Top 10 Reasons to Be Grateful for the NBA This Season

10. Shaq's Not Dead Weight Yet

Nothing was more depressing over the last two seasons than seeing Shaquille O'Neal seemingly a husk of what he once was.  In danger of becoming as irrelevant as Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing at the end of their respective careers, O'Neal has bounced back nicely this season, averaging a healthy 15 ppg and nine rpg for a Suns team trying to remain relevant in Western contention. 

9. Oklahoma Football

Hey, until the OKC Thunder become relevant, it's vital that the Sooners remain contenders to distract the fans from their extremely green NBA club.  Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook are nice pieces, but the Thunder still have at least two seasons of growth and added pieces before they'll make a dent.

8. Raptors' Relevancy

Time for a little Thanksgiving love for our neighbors up North.  For a country that's produced Steve Nash, Canada's seen little love from the NBA lately, losing not only the one-time Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis, but also the border-friendly Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City.

If Chris Bosh and Co. weren't around to make the Raptors decent, David Stern might have decided to pull the plug on the NBA in Canada altogether.

7. You're Not Ernie Grunfeld

$161 million committed to two players over the summer, and 12 games in Grunfeld's team is 2-10.  Ouch.  The only way he survives scathing summer reviews is a) Gilbert Arenas comes back from multiple knee surgeries better than anyone except Arenas himself expects, or b) the Wiz hit the jackpot in the 2009 NBA Draft Lottery.

Not very good odds either way...

6. The Promise of Cap Space

Seriously, is there any other alternative that could possibly make Knicks fans think there's hope for the future despite their sorry excuse for a roster?  New Yorkers are positively giddy about the possibilities...two years ahead of time!

And it's not just the Knicks; the Cavs, Heat, Nets, Trailblazers, and half a dozen other teams are convincing themselves they have a shot at a superstar or three and automatic championships that come along with it.  The NBA: where hoarding cap space happens.

5. The Pacers and Blazers' Makeover

These two teams have done little in the past decade to sway the opinion that the NBA employs greedy, self-serving, cocky ballers.  Shawn Kemp, Rasheed Wallace, Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Tinsley...the list goes on and on.

Luckily Kevin Pritchard and Larry Bird have done everything they could possibly do (including swallowing a couple losing seasons, which has to really sting Bird) to clean up the mess that was their respective teams.  Now, their fans love them, pundits pick them as "sleeper teams," and they can only improve from here.

4. The Rookie Class of 2008

Michael Beasley was supposed to produce statistically.  After that, it was kind of a crap-shoot as far as who would produce, when, and how much.

Derrick Rose is already a legit point guard and the face, hope, and future of the Bulls.  O.J. Mayo has already surpassed Rudy Gay as Numero Uno on the Grizzlies.  Russell Westbrook is actually playing point guard decently.  Brooke and Robin Lopez are the most athletic white guys to come into the league since...Brent Barry?

By the time all these guys mature, especially the top three, this class may be mentioned in the same breath as 1984, 1996, and 2003.

3. Dwyane Wade's Recovery

It's not just the Heat and their fans that are grateful for D-Wade's return to un-injured superstar status.  LeBron is because he knows there won't be an asterisk next to any triumphs over Wade or his team.  Jerry Colangelo is because without him USA Basketball might have left Beijing without gold.  David Stern is because Wade's the most personable, talented, and camera-friendly advertisement he's got.

Stern should mail Wade thank you's every night and pay his doctors and trainers every day he stays healthy.  And we should be grateful for seeing him do the amazing things he does after there was a real chance we would never see him do it like that ever again.

2. The Celtics and Lakers Are the Best Teams in the NBA

Why should anyone but those respective teams' fans be grateful for this?  Because it shows last season's finals was no fluke.  It wasn't a conspiracy.  These two teams are hands down the class of the league.

The Cavs are close, but that's about it.  And now the other 28 teams have a target, a model.  They can look at how those teams dominate a game, how their benches contribute, how they bring it every single night and say, "That's what we should be doing."

In the end, they'll bring out the best in the NBA.

1. The Future of the NBA Is Secure Thanks to Its Plethora of Young Superstars

After Jordan, there really wasn't a face or even a group of faces that endeared themselves to the fans.  Kobe was too young and too immature.  Shaq was too dominating and domineering.  Duncan was too boring. 

Now, fans are genuinely attached to the new faces of the NBA: LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, Deron Williams, Derrick Rose...the list goes on and on.  Not since the late '80s and early '90s has there been such a collection of talent growing in the NBA at the same time.

The famine is over.  The feast has begun.  Happy Thanksgiving.