The Southeast Asian Games are coming up and Manny Pacquiao has a fight in less than a week's time, but a lot of sporting hearts in the Philippines are still unfulfilled. The culprit is the NBA Lockout, which for reasons valid or not, has gone on for far too long. It's deprived sports fans like me from finding out some of the most interesting things, and here are my top five.
5. Peace Brothers!!!
For some, it's completely stupid, and as much as I love a good debate, I really can't argue on this point. Ron Artest has successfully changed his legal name into Metta World Peace in his hope to promote well, um... world peace. This means that his latest Laker jersey would read either "World Peace" or "Peace" on his back. Imagine the possibilities for the TV commentators. "What a hard foul by World Peace!" or "Peace calls a timeout." or "Kevin Durant has been shut down by World Peace!"
4. New Blood
This year's crop of rookies is considered a lean one, but there are interesting stories there. Did the Cavs pick the right number 1 pick in Kyrie Irving? What about the long-awaited Ricky Rubio? Will his game translate well in the NBA?
3. Coaching Carousel
As usual, the roster of NBA coaches has changed and these new coaches, whether 1st time coaches like Mark Jackson of the Golden State Warriors or those brought back for another run like the Houston Rockets' Kevin McHale, bring intriguing prospects. Whose coaching philosophies will bring positive changes to their teams? Can Mike Brown handle the circus that is the Los Angeles Lakers? Who will be the 1st coaching casualty of the season and is there ANY possibility that Jerry Sloan will come back to coach?!?
2. Emergence
Last year saw the slight decline in Kobe Bryant's game and the shrinking of Lebron James'. In the same year, though, emerged Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant. The MVP and Scoring Champ, respectively, emerged as the league's newest bonafide superstars, leading their young teams into the conference finals. Will the two remain as the league's greatest individual talents or will new names emerge yet again? Will the old, supposedly forgotten names come back with a flurry?
1. Deadlines
For some teams, the pressure is not as large to win immediately. The Mavericks just won an NBA title, so no one will really burn them in effigy if they fail to repeat. The Bulls and Thunder are young and another year deep in the playoffs with no title won't be too bad. For some teams, though, the pressure is huge. The Boston Celtics and the San Antonio Spurs are aging and probably have only this year to win again or face the team blowing up. The Orlando Magic have only this year to win as well or Dwight Howard will probably leave to free agency. The Miami Heat have spent over a hundred million (and more in PR money) to bring in their "Big Three" of Dwayne Wade, Lebron James and Chris Bosh. Another year without a title could break Heat President Pat Riley's patience. Can these teams beat their deadline? At best, only one of them will.
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