OPINION

By Sean Deveney

updated 6:11 p.m. ET Dec. 28, 2008

Top five stories

1. Celtics are back. Turns out, it didn't take all that long to rebuild the NBA's greatest franchise. The Celtics were one of the NBA's worst teams in 2006-07, but a summer of shrewd trades (and a little of that old Celtic luck) brought Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett to Boston to team up with Paul Pierce. After some postseason tribulations, the Celtics blew by the Lakers in the Finals to win their 17th championship.

2. Kobe ascendancy. For three years after the Shaquille O'Neal trade, Kobe Bryant put up big scoring numbers — he led the league in scoring twice — while his Lakers foundered. But a midseason deal that brought power forward Pau Gasol to L.A. for very little of value remade the Lakers and pushed the team into championship contention. Bryant still had big numbers, but he had team success, too, and that paved the way to his first MVP trophy.

3. Team USA redemption. After three straight disappointments in international tournaments (the World Championship in '02 and '06, and the '04 Olympics), USA Basketball, under the direction of former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, finally bore the fruits of a reorganized approach. Led by Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and a roster brimming with the NBA's best players, Team USA cruised into the finale without a real challenge, then survived a showdown against Spain to take the gold.

4. Rose and a side of Mayo. Draft night put the Bulls, who lucked into the top pick thanks to the lottery, in the spotlight, choosing between top-rated point guard Derrick Rose and heralded forward Michael Beasley. The Bulls went with Rose, who figures to be a franchise cornerstone for years to come. Beasley has struggled, but another draft-night hero — O.J. Mayo — has joined Rose at the head of the rookie class.

5. Back in the Big Easy. A 56-win season was just one of the blessings for the Hornets this year. Their ability to finally crack into the Western Conference elite came at the perfect time, just as the team moved back to New Orleans permanently. The city hosted the '08 All-Star game and had the good fortune to watch all-around good guy Chris Paul become a first-team All-NBA player.

Five biggest surprises

Special feature The Answer? The highs and lows of Allen Iverson's career NBCSports.com

1. Allen Iverson motors to Detroit. The Pistons, long known as a bunch that puts team ahead of individual, went far out on a limb to acquire one of the great individual players in NBA history, Allen Iverson. But the Pistons were getting desperate for change. Problem is, the player they traded (Chauncey Billups) has done much better than the player they got.

2. Josh Childress lands in Greece. There was a sense, as the negotiations between swingman Josh Childress and the Hawks wore on, that something big would have to happen to break the stalemate. Something big, indeed. Childress shocked the NBA by signing with Olympiacos in Greece, opening a new avenue for players who feel too restricted by NBA contract rules.

3. Elton Brand bolts. When the Clippers signed point guard Baron Davis from Golden State, he almost immediately began talking about how fun it would be to play with big man Elton Brand. Except that when the Sixers came calling with an enormous contract offer, Brand, a free agent, changed his plans, moving to Philadelphia and setting off a war of words between coach Mike Dunleavy and agent David Falk.

4. Coaching blues. It's getting increasingly difficult for a coach to hang onto a job these days. Out of 30 NBA coaches, 14 were hired (or granted interim status) between the end of last season and the end of the 2008 calendar year. There are any number of theories as to why teams have become so quick with the trigger on coaches, but the simple one remains: You can't fire the players.

5. Spectacular teams, spectacular trades, spectacular collapses. It's been a steep fall for what had been two of the NBA's marquee franchises — Dallas and Phoenix, teams that combined to win 128 game sin '06-'07. But the Lakers' acquisition of Gasol pushed up the pressure on the Mavs and Suns to make moves, and Dallas wound up trading for Jason Kidd, while Phoenix got Shaquille O'Neal. Didn't work. Both teams were bounced from the playoffs in the first round, both teams parted ways with their coaches, and both teams are now only slightly above average.

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