I\'d love to get to cheer for Artest. dude is solid gold. luckily we\'ll have SHEED which in itself makes the Celtics the most gangsta team in the history of professional sports.
Sheed is a GREAT pick up. Grant Hill is on the way too.
As for the Lakers fans I think you\'ll like Artest. He\'s the Rodman to Kobe\'s MJ. He\'ll be on best behavior. The Celtics proved this with Marbury. (though his game was lacking he was a boy scout in Boston) There\'s nothing like an established core of stars with shiny new championship rings on their fingers to keep a knucklehead in line.
4 teams stand out as contenders.
Celtics- With Rondo\'s improvement and Rasheed Wallace on board the Big 3 is now the Big 5.
Cavs- Shaq only needs to play 20 minutes a game. He\'s still dangerous as 2nd or 3rd option. Not to mention they still have Ilgauskas who could really dominate another team\'s back ups
Lakers- Odom is a moron if he doesn\'t re-sign
Spurs- Jefferson is everything Michael Finley used to be when SA was dominating.
I think Denver caught lightening in a bottle last year, and will be hard pressed to get the same quality of play out of everyone.
Orlando was better with Hedo than they are with Vince. Not to mention Howard beat the C\'s last year w/o Garnett. Now he may have to deal with KG AND Rasheed.
The power houses all got better. It\'s going to be a fun season in the NBA.