A Look At Some Pleasant Surprises Over The First Half Of The NBA Season

Jared C. Tilton. Getty Images.

We're just about at the All Star break and pretty much everyone in the league has played just under around half their games. There is still a whole lot of basketball yet to be played, but once you get around the halfway point of games played in a season I always felt where that was a time where you had a clearer picture of what early season trends are real. 

While there have certainly been some disappointments (no, I'm not going to go into another Celts rant), in my opinion, there have been just as many pleasant surprises. I'm not talking about the teams we all expected to be good, but rather some teams that have taken full advantage of this weird season and made some actual progress. Teams that make watching League Pass every night actually pretty damn fun. Outside of playing the Celts, there doesn't really seem to be a sure thing anymore. Every team for the most part is competitive. 

So I want to take a minute just to shed a little light on some teams that definitely don't get a ton of hype but have been much better than expected so far this season to the point where their fans can definitely start to believe. There are stoolies who are fans of those teams that deserve to read a little shine on their squad. 

Charlotte Hornets

Record: 15-16

Seed: Currently 8th

The one thing you just have to accept is everyone's record for the most part is a little weird, unless you're at the top of your conference. For some, it's a problem. But for someone like the Hornets, a team that won just 23 games last season, them being 1 game under .500 with 15 wins already at this point of the season, that is not the case.

It feels weird to say the Hornets have been awesome, but they are quickly becoming a must watch League Pass team. Since moving Melo into the starting lineup, he's thrived

But their success is more than LaMelo. There were certainly questions when they tossed the bag at Terry Rozier in free agency, the same is true with Gordon Hayward. Well, both look fantastic in their new roles. Their other young draft picks like PJ Washington and Miles Bridges continue to improve. Did you know the Hornets have the 3rd best AST% in the entire league? 

Not only that, they have the 2nd best second half defense in the entire NBA with a top 10 second half net rating. I'm not sure even Hornets fans knew this was possible. They were projected to be a lottery team, and I'm sitting here thinking it'll be a disappointment if this team doesn't make the top 8. 

Part of a rebuild is hitting on your picks and spending correctly in free agency. It sort of feels like the Hornets have done both right?

Chicago Bulls

Record: 15-16

Seed: Currently 7th

Almost everything I just said about the Hornets is also true of the Baby Bulls. Don't take my word for it, take it from Carl, a man who is seeing so much red it'll make your head spin

I don't mean to add fuel to Carl's raging Bulls erection, but he has every reason to feel this way. All Bulls fans do. They won just 22 games last year, everyone hated their coach, they were horrendous defensively and weren't all that competitive. 

Here's the reality of this season. They have a higher ranked offense than the Lakers, Celtics (duh), Warriors, Heat, and BARELY trail the Eastern Conference leading Sixers (111.9 vs 111.6). As a reminder, the Bulls had the 29th ranked offense last year. This isn't exactly a small sample size either.

Zach LaVine has blossomed into a legit All Star/All NBA player. You can handle his defensive issues with the way he's playing right now. It gets better too. Did you know the Bulls have more wins against teams .500 or better than the Sixers, Pacers, and Heat? They have one fewer than the Bucks. 

The Bulls were 2-23 last year against those same quality teams.

They've already doubled that number and are showing that they compete with the best of the best on any given night. That's a huge part of a rebuild as well. Can you finally get over the hump and not be an automatic layup for good teams. The Bulls will beat your ass and not think twice about it if you don't respect them. If that doesn't make them a pleasant surprise so far what the fuck does?

New York Knicks

Record: 16-17

Seed: Currently 6th

You can probably see the trend here. A lot of these pleasant surprises this year come in the East because a lot of bad teams are taking big steps forward. Let me just ask you something. Outside of like Clem and Reags, how many people thought the Knicks would qualify for a blog like this? But it's true. A team that won 21 games the year before has basically matched their win total already. Julius Randle has become a legit All Star and someone that they should probably make every effort to keep moving forward. His game has done nothing but evolve over the last few years.

There's also no denying the impact Thibs has made. The Knicks play hard as fuck which in turn makes them enjoyable to watch. Not only that, they apparently are the best first quarter team ever? I'm pretty sure Hubbs makes money on them every single night by betting their first quarter, and the numbers back it up. To start games this team has the

10th best offense

4th best defense

9th best net rating

Just like the Bulls, the Knicks have more wins against .500 teams than the Sixers, Pacers, Heat and are tied with the Celtics. How about this. When things get tight and they get into clutch games, their defense goes up about 500 levels. They own the 4th best clutch defense in the entire NBA. Immanuel Quickley looks like a draft hit, they haven't even got much from their lottery pick and it hasn't mattered one bit. 

For the first time in a long time it seems like this team was built the right way and everyone involved is being smart about their rebuilding process. That's about as pleasant a surprise as you're going to find. 

San Antonio Spurs

Record: 16-12

Seed: Currently 6th

Alright, let's get a Western Conference team in here. Has there been a more surprising team than the Spurs? Sure the Suns took a leap, but after their bubble run and CP3 trade we sort of expected it. The Spurs were supposed to be cooked, in the initial stages of their rebuild and yet here they are, right in the thick of a tough ass Western Conference.

It would appear their playoff drought will last one (1) season. That's crazy. They've done it by getting back to their roots on the defensive end. Currently 8th in the league, that's a pretty big jump from 24th last year. They're doing all this without an All Star too (DeRozan had a case though). In fact, they are the only team in the top 8 in the West without an All Star, yet they've had a better year than the Mavs, Warriors, Grizzlies, Pelicans etc. Teams that we all thought were going to make a leap and bump the Spurs out of it.

Jokes on us. They will never die. 

My point is, these are a group of teams that have not only been pleasant surprises to start the year, but the way they are going about it seems pretty sustainable. You can't really point to anything and say "well that won't continue". The Hornets won't be great at moving the ball with LaMelo and Hayward? Zach LaVine is going to disappear? The Knicks are going to stop playing hard? I don't think so. It's what has made this season so interesting because almost everyone is all grouped together. Teams we thought would dominate have struggled and teams we thought would be terrible are surprisingly respectable. 

It should make for a pretty great second half and it's pretty cool that some of these rebuilding fanbases are finally starting to get to experience positive results watching their favorite team play.