With the basketball season quickly approaching and the NBA season already underway, I thought it might be helpful to give a quick run down of some interesting story lines throughout the NBA this year.Let’s start with an obvious one:

The Miami Heat are the two time, reigning NBA champions and favorites to repeat as champions this year. With additions to their roster that include two former lottery picks, Greg Oden and Michael Beasley, as well as the resigning of Chris “The Birdman” Andersen, the Heat have bolstered their front court, which in the past few years has been one of the thinnest and weakest areas for them. The loss of Mike Miller does hurt Miami’s outside shooting, but if Oden can stay healthy and Beasley can return to the player he was when he was first with the Heat, then there is a real chance that the championship will once again be in South Beach.

The summer offseason presented us with another interesting story line that has many threads. Players were traded or released by teams, coaches were fired and hired within a matter of days, but perhaps the most intriguing example of both of these cases came when the Boston Celtics decided to trade veteran big man Kevin Garnett, long time Celtic Paul Pierce and former sixth man of the year winner Jason Terry. The Celtics did not stop there; they then proceeded to let head coach Doc Rivers go, leaving him free to pursue a coaching job out on the west coast with the Los Angeles Clippers. This move instantly made the Clippers legitimate contenders for the conference title. And, in a hugely surprising act, the Celtics hired former Butler coach, Brad Stevens, to man the ship in Boston.

With so much going on, this season proves to be one of the most interesting in recent years. The Heat are looking to repeat as champions while the Celtics are looking to make it through the season without any further setbacks. We can only hope that the rest of the league follows suit and provides us, the fans, with the level of competition that is worthy of our attention.