NBA: 10 Players Exceeding Expectations Early In 2016-17

Early on in the 2016-17 NBA season, which players have impressed by exceeding expectations in a way that feels sustainable? Here are 10 players rising to the occasion.

We’re not even two weeks into the new NBA season, and there are already a number of superstars, role players and rookies standing out due to their eye-popping play early on.

The stat lines have been mind-boggling, the highlight plays have been jaw-dropping and the early overreactions have been running rampant, even as we try to find ones that feel sustainable.

About a week and a half into the 2016-17 campaign, however, which players have pleasantly surprised us by exceeding expectations?

I’m not talking about the superstars putting up gaudy stat lines like Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Anthony Davis or Kawhi Leonard; we expect big numbers from our NBA superstars, no matter how unreal they’ve been to start the new season.

I’m not talking about rising stars like Hassan Whiteside, Andrew Wiggins, Giannis Antetokounmpo or Jonas Valanciunas either; most of us knew these talented youngsters were due for breakout seasons as they took on more prominent roles for their respective teams.

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But in the category of unheralded or lesser known players, which ranges from young talent starting to blossom in expanded roles to older veterans we thought were washed up, there’s plenty of love to go around. Call them the Pleasant Surprise All-Stars of Opening Week.

Without further ado, here’s a look at 10 opening week studs who have exceeded modest expectations, put up impressive numbers early on and may be able to sustain their pleasantly surprising play for the rest of the season.

Honorable Mentions:  Tim Hardaway Jr, Otto Porter Jr., Harrison Barnes, Sean Kilpatrick, Marreese Speights, Jonathon Simmons, Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Frank Kaminsky III

10. Myles Turner

I know we said no young stars on the rise, but was anyone expecting Myles Turner to be one of those players this early into his NBA career? And was anyone expecting him to be this impressive and this important to the Indiana Pacers so soon?

Turner has come back down to earth since his 30-point, 16-rebound, 4-block performance in the Pacers’ season opener, but make no mistake about it: this second-year stud could be ready for the best season out of all sophomores not named Karl-Anthony Towns.

Averaging 17.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game through Indiana’s first five contests, Turner has quickly filled Ian Mahinmi‘s shoes as the team’s starting center. He still has a long way to go in his development, but the early returns reveal a talented stretch-big who doubles as the team’s dynamo shot-blocker.

Turner has only scored 20 points once since the season opener, and he’s only recorded double-digit rebounds in one game since then too. But if Indiana is going to sort out its early defensive issues, you can be guaranteed this 20-year-old blossoming star is going to play a part in doing so.

9. Goran Dragic

With Dwyane Wade out of the picture, the lone consolation of such a downer summer for the Miami Heat was the ball being back in Goran Dragic‘s hands for the first time since his breakout season in 2013-14.

That year, he earned Third Team All-NBA honors and won the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year Award behind 20.3 points and 5.9 assists per game on .505/.408/.760 shooting splits. So far in 2016-17, he’s looked a lot more like the Dragon of old.

Four games is a small sample size, but Dragic is averaging a team-best 20.0 points, 7.0 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game on .483/.524/.722 shooting splits. Most expected Dragic to have a resurgent season now that he could dictate the tempo again, but the 30-year-old point guard has one-upped those standards, playing as well as he ever has.

If he can keep this up and help lead the Heat back to the playoffs despite a serious lack of firepower outside of Hassan Whiteside, he’ll vastly exceed expectations as a “washed” point guard who already peaked.

8. Gorgui Dieng

Out of all the young talent on the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ promising roster, Gorgui Dieng might be slightly overlooked. After his solid start to the 2016-17 season and being signed to a four-year, $64 million extension, that all should change pretty quickly.

Through the Wolves’ first four games, Dieng is filling his role well. He’s only averaging 11.3 points per game, but he’s controlling the glass (9.3 rebounds per game) and protecting the rim well (1.5 blocks per game). Those numbers would all be higher if not for a two-point, four-rebound performance against the Denver Nuggets Thursday night.

In the first two games of the season, Dieng racked up 27 rebounds, and in Minnesota’s first win of the season, Dieng shot an efficient 8-of-9 from the field for 17 points. The consistency clearly still needs some work, but this fourth year center may finally find his groove under head coach Tom Thibodeau.

On a roster that includes tantalizing young stars like Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and even rookie Kris Dunn, Dieng often goes overlooked. If he can recapture that same rebounding intensity from his first two games of the season, you can be guaranteed people will start paying more attention to Gorgui Dieng.

7. Zach LaVine

Speaking of overlooked young talent on the Minnesota Timberwolves‘ roster, Zach LaVine has a bigger case than anyone for that distinction.

Despite proving himself as a bench weapon last year, despite developing into an efficient spot-up shooter, and despite averaging a career-high 21.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game through the first four contests of the season, people still see LaVine as little more than a dunker.

Don’t get me wrong; LaVine is perhaps the league’s most exhilarating dunker — in-game or in the Slam Dunk Contest alike. But just like Blake Griffin‘s developing, well-rounded game was overshadowed by how hard he could dunk a basketball, so too will LaVine have to change the narrative heading into his third season in the NBA.

Shooting 28-for-59 from the floor (47.5 percent) and 13-for-28 from long range (46.4 percent) is a great way to start, as is posting the second highest scoring average on the team. If Thibs can put all that length to good use on the defensive end too, look out.

6. Jusuf Nurkic

After a stellar, under-the-radar rookie season, all eyes were on Nikola Jokic for the Denver Nuggets. Early on in the new season though, it’s been center Jusuf Nurkic who’s impressed the most.

Nurkic once drew similar praise from the Mile High faithful in his rookie season, but a litany of injuries prevented him from ever building on those early rumblings. Through four games, the Bosnian Bear is averaging 16.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game on 51 percent shooting.

