Opening night of the 2015-16 NBA season was October 27th, and many of the newly acquired rookies reminded their team why they were drafted.
Number one pick Karl-Anthony Towns immediately settled into his role, putting up a double-double in his first career game versus the Lakers. The T-Wolves played Towns thirty two minutes, and with the guidance of veteran Kevin Garnett, Towns should put up some impressive numbers throughout the year.
Moving down the draft board, D’Angelo Russell didn’t have his best performance in his matchup against Towns and the T-Wolves. He only had four points on the night, which is not the kind of production the Lakers hope to get out of their number two pick. Coach Byron Scott plans “to put the ball in Russell’s hands a bit more often,” since it looked like Jordan Clarkson was manning the point most of the game. This dismal outing puts Russell in the hot seat however, and he will now have to prove that he is ready to compete at the pro level.
In order to draft Russell, the Lakers passed on the big man from Duke Jahlil Okafor. Okafor slid to the Sixers after being projected to go number one in many mock drafts. He went straight to work against the Celtics, exposing weakness in their post game. He scored twenty six points and had a pair of blocks. The combination of Nerlens Noel and Okafor gives the Sixers a strong post presence, but doesn’t exactly make them a playoff bound team yet.
Some other notable first performances included a sixteen point five rebound game by Knicks’ new Latavian Power Forward Kristaps Porzingis. Nuggets guard Emmanuel Mudiay also had a seveteen point outting with nine assists. However, he had eleven turnovers to go along with it, which is unacceptable if he plans to get big time minutes. Spaniard Mario Hezonja had a pair of threes as well as a few rebounds for the Orlando Magic, who are hoping to have a breakout year with all their young athletic players.