At 7 p.m. Tuesday, the 61st season of the National Basketball Association will begin. A plethora of young talent and some groundbreaking off-season changes highlight the start of the season.

Stealing the headlines in the off-season have been the Boston Celtics. Beantown had been struggling the last couple years in basketball, but the acquisition of potential league MVP Kevin Garnett and sharpshooter Ray Allen have NBA fans thinking highly of the new Celtics.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the Celtics be a force this year,” said Trent Hepler, junior in marketing and NBA fan. “I love K.G., he’s my dawg. He’s MVP this year, he’s gonna get 25 points, 12 rebounds and 6 points a game, and lead the Celtics to the Finals.”

Mitch Clark, sophomore in finance, is a Houston Rockets fan. He says the Rockets will win the Finals, but like Hepler, said the Celtics will come out of the Eastern Conference to take on T-Mac and the gang.

“I really do think it’s going to be the Celtics in the East, and they’ll lose to the Rockets in the Finals,” Clark said. “The Rockets have been my favorite team for a long time and I think they have a real good shot a doing something special this year.”

Not only have the off-season changes given fans something to look forward to, it has balanced out the league, making the two conferences more comparable. The once-weaker Eastern Conference is now expected be able to be more competitive with the Western Conference.

Case in point – the Celtics are expected to improve by leaps and bounds, the Bulls aren’t as young anymore and could win 50 games, the Pistons are still powerful, and the Heat will have a healthy Dwayne Wade after November.

Sprinkle in the Nets, Cavs and Magic, and you have a respectable top seven.

“The leagues will be more balanced out this season,” Clark said. “I still think the West has potentially the three best teams in the league, but the East has definitely shortened the gap over the last couple seasons.”

As far as the NBA as a whole is concerned, Alex Hertzke, junior in history, thinks it has improved recently based on its global appeal.

“I think the NBA is a lot more global than it used to be, that separates it from the other leagues, and makes it unique,” Hertzke said.

Stars such as Yao Ming (China), Tony Parker (France), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Andrei Kirilenko (Russia) and, of course, Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), are testimony to that.

Hertzke also loves to see how effortless the players of the NBA seem to make the game look, even when it’s really not that easy.

With smoothness and gracefulness, players such as Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade and Allen Iverson can entertain even on a bad team, or an off-night, Hertzke said.

“I love to see how easy the players make the game look. I’d have to say Kobe does it the best,” Hertzke said.

On a similar level, Clark can appreciate the game in all formats as well, even if it’s two cellar teams slopping around.

“Almost every night there’s a game on,” Clark said.

“And even if it’s two bad teams playing each other, it’s still fun to watch. I’ll watch the [Portland Trail] Blazers and [Charlotte] Bobcats any day.”

Games to watch tonight

7 p.m., Blazers at Spurs, TNT – Possibly the worst team in the league visiting possibly the best team in the league. Greg Oden, the first pick of the NBA Draft, injured himself in the off-season, and may miss the whole regular season, a devastating blow to the Blazers. The Spurs will look to begin their run of repeat champions – they have won three of the last five NBA Finals.

9:30 p.m., Rockets at Lakers, TNT – Kobe Bryant and the often-injured Tracy McGrady will square off tonight and should provide plenty of electric plays for the fans.

9:30 p.m., Jazz at Warriors – Unfortunately this one isn’t on TV, maybe the best matchup of the night. The Warriors finished last season on fire, if they can carry that into tonight’s game they could take down the talented Jazz. A local angle on the game – Cyclone freshman basketball player Charles Boozer has a brother, Carlos, on the Jazz.