If my mate wanted to get into NBA

Can’t think which of those options the modern man city fan would naturally side with, anymore

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I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST

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yeah, that whole story is really tragic. think it probably shocked a lot of people into how serious the coke thing was at the time though. The late 70s and early 80s were actually known as the ‘cocaine years’ in the NBA, it was that commonplace.

Celtics. Mainly because I kept getting pumped by them in the N64 NBA game and because I like(d) the logo.

The 76ers could be an interesting team to follow - they’ve been stockpiling players and deliberately losing to get favourable picks in the draft, and they’re now entering the phase of ‘the process’ where they kind of have to start winning due to the talent they’ve got. They’ve also had some of the best NBA players of all time in Allen Iverson and Julius Irving. They’re a bit like the Tottenham of the NBA.

Another one would be the Timberwolves who are in a similar position, but didn’t acquire their players in such a blatant way. They also have one of the best coaches in the league and their logo is cool. Might be difficult to watch games though due to the time difference. Better to stick to teams on the east coast.

The Reggie Miller 30-for-30’s pretty cool.

Yeah definitely east coast and agree with the 76ers if you’re a neutral. Interesting times.

My instinctive reaction to teams, based on nothing but watching a few finals games and reading Deadspin:

Atlanta Hawks - scrappy, fun, not that interesting
Boston Celtics - annoying and arrogant in the manner of all Boston teams
Brooklyn Nets - shit, Jay Z’s laught
Charlotte Hornets - Is this even a real team?
Chicago Bulls - Bunch of arseholes still trading on their glory years with Jordan
Cleveland Cavaliers - You can’t have a bad time watching LeBron cheer up a depressed city
Dallas Mavericks - Boring makeweights run by a Dragon’s Den dweeb
Denver Nuggets - Boring makeweights
Detroit Pistons - Desperately searching for relevance (but I love Detroit)
Golden State Warriors - Silicon valley cunts
Houston Rockets - Feisty fun lads
Indiana Pacers - A bunch of boring old men
LA Clippers - Also-rans with two terrible owners
LA Lakers - Nope
Memphis Grizzlies - Auto-generated opponents in an off-brand basketball video game
Miami Heat - Promo tool for DJ Khaled
Milwaukee Bucks - Could be worse
Minnesota Timberwolves - Yeah quite these lads
New Orleans Pelicans - More like Pelican’ts
New York Knicks - Pure joke team
Oklahoma City Thunder - A one man team in a one horse town
Orlando Magic - Irrelevant even for Florida
Philadelphia Sixers - Trusting the process might be fun?
Phoenix Suns - Lol
Portland Trail Blazers - Seem pretty indie
Sacramento Kings - Sound like a hockey team
San Antonio Spurs - Got to respect these lads, nice unis, big fan of Pop
Toronto Raptors - Sure, Canada, why not, named after the Jurassic Park craze which is stupid and good
Utah Jazz - Doesn’t make any sense at all
Washington Wizards - Better than they seem

Pretty much spot - a few corrections though:

Wizards - probably where they should be. They desperately want to be the new Detroit Bad Boys, and its quite embarrassing tbh. The only really decent player they have is John Wall - Bradley Beal is insanely over rated.

Kings - the 2nd biggest joke of a franchise in the league. They traded the NBA’s best big man in Boogie Cousins last year for a late first pick and a rookie shooting guard that was under performing on his first team.

Clippers - Also rans, but Ballmer isn’t a bad owner. Is a fucking god next to Donald Sterling.

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Can’t trust any Microsoft gumbas, even if he did do that hilarious drunk presentation.

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LeBron might not be around for long in Cleveland though…

Hi, mates.

I’m interested in how relocation and mega mega ding effects peoples views of teams given how contentious both of those things are in any socially acceptable English sport.

Is it just accepted that a) your team might move, deal with it, and b) everyone financially dopes, keep your pants on?

Please answer freely given that i’m a) a massive lefty, and b) a supporter of a football club who are essentially a long-term vehicle for whitewashing Gulf State slave labour, so in laymans terms, a man whose moral compass is, y’know, a bit fluid.

A friend of mine writes about basketball part-time; I’d be willing to bet that he knows more about basketball than literally anyone in the UK. Like, the NBA official website posted an article about him (http://www.nba.com/2015/news/08/17/morning-tip-guest-tip-mark-deeks-sham-sports-on-life-of-overseas-nba-fan/).

Not being interested in it myself, this was my favourite post on his website:
http://www.shamsports.com/2011/03/the-2014-ridiculous-basketball-player.html

I don’t think anyone really accepts team moves as a normal or positive thing. They happen, obviously, but they’re still generally outliers, and leave a lot of bad blood in their wake. The main issue is that the occur because rich owners basically do it to try and make more money by bilking another city out of tax money for a new stadium or whatever, so it’s massively fucking shitty, let alone the fans it fucks over. And I don’t think the leagues generally like it because it’s so nakedly profiteering and self-serving, but when they’re run by a cabal of billionaires, that’s just how it is.

In terms of “mega mega ding” I don’t really have an answer since the only US sport I follow closely is the NFL, and that has a salary cap, meaning no team can spend silly money on players. Which in some ways is worse, because star players who risk their careers every game thanks to horrific injuries earn less than third rate baseball players. NFL players have a shit union that has repeatedly failed to get them a better deal.

this was an entertaining watch, if only for the HD courtside shots of Jordan in his final playoff run.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xk7oeq_michael-jordan-to-the-max-2000-1080p-bluray-hd-full-version_sport