Last night was the start of the 2006-07 NBA season, and I am suprisingly getting pretty psyched. To open things up, there were two pretty big games.

The Bulls certainly made a statement - winning by 42 in Miami and holding Shaq to 7. Boy does this look like a Scott Skiles type team - lots of overachievers who are going to play some serious defense. Hinirch is such a gritty leader and a much better pro than I expected. Tyrus Thomas reminds me so much of a young Antonio McDyess on Denver (pre knee injuries), with the size and superior raw athletic ability. Earth to the Toronto Raptors, this is who you should have taken #1. There will be some serious toughness with him, PJ Brown, Nocioni, and Ben Wallace up front, I know I'd think twice about driving the lane.

The Lakers overcame a 19 point deficit to beat Phoenix without Kobe. Andrew Bynum (from St. Joe's in NJ) had a big game and should get a nice chunk of minutes this season. But the story of the night was Lamar Odom's 34 and just how good he can be when he is on his game - too bad that's only once a month.

So here are my predictions (this means you should immediately bet against all these teams):

Atlantic Division:
Best Team: New Jersey Nets - the division is weak and Kidd/Jefferson/Carter/Krstic are talented
Team I'll Root for: Boston Celtics
Story of Interest: The Over-Under for wins for the Knicks, and how long until Isiah is thrown out like a losing lottery ticket.

My prediction is by some miracle the team wins 30 games (23-59 last year), and Dolan lets Isiah stay. And then I can taunt the Knicks fan for yet another year.

Can you say Renaldo Balkman... I still have visions of the draft with Steven A. Smith so flabbergasted with the pick that couldn't even speak. And Spike Lee so delusional that he was actually calling it a "sleeper" - and not because watching the Knicks trail by 30 in the 3rd quarter at home every night put fans to sleep.

added on 11/2... I read a funny article on ESPN about the process a lifelong Knicks fan took in choosing a new team to root for

Central Division:
Best Team: Chicago Buls - although the lack of a go to score concerns me
Team I'll Root for: Cleveland Cavs - Lebron is just too good, and a healthy Larry Hughes will be big
Story of Interest: There are 5 pretty good teams here, all with legitimate playoff shots. Milwaukee is quite good, and most everybody has them finishing 5th in the division. I'm interested to see how Detroit will take a step back without the toughness and defense of Ben Wallace

Sotheast Division:
Best Team: Miami Heat
Team I'll Root for: Washington Wizards - Gilbert at the end of games is amazing
Story of Interest: Dwight Howard is a beast and very well could be the best big man in the NBA, this year

Northwest Division:
Best Team: Denver Nuggets - picking them by default
Team I'll Root for: Portalnd Trailblazers - only because of Nate McMillian
Story of Interest: Will George Karl be driven crazy by his team

Pacific Division:
Best Team: Phoenix Suns
Team I'll Root for: The Clips - Shaun Livingston is unbelievable
Story of Interest: How good will Amare be this year?

Southwest Division:
Best Team: Dallas Mavericks - this is by far the best division and is the toughest call
Team I'll Root for: Houston Rockets and Chris Paul (I mean New Orleans)
Story of Interest: The Dallas vs. San Antonio games should be good.

NBA Finals Pick:
Dallas over Chicago

There you have it, Dallas wins.... and Mark Cuban goes completely nuts and begins the world's greatest trash talking session that would win any episode of Yo Momma. And after David Stern fines him yet again, he'll just buy the whole NBA.

And by the way, I officially apologize to the Mavs and thier fans for jinxing their chances.

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