Jazz are legit, Warriors are in trouble, Doc Rivers must go and other takes on the young 2022-23 NBA season

One month in, here are my observances -- and an NBA scout responds

One NBA rule of thumb is that it takes about 25 games for a front office or coaching staff to properly evaluate its team.

That's enough of a sample size to know what you have, what you don't, and what that means going forward.

But in the lead-up to that, as we close out the first four weeks of the 2022-23 season, there are signs. Some of these may be statistical anomalies, but others can turn out to be clear indicators of what's to come. For instance, you might not have remembered that the Warriors began last season 11-1 ... but you probably knew that the Lakers, uh, did not.