Palsgrove’s Points

Writer’s note: This article was completed in the evening of Oct. 30, hours before James Harden was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for the package of four role players and four draft picks. Most of the column below is unaffected by the trade, but the segment about Harden and the Sixers is a tad outdated after the blockbuster trade we all woke up to. That being said, thanks for reading, and enjoy the column. 

It is officially the most wonderful time of the year, friends. The NFL is in full swing, the MLB has reached the World Series (RIP to my Phillies), the NHL is back in full force led by a flurry of young stars and best of all, the NBA season has begun. 

This weeks’ edition of Palsgrove’s Points, I’m going to be highlighting a few teams, players, or storylines that I am most excited about going into this new season. As always these are my unbridled opinions, and this column specifically is based on a minute sample size, so if in a few weeks or months I sound insane, I blame the government. 

Can the Sixers turn this mess into a contender? 

Let’s recap for a second. In 2016, the Philadelphia 76ers drafted the LSU guard Ben Simmons with the first overall pick. After a slew of injuries, he eventually took the floor in a Philly uniform and proceeded to be one of the 30 best players in the league. Then, after a few failed playoff runs, he became the scapegoat for Philly and demanded a trade. One incredibly drawn-out sage later, the Sixers swapped Simmons for future Hall-of-Famer James Harden. 

After a few failed playoff runs, Harden and Head Coach Doc Rivers became the scapegoats for the Sixers, and after an insane summer of finger-pointing, public feuds and overall petty actions from Harden and the Sixers’ front office, Harden also has demanded a trade. 

So, the Sixers have to deal with Harden, who currently has little to no trade market, on top of trying to appease their superstar and MVP, Joel Embiid. The window of Embiid’s prime is rapidly shrinking, as is the center’s patience with the front office. Trying to win games and deal with a petty superstar who wants out is difficult enough, but the addition of the ticking time bomb that is Embiid’s satisfaction makes this season one of the most precarious ones in recent memory for the Sixers. Oh and, on top of all that, the city of Philadelphia is primed to implode after yet another disappointing playoff loss from one of its teams. 

Long live the Nuggets

Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets are the reigning NBA Champions, and yet no one seems to care. The NBA placed the Nuggets season-opener at a strange, non-primetime time of day, in an effort to just get it over with, it seemed. On a panel of eight NBA experts at The Ringer, only three of those experts chose the Nuggets just to MAKE the Finals, let alone win it. So why are people so down on the Nuggets even though they have a back-to-back MVP at the helm flanked by one of the best rosters in the NBA? I honestly have no clue. All signs, at least to me, point to a repeat. 

In the NBA, there is more player movement in trades and free agency than in all the other major sports combined. Most of that comes down to the player empowerment era that began with Lebron James’ move to the Miami Heat, but it’s also just the culture the NBA has created. Superstars like James Harden and Ben Simmons can demand a trade, and these front offices have no real way to refuse their demand. So, in a culture of movement, pettiness and drama, it’s a wonder the Nuggets have been able to create a culture of unity and stability.

I would chalk most of that up to the attitude and persona of their superstar center Jokic. Jokic treats the NBA like a 9-to-5, unlike the majority of the NBA who have dreamed about NBA stardom since they could pick up a basketball. It also helps that Jokic’s two best-supporting pieces complement perfectly. Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. are two of the best in the league at their position, and because they have such an incredible player running the offense in Jokic, neither of them is asked to do too much, which allows them to thrive in their roles. 

Victor Wembanyama is a literal alien

Every few seasons, there is a player or two in the NBA draft that people describe as a “generational talent” that gets an insane hype train behind them before they even step foot onto the hardwood. A few seasons back, it was Zion Williamson after his electric freshman year at Duke. Before him, it was guys like Karl Anthony Towns and Blake Griffin. But the best example of an incredibly hyped “generational talent” is Lebron James, and we know how well that worked out. 

