A Wheeler's Opinion: 3 Reasons to be Excited for the New NBA Season

The NBA is more than just about the GSW-Cavs storyline

Will this new Big 3 find a way to work together and bring home a title to Oklahoma?

The 2017-2018 NBA season is about to make every pair of eyes of every NBA fan stuck to their TV, computer monitors and even their mobile devices as it officially opens tomorrow (Manila time) beginning with the rematch of last season's Eastern Conference Finals match-up between the Cleveland Cavaliers going up against the Boston Celtics. Oh and don't forget folks. Chris Paul and James Harden will get the honor of trying to hand the Golden State Warriors when the revamped Houston Rockets open their season against the defending champions of Stephen Curry and company.

While almost NBA fan is complaining that this upcoming season will be boring as the Cavs and the Warriors are heavily favored to go head-to-head come the Finals in June of 2018- one thing that even this basketball pundit on wheels certainly believes, take away the Warriors and the Cavs and we still 14 more teams to watch out for. 14 stories to follow. 14 adventures to be excited about. Let's skip the prediction as to who will win the NBA title this season because we already have an idea as which team will that be, right, Warriors fans?

Below are the 3 reasons why NBA fans should be excited about the 2017-2018 season despite the inevitability that one team will dominate the season, again:

All Western Guns are Pointing towards Oakland

Russell Westbrook has Carmelo Anthony AND Paul George as his new teammates in Oklahoma. Chris Paul has joined James Harden in what is expected by many to become one of the most exciting backcourt tandems in history. LaMarcus Aldridge has recently signed a contract extension to remain with the San Antonio Spurs for the next 3 seasons. Even the Minnesota Timberwolves have formed a Big 3 of their own with Karl Anthony Towns, Nikoli Pekovic and Jimmy Butler.

All these teams in the Western Conference have reloaded themselves for one goal: to dethrone the Golden State Warriors who have been consistently dominating the West for all of the 3 previous seasons. And counting. If anything, we should definitely be excited as to how the new Big 3 in Oklahoma will work together because Westbrook, George and Anthony are proven scorers and the question that is nagging in everyone's mind is: who will the main Alpha in Oklahoma?

The Kyrie Irving-LeBron James Rivalry

Since Kyrie Irving demanded a trade from the front office of Cleveland during the busy off-season, a demand that was granted and forever shook the balance in the East, to say the least, it was already the beginning of a brewing rivalry between brothers turned rivals, Kyrie Irving and the King himself, LeBron James. 

Apparently, the reason why Irving wanted himself out of Cleveland was that he didn't want to play alongside LeBron- a partnership that produced 3 consecutive Finals appearances and a championship in 2016. Tomorrow's game between the Cavs and the Celtics will serve as the opening chapter in this rivalry and this basketball pundit on wheels will be keeping a close eye on the performance of both guys, particularly of Irving if he can indeed, play AND win without LeBron James.

The New Format for the All-Star Game

The battle between the East against the West is no more. The NBA along with the Players Association has announced earlier this month that the All-Star Game will have a different format. Starters will still be voted by fans but the difference is this; each team will have a captain. Each captain will draft their respective starters and reserves from the pool of players that are voted by fans to participate in the mid-season festivity.

Why is the new All-Star game format exciting? Team captains can select any player he desires, regardless of from which team and conference that the players are playing for. So imagine LeBron James forming a super team with his super friends: namely Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony along with Dwayne Wade. How about Steph  Curry bringing along his 3 friends from Golden State along with Anthony Davis? 

The possibilities are unlimited. This could be where super teams of the future will be built from here on. Exciting, isn't it?