Okay, no more criticizing the Lakers.  Geez, you'd think I insulted people's mothers or something.  The Lakers are a lock to win 70 games this season, and they'll go undefeated through the playoffs.  Kobe Bryant is the best player in the history of sports, Andrew Bynum will be the best center in the league this year, Pau Gasol will learn to play tough and Lamar Odom will finally bring the intensity every night.  I'm a convert.  Go Lakers!

No, really, I stand by everything I've said prior to that last paragraph.  The actual games may not bear me out, but I usually have good instincts about these things.  And I am already really excited to see how this season will play out.  Especially to watch Andrew Bynum.  I haven't seen him play all that much, compared to most other guys who will be under the kind of pressure he will be this year, and I really want to see whether or not he's the difference maker a lot of people seem to think he is.  Plus, I want to watch Portland and Golden State.  The Blazers are nearly everyone's pick to rise up into the West's pecking order, and I'd like to see Greg Oden actually on the floor for a change.  I'm still undecided about how much better they will be (or if they will be better at all).  The Warriors have a completely different look and I'm very curious to see what that means on the court.  They have talent all over the place, but are young and generally defenseless.  They are one of the teams I'm most interested in seeing in games that count.

I was watching some of the playoff games from last year, most notably the Houston-Utah series, the other day,  just to refresh myself with the Rockets to make certain I hadn't gone off the deep end as some have suggested.  One thing I realized is that I have probably underestimated the Jazz.  I am admittedly not the biggest Carlos Boozer fan, and AK 47 is a tad flighty to put it mildly, but I had forgotten about guys like Corey Brewer and Paul Milsap.  I've seen Kyle Korver play a lot when he was with the 76ers, and his role as designated 3-point shooter in Utah is a perfect fit for him, especially since he has few other skills.   But Deron Williams is why I've changed my tune.  He really is exceptional.  I still think Boozer is probably the Achilles heel for the team that will bring them down in the postseason, but they are clearly better than I had previously stated, and if they can improve upon their 19-29 road record of last year (including the playoffs) they can make the West a five horse race.

Wow, is Josh Howard an ####.  I still have a little optimism (very little, and fading by the day) about the Mavericks, I don't think they are done as many have said, but real championship contention is most likely out of the question.  If Howard's random acts of stupidity force Dallas to trade him, they will get nowhere near value in return at this point.  If they dump him just to clear him out, the Mavs will be hard-pressed to make the playoffs.  Drag Racing!  What a ####.

Does anybody really like International basketball?  I've been watching some of the Team USA warm up games and I just can't get into it.  The flow of the game is off somehow.  Admittedly, the games are warm ups, maybe the actual competition will be better, but I've never really enjoyed International games all that much in the past.  I think the team might actually be too deep.  No one gets the number of minutes they probably should and that's got to affect the rhythm within their own games.   I do like the physical play on the guards, though.  I think the NBA went too far in stopping contact on the perimeter.  It seems a little hypocritical that someone in the paint can get hammered and the chances of getting a foul called are about 50/50, but if you look cross-eyed at a guard out over the three point line, it's almost always a foul.

It's just not that exciting to me.  Of course, watching an All-Star team blow people out by 50 points doesn't make for enthralling television.  Even that "hard-fought defensive struggle" against Russia that they won by 20 points wasn't particularly interesting.  I never got the feeling that Russia could actually win that game.  There are probably only two or three teams that can beat the U.S., and I expect that will only happen if they get complacent in blowing people out.  I just hope the Olympics end without anyone suffering a major injury.  Can you imagine the backlash if Kobe or LeBron or Chris Paul blows out a knee somewhere along the way?  And for what?  Representing your country?  Come on, the guys in body armor, risking their lives in Iraq are representing their country.  These guys are playing in a basketball tournament on the cheap for an organization that reaps billions from "amateur" athletics and makes the NCAA look like a humanitarian group.  I can understand why NBA owners don't like their players competing in this.  Do you think the IOC or USA Basketball is going to reimburse an NBA team for their loss if someone gets hurt?  Wouldn't hold my breath.