NBA Preview
Ben Mark
Issue date: 10/21/08 Section: Sports
In a month full of cool days, baseball’s conclusion, Halloween bar parties and mind-numbing amounts of mid-term school work, I take solace in the fact that the NBA season revs up on Oct. 28. Roll out the balls, lace up your Nikes and let’s get going with who I think is this season’s Cinderella story. Let me first say that I am going to be Boston-free in this column, except that I need to go on record and say the Celtics are repeating.
Ok, now, the NBA’s Eastern Conference is getting stronger by the year. The top four or five teams match up decently with those frontrunners in the West and top to bottom, the West ain’t that much better. Where the East gets weak, per se, is near the bottom of the playoff ladder. There is no clear cut seven or eight seed and this is where you could see a real surprise. That surprise is going to be the Indiana Pacers. They have the right vision with leadership from General Manager Larry Bird and head coach Jim O’Brien, they also have a roster full of guys you probably don’t know. Some experts have them pegged to be a bottom feeder in the NBA, but let me assure you, from the same editors who brought you the success of the Tampa Bay Rays last spring, the Pacers are a playoff team.
Twenty-five-year-old Danny Granger leads the Pacers. Danny Granger? Yes, the youngster is coming off a season where he posted nearly 20 points, six rebounds, a block a steal and two assists per game, in addition to 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc. He is only going to get better with a legitimate point guard joining the mix. The Pacers traded their only former All-Star during the off-season, letting Jermaine O’Neal go to Toronto for TJ Ford. Ford, if healthy, is going to boost Granger’s stats, along with those of underrated forwards Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy.
Dunleavy has gone through six NBA seasons virtually unnoticed, playing for the Golden State Warriors and now the Pacers. He dropped 19 points and grabbed five rebounds a contest last season, and at 28 years of age is coming into the prime of his career. Murphy is a bruiser on the boards and dropped a dozen points a night last year.
The enigma is Ford, and if he can play anywhere between 70 and 75 out of a possible 82 games for Indiana in 2008-2009 look for this team to flourish. Ford loves to push the tempo, and has a knack for making beautiful passes in transition. He’s been given the keys to a young, yet experienced team that likes to get out and run. He has battled a bad back among other injuries in his young career, but look for him to post at least eight assists-per-game this year, which would put him near the top of the NBA.
Finally, there’s the O’Brien factor. Jim O’Brien is known for getting young teams to overachieve. Last year’s Pacers team nearly made the playoffs without a true point-guard and with a whining, underachieving O’Neal. This year, Obie takes the Pacers to the playoffs as the NBA’s surprise team.
Last year Kobe Bryant won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award for the first time in his career. Kobe put the team on his back, but didn’t selfishly take the team over. He embraced his role as leader and was fortunate enough to receive the help of newly acquired Pau Gasol. Gasol helped take the pressure off of Kobe and also helped the Lakers win more games. This is exactly what new Cav guard Mo Williams is going to do for this year’s predicted MVP, the King, Lebron James. Lebron has always put up Oscar Robertson type, triple-double numbers and this year is going to be no different. Williams was a 20-point-per-game scorer and a defensive attention getter in Milwaukee last year.
If teams forget about him while doubling up on James, he is going to make them pay. Therefore, Lebron is going to get a lot more room to operate with his new right-hand man on the floor. The Cavs are also going to win more games because of the positive addition. No one has ever questioned Lebron as a teammate, and he will continue to get everyone involved while the offense still runs through him.
Also, King James will be 24 throughout most of the season, which means he’s only going to get scarier and better as a basketball stud. The most talented, athletic freak in the league is going to get his first of many MVP trophies this season.
Ok, now, the NBA’s Eastern Conference is getting stronger by the year. The top four or five teams match up decently with those frontrunners in the West and top to bottom, the West ain’t that much better. Where the East gets weak, per se, is near the bottom of the playoff ladder. There is no clear cut seven or eight seed and this is where you could see a real surprise. That surprise is going to be the Indiana Pacers. They have the right vision with leadership from General Manager Larry Bird and head coach Jim O’Brien, they also have a roster full of guys you probably don’t know. Some experts have them pegged to be a bottom feeder in the NBA, but let me assure you, from the same editors who brought you the success of the Tampa Bay Rays last spring, the Pacers are a playoff team.
Twenty-five-year-old Danny Granger leads the Pacers. Danny Granger? Yes, the youngster is coming off a season where he posted nearly 20 points, six rebounds, a block a steal and two assists per game, in addition to 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc. He is only going to get better with a legitimate point guard joining the mix. The Pacers traded their only former All-Star during the off-season, letting Jermaine O’Neal go to Toronto for TJ Ford. Ford, if healthy, is going to boost Granger’s stats, along with those of underrated forwards Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy.
Dunleavy has gone through six NBA seasons virtually unnoticed, playing for the Golden State Warriors and now the Pacers. He dropped 19 points and grabbed five rebounds a contest last season, and at 28 years of age is coming into the prime of his career. Murphy is a bruiser on the boards and dropped a dozen points a night last year.
The enigma is Ford, and if he can play anywhere between 70 and 75 out of a possible 82 games for Indiana in 2008-2009 look for this team to flourish. Ford loves to push the tempo, and has a knack for making beautiful passes in transition. He’s been given the keys to a young, yet experienced team that likes to get out and run. He has battled a bad back among other injuries in his young career, but look for him to post at least eight assists-per-game this year, which would put him near the top of the NBA.
Finally, there’s the O’Brien factor. Jim O’Brien is known for getting young teams to overachieve. Last year’s Pacers team nearly made the playoffs without a true point-guard and with a whining, underachieving O’Neal. This year, Obie takes the Pacers to the playoffs as the NBA’s surprise team.
Last year Kobe Bryant won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award for the first time in his career. Kobe put the team on his back, but didn’t selfishly take the team over. He embraced his role as leader and was fortunate enough to receive the help of newly acquired Pau Gasol. Gasol helped take the pressure off of Kobe and also helped the Lakers win more games. This is exactly what new Cav guard Mo Williams is going to do for this year’s predicted MVP, the King, Lebron James. Lebron has always put up Oscar Robertson type, triple-double numbers and this year is going to be no different. Williams was a 20-point-per-game scorer and a defensive attention getter in Milwaukee last year.
If teams forget about him while doubling up on James, he is going to make them pay. Therefore, Lebron is going to get a lot more room to operate with his new right-hand man on the floor. The Cavs are also going to win more games because of the positive addition. No one has ever questioned Lebron as a teammate, and he will continue to get everyone involved while the offense still runs through him.
Also, King James will be 24 throughout most of the season, which means he’s only going to get scarier and better as a basketball stud. The most talented, athletic freak in the league is going to get his first of many MVP trophies this season.
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