NBA Early Returns: Thunder And Sixers Emerge... Wait The Sixers? Really?

The NBA season is just a few weeks old but the outlook for the rest of the season is beginning to become clearer. The 2011-2012 season is very unique in that after the lockout the season has been shortened to only 66 games however these games will played over a shorter period of time than a regular NBA season meaning the players are going to be taxed much more so than they normally would giving an edge to younger, deeper teams as the season progresses. Two teams that are poised that have already shown they are poised to take advantage of this situation are the Oklahoma City Thunder (8-2) in the West and amazingly the Philadelphia 76ers (6-2) in the East.

If you are familiar with this blog than you know I jumped on the Thunder bandwagon early last season and rode it with the team all the way to the Western Conference Finals where their youth and experience cost them as they dropped the series to the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder and F Kevin Durant look more mature this year and I truly believe they are the best team in the West. C Kendrick Perkins (who was added in the middle of last season) looks to be in the best shape of his life and, along with the addition of other veteran C Nazr Mohammed, it seems the Thunder have the kind of leadership they were lacking at times during last year's playoffs. Durant (23 years old) in fact may finally be taking that step toward becoming the best player in the NBA period that we saw flashes of during the past 2 seasons. The Thunder are deep at every position and their roster is filled with young players who are now seasoned with playoff experience. I predict them winning the West this year, in fact with relative ease.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the early goings this year has been the tremendous play of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers are 6-2 and riding a 5-game win streak highlighted by a series of blowout wins. The Sixers surged in the second half of last season to make the playoffs thanks to a much improved defense under head coach Doug Collins. This year that defense has developed into the best in the league allowing an NBA best 85.1 points per game thanks to the emergence of 7-ft C Spencer Hawes as well as the maturation of guards Jrue Holiday and Lou Williams and the Renaissance of SF Andre Iguodala's career. The Sixers are currently ranked Number 1 in the ESPN Hollinger Power Rankings which are a unique assessment of a team's performance based purely on numbers (including Scoring Margin in which the Sixers rank first at +15.3 points a game, Strength of Schedule and Recent Performance to name a few) that eliminates the subject opinion of analysts for better or worse. It is unlikely that the Sixers will be able to maintain that top position but it is no stretch to say that this team with it's young, deep and talented roster is the clear-cut number 3 team in the East this year behind the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls. The 76ers haven't been true contenders in the NBA since the 2001 season where MVP SG Allen Iverson lead to team to the Finals against Shaq, Kobe and the LA Lakers.