A very Tweet NBA Preview

Twitter is the new craze these days, with millions of people describing their every thought, feeling, joke, outrage and up-to-the-second detail of their life, 140 characters at a time. While I’m not a user, mainly because I don’t really have the energy to update my life on a consistent basis, I do enjoy reading the accounts of a few people. It’s interesting to see how much - or how little - information one can share in that amount of space.

With that in mind, I wanted to see how well I could do communicating via Tweet. So here is my 2009-10 NBA Preview, with each team preview, awards pick and reasoning coming in the form of a 140-charachter rant.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1) Cleveland: Shaq clogs the lane too much for my liking, but LBJ will be a monster in his contract year, even better than 08-09s 28/8/7.

2) Orlando: Losing Hedu hurts, but Vince and Brandon Bass added to D12, Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson make ‘09s East champs one powerful squad.

3) Boston: The return of KG, the addition of Rasheed and the emergence of Rondo make Boston an interesting team. But will all the pieces of the puzzle fit?

4) Atlanta: Young and exciting team is in a make or break year with Joe Johnson about to be a free agent. Adding Jamal Crawford really helps them.

5) Chicago: Losing BG will be costly at the end of games, but expect the jump to come from healthy Deng and improved DRose, JoNoah, Salmons.

6) Toronto: For selfish reasons, hope the Raps suck and Bosh wants to head to the Chi. But I like Hedu and love DeRozen, meaning the playoffs.

7) Washington: Love Gilbert, love Caron, love Jamison, but who knows if they can stay healthy or what affect Flip Saunders will have.

8) Detroit: By the end of year, I promise Piston fans will love BG’s shooting and hate his lack of defense/ball handling. Breakout player: Will Bynum.

9) Charlotte: Larry Brown teams always do well in year 2. Expecting big things out of one of my favorite recent college players, DJ Augustin.

10) Philadelphia: Still don’t get why they gave Elton Brand $82M if they want to run. Big question @ PG after letting Andre Miller go.

11) Miami: Dear DWade, please come to the Bulls. Please come to the Bulls. Please come to the Bulls. Please come to the Bulls.

12) Indiana: No clue what Bird is doing. Either knock the pieces down and get a top-5 pick or make a move for an elite player.

13) New York: I understand what they’re doing by clearing all their cap space, but they are really screwed if LeBron doesn’t show up in 2010.

14) New Jersey: DHarris, Courtney Lee and Lopez are all solid, and T-Will was a smart pick, but this team is going to lose a lot of games.

15) Milwaukee: Feel bad for Michael Redd. Not only does he have to spend his winters in Wisc. but this team he’s on is garbage.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

1) LA Lakers: I’m guessing by 1-1-2010, Phil will regret signing Artest. He’s selfish, an ego-maniac and doesn’t fit the triangle. Still, they have Kobe.

2) San Antonio: The best off-season in the NBA, which is saying something. Jefferson, McDyess and Blair all should be major help to the Big 3.

3) Denver: After a small taste of success in 09, big year for ‘Mello in 2010. Big as in top 3 MVP voting. Having Billups all season helps.

4) Dallas: Dirk + JKidd + The Matrix + Drew Gooden’s beard = Team I like.

5) Utah: If there’s one rule in the NBA, it’s don’t get on Michael Jordan’s bad side. Rule 2? Never under-estimate Jerry Sloan.

6) New Orleans: Picked NO to win it all last year. Not making that mistake again. Still, CP3 is too good to let them fall far.

7) Portland: Bunch of nice pieces, but maybe too many guys who think they need the rock to be successful. Big question once again is Oden.

8) Phoenix: If Amare stays healthy, if Nash can find his groove again and if they get a breakout year from somebody, the Suns can be dangerous again.

9) Oklahoma City: Really talented roster, but still a year away. Everybody’s got a crush on Durant - justifiably- but I love Russell Westbrook as much.

10) Golden State: It’s a shame the Steph Curry had to be drafted into this insane asylum. He’s still going to be fun to watch.

11) Houston: Yao-Out. TMac-Out. Artest-Gone. So it’s going to be tough. But this is a tough team who will be better than expected.

12) LA Clippers: They’d be higher if Blake Griffin was healthy. But he isn’t, and they’re the Clippers, so it’s back to the basement.

13) Memphis: I feel horrible for Rudy Gay. He’s the best player on the team, but with Mayo, Randolph and AI, he’ll never see the ball.

14) Minnesota: Would be more entertaining if Rubio had come over, but there’s some nice pieces on this team. Still need a scorer.

15) Sacramento: Tyreeke Evans is going to be a star. Can’t say many other nice things about this roster.


East Finals) Cavs over Magic: The addition of Shaq helps guard Howard, and LeBron will be more motivated than ever.

West Finals) Spurs over Lakers: I just like this matchup for SA. Duncan, McD, Blair and Bonner take care of LAs bigs, and Parker, Manu, Jeff and Mason do enough outside.

NBA Finals) Cavs over Spurs in 6: LeBron finally wins his ring, stays in Cleveland, mass drowning avoided in Lake Erie.

MVP) LeBron James: Kobe and ‘Mello will provide little competition for the King.

ROY) Jonny Flynn: Blake Griffin is hurt, Rubio’s in Spain and Curry's in hell, so it’s up to Flynn and Tyreeke Evans. I like the ex-Orange.

1st Team All-NBA) Wade, Kobe, ‘Mello, LBJ23 and Howard

2nd Team All-NBA) CP3, Pierce, Bosh, Dirk and Duncan