While you were sleeping, or studying, or scrambling to find a last minute Halloween costume last week, the NBA kicked off its 2008-2009 season. It will inevitably play second fiddle to college and pro football for the next three to four months. For many, the NBA is a shell of its former self, a sloppy, me-first league that pales compared to the heyday of Jordan, Bird, and Magic.
Commissioner David Stern has worked hard in recent years to recast the NBA’s image, mandating that sidelined players wear suits and handing out harsher suspensions for flagrant fouls and on-court brawls. His efforts have not been in vain-TV ratings for a Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals series in June soared to levels they haven’t been at in years, and a slew of young stars with squeaky-clean images (Lebron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and Dwight Howard among them) have emerged as the new torchbearers for the league. Storylines are aplenty one week into the young season, and if you’re not a fan, there is no better time to hop on the bandwagon.
After last winter’s trade frenzy, a virtual who’s-who of the NBA that relocated Shaq, Jason Kidd, and Pau Gasol, another blockbuster deal was finalized Monday, this one sending former Hoya Allen Iverson from the Nuggets to the Pistons in exchange for all-star point guard Chauncey Billups. The trade may be a harbinger for an even busier year of player-swapping, as teams look to clear cap space for the summer of 2010 when Lebron, D-Wade, Yao Ming, Tracy McGrady, Dirk Nowitzki, and Amare Stoudemire can become free agents.
Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets’ acquisition of the enigmatic Ron Artest this summer has them poised for a shot at an NBA title, although there is not much room at the top in a crowded Western Conference that left a 48-win team-the Golden State Warriors-out of the playoffs last year. Perennial fan-favorites Elton Brand (76ers) and Baron Davis (Clippers) are on new squads as well, following the Clippers’ unsuccessful efforts to unite the two teams this summer.
The 2008-2009 rookie class could be the most talented one we’ve seen since the Lebron/Carmelo/D-Wade class of 2003. Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, and O.J. Mayo will lead the way, but don’t forget about Portland’s duo of Greg Oden and Rudy Fernandez, two 2007 draftees who missed last season-Oden had microfracture surgery on an injured knee while Fernandez was playing for Spanish team DVK Joventut.
For the nostalgic ones, though, or those of you who still aren’t convinced that the NBA matters once again, there is also the restoration of a rivalry to look forward to. The Lakers and Celtics combined to win eight titles in the 1980s, facing off three times in the Finals. Two decades later, the names and faces-not to mention the length of the shorts-have changed, but both teams are surefire favorites to win their respective conferences again this season. And while a repeat of last year’s Finals match-up won’t rekindle the “Golden Age” of yore, it will help usher in a new NBA era that may be just as entertaining.
Walker wears short shorts. For a pic email him at wjl8@georgetown.edu.
