Early Look at the NBA Part 1: Western Conference

Another season of the greatest sports league in the world is just a few months away. Wait, didn't the NBA season just end? Yep! Isn't it awesome! The reason why the upcoming season is so intriguing is because there are so many teams that have a legitimate shot to make it to the Finals and win the championship. The Heat, Bulls, Clippers, Thunder, Spurs, Pacers, Rockets, and Nets all believe that this could be their year, so it's shaping up to be a great season. Let me go ahead and give you my prediction of how the final four will shake out.

The West:

The Clippers have the talent. They've had the talent for the past two seasons. I think that bringing in Doc Rivers will make the difference and help them finally win in the playoffs, mostly because he will teach them how to play elite defense.

The Spurs have basically the same team as last year. They still have the best coach in the NBA, and as long as Duncan's body doesn't break down, he will be hungry to make up for last season's heartbreaking loss in the Finals.

The Thunder didn't get better in the offseason; in fact, they may have become a little bit worse. Kevin Martin left, which means that they have pennies on the dollar left from what they got in the James Harden trade. Jeremy Lamb, however, looked good in the Summer League, so we'll see if he or any of their other bench guys can fill in for Martin, but that's a big if. Even with a healthy Westbrook in this year's playoffs, I don't see them getting past the second round.

The Rockets will be interesting to watch, but unless Dwight Howard is going to be the Dwight Howard of a few seasons ago, they won't make it past the second round of the playoffs. There is the possibility of a deal that would include Omer Asik being traded to Boston for Rajon Rondo somewhere down the road, however, in which case I might change my mind, but that remains to be seen.

Western Conference Finals: Clippers vs. Spurs

The winner of this series, I believe, will be decided by just how much Doc Rivers improves the Clippers' defense, and how well the Spurs' health holds up. Popovich, though, is a master of distributing minutes to keep his best players healthy, but we'll see if he is smart enough to sit Manu in favor of newly acquired Marco Belinelli in the playoffs. As a Bulls fan watching last year's playoffs, when Hinrich was hurt I was most comfortable with Belinelli running the offense, so he could be a key pickup for San Antonio. In any case, I give the edge to the Spurs to make the Finals again.

What is to be done?

It's a topic that I have debated with only a few people. I don't like talking about it because it threatens the magic of sport that has inspired me ever since I was a little kid. Like so many other kids, I dreamed of being a professional athlete. Michael Jordan was my hero and role model. He's not so much anymore. I don't see his competitive disease as something that I want to emulate, even if it would give me some of the same success that he had. This, among a few other things, dissuaded me from looking at him as an appropriate role model. Any reason for someone to cease being an appropriate role model for someone else is not good, but at least Michael Jordan is not Ryan Braun or Lance Armstrong. At least he didn't cheat and then lie about it to our faces. But for that matter, maybe he did cheat in some way or another. The fact that I now have to ask that question about the pristine athletic hero of my childhood saddens me, but this is what we've come to, and we would be naive not to ask the questions.

I'm not here to point fingers, so I won't. I want to encourage solutions. Major League Baseball is doing a great job, I think, of cutting their losses and fighting the problem rather than looking the other way. The NFL seems to also be taking steps to prevent PED use. The NBA would do well to follow their examples. As MLB is finding out, the problem won't go away overnight. They have been handing out suspensions for years now -- heavy suspensions -- but it still hasn't quite purged the game of that ugly side. It will take time, but everyone needs to get rid of this stuff.

And, yes, it is bad. If we do what some have suggested and just allow everyone to use PEDs, then the games that Americans have loved for over 100 years will turn into a circus, a freak show. Let's watch a bunch of guys who are taking destructive drugs do things that no normal human being should ever be able to do, and let's not care that their bodies will fall apart when they're 45. You might say that it's their choice what they do with their body. Yes, it is, but it becomes a problem when the whole point of their artificial enhancement is to make more of the money that I pay to watch and to add accomplishments to their resume that wouldn't be there otherwise, that can only be accredited to the drugs. I don't want to watch artificial stuff -- someone who cheats their way into strength, power, and speed. I want to watch normal (but very gifted, of course) people who accomplish great things simply through hard work, courage, and fortitude. That's a real hero.