NBA fans await the answers to their questions

The new season is upon us and there are more talking points than ever, and i’m going to break down a few of them.

How will the new look and newly named Brooklyn Nets fair? How about the new Big Four up in L.A? Will the Celtics get revenge on Ray Allen and take down the Heat in the opener?

This offseason, there has been many surprises, Howard to the Lakers, Nash to the Lakers, Jason Kidd to the Knicks, Linn to the Rockets, Allen to the Heat, and as of yesterday James Harden being dealt to the Rockets. However one of the most intriguing stories of the offseason is the New Jersey Nets, or as there now called the Brooklyn Nets. Will the new jerseys, a new name, a new logo and a new arena give them a fresh look?

After last years squad only managed a 22-44 record, they needed to rebuild, out with the old, in with the new, and boy did they do that.  With 10 players becoming free agents on their roster, they were left with a lot of cap room which allowed them to bring in some fresh faces. Their first acquisition of the summer came when Tyshawn Taylor signed a multi-year contract. Although the biggest day of their summer came just five days later when they re-signed; Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Gerald Wallace, they also acquired Reggie Evans in a sign-and-trade from the Clippers, but that evening ESPN broke the news that the Hawks and Nets had agreed a trade which sent All Star Guard Joe Johnson to the Nets, while the Hawks received two first round picks and a few roles players in exchange. This was a huge deal. Over the coming days they signed free agents such as; Jerry Stackhouse, Keith Bogans and C.J Watson and then the re-signing of Kris Humphries made their team almost complete on July 20.

They went on to sign both Josh Childress and Andray Blatche, which bolstered their bench, making them a team to be reckoned with in the East. General Manger Billy King, and Head Coach Avery Johnson saw one thing left to do to complete the team and that was re-sign the highly rated MarShon Brooks.

Many are touting them for the Eastern Conference Finals already, but only time will tell, their opening game of the season is against their arch rivals, the New York Knicks, which for sure will be a lot more intense than usual.

The next shock of the offseason came when the Lakers made some huge deals, the first of which came on July 11 when they signed point guard Steve Nash on a sign and trade deal from the Suns. A deal which shocked most of the NBA world gives the Lakers a seemingly perfect backcourt of Nash and Bryant. They then re-signed centre Jordan Hill, and brought in Antawn Jamison as a free agent, again adding to there already impressive frontline. On August 13 they signed Jodie Meeks and Devin Ebanks which added good depth to the backcourt, although their real blockbuster trade of the summer came just three days before that, involving four teams; Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets and the L.A Lakers, and here’s the trade broken down.

The Magic Get: Moe Harkless, Nikola Vucevic, Arron Afflalo, Al Harrington, Christian Eyenga, Josh McRoberts and protected first round picks from each team, and a second round pick from Denver.

The 76ers Get: Andrew Bynum and Jason Richardson.

The Lakers Get: Dwight Howard, Earl Clark and Chris Duhon.

The Nuggets Get: Andre Iguodala.

So the Lakers got Dwight Howard, adding him with Nash and Bryant looks scary, but add in Pau Gasol, who even though he was subject of intense trade talk has stayed. It looks like a big four not to messed with, and Metta World Peace on a good day, leaves a championship worthy starting five.

Their offseason went the worst it could have possibly gone, they went 0-8. Lakers fans are fearing a regular season like their preseason meaning Howard could leave in 2013 and Nash could retire. Kobe with injuries could see limited minutes, and the Lakers Empire could fall.

The other story which stole headlines this summer was Ray Allen’s decision to move to the Miami Heat, from Boston. On July 11 Ray Allen ended his five year stint with the Boston Celtics, effectively ending the official ‘big three’, but Ray left with somewhat a sour taste in his mouth because ever since that day, he has blasted the Boston Celtics and more directly Rajon Rondo on numerous occasions.

His first comments were that Boston forced him out, the next were that he didn’t get along with Rondo so he didn’t have a choice, a week ago he said 2Boston were going to trade me and Rondo for Stoudamire, because Rondo didn’t get along with Rivers and Ainge” ultimately trying to bring back up the friction that has since been left way in the past and forgotten.

The Celtics have been responding to Rays comments. “We’re going to just let Ray keep talking, its easier” said Doc Rivers. Rondo when asked about Ray Allen’s comments said “Oh, that guy”. They are keeping things together, not saying too much, the only person that said anything telling towards Ray was Garnett when he said “I don’t even have his number in my phone anymore”, but then what else can you expect from KG.

The one thing for sure is the opening game between the Celtics and Heat is going to be intense, more intense than before, they’re going to be going at each other from the first second. I will even say that you can expect there to be a couple technicals in the game.