The new NBA season is now 6 days old, and it’s time to reflect what we have learned so far. There have been plenty of surprises, especially from the 76ers and Timberwolves, two teams expected to be drafting in the lottery come draft day. There have also been a lot of things that we expected, like how the Pacers seem to be the only team capable of challenging the two-time defending champion Miami Heat. Here are my top 4 story lines from the first week of the 2013-2014 NBA Season.

 1.    Where is Derrick Rose?

The Chicago Bulls are used to success. The road to the championship usually ran through, and ended, in United Airlines Arena. That place was MJ’s palace for his entire career. After a drop off of success, the Windy City thought they had found their next savior in point guard Derrick Rose. And they could be right. In just his 3^rd year, Rose took home the MVP award and led Chicago to the Conference Finals against LeBron and the Heat. Any more success had to wait when Rose tore his ACL in the 2011 playoffs, ending his season and forcing him to miss the next one entirely.

But this year he is back. Kind of. The Bulls, expected to compete for first place in the Eastern Conference, are 1-3. Rose has started the season shooting 21-67 from the field. He isn’t even the highest scorer on the Bulls squad, with that honor going to power forward Carlos Boozer (22.3 PPG). After a loss to the division leader Indiana Pacers (5-0) on Wednesday night, the Bulls should begin to wonder if their MVP will ever show up.

Last year, the top four teams in the East were Miami, New York, Indiana, and Brooklyn. Do you know what those 4 teams have in common? They all have a unanimous leader and scoring machine. Miami has LeBron, New York has Carmelo Anthony, Indiana has Paul George, and Brooklyn has Deron Williams. If Chicago has any hope of getting out of the FIRST ROUND next spring, Rose is going to have to turn it on. Or Chicago will be left out in the cold, left behind the Heat.

2.    Can LeBron and the Heat 3-peat?

LeBron James is the best basketball player in the world, and arguably a top 5 player all time. When he plays, it isn’t just a game. It is an art, and anyone who gets to watch this artist at work should be honored. There is no doubt that the Miami Heat are a team with a bulls eye on their back…and their front… and pretty much everywhere else as they attempt to win their third straight championship.

The Lakers had a chance to win 3 in a row in 2010, but couldn’t get past the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks. The last team to 3-peat was the 1999-2001 Los Angeles Lakers, led by Shaq, Kobe, and Coach Phil Jackson. Only 4 teams have been able to do it in history; The Lakers, the 90s Bulls (twice), and the Boston Celtics, who won 8 straight titles (1959-1966) on the back of Hall of Fame center Bill Russell.

Some say that it is impossible in todays league, with the talent pool being so large and diverse. There is just no way one team can hold the league under its boot for 3 straight years. The Lakers had Shaq Diesel, an unstoppable force in the paint who was completely dominant on the boards, and a young Kobe Bryant. The Bulls had Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen… need I say more? The Celtics had the best defensive player of all time (Russell), scoring machines in K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, and John Havlicek, and the greatest coach of all time in Red Auerbach.

What does Miami have? (Other than the greatest player in the game today of course). If you take away LeBron, you’re left with Dwayne Wade (whose knees are 10 years older than the rest of his body), Chris Bosh (a natural power forward playing center, who has trouble posting up against the bigger, stronger Eastern Conference centers), and a bunch of role players. I’m not even sure they would make the playoffs with out James.

Last year, Chicago still was the 5^th best team without Derrick Rose. Indiana is the most balanced team in the league, not to mention with the deepest bench. Translation: If the Heat want to make history, LeBron is going to have to turn it on, shake off a 2-3 start (including a loss to the lowly 76ers), and win his 3^rd straight MVP trophy this year, by a large margin. Because the rest of the league is finally starting to catch up to him.

 3.    Will the Celtics even win 10 games?

Fans in Boston are the best in sports. They love their players like a mother loves her children. Their cathedral isn’t a church, its Fenway Park. Larry Bird, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz are regarded as Gods. But this year’s Celtics squad may test their undying patience a few times before the season is over.

Coming off an 8^th place finish last year, the 17 time world champions were in a state of limbo. It’s usually when a team decides to stick it out and see what happens or they enter a period of rebuilding.

