Split Decision: Who will be the NBA’s top team this year?

Your 2019-2020 NBA champs will be ...

The tip-off to the NBA season is Tuesday night, and I am excited. Not because I’m such a huge fan of basketball; it’s because NBA offers some of the best gambling this side of the NFL. So with that in mind, here’s some fearless predictions for the coming year in the NBA …

MOST EXCITING TEAM: The New Orleans Pelicans. Hoo-mama. They are going to run, run, run, run, run. Zion Williamson, Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram … these guys are going to cook. Track meets, every game. Love it.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Come on. Zion, all the way. The guy is a generational talent. LeBron who?

MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM: The Lakes of Los Angeles. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are a fearsome twosome, but LeBron is getting old and Davis is always banged up. And after those two? Not a whole lot. A playoff team if LeBron has another LeBron-like year and AD stays healthy, but if either of those items kaputzes? Trouble city.

WORST TEAM: The Knicks. They are terrible, no matter how many power forwards they roster.

MVP: If he stays healthy, I say Joel Embiid.

PLAYER YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD OF BUT YOU WILL KNOW BY END OF THE YEAR: Bam Adebayo of the Heat. The guy is a force of nature on both sides of the ball.

EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMP: Gimme the 76ers. Fast enough, and bigger probably than any starting 5 in NBA history. Again, though, the health of Embiid plays a major role, but not as major as before Al Horford came to town.

WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMP: James Harden. Russell Westbrook. Clint Capela cleaning up, and a deep well of role players. I like their chances. And their games against the Pelicans are going to sport the highest over/unders in NBA history. Might hit 260. Not even kidding.

CHAMP: It’s the Rockets. I think they’re the best team in the game right now, and it doesn’t hurt than Harden and Westbrook are my two favorite players.