Biggest Storylines to Watch During 2016-17 NBA Training Camps
Follow the NBA long enough, and you'll eventually realize there are a finite number of training camp angles.
You have new faces in new places, teams in transition, coaching changes, fallout from offseason comments, the newly unchained superstar and everyone's favorite: the best-shape-of-his-life profile. There are a few more, but those are the annual biggies. Only the names and locations change.
And here we are in September, with camps starting before the end of the month—which means two things. First, time's up. The summer goals you set to read six books and get in shape will again go unrealized. Good try, nice effort.
Second, and more importantly for our purposes, it's time to start zeroing in on the parties who will slide into those familiar training camp narratives when teams come together in just a few weeks.
Kevin Durant's Integration into the Golden State Machine
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Kevin Durant's decision to change employers was only the first part of the offseason's biggest story. With the usual rounds of celebration, vilification and hot-takery now complete, he and the Golden State Warriors will spend late September figuring out the second part: how to get along.
The Warriors are a notably harmonious outfit, an everybody-gets-a-say operation. They're also short on me-first types, which bodes well, as Stephen Curry explained to ESPN's Hannah Storm (via CBSSports.com's James Herbert):
"We got a lot of IQ on our team and I know we have a lot of unselfish guys that will figure it out. We might have to change up the roles a little bit, but for the most part, when we have fun doing what we do and relying on each other and playing together, I think that's when the beautiful basketball happens. So we'll be able to hopefully transition to that very quickly.
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Curry was at the Durant pitch meetings in July with Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala, so you'd have to think all key parties understand the sacrifices that will come with adding a superstar to an already dominant team. Everybody should be going into this with eyes open.
But the integration process will be tricky. It has to be.
Durant, who is effectively replacing Harrison Barnes, won't just stand in the corner and shoot a handful of open threes per game. Late-game shots won't always go to Curry or Thompson. Defensive responsibilities will also change.
Because of the people involved, it's easy to be optimistic about everything working out. But you're not seeing the whole picture if you think it'll be an entirely smooth process. Watching the ups and downs of this undertaking will be a fascinating training camp exercise.
The Knicks' Precarious Injury Situation
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It's tempting to assign the usual "health watch" angle to Dante Exum of the Utah Jazz, Chandler Parsons of the Memphis Grizzlies or some other important player who is trying to contribute meaningfully after an injury-hit season.
But the New York Knicks are the no-brainer pick because they rebuilt their house on sand this past summer. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah are aboard, and both must fill major roles while carrying equally major health questions.
Colin McGowan got poetical about the situation for RealGM.com:
"These Knicks were conceived over a five-cocktail lunch. Derrick Rose hasn’t been right since the first time he felt a pop in his knee, and these days he strikes the comically pitiful figure of a man who can no longer live up to his idea of himself. Joakim Noah, while Rose was sidelined, wouldn’t let the Bulls sink completely, so he plied his manic, ostrichian trade on a bum foot that finally gave out a couple summers ago.
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Before New York can even begin to consider integrating its new pieces, it has to be sure they're healthy enough to do anything.
Rose looked much better in the second half last year, and Noah could bounce back after playing just 29 games. But injury trends don't tend to magically reverse themselves.
We'll learn plenty about the Knicks' prospects if Rose and Noah look (and stay) healthy in training camp.
Happiness in Washington
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"I think a lot of times we have a tendency to dislike each other on the court," John Wall told CSN Mid-Atlantic's Chris Miller about his relationship with Bradley Beal. "We got to be able to put that to the side. If you miss somebody on one play or don’t have something go right...as long as you come to each other and talk. If I start arguing with somebody I’m cool. I’m just playing basketball."
We have to be careful about overreacting to hints of discord like these, but a few other circumstances surrounding the Washington Wizards make the situation worth watching. The Wizards disappointed in a big way last year, falling out of the playoff picture after twice advancing past the first round the previous two seasons.
The stink of underachievement has a way of amplifying a team's problems.
New head coach Scott Brooks never really figured out how to do more than let Durant and Russell Westbrook take turns in Oklahoma City, so it's hard to believe he'll be any sort of fixer for Wall and Beal's revealed on-court issues. Then again, Brooks was there when OKC reached the NBA Finals in 2012. So maybe he'll have a few ideas.
The other complicating factor: Beal is paid. He makes more than Wall on his new deal, so perhaps he'll feel empowered to fire back at anything his point guard says. If he's similarly lukewarm on the backcourt relationship, we could start hearing about it in camp. If it gets ugly, we may also start hearing trade talk.
Or, maybe everything will be fine. But aren't you curious to see how this plays out?
