Suit up, NBA is back

After a long and tumultuous offseason, the NBA is back tonight and dressed better than ever.\nThe passing of the summer has brought the Zen master and his meditation back to Los Angeles, 'Toine is now in Miami Beach, and the Hornets will be playing their home games in Oklahoma City.\nBecause of all the faces changing places, Down to the Dwire is going to provide seven things you must know about the upcoming professional basketball season.\n1. The Miami Heat will not be better than they were last year. In the offseason, Miami President of Basketball Operations Pat Riley brought every player with an anger management problem to South Beach. Unfortunately for Riley, points per game doen't equal chemistry and when Shaq and D-Wade don't get their combined 32 shots per game, Big Daddy won't be happy.\n2. San Antonio is the hands-down favorite to win the NBA title in 2006. In case you haven't seen a game in the last few years, the Spurs are good, really good. And guess what they did in the offseason? They got better. With the addition of Michael Finley to the bench, it will be a Texas two-step all the way to the Finals.\n3. 2006 doesn't look nearly as promising for the Phoenix Suns. Everything looked rosy for Phoenix at the end of last season. Nash won the MVP award, largely because he had Amare to dish to and Joe Johnson shooting the rock. This season, with Johnson and Q moved by trades and Amare out for four months, the Suns will struggle in the Pacific Division.\n4. Indiana has finally made the right moves to get past the Pistons. Danny Granger appears to have been the biggest steal in the draft, averaging 9.7 ppg and 6.7 rebounds per game in the preseason. Combined with the Ginobili-like skills of Sarunas Jasikevicius and Fred Jones (last year's slam dunk champ), the Pacers' bench should be one of the deepest in the league.\n5. Losing Larry Brown will hurt the Pistons' chances at another title run. Although there will probably be a lot more scoring without the NBA's version of the "Old Ball Coach," the D won't be as disciplined. The sheer talent keeps Detroit among the league's elite, but the only thing that will improve from last season is Darko.\n6. The Cavs will be in the playoffs, but only partly because of LeBron. Cleveland has been close to making the postseason the last couple of seasons, only to fall short. After learning that one man, even a Superman, can't carry the whole team on his shoulders, the Cavs have made some quality moves. They re-signed Ilgauskas, an extremely underrated big man, and added Larry Hughes and Damon Jones to give Bron some support.\n7. Despite the reunion of Phil and Kobe, the Lake Show will miss the playoffs again.\nThere's no doubt Jackson is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the league, but in the City of Angels, there are just too many things wrong. Kobe will take his 69.4 shots per game, but Kwame and Odom won't be enough of a supporting cast. Sign of mediocrity: Aaron McKie is your starting point guard.