Game Preview: Cavaliers at Celtics

Opening night of the NBA season is finally here! Wait, what? Oh that's right - the lockout. The NBPA and the NBA are still yet to come to an agreement and now comes the depressing part: we're missing games. The Cavaliers were supposed to travel to the TD Garden in Boston to face the Boston Celtics. Instead, they have not practiced as a team at all since last May. It's a damn shame, honestly. At this point, we just want basketball back and there's no telling how much longer we're going to have to wait. 

So what are we missing tonight? Forget, for a moment, that we do not even know what these two teams would even look like if the lockout didn't exist. If NBA teams had a proper offseason, trades and free agent signings could drastically alter the look of either of these teams from when we last saw them. As the teams stand now, there is still plenty that I would be anticipating. High my list would be getting to see Kyrie Irving going at it with Rajon Rondo. Rondo is generally regarded as one of the best defensive point guards in the league and would be an excellent, albeit difficult, test for our number one pick. I want to see Irving on the court and getting him out there against elite competition would be a great way to see where he stands. It would have been quite interesting to see how Byron Scott handles the apparent logjam at the position. We expect Irving to get plenty of minutes, but that would have to be managed with the minutes that belong to Ramon Sessions and Baron Davis. 

Among other things, I would be looking forward to how Omri Casspi looks. I haven't really watched many of his games in the past and am definitely interested in finding out what the Cavs got in exchange for J.J. Hickson. I want to see how Anderson Varejao and Antawn Jamison have recovered from their injuries. I want to see Tristan Thompson going up against Kevin Garnett. However, we don't get any of these things. Stupid lockout. 

What say you, Cavs fans? What are you most disappointed about missing out on tonight? How much longer are we going to have to wait to see our boys put on the wine and gold jerseys? Feel free to vent your frustration in the comments section below.