After a prolonged lockout that caused the NBA to shorten the season to 66 games because the season was postponed by nearly 2 months, the first slate of games for 2011-12 will tip-off Christmas Day. The lockout couldn't have come at a worse time as the NBA had just enjoyed one of its best seasons in the past 2 decades and perhaps even ever thanks to the emergence of a new crop of Superstars, like Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin, and an abundance of stories and drama headlined by everything involving the Miami Heat.
As the 2011-2012 season is set to begin I wanted to talk about a few things that are getting me excited and re-energized about basketball after so many uninteresting months since the Dallas Mavericks took home the TItle in June.
First off, CP3 and Lob City (aka the LA Clippers). The biggest news of the December offseason was the saga of Chris Paul and his eventual trade to the Clippers. I won't go into detail on my opinions of how out-of-whack that situation became and how I feel about Commissioner David Stern but as a result the Clips are going to be one of the most exciting teams to watch this year. Paul wasted little time wowing fans in his preseason debut against the Lakers a few days ago by nearly putting up a triple-double (17 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds and 5 steals) in only 24 minutes. The biggest stat of the night however was that fact that the Clips were +26 in those 24 minutes. Paul is clearly the most talented PG in the league right now and it looks for all the world that he is going to have a monster season. Pairing him up with Griffin is going to make for one hell of a highlight reel all year. It also appears as though the addition of veteran Chauncey Billups will make that team that much better and I fully believe the Clippers will be a legitimate contender in the West this season and for years to come.
The emergence of the Clippers combined with the success enjoyed by Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder may show the NBA a changing of the guard as the perennial powerhouses like the Lakers and Spurs are likely to fall back to the pack with their aging rosters.
In the East it will be fun to see a continuation of a Chicago Bulls - Miami Heat rivalry as those two teams proved to be head-and-shoulders above the rest last year. Reigning MVP Derrick Rose had an absolutely tremendous season last year and I want to see if he and the Bulls can progress enough to topple the Heat who, for all their hype and villainy, were the most interesting team to watch last year whether you loved 'em or (in the more likely case) hated 'em.
The NBA has gotten a bad rap in the past decade because of the dominance of Superstars and a falling out of the kind of fundamental, team-oriented game that makes NCAA basketball so enjoyable. Last year saw a return to the more entertaining kind and one can only hope that we see an improvement again this year.
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