The NBA Season Begins!

In the NBA, there are 30 teams. 29 of the teams are from America, 1 of them is from Canada. Some of the teams include the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves. The NBA was founded on June 6, 1946. The commissioner of the National Basketball Association is Adam Silver. The headquarters are in New York City, New York.

The pre-eminent men’s professional basketball league in North America is widely considered to be the premier men’s professional men’s league in the world. NBA players are the world’s best-paid sportsmen, by average salary per year. The highest players in the league last year were Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard.

Here are some stats of the best players: their team, salary, height, and birthday:

Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors) salary 11.37 million---- 6’3”---- March 14, 1988

Lebron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) 30.96 million---- 6’8”---- December 30, 1984

Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) 25 million----6’6”---- November 12, 1988

Dwyane Wade (Chicago Bulls) 23.23 million---- 6’4”---- January 17, 1982

Al Horford (Boston Celtics) 26.54 million---- 6’10”---- June 3, 1986

Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves) 8 million---- 6’11”---- May 19, 1976

Chris Bosh (Miami Heat) 22.19 million---- 6’11”---- March 24, 1894

In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the finals. This year, the Golden State Warriors are predicted to win. They have a 99% chance to make the playoffs, along with the Spurs, Cavaliers, Clippers, and Raptors. The Warriors also have an 80% chance to be top seed, followed by the Cavaliers at 62%. Finally, the Warriors have a 47% chance to win the title, followed by the Cavaliers at 13%. The Boston Celtics have only a 2% chance to get the title, although they have the most titles. So watch out for the Golden State Warriors! Despite the whole team’s record, you can have a top player on a bad team.

A contract player has one year left on his team before his contract is done. The way that they play this season, could determine where they are next year. The best players in the league this season are LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhl Leonard, and Russell Westbrook, with LeBron leading them all.

David Aldridge, a TNT analyst, makes 14 predictions for the 2016- 2017 season.

• LeBron James will win his fifth league MVP Award

• Chris Bosh won’t be able to play this season.

• Cleveland will be in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs will play the Pacers

• Utah will be a top- four team in the Western Conference

• Oklahoma City will make the playoffs

• Nerlens Noel will be dealt… to the New Orleans Pelicans

• Sam Hinkie will be back in a NBA front office next year

• James Harden will finish in the top three in MVP voting

• The LA Clippers make the Western Conference finals, but lose

• Orlando will have a top-10 defense

• Brandon Ingram will be Rookie of the year

• The knicks will disappoint

• Golden State will beat Cleveland in seven games to take back the NBA Championship

How many of these will be correct? I guess you’ll have to watch the games to figure out!

Last year, in the game between the Celtics- Hawks game, some fans were upset because they believed that the refs had made a few bad calls. Recently, the refs admitted to missing four calls in that game. Fans are upset still. They apologized and are promising to better this season.

A superteam is when one or two teams have way better odds than any other team in the league. The Warriors and Cavaliers are considered as “superteams”. Many fans out there do not like the idea of super teams, specifically the fans that are against the Warriors or Cavs. They think that it is unfair to the other teams, but this is the way of the NBA. The Warriors and Cavs have very impressive defense, and offensive teams.

They both have a very high chance at the playoffs and the championships. Their fans love it. They are so proud of their team and they think that it is fair, only because it benefits them. This is a reason for people fading away form the NBA traditions. They don’t like watching one team dominate the bracket. They believe that all teams should be about the same level. Whereas it is fun for others. We will see about what happens with these teams this season.

Your very own Timberwolves have been having a rough few years. They are next to last in the NBA attendance figures. It is predicted that 500 people less than last year are going to show up, attend, and cheer for the Timberwolves this season. Kevin Garnett is teaching the young charges on how to win as he did. It is not helping that this year, the T-Wolves are going to raise the prices again this year. Fans believe that the coaches are not convincing the players that winning is important. The team has been working on rebuilding since 2005.

The NBA has been a way to relax and hang out with your friends for many years. This year is going to be no different. The games will be fun, exciting, and hopefully you’ll be on the edge of your seat with anticipation!