Have you ever felt this little of a buzz for a season to start, especially for a World Champion? Did you forget? Are you still in a Tom Brady hangover? Red Sox getting knocked out in the ALCS got you down? You didn't forget that the Boston Celtics begin defense of their 2007-08 NBA title Tuesday night against Lebron's Cleveland Cavaliers, did you?

C'mon now: Garnett...Pierce...Allen...Rondo...remember those guys?

Nearly all of the major players are back and there is a slew of young talent looking to get to the next level to bring home an 18th title. But even with all of the positives and reasons to believe in back-to-back championships, there are still questions going into the '08-'09 season. Here's five that immediately come to mind.

Question 1) Can The Big Three keep it up? Perhaps it's because we're so used to negativity being associated with the fallout from superstars winning championships that it seems unusual the offseason has been so quiet. We haven't heard much from The Big Three since they got off the duck boats, other than some Pierce chatter about being the best player in the world and that strange run-in with the law in Vegas. No sniping, no contract holdouts, no issues. Imagine that!

If you can start out the season with a healthy Garnett, Pierce and Allen, you're already well on your way to a playoff run. Now with a year under their championship belts to build on what they learned about each other last season, the potential to improve is sitting right in front of them. However, whether that potential translates on the court is a separate issue. Based on the intensity of Garnett and the professionalism of Pierce and Allen, we can assume that desire will still be there. But assumptions and the hangover effect on three guys having just won their first title can make for dangerous partners.

Question 2) Can Rajon Rondo take his game up again? Coming off a sophomore year where Rondo scored 10.6 points a game and dished out 5.1 assists, a lot will be expected of the guy that reminded Boston what a true point guard looks like. Broadcaster and Hall-of-Famer Tommy Heinsohn said last season that Rondo is a 'potential Hall-of-Famer' and the expectations for this season will again be raised, especially with a former point guard in Doc Rivers at the helm. This season could be the jump year where we hear Rondo consistently compared with Tony Parker, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash as among the league's best. Whether he can live up to to the expectations of Boston's 'What have you done for me lately?' attitude will be answered this year.

Question 3) What can we expect from the big men? In watching games and listening to chatter, I heard a lot of complaining about Kendrick Perkins from people that tended to forget he was a) in his fourth full professional season out of high school and b) he didn't need to be the primary scoring option. Perk's rebounds, points and blocks per game were up from the season before so let's be realistic here. You're looking for steady improvement, not for him to take over KG's scoring punch or to be Shaquille O'Neal circa the Orlando Magic days.

I'm excited to see what Leon Powe brings to the table (7.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg last year), likely as the first option off the bench. I'm intrigued by the progress the excitable Glen 'Big Baby' Davis has made. There were games last year when he looked tremendous and other times when he didn't get into a game. Can free agent acquisition Patrick O'Bryant (1.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg career) contribute anything? The blueprint is set: keep the Big Three's minutes in check and get ready for the playoffs. Perkins, Powe, Davis and O'Brien will have a major say in whether that blueprint results in another successful project.

Question 4) Will Giddens and Walker continue the trend of great drafts? Before last season, the knock on GM Danny Ainge was that his free agent acquisitions sucked and that his real strength was in drafting. With talent like Rondo, Powe, Perkins and Davis providing a nice balance to The Big Three, it's hard to disagree with that. It'll be intriguing to see how this year's crop of J.R. Giddens and Bill Walker respond to the challenges of fitting in with a championship roster. The 6'6" Walker has some buzz around him thanks to some dazzling dunks in the preseason while first-round pick Giddens has been quiet thus far. This is a deep club, so I wouldn't expect much but how guys like Rondo and Perkins help bring these two along will speak a lot to the character of this team and their future.

Question 5) Who will replace James Posey? I think "$%@&!!!" was the first thing that came to mind when myself and other Celtics fans heard that James Posey had signed with New Orleans. Never mind that we had only got to know Posey for one season, but we fell in love with him. His role player status was something New England fans could understand and appreciate, given the success of the Patriots and Red Sox. He put up clutch shots and was regarded as a must-have player for a championship team...and then we didn't have him anymore. Now a lot of the aforementioned talent will need to step up to take his place with Tony Allen (6.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg last season) being the most vocal in saying he wants to do so.

Allen was the team's second-leading scorer in the preseason, scoring 11.8 ppg along with three assists and a steal per game. After last year when Allen (seen here) looked tentative at times in recovering from major knee surgery, he'll have every opportunity this year to become what Posey was: reliable, fearless and money in the bank.

Last winter, the Celtics made a thriving sports region take notice and care about basketball again. The TD Banknorth Garden was sold out almost every night and rocking with a legion of new fans joining a revitalized fanbase who finally had something to cheer about. It worked better than anyone could have imagined last season, but what about this year?

We won't need to wait long to find out. The mission for banner #18 begins Tuesday in Boston.

Josh Nason started Small White Ball in 2007 and is the main contributor of content for the site. A long-time writer, his work can also be read at sites like RopesRingandCage.com, EmailMarketingGuy.com and others. He also does radio appearances and was on TV once, albeit for a lame public television game show. He can be reached at josh@smallwhiteball.com.