Trading Places: Another off-season and another slew of superstars demanding trades. Shaq got his wish and received a divorce from his temperamental and needy wife Kobe and the Lakers and in turn landed with the Miami Heat and in the process scored by hooking up with one of the hottest young guards in the league in Dwyane Wade. Shaq's move is the equivalent of Ben Affleck breaking it off with J.Lo and re-upping with Jennifer Garner. Tracy McGrady leveraged his impending free agency in forcing the Magic's hand in trading him to the Rockets where he'll now star with Yao Ming. I wonder if Vegas is setting an over/under line on the number of weeks it will take before T-Mac starts complaining about not being the focal point in Jeff Van Gundy's big man oriented offense. Vince Carter's efforts to jettison out of Toronto were not as successful, as new GM Rob Babcock refused to listen to Carter's demands. If Vince continues to sulk, Toronto's love affair with "Air Canada" will go over about as big as Air Canada's decision to pay Celine Dion boatloads of money for a new ad campaign in the face of bankruptcy protection.

Olympics Fall-Out: It was an ill-fated mix from the beginning pairing coach Larry Brown up with a group of young superstars used to being the sole focus on offense. Brown clashed heavily with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony refusing to give them quality minutes even though LeBron provided a spark anytime he was on the court offensively and defensively and 'Melo was one of the only proven shooters on the team capable of making an open shot. The turbulent off-season continued for 'Melo with marijuana possession charges (later dropped) and getting Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher although 'Melo's Punk'd appearance did give birth to the "Who is you?" phrase. Needless to say 'Melo needs to have a big year to deflect negative comments and teamed up with Kenyon Martin in the Nuggets frontcourt he should prosper.

Watching Manu Ginobili win the Gold Medal with the Argentinean team and dominate throughout the tournament has to beg the question why this guy has struggled so much to crack the starting lineup for the Spurs. I'd be shocked if he didn't stick there this year.

If I'm an NBA team I'd be asking myself what it would take to get one of these Lithuanian shooters overseas to play, in particular Sarunas Jasikevicius. You can't tell me that 30 teams don't have a need for a Peja Stojakovic Lite?

	The high flying Wallace will make an immediate impact with the expansion Bobcats. (Source: Getty Images)

Welcome to the League: The Charlotte Bobcats enter the league this year and become the NBA's 30th team which has set off realignment in both conferences including the introduction of three divisions, very similar to the NHL. The NBA even has their own version of the "Southleast" division with Charlotte, Atlanta, Washington and Orlando floundering and Miami playing the role of the Tampa Bay Lightning as the team to beat. It's nice to see the NBA has finally returned to Charlotte. It's felt like an eternity since the Hornets left town. How long has it been….oh yeah, that was only two years ago? Although the team is led by Gerald Wallace and first round draft pick Taye Diggs they won't contend or even pretend to give the appearance of contending until year three and that's largely because of the salary cap restrictions put on expansion teams. In year 1 the Bobcats are only eligible to spend 2/3 of the league determined salary cap. By year 2 that total increases to ¾ and by year 3 the team can spend max cap money. In the meantime you'll see plenty of questionable deals made by the franchise from a player standpoint like picking up big expiring contracts but it's all in the attempt to clear the books for year 3 when they hope to lure free agents but until then the first two years for this team will be uglier than Jamaal Tinsley's chest hair.

Acne Team: I wanted to say the Utah Jazz here, what with Carlos Arroyo returning with a fresh set of confidence like he got his braces taken after a superb coming out party at the Olympics. Plus I really like Andrei Kirilenko. Not only is he a solid defender and balanced fantasy contributor he's also a dead-ringer for Detlef Schremp. I also like the Jazz because Matt Harpring is healthy and the free agent signings of Mehmut Okur and Carlos Boozer will pay big dividends. Did anyone else find it a conflicting message in seeing a Boozer ending up in the mormon state? That would be like Shawn Kemp playing basketball in China; you know because of the one child limitation for families. But as much as I like the Jazz I just don't see them cracking the Top 8 in the tough Western Conference. So my pick for team most in need of Clearsil because they're ready to break out is the New York Knicks.

	The Knicks' season rests on the play and attitude of Marbury. (Source: AP)

The Knicks finished 39-43 last year good enough for 7th in the East. This year I see the Knicks finishing 4th behind Detroit, Indiana, and Miami with an improved and retooled lineup. Stephon Marbury is the key to the Knicks success and his attitude and style of play will dictate how far this team will go. For Isiah Thomas' part he must be hoping that Marbury can bring some of the team-oriented thinking that Olympian coach Larry Brown tried instilling on the team. After bucking the system early Marbury flourished down the stretch making big contributions enroute to the Bronze. If the preseason is any indication, Marbury seems to have turned a corner. During a pre-season tilt Marbury convinced coach Lenny Wilkens to leave reserve PG Moochie Norris in the game because he was shooting the ball well and Marbury felt Norris' confidence would be benefited more than had Marbury checked in. Injury problems continue to surround Allan Houston causing a little bit of a wrinkle in Wilkens' plan to use a 3-guard rotation with Houston, Marbury and newly acquired ex-Bull Jamal Crawford. Just a thought but if the Knicks were to ever try Marbury and Crawford in the backcourt and move Houston to SF it would allow Tim Thomas to start off the bench, a place he's more suited for in providing a spark. The roster is rounded out with developing PF Michael Sweetney and a slew of veterans including Vin Baker, Kurt Thomas, JYD and the re-born again sixth man Penny Hardaway.

Breakthrough Players: As for the individual players looking to breakthrough I've already mentioned Arroyo. I think he'll be primed to put up big numbers with an improved cast of front court players. Gerald Wallace of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats is another guy who'll be given a great chance; heck, playing Darko Milicic minutes in Sacramento isn't the best way for anyone to develop. Wallace is a high energy and powerful player who can defend, knock down some shots from outside the paint and drive to the net with some major authority. Trust me you will know who this guy is by the end of the year. Some people have been waiting a few years for this guy to bust out, in fact I saw a guy rocking a Wallace jersey on the Vegas strip two and a half years ago - now he may just have been a family member or a little too eager fan. In any case, now seeing a Gerald Wallace jersey on the street would be completely justified.

Final Thoughts:

This is a make or break year for a lot of young players and guys like Kwame Brown, Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry, and Dajuan Wagner who will want to avoid being lumped in with Lindsay Lohan in the big bust category. Speaking of Wagner his stock has fallen further with the Cavs than cranberry juice sales did last year in the Cleveland area.

Weirdest suspension thus far: The Portland Trail Blazers suspended Qyntel Woods for one-game after allegations came out that he involved his pit bull in dog fighting. Good thing Qyntel doesn't play basketball in Ontario.

There always seem to be a handful of European players that enter the league with little or no fanfare and make an immediate impact. To avoid any shock this year and a tip for late round fantasy sleepers keep an eye on Bobcats 25-yr old 7'1 Centre Primoz Brezec who led the team in preseason scoring (13.7 PPG) and rebounding (6.6 RPG) as well as Chicago Bulls new SF Argentinean Andres Nocioni who had 9.8 PPG and 6.2 RPG in the preseason.

Predictions:

Finals: San Antonio Spurs over the Detroit Pistons
Bold Finals Prediction: Sacramento Kings over Miami Heat
Rookie of the Year: Ben Gordon
MVP: Shaq - don't stand in the way of a big man scorned