Fresh off signing a 6-year, $111 million dollar contract this summer, Gilbert Arenas has once again had to endure another knee surgery. This will cost he and the Wizards at least the first month of the season as Arenas is expected back in early December.

According to ESPN.com

“I just had some floating debris in there that was slowing me down,” Arenas said, according to the Post. “It was irritating the knee so we decided to go in there and clean it out. This should actually allow me to come back faster.”

What impact does this hold for Washington? Some questioned if the Wizards were playing better overall ball with Arenas sidelined, and while I feel that statement does hold some value, the Eastern Conference has made some significant upgrades. I don’t think this injury will be as big a setback as the Warriors face with Monta Ellis in the stacked West, but we probably won’t be seeing any major steps forward by a Wizards team needing to get over the Eastern core of Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland. Best-case scenario is this allows someone like Nick Young to improve upon his rookie season, gain valuable experience during the first month, and then make solid contributions off the bench for the rest of the year.

The NBA revealed the not so secret identity of the new Oklahoma City franchise (formerly the Seattle Supersonics) this Wednesday. The official team name will be the Thunder, and the colors will be closely resembling those of the Golden State Warriors containing both navy and almost baby blue along with orange and a golden color. Not only will the Thunder’s jerseys probably look similar, but the Warriors also happen to have a mascot named Thunder.

The team has not yet released its uniform specifics, but I can only hope they aren’t as awful as what has happened to the Hornets. I honestly do like the slight changes made with the deepening of the colors and making the hornet not look so gimmicky, but 3 logos, two of which are similar? That could be overkill as evidenced by their jerseys which bring back those mid-90’s stripes. Save the pinstripes for baseball New Orleans.

The T-Wolves, however, have actually made a nice transition. Minnesota recently unveiled a slight twist on their original logo. You can also see their new uniforms here. It follows a similar pattern to many NCAA jerseys while maintaining their image. I like how the designs on the side of the shorts emulate a mountain.

Personally, I always get excited to see how a team is going to update its look, but I feel that New Orleans and OKC have missed the mark. In the case of the Hornets, I think they’ve only slightly missed the mark in adding stripes to what could be a solid jersey. With the Thunder, you almost have to think that someone from the WNBA or arena league was influencing the choice of that name and color scheme. Hopefully, the design team for their jerseys can save them from looking like amateurs on the court.

With the ending of the recent edition of the Summer Olympics, many people have begun to ponder if Team USA’s “Redeem Team” would be able to defeat the original “Dream Team” from the 1992 Olympics. Making the assumption we are playing the same international rules these teams just encountered, I would actually make the tough decision to side with the Redeem Team. I know it might seem nuts, but hear me out.

One key to remember is that most of the players on the Dream Team were even more revered for their talents and abilities because no one else in the world could duplicate them. These days every nation seemingly has NBA level talent so our players are disproportionately good. Also, this year’s team has athletes…freakish athletes! I’m not here to take away from Jordan, Pippen, and Robinson. However, you’d be hard pressed to find better athlete-basketball combos than Kobe, D-Wade, Dwight Howard and the like. Another factor in the Redeem Team’s favor is the way the team was built. Each member from top to bottom is on the team for a specific talent or purpose. Tayshaun Prince for D, Michael Redd for 3-point shooting. The Dream Team was essentially the colossal mash of the best the NBA could offer at that point and time so I feel mismatches could be created.

The Dream Team could have a few advantages in that they were put together with more savvy veterans who would find a way to win (like slowing the game down to a crawl), or how they would have a more imposing front line. But as we see with all sports equally skilled opponents are only as equal as their athletic abilities allow them to be.

Bank it: Redeem Team in a thriller 98-94.

Justin