Out Of Bounds: Breaking The Locks

In a shocking turn of events, the NBA and the NBPA (National Basketball Player’s Association) have finally reached an agreement. After a mind-boggling five-month lockout that resulted in tons of layoffs throughout the country, basketball is back! Practice facilities opened the doors for their players on Thursday and the free agency period is set to begin this Friday. But now that the NBA has lost nearly two months of its season, what can we expect this year?

Instead of the typical 82-game season, 66 games will be played this year, with the first starting on Dec. 25. The “preseason,” if you even want to call it that, will consist of a mere two games. While it’s great that the NBA is finally ready for tip-off, many fear that injuries will be at an all-time high this year due to the lack of preparation time that the players will have had to get ready. If you look at the NFL, which of course had a lockout of its very own this past year, injuries spiked significantly in the very beginning. For example, 10 players tore their Achilles tendons in the first week of preseason alone. The year before, nine players suffered the same injury throughout the entire four-week preseason. However, as the season has gone on, studies have shown that injuries have actually declined since last year. What does this mean for the NBA? It’s safe to say that you can expect to see players hurt early on due to overexertion or uneven fitness, but it’ll eventually even itself out.

Another hot topic is the scheduling. New to the league this year is the debut of back-to-back-to-back games being played in consecutive days. Each team will be required to play a minimum of one of these, but as many as three, in order to fit all of the 66 games in. Without a doubt this is going to have great results for the teams with the younger athletes such as Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder and Derrick Rose’s Chicago Bulls. On the other side of the coin, teams with the older players, such as Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics and Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers, will have a hard time trying to work up enough stamina to play their best for three consecutive days.

As far as the actual season goes, this figures to be one of the most memorable in years. Aside from the lockout, LeBron James’ Miami Heat will enter the second year of their new era. With the talent that they have down there in South Beach, it wasn’t surprising to see them advance to the championship last year. While they are favored to win it all, the team they lost to in the finals, the Dallas Mavericks, are fifth in odds. The New York Knickerbockers are looking to make a strong push as well now that they will be led by both Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.

The never-ending saga of the impending free agency period and the constant trade rumors will fuel the fire this year. While there are some big names that will be on the market starting on Friday like Nene, Marc Gasol, David West, Jamal Crawford and the surprisingly popular Kris Humphries, next year’s free agent class is stacked with superstars such as Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Chris Paul. Both Howard and Paul are already fielding huge trade offers from several teams and these talks may continue until the end of the year. Reportedly Paul has his sights set on the Big Apple to team up with the aforementioned Stoudemire and Anthony, and Howard has been linked to the Lakers, Knicks and even the Nets. In any case, all of the speculation and buzz about where these prolific players are planning to go will eventually drive us bonkers the same way LeBron did. Let’s just hope they each don’t hold hour-long specials to announce their respective destinations.

No matter how you size it up, this year in particular is going to be really intriguing. People have been pissed off about the lockout all summer but in my opinion, the scheduling seems perfect. Every tip-off should start on Christmas as the ratings giant that is the NFL is winding down its own season. It’ll give way to the NBA to take over shortly thereafter and encourage more people to tune in. And while some fans may tend to shy away from the NBA this year due to the greed the league showed for nearly five months, rest assured that it will not hurt the product. People were infuriated about the NFL’s lockout but look at it now—it’s more popular than ever. While I’m not saying that the NBA is nearly as big as the NFL, the fans will still tune in and the NBA will deliver a great season that all of us can finally enjoy.