NBA Season's Earliest Surprises

This NBA season has provided some early surprises.

1. The Charlotte Bobcats have actually won some games.  With a new, inexperienced coach, I assumed they would be terrible as usual.  They currently have a respectable record at 5-4.  It is still early, and they are still the Bobcats, but we shall see.
2. The Lakers started off very slowly.  They fired their head coach after 5 games and they hired D'antoni over Phil Jackson.  And, they made Phil believe he had the job before they hired a man who has never made it to the NBA Finals.  For the record, Phil has 11 NBA Championship rings.  Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense (insert sarcasm).
3. The Brooklyn Nets are gelling much faster than I imagined.  They appear to be a top 4 team in the Eastern Conference already.  I am interested in seeing if they can keep up their early success.
4. The Los Angeles Clippers look like an NBA Championship ready team.  Blake Griffin is settling into his role.  I really don't think he is as skilled as some people previouly thought.  Deandre Jordan is slowing, but surely, developing an offensive game.  Chris Paul is, well, Chris Paul.  Jamal Crawford is playing out of his mind.  Their bench mob is clicking on all cylinders and that group will only improve once Chauncey Billups and Grant Hill come back. 
5. The Memphis Grizzlies look great as well.  When many teams are going to "small ball" philosophy, they are sticking to their same model.  Rudy Gay is healthy and he and Kevin Durant really battled a few weeks ago.  Zach Randolph is healthy and is back to his old ways.  They are an elite team in the west, but their weak bench is something to monitor.
6. The New York Knicks have the best record in the NBA.  The New York Knicks have the best record in the NBA.  It is hard to believe and I keep waiting on them to revert back to selfish basketball. So far, it has not happened.  They thoroughly outplayed the Miami Heat.  Carmelo is playing well and so is the erratic, but talented J.R. Smith.  It will be very interesting to see how this group does when Amare Stoudemire returns.
7. Injuries have riddled many teams' chances of success.  Andrew Bynum looks like he is headed down a career path like Greg Oden.  Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio are both out with injuries.  Amare Stoudemire is out and his team is flourishing in his absence.  Go figure.  Steve Nash is hurt and has only played 1 or 2 games.

Peace