NBA "Nuclear Winter" Comes to an End: 10 Reasons to Get Excited for the Season

So the lockout is over and I’ll be the first to admit, I did not see this coming. After months of failed negotiations, I and countless others were tired of the Twitter rumor-mill.

The players and owners had cried wolf too many times and by the time the NBPA decertified and the season was all but lost, I didn’t care if the wolf devoured the entire flock. Let them lose millions. Let them burn their cake and choke on it too!

Hockey is a legitimate sport if there are enough brawls and the NFL really isn’t too bad once you learn a few players’ names and watch your friend lose money every week betting on teams they know nothing about.

But lo and behold, the NBA is back. The boys who cried wolf were finally telling the truth and the wolf turned out to be David Stern and Billy Hunter, dressed as Santa an delivering the most epic Christmas present of all time: an NBA season.

Remember when you were six years old and due to heart palpitations and perceived footsteps on the roof, you could never fall asleep on Christmas Eve? You knew that the sooner you were unconscious, the faster tomorrow morning would come and the closer you would be to perfectly wrapped presents, stuffed stockings and all the chocolate you could eat. But that only made it more impossible to sleep.

Well prepare yourself, because the excitement is back and instead of knit socks from grandma or a lump of coal in your stocking, Santa is delivering five months of NBA basketball. If you’re not excited yet, put two fingers on your wrist and check your pulse. If you’re having trouble finding it, allow me to help you with my top 10 reasons why I’m glad (and you should be too) that the NBA is back.

#10. Uhm, hello:

THE NBA IS BACK!!!!! WE GET TO WATCH BASKETBALL EVERY NIGHT! THIS ONE IS OBVIOUS BUT STILL NEEDS TO BE SAID. AND IN ALL CAPS. BOOYAH!!

#9. No more faking it:

We don’t have to watch hockey/football/whatever-other-sports-exist-during-the-winter-months. I know I mentioned earlier that hockey is cool and football is fun when there’s money on the line, but I was just trying to be optimistic. Nothing compares to the NBA and I’m just glad I don’t have to wait until Monday night to watch an exciting sporting event. There is no Monday Night Basketball…it’s every night.

#8. Trades:

As I’ve matured, I’ve become a bigger fan of change. I don’t dread new challenges or transformations. In fact, I look forward to them and none more than the changes in NBA rosters that will begin in the next week or so.

I suppose if I lived in Orlando or New Orleans, I’d be less excited about the possibility of big name players switching teams, but I live in Utah, and the prospect of the rest of the league being shaken up is intriguing. It’s also fun to fantasize how Chris Paul would survive in a city like Salt Lake. What? I can dream.

#7. The Heat:

We get to see the Miami Heat play again. We get to criticize and analyze and scrutinize one of the league’s most polarizing teams with one of the league’s most polarizing players. It’s a love/hate relationship for me. I want them to win for Dwyane Wade, but I also want Lebron to lose because I’m mean.

But then I also want Lebron to win because I loved him in Cleveland, but I want the Heat to lose because Chris Bosh should not be considered part of a Big 3. And then again, I’d like to see them win because Eric Spoelstra took a lot of unnecessary flack last season and I have to root for him because he’s from my home state.

Do you see where I’m coming from? Either way, I’m excited to see what happens.

#6. The Mavericks:

Dirk Nowitzki has been one of my favorite players since I was young. Sure, my other favorites at the time included Jermain O’Neal, Arvydas Sabonis and Rasheed Wallace, but Dirk is ‘der mann’ and despite my brother’s and roommate’s hatred for him, I’ll always have his back.

That’s why I forced myself to root for the Mavericks in the finals and it’s why I’m excited to see them play again this year. Even though I’m not a regular-season Mavericks fan, at least this year the “Defending World Champions” are someone other than the Lakers. Which leads me to my next point…

#5. The Lakers:

Oh boy, I could not be any less of Lakers fan if I tried. The disdain I feel for anyone dressed in gold and purple is deep and undeniable but I have to admit, I’m looking forward to seeing them play this year.

That is, I’m looking forward to the possibility of more meltdowns like game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. Or more Kobe faces; the kind when he’s staring at his hands in disbelief that he just missed an easy shot. Or the strange sight of Mike Brown sitting where Phil Jackson’s thrown used to be.

It’s nothing personal Lakers fans, I just have a thing for the destruction of all that is evil.

#4. Blake Griffin:

The man/boy is a beast and had the season been canceled, we would have missed out on not one, but two of the first three seasons of Griffin’s career. It’s bad enough that he had to sit out his rookie season, but after last year, there’s no way anyone could have justified locking him out this year. He’s funny on Twitter, he jumps over cars and he’s a great teammate. If you don’t like Griffin, you don’t like basketball. There, I said it.

#3. Steve Nash:

Ok, so this is obviously purely my own opinion, but who’s writing this piece anyway? Steve Nash is my favorite person/basketball-player/comedian/film-maker/soccer-player/need-I-say-more? He’s is a magician on the court and makes a mediocre team incredibly fun to watch. I dare you to watch Phoenix play without wanting to see Nash win. It’s impossible.

#2. Did I already stay Steve Nash? Ok, let’s go with Derrick Rose:

MVP! MVP! MVP! That is all.

#1. The Unknown:

I suppose the thing I’m most excited for about the post-lockout NBA season is all the stuff that hasn’t happened yet.

I’m excited for close games. Upsets. Buzzer-beaters. Break-through players. New coaches. Old coaches. New players. Old players. Five games per night. Back-to-back-to-backs. Twitter fights. Real fights. Trade rumors. Actual trades. Bad refs. Worse refs. Shaq, Charles, Kenny and Ernie. Stan Van Gundy. Craig Sager’s suits. Bill Simmon’s running-diaries. The playoffs. The Championship. And everything in between.

I love basketball and whether it’s 82 games, 66 games or just one game, I can’t wait.

See you on Christmas.