Friendly Bounce Open Run: Bradley Beal beats the Spurs and Steph Curry puts on another show

Welcome back to the Friendly Bounce Open Run.

The Washington Wizards Will Be Fine With or Without Kevin Durant

by Matt Cianfrone (@Matt_Cianfrone)

The future of the Washington Wizards can change in a big way this summer based on the decision of just one player. If Kevin Durant decides to return home and play for the Wizards, Washington instantly becomes one of the favorites to win the NBA title for a long time. If he doesn’t Washington must rely on the core of players they have now with some internal growth to get to the point of being considered a contender.

Luckily for Washington, that two person core is pretty good and they showed it again on Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs. Bradley Beal’s game winning three got all of the highlights but the impact of Beal and John Wall went way beyond just one shot. The two combined for 42 points, 17 assists, and seven rebounds and down the stretch made every play for the Wizards.

There was Wall flying around the floor throwing absolutely perfect passes to create open shot after open shot for the Wizards. There was Beal pulling the defense all over the floor and knocking down a few big jumpers, leaving anyone responsible for helping on Wall drives in a bind. The two also made big plays on defense, including Wall making Kawhi Leonard work for a tough make late.

So yeah, Kevin Durant would be a huge get for the Washington Wizards this summer, but if that doesn’t happen, the Wizards are still in a great place thanks to a wonderful young backcourt that plenty of NBA teams would kill to have. Wednesday was just a reminder of that.

Who cares if the Magic win? They’re too fun.

by Chris Barnewall (@ChrisBarnewall)

The Orlando Magic are one of the most fun young teams in the NBA so far this season, and it’s made them one of the best options on League Pass. However, despite being real fun, they can’t seem to put games away at the end. All of their losses so far have been in the single digits, and two of have come during overtime. With only one win to their name it’s easy to dismiss them as a team not worth watching, because they aren’t good.

While it’s too early to figure out if the Magic are good or not, one thing that’s obvious is that how many games they lose really shouldn’t matter. Orlando is fresh, they’re young, and they fight as hard as they can for the entire game. When James Harden drove in to extend the Rockets lead to six it looked as if the Magic were done for. They were tired, on the road, and it was a back to back. Nobody would have blamed them for folding and taking the loss. Instead, Orlando kept fighting and gave themselves a chance to send it into a second overtime before their 3-point attempt fell short. This group is too young to know when they’re supposed to just accept a loss.

The Magic probably won’t win a huge amount of games this year, but that’s okay since they will never be boring to watch. If you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and watch Orlando so you can enjoy Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton, and Aaron Gordon. You won’t regret it.

Pelicans are in big trouble, thanks to injuries and poor management

By: Zach Oliver (@ZachOliverNBA)

The New Orleans Pelicans are one of four teams without a win yet, and while a lot of that can be contributed to their rash of injuries, the team has struggled all-around. With two games against the Atlanta Hawks, two against the Dallas Mavericks and a date with the Toronto Raptors, one of the league’s two remaining unbeaten teams, over the next week, things could get much worse for the lifeless Pelicans.

New Orleans’ struggles can be traced back to the summer, though, when the team made a string of poor decisions. First, keeping general manager Dell Demps, who hadn’t done a good job since taking over, killed them due to Demps’ incompetence in putting a roster together with balance around one of the best players in the league, Anthony Davis.

After signing Davis to the biggest contract in NBA history (for now), Demps went and blew a combined $78 million over the next five years on two below average centers in Omer Asik and Alexis Ajinca. While they needed to keep a center around, Demps could’ve found better uses for that money, and players who would compliment the pieces he already had in place.

Those two contracts ate up all of the Pelicans potential cap space this summer, putting them into a box that has no outs. The only way they can improve their team mid-season will be to trade smooth shooting big man Ryan Anderson, their best bench player, and someone who may not command a large return because of his contract, which is due to expire at the conclusion of the season.

The cherry on top came prior to the team signing Asik and Ajinca, however, in the form of coach Alvin Gentry. Gentry, who was coming off a championship with the Golden State Warriors, is by all accounts a very poor head coach. He’s had very minimal success in his previous stops, and his teams always struggle on the defensive end, something that’s hampered the Pelicans in the early going.

It’s still early, so the Pelicans have time to turn things around. That being said, it could get even more out of hand, and fast, especially if they aren’t able to get players back and keep them healthy.

