D'Angelo Russell has had a slower start to his NBA career than some of his fellow rookies, which he attributes to his situation with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"You can’t worry about their opportunity and what they’re doing with it. Everybody is in different positions. The rookies that are separating themselves are in great positions and are getting it quick. Some people just have a learning process. That’s what I’m doing."

Russell was the second overall pick in the draft.

"The opportunity [here] is just so slim because we’ve got a lot of great players," he said. "Specifically, we’ve got a lot of players trying to do the same thing. You’ve just got to figure out your niche to stay on the floor."

Kobe Bryant sees some parallels with his situation as a rookie and what Russell is facing.

"He’ll have more opportunities and more leeway to make mistakes," Bryant said. "When I came in with the Lakers, it was a team that, we had a lot of talent and everybody expected us to win a championship, and if I go in there and mess up, it’s like, 'strangle the kid.' You know what I mean? There’s a lot more pressure there."

Bradley Beal scored 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter of the Washington Wizards' comeback win on Friday over the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Nobody can stop me,” Beal declared in an on-court postgame television interview. “Plain and simple.”

“We have the same agent. I was telling my agent, ‘I didn’t know he was that explosive,’ ” Jared Dudley said. “You can just see that confidence. It’s his fourth year, contract year, worked hard, worked his butt off, he’s growing into his body. To be honest with you, John [Wall] is our best player but he’s our best scorer. When he’s shooting the ball aggressive we’re a better team.”

Pace is up significantly after the first three days of the 15-16 season.

There have been 101.4 possessions per 48 minutes compared to 95.5 last season, representing an increase of 6.2 percent.

Teams are trying to shoot more three-pointers and play at a faster pace this season to replicate the success of teams like the Golden State Warriors.

The New York Knicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks by 25 points on opening night, which was one of the NBA's biggest surprise results.

“It comes a point in time when you have to believe in something,” Anthony said.

Anthony is coming back from knee surgery.

“Any time you’re kind of dealing with the knee, you start second-guessing things. Am I going to come back the same way? Am I going to have my bounce again? Am I going to be the same player? Will I be able to move like this? Will I still have my first step or my second jump? I started thinking that,” Anthony told Yahoo. “The more time you’re sitting around, you can’t move, you can’t do nothing, a lot of things go through your mind dealing with something like that.”

The Knicks weren't a popular pick to make the playoffs.

“I believe in this team,” Anthony said. “I believe in the guys on this team. I know what they can do. I know the work that they put in. I know how hungry they are to get that tag off of them and bring New York back to where it should be. We know it’s a process.”

Joakim Noah initiated the conversation with Fred Hoiberg that led to him coming off the bench in the final season of his contract with the Chicago Bulls.

"Jo actually came to me and talked to me about that," said Hoiberg. "He said, basically, 'I’ve always played well with Taj.' He said he thought Niko and Pau played very well together, so let’s go that route. It was actually Jo that started the whole conversation. He came to me. That says a lot about him."

Hoiberg was asked if was leaning toward starting Nikola Mirotic and Pau Gasol while Noah and Taj Gibson come off the bench.

I had thought a lot about a lot of different lineups. I hadn’t come to any type of conclusion. But it was great of Jo to just come and have that conversation."

Kevin Love will have a significantly bigger role in the Cleveland Cavaliers' offense in his second season.

Love's production fell from 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds in 2013-14 with the Minnesota Timberwolves to 16.4 and 9.7 last season.

"We'll use Kevin however he wants to be used," LeBron James said after Love led Cleveland with 17 points and 13 rebounds in the Cavs' 106-76 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. "I told you Kevin is going to be our main focus. He's going to have a hell of a season. He's going to get back to that All-Star status."

Love is averaging 17.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in the Cavaliers' first two games.

"He's the focal point of us offensively," James said. "I know I can go out and get mine when I need it. But I need Kev to be as aggressive as he was tonight, and when he rebounds at the level he did tonight, the shots will automatically fall for him."

"I knew he'd be sharp when I had my conversation with him in Los Angeles in the offseason," James said.

