticed watching the first couple weeks of this season is the number of free chances that guards and wings are getting when they crash the glass: This isn’t a reckless way to sabotage their team’s floor balance. It’s a calculated ploy to take advantage of defenders who are wholly uninterested in boxing them out. Maybe they should get back to doing it! 9. The Bash Brothers are back.When J.B. Bickerstaff became the Pistons head coach last year, he all but permanently separated Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart. Incoming Tobias Harris made it easier to shake up his starting lineup, but playing two bigs who can’t stretch the floor is generally not the best idea, particularly when they start on a team that lost 28 straight games. On average, Monty Williams played Duren and Stewart together for 22.6 minutes per game. But after sharing the court for just eight minutes total all of last season, Bickerstaff has found a way to reunite basketball’s modern-day Bash Brothers. And so far, so good (although Stewart has missed the last two games with a sprained ankle). Usually sharing the floor with Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, and either Caris LeVert or Ron Holland, the duo’s offensive rating in 74 minutes is 10.4 percentage points above league average. (Bickerstaff has also started Stewart with Duren and Ausar Thompson—three non-spacers at the same time—twice this season.)Stewart being 11-for-28 from behind the 3-point line doesn’t hurt but so long as lineups that include these two are able to completely wall off the rim, shuffle their feet on the occasional switch, and create an obscene amount of second-chance/fast-break opportunities, and take care of the ball, they’ll be trusted by Bickerstaff. Additionally, I just want to highlight some cool stuff that Duren—my pick for Most Improved Player—is doing by design on a regular basis now. In addition to honing what may be the league’s tightest pick-and-roll chemistry with Cunningham, the Pistons can run plays with built-in misdirections that are meant to engage/distract weakside defenders and allow Duren to utilize his agility in space. He also now has enough confidence and freedom to go off script and make something happen on his own: If Duren is going to be this aggressive with the ball, it’s nothing short of a game changer for his own ceiling (and next contract). We know he can rim-run, catch lobs, and pound the boards. But stepping outside the boundaries of that archetype makes him far more essential to the youth movement that’s brewing in Detroit: Duren turns 22 years old later this month. This is scary. Also scary: The Pistons are in first place and Jaden Ivey still hasn’t played a minute.10. Who wants Keon Ellis? The Kings clearly don’t.Coming into this season, I thought Keon Ellis was either Sacramento’s second or third most important player. He’s an All-Defensive Team–caliber defender who made 43.3 percent of his 3s last season.Yet Ellis is averaging just 18 minutes per game for the 3-7 Kings. On Sunday night, he was limited to garbage time in a blowout loss against the Timberwolves. Fans started to chant his name late in the second half. Two days prior, the same thing happened in another non-competitive loss against the Thunder. Just when you think the Kings can’t be any more of a catastrophe, they go out of their way to make a bad situation so much worse.If I were a GM, I’d be doing whatever I could to get Ellis on my team. He’s a winning player in a rudderless situation.11. All hail Moussa Diabate.I own two basketball jerseys—David Robinson and Vince Carter—and have not worn either in maybe 20 years. I say this to communicate that I would proudly drop my kids off at daycare in a brand new Charlotte Hornets jersey with “DIABATE” stitched across my back. The fourth-year big man is a relentless ball of commotion. He sets real screens, sprints into his roll, genuinely guards every position when asked to switch 1 through 5, catches lobs, draws fouls through sheer activity, and currently ranks fourth in offensive rebound rate while grabbing a whopping 33.3 percent of his own misses. It’s an endearing package. Just watch all the havoc he wreaked in one stint against the Wizards a couple of weeks ago:His defense is highlight worthy. Last night against the Lakers, he disrupted a two-on-one fast break by sprinting back and executing a perfect chase-down block on Rui Hachimura. Two minutes later, Diabate timed his jump and rejected Deandre Ayton underneath the rim. Both plays sparked Charlotte baskets the other way. As someone who could always “effort” his way into a consistent role by never giving up on any play regardless of whom he’s guarding or how much ground he needs to cover, Diabate has shown some promise in his first three NBA seasons. But what we’re seeing now, with expanded minutes and a scoring average that nearly doubles last year’s mark, is notable. He’s even started to show off some actual skill. There have maybe been three times this entire season when he has the ball farther than 10 feet from the basket and is overcome by a hunger to put it in the rim by himself. Every glimpse of Diabate’s post moves and fancy footwork is revelatory: These are the moments I live for.