The NFL season is at its halfway point. Professional baseball is in the midst of the World Series. The track and field championships have concluded, and this year’s PGA tour majors are over. It’s now the time of year when sports fans will gravitate toward the NBA season.
“It’s my favorite time of the year,” D.C. native James Saunderson said. “Basketball is my favorite sport, and I love each year. [I’m] looking forward to a new season.” Many fans across the nation share Saunderson’s enthusiasm about the opening of the 2009-10 NBA season and their favorite teams.
“I’m anxious to see if the Lakers are going to repeat,” Lakers fan Jackie Lewis said. Since the Lakers won the NBA championship one year ago, much has changed throughout the league with teams making moves to strengthen their rosters and chances of ultimately clenching the NBA championship.
The Cleveland Cavaliers is one of the league’s strongest teams with LeBron James on its roster and had the best record last season in the NBA. The team has recently acquired Shaquille O’Neal, Anthony Parker, Leon Powe and Jamario Moon.
The Boston Celtics added Rasheed Wallace to compliment their big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The Orlando Magic traded for Vince Carter, and the NBA champion Lakers may even improve their team with the acquisition of Ron Artest.
Allen Iverson has found a new home with the Memphis Grizzlies while Tyson Chandler of the Charlotte Bobcats has swapped places with Emeka Okafor of the New Orleans Hornets. These are a few among many players who have changed teams since last season.
“This year is going to be a good one,” Howard alumnus Peete Obinna said. “All of the great teams from last year have gotten even better, and some mediocre teams have improved also.”
With the start of each NBA season, fans of each team are hoping for better results than the previous season.
“I hope that the Wizards can be competitive in the Southwest division,” Howard student David Hill said. “Hopefully, [they can] even win the division and do well in the playoffs.”
Some fans are even more confident about their respective teams. “The Cavaliers are going to win the championship this year. We have the best player in the NBA in LeBron James, and now we have added some more great players like Shaq to an already talented roster,” Arthur Washington from Virginia said.
However, many other fans are expecting the same results from their teams.
“I want the Lakers to repeat their success, but as a fan, it’s difficult to expect them to with so much stiff competition in the league,” said Aaron Fleming, a political science major.
“I hope that the younger talented players like Andrew Bynum and Shannon Brown perform better, so that Kobe Bryant and Paul Gasol don’t have to do so much.”
Since the NBA season is officially here, many fans often tend to view ESPN to see what the analysts project about each of the league’s teams, season awards and the NBA championship caliber teams.
This year, ESPN.com has projected that LeBron James will repeat as the MVP and the Lakers and the Cavaliers will represent the league in the NBA finals.
“ESPN is always a good source to see what the so-called experts say, but it’s hard to make accurate projections about sports,” Saunderson said.
Nobody can predict for certain what will happen this year; however, fans can all sit back and enjoy another NBA season.
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