Love was asked what James conveyed to him during their meeting in the offseason.

"Just that I can do more," Love said. "I think that he knew that. Since then I think everybody has really stepped up and asked what they can do in their respective roles. From a comfort standpoint, I just feel a lot, a lot better."

Billy Donovan isn't actually installing a whole new offensive system with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"For me, it's not so much a whole new offensive system as much as it's concepts," Donovan said. "Putting these guys in concepts. Trying to help them move the floor so they can make plays and have space to play in. But I don't think the concepts those guys are playing in are foreign to them, or they've never seen them before. I just think my job as a coach is to try and help them move the floor."

The Thunder finished last in assists per game in 2012, yet they also reached The Finals.

"New system, new coach," Durant said. "Feels like a new era of basketball.

"He's running more sets, I think," Durant said of Donovan's offense compared to Brooks'. "He's put in different packages for guys at different positions. Scotty did a great job of moving the floor and allowing his iso players to make plays, and I think Billy is doing that, too, but it's a little bit different. We're moving around a little bit more, moving from side-to-side a little bit more.

"In Scotty's defense, though, as players, we should have done a better job of producing ourselves -- moving the ball, moving our bodies," Durant said. "[Now], we just get more conscious of it every day, and it's preached to us every day."

"I think and feel like my job as a coach is to move the floor for those guys in actions and things that we're doing to help and create some space for them to play in," Donovan said. "I've always been a ball-movement, player-movement coach, where we want to extra pass, want to move the basketball. That said, we also have two of the best one-on-one offensive players in the NBA, so there's a balance on getting them the ball where they can play in some isolations, whether that's in post-ups or on the elbow.

"I don't think it's anything where someone's going to watch something and say, 'Geez, this has never been done before in the NBA.' I don't feel that way at all," he said. "All I'm trying to do is trying to create opportunities for those guys to play in space and to be who they are and put them in positions to make some decisions and reads."

One of RealGM's new features is our NBA Roster Turnover page, which shows the players lost and added from Opening Night the previous season to the next.

The San Antonio Spurs have somewhat unsurprisingly had the least amount of turnover over the past decade, averaging just 4.5 new players since the 2006-07 season. The Spurs have averaged nearly one fewer new player per season than the team ranking second in roster turnover.

On the opposite end, the Brooklyn Nets have averaged 8.3 new players per season.

Click here to view RealGM's Roster Turnover Page.

Ian Clark received recruiting letters in high school mentioning Stephen Curry with the idea he could develop into that type of player.

Clark played collegiately at Belmont and is now Curry's teammate having made the Golden State Warriors' regular season roster.

Clark said he grew up following Jason Terry and now models some of his game after Curry.

"Of course, when we're competing, that's all out the window," Clark said, smiling. "I'm trying to go after him. He helps me a lot."

The Oklahoma City Thunder led the NBA in efficiency differential during the preseason with a mark of +12.5.

During the 14-15 preseason, the Golden State Warriors had the league's best mark with +11.0, which became a first indicator of their jump as title contenders.

Here's the full rankings from the 15-16 preseason:

1. Thunder: 12.5
2. Celtics: 11.6
3. Grizzlies: 11.5
4. Wizards: 10.4
5. Hornets: 10.0
6. Pistons: 7.1
7. Raptors: 5.6
8. Pacers: 4.7
9. Knicks: 4.0
10. Suns: 3.9
11. Nuggets: 3.5
12. Kings: 3.3
13. Magic: 2.8
14. Blazers: 1.8
15. Jazz: 0.4
16. Heat: 0.0
17. Hawks: -0.7
18. Rockets: -0.7
19. Nets: -1.0
20. Warriors: -1.3
21. Spurs: -1.9
22. Lakers: -2.1
23. Bucks: -3.4
24. Bulls: -3.6
25. Pelicans: -3.6
26. Clippers: -4.2
27. Cavaliers: -6.5
28. 76ers: -8.6
29. Mavericks: -10.7
30. Wolves: -11.0