By Corey VannThe Dartmouth Staff
If you are holding this column in your hand rather than reading it online, you are a better person than me. Classes or not, Hurricane Sandy means Netflix, "Assassin's Creed" and endless delivery from The Orient I will not be leaving my room.
Before I get into this week's topic, I have to give a quick Vann Island salute to my teammate Ryan McManus '15. If you didn't catch SportsCenter this weekend, I don't blame you. It was Homecoming weekend, and I actually hope you were doing something better than camping out in front of your television. That said, Ryan was number four on SportsCenter's "Top 10" on Saturday night. Dude channeled his inner Marshawn Lynch and went completely beast mode on the Harvard defense. Ryan broke six tackles on his 68-yard catch-and-run. Keep it up, young fella.
OK, now it's time to get down to business and talk about the significance of this day the christening of the 2012-2013 NBA season. That's right, everybody: Professional basketball begins tonight at 7 p.m., when Emaka Okafor of the visiting Wizards wins the tip from Anderson Varejao of the Cavaliers (seriously, this is going to happen make the prop bet).
Even though the season officially starts with the matchup between the Wizards and the Cavaliers, let's be honest the season really starts an hour later when the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat take the court. I mean, is it even possible that one game can contain so many storylines?
The answer is yes. You've got the Celtics on one hand, who are retooling for one last title run. It's no secret that Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are aging, and that's why general manager Danny Ainge went out and signed Jason Terry, Courtney Lee and Jeff Green this offseason. And please don't sleep on Jared Sullinger the Ohio State University product is about to make the other 20 teams in the draft pay.
Despite the fact that the offseason moves listed above will no doubt keep the Celtics in contention in the East, the offseason move that everyone will be talking about tomorrow night is the one the Celtics were unable to make keeping Ray Allen. Let's just say for Allen's sake, thank God the game is at home in Miami. Garnett deleted Allen's number from his phone and Rajan Rondo refuses to even say Allen's name, so you can only imagine the type of welcome the Celtics fans would have given Allen on Tuesday night.
There is no way to get around the commotion that will ensue tonight in Miami, but I have a feeling that the defending champs' season will be very drama free. LeBron is by far the best player in the league. Last year was special, but expect his encore to be even better. James will dominate the league, and with the help of a now healthy Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, the Heat will make its way back to the NBA championship.
It's going to be an exciting season in the NBA. Aside from the Celtics-Heat rivalry, here are three other storylines I am looking forward to seeing unfold over the course of the season.
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Los Angeles basketball Yes, I am very eager to see the dynamic between Kobe and the new additions of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, but I am more pumped to see how the Clippers are going to respond to the taste of success they had last year. Are they going to be able to threaten the Lakers (who will be awesome despite their 0-8 preseason), and do Grant Hill, Jamal Crawford and Lamar Odom have anything left in the tank?
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David Stern The commish is finally retiring in February 2014. So what's his legacy? For everything good he has done for the league TV ratings, revenue, etc. he is still the guy who told Jim Rome that Rome beat his wife, vetoed the Chris Paul trade and allowed corrupt officials to ref under his watch.
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Andrew Bynum After I got over the initial shock of Dwight Howard joining forces with Kobe, Nash and Pau Gasol in L.A., I was very intrigued by the potential of the 76ers with the addition of Bynum. However, Bynum is already having troubles with his knee in Philly, which begs the question of whether or not he will be able to put this team on his back.
Hurricane Sandy or not, it sure is nice to have the season start in October instead of December and have a full slate of 82 regular season games. That was the NBA preview. Return to the Island next week for predictions.
