Welcome Back NBA

After an entire summer and fall of uncertainty, basketball fans were finally graced with news: the NBA is back.

The 2011-12 season was nearly terminated, but owners and players came to a compromise that ended the 161-day lockout on December 8. The regular season started Christmas Day with five thrilling match-ups between premier NBA teams, including a rematch of last season's finals - the Miami Heat at the Dallas Mavericks. With a hasty free-agent signing period and a seriously compressed schedule, the 2011-2012 NBA season is an unpredictable one. In spite of it all, basketball fans around Howard's campus are just glad the sport they love is back.

"I was so scared that there wasn't going to be any NBA at all, so I was like ‘Alright, at least they're playing,'" said Royal Farley, junior legal communications major. "I'm not a big fan of the short schedule, but I'm just really glad there's an NBA in general."

The shortened regular season schedule consists of 990 games in 124 days overall. Teams will play multiple back-to-back games. Some will even play three straight nights in a row. The jam-packed schedule combined with an abbreviated training camp could negatively impact the players.

 "They're not used to having that time off. If you look at the first couple of games, you can see that teams aren't really ready to play with each other. They haven't had enough practice," said Nykia Sizemore, junior accounting major.  

However, some players did participate in exhibition tournaments during the off-season to please fans and stay conditioned.

Thurston Hamlette, 2nd-year Howard Law student said that players like Kevin Durant may not have such a tough time getting back in the game since they stayed active during the lockout. "I think he and others are going to play less sloppy than the players who didn't perform over the break. It definitely shows in the quality of play."

Most students either settled for football or played the popular video game NBA 2K12 to scratch their sports itch during the money-driven lockout.

The lockout spawned many stories; however, one of the biggest stories was the trading of Chris Paul, a four-time NBA All-Star. NBA Commissioner David Stern blocked a proposed trade of Paul from the league-owned Hornets to the Lakers, only to later agree to a deal that sent Paul to the Clippers.

Some fans think Stern's actions may have weakened the integrity of the NBA. Corbin Butler, junior marketing major and Clippers fan, didn't think the controversial trades were all bad.

"I feel like all the teams are stacked this year," he said. "It's like super-basketball."