NBA Preview from a Born-Again Fan

Of the four major professional sports in the US, the NBA has always been by far the lowest on my level of interest. The games always seemed boring to me. I rather the dramatic low-scoring games that hockey and soccer provide (although I couldn't care less about the MLS, but soccer on the international level can be quite interesting). There just didn't seem to be enough excitement in the games for me. College basketball at least has March Madness, which might be the most exciting time of the year for me in sports, but I don't watch any of the regular season besides the occasional Duke game.

There have been a couple periods in my life where I have followed the NBA, but never a sustained interest. Two years ago, I didn't even bother to watch a single playoff game. However, when last year's playoffs rolled around, I decided I wanted to watch. I found myself getting excited. I made up my mind that from now on, I will follow the NBA.

But the big question for me is: What team do I follow? Perhaps the reason why I have never had a sustained interest in the NBA is that I have bounced around in regards to a favorite team, never settling on one that I could root for. Nobody in my family cared about the NBA either, so I had no direction to lean in that regard. Living in the state of New York, there are two local teams that I could choose between, but never had any reason to pick either side.

I initially became a San Antonio Spurs fan because David Robinson was my favorite player, if only because I got a Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine one day with him on the cover, and I said to myself, "He's a pretty good player and his name is David, he's my new favorite player!" I grew fond of him along with the young Tim Duncan, and was happy to see the Spurs defeat the Knicks in the NBA Finals some year.

But later on, a desire to root for a local team kicked in, one who's games I could follow on television. The Knicks seemed like a much better choice at the time., before the Byron Scott/Jason Kidd era in New Jersey. But soon after I became disinterested. Eventually, as the Nets brought in players such as Kidd, Richard Jefferson, and Kenyon Martin, I decided that I would root for them. At the least, they play in the same arena as the New Jersey Devils, so there's a positive (Knicks and Rangers? Ew.). Jefferson developed into my new favorite player with Robinson at the end of his career. I went to my first and only NBA game: Vince Carter's first game playing against the Raptors, which ended with a Toronto victory.

But disinterest settled in again. I shortly turned back to the Knicks, but they weren't worth rooting for. I bandwagoned the Spurs during their championship runs. A few years ago when my mom moved to North Carolina, just a short distance away from Charlotte, I spent some time with her there, and I became a Bobcats fan just for fun, because I didn't care about the other teams. But that was pointless.

So here we are on the verge of the 2009-10 NBA season. I want to be a fan, but I have no team to root for. Forget predictions of the upcoming season, because I don't know the teams well enough, and for the most part I'm still stuck on player evaluations from about five years ago. I just want to know what team I should root for, if any. Here are my five choices:

San Antonio Spurs - I still have a place in my heart for the Spurs. They have Tim Duncan, who I have always loved, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili who I've always liked, and now they have added my favorite player, Richard Jefferson. I put a lot of stock in this year's draft, and although they didn't get one of my big two, I was still excited by the DeJuan Blair pick. They are a top five team in the NBA while all my other choices are horrible teams. But I would rather root for a team I can watch on a regular basis, and I would feel a bit like a bandwagon fan if I went with the Spurs (although they were originally my favorite team for non-bandwagon reasons).

New York Knicks - They do have some nice talent that I can enjoy rooting for. They have former Duke Blue Devil Chris Duhon, the Italian Danilo Gallinari, along with David Lee and Nate Robinson. However, I think I prefer laughing at the Knicks' expense.

New Jersey Nets - If I were to choose between the local teams, I would rather the Nets, but they have stripped their roster since I last cheered for them, with Rafer Alston being the only one on the team now I really care about, and since the Devils moved into the Prudential Center, they no longer have that tie.

Charlotte Bobcats - They hit big in the draft for me with Duke's Gerald Henderson. I thought they had more Tar Heels, which was a big turnoff, but looking at the roster now, only Raymond Felton is left (not counting coaches). If they were to build themselves up and win a championship some day, it would be fun to say I rooted for them since they were at the bottom of the barrel, going back to my North Carolina days.

Golden State Warriors - My wildcard team. I've had absolutely no prior care for them until the 2009 Draft. When I was in North Carolina, I was also a short distance away from Davidson College. I had never heard of it before, but between the distance and the name, I became interested. When they burst onto the scene in the NCAA Tournament two years ago, I had to root for them. I fell in love with Stephen Curry. With no real NBA rooting interest, I had a desire to just root for whatever team Curry went to. With the Knicks on deck to pick, I was conflicted: it would be awesome for him to be on the Knicks because then I could follow him, but on the other hand, I really didn't want to have to root for them. But the Warriors took him at #7. Unfortunately though, there is no other reason for me to be excited about Golden State. They do have former Blue Devil Corey Maggette, but he was there before I became a Duke fan.

So there are the five teams I'm torn between. I am leaning towards the Spurs right now if only because they have more things going for them right now. I am worried if I am watching Knicks and Nets games constantly just because that's what is on, I will start to develop an interest in the Knicks (probably not the Nets). I am still excited by the prospect of following the Bobcats though (how fun would it be to walk around with a Bobcats hat), and still have a desire to root on Stephen Curry.

Alternatively, I could decide to follow no team, and just be an objective NBA fan. In all the other sports, there is always someone I am rooting for. It would be interesting to just put any bias aside and just enjoy what the league has to offer. Of course, I will always lean slightly towards those four teams plus whatever team Curry is on, but unlike other sports, in the NBA I have always cared more for the individual players than the teams.

Help me decide!