NBA 2009 2010 Preview

NBA 2010 Preview

The 2009-2010 NBA season is just around the corner, and I couldn’t be more excited. Last season was the most fun I think I’ve had wathing sports since the Michael Jordan days. The tight regular season chase, the MVP race, the amazing playoff series’ that we witnessed, and the final conclusion with Kobe finally winning that all elusive fourth title.

NBA Western Conference 2010 Preview

The Western conference will again be lead and dominated by the Los Angeles Lakers this season. They have added Ron Artest and only lost Trevor Ariza. A healthy Andrew Byrnum will also negate any improvements that other teams have done. The San Antonio Spurs with their addition of Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, and Theo Ratliff should help them get back to the Western Conference Finals and challenge the Lakers somewhat. The Denver Nuggets were close last year, but without any major additions this year it will be hard to envision them going too far. The Portland Trailblazers despite a unsuccessful offseason will be better than last year especially if Greg Oden gets his act together, and will certainly be a dangerous foe capable of taking anyone down. The Dallas Mavericks acquisition of Shawn Marion won’t change too much for Cuban’s team who is couple years away from needing a fresh start.

NBA Eastern Conference 2010 Preview

The Eastern Conference ‘big three’ if you will all got even better than last year and there should be no doubt who the top 3 teams of the conference will be. The Orlando Magic were among the most active teams this year with additions of Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, Brandon Bass, and Jason Williams while losing out Hedo Turkoglu, Courtney Lee, and Rafer Alston. Still the Magic won’t feel all that confident when you consider the team that they barely beat in 7 games last year, the Boston Celtics, will have possibly a healthy Kevin Garnett and a playoff veteran at backup, Rasheed Wallace. Despite all this, the favorites out in the East should still be the Cleveland Cavaliers. Let’s not forget what an amazing season they had last year until they bumped heads with the Magic and all their weaknesses were revealed. Luckily for them they addressed all these issues with the additions of Shaquille O’Neal, Anthony Parker, Leon Powe and Jamario Moon while only losing out Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. The other interesting teams out in the East are the Washington Wizards which will see the return of Gilbert Arenas with new acquisitions Mike Miller and Randy Foye. The Toronto Raptors are another team who made major moves and could perhaps creep in the playoffs.

Overall the 2009-2010 NBA season should be truly exciting with several of the top teams really stacked with talent chasing that championship trophy. I leave you now with my predictions for the 2010 NBA season:

2010 MVP: LeBron James
2010 Rookie of the Year: Blake Griffin
2010 Most Improved Player: Greg Oden
2010 Sixth Man of the Year: Ron Artest
2010 Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard

That wraps up the 2010 NBA preview, oh and before I forget…the LA Lakers WILL repeat.