Guess who’s back
That’s right about 24 days until we get to see cats getting DUNKED on and it’s a terrific feeling. I was very pessimistic about there being a NBA season this year I really felt the owners were asking for too much and the players would/should not give in. But the owners came back with the 50/50 spit or close to it and things got done.
There are a couple things to talk about, Amnesty, Payrolls, Luxury Tax, and the biggest one Player Movement. Isn’t it funny every year there is huge debates on where guy are heading is he staying is he leaving will he get traded. Last year was Melo the year before was Lebron, Wade, Bosh and a host of others but other than Bosh there wasn’t much trade talk surrounding them this year top targets are Dwight Howard and Chris Paul the 2 most coveted potential free agents in next years pool, but we will get to that.
The Heat should come into the season as the favorite but like last year its wide open,Chicago,Boston, Orlando and the Knicks will all be contenders out of the East and the West will have the usual suspects, Lakers Spurs and your reigning champs the Mavs. It was another year of growth for the young Thunder who will only get better, and then the ultimate wild card and soon to be the next media darlings the Clippers. I really cant wait to see the Clips play they are young and exciting and Blake Griffin will throw down on everyone.
What about the Rookies is anyone ready to contribute immediately and help out a team out, what younger guys are going to break out and who will be trade bait. Under the new CBA we should see a more competitive playing field but I don’t think that will happen for at least 3-4 years when you start to see contracts from the last CBA start to turnover.
The Amnesty clause is a great way for owners to get out of bad deals (only for cap purposes) and free up some room. We should see Arenas, Rashard Lewis and a host of others get their release and free them up to join contending teams at a discounted level. A lot of teams will hold on to bad contracts hoping to get value in the years they expire in trades so we will see.
All in all I’m just glad they got this done and we can get back to playing games, 66 game season is still good length and we should see the better teams create distance. Last year was a banner year for the association and to not be able to build on it would have been a shame. As much as I hate David Stern hopefully he accomplished what he set out to do and we will have Parity and a lot of teams in the green so the league can continue momentum.
it's all about the rings 