A Half Hour Till the Start of a New Cavs Season...

We're hunkered down, armed with all the requisite elements for full hoops enjoyment mode. It helps that the weather has suddenly turned cold, so we have our heated blanket fired up. We've disconnected the home phone line so we won't be bothered by the usual annoying electioneering robo calls. We've got our assortment of favorite comfort foods arrayed nearby (don't ask), and we've just done a quick read of ESPN.com's NBA preview , in which columnist Bill Simmons, after drooling over a TV starlet, predicts the Cavs to win it all, and for Lebron to win the league's MVP trophy.

If you lack the time or interest to read it all, here's the payoff passage: "We will see LeBron's first MVP season. Remember, the Cavs came within a couple of plays of toppling the Celtics last spring. They were damned close ... and that was without Daniel Gibson. Assuming they jump a level with Gibson, Williams and Whoever They Get For Wally, and assuming LeBron submits a career year (something like a 31-9-8), and assuming the media gets behind him (and not Chris Paul), LeBron will take the trophy home. He's due. We will see LeBron win the Finals MVP as well. My pick: Cleveland over New Orleans in the 2009 Finals. You will remember it as the first LeBron/CP3 Finals some day, a seminal moment in the league's history, the season when a new generation of stars symbolically moved the previous regime out of the way. The NBA...where rejuvenation happens."
UPDATE: Damn!