Well, what if I told you there was a player that just arrived in the NBA who had as much, if not more hype than the King himself? Well, allow me to introduce you to Victor Wembanyama. Wemby is a 7-foot-4 19 year old from France who has already taken the NBA by storm, and he hasn’t even played four games yet for the Spurs. In this incredibly small sample size, Victor has proved with be an absolutely electric defender, but there was never any debate about his game on that end of the floor. The kid (yes, kid, I am two years older than him) is seven foot fricking four inches tall, with arms like Inspector Gadget, so he has no trouble sending a few badly timed threes into the front rows. His timing and IQ on the defense are already incredible, but the questions surrounding Wemby, at least from myself, are on offense. 

Or at least I did have questions, until Wemby averaged 15 points per game over his first three games, while also leading the Spurs in steals, blocks and rebounds per game. He also leads the team in turnovers per game but, because that doesn’t fit the NBA’s narrative, I’m going to ignore that and just bask in the awesomeness of the arrival of Victor Wembenyama.  

What’s going on with the Bulls? 

The NBA is a reality show on a basketball court, and that’s one of the reasons it has such a large following. Fans have a tendency to come for the hoops and stay for the drama, and there is already a ton of drama in the Chicago Bulls locker room just three games into the season (four by the time you’re reading this). 

The biggest storyline of the Bulls’ drama was the players-only meeting they had after just their first game of the season. After the game, which they lost to the OKC Thunder, per the Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe, Bulls Head Coach Billy Donovan told reporters that “when he walked into Bulls locker room (Thursday night), players were already in heated conversations. He asked if they wanted him to leave to handle conflict. Players said yes, so he did. Donovan emphasized that embracing conflict is key for this year’s roster.”

Do the players really hate each other, or are things just heated early on? I’m not sure, but this team certainly doesn’t seem to be poised to fight through the emotional turmoil that comes with constant and confounding mediocrity. It doesn’t help that Bulls’ guard Zach Lavine put up a career high in points on the Pistons following the team’s overtime victory over the Raptors, and the Bulls still lost by 16. 

Do the Bulls trade away one of their superstars? Do they send away young talent in exchange for a washed-up Hall-of-Famer like James Harden? Do they start a fire sale, trade away everyone and tank? Or do they maintain the status quo of barely missing/making the playoffs? I would rather anything but the last option, but I’m absolutely intrigued by the situation and can’t wait to see how it implodes. 

Dame + Giannis = ring?

Damian Lillard is a Milwaukee Buck, and somehow that might not be the worst thing in the world for other Eastern Conference contenders. Did Dame put up 39 points against the Sixers in his first ever game in green and black? Yup. But did I walk away from that game with more questions than answers? Also, yup. 

Anyone who’s watched any sort of NBA basketball over the past few seasons has seen Dame score 30 with ease, so watching him do that wasn’t anything new. That’s not to take away from anything he did, however; he was outrageously good against Philly. It’s just to say I didn’t learn anything new from that specific offensive performance. 

The Sixers provided a good matchup for Dame for two specific reasons, their lack of a true, ball-stopping perimeter defender, and their lack of extreme offensive depth. The depth piece wasn’t much of an issue for Philly specifically, but it did allow Dame to hide out in the corners against the likes of PJ Tucker and Danny Green. That hiding allowed him to avoid the biggest question I have for the Dame/Giannis Bucks — can they really defend true playoff offenses? Dame was also able to take advantage of mismatches that he had against the Sixers’ smaller guards like Tyrese Maxey and Patrick Beverly, and even though Jaden Springer played well against Lillard, he didn’t get enough time to truly slow him down. 

My questions about Dame and the Bucks are slowly morphing into doubts, and that wasn’t helped by their loss to the Atlanta Hawks, who, like the Bulls, are stuck in the chokehold of mediocrity. The Bucks fell to Atlanta, and Dame was held to just six points while shooting a horrendous 2-12 from the field and 2-8 from downtown. He was also the worst on the team in +/- with a -26 to end the game. 

So, I agree, the Bucks will be good, and they’re going to probably be the one seed or two seed (unless someone like the Sixers or Heat can emerge as true contenders), but I’m still left with more questions than answers after two games.

Palsgrove is the asst. sports editor for the Liberty Champion Follow him on X