2009-10 NBA Preview

Why You Should Care

With most of CTS’ readers being centered in the south, most of y’all do not care too much about pro basketball until the playoffs, and even then the playoffs tend to drag on a bit. The majority of y’all, even then, are focused on the football season three months away or even a recruiting class who has not even begun practice for their senior season of high school. Well football fans, there are plenty of reasons to pay attention to the NBA this season. The NBA will be as competitive as ever this year with both conferences stacked at the top with talent.

During the off-season, the rich got even richer and this season the NBA has six teams, three in each conference that can legitimately win the championship. In the Eastern Conference it will be a season long battle between the Orlando Magic, the Boston Celtics, and the Cleveland Cavaliers for home-court advantage in the East.

All three organizations in the off-season made moves to improve teams that had all just recently made it deep into the playoffs. The Orlando Magic lost Hedo Turkoglu to Toronto via free agency but they were able to replace him with Vince Carter. While the addition of Carter makes the Magic a more entertaining team to watch, I do not think this makes them a better team than they were last year. Turkoglu played a huge part in the Magic’s run to the Finals and will be missed. Although Turkoglu’s in Canada, the Magic still have title aspirations due in large part to point guard Jameer Nelson returning from an injury that sidelined him for most of last season. Nelson, teamed with Carter and Rashard Lewis on the perimeter will be a deadly trio from downtown with defensive player of the year Dwight Howard setting up shop down low.

The Cavaliers made the largest addition, literally, of the off-season with their addition of Shaquille O’Neal. This was a move made to add veteran leadership and some low post offense to the Cavs, who had trouble finding other scorers besides LeBron in their disappointing Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Magic. The defense will be there all season long for the Cavs and if Mo Williams and Delonte West can play to their potential, this team will be tough come June.

Maybe the best team in the East this year is the Boston Celtics. Kevin Garnett returns from an injury that kept him on the bench throughout the playoffs and the addition of Rasheed Wallace gives Boston the depth on the bench they have lacked. Now with Wallace, Glen Davis, Eddie House, and newly acquired Marquis Daniels all on the Boston bench, this team can wear out their opponents and let their stars take over at the end of games. If Kendrick Perkins and Rajon Rondo continue their stellar play, this is the team to beat in the East.

The West has five teams that will contend for home-court advantage but probably only two real contenders come playoff time. The Dallas Mavericks added Drew Gooden and Shawn Marion to a team that made it to the second round last year. The Denver Nuggets will be exciting again this year with point guard Chauncey Billups leading a flashy bunch of youngsters in Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith, and Chris “Birdman” Anderson. My surprise team of the 09-10 NBA season is the Portland Trail Blazers. They have one of the best players in the game in Brandon Roy and an exciting, high-flying youngster in Rudy Fernandez. These two paired up with an improved Greg Oden are sure to blaze a trail out west this season.

While the Mavericks, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, and even the Houston Rockets with the addition of Trevor Ariza and return of T-Mac, will be fun to watch the two real “contenders” are the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Spurs, no matter how long they stay together, will always be contenders when they have Greg Popovich as their coach and Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, and Tony Parker on their team. Now, with the additions of Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess in the off-season, this team poses a serious challenge to the defending champion Lakers.

Speaking of the Lakers, this is the team to beat in the NBA this year. What more could you ask for? Veteran leadership? Check. Talented scorers? Check. Big men who can score, rebound, and play defense? Check. Shutdown defender? Check. Oh and one more thing – the best coach ever, yep they have that too. The Lakers won fairly easily last year, and with the addition of the "shutdown" defender (Ron Artest) and the improvement, maturity and health of Andrew Bynum, watch out west. 

The entire season will be exciting this year because the significance of home court advantage is astronomical. Remember the NBA stands for “Nothing But Action.”

-scf