2012-13 NBA preview

 Lakers House, Staples Center from NBA 2K13

So tonight we kick of the 2012-13 NBA season with a couple of pretty interesting games on TNT. First the Celtics travel to South Beach to take on the defending champions, Miami Heat followed by the Dallas Mavericks being hosted by my Los Angeles Lakers. I’ll be looking into the favorites for this season, surprises and other things to expect during the basketball year.

This is one of those seasons where I don’t expect many contenders for the title. There are maybe 3 teams who I give a legit shot at the O’Brien trophy. Miami, LA, OKC are top contenders (according to my sports book the Heat are the favs at only +120, while LA and the Thunder are at +200); two other teams that could be interesting to watch are the Celtics and the Spurs. Beyond that I can’t see anyone even coming close to these 3 big ones.

My main focus will be those 3 teams starting with the defending champs. It’s no secret I hate the Heat with passion but there is no denying they are a great team, not for nothing the won it all last year. The core of the team, LeBron, Wade and Bosh, remains intact and they’ve added some interesting pieces, mainly Rashad Lewis and Ray Allen. While these 2 won’t put up All Star numbers they will be of great help off the bench, one of their few weaknesses last season, and will help keep the Big 3 rested and in top form for when they are required to perform. LeBron is the greatest physical specimen in the league, I still doubt his mental toughness but last year he proved he has enough of what it takes to be a champion.

The Oklahoma Thunder had a coming out party in the playoff series vs the Spurs last year; they are true contenders and will be great this year. The topic of recent conversation regarding them was the departure of James Harden, the thing was Harden (who has the greatest NBA beard ever) wanted more money in a shorter period of time and the Thunder would not give it to him, so they set up a deal this past weekend with the Houston Rockets that sent Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook and Lazar Hayward to H-Town for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb, two 1^st round draft picks and a 2^nd rounder. All in all it was a good deal for both sides; the Thunder didn’t really lose THAT much, got a solid player in K-Mart and a gamble on Lamb, plus the draft picks; also Harden got his extension with a 6 million upgrade as to what OKC offered him. This being said I don’t think this changes the Thunder’s chances at a title, neither does Vegas; Westbrook and Durant are spectacular, Ibaka is a monster on D and they will be in serious contention for the title but will wind up coming up a bit shot.

Now on to the Lakers. Did any team have a better offseason? Ever? They only lost often injured and yet to fulfill his potential Andrew Bynum in the deal that got them Dwight Howard. Any smart NBA follower will tell you this is a steal, and it is! While Howard is a diva, you know you’ll get 15-15 night in and night out and a huge post presence that few teams have. Then you get Steve Nash who is not nearly what he was 5 years ago but will be a huge upgrade to any PG the Lakers have had in recent memory, he will be great for the pick and roll and will create a ton of shots for Kobe. The impact of Nash is beyond description, the amount of energy Kobe expends to fight for a shot is astonishing and Steve will be of huge help with this. So all in all you get a hall of famer PG, a future HOFer Center in addition to Kobe, Gasol and Metta World Peace, can’t get much better in a 5 month span. Will the Lakers win it all? Will everything work to perfection in year one? Not sure on both questions, we could have a case of what happened to Miami in year one of the Big 3. Still LA should win the West with ease.

As I said before, these are the only 3 teams I give a chance to win the title. That is not to say that there won’t be other fun teams & surprises. For one, the Portland Trailblazers will be a really entertaining team night in and night out; they won’t win more than 40 games but all 82 will be real enjoyable. Denver is another one of those fast paced, don’t care about defense teams who always provides some fun TV time. Chicago will be fun to watch, and depending if D-Rose returns could be a contender for the title; I see an interesting scenario where the Bulls are 6 or 7^th in the East and Rose comes back around March and they make a serious run at the Heat. Also the Houston Rockets will be pretty solid.

Who will take the main individual awards this year?

• MVP: Kevin Durant; barring a long setback due to injury he will be a monster in 12-13


• Scoring champ: KD will take this one for the 3^rd straight year


• Defensive player of the year: Dwight Howard, closely challenged by Serge Ibaka


• Rookie of the year: Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Hornets

As you can see the main awards will be distributed between Lakers and Thunder, thus my prediction of them having great years.

Now the million dollar question, who will reach the NBA Finals and win it all? I’m going with pretty much everyone else’s prediction: Los Angeles Lakers vs Miami Heat. The winner? Logic says it will be the Heat but I’m going with my Lakers –actually saw a NBA 2K13 simulation of the whole season and it predicted the same outcome with LA winning the Finals in 7 games (for the article click here)

Who is your team? Who do you expect to win it all?

Mr Khakbaz out!

Go Lakers!