It's Game Time

The 2008-2009 NBA season opens tomorrow with last June’s finalists hosting different opponents. Boston will raise banner number 17 then have a rematch of their 7-game semifinal series with Cleve-Bron Cava-James. Over at the Staples center, Los Angeles will host Greg Oden and the Portland Trailblazers. This will be a great matchup between two young and strong centers in Oden and Andrew Bynum.

This early, team general managers and coaches picked the Celtics and the Lakers to renew their Finals rivalry. Unless some kind of an obnoxious bug find its way inside their anatomies and rattle their heads, well, its hello again to LA Showtime. And this suits me just fine.

Last week, I mentioned to discuss the other contenders who can give Boston and LA some serious sweats in the post-season. We’ll deal only with the possible playoff contenders and start with the bit improved Eastern Conference.

Excluding Boston, these teams would likely complete the eastern bloc playoff picture but not necessarily in this order - Toronto, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta and Washington.

With Jermaine O’Neal combining with Chris Bosh, the Raptors now have one of the most powerful frontcourt combinations in the league. The big question would be, can JO deliver considering that he has spent the last two seasons nursing injuries.

Olympic silver medalist Jose Calderon will run the point and will be the Raptors’ main floor director. A healthy JO means an improved interior defense and this should open up the sights for Jason Kapono’s shooting. We’ll have to see if Andrea Bargnani will improve this year. He had such a bad second season that UV’s Greg Slaughter had a far more impressive performance in the CESAFI.

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Elton Brand could be the savior Philadelphia is waiting for. Not since Charles Barkley did the Sixers have a legitimate low-post scorer. Brand will be a magnet for double-teams and this could provide golden moments for center Samuel Dalembert to produce inside the paint. If only Philly has decent perimeter shooters, Brand and Dalembert’s load would be lighter.

Point guard Andre Miller is quick, can score and has court vision. Another Andre, the Igoudala version, will move from small forward to shooting guard and he should make those jumpers to give justice to the position. The only true shooter that the Sixers have is Kareem Rush. In a nutshell, the team now has a more potent and athletic starting unit compared to last season’s.

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Detroit has a new coach in Michael Curry and being a defensive specialist in his 11-year NBA playing career, expect a more unforgiving Piston’s defense. With the exception of Antonio McDyess who will be coming off the bench, Detroit will again start Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace and 6-11 Amir Johnson who didn’t see much playing time under Flip Saunders’ reign. These veterans are surrounded with young talents in Jason Maxiell, the much improved Rodney Stuckey and yes, if he puts his head into the game, the often maligned Kwame Brown.

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LeBron James and his Cavaliers now have depth and they could make a very good run in the postseason. With the addition of Mo Williams, Cleveland has now a legitimate point guard who can take over games. Their frontcourt stating unit will be suspect. Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Ben Wallace are aging and are on the verge of enjoying their senior citizens’ discount privileges, but they can still give headaches, Z with his shooting and Ben with his power harassments.

The key will be the reserves. Daniel Gibson and Wally Szczerbiak are shooters and that’s what they will be doing. Aside from shooting, Delonte West can defend, so does shaggy-haired Anderson Varejao.

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