2009 NBA Season: Don’t Forget About It

By: Alex Harris

With all the hoopla surrounding the summer of 2010, it’s understandable why NBA fans would struggle to remember that the 2009 season still needs to happen.  Sure, the summer of 2010 will play host to many household names moving, such as Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Shaquille O’Neal, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Roy, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen… just to name a few.  But, there are still plenty of reasons to wait in great anticipation for the upcoming NBA campaign.

1.) Every single team should go atleast 41-41.  (Except for Minnesota.)

Granted, that physically can’t happen, but after carefully examining every team’s potential starters and bench players, it’s clear that every organization will be sporting a .500 team next season.  Okay, maybe the Kings will only boast a 35-47 (hypothetically, of course) record next year, yet the Kings have a young core of Kevin Martin (20 plus points per game in 2008), Francisco Garcia, and sophomore power forward Jason Thompson, who quietly posted 11 and 7 in his debut season, not to mention, rookie point guard Tyreke Evans out of Memphis.  And for the Timberwolves, the talent of Rubio, Flynn, Brewer, and Love should take about two or more seasons to develop.  Other than those two teams, the 1st through 8th seeds in the both the Eastern and Western Conference (referring to last year’s playoff seeds) progressed dramatically, notably the Cavaliers, Celtics, Magic, and Hawks in the East, and Lakers, Spurs, and Blazers (who get better everytime they play a regular season game) in the West.

2.) Rosters have been shaken up quite a bit this offseason

If you look at the Eastern Conference, it’s hard not to notice the drastic changes that have gone on thus far.  First of all, the Cavaliers added Shaq, who should turn out to be the dominating inside presence they’ve been yearning for since Lebron’s rookie year.  Yes, he’s 37 but he’s so Shaq-tastic (29 points).  Then, the Magic basically swapped Hedo Turkoglu for Vince Carter who can still put up prolific numbers (20.8 per game in 2008) and now showcase a team of all-stars in Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, Vince Carter, and Dwight Howard. (Doesn’t it just sound better when you say it out loud? I think so.)  And, most recently, the Celtics bolstered their veteran-squad once again by adding the always-dangerous Rasheed Wallace.  ‘Sheed will definitely give this team the boost they need to make another serious title run come next spring.

Moving over to the West, the NBA Champions sign Ron Artest, letting Trevor Ariza fall into the hands of Artest’s old team, the Houston Rockets.  To all the nay-sayers; two words: stop talking.  Trevor Ariza won’t ever be half the player Artest is, let alone a quarter of the defensive presence.  Ariza should be a good fit for the fast-paced Rockets (I say fast-paced because that 7′6″ monster is reportedly out for the year), but Artest should give the Lakers some much needed toughness.

3. Those teams that are ALWAYS bad, aren’t.

Who are these teams, you may be asking yourself? The Clippers, the Thunder, and the Grizzlies.  If you look at these teams on paper, it’s almost scary how good each of these organizations will be within the next couple of years.  The Clippers projected starting five (Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton, Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman), the Grizzlies projected starting five (Mike Conley, O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, Hasheem Thabeet), the Thunder projected starting five (Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic)… ridiculous talent at every single position on the court.  No wonder Allen Iverson wants to go to Memphis.

So, moral of the story is, stop worrying about 2010 when 2009 is right around the corner.