I love the NBA. I love the regular season, I definitely love the playoffs and I even love the summer league.

But I hate the preseason.

Why? First and foremost, the NBA makes it nearly impossible to watch a game. I'm a Pistons fan, and even though they were one of the last four teams standing last year, the four months from the end of the conference finals to the start of the preseason felt like an eternity. So when the Pistons took the court for their first preseason game last week, I was understandably geeked ... until I realized it wasn't even televised, at least not in the Detroit market.

Sadly, that's actually a common occurence for preseason games -- of the eight games on Detroit's slate, only three will be televised in metro Detroit. I'm baffled by the decision -- the best I can gather is that TV execs are worried about ratings what with the MLB playoffs, the NFL and college football, the NHL and cars with lots of advertisments driving in circles competing for the average sports fan's attention.

But still, there are a lot of fans who only have eyes for the NBA, and denying them a chance to watch not one, not two, but a full 60% of the preseason? It just doesn't make sense. Certainly there's at least one station willing to show the game, right? And if there's not, why not just put it online? In fact, that might actually be preferable since it'd kill two birds with one stone: appeasing local fans who'd otherwise be shutout as well as throwing a bone to international fans who weren't going to have a chance to tune in.

Larry Bird has been frank with his concern about the Pacers' image problem, telling the Indy Star last month, "All the off-the-court problems have been a disaster for us. ... It's something we said we were going to clean up and we're doing that."

He started a couple of years ago by dealing Stephen Jackson (guns!) and Al Harrington for a couple of overpriced stiffs and continued this summer by letting David Harrison (weed!) walk and exploring ways to move Jamaal Tinsley (target! Wait, how is that his fault? Okay, how about: bar fight! Better than nothing).

Today, Bird took one more step toward making his roster squeaky clean: Mike Wells of the Indy Star reports the Pacers have traded Shawne Williams (who has a tendency to be pulled over by police in cars containing weed and loaning cars to friends wanted for murder) to the Mavericks in exchange for Eddie Jones, two second-round picks and $1.8 million in cash.

Jones is about as professional as they come and would be a great influence on Indy's roster, but HoopsHype cites a source claiming Jones will be waived immediately, which would explain why cash was included. Williams will be reunited in Dallas with Rick Carlisle, who coached Williams his rookie year. I'm not entirely sure how he fits in with the Mavs or whether his prospects for playing time will be increased, but a fresh start will probably do him as much good as it will the Pacers.

When a person leaves a position over a dispute, there is often conflict. Especially when that person has held the position for 22 years.

And when a person works long-term for a struggling organization, things can get a little nutty. Especially when that organization is the Los Angeles Clippers.

The LA Times reports today that a day after Elgin Baylor and the Los Angeles Clippers officially separated from a 22-year relationship, Baylor is considering legal action against the Clippers over how his tenure ended. Apparently one of the key issues may revolve around the fact that, get this, Baylor has been working without a contract since the early 90's, "having been told that one was not necessary."

Oh, boy.

Where to start here? Baylor, despite his living legend status, has often bore the brundt of criticism for the management decisions of the Clippers. And to be working without a contract, regardless of circumstances, is just reckless regarding your financial and legal safety. On the other hand, the Clippers had a General Manager without actually having him under contract. That's equally reckless for your organization. And the fact that this situation seems to have dissolved so quickly and that players were left in the dark about it, that's another black mark.

I have a lot of sympathy for Clippers fans and the organization, being constantly overshadowed by the Lakers. But it's things like this that are the reason there's a well know phase: "Yup, they're the Clippers."

Mike Conley Jr. is at the forefront of the Grizzlies' youth movement. Drafted fourth overall in the 2007 NBA Draft, he entered a team in the midst of tearing down the old roster in pursuit of rebuilding. Conley eventually worked his way into the rotation and was the featured point guard by season's end. Expectations are high for Conley to be a key factor in the Grizz turning things around in Memphis after the departure of Pau Gasol and the addition of Marc Gasol and O.J. Mayo. Conley is of vital importance as point guard in the run and gun style that Marc Iavaroni wants to implement.

I caught up with Mike the other day after his first week of practice to talk to him about becoming a leader on a young team, working the transition game, and of course, Halo 3.

MM: What's the biggest thing you learned last year?

MC: Just to be patient. People come into the league, they want to play 120%. You have to know how to play smart and fit into an NBA game. That's one big thing I learned.

