BASKETBALL!!!

The 2009-10 NBA season will start on the 27th October marking the commencement of another season of one of the best games on earth. The 1,230-game regular season which consists of 82 games per the 30 teams BEFORE they even get to the ridiculously long post-season playoffs will hopefully again showcase why the basketball can year on year attract such wide ranging interest and support.


Admittedly the 2009 offseason has been one of the dullest ever. There have been almost no major signings or trades to talk of at all. The major roster changes have come from the veterans of the sport. For the third time in as many seasons Shaquille O’Neal will be moving again – this time to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Shaq in his 18th season will hopefully be able to further foster the talents of LeBron James (who has almost singlehandedly taken Cleveland to the heights they see now) like he did with Dwayne Wade at Miami. Shaq, who is 37 years old now and starting to get on a bit will easily complement Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland’s main center, taking a bit of pressure off him to perform with James.


Other trades have included Vince Carter to Orlando, which will create a star-studded lineup next to the amazing Dwight Howard. Although Carter is getting on a bit as well, Orlando will most likely dominate the Southeast Division again this year, with a serious challenge coming from Atlanta who with Josh Smith and old-timer Mike Bibby will put most teams through their paces.


Allen Iverson is another veteran to move teams this season. Iverson, moving to his third team in three years, was picked up by the Memphis Grizzlies on September 10 becoming the star player on a dull and lifeless roster. With Rudy Gay’s disappointed 08-09 season it is hard to see where any invigoration can be created within the team. With San Antonio, Houston, the Dallas Mavs and New Orleans all in the Southwest Division it is almost impossible for the Grizzlies to ever make it into the playoffs.


For some reason the Los Angeles Lakers have picked up Ron Artest as a free agent. For those who do not know, he started an amazing brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, against Detroit in 2004 which involved him completely decking a (fat) fan who had jumped onto the court while holding a litre cup of soft drink. Hopefully that won’t happen in LA where Kobe Bryant is still running the show in his 12th year at the franchise. With a team including Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and everyone’s favourite game-breaker Derek Fisher, Los Angeles will put up another good fight this year, but there is potential that the age and arguable lack of depth could haunt the team. Bryant is an MVP man who scored 84 points in a match though so anything is possible.


Finally finishing in the East, the Boston Celtics will this year look to make amends for their third-round 08-09 playoff defeat. The roster has changed a little bit, this year featuring Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rasheed Wallace as the big names. It’s a formidable force to be reckoned with and with the speedy development of junior players around these big names it will be a sure thing that the Celtics will sit on top of the East this season; they’ll just be too good. And hence will be my prediction to take out the championship this year.


Hopefully with the NBA back on free to air this year courtesy of One HD the NBA will get back a few of those Australian fans that it lost due to its move to ESPN and Fox in the early 2000s, as well as the fans who like watching quality basketball, not like complete and utter atrocious humiliated embarrassment the Australian NBL has become.


I’ll try to cut it down if I ever do another one of these,


Darcy5d.


(There are way too many words in this....-Splex)

3 comments:

The Drunken Sage said...

2009-2010 NBA Season eh.. So this marks the 10th or 11th season since the NBA died?.. I can never remember.

lindscm said...

What is this tripe? You lost me at basketball.

Anonymous said...

yum. basketball. whaT?

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