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Playoff time is here again, and here is my first round playoff predictions.

Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks

My prediction: Boston in 4

My reasoning: Boston was assembled for one reason and one reason only, to win! Atlanta has not been in postseason play since 1999 and aside from Bibby and Joe Johnson, lack the experience needed to compete with the hungry Celtics.

Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers

My prediction: Detroit in 5

My reasoning: Clock work, Detroit makes the playoffs every year and has been to two recent NBA Finals, winning one. The Sixers are definitely a surprise team seeing how this was supposed to be a rebuilding year and have certainly earned their way in, but this young team will not be able to hold off the Pistons in a seven game series and will be tremendously intimidated by Detroit. The Sixers only win a game because of the Andre’s and Mo Cheeks being a hell of a coach.

#1. Los Angeles Lakers. Alltime Record: 2848-1799 (61.3%). NBA Titles: 14, Conference Titles: 28, Division Titles: 27, Playoff Appearances:54.
Yes, the winningest team in NBA history. The Lakers reach the NBA Finals about as often as we elect our presidents. The Lakers hold a tradition unmatched by any other NBA organization (except for those bastard Celtics). Consistancy is the key here. The Lakers are one of the most consistantly successful teams in all of professional sports, as well as being "America's Team" having fans in every city and every arena, yes, even Boston. Main Rivals: Boston. Other Rivals: New York, Detroit, San Antonio, Portland

#2.Boston Celtics. Alltime Record: 2794-1963 (58.7%). NBA Titles: 16, Conference Titles: 20, Division Titles: 25, Playoff Appearances: 45.
If this were the 1980's, the Celtics would be the clear #1. But the whole sucking ass for 20 years kinda screwed that up. The C's are kinda like my avatar: Dominant in the 1960's, great in the 70's, still great in the 80's and then dead by the early 90's. My, what could have been. That said, 16 titles is still no joke. Most younger fans today don't know much about the great Celtic dynasty from 1959-1976. That's too bad. A lot of history is found on that old-ass disgusting looking parquet floor. Not to mention the genius and innovations of Red Aurbach. I still miss those old "Red on Roundball" commercials. Or, whatever they were called. Main Rivals: Lakers, Philadelphia. Other Rivals: New York, Detroit.

One might not know it from just a casual glance, but history has played a big part in the naming of most of the NBA franchises. Many of the NBA franchises get their names for the cities historical past, or from a city in which the team first originated in. This is especially true with the teams who entered the League after 1949, but even those teams have some history behind their names.

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks were first called the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. Tri-Cities(Molina and Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa) is located in the midwest, in lands which once belonged to the Kickapoo,Sauk, and Fox indians. The three tribes fought a long war against the United Stated called the Blackhawk war after their chief Blackhawk. The Teams name was shorted to just Hawks after the team moved to Milwaukee.

Boston Celtics

The name Celtics refers to Boston’s Irish American population Many Irish believe they are ancestors of the ancient druid people called the Celts. The teams logo and mascot also reflect the Irish connections as it’s a traditional symbol of Ireland; the Leprichan.

To a lot of fans the NBA is becoming mundane. No longer do you have great rivalries in the league, and the majority of the 82 game schedule is filled with unimportant and meaningless games. Division races use to mean something, but now with the adopted of the rules a couple of years ago which makes playoff seeding based more on record than division, winning the division is practically meaningless now days. Yes, being able to raise a division championship banner may make fans of teams like Denver and Toronto happy, but for teams like Detroit and San Antonio they have become expected.

The winner of a division does not necessarily mean that team is the best team within that division. Take the Toronto Raptors for instance, they won the Atlantic last year but got mauled by the Nets, a division foe, in last years playoffs.

In Baseball and Football divisions mean everything. Besides their automatic playoff bid, winning the division in those sports gives the winning fans something to brag about. This is something the NBA is lacking, but it didn’t always use to be that way.

     Wealth, it’s the thing which makes the world go round. Since the dawn of time humans have searched for ways to get wealth and keep wealth. Humans have traded, bartered, plundered and killed for wealth throughout history. Today we are constrained by laws and civilized society but our thirst for wealth continues. That is the problem for today’s small marker NBA teams. Especially the bottom 8, or the eight smallest market teams. They struggle to be financially secure year after year and it keeps getting harder as the salary cap continues to grow.

     When the NBA began to implement its salary cap a few years ago, it may have unexpectedly stepped on a landmine. The Salary cap is determined by the overall revenue of the basketball income in the NBA. So as the league is more successful so are the teams. For the mid-market and large market teams this is great, but the smaller markets are hurt by this. The NBA salary cap is $55.63 million dollars this year, up from around 53 million in 2006-07, the minimum salary is roughly 47 million dollars and the luxury tax threshold is just less than 68 million. That is a lot of money, money which many of the smaller teams are finding harder and harder to come by.

      The Bottom eight teams: Memphis, Charlotte, Portland, Minnesota(Minneapolis), Indiana(Indianapolis), Utah(Salt Lake City), Milwaukee, and New Orleans, all play in cities with around 1 million people and which do not garner a lot of media attention. Their local TV deals pale in comparison to the local TV deals which the larger markets get. The Average local TV deal for an NBA team is around 12 million dollars, but of all the small markets only New Orleans and Utah received that much or more from their local television market.

We all know about players like George Mikan, Bob Cousey, Bob Pettit, and Bill Russell, but who were the stars of basketball before these guys? Not many people know the answer to this question, few if any have heard of Bobby McDermott, LeRoy Edwards, Mel Riebe, Gene Englund, or Ed Sadowski. But in a by gone era of basketball history, these guys were the best of the best, they were the true pioneers of professional basketball.

Gene Englund

Englund was a six five forward who played his college ball at the university of Wisconsin. Englund was never really a superstar but he was an above average player who would finish 3rd all time in scoring in the NBL.

England would play one season in the NBA, appearing in 46 games during the leagues inaugural season for both the Boston Celtics and Tri-Cities Blackhawks, but by the time the NBA formed Englunds career was well over with.

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Maurice Podoloff......... 1946–63 President 
Walter Kennedy........... 1963–67 President 
Walter Kennedy........... 1967-75 Commissioner 
Larry O'Brien............ 1975–84 Commissioner 
David Stern.............. 1984–   Commissioner