Here are my simple thoughts on how will the 30 teams do this season:

1. Atlanta Hawks: Coming from a good season, which they broke their ten year playoff drought, can be one of the things that the organization can look forward this season. Although Josh Childress started a trend of leaving the NBA for Europe in search of bigger pay-checks, the Hawks still has it’s core of youth and veteran players. The problem now is; can they consistently make the playoffs?

2. Boston Celtics: The Defending Champions! The big three is still unquestionably the greatest force in the league right now, but can they make it back to back? The role players must step up, especially after Posey left for a longer and more secured contract, and PJ Brown still unsure whether to retire or not. Good thing though is Cassel returning for his last year before retiring and Tony Allen back after being sidelined for much off the last season.

3. Charlotte Bobcats: Larry Brown has returned, and so is his stint in losing teams continue, or can he turn around the youngest franchise this season? He inherits a team with front court players prone to injuries, and back court players which are not producing well. The good thing though is, his players are unselfish (Felton), athletic (Richardson) and good defenders (Wallace), qualities which are highly valuable in his system. Don’t forget their prized rookie; D.J Agustin which will find hard to see the rim with his 5-11 frame but can blaze with his scoring mentality.

4. Chicago Bulls: After being voted last off-season as the contenders for the Eastern conference title, they blew everyone’s prediction by not reaching the playoffs at all. With Skiles being fired at the middle of the season, and the big trade coming at the eve of the trade deadline, this new look Bulls under Coach Del Negro will try to create the hype it has before their losing season. However, a crowded back court players without a real post player can provide problems for them to solve. The good thing that the Bulls are looking forward for the upcoming season is their first overall draft pick, Derrick Rose. The team which will now be led by Rose, and under a new system can be a fresh start for them to regain their bid for supremacy.

5. Cleveland Cavaliers: After last playoff’s emotional series against the Celtics which then became the eventual champions, the Cavaliers aggressively pushed for the upgrade of personnel surrounding King James, particularly their off-season acquisition of Mo Williams from the Bucks in which they hope to bring James additional help, and stall any attempts of James to leave the Cavs via free agency during the 2010 season, which a lot of teams area already vocal about cutting salary space for their contract offer for LBJ. The team now has a dynamic 1-2 scoring punch with James and Williams, and other role players who can defend and shoot as well. As long as the Cavs have King James leading them, then Cavs fans can always book early for postseason tickets. The problem is, can they book a ticket for the finals as well?

These are the first five teams in the NBA in the alphabetical order. I’ll be doing the next five in a couple of days.

Arenas is one of the most vocal and carefree player in the league. He’ll entertain you on and off the court which I find very efficient and effective means of reaching out to the people. But I prefer to see his on court antics because clearly when this player is healthy, he is a bona fide big time player capable of taking over games with his scoring and clutch time performances. He’s also the leader of this team because he’s their most competitive player in their roster and a focal point in their offense. If Gilbert can get back as early as December, count the Wizards already in the playoffs. With Butler already a reliable all-star player and Jamison continuing his monster presence in the court, expect the big three to create noise this season permitting that they all remain healthy to make a serious run in the post-season.

My point here is that, the art of trading players cannot be judge easily because these teams didn’t reached their goals of winning a championship, rather we should take a deeper look why did these trades happen. For example, the Nets traded for Yi Jianlin to attract the Asian market like the Chinese, so that they would have a new market where they could have better sales of tickets, merchandise and other apparels due to the support of the Chinese to their player playing for the Nets in the NBA. Other teams trade their present for the future(Portland), while some trade their future for their present (Boston). It depends upon the perspectives of the people of authority in each teams as they are placed in their seats because they should be the people who can see the larger picture in which they could really change and improve their team for the better. So what are the basic ingredients in making a good trade possible? A very deep, but shallow General Manager (GM). Why is that? Deep, in the sense that he knows which players are the most important needs of his team to take it to the next level. Shallow, because not all these players he wants for the team can be acquire. So mix both these traits and there you have, a very clever and practical GM. Of course, if he knows he can’t get the player they need, he must compensate the skills and the talent that the player they originally wanted brings for them, and look for alternative players, which must be efficient and at least fulfill the role they wanted until they can look for a player of caliber they really wanted. The thing here is, they’re very affected by the salary issues that they should really work their clever and wit to get the players they want. Of course salary issue is not a problem for the Knicks, (Hello Zeke) but look at where are they now.

As we look forward to the next season, expect more trades to come, but don’t forget that the teams that made blockbuster trades last season, as well as during the off-season should now be assess properly. The suns and mavs have bad review for their trades, but I think the changes in the franchise through the trade (Shaq and Kidd) and new coaches will make us think again whether the trade is a good one because the whole franchise adjusted to the incorporating of their respective acquired players or, they pull the wrong plug this time as these trades didn’t improve their team at all. Of course the impact of the Gasol trade (Lakers) as well as the Garnett and Allen trade (Boston) were evidently seen due to both teams reaching the finals. But this year we’ll see whether some of the trades that have been made will really produce the expected results that the teams want.

So which position will you choose? You can justify your answer through making a concrete explanation in your comment.

