Previewing the 2008-2009 NBA Season

I know the baseball playoffs are about to get under way and football is hiting its stride as we descend upon October, but those subjects can be delved into for another day and another blog post. What I really want to talk about the unofficial start of the NBA season.

Today was media day for most if not all 30 teams and training camp starts on Tuesday. The posters over at RealGM are all over media day and have a thread devoted to the subject.

As you can see, the media day is just a glorified photo shoot with a slight question and answer section where all the players pretty much say they like their team’s chances and how they want to win the championship (I’ve been to media day for college football and there is not an event where you’ll see more bland answers than a media day – the event truly is awful to cover…but alas that’s for another day).

I’ll get to the Minnesota Timberwolves’ new jerseys, the Oklahoma City Thunder situation and what in God’s name Delonte West is doing to himself later in the post, but right now I would like to get into Marc Stein’s Training Camp Power Rankings for ESPN.

Marc Stein does a great job of covering the NBA for the “Worldwide Leader” and his power rankings are always a hot button issue among NBA fans. Stein pretty much stays with the chalk for his first two selections as he projects the NBA champion Boston Celtics as No. 1 and the Los Angeles Lakers as the No. 2 team heading into the preseason. His 3-5 teams are also really not cause for debate in that everyone expects New Orleans, Houston and San Antonio to be finals contenders (that is if Houston ever makes it out the first round but the addition of Ron Artest could be end all that talk)

The six through ten slots is where the rankings really start to see some sizzle attached to them.

Stein has the Cleveland Cavaliers as the sixth-best team in the NBA and the second-best team in the Eastern Conference. You may remember the Cavs acquired Mo Williams this August to give LeBron James the help he needs. James nearly eliminated the eventual champion Celtics by himself last spring and the Cavs hope Wiliams is just the offensive spark they need.

The Pistons have been to six straight Eastern Conference championships but that really does not matter to Stein as he has them seventh. With a new coach, Michael Curry, the Pistons will have to prove that they are the same Pistons team that has dominated the regular season over the past couple of years.

Philly comes in at No. 8 and this is largely due to the fact that acquired Elton Brand this off-season. The city of Philadelphia has not won a championship in any sport since the Sixers won back in 1983 and Phila fans are hoping that the Elton Brand acquisition is just the stepping stone the city needs for that elusive championship.

The Jazz are ranked ninth but they are a very boring team and I don’t really want to talk about them.

Rounding out the top ten are the Canadiens (i.e. the Toronto Raptors). The Raptors acquired Jermaine O’Neal from the Indiana Pacers this off-season and they hope his knees hold up so that he and Chris Bosh can form a very formidable duo. Plus Canada has the best national anthem – that should get them bonus points heading into the season.

That’s all I’m going to delve dealing with the power rankings because frankly I feel like I need a nap and a cold beverage after only reviewing about 5 1/2 of the teams. I dont know how Stein ranks all 30 teams every week – the man’s a machine.

Other Media Day related goodies 

– The Seattle Super Sonics…wait, make that the Oklahoma City Thunder might have the worst uniforms in professional sports

These uniforms are the definition of ugly

The whole sitaution is a train wreck down there in OKC. But back to the uniforms for a second. When I think of thunder, I think of colors such as black or grey – I definitely do not think of blue and orange. What a disaster this team is. At least the state of Oklahoma has two top 25 college football teams because those uniforms, along with the horrid play of the Thunder will make OKlahomans want to gouge their eyes out (probably a better solution than having to look at those hideous things for an extended period of time).

– Speaking of uniforms, the Minnesota Timberwolves unveiled their new digs and, well, they look like a WNBA team. If that’s what they are going for, then more power to them (hell, Mike Miller looks like he’s ready to go try out for the Lynx). Actually I’d probably be more apt to play in uniforms that look like they were made for a women’s team than wear what the Thunder are being forced to endure (Did I mention how much I hate those wretched things and hope they are burned? I did, ok good).

_ And then there’s Cavaliers’ guard Delonte West. Delonte is going for the “scaring children look” this season – and I think he has succeeded in that. It appears that West may be growing out his hair in order to put it in corn-rows. Delonte if you are doing this, I beg of you please stop the madness right now. There’s certain kinds of people that look good with corn-rows – I’m sorry but you’re not one of them. Lighter skin and corn-rowed orange hair might cause Clevelanders to riot outside of Quicken Loans Arena. For the good of all mankind Delonte, go back to the shaved look.