NBA season tips off tonight

With an exciting preseason that started with Knicks guard Latrell Sprewell breaking his hand and being suspended from the team and concluded with Lakers forward Rick Fox beating up Kings guard Doug Christie in front of the team's locker room, the NBA is finally back. Tonight marks the beginning of the 2002-2003 season.

The schedule makers wasted little time in trying to draw huge ratings for opening week. Ernie Johnson, Kenny Anderson, and of course Sir Charles Barkley anchor TNT's double header of Philadelphia at Orlando and the 10:30 game of San Antonio at returning champions LA Lakers. The Cleveland Cavaliers are also in action against Sacramento.

As for the expectations of the upcoming season, the LA Lakers are the odds-on favorites to four-peat. Once again led by Shaq and Kobe, the Lakers are the greatest two-man show on Earth. Back to rival the Lakers are the Sacramento Kings. If Chris Webber manages to beat some charges like P. Diddy and stay healthy, the Kings should be able to take the Lakers down to the wire again.

The Western Conference has taken over the NBA with its plethora of talent. The Lakers and Kings are juggernauts in their own right, but teams such as the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz still have plenty of juice left in them to make a run at the conference title.

The Spurs are still sporting the twin towers in Tim Duncan and David Robinson. The Mavericks are poised for a run. After being seeded fourth in last season's playoffs, Dallas pushed itself to the semifinals of the Conference tournament. With center Raef LaFrentz now in a long-term contract and forward Dirk Nowitzki, guards Michael Finley, Steve Nash, and Nick VanExel back for another season, the Mavericks could be tough. The T-wolves still have Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak and have added Kendall Gill to make them a formidable threat. The Jazz make a nursing home look like a high school as the "Mailman" Karl Malone and John Stockton still make the All-Star team every year.

The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers are still young. With much talent, the Warriors and Clippers are still a season away from making true waves in the Western Conference championship race.

The Eastern Conference is still the weaker conference. The surprise factor of the conference will make it interesting as last year's New Jersey Nets, Boston Celtics, and Detroit Pistons squads have made it impossible to dub a preseason frontrunner.

The Nets made one huge off-season deal, sending Keith Van Horn to Philadelphia for center Dikembe Mutombo. The Nets now have the best defensive front-court in the league with Mutombo and Kenyon Martin. This duo is bound to alter shots, creating hell for guards and undersized forwards in the middle. Make no mistake, the Nets are still led by guard Jason Kidd, who at any point in a game can put the team on his back and win.

The Celtics do not look as good as last season. The team lost both of its point guards from last season, Kenny Anderson and Erik Strickland, as well as key sixth man, Rodney Rogers. Point guard Tony Delk must step up for Celtic success. Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker are still All-Stars and are good for at least 20 a piece. In hope of boosting a struggling front-court, the Celtics picked up Vin Baker. While Baker was an All-Star some years ago, he no longer is.

The Pistons had their year in the sun. The sun has set. Detroit dealt star player Jerry Stackhouse to the Washington Wizards for budding star Richard Hamilton. Stackhouse leaves about 20 extra shots to take and three extra points to another player on the Pistons to make up for.

One cannot a discussion about the NBA without talking about the Washington Wizards. The squad now has Stackhouse, Bryon Russell, Larry Hughes, and Charles Oakley to rock out with Michael Jordan. Coach Doug Collins is also looking forward to contributions from last season's lottery pick Kwame Brown, and this season's first round picks, Jared Jeffries and Juan Dixon. The Wizards are trying not to be the hype that did not produce like the Washington Redskins.

While the Western Conference has powerhouses, the Eastern Conference has heavy competition amongst more equal squads. The upcoming NBA season should be a good one. The Atlanta Hawks have promised its fans a playoff team and Sir Charles is still a good laugh on TNT and TBS.