26Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012Carter LiebzeitSeni<strong>or</strong> Contribut<strong>or</strong>Last year’s NationalBasketball Association season wasthreatened by a lockout, yet turnedinto one of the most entertainingseasons in recent mem<strong>or</strong>y. The2011-12 season was changed fromthe traditional 82 game schedule to ash<strong>or</strong>tened 66-game campaign. NBAfans saw the emergence of youngpoint cards Russell Westbrook,Ricky Rubio and Kyrie Irving, thesurprising rise to fame of JeremyLin, an entertaining playoffrace, and all capped off byan exciting final betweenthe Miami Heat andOklahoma City Thunder,and a battle of two ofthe league’s best sc<strong>or</strong>ers:Miami’s LeBron Jamesand OKC’s Kevin Durant.There’s never been thismany entertaining playersat one time in the NBA:James, Durant, DwayneWade, Kobe Bryant, ChrisPaul, Lin, Derrick Rose,Carmelo Anthony, RajonRondo, <strong>St</strong>eve Nash, DwightHoward to name a few. The2012-13 season has a lot tolive up to, and there are a lotof questions f<strong>or</strong> NBA fansgoing into this season. I’llhand out some awards topreview this NBA season:Team to Beat: The MiamiHeatEvery team in theNBA is chasing the Miami Heat.There is no doubt that the Heat arethe best team in the league, LeBronJames and Dwayne Wade areperennial first-team all-stars. Jameswon his fourth NBA MVP awardlast season and is one of the bestto ever play the game. Chris Boshsettled in as the third-best playeron the team and played well in the2012 playoffs. Point guards N<strong>or</strong>risCole and Mario Chalmers showedthat they are capable of playingdefense reasonably well and ableto hand the ball off to “The Big 3”,James, Wade and Bosh, on offense.Miami not only maintained theirstrong 2011-12 team, they got evenbetter. The Heat signed veteranguard Ray Allen, the NBA all-timeleader in 3-point shots made. MiamiSp<strong>or</strong>tsNBA Previewalso signed Rashard Lewis, a decentf<strong>or</strong>ward who has bounced around afew different teams the past coupleyears and is finally able to play ona championship contender. ESPNpolled General Managers of all30 NBA teams anonymously, and21 of these 30 (70%) said that theHeat are the best team in the league.Everyone is watching the Heat andit will be a surprise if they are not inthe NBA finals again this season.Most Entertaining Team: The LosAngeles LakersThe Heat may be the bestteam in the league, but everyoneknows what to expect from them.James and Wade play basketballunbelievably well. Having so manygood players allows them to balancethe sc<strong>or</strong>ing. Last year the Heat wereso unbeatable in big games becausethere are a number of playerswith good chemistry togetherwho were able to carry the loadwhen teammates were struggling.However, this year’s Lakers teamwill be so fun to watch because notonly do they have a “Big-3”, thereare 5 superstars. This L.A. team willbe so entertaining because each ofthese five players have been the staron a team in the past. <strong>St</strong>eve Nash,signed by the Lakers in the summer,has been carrying the Phoenix Sunssince 2004. Nash will now have toshare the ball with big-man DwightHoward, f<strong>or</strong>wards Pau Gasol andRon Artest (It’s unacceptable to calla grown man “Metta W<strong>or</strong>ld Peace”)and of course Kobe Bryant. Each ofthese players have a lot to offer, butplaying together may be a challenge.It’ll definitely be exciting to watchthe Lakers play in the high sc<strong>or</strong>ingWestern Conference, with teamslike the rival Clippers, the Thunder,the up-and-coming MinnesotaTimberwolves, and thepowerhouse San AntonioSpurs. The Heat may be thebest team, but the Lakers arethe most entertaining.!Most exciting “bad team”:The New Orleans H<strong>or</strong>netsThe H<strong>or</strong>nets have been oneof the w<strong>or</strong>st teams in theNBA the past few seasons,and have only made it pastthe first round of the playoffsonce since they moved fromCharlotte to New Orleansin 2002. The H<strong>or</strong>nets losttheir only star player infranchise hist<strong>or</strong>y Chris Paulto the Clippers last year. TheH<strong>or</strong>nets are awful. This yearthey’ll be bad, but they’ll befun to watch. Their flashyunif<strong>or</strong>m is one of the nicest inthe league. First overall pickAnthony Davis is an athleticbig-man who dominated theNCAA last year at Kentucky.The H<strong>or</strong>nets also draftedAustin Rivers who was an excitingpoint guard at Duke University.Rivers and Davis have not evenreached their 21 st birthday yet andwill be carrying an NBA team ontheir back. Along with shootingguard Eric G<strong>or</strong>don, the team isbuilding f<strong>or</strong> the future, and havingAnthony Davis is a good start tobecoming a contender.Best new brand: The BrooklynNetsThe Nets have gained a lot ofnew supp<strong>or</strong>ters over the summer of2012. They traded f<strong>or</strong> Joe Johnsonand Gerald Wallace to f<strong>or</strong>m a solidc<strong>or</strong>e along with star point guardDeron Williams. The Nets have freshnew black-and-white jerseys, theirnew name and their celebrity part-