But recently, the East has been catching up. Some of the teams like the Raptors (Hi, J.O) the Sixers (Brand!) and the Cavs have been strengthening up for the upcoming year with player changes to boost their roster. The question is; Can they keep up with the West? So far almost all of the teams in the western conference are playoff bound teams (With the exemption of Memphis and Minnesota) while the East; only half of the teams in the east can be considered playoff teams. So what does this mean?

Simple; the East has a better chance of winning the NBA championship every year. Why is that? Look at Detroit, it has reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the last 6 years, only to be ousted by new teams every year (Heat, Cavs and now the Celtics). Also it’s easy to predict who can reached the Finals in the East with only a handful of teams that are eligible enough to be considered. While on the West, every team is a “FINAL-CALIBER” team. The Suns, Mavs, Spurs, Lakers, Hornets and even the Rockets are consider to reach the NBA finals. But on their way there, they have to kill and exterminate each other in a very grueling 7 games series which could be very exhausting.

My prediction: I hate to say, but it’s either the Celtics or the Cavaliers who will bring home the NBA ring. With James getting enough help, and the core of the Celtics intact (except of course for Posey) they will march to the Finals and win it all.

I’m thinking of starting a new segment here called “Ask DEREK”. Here you can ask me anything about basketball, particularly about NBA. You can even ask some bloopers, or humor connected with basketball. I thought of this idea because I think sometimes it’s good to be weird and wacky, but not losing the essence and the goal of writing anything about basketball.

So for anyone interested in asking me, send me an email at jderks_14@yahoo.com.. Be sure to introduce yourself so that I can tend to your mail quickly as I have also other mails of equally importance that I’m waiting everyday.. I’ll post the questions, and my answers every week..

Note: USA has again won the Gold in the Olympics! What’s new with that anyway?hehe

The main candidates I think are Rose, Beasley, Mayo, and even Greg Oden. Well it’s up to you!

The Cavs parted with Damon Jones who is now with the Bucks and Joe Smith which is now with Oklahoma. Oklahoma also receieved Desmond Mason and a No. 1 pick from Cleveland while the Bucks have Luke Ridnour and Adrian Griffin. But more importantly, the trade made the Cavs better and Lebron at least satisfied for now.

Haters cannot say anymore that Lebron is a ball hog! (I don’t know why they’re pushing this argument in some forums! Who do they want to handle the ball anyway, Ben Wallace? Damon Jones? WTF!) With Mo Williams providing needed outside threat, Lebron and even Z can have more scoring or in Lebron’s case easier shots because of Mo’s presence in the offensive end. They now also have a floor general that can run and set the tempo of the game, depending on the needs of the team as Williams is a very versatile player in offense and can create his own shot which the Cavs lack aside from Lebron and probably Gibson.

Cavs fan will doubt Mo’s ability to defend! But when you have a good defensive-oriented system which is present in the Cavs, every player can be an effective and active defender (This is why I can’t understand why the Rockets settled for Artest when they’re already an excellent defensive team). Besides, Mike Brown will try to hide Mo’s deficiency in the defensive end, with an overall team defensive effort.

Cavs fan are now extremely happy, but more importantly Lebron James is satisfied for the moment because management did a good job in trading for Maurice Williams!

So the 2008 Beijng Olympics begins and a lot of questions about USA Men’s Basketball Team capability to bring back their lost glory in International Basketball after being defeated by other countries in past international events.

But lovers of basketball should not be saddened by the defeat and decline of the USA team. Thus we should be happy that USA is not the only superpower in terms of basketball (Heck, they’re already a global power in politics and military capabilities). Why is that? It just shows how other countries have catched up with USA in terms of strong outing in various international events. This also signifies that Basketball is now truly a global sport that each country can adopt their own style and approach giving it their own twist so they can assimilate it in their own culture. Ofcourse, USA basketball especially NBA, is still the supreme league in the world add to the fact that its players are truly global icons such as Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, can easily spread the love of the game to other people in different parts of the world.

But today, other international players are gaining popularity, and are sports icons in their respective countries. Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki, Russia’s Andrei Kirilenko, Spain’s Pau Gasol, and Argentina’s Manu Giniboli are some of the very popular international players that are on the spotlight whenever you’ll mention their respective countries in terms of basketball. But one of the biggest and most popular is none other than China’s Yao Ming. Easily he can be a tool to promote basketball and the culture of goodwill and camaraderie that comes with it due to the fact that he’s now a national icon to the most populated country in the world, and to the example he brings to the table. Truly this Olympics is the coronation that Basketball is really a Global Sport that can unite people under the spell, magic and the greatness that this sport brings to humanity and to the world.

I haven’t really had experience with horseracing but some of my relatives do have. My uncle used to bet on horseracing and he emphasizes the value of trial and error. Before succeeding, you have to learn. You have to have knowledge and the need for information is a must. Back to the site, in the right part there is this Latest 2008 Melbourne Cup Odds which I can say could be very valuable to anyone. This features the best pairings and the one that you should consider in terms of betting.

All in all I can say it’s a decent one. I am not a fan of websites that promise to make you succeed on something but well, if you’re out to Bet on Melbourne Cup then it might as well worth some look from you. I researched on the site and have found pretty valuable links and information around the world wide web… Check them out