Let’s get this out of the way upfront: This is a ridiculous article to write. And yet, there are a lot of ridiculous NBA fans out there, and it is these ridiculous fans who love to overreact to what they see in season-opening games.
It’s understandable. They’ve been waiting all offseason to see their team and favorite players play, and the season openers feel like they have an outsized importance with all the energy and attention that surround the start of a new campaign.
Nevertheless, these observations almost always qualify as extreme overreactions. Sometimes they end up being right over a longer sample, but we need to allow enough time to make at least somewhat reasonable assessments.
That certainly applies to the five Game 1 overreactions listed below.
1. Pelicans sunk without Murray!
Super bummer news that Dejounte Murray is out indefinitely with a broken hand, which he appears to have suffered on a 3-point attempt, on which Zach LaVine made contact with his hand on the contest, with two minutes left in the fourth quarter of New Orleans’ season-opening win over Chicago.
But let’s not overreact.
Yes, Murray looked good in his Pelicans debut with 14 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. They have lacked a traditional point guard in years past and Murray was going to, and eventually still will, address much of that issue. But New Orleans has plenty of playmakers to hold the line in Murray’s absence. CJ McCollum can initiate. Zion Williamson effectively operated as a point guard for long stretches last year. Jose Alvarado comes off the bench.
Perhaps most importantly, Brandon Ingram had 33 points in the opener. Ingram’s fit with the Pelicans isn’t great with Williamson controlling more possessions and Ingram not being a natural off-ball player, but now with Murray’s scoring production out, Ingram’s offense will pick up a lot of slack and perhaps even get his value up enough to be traded later in the season. And hey, the Pels are undefeated! What are we worried about?
Back to what? If you mean his pre-injury self, you’re making way too much out of Thompson’s sensational Dallas debut in which he nailed six 3-pointers en route to 22 points. Thompson made at least six 3-pointers 12 times last season. He’s going to do this from time to time.
He’s also going to throw in a lot of stinkers. He’s become pretty streaky as he’s aged out of his prime. It’s nice that he had this performance in the opener to get his Dallas tenure off to a super positive start, but he shouldn’t be, and won’t be, expected to play like this every night.
That doesn’t mean he’s not a great fit in Dallas. He is. He’s going to get a lot of open looks from stationary positions as Luka Doncic creates his downhill leverage, and that’s a big deal because shooting on a sprint, as Thompson so often had to do in the labyrinth of movement that was Golden State’s offense, is infinitely harder.
Thompson can absolutely average 15(ish) PPG and shoot close to 40% from 3. That’s awesome. But he’s not back. He’s nowhere near the defender he once was, and he’s not the scorer or shooter he once was, even though he can obviously still shoot lights out if he narrows his shot selection.
Anyone with a functional set of eyes can see that Bridges’ new shooting form looks decidedly different and in fact, pretty damn awkward. He missed 17 of his 19 3-pointers during the preseason and came out of the gates by missing all five of his first-half shots, including four 3-pointers, in New York’s season-opening loss at Boston.
But he changed the narrative in the second half, making seven of eight shots including a pair of 3-pointers that looked a lot more confident and in rhythm and decidedly less hitchy.
It’s too soon to say that the concerns about Bridges’ shot can be put to bed. There was no pressure on any of these shots he took in the second half. The game was a blowout. New mechanics can only be truly trusted when they’ve held up under pressure.
But it’s also way too soon to say Bridges’ shot is broken. We all have Markelle Fultz PTSD, but let’s not jump to the most extreme of conclusions after one bad preseason and one bad half of regular-season shooting. Again, he got it together in the second half. This is something to track, for sure. But nothing beyond that at this point.
Kuminga stamped every square on the “Golden State should’ve traded this guy” bingo card on opening night, finishing with 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting. He missed both his 3-pointers and committed four turnovers. He was rushed and offensively scattered.
Kuminga hit all backboard on two shots — one inside of five feet when he tried to throw up an awkward layup from the air rather than take the wide open opportunity to just come down, gather himself, and go back up . At times he could barely keep control of the ball. He was pressing big time.
But it seems like not just every game, but damn near every quarter ends up being a referendum on Kuminga as a player and what kind of money he’s worth, and whether the Warriors should’ve traded him or still should trade him.
For the record, I like Kuminga. I don’t know if the skill will ever develop enough to be an All-Star level guy, but he can play, and he gives the Warriors an element of rim force and overall athleticism that they largely lack elsewhere. Kumings is not a bad player. He’s going to be pretty good for this team, in fact, I believe that. It’s just that he’s probably not good enough to justify the Warriors seemingly prioritizing him over a chance to trade him for a player that could legitimately help put Stephen Curry back into title contention.
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