Hoops Springs Eternal

With the NBA season tipping off tonight, I thought I'd offer an assortment of random thoughts on the season ahead:

* LeBron this, Carmelo that. I'm as interested to see those guys as everyone else, but I think Dwyane Wade will win rookie of the year. He, not Carmelo, was the best college player last year and his 6'5'' body is NBA-ready. Plus he has two factors in his favor: 1) He plays in East and 2) He's not expected to be the star right off the bat. Caron Butler will carry burden of being the team's focal point, allowing Wade's scoring talents to flourish over the course of the season.

* Speaking of Dwyane Wade, can his parents and and Antawn Jamison's parents please hold a joint press conference? Were they just trying to be different or was there a birth certificate typo?

* Whenever I think about Keith Van Horn being on the Knicks, the first words that come to my head are invariably "unmitigated" and "disaster".

* Just when you thought you've had your last Horace Grant sighting... there he is, back with the Lakers. He, Julio Franco, Stan Javier, Sean Landeta and Morten Andersen should have their own reality show: Nonretirement Home.

* With Antoine Walker and his 25 erratic shots per game going to Dallas, the door is open for Paul Pierce to absolutely blow up this season. The Truth will be the MVP of every fantasy basketball league in the nation.

* Great to hear that Al Michaels will be the lead announcer on ABC's NBA telecasts this season. But why did they take Tom Tolbert off of the lead color commentary team? He had more fresh things to say than the typical recently-fired-coach-turned-analyst.

* Brad Miller is the most overrated player in the league. A seven year $68 million dollar contract for playing one good season in a weak Eastern Conference? The guy only made the All-Star team last year by default- there are only a handful of 7-footers in the conference. Anyone who thinks the Kings improved with this acquisition is kidding themselves.

* Of the new uniforms debuting this season, the Nuggets' slick duds definitely take the cake. Evoking the powder blue of the San Diego Chargers' classic threads is a great move in my book.

PLAYOFF CRYSTAL BALL

* In the East, I think we'll see a few surprise teams that will be much better than they were last year. Orlando will make a strong playoff run now tha McGrady has some frontcourt help in Juwan Howard. The Heat have a lot of young talent that will flourish now that Pat Riley's iron fist is no longer holding the team back. But in the conference finals Larry Brown and Darko Milicic will give Detroit the juice they need to muscle past the Nets in the conference finals.

* Out of the West's "big five", Sacramento is the one headed for a fall. The Kings are never healthy- it's always some kind of nagging ailment or freak injury keeping them from being at full strength. Their team is getting old and their bench got thinner in the offseason, so I'd be shocked if they made the conference finals.

* The Mavs are no better or worse than last year. Even though they're adding Walker and Jamison, that offense get any more efficient than it already was. Danny Fortson can rebound, but not well enough to neutralize the superb big men in the West.

* All the preseason focus so far has been on the Lakers and Mavs, but the new-look team I'm most interested in seeing is the Timberwolves. Kevin Garnett was already on the verge of an MVP season, and in the playoffs, Troy Hudson proved that he could ball. Adding Olowokandi, Sprewell and The Hideous One means Minnesota suddenly becomes multi-dimensional. After serving as the Oakland A's of the NBA the past five years, I'm predicting that the T-Wolves will finally get out of the first round.

*The Lakers have star power, but I just don't think that team can come together for a title run in one season, especially with Kobe's trial scheduled to take place in May. This isn't like football or baseball, where a patchwork of new players can get you an instant title. NBA teams take years to mesh together.

*That leaves the Spurs, who were clearly better than the Lakers and Mavs in the playoffs last season and improved in the offseason. Plus in basketball more than in any other sport, the team with the best player wins the crown. And Tim Duncan still wears black and silver.