The Celtics decided on the latter. Staring with head Coach Doc Rivers abandoning the team to go coach the promising Los Angeles Clippers, followed by star player Paul Pierce and fan favorite Kevin Garnett being traded to Brooklyn for some expiring contracts and a bunch of draft picks, the Celtics all of a sudden went from contender to bottom dweller. With new head coach Brad Stevens coming in with no NBA experience and star player Rajon Rondo out until at least December recovering from a torn ACL, the Celtics are 1-4. Their lone victory came against the one of the only teams as bad as them, the Utah Jazz.

Don’t expect that record to improve by much. The Celtics are obviously content with that, or else they wouldn’t have made the moves they did. With the most promising and loaded NBA draft since 2003 coming next summer, a lot of teams are jockeying for position to get the number 1 overall pick and the chance to draft small forward Andrew Wiggins, a freshmen at Kansas this year. Some teams will even tank (lose games on purpose for better draft position), but the Celtics don’t believe in that. Which makes this team even more depressing. They aren’t trying to be this bad, they actually are this bad.

Hopefully a World Series title from the Red Sox and a promising Patriots team will keep this city satisfied, because for the next few years, we shouldn’t expect anything from the Celtics but losses on losses on losses.

 4.    Who will be the best teams in each conference?

 Eastern Conference

Miami will be the best team in the Eastern Conference as long as they have King James. They don’t even have to get the number one seed. This Miami squad knows how to win in the playoffs like none other. Any team who thinks they can beat the Heat in less than 7 games can expect a triple double from LeBron, stifling defense from all 12 players on their team, and most likely an embarrassing 4 game sweep. The only way you can beat the Heat is to respect and take into account their ridiculous skill, and plan around an unstoppable LeBron.

The overwhelmingly close 2^nd place team should be Indiana. They have Paul George, a do-it-all shooting guard/small forward hybrid. He has the speed to get to the basket, the size to shoot over any defender not named James, and the amazing ability to score 20+ and grab 10+ rebounds every game. Those are numbers for a center, so watch out for this kid. The Pacers also have the best defensive center in the East with Roy Hibbert, a streaky but efficient power forward in David West, and strong point guards with George Hill and Lance Stephenson. Not to mention their 2^nd best player, all-star small forward Danny Granger, hasn’t even stepped on the court yet. When Granger comes back, you can expect the Pacers to go on a very impressive and dominant run.

The top 5 teams in the East should round out with a balanced, veteran Brooklyn Nets squad at 3, the Chicago Bulls at 4, assuming Derrick Rose starts to play like Derrick Rose, and Carmelo’s New York Knicks at 5.

Western Conference

The Western Conference is where it gets interesting. Oklahoma City small forward is the best scorer and 2^nd best player in the league. Their point guard Russell Westbrook and power forward Serge Ibaka are both top 25 players. They had their chance against Miami in 2012 and couldn’t capitalize. Last year, they seemed to be on a collision course to the Finals against Miami until Westbrook got hurt. They ended up losing in the 2^nd round to Memphis.

And they might have missed their chance. Now, the entire conference has gotten better. Last years 8 seed Houston Rockets possesses James Harden, the best shooting guard in the league, and newly acquired center Dwight Howard, the best center in the league. Armed with a bench of 3-point shooters and anchored by Howard and Omer Asik down low, the Rockets should be unstoppable from inside and out.

The Spurs are…. Well I don’t know how to describe them. It seems that every year, everyone says their championship window is closed. They reply with one of the best series of basketball this writer has every watched, against the Heat in the Finals, as well as the most beautiful game very played, game 7 against Miami. Their players seem to gain one year in age, but lose 2 in fatigue. Tim Duncan should not be playing right now. He should be on the beach kissing his 4 rings, wondering which golf course to check out next. But he isn’t, he is on the floor every single night scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Spurs are ageless, for now. This isn’t the year of their reality check, unless Tim Duncan’s chest injury is more serious than we thought.

With young teams like the Clippers, Warriors, and the surprise-but-not-that-surprising-because-Kevin-Love-rocks Minnesota Timberwolves all looking impressive this week, we are in for a great season. But in March, the standings will look like this: 1. Rockets 2. Clippers 3. Thunder 4. Spurs 5. Warriors, and providing they can keep Love and point guard Ricky Rubio on the court all season, the Timberwolves should make the playoffs for the first time in 9 years and get the 6^th seed.