The Hottest Hand on Every NBA Team

The NBA season is just a few days old, and there is a lot of basketball yet to come, but there's definitely enough happening to digest a lot.

With the shortened schedule, every team has played at least two games already, and a few teams are up to three games at this point.

Given everything that's gone down already, it seems like it's time to take a look around the league and see who is performing above their normal or expected level to take their team to new heights, or just keep them in games.

So, here I have each team's hottest hand, the guy who is playing above expectations thus far.

Atlanta Hawks, Vladimir Radmanovic

On Tuesday night, the Atlanta Hawks kicked off their season by beating the New Jersey Nets on the road by 36 points. What's more impressive, the Hawks saw the trio of Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford combine for just 24 points.

Even more stunning, Vladimir Radmanovic, who put up double-digit points just nine times last season, scored 17 for the Hawks while splashing threes left and right. What's more, he led the team in that game with a plus/minus of plus-24.

Boston Celtics, Rajon Rondo

I would like to give some love to Keyon Dooling for averaging 11 points in the first two games for the Celtics, but Rajon Rondo has just been too good.

Averaging 12.5 assists is one thing, but do that on top of 26.5 points and six rebounds and you have one damn impressive player. Plus, it seems like Rondo may have found a jump shot, which is bad news for the rest of the league.

He did go on to struggle in Boston's third game offensively, but he still played well on defense.

Charlotte Bobcats, Gerald Henderson

The Charlotte Bobcats opened up their season with a win over the Milwaukee Bucks, which was a happy surprise to the Bobcat fans.

One of the pleasant surprises for Charlotte, with Kemba Walker struggling and the rest of the Bobcats looking on and off (besides Byron Mullens, who contributed 10 off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting) was Gerald Henderson, who put up 18 points. He could end up making a huge improvement this season.

Henderson then went on to lead the Bobcats with 21 points in the Bobcats' near-win against the Heat last night.

Chicago Bulls, Luol Deng

I'll never be sure why Luol Deng doesn't get the credit he deserves, but early on he has been the best player for the Bulls.

Deng has put up 42 points over the course of two games for the Bulls, which leads the team, doing so on 50 percent shooting, plus he's averaged 8.5 rebounds over those two games. And he's supposed to be the fourth-best player on the Bulls...right.

Cleveland Cavaliers, Ramon Sessions

Out of nowhere, the best player on the floor for the Cleveland Cavaliers after their opening-night loss to the Raptors very well could have been Alonzo Gee.

He threw up three assists to go along with three rebounds and three steals, but most importantly, he scored 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Cleveland knew they had a good athlete in Gee when they picked him up last season, but he has improved a ton since then.

His second game of the season was just as successful, as he put up 16 points, six assists and seven rebounds against the Pistons.

Dallas Mavericks, Sean Williams

It's got to be pretty depressing when the dude stepping up the most for the Mavericks is also the guy that vomited on the floor midway through the game.

He's a lifetime four-points-per-game type of guy and he pulled out 12 in his Mavericks debut along with a few chunks blown along the way.

Otherwise, Delonte West has been good defensively and that's about it for players outperforming themselves.

Denver Nuggets, Ty Lawson

Talking about making a statement out of the gate...

I was a doubter when the Nuggets traded away Raymond Felton in order to free up the point guard spot for Ty Lawson, but no longer can I say that, and it's only been one game.

Lawson led his team to a dominant victory over the Mavericks with 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting with three steals to boot. A few more assists would have been nice, but a win is a win is a win.

Detroit Pistons, Jonas Jerebko

The truth is, I've rooted for Jonas Jerebko to be a good player ever since the Pistons drafted him just for the fact that his name is the least likely to be that of a professional basketball player since Uwe Blab roamed the court in the late '80s.

So, after his debut with 17 points starting for the Pistons, I was pretty stoked. He looked like the standout candidate at the small forward logjam in Detroit.

Jerebko didn't fare as well against the Cavs last night, with just eight points, but he still had six rebounds.

Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry

Stephen Curry is a better basketball player on one ankle than I would be on three ankles.

In two games with a limp and a hobble, Curry has averaged 12.5 points and six boards to go along with seven assists and four—count 'em, four—steals a game.

I don't know if he's going to keep it up, but his defense has improved a bit now that he's actively focusing on playing smarter.

The Warriors didn't have him last night in their win over the Knicks, but those first two games were enough to make everyone take notice.

Houston Rockets, Kyle Lowry

I know it's just one game, but seeing a career 10-and-five guy put up 20 points and 12 assists is just startling.

