Open Season

Every once in a while, the gods smile down upon you. The Spurs finish the preseason with a win over the Mavs, a nice way to head into the regular season which starts on Thursday. I know this'll probably get Kyle all riled up, but it's time for the Mavs to wake up to the reality that last year's finals appearance was handed to them on a silver platter by a couple of bad plays from the Spurs in the dying seconds of game 7. I'll give them just enough credit that they rode that high into the Finals, but when they began to believe the ungodly hype around them it all came crashing down and they crumbled. Dirk's a good player, but he's no Tim Duncan. Avery's a good coach and one of the men who brought San Antonio it's first title in 1999, but the General's god status is on hold as long as he's with the other side.

The annual GM survey came out with the Spurs favored to win the title again, and at least they seem to get it. Tim's 100% healthy, something he wasn't for all of last season. Manu and Tony continue to improve every year, and while a year older the bench is still pretty damned impressive. Two newer, younger and more athletic centers will help (enjoy "Hands of Stone", Detroit) in Elson and Butler, not to mention the total theft of Bonner from Toronto. All in all, looks like it should be a fantastic season, capped off by the fourth championship in the past nine years.