Simply put, I can’t ever remember a more compelling or exciting first round of the NBA Playoffs. They have may have been this good before, but I definitely don’t remember it.

Really, every series has been exciting, and the level of talent on every team is simply staggering. Quickly looking around the landscape, there's at least been a reason to tune into every series except one (More on that coming). Memphis is better than San Antonio. New Orleans has played the Lakers tough. Despite getting swept, the Knicks easily could’ve stolen two games in Boston. And even Indiana proved that having one starter who is certifiably insane (Tyler Hansbrough) can hide a lot of talent deficiencies. Say what you want about the Pacers, they played as hard as anyone in their first round series with Chicago.

But as we close out Round 1 and start looking ahead to Round 2, who have been the best and the brightest so far? What have been the biggest storylines?

Let’s take a look, by handing out some awards for the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Woah, Holy Crap, I Totally Forgot How Good This Guy Was Award: Chris Paul

A couple of things with Paul.

Understand that this award isn’t about me figuring out that Paul is good. I already knew that. After all, I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid. No this award is about figuring out just exactly how good Paul is. And as far as I’m concerned, he’s still far and away the best point guard in the league.

Now, that’s no disrespect to anyone else, Derrick Rose in particular. The Bulls were one of the great stories in the league this season, and that’s thanks almost exclusively to Rose. Not to mention that as a fan who has always appreciated, quiet, efficient, hard-nosed play (without televised contract signings and firework-ridden welcome parties), this whole season in Chicago has been a breath of fresh air. If I had an MVP vote for the regular season, Rose would’ve gotten it.

 

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If you’re a regular reader of this site, you might remember me starting my post “Decision,” LeBron James article by saying, “If you’re looking for a coherent column on LeBron James…you’ve come to the wrong place.” Well here we are eight months later, and I’m in the same place, but for a completely different reason.

Deron Williams is now a New Jersey Net, you know that. But if you’re looking for me to rip the Jazz from head to toe for essentially waving the white flag on their season, and trading one of the 10 best basketball players on the planet, you won’t get that from me. If you’re hoping that I’m upset with Mikhail Prokhorov for rearranging the future of his franchise for potentially 18 months of Williams before he becomes a free agent, well that ain’t happening either.

The truth is, I love this trade. I love it for both sides, and I love it for all parties involved. I might not love it enough to dance like Elaine Benes, but I’m darn pretty close.

So why do I love this trade? Why do I love it in the here and now, and so much for both teams? Let’s take a look.

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(Aaron's note: This article was written and in the process of being edited when news broke mid-day Friday that a deal had been struck in principle between the Nets and Nuggets to trade Carmelo Anthony to New Jersey. Obviously, when it was written, there was no news of the reported deal.

While that news impacts the thesis of this column, hopefully it won't impact your enjoyment.)

Within the past week, I inadvertently used the same joke twice (What can I say, I’m funny like that).

It started on Wednesday, when Yahoo.com's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the on again, off again, on again, off again, negotiations between the Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets over Carmelo Anthony were on again. Apparently this time, the Nets decided to take Devin Harris out of their trade proposal, and instead substitute the Six Flags in Jackson into their package, along with Derrick Favors and a slew of draft picks. Who knew?

Of course with the never ending ‘Melo-drama taking a new spin, I- like so many unfunny sportswriters- took to Twitter and said the following, “This story is like Groundhog Day…Only not funny.”

Well, unbeknownst to me, I used the same analogy when texting my buddy about Jersey Shore on Thursday night. For those of you who missed the episode, it was really no different than any of the last four (well, except this one had more poop jokes): Ronnie and Sammi can’t live together. They got into a fight. Sammi moved out. Then Ronnie felt bad and missed her. Now he can’t live without her. Tell me where you’ve heard that one before? It’s like I said, it’s Groundhog Day. Only not funny.

But then something strange happened. As I laid in bed last night, I began to realize that wait a second… these two situations actually do have quite a bit common.

Here are 10 Things I came up with…

 

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A.J. Price is my favorite college basketball player of all-time. He wasn’t the best. He never won a National Championship. But he’s still my favorite.