It’s a shame to see them in this position, especially with someone as talented as Davis in the fold, but the Pelicans are in big trouble, and it doesn’t look to be getting better anytime soon.

Is there reason to worry about the Bulls this early?

By Ryne Prinz (@ryneprinz)

Through the first five games of the season, the Chicago Bulls stand at 3-2. They’ve beaten the shorthanded Cavs, the young Magic, and the Nets. The Pistons gave them a loss in overtime, and the Hornets absolutely slaughtered Chicago two nights ago. They will have losses like this, and their record isn’t entirely reflective of the team’s situation.

Let me preface this by saying that this is only a slight worry. It’s like I’m not entirely sure if I started the laundry machine type-of-worry. But this feeling exists nonetheless.

Jimmy Butler has been fabulous in the first week of the season. He’s by far their best player, as he’s their leading scorer and premier wing defender. Tony Snell and Doug McDermott have filled in well for the injured Mike Dunleavy at the other wing position. At this point, you have to trust that Derrick Rose will play into form.

Thus far, that’s the extent of my comfort. The offense has still been a little funky, and that can partially be credited to the adjustment period that comes with the coaching change. Defensively, the team has played well, but there are definitely holes that must be patched up.

The Bulls haven’t been able to find lineups that mesh together and provide reliability on both sides of the court, especially with their big men. They’ve started the year starting Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic in the front court — a pair who don’t necessarily provide stifling interior defense. Joakim Noah has been a Defensive Player of the Year before and provides energy, but he’s been nearly useless on offense. Noah and Taj Gibson haven’t played as well together as they have in the past. Bobby Portis could provide rebounding and activity off the bench, but he’s the fifth man of the rotation. For a front court that’s seemingly so deep, the Bulls haven’t struck a balance that doesn’t leave leave them limited on one side of the ball.

Obviously there is more than enough time for Chicago to solve these problems, and they have more than enough pieces to do so. But they’ll be depending heavily on Noah’s health and Fred Hoiberg’s ability to create lineups that work well together.

~LeBron James power dunk interlude~

Jahlil Okafor is quickly becoming a channel-changing phenomenon

By: Donnie Kolakowski (@donniebuckets)

Even ardent supporters of the rebuild in Philadelphia have to admit that the team hasn’t been very fun to watch the last couple of years.

The team improved defensively last year, but was still horrible overall. Moreover, the team didn’t have a single player capable of making a game watchable all by himself.

That’s not to say no one was good or fun to watch on the team. Nerlens Noel is a lot of fun to watch, and Robert Covington has moments when he’s hot. But there wasn’t a single player worth changing the channel for.

That’s fine. There are much better teams with the same type of team. Boston has Isaiah Thomas, who’s fun, but not quite at channel-changing level. But for bad or mediocre teams, having one player who is a ton of fun to watch when he gets going improves the experience tenfold.

Jahlil Okafor is quickly becoming that player. He’s so exciting to watch in the post, because he’s as advanced with his footwork as any prospect that has come into the league in a long time.

Okafor has a counter for every post move he has, and knows what to do to get different defenders off balance. He already seems to be using a pump fake more against jumpy big men, and uses a quick step inside to get position against smaller defenders he knows can’t block him.

The best part about watching Okafor has to be his face up game. He’s slowly added more and more to his face up game since high school, including an always-improving midrange jumper. The definitive nature of his first step makes him so tough to guard. There are quicker big men, but not many who understand what to do in the post at his age.

Karl Anthony-Towns has been a monster, and clearly looks like the best player in the draft thus far. But Philadelphia fans can’t be mad about getting Okafor. A player worth turning the channel for doesn’t guarantee success is on its way. But it’s a good start.

Steph Curry is so much fun

By: Jack Maloney (@jackhaveitall)

I’m not breaking any ground here, but damn man, Steph Curry is so much fun. Every time he gets even a little bit of space you perk up, because you just expect he’s going to do something ridiculous. And most of the time your faith is rewarded.

Last night’s few-minute jaunt in the fourth quarter was just so ridiculous. 13 straight points for the Warriors, including three three-pointers. And two of them were from 27 feet! Twenty. Seven. Feet. That’s three feet behind the line and on neither occasion was the shot clock running down, that’s just where he felt like shooting from.

The Warriors are really going to go 82-0 while Steph averages 30 points on 50-50-90 shooting. What a time to be alive.