The Sports Corner

Five burning questions for the new NBA season

One of those questions has already been answered as day one of the 2008/09 NBA season has finally begun and that is..

Can Greg Oden stay healthy enough to provide a big man presence all year long?

No. He can’t. He mildly sprained his foot last night against the Lakers. We’re talking about a guy who only played one healthy season at Ohio State before going pro and needed ankle surgery in pre-season, causing him to miss the first year of his NBA career. He was healthy going into this season, but halfway through the game after going 0/4 from the field, it was obvious that it’s going to be a long wait with Oden. Fear not, Blazer fans, you still have a very attractive basketball team that’s going to be very, very good in the next five years.

Can the Celtics repeat as champions?

Can they? Yes. Will they? No. No one can argue that they don’t have the personnel to accomplish this goal set by coach Rivers, with only James Posey (only is a big understatement) gone from their championship roster from a year ago. Rajon Rondo, who will soon be inducted to the NBA’s all-name squad, wants to prove that he’s an all-star point guard this year. Paul Pierce better go out and prove that he’s the best player in the world (although he can’t, because he’s not) like he said he was before the Olympics. Tony Allen needs to prove that he’s a suitable replacement for Posey. KG is KG. So, anyone who said the Celtics have nothing to play for this year are wrong. But the Lakers are too good this year. Andrew Bynum is the icing on the cake this season for last year’s West champs, providing them with two very good seven footers. Then, you’ve got the depth of the Lakers, who can go two-deep at every position on the floor, even though they won’t need to with Kobe.

(I completely retract this statement if Kobe’s pending pinky surgery is worse than he says it is.) 

Who will be the NBA’s rookie of the year?

As much as I’m going to love the Gay-Mayo situation in Memphis because how can you not, I’m not going to pick a guy named OJ. It’s too jinxed. And no, I’m also not going to pick Greg Oden, for reasons explained above, and the fact that I’m putting the over/under on Oden’s games played this season at 24, and taking the under. Michael Beasley is going to put up just under 20 a game, and is going to have a good season with a rejuvenated Dwayne Wade, but I’m not taking him either. No, I’m going to take a shot at being the only guy who took Eric Gordon. The guy’s jumpshot is gorgeous. I love it. You watch him play at Indiana and for a couple minutes you won’t notice him, and then he takes his shot and it’s pure ecstasy. Baron Davis is going to absolutely adore him as a Clipper.

Can Jose Calderon win the assist title this season? 

Yes. Yes he can beat out Chris Paul, yes he can beat out Deron Williams. This is because Calderon has flat-out more scorers on his team than those aforementioned point-guards. Chris Bosh is the all-star and the offence will be centered around him. Expect a lot of dump-outs after the double team comes to Bosh, who is finally realizing his talent and working harder to improve, and a lot of kickouts to Calderon, over to a wide open Bargnani who will improve this season, and you’ve got your assist king right there. Sorry Canada, Steve Nash’s time is done, which leads me to my next question.

Who will fall out of championship contention this season?

The Phoenix Suns. No doubt about it. The window was closed and those pesky Spurs (who I also predict to drop off this season due to depth reasons) wrecked it for them. Steve Nash is getting old, as is Shaq, who will most likely average eight points per game this year. Their starting centre completely wrecked Mike D’Antoni’s running offence and lost Shawn Marion in the process. With the emergence of young teams in the west such as Houston, New Orleans and Utah, there’s no room for an aging, running team with a new coach to mess things up any more.