Early Goings: 3 Things From The First NBA Cup Week That Caught My Eye

The Curiosity of Cam, Gradey Dick's Free Throws, and Dyson Daniels being a menace to society

Hey all!

We’re at that point of the season where the NBA has decided to get a little wonky with its experimentation. After implementing the In-Season Tournament last year, everyone seemed pretty split on whether or not it was actually a good thing. After all, all games (minus the finals) counted toward the regular season record, making them, effectively, regular season games with no added meaning outside of, uh, bragging rights — if you’re into that sort of thing for a seemingly meaningless tournament.

This year, the NBA has rebranded the tourney into the so-called NBA Cup despite the fact that the trophy (assuming it hasn’t changed) is more of a propped-up bowl than an actual cup, but I digress:

Yet, it’s been quite an exciting first one to two games (depending on the team), with game-winners, a 60-pointer (courtesy of De’Aaron Fox…in a loss), and a sense that teams are actually trying pretty hard in the group stages this time around.

With that in mind, I want to take a quick look at three things I’ve noticed through the first week, even if some of them boil down to just a single game. This isn’t about the whole season or even the future of the season but is more about talking about the guys that are playing well in the moment — and, plus, a few oddities here and there.

First up, I want to talk about a player who might just be carrying a should-be-tanking team to an okay season — at least until they shut him down in the name of the tank…