With the NBA season starting this week, here are several intriguing subjects that have my attention:
There’s not a better basketball rivalry, pro or college, than Lakers-Celtics. Nostradamus types have the two storied franchises meeting in the NBA finals next June for the second time in three years. Tune in before then for regular season games on January 31 and February 18.
The Lakers will be trying to repeat as World Champions without former assistant coach Kurt Rambis. He brings his California cool to cold Minneapolis and will adjust to a new culture on and off the court. He will operate using mentor Phil Jackson’s triangle offense and psychology book. Neither was ever tested in L.A. like it will be here, coaching a Wolves team trying to prove it’s not the worst in the league.
Kobe Bryant won’t win a popularity vote by fans but he was the best player in the league last year. Nobody closes a game out like he does. At 31, watch him while his skills remain extraordinary.
At age 20, Jonny Flynn is the youngest player on the Wolves roster. The talented Wolves’ point guard can flash to the basket with the best young players in the world right now. How complete the rest of Flynn’s game (including his outside shot) becomes will have much to do with the Wolves moving toward .500 in the next few years.
Manu Ginobili is another guy who is adept at driving to the basket. He played in only 44 games for the Spurs last year because of injury. He’s back and presumably fearless as ever, and ready to make a run at the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.
The Wolves don’t figure to have any Man of the Year candidates this season but it’s not so far fetched to think that one day guard Corey Brewer could be Defensive Player of the Year. The 6-9 Brewer can guard players who play multiple positions and with his long arms bother them all. First, he has to show some offensive improvements (career 38 percent shooting) to deserve major playing time.
Shaquille O’Neal might not be a better all-time NBA center than Kareem Abdul– Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, but none of them played for so many teams as Shaq Daddy. His Mammothness, now 37, is working for his fifth employer, the Cavaliers. Shaq is past his prime, and folks in Cleveland may need to call a “plumber” by mid-season to unplug the lane so that King James (that be LeBron James) can find a clearer path to the basket.
Let’s hope with the Wolves’ mission to fast break and run their triangle offense that center Al Jefferson doesn’t spend too much time away from the basket. Put the big fella down low near the basket where he scored 23.1 points per game last season. At 24 and after just five NBA seasons, Jefferson deserves to be included in conversations about players with the best low post moves in the last 20 years.
The Wolves open their season tonight at home against New Jersey. On Friday night King James, Shaq Daddy and the rest of the Cavs come to Target Center. And then a week from tonight the Celtics, including Kevin Garnett, are in Minneapolis.
No reason not to be intrigued by all of this.