Observations on the first month of NBA action

The 30 NBA teams have been going at it for a month now. So much happened, yet so little of it was revealing. Nonetheless, this was a pretty darn interesting month and it feels so good to have the NBA back for the year. I missed the spectacular plays, the rugged games in the East, the absurd pissing contest of overinflated egos, the wild plays and the all-around goofiness that runs from the hardwood to Twitter. Here are my observations about the first month of action.

• Dwane Casey is going to lose his job. It doesn't matter that the Raports have the best record in their division right now, because it's still a losing record, they are a mess on the court and they are now managed by the warlord himself: Masai Uriji. A man who puts in Landry Fields and D.J Augustin against Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson in the fourth quarter is a close game doesn't know what he's doing anymore. He'll be the first to go this season.

• Someone must've poisoned the water supply in New York. It's the best way I can put it. The Knicks are looking absolutely foolish with Tyson Chandler sitting out. Opposing teams are literally walking through the paint. for easy buckets. Same thing is going on in Brooklyn, except the Nets have zero excuse to suck with their gazillion dollars payroll. They are a confused mess on both sides of the court and once again, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce look alone on their team, yet they look and play a little older than last year.

• The Indiana Pacers are my favorite team to watch right now. They play a rugged two-way game, engineer turnovers and fastbreaks, shoot at an elite level and they have freakin' Paul George on their team. Their team is clicking right now and there's nothing cooler than watching a team that clicks. They play a rugged style that wears teams down, so I'm not seeing it end soon. In fact, if they can keep this up, I think this year might be their year. I'll be able to tell more precisely once they meet with Miami.

• Milwakee sucks. I called it. They are on the fast track to a top pick in the much vaunted 2014 entry draft and they should keep it up. That team needs a serious overhaul and long term plans and a historical draft would be a great place to start. I'm predicting they'll finish in the bottom 5. I could see them land Dante Exum and form a ''We Are the World'' connection with Giannis Antetokounmpo. That would make things interesting.

• I was watching Atlanta-Orlando last night. It's the third Atlanta game I'm stumbling upon this year. Can someone give me a rational argument for why DeMarre Carroll always had issues finding work? He is a fabulous hustle player that I could see in almost every rotation. Great pick up by Atlanta, who are a team that doesn't quite make sense yet, but they are on the right track.

• I'm trying to go easy on the Miami games, this year. It's dishearting that nobody seems to have caught up on what they do. Their floor spacing is second to none and that and you know, LeBron, should be enough to get them to coast through another super successful season. But I'm trying to cut down until it's necessary to watch them. Hater out.

• The Northwest Division is surprisingly a lot of fun this year. Portland and Minnesota are firing on all cylinders and OKC keeps delivering now that Russell Westbrook is back. I'll make a bold prediction here, if the Utah Jazz have the first pick overall next June, they will select Jabari Parker over Andrew Wiggins. They are the only team with a clear reason to do it, since youngblood Parker is mormon.

• There are several reasons why it's good to have Kevin Love back. Here are two (here and here) that are loosely basketball related.

• Everybody is freaking out about how good the Lakers are this year, but I suspect it's going to get more complicated once Kobe Bryant comes back. Right now, Mike d'Antoni has free reign over a bunch of scrubs and is getting the best out of them, but I'm expecting the d'Antoni system to clash with the Kobe-wins-games system.

• The Phoenix Suns are quite a surprise. They are not quite sucking, thanks to Eric Bledsoe being everything we expected of him AND some more and because of random role players who are seizing their day under the sun. Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee have been a big help. I made fun of a co-worker for selecting Plumlee in his fantasy league, but I'm starting to regret it.

• I'm starting to see red flags all over that Dwight Howard in Houston ideas. The biggest red flag seems to be Dwight himself. His athleticism is dwindling, he stopped using post moves two games into the season and he is not taking responsibility for anything. Houston are still a very good team, but somebody needs to take the reins, because Dwight has let go of the steering wheel already. 

• The Spurs have quietly racked up a 13-1 record to start the year. That's right, 13-1. How can you rack up such a record so quietly? Let's ask Coach Pop. Yeah, that's it. They're just doing their thing and they will do their thing in the post-season again this year. Because that's how they roll.  They are a well-oiled machine. Here's another Pop bit for the road. Because we love him.