The NBA will be an entirely new league this year. Kevin “KD” Durant is now on the Golden State Warriors, and Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo have joined the dominate Jimmy Butler on the Chicago Bulls. Plus many new young teams are building great team chemistry, like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Milwaukee Bucks.
A major key to having a winning season (above .500) is team chemistry. Team chemistry is when the players on the floor are clicking on every level, from just being able to cooperate more efficiently as teammates to knowing where one of your players is going to be on a fast break or on a cut in the half court set. For example, the Laker players Nick Young and D’Angelo Russell last year allowed for locker room and personal problems to affect the team’s relationship. Not only did it affect the friendship of the two, but it was messing with the rhythm on the court as well. Despite what happened in the last season the Lakers have come together as one unit and are now clicking on just about all levels.
Despite the rough season last year, the Timberwolves have been able to utilize their two star players, (Andrew Wiggins and Karl Anthony Towns) very well, but they’re able to have other key players come in and supply good minutes for the Timberwolves like the high flying Zach LaVine. With a key add to their team in the draft, rookie Kris Dunn who is in a fight for the starting point guard spot against Ricky Rubio. With a defensive minded coach in Tom Thibodeau, it will be interesting to see how they choose to run the point guard spot with two defensive minded guys. In Dunn’s years at Providence he provided great lockdown perimeter defense and always was finding a way to take it to the hole. Not only do you want this from just about every guard on your team, it’s what Thibodeau loves to run his team around, and that’s not what Rubio can give his team he really only provides great court awareness and finds the open man. So hopefully the young gun can develop a great NBA IQ and provide great bench minutes and points this year in hopes of a Timberwolves playoff appearance.
A team who had an awful start to the season and maybe one of the worst season in franchise history, The New York Knicks. Or as some are saying the other super team behind the Warriors. Now consisting of Derrick Rose, Courtney Lee, Carmelo Anthony, Joakim Noah, and Kristaps Porzingis. Even though all of these players have a really high skill level at what they do it’s hard to throw a bunch of stars from one team into one “super team” and expect them to cooperate together as well as they would like. Look out for the Knicks this year they have something to prove.
The NBA is a different place this, new talent, new teams, and new coaches all looking to come out and put on a show night after night in strong hopes of a playoff run. Fans should expect a long and hard season for their team as they’ll be fighting for as many wins as they can get. Just sit back and enjoy this historical season.