The Brooklyn Nets: I just noticed that the Nets are now abbreviated as BRK in brackets. When I tried sounding this abbreviation out, I realized it's not a very good name for a basketball team.

Toronto's team building strategy: DeMar DeRozan, in addition to having a lot of capitol letters in his name, now has about 40 million dollars coming to him over the next four years. That's roughly 10 million dollars for every capital letter.  I'm not saying he's not a good player or anything, but that's going to make him the 2nd highest paid player on the roster after Andrea Bargnani, and after him it's Amir Johnson. As franchise players go, that's far from good.  Meanwhile, Kyle Lowry is making four million less a year. Last night while DeRozan was busy scoring 10 points on 14 shots, and Bargnani was shooting 4 for 15 from the floor; Lowry scored 21 points on 11 shots with 8 assists 7 rebounds and 5 steals. That's some Walt "Clyde" Frazier shit. The Raptors should be glad to have this player, but might want to be a little weary of him playing that well, otherwise it might be a short stay. In a way you almost have to credit the organization for its depressing, but also perversely realistic, decision to select Bargnani and DeRozan as franchise stars. In a time where premium players are flocking in mass to the siren song of bigger markets and southern climates, the Raptors have at least chosen cornerstones that nobody else is likely to offer a competitive salary.

Landry Fields:  Speaking of players the Raptors are set to pay more than Kyle Lowry next year, Landry Fields had the same number of of points last night as he had famous directors wearing his jersey and sitting courtside in Toronto. Zero. This wasn't for lack of court time either, that's 0 pts in 24 minutes. At least he can say he missed the hurricane.

So long. I'd visit you, but...you know.

DJ Augustin: You would think that his first professional game out of a Bobcats uniform would be a liberating experience for the fifth year guard. You'd be wrong. Augustin went 1-4 in 15 minutes. I worry about this guy. It could be an amazingly depressing experience for someone to realize one day that they miss being on the Bobcats.
 
The Denver Nuggets: Now that the OKC experience has been tainted for me with the question of what might've been if they'd kept Harden, I admittedly have high hopes for this squad making some noise in the West. A night when your highest scorer, Ty Lawson, needs 17 attempts to score 16 points isn't about to intimidate the regional powers.

George Karl: This loss might have been averted if he had decided to give Kenneth Faried more than 17 minutes. Word to the wise coach, Kenneth Faried is fucking awesome and you should never only play him that measly amount of minutes again this season. Karl tried to justify his choice after the game telling reporters, "In a catch-up situation, I don't think Kenneth is our best option". Interesting technique. I guess he could try only playing the Manimal when the Nuggets have the lead for the rest of the season. If nothing else it will give him plenty of rest.   

The Los Angeles Lakers: Their 0-8 record for the preseason was weird, but nobody really cared. This 0-2 to start the season is starting to look bad, but not as bad as Steve Nash leaving with an injury on the 2nd game of the season. The rest of the Lakers were unable to overcome their obvious disadvantage of only having 3 all stars to pit against Portland. The Lakers lost by 10 points despite Kobe and Dwight showing up in their turn-of-the-millennium Shaq & Kobe costumes to combine for 63 points on 35 shots. Kobe afterwards was quick to point out that although the party sucked, he and Dwight clearly had the best costumes. Dwight, for his part, even managed to get a Lakers jersey for the occasion at some point during the offseason.

Playing in the finals is totally overrated

The entire Golden State Warriors starting five: Klay Thompson was the only starter to score in double digits, scoring 16 points on 16 shots. Carl Landry was the team's high scorer with 17 points in 22 minutes off the bench.

The Phoenix Suns: Long gone are the days of run and gun. The Suns only scored 85 points and were essentially beaten by the bench of the Warriors. A Warriors Suns game where nobody scores 90 points or shoots over 40% is a terrible, terrible thing to witness. I'm glad I didn't.

Jermaine O'Neal: The Drain himself, who apparently has wandered over to the valley of the sun, looked listless in thirteen minutes without a basket. Must be that dry desert air.