One of the most amusing compelling stories of the offseason has been the wait for Andrew Bynum to return to the lineup and destroy everything in his path in pursuit of his destiny as the best center in the NBA. Well, okay, the most recent wait . Ask anyone that's big on statistics, as most of the NBA scribes are, and they'll tell you that Bynum was on pace to produce simply devastating numbers last season based on his thirty five games of action, and his projected path of development through his early years. Of course, then he suffered a severe knee injury. But it's no big deal, because he definitely made his estimated return of March. Well, okay, April. Well, okay, the second round. Okay, no, he had surgery again and was out until this season. But seriously! When he gets back, you're all on notice!

Unfortunately, based on the word coming out of Lakers camp via the OC Register's Kevin Ding, Bynum's a little behind schedule on that whole "next Kareem" thing. As in, he may not start. The wunderkind is apparently having issues meshing with Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom has outworked him in training camp. The issue, at least according to Tex Winter, is one of effort.

"He's just not exerting himself, maybe," Winter said. "And most of the other guys are. I think he just needs to play a little harder."

Bynum has said himself that practice work hasn't had him completely riveted.

"This is the first year where it's kind of a little bit boring just because we have to run through the same stuff we already know," he said.

If there's one guy who was left twisting in the wind this summer after Baron Davis took off for L.A. and Monta Ellis threw his newly $66-million-extended body off a moped, it was Stephen Jackson. Jackson was just as much a part of the free-wheeling Warriors that knocked off the Mavericks in '07 as Davis and Ellis. And while other people have received huge deals and have been the focus of conversations with Don Nelson and Chris Mullin, Jackson has been quiet, only asking occasionally, "Hey, what about me?"

The good news is that some things are turning up S-Jax. On top of all the charity work he's been doing and the likelihood that Jackson will be more prominently featured in the offense, it turns out Jackson had his grill fixed a few weeks ago. The Examiner reports that Jackson had plastic surgery to fix his gap-tooth and all the other damage that was caused by a rather nasty run-in a few years ago that featured "gun-play" and Jackson getting run over by a car.

But now Jackson has a new look to go with a constantly maturing attitude that's always been strong in the locker room but lacked restraint outside of it. Jackson's new and improved proactive disposition has to be music to the ears of a Warriors franchise in desperate need of positive leadership.

When it comes to rookie hazing, I like the NBA's approach (dancing in front of thousands of people) more so than MLB's (bending gender roles), though I think we can all agree it's better than what some high school football teams do.

The regular season can't come soon enough for Houston's second-year players. As Shane Battier explains, Luis Scola, Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry and the like will be subject to the same humiliation that Joey Dorsey is up until the moment they play their first regular season game of their second season. Of course, if you watch around the 2:45 mark, you'll see that Scola seems to be handling himself better than most.

(hat-tip: Dime and TSB)

I can't really pinpoint what it is about this video that I found so entertaining -- like Shoals, I'm just surprised at the guy's charisma and ease in front of a camera. Sure, we expect as much from veterans, but it's not something that's necessarily innate (self-link alert!) with incoming rookies.

Random segue: after seeing Dorsey first-hand at the summer league in Las Vegas, I just wanted to add that the guy is an absolute house. You can see it a little on TV, but it doesn't do him justice: he not only dwarfs reporters but also his fellow players. I'm not kidding, his shoulders make Dwight Howard blush.

Check out FanHouse's NBA Preview.

To say the road goes through the Southwest Division would imply that the top team is likely to be there at the end. But that ignores the other three teams in contention for a title at season's end, most likely. With all due respect to the Pacific and Northwest Divisions, the Southwest is where the big guns lay. While the Pacific may boast the best team in the West, there is no question that the Southwest Division has the hardest road to the title and any team that comes out of it on top has to considered a title contender. But there are questions here just like every team. So the fans of these teams must be timid, right?

Check out FanHouse's NBA Preview.

This is not a division. It is a gauntlet. A spiked, imperial gauntlet inhabited by minotaurs, pterodactyls, stone giants, warrior pygmy tribes, and other things that go bump in the night. There is no sense of "If we can just make it to .500" in this division. .500 means nothing. .500 is for the Central division.

The Southwest Division hosts two former MVPs, the MVP runner-up from last season, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, the reigning Coach of the Year, a bazillion All-Stars, elite shooters, elite defenders, elite scorers, and Ron freaking Artest. Yeesh.

There are not headlines here. There are omens, prophecies, and obituaries.