To me, Price represented everything that college basketball, and really the college experience should be about. For all the discussion that we as fans and analysts have about paying players, college football playoffs, expanded March Madness, whatever, what college is really about, is molding young people into adults. It’s like the commercials say, most NCAA athletes will “go pro,” in something other than their chosen sport.

Nobody signified that better than Price.

When A.J. got to UConn, he was a lot of what is wrong with the AAU sneaker culture we have in place right now. He entered school with a cocky, my s**t don’t stink, I don’t need to listen to anybody, swagger to him. Believe me, I was there. While I wouldn’t say A.J. was a bad kid, he was definitely misguided, and probably a bit immature. I bet if you asked him that, he’d tell you the same.

Then reality hit. Price had a near fatal injury (bleeding in his brain), which cost him his first year of college, nearly his life. Just as he finished up his recovery, Price followed that up by getting in trouble with the law.  

With the arrest, Price was suspended from school for a year and was away from basketball for two. Thankfully though, by the time he got back to campus in the fall of 2007, Price was humbled, humiliated and matured. He ended his career by leading the Huskies to the 2009 Final Four, and more importantly by becoming a great ambassador of the school in the process. A.J. Price entered UConn a boy, and left a man.

To a smaller degree, that’s the same reason why DeMarcus Cousins may be my favorite non-UConn player ever. He didn’t quite have the same college experience as Price, but then again, didn’t do the same time in school either.

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Maybe Dan Gilbert wasn’t so crazy after all.

You know what I’m talking about, right? Remember the “letter” that Gilbert (the Cleveland Cavaliers owner), wrote to his season-ticket holders and fans last summer after LeBron James skipped town? Remember the promise he made, that his Cavs would win a championship before the “SELF-TITLED KING WINS ONE!” Remember how we all laughed at Gilbert’s audacity (not to mention his liberal use of the CAPS button)? Remember how we were equal parts impressed by his loyalty, while at the same time terrified by his rage? Remember all that?

Well here we are a full six months later, but a mere 30 hours from LeBron James’ return to Cleveland, and Gilbert is looking like the smartest guy in the room. Sure his Cavaliers aren’t all that close to a title, but they are playing hard, scrapping their way to respectability and staying afloat around the .500 mark. Meanwhile, James’ new team is just a few games better in the standings, but scrapping by their own right, seemingly ready to implode at any point.

So with these two teams getting ready to take the court Thursday night, how did we get here? More importantly, where are we going, not just with this NBA season, but with three of its best players bickering in Miami?
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You’ve heard it before, but I’ll say it again. We’re in the midst of the most exciting NBA season of our lifetimes. I know I’m not the first person to tell you that. Or the 100th. But I figured it was worth mentioning again anyway.

With the season tipping yesterday, I spent most of the day walking around in a semi-catatonic state, almost like a kid waiting around for the bell to ring on the last day of school. I couldn’t hold down food. I was irritable. If I was a female I would’ve blamed it on cramps. But really, I just wanted the season to get going.

When it did, my buddies spent the entire Heat-Celtics game texting like teenage girls trying to make prom plans. How does Boston look good? Why does Dwyane Wade look so angry? Is “500,” Shaq’s weight, or what his field goal percentage on uncontested dunks will be at the end of the year? As much as I love my friends, I can barely get them to text me on a Friday night to make plans. To get them yapping like that on opening night of the NBA season is unheard of.

And having conversations with people, it’s just the Miami Mix Tape All-Stars who are getting everybody’s blood boiling. There are quite a few interesting teams, players, rookies and storylines to get us going.

Anyway, after talking to friends, reading a bunch of magazines, browsing the internet for the past few months and watching last night’s games, here is the AaronTorres-Sports NBA Preview, with a six-pack of my thoughts for the upcoming season.

It’s a day late, but hopefully unlike the Heat last night, won’t be a dollar short.

Enjoy

(Also, for those who might not know, Aaron Torres Sports and HP have teamed up to provide a FREE computer to one lucky reader of this site. There are no catches. Click here to sign up to enter)
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For some reason, I was in a particularly bad mood last Friday night.

I was tired. I was cranky. I was like Justin Bieber when his mom tells him it’s time for a haircut. Every little thing was pissing me off. And it only got worse when a few buddies called from San Diego, where they just so happened to be vacationing…without me. After a few minutes of small talk, I rushed them off the phone, claiming I was headed out myself. The truth was, I wasn’t doing anything except watching the Royals-Yankees game, and thinking things to myself like “Is this really my life?” and “Is it just me, or does Joba Chamberlain’s face get fatter every time I see him?”

It wasn’t until an hour or so later though, that I got my surliest. That’s when I was browsing ESPN.com, and saw a report that not only had New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul demanded a trade (that was old news), but that he had revised the list of teams that he’d consider being traded to. Wait, what?

Here was my bitter response via Twitter: “On a different note, who cares what Chris Paul’s preferred (trade) destination is? Here’s a novel idea, shut up and play out your contract.”

Now that a few days have passed, I’m happy to report that I’m not nearly as grumpy as I was on Friday night. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. And thankfully my friends are done with their vacation.

Even after those 72 hours though, my opinion on one thing hasn’t changed: Chris Paul needs to just shut up and play basketball.
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When I went to schedule a weekend getaway a few months ago, I figured early July would be the perfect time to do it, right in the lull between the NBA Finals and the start of football talk. Little did I know that by booking my vacation for July 9, I’d be leaving in the midst of one of the five biggest sports stories of my lifetime.

But of course that’s exactly what happened, and there I was at an Atlantic City sports bar Friday night, watching LeBron James, a player synonymous with one organization as much as any in sports, staring back at me in an ugly, white Heat jersey. I’m not even a Cavaliers fan, but the whole thing seemed like a bad dream.

Anyway, since I wrote an article LeBron leaving Cleveland for Miami last Friday, a lot has changed. Some good. Some bad. Most insignificant to the general public.

Without getting into too much of what I already wrote or too much of what I can’t possibly project (Like the economic impact of LeBron’s departure from Cleveland), here are some closing thoughts on the whole LeBron fiasco of the last couple days. Now hopefully the next time we discuss James, it’ll be for something he actually does on the court, rather than all of his actions of it.
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If you’re looking for a coherent column on LeBron James’ Thursday night “Decision,” you’ve come to the wrong place. It ain’t happening. Not here. Not now. Not as everything we thought we knew about LeBron James is going up in smoke, much like one of his old Cavaliers jerseys.

LeBron James is going to Miami, we know that. But now that the greatest water cooler debate of our lifetime is over, the real questions begin.

Is LeBron the most selfish athlete we’ve ever seen? Or is he actually the most selfless, for deferring so much- including potentially his legacy- to Dwyane Wade?

Was LeBron ever the loyal guy he always claimed to be? Or was that all a ploy?

Maybe most importantly, after labeling LeBron the “Next Michael Jordan,” for the last seven years were we all wrong? Is he really just a more glorified Scottie Pippen?

I don’t have the answers to those questions, yet, but I do know this: LeBron made the choice we’ve all been waiting for, and ended up selecting the Heat. He will likely win multiple titles in South Beach, although we won’t know that for years.

All I do know is, that after the stunt he pulled on Thursday night, I’ll never feel the same way about him.

And I know I’m not alone.
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For the last couple days, I’ve been debating how I was going to attack this article.

Thursday, July 1, 2010. The start of NBA free agency. I couldn’t even tell you when my dad’s birthday is, yet I’ve had this date marked on my calendar for two years. So has every NBA fan nationwide.

Today isn't just a big story, but one which could change the NBA as we know it forever. Will the stars end up in New York? What about L.A.? Could they change the fortunes of the Heat or Nets? What about the Bulls? Are they all going to go their own ways?

But for all the talk about which guy will end up where, what this ultimately all comes down to is one man, and one question: Where will LeBron James land. Because once the LeBron domino falls, all the others will fall with it.

Which is why rather than spending the rest of this article talking about Bosh and Wade, Boozer or Amare, Dirk or Paul Pierce, I’m skipping them all. This is about LeBron.

But before we can get an answer to where he ends up, we need to first start asking the important questions…
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