If you’re a fan of the National Basketball Association (and many aren’t), then you’re going to love the upcoming season. The moves that have been made over the summer are even better than the ones at the end of the 2007-2008 season when all the free agents moved on. Let’s take a quick look.

1. Lakers: Get Ron Artest and keep Lamar Odom. Those two signings along with the always dangerous Kobe Bryant are going to be tough to beat. However, there are plenty of distractions the team will have to deal with.
– It’s in LA and it’s the Lakers.
– Second, how will Artest hold up? Will he be a good partner? I think he will. Kobe is a strong leader. Phil is good at dealing with crazy people. And Artest wants to win.
– Will Lamar stay involved and alert like he was last year? Or will his new marriage put him off?

2. Cavaliers: You have Lebron and now Shaq. My God, watching Shaq is going to be so much more fun than watching Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Nothing personal against the guy. I know that he has recovered from many injuries and all that. But I remember him against San Antonio in the final and in the conference final against Orlando last year. It just looked amazing! Shaq won’t look too bad no matter how out of shape he is! And he’s a proven winner who will teach the Cleveland team how to beat themselves.

3. Magic: They brought in Matt Barnes (good move), Brandon Bass (good move), Vince Carter (fair move) and lost Hedo Turkoglu (bad move). I don’t know. I just think Orlando could have had the perfect season last year to go as far as he did. I’d expect the Celtics to be the ones fighting Cleveland in the East, not the Magic.