The New Look NBA Ready to Tip-off of Another Season

The new look NBA brings some intriguing matchups this season along with questions that need to be answered.

How much of an impact will Rudy T. have on Kobe and the Lakers?

Will Kobe Bryant lead the Lakers into the playoffs with his new found supporting cast?

How far will the Heat go after aquiring Shaq?

Will Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson work their Magic in Orlando?

These questions and more can only be answered during this coming NBA season.While players get ready to lace up their sneakers and fine tune their game throughout the upcoming preseason in anticipation for the start of the 2004-05 regular season, coaches are still wondering who will be hitting the hardwood for their teams when the season tips off on November 2nd.

The biggest challenge for any team has got to be the Los Angeles Lakers having to deal with losing head coach Phil Jackson, and in the same week trading Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat.

Jackson’s decision came just three days after a lackluster performance by the Lakers in game 5 of the Finals that gave the Detroit Pistons a 100-87 win and the NBA Championship. After a brief courtship with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski  the Lakers hired Rudy Tomjanovich to take over the reins on July 10th.

The Lakers replaced Jackson with a proven winner in Tomjanovich who guided the Houston Rockets to two division titles and back to back Championships in 1994 and 1995.

Rudy T. spent 12 years with the Rockets and left with a 503-397 record before becoming just the 16th coach in the history of the Lakers franchise.

The Lakers continued to shock fans by sending O’Neal (21.5 ppg 11.5 rpg) to the Miami Heat on July 14th in exchange for Lamar Odom (17.1 ppg 9.7 rpg), Caron Butler (9.2 ppg 4.8 rpg), Brian Grant (8.7 ppg 6.9 rpg) and a first and second round draft pick.

O’Neal joins an already potent threat in Dwyane Wade (16.2 ppg), Christian Laettner (13.3 ppg), and Eddie Jones (16.8) in hopes of turning up the heat in the Eastern Conference and in the playoffs this year.

The new look Lakers look to rebound from last year’s early exit at the hands of the Pistons behind a confident Kobe Bryant (24.0 ppg) and the return of one time Laker Vlade Divac (11.9 ppg) who played seven seasons in Los Angeles before being traded to Charlotte in 1996 ironically for the trade rights to Bryant.

The Heat and the Lakers will square off against each other for the first time on Christmas day as part of a nationally telecast double header and the highly anticipated match-up between O’Neal and Bryant.

The Orlando Magic claimed the top spot in this year’s draft and immediately picked high school sensation 6-11 forward Dwight Howard from Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy as the number one pick in the draft.

Howard led Southwest Christian to the Class A Georgia state championship and was named Mr. Basketball for the state of Georgia. Howard finished his high school career with 2,146 points, 1728 rebounds, and 811 blocks in 129 games.

In his senior year Howard averaged 25.0 points, 18.0 rebounds, 8.0 blocks and 3.5 assists and was selected to the McDonald high school All-American game where he scored 19 points for his East squad in a 129-96 win over the West. He was named Co-MVP of the game.

Along with grabbing the number one nationally ranked player in high school, the Magic later traded for St. Joseph’s Hawks star Jameer Nelson who was the 20th pick by the Denver Nuggets. Nelson led the Hawks to a perfect 27-0 regular season record and a top seed in the NCAA tournament advancing all the way to the Elite Eight before loosing to Oklahoma State (31-4) in a heartbreaking loss 64-62. Nelson left St. Joe’s as the career leader in points (2,094), assists (713) and steals (256) on his way to being named consensus College Player of the Year.

Head coach Bernie Bickerstaff and the Charlotte Bobcats open their inaugural season against the Washington Wizards (25-57) Thursday November 4th.  The Bobcats’ first ever pick in this year’s draft and second overall was Connecticut big man Emeka Okafor.

Okafor, a 6’10 power forward averaged 13.8 ppg in leading the Huskies (33-6) to their second NCAA Championship and first since 1999.  HE was named Final Four MVP and Co-National Player of the Year along with St. Joseph standout Jameer Nelson.

Okafor also finished as the seventh all-time leading shot blocker in NCAA history with 441 blocks and is the all-time leader in field goal percentage (.590).  

Okafor joins Steve Smith (14.7) as the only scoring threats for the Bobcats who (along with their fans) look to go through growing pains this season but regardless will be a welcomed addition in the Eastern Conference.

The look of the NBA will continue to change thanks to realignment which should make for some interesting matchups within each division and hopefully make for a more interesting playoff scenario that only counts the regular season record and not playoff seedings to determine home-court advantage.

The Conference divisions will look like the following with the expansion Charlotte Bobcat’s going to the Eastern Conference and the New Orleans Hornets moving to the West.

Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors

Central Division: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast Division: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards

Western Conference

Southwest Division: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs

Northwest Division: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle SuperSonics, Utah Jazz

Pacific Division: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings