

It's the off-season, so aside from waiting for the NBA to begin, it's time to prepare for the new season. I had originally planned for this column to go live on Thursday but that one Kevin Love guy got traded two weeks from now (



In no particular order, here are 20 accounts you should follow:



It's the off-season, so aside from waiting for the NBA to begin, it's time to prepare for the new season. I had originally planned for this column to go live on Thursday but that one Kevin Love guy got traded two weeks from now ( but maybe not? ). During that time, Twitterworld blew up. And I was surprised to find few recent articles on Google suggesting must follow NBA-related Twitter accounts so here we go. If you're not on Twitter, you should be...especially to watch the mayhem/news/daily oddities of these 20 guys (and gal).In no particular order, here are 20 accounts you should follow:





I can summarize the NBA rookie’s tweeting ability quite simply: he was able to get Rihanna to follow him. You'll have to peruse his Twitter to find the details of that, but that alone is quite a feat from the NBA rookie. Embiid has quickly won the hearts and minds of Twitter users across the world with his crazy tweets. There is virtually no filter for this guy and you know you want to watch this unfold.











Is there really anything else to say? Ron Artest is Ron Artest. Oh wait, never mind he's Metta World Peace. Oh wait, now he's....

Guys my chinese name is not "Panda Friend" , its "The Pandas Friend".

— mettaworldpeace.com (@MettaWorldPeace) August 7, 2014







Say that last name five times as fast as you can. Woj is the most consistent source for breaking NBA player news/trades/signings. I would've bet anything that he would have broke the LeBron signing news this off-season, and although he didn't, you can count on him for basically all your important player transactions.







Pretty self-explanatory...you really should follow the best player in the world.







One of @ESPN_FirstTake's talking heads, Stephen A. Smith is a good follow on Twitter. While that show tends to get people riled up one way or the other, Screamin' A. is good for the occasional rant on Twitter (hint hint Michelle Beadle after the Ray Rice incident and ensuing Stephen A. suspension).







What is one half of First Take without the other? (Apparently a lot of dislikes on their YouTube clips.) You know you're going to get a lot of Tebow, Manziel, Cowboys, and Spurs from Skip but he's still entertaining to follow.







The most popular sportswriter on the Internet, Simmons will put out the occasional predictive tweet or bold statement but you want to stay updated with his latest NBA columns on Grantland.





The most popular sportswriter on the Internet, Simmons will put out the occasional predictive tweet or bold statement but you want to stay updated with his latest NBA columns on Grantland.



Another Grantland writer, Zach Lowe gets more into the X's and O's of the NBA, and his Twitter + columns are a great way for those interested in the strategy and more technical aspects of the game of basketball.







One of the more mildly better kept secrets out there, NBA Legion is also a great source of breaking news and notes from the NBA. Although they are not a primary source of information, they do a great job of synthesizing news from around the league.







If you're a basketball fan and on Twitter, I would be shocked if you aren't following the NBA's Twitter. Nothing too groundbreaking with



If you're a basketball fan and on Twitter, I would be shocked if you aren't following the NBA's Twitter. Nothing too groundbreaking with +NBA but they're one of those yeah-you-need-to-follow-them accounts.



An important cog in ESPN and specifically Lakers news, Shelburne was the go-to source for the Donald Sterling fiasco. She was all over that story which earned her a must-follow badge.







The official account of NBA officials is a great source to get post-obscure call clarification during the NBA season.







The final person in my "Big 3" on Grantland, Kirk Goldsberry is always creating these beautiful graphical depictions of (usually but not always) player shot charts. He is the stats-guru who keeps me happy. Maybe one day he'll read the column I wrote discussing







The final person in my "Big 3" on Grantland, Kirk Goldsberry is always creating these beautiful graphical depictions of (usually but not always) player shot charts. He is the stats-guru who keeps me happy. Maybe one day he'll read the column I wrote discussing a new metric, TSR, that I created or the analysis on how NBA team salaries correlated to winning . (Or maybe not.)



Another solid news personality.







As a Warriors fan, Strauss is the one guy on ESPN who you can count on for good stories and news for the non-LeBron segments of ESPN. His columns and daily discussion on Twitter are refreshing from the usual big-market NBA team discussions. And as I found out in a Warriors Huddle podcast, he also has quite the impressive lexicon, which is a prerequisite for a full-time gig at ESPN. He also entertains and discusses NBA stuff with his followers.









You would think that Mark Cuban, the league's most outspoken owner, would be a great follow but I'm not sure... As a business man he heavily promotes his products, namely this CyberDust app that I still have not downloaded. There are some interesting basketball and investment tweets on @mcuban, you should also expect some spam.







See @KingJames. You should be following one of the best players of the previous generation. Although he does a reasonable amount of product promotion, it's not nearly as bad as Michael Jordan's Twitter. Note Jordan did not make my list of must follows.





See @KingJames. You should be following one of the best players of the previous generation. Although he does a reasonable amount of product promotion, it's not nearly as bad as Michael Jordan's Twitter. Note Jordan did not make my list of must follows.



Shaqtastic. The Diesel. Basketball royalty with a personality. He's not as outrageous as Metta World Panda can be, but he's still an amusing follow.







You weren't expecting this one, were you? Well, 'Dre has to be the most cryptic basketball tweeter out there. Scroll through his feed and you'll be lucky to understand 10 percent of what he's saying. Here's a small sample, and one person's response that I was thinking myself...





@ElijahAbramson Elijah Abramson -



#shamelessselfpromotion. You know you want to tweet me and tell me who I missed that's on your must-follow list. Plus, if you follow me, you'll get retweets from all these personalities so there's no need to follow them if you follow me...right?