Post-Icon Transitions
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The Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs are both moving on, but that's pretty much where the similarities end.
Without Kobe Bryant, his contract and his usage-rate dominance, the Lakers will enter camp free of the cloud that hung over them in recent seasons. They're now allowed to grow and build and generally operate like the do-over project they are. Things have become uncomplicated.
How confidence-oozer D'Angelo Russell operates in camp will say a lot about the Lakers' new attitude, and new head coach Luke Walton's laid-back demeanor will be a polar shift from Byron Scott's overbearing curmudgeonry.
The Lakers will start fresh.
Then you have the Spurs, who'll open their first camp without Tim Duncan since Bill Clinton's first term as president. Unlike the Lakers, the Spurs still have Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and head coach Gregg Popovich, so all but one of the dynasty pillars remain. That means we shouldn't expect a leadership vacuum. The culture is far too strong for that; San Antonio will try to preserve its past a while longer.
Still, it'll be fascinating to see what the team dynamic looks like without Duncan around. Maybe we'll finally see Kawhi Leonard break his career-long silence and assume a vocal leadership role.
Two teams without their iconic stars will find themselves in new phases, and it's going to be weird.
A Reformed Tom Thibodeau?
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We all know the rap on Tom Thibodeau, and most of us share in the fear that some of his more exacting traits as head coach will break down the Minnesota Timberwolves' promising roster before it has a chance to flourish. His practices in Chicago were brutal. His playing-time demands were taxing enough to warrant front-office intervention. His intensity bordered on the fanatical.
How much of that has changed?
And how much of what made him such a successful coach with the Bulls will remain if a few of those rough edges are smoother after a year off?
Pay attention in training camp for players' comments about the workloads and the physical toll of practices. Just the same, monitor chatter about defensive lightbulbs going on for a team that allowed the fourth-most points per 100 possessions last year (107.1).
The Wolves have the pieces to produce on D. Karl-Anthony Towns can protect the rim and switch out onto guards in the pick-and-roll. Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine have boundless athleticism and speed. Ricky Rubio has always been a fantastic stopper. Kevin Garnett (if he returns) is a brilliant instructor who anchored some of Thibs' best units in Boston.
It's possible that with the simple implementation of Thibodeau's scheme and better buy-in from the roster, we could see the Timberwolves vault into the top half of the league on defense...or maybe even higher. We'll get our first hints about Thibodeau's impact in training camp.
James Harden's Rebuilt Body and Subsequent Redemption
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James Harden wasn't in shape at this time a year ago.
We know that because former Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale told us so and because Harden himself confirmed it in April, telling Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle: "It messed me up, it messed me up. Just to start the season off, I couldn't work out like I wanted to, and so I went into training camp with a bummed ankle, had to get healthy and had to kind of get in shape."
There's only one conclusion to draw about how this year's training camp will play out, even if lots of different headlines are sure to be attached.
Harden Shapes Up, Ready to Regain Form
Slimmer James Harden Has Reportedly Lost 20 Pounds
Trimmer Beard Set to Run Wild Under Mike D'Antoni
You get the idea. Harden is the early front-runner for "best shape of his life" status. He has the motivation after a down year and a new coach. He doesn't have Dwight Howard to clash with and has a few things to prove.
Of course, if he's not in headline-generating condition, it'll be a major red flag for the Rockets. Either way, it'll be a story.
The Russell Westbrook Warpath Narrative
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This one is like some kind of special amalgamation of conventional angles, and having Russell Westbrook at the center of it makes it all the more spectacular.
Westbrook is entering camp as the unquestioned alpha, trying to establish himself in a post-KD setting. Invigorating as that possibility sounds, remember that OKC may be patterning itself after a flawed model.
"The Russ Revenge Tour might be great for League Pass addicts, but maybe not for the Thunder," Kevin O'Connor wrote for The Ringer. "History shows that teams that funnel the ball to one star with an exceptionally high usage rate rarely have deep playoff success."
There is also the looming possibility of his growing unhappy and being traded. And if you think for a second that his extension, signed over the summer, makes that scenario less likely, just ask yourself this: If you were a team trying to trade for Russ, wouldn't you be more interested in pursuing him if you knew you'd have him under contract for more than one year?
Of course you would. That extension didn't stabilize anything.
Finally, there's the intrigue of building new lineups around Westbrook, staggering minutes and rotations to survive when he's off the floor, and the distinct possibility that his suddenly changed role could blow this whole thing up. We won't get full details on those things until the games start, but we can expect peeks into the early possibilities.
Westbrook and the Thunder need their own 24-hour training camp feed.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com.
