NBA 2008-09
October 26th 2008 12:47
By Tierré LaBarre
This upcoming NBA season shapes as one of the more intruiging ones of recent years. We’ve seen a change of the guard, with the mantle taken back by those that once dominated the league a couple of decades ago. The general concensus seems to be that we are in for a rematch of last years finals in 2009. I am here to tell you that this season is much more wide open than most people think.
The Western Conference is once again stacked with great teams, each of which are capable of making a serious run at the title. The Los Angeles Lakers are certainly the favourites to take out the conference title again, but another NBA season under Chris Paul’s belt could see the Hornets into their first ever Finals series. Houston won 22 straight games last season, remember? If, and I emphasise the word ‘if’, we see Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming both register 75 game seasons, the Rockets are a serious threat to the Lakers. Deron Williams and the Utah Jazz have another years experience, and with consecutive trips to the Western Conference Finals in the past two seasons, they are in a prime position to take the next step. We’ve already come up with four major contenders… and we’re still only in the West.
Everyone seems to have forgotten about three teams that have sat atop the conference, and the league, as recently as the last year or two, all with 60 win seasons in that time. While the San Antonio Spurs haven’t yet been truly forgotten, the public appear to be declaring their reign as champions over and trying to forecast who the next one will be. Well, hold on one moment, write this team off at your own peril, because they aren’t going anywhere. Expect a slow start, but once Manu Ginobili gets back after Christmas we should see the Spurs at their best again and ending up deep in the playoffs.
The other two teams are the Mavericks and the Suns. The Mavs have most of pieces to once again be a contender. A full season with Jason Kidd running the show should improve their team greatly from the one that showed barely a whimper in their first round playoff exit last season. Similarly with Phoenix, a full pre-season with Shaquille O’Neal will help them identify themselves and how they are going to play going forward. Don’t expect them to be changing their game to the way the 2005-06 Heat played with Shaq to win their title, but their run-and-gun play will be much more controlled this season under new head coach Terry Porter.
West Wildcards: Denver and Portland. Any team with the likes of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are going to be at least fun to watch. Whether they can do serious damage, I guess time will tell. They may have difficulties replacing Center Marcus Camby, which is a major concern, as Nene will have to lift his game. However, if all their starters can remain injury-free we could see a surprise come out of Colorado. As for the Blazers, they are an unknown quantity at this stage. History probably tells us that a young team will take more time to reach the championship. The two main factors will be the impact of Greg Oden and whether Brandon Roy can continue on last season’s remarkable improvement. Probably an 8th-9th team, but the potential to finish much higher is certainly there.
We know about the East, don’t we? Sure. The Celtics and Pistons will coast through the regular season, with Cleveland giving one of them a run for their money come playoff time. Is that how it is going to be? No. The landscape of the East is an ever changing one. Yes, the Celtics will be there deep in the playoffs, but the rest is still merky.
Cleveland should be considered the second favourite to come out of the East. The addition of Mo Williams will be critical to their team balance and whilst he was previously only playing for the lowly Milwaukee Bucks, he showed that he can, along with distribute, put it in the hole himself. That is exactly what LeBron James needed to take the Cavs to another level.
The Pistons will slip. Their time has come and gone. This conclusion is well backed up by the Kwame Brown acquisition, which was more of a step backwards than a step forward. Their starting five is ageing and while they could still sneak their way to a seventh straight Conference Finals, they won’t go any further than that.
Recently a basketcase of the league, the Philadelphia 76ers are now among the best of the East. Elton Brand will be a huge boost to a frontcourt that is already occupied by the solid defensive minded Samuel Dalembert. Boasting other quality starters such as the pair of Andre’s (Iguodala and Miller), we suddenly see a serious East contender coming out of Pennsylvania. Count Philly among those who should pass Detroit this year.