Volume 66, Issue 2 October 31, 2012owner Jay-Z have all contributedto the Nets’ bandwagon. Six NBAteams released new jerseys overthe summer. The Nets’ jerseys aresimple and classic without beingold-fashioned. Brooklyn unif<strong>or</strong>msare the nicest of the six, as reflectedby jersey sales. In fact, m<strong>or</strong>e Netsgear was sold on the first day ofsales than the entire New JerseyNets 2011 season.W<strong>or</strong>st collapse: Dallas MavericksThe Dallas Mavericks wonthe NBA title in 2010-11, shockingthe Miami Heat thanks to anincredible team eff<strong>or</strong>t. Two yearsremoved from that title, the Mavshave definitely fallen from being acontender. F<strong>or</strong>mer superstar DirkNowitzki is now 34-years-old andbattling knee problems, and hadSp<strong>or</strong>tsa very average 2011-12 season.F<strong>or</strong>wards Vince Carter and ShawnMarion are washed up. Last yearDallas lost their defensive anch<strong>or</strong>Tyson Chandler as a free agent tothe New Y<strong>or</strong>k Knicks. This year theMavs lost energetic shooting guardJason Terry to the Boston Celtics.The backcourt is mediocre, guardsO.J. Mayo and Darren Collison arenot good enough to carry an NBAteam. However, the biggest lossf<strong>or</strong> Dallas this offseason was notimproving via free agency <strong>or</strong> thedraft. The college draft was verydeep this year, a lot of college talentwas available in the first round, yetDallas traded the pick. They also didnot manage to sign any of the bignamefree agents this year. Dallaslooked old and slow in their firstround playoff sweep at the handsof OKC last season. Dallas didn’tdo much to improve, and they maybe at risk of missing the playoffs in2012-13.These five teams will all beinteresting to watch during the2012-13 season. Many questionswill be answered throughout theseason. Will the Heat repeat aschampions? Will LeBron James winhis fifth MVP trophy? Which newyoung stars will emerge this year?Will Jeremy Lin be able to continuehis success with the Rockets? Howwill new-look teams like the Lakers,H<strong>or</strong>nets and Nets play this season?Do aging teams like Dallas and SanAntonio have one last playoff run inthem? The NBA is at an excitingtime and it will be interesting to seehow the games play out this season.NHL LockoutWhy the lockout is the w<strong>or</strong>st possible scenario...!John MatthewEdit<strong>or</strong>-in-ChiefIs it a blessing in disguise<strong>or</strong> is it suicide? It could be arguedthat, f<strong>or</strong> some teams, having sometime off during the NHL Lockout isbeneficial. Such teams include theMontréal Canadiens (I use the term“team” quite loosely), the T<strong>or</strong>ontoMaple Leafs, and the EdmontonOilers, as they are saved from theembarrassment of losing night innight out. M<strong>or</strong>e seriously, however,the lockout allows the top prospectson these teams time to developm<strong>or</strong>e fully in the American HockeyLeague <strong>or</strong> in the juni<strong>or</strong>s.F<strong>or</strong> teams such as the LAKings, it is a mixed bag. They getthe extra rest time that they lostafter winning the <strong>St</strong>anley Cup lastseason, but run the risk of losingpart of a fan base that had built upconsiderable enthusiasm during lastyear’s playoff run.And this is where the problemlies. The irony of the whole situationis that the lockout is supposed to helpto determine methods f<strong>or</strong> revenuesharing;theref<strong>or</strong>e stabilizing smallmarketteams <strong>or</strong> financially strappedfranchises in struggling Americanmarkets.However, the backlash fromthe lockout could end up hurtingthese teams beyond repair.Of course, the people wh<strong>or</strong>eally lose out in this situation arethe ones who seemingly have novoice. The response to the lockoutfrom a fan standpoint has beenoverwhelmingly negative. Surprisesurprise!This negative responsestems from the fact that the lockout27
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