The NBA's big day

Today the NBA Signing moratorium ends - in case you haven't been keeping up to date on NBA news, and I know not many people who read this have, today is the first day that NBA teams could sign/trade players since the summer started. The new collective bargaining agreement will keep the NBA lockout free for at least another 6 years, but among other things adds an age restriction (19 years old or one year after high school graduation) to the draft. So teams can finally sign their free agents, which should make the next few days pretty exciting.

The east is not looking quite as week anymore, with the Pacers and Nets having a good offseason. The pacers should be there with the heat in the conference finals. My celtics didn't screw anything up in the offseason yet, and had a great draft, so while this year won't be their year, there's hope for the future. With the Joe Johnson sign and trade, I like what Phoenix has done. I think Nate Robinson would have been an excellent fit for the team, but Kurt Thomas brings size and defense, and we found out again what wins championships.

Next year should be exciting because Amare will be more Shaqlike, my main man Dwayne Wade will be more Jordanesque, and Artest will be Artest. After the dust settles from free agency and trades I'll see if I decide to make a preseason pick for the champ.