The NBA season officially started last night with 3 games, and the first full night of games starts off tonight. Instead of giving a team by team breakdown like everyone else (and due to the fact I am not prepared to do so), I'll give you a little condensed "most-likely-to" list.
So without further ado, welcome to the most anticipated season in NBA history.
Western Conference
Most likely to sneak up on everyone and win it all: Los Angles Lakers
Best Player in the World (arguably): Check. Back-to-Back Champions: Check. Coach with the most Championships ever: Check. They aren't surprising anyone, but every major media is focusing on the East this year. With all the publicity going to Amare and the Knicks, LeBron and his South Beach buddies, and even the stinking Hawks, Kobe is still Kobe.
Team/ Player to make the jump from wow, to WOW: KD and OKC
In case you were sleeping, the youngest team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder (That's the SuperSonics, fyi), lead by young pup Kevin Durant took the defending Champion Lakers to a 7 game series in last years playoffs. The home game atmosphere was enough to make you say things frowned upon by your pastor. But when you realize the leader of this team is 22 years old, you start to really look forward to this season. The very anti-LeBron the league needs right now, KD and other youngsters like Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green, along with one of the deepest benches might make adjectives ineffective.
So Adidas thought it was a good idea to match the Magic Man with the Community Funnyman, and throw in a little Rose into a music video of sorts. Part of me hates it, and the rest can't get it out of my head.
The coach knows it, "Overall, John kind of led us". The star knows it, "He's batman, I'm Robin". It seems that everyone knows that the future of the Wizards is no longer Gilbert Arenas, but is rookie John Wall.
The former star, Arenas, used to be so much what makes John Wall, John Wall. Marketable, exciting, fun-loving. But the former agent Zero has pulled a Joaquin Phoenix and grown a beard, changed numbers, and even stopped smiling. A few years ago, before the gun fiasco and the injury, could you image Gilbert saying, “I lost all feeling a long time ago. Basketball is basketball. It doesn’t matter what floor I’m on.”? He is hardly the same person as he used to be.
Having a young stud like John Wall behind you doesn't help either. The teacher's plans seem to be: “Teach John (Wall) the ins and outs of the game and then eventually go on and move on, and I’m on my way,”
It appears that Arenas' stay in DC is slowly coming to an end, and strangely, he is okay with that. "There's few players that stay in the same city, so right now the city is John's. I'm not here to fight anybody. I'm here to play alongside of him" The strange, sad, saga continues...
NBA games are back, if only the preseason variety. But NBA play is NBA play. And with it comes some fireworks. Here's what you've missed so far.
The Rookies
Odds are the 2010-11 NBA Rookie of the year will be a former Wildcat. From the 5 players taken from Kentucky in the last draft two had especially impressive debut performances.
John Wall: In 36 minutes of play Wall scored 21 points, and dished out 9 assists and had only 2 turnovers prompting this quote from Gilbert Arenas: "He's going to be great, he has a knack for finding people and getting to the basket. ... He's Batman, I'm Robin." More on this situation in a second.
Demarcus Cousins: Can you say double double average? First game after just one year at UK, and he managed to rack up 16 points and rebounds against the Suns, might be too early to tell, but looks good so far.
Evan Turner: The third pick in the draft didn't look so good from the field shooting just 1 for 6 from the court, but managed 12 points, thanks to a 10 for 12 free throw shooting night.
Derrick Favors: The Nets forward had a 14 point 9 rebound night against Israeli league team Maccabi Haifa.
The New Looks
We got plenty of new faces in new places. There is nothing like putting on a new jersey, or if you are Amare Stoudamire, putting on nothing.
Shaquille Oneal: 8 points for the newest leprechaun, including a few ally-oops. Once again, he looks older.
Amare Stoudamire: 32 points ain't bad for a debut, however it wasn't against the Lakers, per se. Olimpia Milano didn't put up much defense against Stoudamire, but the Timberwolves defense held him up for 11 points against his first NBA opponent wearing the blue and orange.
LeBron James: In his first game not wearing the wine and gold, he dumped in 18, including 12 in the first 12 minutes of his debut.
Chris Bosh: Had 20, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals, in his first game outside of the shadow that is Toronto basketball. Welcome to the media world Chris!
Tracy McGrady: Not as heralded as the others on this list, the new Piston didn't even score in 8 minutes of play, but grabbed 2 rebounds. Maybe it was the jealousy of the big 3: "I'm happy for those guys, I look forward to, when I'm done playing basketball, seeing them win a lot of championships."
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