The last time there was a lockout in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs beat the New York Knicks in five games in the NBA Finals to cap a 50-game regular season in 1998-99.

Tim Duncan was in his second season with the Spurs, but David Robinson and Sean Elliott were in their 10th seasons and Steve Kerr was in his 11th.

The Knicks had a similarly veteran team, led by Patrick Ewing in his 14th season, Larry Johnson in his eighth, Latrell Sprewell in his seventh and Allan Houston in his sixth.

So it would stand to reason that veteran teams like the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers or Miami Heat would have an edge in this shortened season, right?

Not necessarily, according to Cavaliers assistant coach Paul Pressey. He and Cavs assistant Joe Prunty were assistants on that San Antonio championship team. Asked for the key to the Spurs’ victory that season, Pressey smiled and said, “I thought we were lucky, right place right time, playing well at the right time.”

If luck is all it takes, that probably makes the shamrock-wearing Celtics the favorites. But older teams such as Boston know how to pace themselves throughout the regular season, even one as compacted as this one. Talented teams such as Miami that haven’t made a lot of changes don’t have to make a lot of adjustments.

Then again, shouldn’t teams with young stars and young legs – Derrick Rose’s Chicago Bulls or Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder, for example – have an advantage when teams basically will be playing every other night from now until late June? Teams such as the Celtics and Lakers are going to go through a lot of heating pads and Ben Gay from now until then, right?

“I don’t think injuries are going to be an issue,” NBA TV analyst Chris Webber said in a conference call with the media before the season started. “You really can’t predict who is going to get hurt.

“The biggest difference on who will have the advantage is how well the teams know each other.”

That would point to the Celtics and Lakers again. But don’t underestimate last season’s finalists – the Mavericks and Heat – or their conference final opponents – the Thunder and the Bulls in the West and East, respectively.

Of those six teams, the defending champion Mavericks made the most significant changes, losing free agents Tyson Chandler and J.J. Barea, two big keys to the Mavericks’ victory.

“While it’s too early to tell who has the clear advantage, I will say that being a big fan of Dallas, I think they let the goods get away,” Webber said in the conference call. “I think that Tyson Chandler is a game-changer and he’s the only reason they won the championship last year.”

Some of the most interesting teams likely will be in the West, including the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Hornets and even the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Clippers, of course, got Chris Paul from the Hornets to team with high-flying Blake Griffin. The re-made Hornets got guard Eric Gordon, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and center Chris Kaman, along with a first-round draft choice.

Minnesota hired veteran coach Rick Adelman, who likely will bring some order to the talented-but-underachieving Wolves. Minnesota brought in first-round draft choice Derrick Williams, picked second overall behind the Cavs Kyrie Irving, to join Kevin Love, Michael Beasley and Barea, and 2009 first-round draft pick Ricky Rubio also will join the team for the first time.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mschmitt@plaind.com, 216-999-4668

On Twitter: @pdcavsinsider

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Inside Hoops

Sep
1

Tony Parker, star of San Antonio Spurs, has denied straight away his signing with ASVEL Villeurbanne during the NBA lockout. “I did not sign any contract with ASVEL. I am not saying I would not like to play with ASVEL during the lockout but the problem with the insurance is very difficult to solve. And now everything is stopped because I am playing with French NT. I am asking to the media to stop talking about me playing in France during the lockout. I don’t know if we will be able to fix the issue with insurance and I don’t want people mad at me because I won’t play in ASVEL even if all the media reported something different one month earlier” said Parker.

– Reported by Sportando.