NBA: NEW SEASON STARTS! (This article is available in English and Español)

Yesterday a new NBA season began, and 2 of the top title candidates won their first match. Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers thanks to a magnificent 3rd quarter and a great performance by Paul Pierce, who scored 27 points. And Los Angeles Lakers went thru the first game with a comfortable victory vs. the Portland Trail Blazers (good performance by Pau Gasol 15 points with a 7-10 shooting from the field and 7 rebounds, and Kobe Bryant with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists). These two teams prove to be clear ring contenders as GM predicted in their polls saying that both teams are the leading candidates to play the NBA Finals 09.

Anyway, while it is true that these 2 two have much potential, it is also true that they have some weakness and may be vulnerable:

Los Angeles Lakers:

Phil Jackson finally will be able to have a fully set of players from the beginning, and without injured assets and a powerful inside game with the recovery of the mighty Andrew Bynum who lost almost every single game of last’s season, which will benefit Pau Gasol, who is going to play in the 4 position, with space, and can be terrible for the opposite defenders, which will have many problems to defend him and so teams in addition to trying to stop Kobe Bryant, this year are going to have the problem of Gasol, last year already was a decisive player, but this year, we believe that it will be much more.
But the LA squad has a problem because we are not convinced by the point guard position, as Derek Fisher is too much of a veteran player and obviously his important in the team will decrease, and his substiute, Jordan Farmar, is very irregular and weak -it is time to prove he really is a player for the NBA, who can play with head and is a reliable player (honestly would not be strange that LA tries to sign another experience PG.

Boston Celtics:

The key to the team, the "Big Three"-Allen, Garnett and Pierce-, continues at Boston and this is perhaps the most important news, if the three of them are physically fit, that means that this team is virtually invincible, especially if they have the great support of the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. Anyway, we see this trio a little orphan, because unless the PG Rajon Rondo, who should this year confirm his proper level showed last season, the remaining players who play along the "Big Three" are simply correct, compliant, workers, but in no case they will win a match and this is dangerous because the season is long and Kevin Garnett, the best defender in the league, has 32 years and Ray Allen, 33 years and may begin to lose their benefits. Besides this year's "Big Three" have suffered a big loss, as the experienced and versatile James Posey, arguably the best squire of the "Big Three" - signed by the New Orleans Hornets, bringing more problems for Glen Doc Rivers to be able to measure either its 3 big stars and we'll see if Boston does not pay up this departure.

Along with these 2 teams, the GM mentioned as candidates for the title the New Orleans Hornets (take a deep look on this team and to his coach Byron Scott, because they have Chris Paul -the best guard in the league, along with Deron Williams of Utah Jazz - David West last season scored 20 points per game, or the shooters as Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson and powerful players like Tyson Chandler- last season 11 rebounds per game on average-. Also, Houston Rockets (Rick Adelman has a super team, with players like Rafer Alston -13 points and 5 assists per game last season-, the experienced Brent Barry, Ron Artest- the new acquisitions-, the competitive pivot Argentine Luis Scola and of course with the 2 superstars Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady -that unforgettable victory against San Antonio Spurs when T-Mc scored 13 points in the last 35 seconds), San Antonio Spurs (the competitive team of Gregg Popovich is always a strong candidate at all, because players like Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Michael Finley, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto are a guarantee), Detroit Pistons (Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess. We will have to see the level of the rest the players(Walter Hermann, Rodney Stuckey -he played very well in his rookie season-, or the "European" Alex Acker-former FC Barcelona´s player- and Will Bynum-former Maccabi Tel-Aviv´s player), Orlando Magic with the determinante center Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis or Hedo Turkoglu -the Turkish played very well last season-.

For the rest, we will have to pay attention to the Toronto Raptors, since it will have a powerful front court with the arrival of Jermaine O'Neal; Philadelphia 76ers, since it has signed the "all-star" Elton Brand-20 points and 10 rebounds per game-; Phoenix Suns (Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Shaquille O'Neal), Dallas Mavericks with Jason Terry, Josh Howard, Jason Kidd or Dirk Nowitzki, Utah Jazz with Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur, who play very well when they have the help of the Salt Lake City´s fans; Denver Nuggets with Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson and JR Smith-this team has a big problem: the bad defence; Cleveland Cavalier with LeBron James or even the Los Angeles Clippers with Marcus Camby, Baron Davis, Ricky Davis or Cuttino Mobley.

Finally, since Saqueneutral we will pay much attention to the game of the European players who have arrived this year to the NBA. We do not have any doubt about the good level at the NBA of Rudy Fernandez at Portland Trail Blazers (he played excellent during the last 2 European, showing a lot of confidence in his play and of course he is ready to play there- on Tuesday´s game, his numbers were 16 points and 4 assists against Los Angeles Lakers) and Marc Gasol at Memphis Grizzlies (although he has less quality than his brother Pau , he has a good future, since he has a great intelligence, power and vision of the game and if a correct player like Anderson Varejao has minutes at a good team as the Cleveland Cavaliers, obviously Marc Gasol will play many minutes and will be an important player at Memphis-yesterday his numbers were 12 points and 12 rebounds against Houston Rockets). On the other hand, we have doubts over the play of Danilo Gallinari at New York(ok, he has a lot of quality but we think that he is committing the same mistake that his compatriot Marco Belinelli, since Gallinari is only 20 year´s old and he needs more time to improve and to be a mature player, so he had to stay at AJ Milano to build a solid European career-as Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernández- and to start later the American adventure with some guarantees), Goran Dragic at the Phoenix Suns(he also comes too soon, with only 1 good European season, he had to stay this season at Tau Cerámica Vitoria-a top European team-), Roko Leni Ukic (we'll see if FC Barcelona committed a mistake when it decided that it did not want Ukic or whether Toronto Raptors commits a mistake with this acquisition. We believe that he can play well this year at Toronto as Jose Calderon´s substitute since he is quick player and he arrives after a good season at Lottomatica Rome) and Nicolas Batum (the strong French player has much potential, but he has also come too soon, without having a solid career and indeed his last season in the Euroleague with the Le Mans can be described as irregular- he played some brilliant games -, and we believe that he will have difficulties to have minutes at Portland Trail Blazers).
So, too much spectacle and enjoy it now!
Cheers,
J&F