He’s been the best player on one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. I thought Brunson was a fine free-agent signing, but I didn’t believe he would be this good - he has bumped his true-shooting percentage above last year’s in spite of a massive leap in usage. Koreen: The Knicks’ backcourt, led by Jalen Brunson in the starting lineup and Sixth Man of the Year candidate Immanuel Quickley off the bench. Who or what has been the division’s biggest surprise? Immanuel Quickley of the New York Knicks. The Celtics have enough time to turn things around, but the Sixers are looking like they’re giving the Bucks a run for best team in the league. Boston just got Robert Williams back and is finally going to have its core rotation active at the same time for the first time since the break. The Sixers have found their rhythm at the perfect time. Embiid has 10 consecutive 30-point games. Ever since he was a ghost in the loss to Boston, Maxey has been on a tear. Tatum’s game-winner in Philly is one of the few good moments for the Celtics this past month. The Celtics are 7-6 over the same stretch with a slew of games they blew late or had an outright collapse. Since the All-Star break, the Sixers are 10-4 and have the league’s best net rating by a mile. While Tatum is struggling to close games, Joel Embiid is coming alive in the clutch and making a late MVP push. As they jockey with each other for home court in their potential second-round matchup, it’s just obvious that Philly is in a much better place than Boston at the moment. Weiss: Eric’s on the money here, though I’d expand it to the duality of the Sixers’ rise with the Celtics’ (temporary) demise. With the way this season started, that’s a nice place to be. Saying that, they deserve to be alongside Boston as challengers to the deserving favorites, the Bucks, in the Eastern Conference. Tucker into dust guarding the likes of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Khris Middleton in potential playoff series. I worry they are still short a big wing defender, tempting Doc Rivers to grind P.J. With the James Harden-to-Houston rumours circling, the 76ers will continue to be the team facing the most pressure to succeed in the playoffs. It looked like Tyrese Maxey might come off the bench permanently after he opened the season as a starter, but he has retaken a starting role, and their opening five now has a net rating of +14.3. Things started out poorly, but the Sixers have the league’s best net rating (+6.3) and record (36-13) from Dec. Koreen: How the 76ers have come together, and their effort to get in the way of the presumed Milwaukee Bucks-Celtics conference final. Joel Embiid took a step forward by a point going to a 91 overall, while Andre Drummond is sniffing the 90 mark at 89 overall after a two point leap.To evaluate the Atlantic Division’s season, The Athletic has assembled three writers: Eric Koreen, who covers the Raptors Jared Weiss, who covers the Celtics and Josh Robbins, who focuses on the Washington Wizards, for a roundtable discussion.Īs this regular season has played out, what do you regard as the most compelling storyline within the division? Hayward’s Celtics teammates Jaylen Brown (-2 to 80 OVR) and Jayson Tatum (-1 to 86 OVR) also took small steps back amid Boston’s struggles. James Harden dropped two points to a 94 overall, as did teammate Chris Paul, slipping to an 88 overall. Hayward isn’t alone among top stars to see a ratings hit after a month of the season. The biggest movers in the wrong direction are Gordon Hayward (-4 to 82 OVR), Solomon Hill (-3 to 70 OVR), and Seth Curry (-3 to 72 OVR). The biggest movers in the update on the positive side are Derrick Rose (+5 to 80 OVR), Alonzo Trier (+5 to 74 OVR), Alfonzo McKinnie (+5 to 73 OVR), Pascal Siakam (+4 to 83 OVR), and Jake Layman (+4 to 74 OVR). This month’s update sees 88 players improve their rating and 91 players see their rating go down. There’s obviously time for underachievers to improve and overachievers to regress, but for the folks at 2K Sports, it’s all about the now as they offer up a new update to player ratings for NBA 2K19. We are now a full month into the NBA season, and as such, it’s a good time to take stock of where teams and players are compared to expectations entering the year.
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