Catching up on preseason games (one of the few perks of having to pay an inordinate amount of money to legally watch games overseas) and here are my (completely unimportant) thoughts:
Boston v. Philly
Nerlens Noel is still really really raw and not in "Look at that young buck! Just wait til his mind catches up with his body!" sense of the word that made everyone fawn over Giannis. He was slow to react, unable to establish position on both ends of the court, still not bulky enough to muscled up inside, and looked generally useless on defense. His final stat line: 26 minutes, 4 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 6 fouls.
More impressive to me (at least in relation to Noel) was Marcus Smart, who played very good defense at times at the start of the game (that backcourt pairing with Bradley has potential to simply shutdown the wings). That said, his offense is as untenable as everyone said, with him going 0-8 overall and 0-5 from three point land. That said, he still showed good court awareness. But what the hell was Bradley doing taking so many shots? The dude's apparently been spending too much time at practice with Marcus Thornton. Marcus Smart final stats: 27 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls.
Elsewhere, I'd like to nominate the Lakers as a potential dark horse for least exciting team in the NBA. When Robert Sacre is your backup plan at center, things aren't going all that awesomely. The roster is now literally a bunch of dudes who were good three or four years ago with Randle as their one player who'll probably be on their roster in two years. Even if Kobe does have it in him to have another superstar season, I don't see how these guys even get past the first round in the playoffs max. Ed Davis did look alright, even if he made Carl Landry look like a great rebounder in comparison. Ed Davis stat line: 12 minutes, 12 points, 1 rebound, 4 blocks, 3 fouls, 3 turnovers.