We're one week into the season, and some things I see are surprising.....other things not so much......



I'm surprised Shaquille O'Neal showed up in a contract year in such poor shape. He looks like hew's taking nutrition advice from Rex Ryan.


I'm not surprised with how good the Dallas Mavericks have looked. Shawn Marion gives them a lot, which allows them to as for less from Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, and Jason Terry.


I'm surprised how good the Houston Rockets have looked. At least for this week, Trevor Ariza has been more than an adequate replacement for Ron Artest and point guard Aaron Brooks has actually played like a point guard. Its been distribution first, shooting second. And wouldn't you know, his scoring hasn't sufferred.

I'm not surprised how good the Boston Celtics have started off. And, most importantly, it appears as if head coach Doc Rivers is understanding his team's most important statistic, Kevin Garnett's minutes. If he keeps Garnett's minutes regulated in the 25-30 range every night, his chances increase exponentially of having Garnett available come playoff time.

I'm surprised how improved Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche looks. but I'm not surprised that Gilbert Arenas looks like he's lost a step, although that may end up making him a more effective player. I'm still not a Wizards advocate.

I'm not surprised that Kevin Durant has struggled to start the year. Durant is immensely talented, but needs to get stronger and learn how to defend before he becomes any type of elite player. And while we're on the Thunder, I'm very surprised at how much Jeff Green has improved. It looks like the pro game has slowed down for him and he looks a lot more like the Jeff Green that starred at Georgetown.

I'm very surprised the Indiana Pacers look so bad. I know they're missing Mike Dunleavy and Tyler Hansbrough, but in reality, it doesn't matter. They're soft defensively. T. J. Ford is not a starting point guard in the league. And head coach Jim O'Brien is trying to have them run an up tempo system that they're clearly ill suited to run. This team in no way resembles the Celtic teams of the early 2000s that O'Brien coached.

I'm not surprised that the Knicks are anti-competitive. Granted, Isiah Thomas left Donnie Walsh with a horrific mess, but Donnie seems to have lost a little zip off the fastball so to speak. This situation is crying out for a column of its own.


At this stage, I'm thoroughly surprised that any front office on the league would allow Larry Brown to have personnel input on a team he coaches. but that's exactly what the Charlotte Bobcats have done. I guess team president Michael Jordan's "competitive juices" don't carry over to the success of the team he presides over. But he gives one heck of a hall of fame induction speech. Anyway, Larry is mired with the worst team this side of the Knicks. The Bobcats are so bad, I istakenly placed Jason Richardson on their team in my season preview because I couldn't believe a team's personnel could be so bad.

I'm not surprised that Carmelo Anthony appears to have taken his game to another level. I still contend that his upside is to be as good as Bernard King. And with a very capable team around him, this is a very good situation for Anthony to have lots of success on a personal and a team level.

I'm not surprised how quickly Byron Scott has lost the New Orleans Hornets after their playoff meltdown against Denver last year. The sooner the Hornets dump Scott and bring in someone on an interim basis (anyone), the sooner they'll get things going in the right direction. I'm also not surprised at how quickly Don Nelson has lost the Warriors this year. it was incumbent upon Nellie to unload Stephen Jackson before he could start to poison the young guys. From an effort standpoint, the culture appears tainted. Jackson comes as advertised. Nellie's got no one to blame but himself.

I'm not surprised that Allen Iverson is already complaining about coming off the bench one game into this arrangement. I'm also not surprised that the Grizzlies failed to settle this matter BEFORE they signed Iverson. But, I am surprised that the Knicks didn't seriously explore the possibility of bringing in Iverson for one year. He could have fit in in their up tempo system and was a high reward low risk proposition one a one year deal.

Giddyap. Y'all be cool.