But if there is truly one monster in this conference, it sure isn’t Elton Brand, or even Kevin Garnett. He has emerged as arguably the most important big man in the league and he wears no. 12 for the Magic. Dwight Howard is a huge key in the East’s playoff picture and if he continues to get better, the more favoured Celtics, Cavs and Pistons better watch out. Howard, along with fellow star Rashard Lewis, and other capable starters, Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson, are a major chance to make some serious noise in May and possibly June.
In all fairness, it probably ends there as far as serious title threats in the East are concerned. But I would like to bring a couple of teams to your attention. Call them wildcards, call them roughies, but the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls should not be forgotten. In recent years these two clubs have been up and coming, and for various reasons have lost their way. Injuries have hurt the Wizards over the past year and with Gilbert Arenas to miss more time, they could be off to a slow start again. However, with a full roster, they can be a real handful, as they showed the Celtics during last years regular season. The Bulls had a herendous 2007-08 campaign for reasons unknown to man. Whether it was the contract issues surrounding Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, or internal issues related to former coach Scott Skiles, we know they have the talent and the depth. A trade of one of their guards for a big man could see them climb the pecking order in the East in a big way. Expect no. 1 draft pick Derrick Rose to breakout early on and assume the starting point guard role.
A host of other teams will contend for playoff spots. You can probably count on Toronto getting there, while others such as Indiana, Milwaukee, Miami, Atlanta and even New York aren’t without their chance of seeing postseason action. Golden State and a completely revamped LA Clippers are also in the hunt of making it, as many will watch with interest over the virtual swap of Baron Davis and Corey Maggette.
Recent memories of the Celtics-Lakers series are hard to break out of, but one has to remember that it wasn’t all smooth sailing for either of those teams to get there last year and again won’t be this year, if they both intend on meeting again this summer. So much will occur throughout this season, as is always the case in the NBA. There will be unforeseen injuries, suspensions, fallouts and trades that turn the league upside down. No one really knows what will happen. There will be between 1290 and 1335 games over the next eight months and we may need nearly every one of them to have passed by to get a real idea of who will be raising the Larry O’Brien Trophy this time around. Bring on the 2008-09 season!
This upcoming NBA season shapes as one of the more intruiging ones of recent years. We’ve seen a change of the guard, with the mantle taken back by those that once dominated the league a couple of decades ago. The general concensus seems to be that we are in for a rematch of last years finals in 2009. I am here to tell you that this season is much more wide open than most people think.
The Western Conference is once again stacked with great teams, each of which are capable of making a serious run at the title. The Los Angeles Lakers are certainly the favourites to take out the conference title again, but another NBA season under Chris Paul’s belt could see the Hornets into their first ever Finals series. Houston won 22 straight games last season, remember? If, and I emphasise the word ‘if’, we see Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming both register 75 game seasons, the Rockets are a serious threat to the Lakers. Deron Williams and the Utah Jazz have another years experience, and with consecutive trips to the Western Conference Finals in the past two seasons, they are in a prime position to take the next step. We’ve already come up with four major contenders… and we’re still only in the West.
Everyone seems to have forgotten about three teams that have sat atop the conference, and the league, as recently as the last year or two, all with 60 win seasons in that time. While the San Antonio Spurs haven’t yet been truly forgotten, the public appear to be declaring their reign as champions over and trying to forecast who the next one will be. Well, hold on one moment, write this team off at your own peril, because they aren’t going anywhere. Expect a slow start, but once Manu Ginobili gets back after Christmas we should see the Spurs at their best again and ending up deep in the playoffs.
The other two teams are the Mavericks and the Suns. The Mavs have most of pieces to once again be a contender. A full season with Jason Kidd running the show should improve their team greatly from the one that showed barely a whimper in their first round playoff exit last season. Similarly with Phoenix, a full pre-season with Shaquille O’Neal will help them identify themselves and how they are going to play going forward. Don’t expect them to be changing their game to the way the 2005-06 Heat played with Shaq to win their title, but their run-and-gun play will be much more controlled this season under new head coach Terry Porter.