In their first game (a loss to the Magic) the offense seemed to run through Lowry, as opposed to what they normally do—funnel the offense through Kevin Martin—and Lowry definitely benefited.

Indiana Pacers, Tyler Hansbrough

I could have a word orgasm over the Indiana Pacers right here and right now, so if this runs long feel free to move on or read on and bask in the balance of a great all-around basketball team.

Something about this Pacers team just feels right. They are built from the ground up, with most trades being minor and subtle, but have made enough impact to be important to the way the team is built. 

They have the central "star" player in Danny Granger, a big man filling holes and playing defense in Roy Hibbert, an offensive big man with David West, a young phenom with Paul George, a smart point guard with Darren Collison and a bench built to never lose a step. The biggest part of that bench has to be Tyler Hansbrough.

Hansbrough has been a lot like Anderson Varejao was for the Cavs when he was first coming up, bringing the energy and running like wild, but he can actually shoot the ball, which netted him 15 points on opening night.

Los Angeles Clippers, DeAndre Jordan

Sure, the big fellow was nothing on offense against the Warriors on opening day and he crumbled under the pressure of the Hack-A-Jordan, but his hand is quite possibly still hot (literally) from blocking all those shots.

We all knew Jordan could swat a ball here and there, but exploding on opening night for eight blocks and making it look like nothing special was just stunning. This dude could average four a game at some point in his career—it's totally possible (something that hasn't been done since Dikembe Mutombo in 1996).

Jordan continued to be a minor threat on offense against the Spurs, but still had three blocks in the Clippers' loss.

Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol is pretty much the same dude on offense that he's always been, with great efficiency and low-post scoring, but he's really stepped up his defense.

With Andrew Bynum out, the Lakers needed someone to step up and fill his shoes. Troy Murphy has come in to grab rebounds, but Gasol has been playing very good defense, including nearly nine boards a game and nearly three blocks and a steal.

Memphis Grizzlies, Nobody

Quite honestly, nobody on the Memphis Grizzlies really played above their skill level in their first two games; quite the contrary, they were rather depressing as a team.

They didn't play defense the way they did last season, and for the most part it might be because of the way they have played on offense. They seemed unsure of themselves and not ready to step on anyone's toes, which is never a good formula for success.

They looked better against Oklahoma City last night, but they still don't seem right.

Miami Heat, Norris Cole

There should be no surprise here after Miami's win over the Celtics on Tuesday night. If it weren't for Norris Cole, the Heat could have very easily fallen to the Celtics.

The Celtics switched to play zone defense late in the game, and the Heat were unable to penetrate, but stellar ball movement and focus on the Big Three led to Cole getting open looks and lanes to the basket, leading to him scoring 20 points in that game.

Milwaukee Bucks, Jon Leuer

After playing just a minute in the Bucks' loss to the Bobcats on Monday night, Jon Leuer played 20 minutes in their win over the Timberwolves.

What did Leuer do in those 20 minutes? Oh, nothing—just score 14 points, grab eight boards, dish out two dimes and rack up two steals and two blocks, that's all. Oh, and he shot 72 percent from the field.

It was just one night, but it was one hell of a night.

Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Love

Every time I take a look at Kevin Love, I think there's no way he can do something that makes him seem better than he already is. Then he went out and pulled off these first two games of the season.

After two, Love is averaging 26.5 points and 16 rebounds. The craziest part about it all? Fourteen of those 32 rebounds have been on the offensive glass.

New Jersey Nets, Kris Humphries

I find the controversy surrounding Kris Humphries hilarious. A year ago, I'm not sure that half the people in New Jersey knew who Kris Humphries was; now we have people in Washington booing him every time he touches the ball. 

I hope this continues, because what we have happening here is the single dumbest reason to hate a basketball player unfolding in front of our eyes.

While this has all gone down, Humphries has averaged 16 points and 11 boards over the course of two games.

New Orleans Hornets, Greivis Vasquez

Greivis Vasquez hit double-figure scoring just seven times all last season (once was in the last game when he played 33 minutes and another was in the triple-overtime game against the Thunder in the playoffs). He's 1-for-1 so far this season.

Coming off the bench, Vasquez scored 10 points and nabbed three steals in just 27 minutes. Quite the impressive debut for the former Terrapin. 

New York Knicks, Toney Douglas

I ragged on Toney Douglas a bit before the season started, and the fact is that I see him as a sixth man at best at this point with the potential to be a good three-point shooter, but he was pretty good for the Knicks in their opener against the Celtics.

