Five Underrated NBA Stories This Season
In what promises to be one of the most exciting NBA seasons in years, there are certainly a plethora of big stories to follow: The Return of D. Rose! The Heat’s Quest for a 3-Peat! Dwight to Houston! The Breakup of the Boston Celtics = Hopeful and Joyous Clippers and Nets fans! And lastly, Which Team Will Lure Phil Jackson Back To Coaching?!?!
But every year there are those under the radar stories that don’t get nearly the amount of coverage as the headliners. Below are five of those story lines that I’m going to be following and you should too.
Greg Oden’s Robot Knees: Before this season, the last time Oden saw time on an NBA court was Dec. 5th of 2009 against the Houston Rockets. Oden has went from being a living legend in high school basketball, a powerhouse in his one year at Ohio State to a #1 pick that played the equivalent of one NBA season in his now 6 year NBA “career.” Oden, three major knee surgeries later, signed with the World Champion Miami Heat over the offseason and is hoping to come back healthy. If he is even half the force he was in college, he’ll still be better than most back up centers in the league.
Chauncey’s Return To Detroit: The 5x All Star and Finals MVP signed a two-year contract with Detroit over the offseason and has donned the Piston Red and Blue for the first time since 2008. As part of the dominant Piston teams in the early aughts, Billups’ smothering defense and big time shots helped lead them to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2004 and 2005, winning in grand fashion in 2004 against the Lakers. Billups should be a guiding voice and leader for a young Pistons team. Billups name always comes up on lists of current players that will make great coaches when they retire. I wouldn’t be surprised if once his contract is up and he retires, he’ll sitting on a bench again, but this time with a clipboard.
Rise of the D-League: While not nearly as glamorous as the NBA, the NBA’s Development League has seen considerable growth in recent years. With 17 teams spread out the country, it’s an opportunity for undrafted players to keep their hoop dreams alive without having to go overseas. Teams like the OKC Thunder have the Tulsa 66ers as their official minor league affiliate. On a championship caliber team, it’s hard to get young draft picks Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones III the playing time they need to develop; the D-League solves that issue. Expect the future of the NBA to include a 3rd round in the draft and for each team to have their own D-League affiliate. According to RealGM.com, a record 103 NBA players on opening day rosters this year have D-League experience.
The Summer of 2014: The 2014 Draft class is expected to be the deepest draft since 2003 and packed with talent with guys like Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker. I’m pretty sure the ’14 draft got mentioned MORE than during the ’13 draft. The Phoenix Suns are certainly hoping that will be the case as they potentially have four first round picks in the draft. The summer also features one of the biggest free agencies since 2010. This year around we’ll probably see a lot of the same characters: LeBron, Wade, and Chris Bosh all have early termination options in their contracts. They’ll be joined by Carmelo Anthony who also has an early termination option, and Restricted Free Agents like DeMarcus Cousins, Gordon Hayward, and Greg Monroe. There are also plenty of big name, Unrestricted Free Agents like Dirk Nowitzki, Luol Deng, Paul Gasol, and a guy by the name of Kobe. Let’s hope that this year we won’t have to deal with The Decision.
Mike Brown Gets a 2ndChance in Cleveland: Mike Brown was the coach of the Cavs from 2005 to 2010 where he was coach of the year in 2009 and led the team to an unsuccessful 2007 Finals trip. It also helped that LeBron James was on the roster during that time. In an attempt to keep LBJ from leaving after another championship ring-less season in 2010, Brown was fired. He then bounced over to the Lakers in 2011and dealt with lockouts, injuries, and high expectations with a stacked roster. Five games into the 12–13 season he was fired. Now Brown gets a second chance with a young, up and coming Cavs team led by Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson, and Anthony Bennett. This young Cavs team will be fun to watch as they have a lot of offensive fire power, and Brown’s previous teams have always been tops in defensive stat categories.
