NBA Season Preview 05/06

Well the NBA season is underway again. Most teams have already played 2 games with many into their 4 games today. My old favourite team of Sacramento have started slowly this year as they did last year. The team has a very different look this year now that they’ve added Shareef Abdur Rahim (spelling is probably way off there!), Bonzi Wells and a couple of others. I’ve always said they shouldn’t have dismantled the team when they had CWebb and Doug Christie but that era is clearly over now. I think they’ll make the playoffs this year but I don’t see them going anywhere with the team they have. Peja still needs to become a more dominant player like he was a couple of seasons ago when Webber was out injured. Mike Bibby has also started slowly this year but I’ve got no doubt he’ll get it together and start taking over soon enough. The new additions are solid players but not of the superstar calibre of CWebb. They also don’t have a scoring punch off the bench anymore since they got rid of Bobby Jackson.

The main focus of my attention this year will definitely be with the Cavs. Cleveland have upgraded their team considerably this season with the additions of Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones. Damon Jones I’m still not convinced about, he really only seemed to deliver good shooting when he played with Miami and had Shaq and Dwayne Wade drawing double and triple teams. It’ll be interesting to see if he can do the same in Cleveland. I’m sure Lebron will be drawing plenty of double and triple teams himself but he generally won’t be as deep as Shaq was so the open shots may not be there for D.Jones.

Lebron is still the man though. If he doesn’t make the playoffs this year it’ll be a huge disappointment. He’s got a complete game, he can do everything on the basketball court and more. He’s even already developed a nasty 3 point shot and he’s only in his third season and is still only 20. So much for all the critics who said he couldn’t shoot. Not only has he developed a nice jump shot, he’s done it a lot quicker than most other players who have been labelled with the same tag, such as MJ. Now that’s scary! Look for Lebron to take out the MVP trophy this year, providing his team makes the playoffs, which they should.

So who do I like for the championship this year. It’s hard to go past the Spurs seeing they’ve added Michael Finley and Nick Van Exel but if anyone is going to challenge them it’ll probably be Miami, Indiana or Detroit. Detroit have still got a strong team and could be even stronger if they’d invest some time in developing Darko Milicic. Miami will be a contender if Shaq can stay healthy. They’re additions of Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason Williams are all good but Shaq is still the key. Indiana are obviously still a contender with solid players in all positions. Jermaine O’Neal in the middle, Ron Artest at forward and Jamal Tinsley at Guard. All those guys can put up big numbers and Ron Artest is a freak at both ends of the floor when he gets going.

So who else is there? Dallas are an outside chance to challenge and there’s probably some other teams that will surprise us and challenge this year but I’d only be guessing if I named them. Milwaukee have looked promising this year with Michael Redd and T.J Ford paying extremely well. Andrew Bogut has also looked good in his first few games. I’d be very surprised if they challenged for a title but they’re definitely a good chance to make the playoffs this year.

One other thing I should mention is that CWebb (aka Chris Webber) is still kicking ass this year despite all the usual so-called critics that continue to bash him. He came out in game one with a huge game and put up 30 plus points and in the last game against Indiana he closed out the game with clutch free throws. So once again, he’s proved he’s an all-star performer even though he’s got serious knee issues these days. Enough said about that though.

Oh, almost forgot to mention Phoenix, they’re without Amare Stoudamire for the first four months of the season but they’ll definitely be a challenger once Amare gets back into the team. I think the team they have until then will be good enough to keep the record up enough to make the playoffs.

So in summary, it should be a good season. There’s plenty of talent around the league these days. Let’s hope everyone stays injury free.

Word up.