It seems the National Basketball Association season runs longer than a presidential election. Twenty-five teams, with the recent addition of Miami and Charlotte, will fight for 16 playoff spots over the course of six months.

Playoffs are held in May. The champion is crowned in June. By then, people are already talking about the All-Star game. Baseball's All-Star game, that is.

The length of the basketball season makes it difficult to predict a champion. Over the course of half-a-year, injuries are bound to occur. An injury to a star player--say Michael Jordan of Chicago--quickly can make a contender an also-ran.

The playoffs, too, can be unpredictable. Any team can win three games in a five-game series or four in a seven-game series. Last year, the Washington Bullets took the Detroit Pistons to a fifth and final game in the first-round of the playoffs. The Pistons eventually advanced to the NBA finals.

This year's playoff picture looks as confused as last year's. Will the Lakers be able to capture a thirdstraight NBA crown? Will Boston rebound from a horrendous performance against the Pistons in the Eastern Division finals? Will Detroit parley its playoff experience into the crown it should have won last year?

Can Moses Malone lead the Atlanta Hawks to the NBA promised land? Are the Cleveland Cavaliers mature enough to be a factor? Will Dallas become supreme in the West?

And will Miami and Charlotte win any games besides those they play against each other?

The season begins November 2. Here is The Crimson's guide to the NBA.

1. Los Angeles Lakers:Last year's Lakers were held together by the mousse in Coach Pat Riley's hair. Magic Johnson was injured late in the season and never regained his brilliance in the post-season. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar looked like a living embodiement of Stepen Foster's "Old Folks at Home." Somehow, the Lakers repeated as NBA champion. Riley, after all, had guaranteed a second crown. But he made no such prediction this year.

Why? Magic is 29 years old. Before too long, people will have to call him Earvin again. Kareem is 120 and his skyhook is even older.

And Kurt Rambis is gone.

The Lakers still have an excellent team. Magic (a 19.6 points-per game average last year) is the best floor-leader in the NBA. Byron Scott (21.7 p.p.g., 62 three-pointers in 81 games) is a great outside threat. James Worthy, the MVP of the NBA finals, is one of the best forwards in the league.

2. Atlanta:Coach Mike Fratello will keep 5-ft., 7-in. guard Spud Webb on the team because Webb is the only guy the diminutive Fratello can borrow clothes from.

If the Hawks are going to win the NBA championship, this is the year. The Hawks are a terrific team with Moses Malone in the paint. Malone will complement Dominique Wilkins (30.7 p.p.g.). The Hawks took the Celtics to seven games in the Eastern semifinals last year.

3. Detroit: Last year, Coach Chuck Daley decided his team lost to the Lakers in the finals because Los Angeles was "on a mission."