Willing to give the NBA a chance

[rthomas]

Tonight, Phoenix and Grant go against San Antonio and Tim Duncan. I'm going through withdrawal from ball and I'm thinking, why not? I'm gonna give it a chance.

I'll probably be left at the prom again. sigh...

[theAlaskanBear]

Tonight, Phoenix and Grant go against San Antonio and Tim Duncan. I'm going through withdrawal from ball and I'm thinking, why not? I'm gonna give it a chance.

I'll probably be left at the prom again. sigh...

Spurs basketball, YECH. You should be watching Cavs/Celts

[papa whiskey]

Spurs basketball, YECH. You should be watching Cavs/Celts

Why YECH? I for one find it refreshing to watch a team with three stars on it, one being one of the greatest players of all time (Tim Duncan), who never seem to find themselves in the police blotter or in the stands punching fans or even in the media talking about how great they are. A team and a coach that value the concept of team defense. Sound familiar? Also, if i'm not mistaken, TD is the only player other than Hanstravel to go 4 and 0 at Cameron in his career. And I respect him a hell of a lot more than the latter. I root for the Spurs every year because I respect Duncan, Manu, and Parker very much.

[Lord Ash]

Also, if i'm not mistaken, TD is the only player other than Hanstravel to go 4 and 0 at Cameron in his career.

Woof. Thanks for bringing back bad memories.

[CDu]

Why YECH? I for one find it refreshing to watch a team with three stars on it, one being one of the greatest players of all time (Tim Duncan), who never seem to find themselves in the police blotter or in the stands punching fans or even in the media talking about how great they are. A team and a coach that value the concept of team defense. Sound familiar? Also, if i'm not mistaken, TD is the only player other than Hanstravel to go 4 and 0 at Cameron in his career. And I respect him a hell of a lot more than the latter. I root for the Spurs every year because I respect Duncan, Manu, and Parker very much.

I think that Danny Green would like to have a word with you.

Other than that, aside from Duncan being one of the biggest in-game whiners in the league, I agree with you.

[DukeSean]

Other than that, aside from Duncan being one of the biggest in-game whiners in the league, I agree with you.

that's a huge caveat in my book. TD acts like every foul called on him was the worst call ever with his palms open arms to the side and "what? me? you gotta be joking" look. makes me wanna vomit.

that and being a mavs fan makes me wanna hurl too sometime.

[CrazieDUMB]

I think it's interesting that the NBA seems to be the only league where people are fans of, well, the league. I feel with football and especially baseball people only tend to follow their own team. I really enjoy watching whoever is featured, and I like watching every round of the playoffs.

As someone whose allegiance to the Wiz has almost completely disappeared, allow me to recommend the Magic. Dwight Howard is one of the most fun and likable players in the league and a joy to watch on defense. They also feature a strong cadre of jump shooters - a style that never really worked before in the NBA and only works now because they have Dwight in the middle to grab boards and keep the defense in. Not to mention the best reason of all, one Jonathan Clay Redick. I like their style and I like their players.

[CDu]

I think it's interesting that the NBA seems to be the only league where people are fans of, well, the league. I feel with football and especially baseball people only tend to follow their own team. I really enjoy watching whoever is featured, and I like watching every round of the playoffs.

I'd say this is less true than you would think. Football does pretty well for itself. It's doing a heck of a lot better financially than basketball, actually. And it's viewer ratings for the playoffs and Super Bowl are definitely better than those of the NBA playoffs. Granted, that is in part due to the series format of the NBA versus the single-elimination NFL. But even with that, I'd say the NFL certainly is evidence of fans being a fan of both the league and the teams, moreso than the NBA.

I think the difference is that the NBA markets individual players much moreso than the NFL. So fans become fans of players rather than of the league. With the NFL, fans are just fans of the game itself, and thus continue to watch even when their team is out of the playoffs.

[BlueDevilBaby]

They are all a bunch of whiners, not just Duncan. Very annoying to see after every single whistle. Riley's column today hits the nail on the head about all the complaining, blaming going on in the NBA.

[CrazieDUMB]

I think the difference is that the NBA markets individual players much moreso than the NFL. So fans become fans of players rather than of the league. With the NFL, fans are just fans of the game itself, and thus continue to watch even when their team is out of the playoffs.

I think there's definitely something to this, and I probably underestimated the true dominance of the NFL. I think it's also a lot easier to follow the NBA as a league because you only have to know a few players on each team to have a good idea of what's going on, something the NFL doesn't really have going for it.

