NBA Season Kicks Off

The NBA season kicked off Tuesday night with one of the most anticipated team debuts in a long time as everyone wanted to see what the new-look Miami Heat would do. The answer came quickly as the Heat looked rusty and out of sync after battling some injuries in the preseason and sharing the court for only four minutes prior to the opening tip Tuesday night. With the final few teams set to play their openers tonight, here’s some things I am looking at as the season goes on and maybe a little of what I expect to happen.

· While all of the championship talk is centered on the Heat, Lakers and Celtics, the forgotten team amongst the elite is the Orlando Magic. The Magic have won more playoff series over the past two years than anyone not named the Lakers and were easily the best team in the NBA over the second of half of the season last year. A very poorly played conference championship against the Celtics and the new Big Three in Miami has everyone forgetting about the team down in Orlando. I am not saying the Magic are going to win in it all but they belong in the conversation for the league’s best team.

· That being said, I still expect the Heat to have the League’s best record by season’s end with something along the lines of 61 or 62 wins. The question will not be how good this team will be over the long haul but rather can they overcome their obvious deficiencies and win a series against the massive size advantages the Magic, Celtics and Lakers would have.

· This has to be the most talented the league has been since I have been alive. I can’t remember ever when so many teams have such strong nucleuses. Check these out:

Miami – LeBron, Wade, Bosh
Boston – Rondo, Pierce, Allen, KG, Shaq and a deep bench
Orlando – Howard, Carter, Lewis, Nelson
Chicago – Rose, Boozer, Noah, Deng
Atlanta – Johnson, Smith, Horford
Milwaukee – Jennings, Bogut, Salmons
L.A. Lakers – Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, Odom, Artest
Dallas – Dirk, Kidd, Butler, Chandler
Oklahoma City – Durant, Westbrook, Green
Portland – Roy, Aldridge, Miller, Camby, Oden
San Antonio – Duncan, Parker, Ginobli
Houston – Yao, Brooks, Battier, Martin, Scola
Utah – Williams, Jefferson, Okur
Denver – Melo, Billups, Martin, Nene

By my count that’s nearly half the league that has the nucleus of a good to very good team. That is ignoring some franchise-type players stuck on bad or mediocre teams such as Steve Nash and Chris Paul and a number of very good, young franchise building blocks stuck on bad teams such as Stephon Curry, John Wall, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love and more. David Stern has hit the jackpot in terms of the NBA having its best product since Jordan retired, especially with so many of its stars being extremely marketable.

· The Lakers are pretty clearly the favorite out West but age and injury have to be a concern. Teams such as the Thunder, Rockets and Blazers have extremely strong nucleus and the assets to improve at the trade deadline while veteran squads such as the Mavericks, Jazz and Nuggets are still knocking at the door. I know people want to write the Lakers in as the Western Conference representative, and I agree they are certainly the favorite, but it is going to be much harder than people realize.

· As my longtime readers know we followed Kevin Durant pretty closely last year on the blog including tracking his consecutive 20-point games streak. Durant has now burst onto the national scene after becomig the league’s youngest scoring champ and leading the U.S. team to the FIBA World Championships title this summer. We still secretely love Durant here at The People’s Quarterback headquarters, but his notoriety has passed us by. I will try to find another player that is flying under the radar for his talents that we can start enjoying here on the blog.

· The early favorite for that player is Blake Griffin. I watched the Clippers-Blazers game late last night almost in its entirety (Yes I know, who stays up late to watch that game…but give me a break, I love basketball and had a screaming baby up all night, makes for a pretty easy combination.) and couldn’t get over Griffin’s abilities. Most people probably know Griffin as the College Player of the Year two years ago at Oklahoma and the first overall pick of the draft before an injury ended his rookie season before it started. Well Griffin is back and looks as good as ever. He finished last night with 20 points and 14 rebounds, 9 of those on the offensive end, in a losing effort. We’ll be keeping a close eye on him here in the blog.

· Prediction Time:

Eastern Conference:
1. Miami
2. Orlando
3. Boston
4. Chicago
5. Atlanta
6. Milwaukee
7. New York Knicks
8. Charlotte
9. Indiana
10. Philadelphia
11. Washington
12. Cleveland
13. Detroit
14. New Jersey
15. Toronto

Western Conference:
1. LA Lakers
2. Dallas
3. Portland
4. Oklahoma City
5. Denver
6. San Antonio
7. Utah
8. Houston
9. New Orleans
10. Memphis
11. LA Clippers
12. Phoenix
13. Golden State
14. Sacramento
15. Minnesota

Miami over Orlando in Eastern Conference Finals.
LA Lakers over San Antonio Western Conference Finals.

LA Lakers over Miami in Finals.