He doesn’t spread the floor to three-point range,, his defense, touch and passing skills are nowhere near as refined as Jokic’s game, and he’s got a bit of an attitude on him. But that brute strength and stubbornness to never back down from anyone is also part of what makes Nurkic so much fun to watch.

The Nuggets traded away Joffrey Lauvergne to clear out minutes for that Jokic-Nurkic duo. Getting Jokic back on track will be key for Denver moving forward, but early on, the front office has to like what it’s seen from the Bosnian Bear.

5. Tobias Harris

Reggie Jackson‘s injury is holding the Detroit Pistons back from reaching their utmost potential, but there’s no question it’s been a blessing in disguise for Tobias Harris. As Detroit’s leader in scoring at 20.8 points per game, Harris has been unleashed through the first four games of the season.

In his 27 games with the Pistons last season, Harris reached the 20-point threshold just seven times. Through the first five games of the season, he’s already done it three times, shooting an unconscious 39-for-67 from the floor (58.2 percent) and 9-for-17 from deep (52.9 percent).

Related Story: Ranking The Top 10 NBA Small Forwards In 2016-17

Will the three-point shooting last? Maybe not. Once Jackson returns, you can also expect Harris’ scoring numbers to go down, since Jackson is more a shoot-first point guard and Ish Smith is a pass-first guard playing at a faster tempo, which favors Harris.

In any case, the fact that NBA Twitter has even considered bringing Reggie off the bench as a sixth man speaks volumes about how well Harris (and Marcus Morris) have been playing alongside Smith. After years of waiting, the potential that the Orlando Magic gave up on is starting to materialize.

4. Avery Bradley

In a crowded backcourt where most of the attention revolves around All-Star/lightning rod Isaiah Thomas and soon-to-be All-Star/lightning rod Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley has emerged as the best player in the Boston Celtics‘ backcourt so far this season.

I.T. leads the team in scoring at 25.4 points per game, but Bradley isn’t far behind in second at 20.6 points per game. He’s also chipping in a staggering 8.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while doubling as Boston’s most stifling perimeter defender in the starting unit.

Everyone knew Bradley was an elite defender, but he’s also shooting 50.6 percent from the floor and a scorching 48.4 percent from three-point range. With Al Horford and Jae Crowder banged up, Bradley has answered the call to keep Boston at 3-2.

Avery Bradley has been underrated for awhile now, but as he embarks on the seventh season of his career, it appears this 25-year-old shooting guard is ready to prove himself as one of the best two-way players in the association.

3. T.J. Warren

Devin Booker is the face of the franchise, and Eric Bledsoe nailed the game-winning three for the Phoenix Suns‘ first win of the season, but T.J. Warren has been the team’s best player through five games.

Averaging 22.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, Warren is leading the Suns in scoring and steals, and ranks second in rebounds. He’s shooting 50.6 percent from the floor, has scored 25+ points three times this season after doing so only twice in his entire career, and he seems poised to make the leap in a Most Improved Player kind of season.

Warren is an improved defender, and though he’s not much of a passer heading into his third NBA season, he simply knows how to get buckets. He dropped a career-high 30 points against the Thunder on the road, and then backed it up with 26 points against the Warriors.

If he can continue to rise to the occasion against great teams, add a few other facets to his game and consistently fill up the scoring column, his assortment of floaters, nifty shots in the paint and strong takes to the basket will garner him the attention that his game deserves.

2. George Hill

With Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward and Alec Burks all injured to start the year, the Utah Jazz have still managed to start the 2016-17 season with a 3-2 record. The reason? Starting point guard George Hill is playing some of the best basketball of his nine-year career.

With Dante Exum still trying to find his groove as a young player coming off an ACL injury, Hill has proven himself as a moderate-to-long-term solution at the 1-spot, averaging a career-high 21.4 points, 4.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game on .548/.429/.882 shooting splits.

Those offensive numbers won’t last once Favors shakes off the rust and Hayward returns to action, but in the meantime, Hill has done his part to keep the Jazz competitive on both ends of the floor as a veteran leader, lockdown defender and efficient three-point shooter.

Compared to Jeff Teague, the player he was traded for in a three-team deal, Hill has given Utah the better end of the deal so far. It’s still early, but with Teague struggling to fit in on the Pacers (9.8 PPG, 7.0 APG, 24.6 FG%, 11.1 3P%) and Hill immediately thriving with the Jazz, Utah fans can feel pretty good about this addition early on.

1. DeMar DeRozan

I know we said no stars, but was anyone expecting DeMar DeRozan to come out guns blazing like this? Coming off the best season in franchise history and the best season of DeRozan’s own career, it was reasonable to expect some regression from the talented 2-guard and his Toronto Raptors.

Instead, DeRozan has averaged a blistering 36.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game on 55.4 percent shooting through Toronto’s first four games.

That’s a small sample size, but that fact that he’s posted such stellar numbers with only one made three-pointer to his name speaks volumes about how smoking hot his throwback-to-the-90s game has been so far.

Last year, DeRozan averaged 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the floor and a career-high 33.8 percent from downtown.

It was the best season of his career, and after earning that gaudy $139 million contract over the summer, it was only natural to wonder if the Raptors and their 27-year-old shooting guard had already peaked.

This kind of insane efficiency with such a reliance on the midrange is probably unsustainable, but if opening week was any indication, “We The North” is just getting started.

Next: 2016-17 NBA Power Rankings: Week 2

He’s not going to average 30+ all season (I think), but since most people were predicting regression or at least a plateau effect in DeMar DeRozan’s game this year, his star status isn’t enough to prevent him from grabbing the top spot on our list.