Open Season
By Patrick Geenen, Grade 10

Does anybody know how many teams are in the NBA? If you do not know, there are 30 teams in the league. From the well-known Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, and Miami Heat to the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Chicago Bulls, there are many teams that regularly make the news.  Teams span the nation from the Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and Washington Wizards to the Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and Toronto Raptors. We are officially in basketball season, and the Boston Celtics are the defending NBA Champions, so every team will be trying to keep them from repeating. You may have your own favorites, but let’s look at the pre-season outlooks.

According to John Hollinger at ESPN.Com, the Los Angeles Lakers have the best chance to win the title because they will have the very young Andrew Bynum who came on strong last season but got hurt against the Memphis Grizzlies and missed the chance to help the team in the playoffs. Andrew Bynum averaged 22.60 points per game in the 2007-08 season, while in the 06-07 season he only averaged 15.44 points per game. Hollinger also points out that if Kobe Bryant, who was the MVP of the league last year, has the same kind of year as last, there is a chance for the team to go to the finals. The Lakers team is composed of a lot of very young, unproven players with their average age being 25. Overall, the Lakers have the highest talent in the league, but the team is going to have to work together by not being such ball hogs.

The Boston Celtics, who won the title last year, are going into this season as the favorite to repeat. This team was considered less talented than the Lakers, but it’s the teamwork that they had with one another that helped them win the title. A key reason they won the title was the trade that brought Kevin Garnett to Boston and sent 5 other players to Minnesota for him. With Ray Allen and Paul Pierce already in Boston, they just had to try to find other players that would be willing to work together for the good of the team. The average age for this team is 26 with Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett all being in their 30’s. It was their coach, Doc Rivers, who got some of the players up really early in the morning to do an exercise on teamwork by riding a boat that they needed to paddle in the river.

This NBA season should be very exciting because the number one pick in the 2007 draft, Greg Oden, who is 7’0”, is expected to make a major impact for the Portland Trail Blazers. The Oklahoma City Thunder, formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics, will try to challenge other teams to make the playoffs. Each and every year, players from other countries are getting drafted or signed by some of the NBA teams. There are some teams that travel across the world to play European teams which makes basketball more interesting to see how your favorite team matches up against a team that might be completely different. The season is just beginning, so everyone still has a chance, but only the contenders, not the pretenders, will win.

Source:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp08/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=LakersForecast0809