Houston (USA), Sep 28 (EFE) .- The time of the opening of the training camps arrived for the 30 NBA teams and in them they hope to work with the squads that during the summer break they formed face to the new season 2021-22, the 75th in the history of the competition.
As the work progresses, news of all kinds will be given, but in principle there are already at least six aspects to highlight and follow.
The first is to focus on a new league champion like the Milwaukee Bucks, who used eight players in the decisive sixth game of the NBA Finals that they won against the Phoenix Suns, and keep seven of them.
The exception is veteran power forward PJ Tucker, now part of the Miami Heat.
The Bucks also have seven of their top eight scorers, in terms of total points, from a year ago; the exception in that case of guard Bryn Forbes, who returned to San Antonio with the Spurs.
In addition, Greek power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, 27, played the game of his life by securing his first professional title, with a majestic contribution of a double-double of 50 points and 14 rebounds.
Which means Antetokounmpo still has the best days to offer the Milwaukee team.
While again, the city of San Diego does not technically have any NBA franchise since 1984, but this week they will have the presence of three franchises that have chosen it as the headquarters of their training camp.
These are the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets teams that, for at least a week, will make San Diego their headquarters.
They are all training separately, using three different facilities. The Nets will play in Los Angeles against the Lakers on Sunday before returning home, while the Nuggets and Clippers will play in Los Angeles on Monday.
The trendy team, when it comes to youth, is the Houston Rockets, who have decided entirely on the new talent.
If they wish, the Rockets could do something very weird in the preseason, start with a starting lineup of five teenagers and all rookies such as point guard Josh Christopher, guard Jalen Green, forward Daishen Nix, Spanish power forward Usman. Garuba and Turkish center Alperen Sengun.
There are no fewer than 21 teens on the NBA rosters when training camps kicked off on Tuesday, including five Rockets and a trio of 18-year-olds such as Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga of Congo, Oklahoma City’s Josh Giddey of Australia and Canadian Joshua Primo from San Antonio.
Of those, Kuminga and Giddey will turn 19 before the regular season begins. Primo won’t turn 19 until December 24. He will be 18 years and 300 days when the Spurs begin their season on October 20 against the Orlando Magic.
That means he’s in line to become the youngest player in an NBA game in more than 15 years.
Australian expive Andrew Bynum was 18 years and 191 days old when he appeared in a playoff game with the Lakers against the Suns on May 6, 2006.
There have also been four 18-year-old players who made their NBA debut since Bynum, including Croatian center Dragan Bender, French power forward Sekou Doumbouya, American Devin Booker and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But technically, if Primo debuts before Nov. 17, he’ll be younger than either of them for his NBA regular-season games in a matter of days.
Normalcy somehow returned to the NBA after just a year ago, in October 2020, the NBA Finals were being played between the Lakers and the Heat, in the Orlando bubble, with a victory for the Los Angeles team.
Although the Covid-19 protocols remain strict within the NBA, the return of fans to the fields, as has happened in the rest of professional sports in the United States, have somehow returned “normalcy” to the competition .
(c) EFE Agency