I’ve always been an NBA free agent. My home town, Las Vegas, is home to two teams; gamblers and point spreads. I never settled on teams close to Las Vegas, either. The Clippers are the Clippers and the Lakers of the nineties weren't the TMZ ‘ballers of the oughts. In my day, the Lakers meant Ceballos, Divac, and A.C. Green. I've also lived near Phoenix, but the Suns owner values revenues over winning - important if I'm looking to receive dividends but not when I want to root for a team.
The great thing about improved sports access, internet and satellite, is that geography no longer matters. Nearly every major paper publishes articles online, including notes and features from beat writers who travel with the team. In addition to “print” coverage, all games are available on television (even the Clippers) to a national audience through a subscription-based service. Best of all, these games are called by local announcers who know player tendencies, substitution patterns and back stories far better than the national guys.
Two years ago I started reading the beat guys for the
Celtics. Last year, I read
Oregon Live. This year, the NBA offered a revised
online subscription where you get the feed to seven teams for a reduced price. A perfect opportunity to really follow a team, right? I first had to choose a favorite. The preliminary list included: Portland, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington.
Portland
Good: My boy Jarryd Bayless plays for the Blazers (sometimes). They also have a really young team with good players. Bad: The good players remind me of Tim Duncan – good but bland. I want to follow story lines and characters. These guys just aren’t compelling.
76ers
Good: Philadelphia has Andre Igoudala, a freak athlete and former Wildcat, an irrational fan base, and beautiful uniforms. Bad: The Phillies winning the past few years have changed the local scene a bit, and the Eagles matter more.
New York
Good: D’Antoni insists on a wide-open style, they drafted Jordan Hill, and 2010 may bring a royal present. Bad: It’s not 2010.
Washington
Good:
Agent Zero is finally healthy after spending two years on the injured list, Caron Butler lost ten pounds "
Undoing the Dew", and coach Flip Saunders is good for 1,000 body ticks per game. The team was also terrible last year, so the bandwagon isn’t full. Bad: East Coast. How often would I be able to watch them play live? Honestly, I didn’t expect to watch many games live until Christmas anyway. So the Washington Wizards it is. I’ve
bookmarked a few
sites to keep up with the Wiz.
The team I picked to follow would be placed in the seven, natch. Who else should I pick? I set some ground rules:
There is little incentive to pick a team that is
on t.v. all the time, since online broadcasts are blacked out when nationally televised.
I wanted to pick at least one team from each of the
divisions to maximize my breadth of exposure.
Each team needed either one player that is worth a look when he is on his “A” game, or a group of players which play really well together.
I wanted to give preference to teams in the Western Conference since I’d likely miss any game before 7:00. I was lenient on this since games are archived online – more on that later.
The teams have to have young guys who were progressing or unpredictable crazy guys (see Ricky Davis).
Here’s my process:
The beauty of the online seven-team special is that I didn’t have to pay for the unwatchable teams. The first to be scratched were: New York, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indiana, Charlotte, Minnesota, Sacramento, Memphis, and Golden State (although their crazy guy level is league best)
The blackout rule eliminated Cleveland, the Lakers and the Clippers. I would likely have included the Cavs and Lakers otherwise; I made an exception for the Celtics since their home
announcers are great.
Teams that were good, but didn’t interest me included: Toronto, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Utah, Phoenix, and Houston.
Teams that I was interested in seeing were: Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Portland, Oklahoma City, Dallas, San Antonio, and my new favorite team Washington.
Since that was eight, I weighed the advantages of both Philly and Denver. In the end, the
Birdman was the difference. (He also flies in the Mountain Time Zone).
Having settled on my seven, my next challenge is to find a way to watch them. The major drawback in the online coverage is that the archive games show the score. Boo.
