Early Observations from the Association

The NBA season is only a few weeks old, but there are already some great story lines developing:

We are seeing this year's crop of NBA rookie point guards, not only get quality minutes, but stuffing the stats sheet.

Although he's been exiled to Sacramento, rookie Tyreke Evans is off to a monster start for the Kings this year. With the team's leading scorer, Kevin Martin out for awhile, look for Evans scoring to increase even more. Johnny Flynn in Minnesota is making Timberwolves fans forgot about Ricky Rubio, at least in the here and now. Flynn has already taken away minutes from the teams off season free agent signee, Ramon Sessions. In Denver, speedster Ty Lawson is taking every advantage of learning the ropes behind Mr. Bigshot, Chauncey Billups. Lawson not only has earned quality minutes with the second unit, but Nuggets coach George Karl has allowed Lawson to play alongside Billups at times throughout the game. The Milwaukee Bucks, who are on the verge of falling off the map of relevancy in the NBA, appear to have found a future star in Brandon Jennings. The 20 year rookie, who bolted for Europe right out of high school last year, has been very impressive for the Bucks, giving this lifeless franchise a pulse. Finally, here in Atlanta, head coach Mike Woodson is going against his own traditions, and including point guard Jeff Teague into the everyday rotation off the bench.

Other quick observations:

Steve Nash and Phoenix Suns appear to be back on track out West. The Suns are off to a 6-1 start and there is already internal chatter that the team is in a much better place now that Shaquille O'Neal is no longer on the roster. Conversely, in Cleveland the Cavs are a very pedestrian 4-3 after seven games and many are wondering if the pairing of Shaq and LeBron was a mistake.

New York/New Jersey basketball is an absolute mess. The Nets and Knicks are a combined 1-13 so far this year. This is quite the price to pay for two franchises who sacrificed it all for a shot at King James or Dwyane Wade next summer. With no behind-the-scenes hand shake deal done for either prize recruit, these two clubs may be staring at years of ineptitude. The Nets, however, have nice pieces in Devin Harris and Brook Lopez, along with potential shiny new digs in Brooklyn.

My team to keep an eye on out west is The Oklahoma City Thunder who are a respectable 3-3 right now. Kevin Durant is a superstar in a very small market. He is surrounded by two potential future All-Stars in point guard Russell Westbrook and forward Jeff Green.

Early surprise team out East is the Miami Heat. D.Wade, and his 28 ppg, keep the Heat hot and competitive on any given night. If Jermaine O'Neal stays healthy and Michael Beasley keeps his head on straight, Miami will give teams fits again this year.

Don Nelson and Allen Iverson. Two guys who's best days are long behind them. Nellie has created an absolute mess in Oakland with the Warriors, shuffling rotations and minutes like a deck of cards. It's time for a fresh voice and new leadership in the Golden State. As for 'A.I.', signing with Memphis clearly wasn't 'the answer.' What's sad is nobody wants this career 27 ppg scorer on their roster, particularly the contenders. Iverson is like the guy in science class who comes over to your table to mess up your CHEMISTRY experiment. If the contenders don't want him and the bad teams know he won't maintain a positive attitude through all the losses, then perhaps retirement is 'the answer.'

Again, it's early, but all indications are pointing towards Lakers/Celtics 2.0 next June. Both teams had huge off season additions with Ron Artest joining the purple and gold and Rasheed Wallace donning the green shamrock in Boston.

Look, we all know that the NFL rules the roost, but the NBA is still healthy and ratings are up on all the national broadcasts. If the first few weeks of the NBA season is any indication as to how this season will unfold, you can bet 'amazing will happen' in a city near you.