Bring back the NBA - Part 4

The NBA pre-season is underway and the exciting Portland Trailblazers, who will feature on this list, are already stealing the headlines. With our appetites whetted, we continue our season preview.

Reason no. 17: Watching Amare Stoudemire break out

How can a former rookie of the year break out? How can a career 21PPG player break out? How can a player who averaged 25.2PPG and 9.1RPG last season and finished sixth in MVP voting break out? We’re about to find out. In a busy off-season Amare has tried tidying up his image with some dancing, his brother is wanted on a sex crime and he has gone Bo Outlaw but maybe most importantly Amare is “as healthy as he’s been in years”.

The incredibly athletic power forward is set to take control of his Phoenix Suns. As last season demonstrated the inevitable Steve Nash decline has begun. With the main focus on him it is Amare’s time to shine and a combination of Shaq and three-point shooting will guarantee Amare enough room to work down low as well as show off his continually improving mid-range game.

This year, providing he gets enough support from his team-mates, he breaks the top three in MVP voting.

Reason no. 16: Dwyane Wade and his new-look team

After a dreadful season last year with Wade injured and Shaq being traded, Miami needed a good off-season and boy did they get it. Not only did they get rid of Mr Lottery (Ricky Davis) and Jason Williams but they had a great draft (Michael Beasley was maybe the draft’s most talented player and I still can’t believe they managed to steal point guard Mario Chalmers away from my Wolves). Add to this the possible bargain pick-up of Shaun Livingston and Wade’s return to form and you can see why in a weak Eastern conference Miami will be looking at making it deep into the playoffs this year, even if Pat Riley is still around.

Reason no. 15: The Sports Guy is back

During the summer things change. A daily visit to NBA.com becomes weekly, listening to the Basketball Jones while cooking becomes Test Match Special, the internet history at work is no longer dominated by slamonline.com, Pardon the Interruption becomes even more boring and every now and then I’ll try and watch a few games of baseball before reverting to cricket.

Most crucial though is the Boston Sports Guy, better (maybe) known as Bill Simmons, is no longer part of my life. The ESPN wordsmith, who seems to have a Marmite (love him or hate him) appeal, is just not interesting during the summer. The main reason being he doesn’t write. Until today’s article on Elgin Baylor it was 104 days since his last NBA post, his always entertaining draft diary.

His podcast continued but was dominated by baseball and NFL talk. So the start of the NBA season means the return of the ultra talented Sports Guy, the Basketball Jones, slamonline.com, PTI and daily NBA.com visits, which is another good reason to bring back the NBA.

To view Part 3 click here.

To view Part 2 click here.

To view Part 1 click here.

Why can’t you wait for the NBA to start? Let us know by posting below.