The NBA is in full swing with around a quarter of the season already done and dusted. Its around this time that both the Western and Eastern Conference start to show how the teams will be seeded at the end of the regular season. So with that in mind let’s see how things have gone up to now…
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1: The Ben Simmons Saga has hurt the 76ers
In one of the most widely covered sagas of the off-season, Ben Simmons made it clear that he wanted to leave the Philadelphia 76ers in the hope of winning a championship. Despite being perennial playoff contenders, the 76ers always seem to fall short of what is expected of them. Simmons has been a major part of this 76ers team for a number of years now. The first overall draft pick in 2016, Simmons missed almost all of his rookie season due to injury. But upon his return the following season he emerged as a breakout star alongside center Joel Embid.
Together Embid and Simmons have been the faces of the 76ers for the last 4 years with fans being told numerous times by the former “trust the process”. But it now appears this partnership is crashing down. After making it to the eastern conference final in the 2018/19 season only to have their hearts broken by Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors, the next two seasons saw the 76ers exit the playoffs in the first round (2019/20) and the second round (2020/21) with Simmons seeing a drop in production. During the summer Simmons decided enough was enough and tried to force a move away from the team by refusing to play. This has enraged not only 76ers fans but Simmons’ teammates, many of whom feel betrayed by their star man. Simmons is even rumored to be broke due to the number of fines he is incurring.
The trouble for Simmons is, he is not helping himself in trying to secure a move away. Most teams will be deterred by his actions that have been described as “entirely unprofessional” by some. Not only this but whilst Simmons is a high quality player who can dominate above the rim he does have a few large wholes in his game, most notably his complete lack of an outside shot. In a league dominated by superstars who can score on every level, Simmons is limiting himself as most of his points come from inside the paint.
Simmons’ actions have clearly had an effect on the rest of the 76ers team. After finishing with the number one seed in the East last season, the Sixers now sit 8th with ten wins and nine losses. Joel Embid is trying his best but he is used to having his energetic number 2 beside him and without Simmons filling that role, the 76ers could be in for a long season.
2: Steph And The Warriors Are Finally Back
After a two-odd-year hiatus, the Golden State Warriors are finally back at the top of the Western Conference, and it’s mainly thanks to the brilliance of Stephan Curry. Since Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson were injured in the 2018/19 finals against the Raptors, the Warriors have been on a downwards spiral. Durant left for Brooklyn the following season and Thompson is still not fully fit even after two years. The burden of leading this young, inexperienced Warriors team fell on the shoulders of Steph and he’s been trying his best to get his team back to the top, and it finally looks like he’s done it.
The Warriors are top of the Western Conference with the best record in the league having only lost two out of eighteen games and Steph has been on fire all season long. This season is different though. We are used to seeing Steph on the court alongside at least one other superstar, but his fellow splash brother Klay Thompson is still not fully fit, Durant left two years ago and Draymond Green is not the player he used to be. It’s worth remembering that not too long ago, the Warriors starting five was Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and DeMarcus Cousins, probably the most talented starting five we have ever seen. But this season he is doing it on his own, well kind of.
Whilst Steph has been undeniably brilliant, he has been helped by his younger teammates, with Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney, and Jordan Poole taking on more of the workload. Draymond Green is, despite no longer scoring as much as he used to, still one of the best defensive rebounders in the league and a presence on defense. All these things are taking a lot of the pressure of Steph who looks more relaxed than he has done these last few years and this is reflected in his game.
Warriors coach Steve Kurr will be extremely happy with how his guys have been playing and will hope that if they keep it up they could be headed for another championship.
3: Chicago Are Contenders Again
After years of disappointment and letdowns, the Chicago Bulls may finally have got a team together that could make deep playoff runs for the next couple of seasons. They haven’t been to the NBA finals since that fabled 1998 season with Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson. They haven’t really been good since 2011 during the Derrick Rose era. One of the most passionate groups of fans in the league have been left disappointed season after season with the city of Chicago crying out for some sort of success. Well, they may finally have found it.
It’s still early days and there is a lot of the regular season left to play, but the Bulls are looking very strong and are undoubtedly the surprise package in the East. After last season’s disappointing eleventh place finish the Bulls front office made some very smart trades, bringing in Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, and DeMar DeRozan. These trades have greatly improved the depth of the Bulls as they have added three quality players to the already solid core of Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic.
Lonzo Ball is growing into one of the best distributors in the league, Vucevic is a beast on the interior, Zach Lavine is one of the best above the rim players in the league, and Alex Caruso could be a future sixth man of the year. But for me, it’s been DeMar DeRozan who is intrigued me most. DeRozan hasn’t had the best of it these last few years. After being traded from the Raptors to the San Antonio Spurs in 2018, DeRozan had 3 relatively unremarkable seasons. The four-time all-star seemed to go under the radar and suffered a lot in an underperforming team. Now though, he appears to have been reborn and is enjoying an MVP caliber season with the Bulls. He has been outstanding for them so far this season and is a major reason they are third in the East.
We haven’t seen the Bulls have a star like this since the days of D Rose in the early 2010s and DeRozan is relishing this but it’s not just him, everyone on that team is doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. Chicago finally look like they could at least make a decent playoff run this year and their fans deserve it.
