Meet the NBA Preseason's All 'Let's Not Overreact' Team

Nobody watches the preseason hoping to glean critical information, whether it relates to how an All-Star will perform in his brand new environment or which five-man units a coach favors in the second quarter.

The exhibitions are sloppy and sluggish. Nobody wants to get hurt and winning doesn't matter. But all that said, basketball players do in fact still line up against other basketball players to run a series of 48-minute basketball games, and in them some look and fare much better than others.

Here's a look at a few players that, for one reason or another, better or worse, have stood out, with an open inquiry into whether how well or bad they've been so far actually means anything.

Dwight Howard

Howard's on-court contributions have become an increasingly difficult thing to judge, a never-ending battle between personal distaste and numerous flaws against the powers of nostalgia and consistently tolerable work on the glass.

He's now 31 years old, on his third team in three years, desperately needing to integrate himself with new teammates, in a different (hopefully reduced) role, with a system that ostensibly suites his strengths. Being fair to Howard for just a moment before we dump sand on his head, the guy has played in thousands of pressurized playoff minutes and is headed to the Hall of Fame, so rushing to any conclusions about his effort and/or ability in a couple preseason games is a bit silly.

But thanks to a steady decline that seems irreversible, these questions matter, and Howard's first impression was a nightmare. In his Charlotte Hornets debut against the Boston Celtics earlier this week, he was probably the worst player on the floor. Stiff, uncoordinated, and addicted to turnovers. Explosive snapshots that might resemble an ember of the monstrous force he used to be were replaced by moments when he seemed unaware of the sport's rules. Traveling violations were received with a look of boy-who-cried-wolf incredulousness. Howard was a mess. A few nights later he racked up a double-double against the Detroit Pistons and only missed three of his eight shots (all from the mid-range…).

Which player will we see during the regular season? Do his struggles portend a one-way ticket to China much sooner than even his harshest critics believe, or is he still one of the league's best rebounders for at least another year?

Miloš Teodosić

If I gave you five seconds to think of anything in the entire world more awesome than Miloš Teodosić your mind would draw a blank. That's because right now nothing is more awesome than Miloš Teodosić.

His game is nonchalantly elegant, filled with a canyon of tricks, fakes, and some of the most beautiful passes you'll ever see. Teodosić missed all five shots but finished with eight assists in his NBA debut—he's now second among all players this preseason in assist rate—and the Los Angeles Clippers exuded selflessness bordering on reckless with him on the floor. (The ultimate objective of every offensive possession is to put the ball in the basket, not pass to the open man.)

But all in all his influence was awesome. The question now becomes how much of it is sustainable throughout an 82-game season, and, more importantly, can he shoot/defend well enough to eventually replace Austin Rivers in L.A.'s starting lineup?

Kyle Kuzma

Here are a few players taken 27th overall in the NBA draft since 2007: Arron Afflalo, DeMarre Carroll, Rudy Gobert, Larry Nance Jr., and, clearly the most talented and dominant of them all, Kyle Kuzma.

The Brooklyn Nets originally owned this pick, but forfeited Kuzma's slot in the D'Angelo Russell/Brook Lopez/Timofey Mozgov deal, a decision NBA historians will someday mourn as they do Portland passing on Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft and the Indiana Pacers trading Kawhi Leonard for George Hill.

Considering the status of their rebuild and what they should value above everything else right now, surrendering a first-round pick in a trade where they held far more leverage than their partner (the Lakers only had so many phone calls to make if they wanted to dump Mozgov) should fill Nets general manager Sean Marks with regret.

It's only the preseason, remember, but Kuzma—who, it should be mentioned, is already 22—looks like he's going to have a meaningful NBA career. He's averaging 21 points per game while shooting 47.1 percent from behind the three-point line. If this holds up and Kuzma is at the very least able to contribute as a stretch four on a team that scraps its way to respectability, the Lakers should view all his minutes as the equivalent to finding a hundred dollar bill in their back pocket every time they reach in.

Taj Gibson

The preseason is filled with players who've "lost weight" and "haven't felt this healthy in years," but a recent addition to this annual fall folklore comes from those who've "added a three-point shot."

Taj Gibson is already a solid, dependable veteran presence, but in his first game with the Minnesota Timberwolves he drilled a wide open corner three after Jimmy Butler collapsed the defense on a foray into the paint. If this is actually a thing, and Gibson is able to make his man think twice about helping inside against Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, and Butler, Minnesota's starting five may be one of the most dangerous lineups in basketball. If not, get ready for a frustrating series of post-ups that are the unfortunate result of a noticeably cramped floor.

Towns can already stretch the court as well as any starting center in the league, but he won't always be positioned to do so, and there'll be significant pressure on Andrew Wiggins to improve upon the "pathetic-to-okay" jump he made from deep last season. Throw in Butler, and his need to lift his three-point percentage to a career-high level (assuming there's a considerable shift in his shot location/distribution alongside the most effective supporting cast he's had since becoming an All-NBA-level mallet, this is more likely than not) and Minnesota's talented offensive weapons may overlap in a way that grinds all synergy into dust.

Gibson, who Tom Thibodeau will probably feel compelled to ride this year, is an integral piece, and that can swing both ways. If he's going to start at the four, he has to be more than a monkish presence—though if he can teach Shabazz Muhammad and Jamal Crawford how not to get beat backdoor seven times per minute, or make Thibodeau constantly feel like he's hoarding cats, a Nobel Peace Prize in communication should be in order—and contribute in actual basketball ways.

Gibson went 2-for-11 from the corner last season, and in seven years before that he never made one. This preseason development is one that could actually impact a playoff series and alter the course of Minnesota's entire season.