He wasn't really a point guard as much as he was just one of the smaller guys on the court, but he helped with the ball movement and worked as a part of the team. He took his open shots; some fell, others didn't and he ended up with 17 points, which wasn't half-bad.

Douglas shot poorly in the Knicks' second game, but he seems like an up-and-down player that could help the Knicks in the end.

Oklahoma City Thunder, James Harden

It seems like everybody and their mothers picked James Harden to make the jump this season, and there's a reason for that—he's a good basketball player and is getting better.

In his first three games of the season, Harden has put up 56 points to go along with 19 rebounds and eight assists, which has helped the Thunder run to 3-0. 

Orlando Magic, Ryan Anderson

When you have a center like Dwight Howard, you've got to love having a power forward that can shoot the ball.

Ryan Anderson has led the Magic in scoring thus far this season, and on top of that he's pulled down 15 rebounds in two games. Usually a roaming power forward ends up with something like five or six boards a game. Anderson is proving to be very useful to the Magic.

Philadelphia 76ers, Spencer Hawes

When I looked at the stat line for the 76ers-Trail Blazers game from Monday night, I did a quintuple-take and then had to remember what basketball was, as every bit of knowledge I had of it before dripped out of my ears.

Spencer Hawes put up 10 points, grabbed an impressive 14 rebounds and then, just to be safe, he dished out nine assists.

Nine assists for a big man that averages fewer than two a game for his career? Are you kidding me?

His second game wasn't as good, but he still notched double-figure rebounds, which is what Philly needs him to do.

Phoenix Suns, Robin Lopez

The Phoenix Suns dropped an opening-night loss by one point to the New Orleans, and everything seemed to make sense for their team. Steve Nash had a boatload of assists, Marcin Gortat did his thing in the middle and everyone else looked average at best.

Then, I realized something that didn't make sense. They drafted the worse of the two Lopez twins, but the one on their team scored 21 points.

It took my brain about two minutes to realize that that was way above (like 15 points more than) his career average.

Portland Trail Blazers, Gerald Wallace

I know that Gerald Wallace was always able to put up points when he was the best guy on the Bobcats, but now that he's on the Blazers, I always picture him as a 15-point guy at the most, and then from there he just gives them stellar defense.

Well, over the first two games for the Blazers, Wallace has averaged 23 points for the Blazers and pulled down 8.5 boards a game to go along with three dimes, a block and a steal.

Not to shabby, Mr. Wallace, not too shabby at all.

Sacramento Kings, DeMarcus Cousins

Color me crazy, but I love the way DeMarcus Cousins has started out this season.

The Kings have been playing like everyone expected, shooting the ball with very few passes in between, and they're sitting at 1-1 because shots fell when they played the Lakers.

In those two games, Boogie has been a presence underneath, playing tough and grabbing boards like a madman, although he does need to scale back his offensive attack from the 18 shots he took against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday.

San Antonio Spurs, Tiago Splitter

With a name like Tiago Splitter, I've figured that it should just be a matter of time until he becomes at least a good role player. How can a dude that sounds like he should have been a villain on The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles not be a good basketball player?

Well, in the Spurs' win over the Grizzlies, Splitter put up six points, but he also pulled down eight boards to go along with two steals and two blocks.

Splitter didn't have as big a role statistically against the Clippers, but he played an effective 20 minutes with a steal and an assist.

Toronto Raptors, Amir Johnson

As one of the 17 power forwards the Raptors have under contract, Amir Johnson stood out in their opening-night win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Not only did he do well on the offensive end, where he helped tear the Cavs up on the pick-and-roll, but he clobbered them on defense with 13 rebounds and three blocks.

Johnson scored just two points in the Raptors' second game, but he stayed in double figures with 10 boards.

Utah Jazz, Josh Howard

There are really two reasons for this pick. First, nobody else on the Jazz really stood out, besides Enes Kanter and his 11 rebounds. And second, seeing Josh Howard be a legitimate part of a basketball game seems like something that hasn't happened in four years (probably because it hasn't).

Anyway, Howard ended up scoring 10 points in his debut for the Jazz and then getting two rebounds and three assists.

Washington Wizards, Nick Young

Nobody on the Wizards really stood out in their first game, which was a collapse of a loss to the New Jersey Nets, but there were some players that were obviously better than others.

The Wizards put a good chunk of change into Nick Young in the offseason, which has payed off so far, as he put up 16 points on 67 percent shooting. Not too shabby.

Young then went on to lead the Wizards with 21 points in their loss to the Atlanta Hawks last night.

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