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Let’s play a game, it’s called the NBA head coaching carousel! This off season has been tumultuous in the league, and many teams find themselves with new coaches calling the plays. But there have also been lots of intriguing trades and free agent signings that have shaken up rosters and helped the fortunes of some teams. Last season the league was tied up in the revival of the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, but will be the stories this year?

The Boston Celtics look ready for another run at the title in the upcoming NBA season. They were dominant last year before their road struggles in the early rounds of the playoffs. On the positive side they have crucial playoff experience now. On the negative side is whether or not that same burning passion will be in the team, with coach Doc Rivers and stars Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce all having won their highly sought first NBA Championship.

The finalist from the West, the Los Angeles Lakers look to improve upon their surprising showing last year. A big boost will be received if Andrew Bynum is healthy and ready to play an entire year. Also, with Pao Gasol getting to go to training camp with the team, he should be better integrated into Phil Jackson’s system. Potential problems include Kobe Bryant’s lingering finger issue, and Olympic fatigue for both Kobe and Gasol.

Because of all of the off season drama, the other Los Angeles team, the Clippers, will also be closely watched. They lured Baron Davis into the fold and looked to be a stack team, until Elton Brand bolted to Philadelphia and Corey Maggette left for Davis’s former team, the Warriors. Then the Clippers somehow managed to steal away Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets, who look like they are conceding the 2008-2009 season and hoping to rebuild, with or without Carmelo Anthony.

The New Orleans Hornets are going to continue to improve, as Chris Paul and David West emerge as the best young duo in the league. The Spurs will always be in contention, but will be shorthanded with Manu Ganobli injured in the Olympics. The Houston Rockets hope to finally make a serious playoff push, with what they hope is a healthy pair of superstars in Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.

Meanwhile, two perennial contenders and always exciting watches, the Dallas Mavericks and the Phoenix Suns have new coaches. Dallas got rid of Avery Johnson and brought in former Pistons and Pacers headman Rick Carlisle. The team is still trying to get out of a mental funk from blowing the NBA Finals against the Heat and then being ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the 8th seeded Warriors. The Suns parted with Mike D’Antoni and bring in former player Terry Porter, hoping to add some discipline and toughness to the run and gunners.

D’Antoni is now with the Knicks, who are once again without hope for being a real team and are treading water until they can clear some cap space. Larry Brown was brought in to lead the Charlotte Bobcats into the future, and Brown always has success turning bad, young teams into quality, playoff bound ones. The Pistons were sick of always being good, but never being good enough and so ousted Flip Saunders to bring in Michael Curry.

The Heat also have a new coach, in the completely untested Erik Spoelstra, who will have at his charge Dwayne Wade and superstar in the making Michael Beasley. In Chicago, Derrick Rose will be taking his instructions from Vinny Del Negro, while former Bulls coach Scott Skiles takes over for the Milwaukee Bucks Beasley and Rose will be highly dissected this season in their run for the Rookie of the Year. But the young player with the biggest impact should be Greg Oden, who missed his rookie year with a knee injury and comes into a young team that had a hot start to last season before showing their age. And the young team to watch out for, is the Philadelphia 76ers, who have a strong inside presence with Elton Brand in addition to their young studs including Andre Igoudala.

One of the biggest pieces of news this summer was from former Atlanta Hawks player Josh Childress signing a huge contract with a team in Greece. He was the biggest name NBA player to make the move to Europe, although many others made the move along with him. The move has left many NBA players, fans and teams wondering about their ability to maintain their midlevel talent when European teams, particularly with a strong currency, can offer up more loot for their services.

About The Author:
Mark Anderson writes for Authority Tickets (http://www.authoritytickets.com), where you can buy some of the cheapest NBA tickets online. You’ll also be able to buy theater tickets, concert tickets and other college and professional sports tickets at http://www.ClickitTicket.com as well.

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