[papa whiskey]

I think that Danny Green would like to have a word with you.

Other than that, aside from Duncan being one of the biggest in-game whiners in the league, I agree with you.

Forgot about Green. My bad. As far as TD's Whinning goes, I don't know of any player in the NBA who has been guilty of a foul. EVER. Duncan has just become a poster child for it due to the very entertaining facial expressions he displays. As far as the bad memories of his games in Cameron, I agree that they are bad. However, the fact that there have only been 2 graduating classes in the ACC that are 4 and 0 in Cameron speaks to how great a home court it is. Furthermore, it speaks to how hard and rare it is to go 4 and 0 there. Tim Duncan does whine about fouls but everything I have ever read about him says that he is a great human being off the court and he is probably the most underrated player in the history of the NBA. He is an all-time great and I enjoy watching him play. Besides, who really hates Wake Forest?

[DukeUsul]

I think there's definitely something to this, and I probably underestimated the true dominance of the NFL. I think it's also a lot easier to follow the NBA as a league because you only have to know a few players on each team to have a good idea of what's going on, something the NFL doesn't really have going for it.

Did you see the ratings for the NFL draft? It beat out NBA playoff basketball. The DRAFT!

What the NFL has going for it is the passion of a massive fan base. I don't see that with the NBA. I'm not sure where you are from or where you live now, but I've never lived anywhere where anyone cares more about the NBA than the NFL. And among all the NFL fans I know - everyone thoroughly enjoys watching games between teams that are not their own. Most sports fans I know could easily watch 4-5 NFL games a weekend during the season (3 on Sunday, 1 on Monday and maybe a Thursday). It doesn't really matter who is under the helmet.

[arydolphin]

As someone whose allegiance to the Wiz has almost completely disappeared, allow me to recommend the Magic. Dwight Howard is one of the most fun and likable players in the league and a joy to watch on defense. They also feature a strong cadre of jump shooters - a style that never really worked before in the NBA and only works now because they have Dwight in the middle to grab boards and keep the defense in. Not to mention the best reason of all, one Jonathan Clay Redick. I like their style and I like their players.

First of all, this may be dating myself, but along the lines of someone else in this thread...the 1994-95 Houston Rockets would like a word with you. Hakeem Olajuwon dominated the post on those teams, and they surrounded him with a bunch of perimeter players that could knock down the 3. Taking it a step further, you could say that Vince Carter is a little like Clyde Drexler on that team: in the latter half of his career, but still with the athletic ability to take it to the rim. But I digress...

Say what you want about Tim Duncan and his whining about calls, but if you couldn't watch the Spurs-Suns game last night and not enjoy it, I don't know how you're ever going to enjoy the NBA. The Suns love to push the pace, and the Spurs didn't really try to slow it down either, which made for a lot of offense. Steve Nash is such a great distributor of the ball, it's fun to watch him in any game just because of some of the passes he can make. Duncan is clearly not at the level of what he used to be a few years ago, but he's still a really good low-post option. Also, how can you not like Manu Ginobili, he's playing with a broken nose and is still fearless when he drives to the basket. Plus, the 2 teams really don't like each other...the Suns still feel to this day that their best chance at going to the NBA Finals was stolen from them a few years ago by the Spurs when Robert Horry body-checked Steve Nash into the scorer's table, and then Amare Stoudamire and another key player for the Suns got suspended for later games in that series for leaving the bench in the ensuing altercation. Perhaps others in this thread can talk about the actual play on the court instead of NBA guys whining over calls. It happens, get over it, and it really doesn't affect the game.

[CrazieDUMB]

Did you see the ratings for the NFL draft? It beat out NBA playoff basketball. The DRAFT!

What the NFL has going for it is the passion of a massive fan base. I don't see that with the NBA. I'm not sure where you are from or where you live now, but I've never lived anywhere where anyone cares more about the NBA than the NFL. And among all the NFL fans I know - everyone thoroughly enjoys watching games between teams that are not their own. Most sports fans I know could easily watch 4-5 NFL games a weekend during the season (3 on Sunday, 1 on Monday and maybe a Thursday). It doesn't really matter who is under the helmet.

Believe me, I know. The washington post runs at least one article on the Redskins every day, no matter what's going on. I went to their training camp once and talked to one of the beat reporters to ask about it, and he said that even when there's nothing notable to talk about the editors demand coverage because people will eat it up anyway. I used to follow football but ever since college I just don't care as much.