Baltimore is a great basketball town, and the NBA season is underway. Hoops fans can catch a game almost every night with CSN, TNT, ESPN and NBA TV serving up all the action you can handle.
I talked to a cross-section of experts from both TNT and ESPN, and here is what they had to say about some key story lines as the season gets started.
» TNT?s Doug Collins on Baltimore?s own Carmelo Anthony, the Denver Nuggets? forward: “Carmelo looks good. His body is lean, and he?s moving well. I can?t tell you what this summer [playing on the USA Basketball team] did for him. Now, people are starting to talk about him in the same breath as Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.”
» Hubie Brown, ESPN?s lead basketball analyst, on what the Washington Wizards need to do to take the next step: “I like Washington?s chances to take a move up and become an elite team. If Washington wants to contend for an NBA championship ? and they have the talent to go far ? there is only one word they need to remember: Defense. Gilbert Arenas and the guys can score, but to be real contenders, they must defend. If they can do that, the Wizards have a chance to go deep into the playoffs.”
» TNT?s Reggie Miller on sleeper picks: “My sleepers ? and these are all contingent on guys staying healthy ? I like Sacramento, as well as Utah. In the East, I sense something special brewing down in Orlando. Jameer Nelson is a true, proven leader at the point guard position. Can Grant Hill give them some minutes and stay healthy? Also, growing up here in Los Angeles, I thought I would never say this, but it is slowly becoming a Clipper town. You really have to give credit to Donald Sterling, Elgin Baylor and Mike Dunleavy.”
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. E-mail him at [email protected].
