The 'Little Red Riding Hood' Odyssey Begins

Yes, it's that time again for the NBA teams to go on the "Little Red Riding Hood" odyssey known as the regular season. It's the long trip to grandmother's house (read: NBA Playoffs), and once you get there, the big, bad wolf (read: perennial league powers Boston and the Lakers, not the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves) is waiting to eat you alive.

But there's hope for all those teams that have suffered through the "Little Red Riding Hood" syndrome in the 1980s after last year's breakthrough, when the Detroit Pistons swept through the playoffs and took the Lakers in four games for the NBA Championship. Finally, the NBA trophy wasn't bathed in Celtic green or Laker gold.

While the Bad Boys from Motown are back, looking like strong contenders to repeat, a healthy Larry Bird and a healthy Magic Johnson give the Celtics and Lakers the look--once again--of big, bad wolves. Here's a look at the four divisional races:

Atlantic Division

Okay, hold on Celtics fans. Yes, Larry is back, and after bidding arrivaderci to point guard Brian Shaw, the green Machine picked up John Bagley and Ed Pinckney as fine-tuned working parts to go with Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Reggie Lewis and Dennis Johnson. But don't start feeling comfortable atop the Atlantic Division standings just yet.

The New York Knicks are slightly better, even without any off-season additions. And that's because of Kiki "Where Pass is Just Another Four-Letter Word" Vandeweghe, who will be starting his first full season with the Knicks, and the continued maturation of Patrick Ewing and Mark Jackson.

The only certainty in the rest of the division can be found in southern Florida, where Rony Seikaly and Glen Rice will hold down the fort of the beseiged Miami Heat. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want my fort depending on the likes of Seikaly and Rice, who will learn lessons-a-plenty this year in the NBA, sitting in the Atlantic Division basement.

Philadelphia must depend on sharp-shooter Hersey Hawkins and mouth-shooter Charles Barkley for its playoff hopes to be realized. For Washington, only Jeff Malone deserves mention in any worthwhile publication. And New Jersey, well, minus Buck Williams and with problem-children Sam Bowie and Joe Barry Carroll, Coach Bill Fitch will probably be hoping by January that he was back coaching in the Garden. Here's hoping Mookie Blaylock can keep the fans laughing in the Meadowlands, and not because of his play.

Central Division

Once the doormat of the NBA, the Central Division is now the penthouse of grandmother's house.

Detroit is solid, with its only loss being the Biggest (and the worst) of the Bad Boys, Rick Mahorn. Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, John Salley, Dennis Rodman, Mark Aguirre and Joe Dumars are the class of the league. Throw in free agent acquisitions David Greenwood and Scott Hastings for beef up front, and this team looks formidable. Only dominating centers such as Ewing, Houston's Akeem Olajuwon and San Antonio's David Robinson can threaten the Bad Boys.

But don't forget about the rest of this division, which even has the class of the expansion teams, Orlando. Reggie Theus, Sidney Green, Dave Corzine and Terry Catledge are capable players. And the Magic checks in with the Best Mascot Award for Stuff the Magic Dragon.

Chicago, Atlanta and Cleveland are all capable of 50-plus wins this season. B.J. Armstrong and Stacey King give depth to an always-explosive Chicago team. And then there's number 23, whoever he is. A healthy. Kevin Willis gives the Hawks' Moses Malone some help on the frontline, and Cleveland has enough talent to be a playoff team, but needs a couple more years to be a dangerous team in the playoffs. Milwaukee and Indiana would do better to unload their rosters and apply for expansion franchises at this point and time.

Midwest Division

If somebody comes up with a theory as to why the good teams in the Midwest Division never become great teams, please tell me, eh?

First, Denver looked like it could be an NBA dynasty, then Dallas and now Utah. No such luck, because the top of the Midwest always seems to be the middle of the pack in the NBA. Nevertheless, someone's got to win it, and this year's pick has to come from Texas.

Okay, so I'm straddling the fence here a little bit, but the top three teams are Dallas, Houston and a tremendously-talented San Antonio.

The Mavericks have a dominating frontline with James "Don't Call Me Sam" Donaldson, Roy Tarpley and Sam Perkins, and "Bo" Derek Harper and Rolando Blackman can hold their own against any backcourt tandem in the league. Depth is the only problem here.

And depth is the strength in Houston this year, after the addition of guards Mitchell Wiggins, Lewis Lloyd (both reinstated after drug suspensions), John Lucas and forward Larry Smith. But Olajuwon's health problems and defensive question marks should prevent this team from rising to the top.

The most promising squad in the division is certainly San Antonio, which has the powerful quartet of David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Maurice Cheeks and Terry Cummings joining Willie Anderson and Vernon Maxwell to form a solid all-around lineup. Coach Larry Brown will win this year and probably will be coaching a small-time college team next year.

Utah has two of the best players in the league, point guard John "Where Pass is my Favorite Word" Stockton and Karl "The Mailman" Malone, but not much else to support them. Denver has Alex English, while Charlotte and Minnesota will be happy with one good player. J.R. Reid could have a surprisingly strong rookie year with the Hornets.

Pacific Division

There's trouble brewing for the Los Angeles Lakers, and it comes in the form of Phoenix and Portland. The Lakers have the same dominating players, including James Worthy, Magic Johnson and Byron Scott, but without Kareem, the "Magic" may have gone East to Orlando.

Phoenix's Kevin Johnson is one of the best point guards in the league, and Tom Chambers and Eddie Johnson provide a solid nucleus for a potential championship team.

In Portland, Kevin Duckworth and Clyde Drexler are All-Stars, and the addition of New Jersey's Williams gives the Trail Blazers an enthusiastic rebounder who could propel them towards the title.

Golden State's Manute Bol and Seattle's Dale Ellis hold the door open to grandmother's house, while the Clippers and Sacramento are grandma's doormats.