A heaping helping of early-season NBA awards

The 2017-18 NBA season is beginning to take form, like a gelatinous cylinder of cranberry sauce straight out of the can.

Between bites of turkey and sweet potato pie, let's consider some of the winners - and losers - from the first quarter of the season.

Best Player

With apologies to Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis, no player has been as consistently awesome as James Harden.

The Rockets lost Chris Paul for a month after the first game of the season, but thanks to Harden's durability and absurd combination of scoring and playmaking ability, they didn't miss a beat. They have the West's best record, the NBA's best point differential, and its second-most efficient offense. Harden leads the league in points and assists per game, made 3-pointers and free throws, usage rate, real plus-minus, and win shares. He good. - Wolfond

Least Valuable Player

After signing a four-year, $52-million deal this summer, Dion Waiters can't be let off the hook for his inconsistent start. He's been worth -0.1 win shares to date, logging nearly 32 minutes a night for a Heat team that expects a playoff appearance this year. He's shooting just 40.5 percent from the field, including 32.6 percent on 3-pointers. Lineups featuring Waiters and either Goran Dragic or Hassan Whiteside have negative net ratings. - Potter

Biggest Surprise

A Knicks team that was supposed to be headed into the tank has instead taken flight, electrifying its fan base and sending the garden into a nightly delirium the like of which it hasn't experienced in two decades. Kristaps Porzingis has actualized his two-way potential in the blink of an eye, doing everything his first two seasons suggested he might be capable of. Frank Ntilikina has been a revelation at both ends. Enes Kanter has talked a big game and even come close to backing it up with his play. Tim Hardaway Jr. has somehow looked worthy of his much-ridiculed contract. The Knicks have started strong the past two seasons only to recede back into the darkness, but this is different. This feels sustainable, and that's the biggest surprise. - Wolfond

Biggest Disappointment

The Thunder sitting on a sub-.500 record isn't a great look, but they're still well within the grace period for a rotation that underwent significant overhaul this summer.

Instead, consider the Clippers, losers of 10 of their past 12 games. Patrick Beverley was just shut down for the year. An offense built around Blake Griffin's playmaking has been slow to a fault, and despite having DeAndre Jordan on the back line, the defense can't buy a stop. Their wing depth, a problem in years past, is now a pandemic. Expectations may have been lower for the Clippers than the Thunder, but shockingly, the former's season may be dead on arrival. - Potter

Biggest Threat to the Warriors

Barring injury or an act of god, the rest of the NBA is going to be hard-pressed to solve Golden State's dominance this season. Stealing a regular-season win - even a rousing comeback, as the Celtics achieved earlier this month - is one thing; beating the Warriors four times over two weeks is bordering on a miracle worthy of sainthood.

Two teams might have the right personnel to go toe-to-toe defensively with the Dubs' "Death Lineup" - the Rockets, who have strong wing defenders in Trevor Ariza, P.J. Tucker, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute; and the Celtics, with Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and numerous guards and bigs capable of switching onto perimeter scorers, stand the best chance. As things currently stand, even with LeBron, the Cavaliers aren't even in the conversation. - Potter

Biggest Mirage

Don't let Lonzo Ball's volatile start distract you from the Lakers' fourth-ranked defensive rating; they've allowed just 101 points per 100 possessions to date.

But due to their weak offense, the Lakers are still a bottom-10 team in net rating overall, negating their defensive strengths. They will eventually have to shake up the rotation to see if they can spark the offense, and the numbers on the defensive end should eventually regress toward the mean. - Potter

Best Story

The 76ers' emergence after four depressing years of intentional self-sabotage has perhaps been the season's most important development, but it was overshadowed by the miraculous feats of their Atlantic Division rivals. The Celtics bouncing back from their traumatic season opener to reel off 16 consecutive wins - in increasingly improbable and dramatic fashion - was the league's most engaging running storyline. Each game became appointment viewing, as Boston's oft-patchwork rotation found new ways to problem-solve and fight back from the brink. What a run. - Wolfond

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)