West Wildcards: Denver and Portland. Any team with the likes of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are going to be at least fun to watch. Whether they can do serious damage, I guess time will tell. They may have difficulties replacing Center Marcus Camby, which is a major concern, as Nene will have to lift his game. However, if all their starters can remain injury-free we could see a surprise come out of Colorado. As for the Blazers, they are an unknown quantity at this stage. History probably tells us that a young team will take more time to reach the championship. The two main factors will be the impact of Greg Oden and whether Brandon Roy can continue on last season’s remarkable improvement. Probably an 8th-9th team, but the potential to finish much higher is certainly there.
We know about the East, don’t we? Sure. The Celtics and Pistons will coast through the regular season, with Cleveland giving one of them a run for their money come playoff time. Is that how it is going to be? No. The landscape of the East is an ever changing one. Yes, the Celtics will be there deep in the playoffs, but the rest is still merky.
Cleveland should be considered the second favourite to come out of the East. The addition of Mo Williams will be critical to their team balance and whilst he was previously only playing for the lowly Milwaukee Bucks, he showed that he can, along with distribute, put it in the hole himself. That is exactly what LeBron James needed to take the Cavs to another level.
The Pistons will slip. Their time has come and gone. This conclusion is well backed up by the Kwame Brown acquisition, which was more of a step backwards than a step forward. Their starting five is ageing and while they could still sneak their way to a seventh straight Conference Finals, they won’t go any further than that.
Recently a basketcase of the league, the Philadelphia 76ers are now among the best of the East. Elton Brand will be a huge boost to a frontcourt that is already occupied by the solid defensive minded Samuel Dalembert. Boasting other quality starters such as the pair of Andre’s (Iguodala and Miller), we suddenly see a serious East contender coming out of Pennsylvania. Count Philly among those who should pass Detroit this year.
But if there is truly one monster in this conference, it sure isn’t Elton Brand, or even Kevin Garnett. He has emerged as arguably the most important big man in the league and he wears no. 12 for the Magic. Dwight Howard is a huge key in the East’s playoff picture and if he continues to get better, the more favoured Celtics, Cavs and Pistons better watch out. Howard, along with fellow star Rashard Lewis, and other capable starters, Hedo Turkoglu and Jameer Nelson, are a major chance to make some serious noise in May and possibly June.
In all fairness, it probably ends there as far as serious title threats in the East are concerned. But I would like to bring a couple of teams to your attention. Call them wildcards, call them roughies, but the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls should not be forgotten. In recent years these two clubs have been up and coming, and for various reasons have lost their way. Injuries have hurt the Wizards over the past year and with Gilbert Arenas to miss more time, they could be off to a slow start again. However, with a full roster, they can be a real handful, as they showed the Celtics during last years regular season. The Bulls had a herendous 2007-08 campaign for reasons unknown to man. Whether it was the contract issues surrounding Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, or internal issues related to former coach Scott Skiles, we know they have the talent and the depth. A trade of one of their guards for a big man could see them climb the pecking order in the East in a big way. Expect no. 1 draft pick Derrick Rose to breakout early on and assume the starting point guard role.
A host of other teams will contend for playoff spots. You can probably count on Toronto getting there, while others such as Indiana, Milwaukee, Miami, Atlanta and even New York aren’t without their chance of seeing postseason action. Golden State and a completely revamped LA Clippers are also in the hunt of making it, as many will watch with interest over the virtual swap of Baron Davis and Corey Maggette.
Recent memories of the Celtics-Lakers series are hard to break out of, but one has to remember that it wasn’t all smooth sailing for either of those teams to get there last year and again won’t be this year, if they both intend on meeting again this summer. So much will occur throughout this season, as is always the case in the NBA. There will be unforeseen injuries, suspensions, fallouts and trades that turn the league upside down. No one really knows what will happen. There will be between 1290 and 1335 games over the next eight months and we may need nearly every one of them to have passed by to get a real idea of who will be raising the Larry O’Brien Trophy this time around. Bring on the 2008-09 season!
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Comment by Wally
Wally's World
What a great opener.
Go Spurs.