AS THE SEASON STARTS, ONE QUESTION REMAINS

TD is poised to have a big season. A lot of people think he’s on the decline, but they’re wrong. He had played too much basketball for too long last season and was fighting through two bad ankles in the playoffs. As Phil Jackson said in an interview recently, it’s amazing that he had enough left to win the championship. This summer he had plenty of rest and time for his ankles to fully recover, and he had a chance to work on certain aspects of his game, like his free-throw shooting. Making a significant improvement in that alone would boost his scoring average a couple of points.

With the depth we have, TD won’t put up career numbers. But come playoff time, he’ll make everyone his bitch.