Fool's gold or not? Let's rank the Celtics, Lakers and Nuggets

We are a little over a week into the NBA season. Each team has played four or five games, so of course the hot artists on TV and the Internet have the following entertaining topics to talk about:

• Do the Celtics have a chance to be the best team of all time?
• Are the Lakers title contenders under new coach JJ Redick?
• Are the Nuggets in trouble?

If the season ended today, you could easily answer “yes” to all of these questions. But the NBA season is 82 games, not four or five. So let's take a look at these early trends and assess whether they are sustainable, worth their weight in gold, or somewhere in between.

The setting: The Boston Celtics (4-1) are the best regular season team in NBA history!

As suggested in our preseason power rankings, there are many similarities between the 2023-24 Celtics and the 2014-15 Warriors. Both have historically had great regular seasons with double-digit net rates per 100 possessions – Celtics at plus-11.6, Warriors at plus-10.2. Both fought through an injury-plagued field of opponents en route to the championship (not their fault!) and perhaps didn't get the respect they deserved going into championship defense.

The 2015–16 Warriors began their season with a 24-game winning streak and dominated the rest of the NBA (except for their final three games – all losses – in which they lost the NBA Finals to Cleveland) and won a record 73 games in the NBA regular season.

Led by Jayson Tatum, a bona fide MVP front-runner, the Celtics won their first four games this season in similarly impressive fashion with a net rating of plus-15.3 before losing a game in overtime on the road to the Pacers on Wednesday. Boston leads the NBA in three-point attempts (51.6), three-pointers made (21) and is second in three-point efficiency (40.7 percent).

Will this trend continue? Yes! Well, at least within reason. There is more parity and talent in today's NBA than in 2015-16, and the team will be without Kristaps Porzingis for a few months, so the Celtics probably won't win more than 70 games. But don't be surprised if they run away from the NBA again (although the Thunder and Cavaliers may stick with them).

The setting: The Lakers (3-2) are title contenders again!

I told you Redick would be a good coach. The Lakers stormed out of the gates with three wins against quality opponents before losing to the Suns and Cavaliers.

Anthony Davis has gone into Godzilla mode averaging 30.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and 1.6 steals per game and would likely win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards if he would play like that all season.

Although LeBron James looked rusty, he is still capable of putting up GOAT-level performances, like in his fourth quarter against the Kings on Saturday.

Will this trend continue? Yes, with some restrictions. As always, there is a caveat: “If LeBron and AD can stay healthy.” Additionally, the front office needs to do something to increase rotation depth, perhaps by adding Jerami Grant from the Trail Blazers or bruising center Jonas Valančiūnas from the Wizards.

The setting: A lack of depth will doom the Nuggets (2-2).

Here's a statistic that doesn't even sound real: In the Nuggets' first three games, the team had a net rating of plus-1.5 when Nikola Jokic was on the court and a net rating of minus-30.5 when Jokic was out. He had only been on the pitch for 33 minutes per game. The curse of Russell Westbrook, now with the Nuggets, is real!

The Nuggets (2-2) were swept by the Thunder in their opening game, lost to the Clippers and had to don Jokic's Superman cape to avoid potentially disastrous losses to the inferior Raptors and Nets. We knew the front office's decision to let Bruce Brown leave two offseasons ago and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope could come back to haunt the Nuggets last summer, but no one expected them to start this season would have such problems.

Will this trend continue? Probably not. The Nuggets should be fine as long as Jokic stays healthy. The two overtime wins over the Raptors and Nets should have been losses, but Jokic calmly went to work on every possession down the stretch and ensured Denver got quality shots. And guess what? He'll do that in every close game – he's still the best player in the world – and as long as the Nuggets don't get eliminated, they should still be a playoff team and a potential contender.