i never watched the nba before but i want to start

[Staggerlee]

However im not sure about a few things. Ive always been a football kinda guy and never watched basketball before but i have a coworker whos big time into basketball and after hearing him talk about it all the time i decided to watch some of the games and this game b/w the lakers and magic. Im liking it and i think i could be into watching it on a regular basis but i dont know much about it other than the basics. Is there like an NBA 101 lol also its going to be weird because who do i root for? im from ohio but i dont want to just start rooting for the cavs because thats lame. Jus thought maybe some of you die hard nba fans could clue me in an give some advice.

 

[Rampage]

just keep watching you will learn more as you watch more. you also should be a Cavs fan cause they have the most exciting player in the game.

 

[Joe Realist]

just keep watching you will learn more as you watch more. you also should be a Cavs fan cause they have the most exciting player in the game.

you should be a fan of whomever u want. The Clippers need some fans. Why you want him to be Cavs fan? Slate already pres of fan club.

 

[lewpac]

First off, if you DO follow the Cavs, don't be sucked in by this small window of time where there's something to root for. History has shown that fans of ANY Cleveland team is destined to a lifetime of misery. Browns, Injuns, Cavs, whoever, it's going to be a looooooooong winter.

If you dropped down from another planet this year, you certainly would think that the Cavs and LeBron James are the coolest and baddest thing around. But it will end, and probably sooner rather than later. And the Cavs will slunk back to their rightful place as one of the sorrier franchises in history. Save yourself the trouble............

Second, unless your a true die-hard purist, the average NBA fan pays attention all year, but really starts paying close attention around the first round of the playoffs. There's 86 games, the first half of them played during the best time of the year for the NFL. For most of us, the NFL blows the NBA away with regard to interest and exitement. I mean, it's hard to get into a Laker vs. Sacramento game in December during the height of the NFL season.

Also, too many teams make the NBA playoffs. So the regular season is almost an afterthought. It matters for sure, but even the teams and the players appear as if they're only going through the motions to get to the playoffs. If you DO watch regularly, you'll see a significant up-tick in intensity and play once the playoffs begin. So I always figure that I'd get into it when the teams and players get into it. 'Till then, I follow the standings and watch a game or three here and there, but thats about it.

MLB is like that too. 162 games is a lot of games to get "up" about week in and week out. I know some guys who still do, and I follow baseball a lot closer than the NBA during the regular season. But in the NBA and MLB, the sun doesn't rise and set on every game as it does with the NFL.

That's just one guys take on it.....................GO LAKERS!!!

 

[MC KAos]

be ready for some top notch terrible officiating. why is it bad? could be that most of the officials are old, corrupt, or its just hard to officiate basketball. no matter who you root for youll be left scratching your head on a lot of calls in the NBA. I personally think the main problem is that the NBA uses refs that are old enough to be my grandparents. they need to have some kind of better training for some new, younger officials and also punish them for blantant bad calls like in soccer

 

[SLATEmosphere]

However im not sure about a few things. Ive always been a football kinda guy and never watched basketball before but i have a coworker whos big time into basketball and after hearing him talk about it all the time i decided to watch some of the games and this game b/w the lakers and magic. Im liking it and i think i could be into watching it on a regular basis but i dont know much about it other than the basics. Is there like an NBA 101 lol also its going to be weird because who do i root for? im from ohio but i dont want to just start rooting for the cavs because thats lame. Jus thought maybe some of you die hard nba fans could clue me in an give some advice.

For the sake of all human kind. Root for the Cavs. Your lucky your from Ohio so no one can really question your fanhood. Just respond back "I'm from Ohio. born and raised, I'm a lifelong Cavs fan" if anyone gives you heat. Plus we're getting Shaq next year! Auto championship in Cleveland.

Cavs 4 lyfeee!!

 

[NeonNinja]

just keep watching you will learn more as you watch more. you also should be a Cavs fan cause they have the most exciting player in the game.

He's leaving in 2010.

 

[MC KAos]

For the sake of all human kind. Root for the Cavs. Your lucky your from Ohio so no one can really question your fanhood. Just respond back "I'm from Ohio. born and raised, I'm a lifelong Cavs fan" if anyone gives you heat. Plus we're getting Shaq next year! Auto championship in Cleveland.

Cavs 4 lyfeee!!

i dont know about that, if shaq can A)stay healthy and B)stay our of LBJs way, it would be a plus, but not an automatic chip like you claim, shaq is prehistoric at this point

 

[MC KAos]

He's leaving in 2010.

i wouldnt say he will definitely leave, id say there is a 35 percent chance he leaves

 

[SLATEmosphere]

i dont know about that, if shaq can A)stay healthy and B)stay our of LBJs way, it would be a plus, but not an automatic chip like you claim, shaq is prehistoric at this point

LeBron will take them to the playoffs all by himself. That's a given. They lost in the playoffs because they had no answer for Dwight. Shaq would toss him around like a ragdoll. They get every other day off in the playoffs. Shaq will be nicely rested each game. If they can somehow sign Artest it would get pretty digusting. They probably couldn't resign Varajeo and Z would have to either get traded or retire for that to happen though. Shaq costs 20 mil by himself.

 

[MC KAos]

LeBron will take them to the playoffs all by himself. That's a given. They lost in the playoffs because they had no answer for Dwight. Shaq would toss him around like a ragdoll. They get every other day off in the playoffs. Shaq will be nicely rested each game. If they can somehow sign Artest it would get pretty digusting. They probably couldn't resign Varajeo and Z would have to either get traded or retire for that to happen though. Shaq costs 20 mil by himself.

they lost to the magic because no one else stepped up and took up some of the slack in scoring. it was basically 1 on 5 for the cavs offensively. shaq could help that, but like i said, he has to stay healthy and not clog the lane up for LBJ. artest would be a much better addition, but he plays the same position LBJ does and isnt a consistent scorer. the cavs need a consistent offensive minded shooting guard, like maybe trade for corey maggette? IDK who the free agents are this year so i couldnt really tell you who i think would fit better

 

[lewpac]

For the sake of all human kind. Root for the Cavs. Your lucky your from Ohio so no one can really question your fanhood. Just respond back "I'm from Ohio. born and raised, I'm a lifelong Cavs fan" if anyone gives you heat. Plus we're getting Shaq next year! Auto championship in Cleveland.

Cavs 4 lyfeee!!

This from a guy who told us "auto-championship" this year............

Listen, some cities and teams have "the curse". LeBron or no Lebron, the Cav's will NEVER win a title. Shaq or no Shaq.

What the hell did we just "witness"? In case anyone forgot in the last two weeks, "we are all witness's" to what just happened. KG in Boston is out of the picture, and the Cavs STILL can't get it done. Kobe is the King of the World in a year when all we heard was "King James" 24/7............how poetic.

Follow the NBA. Great game. Great talent. Enjoy. But do yourself a HUGE favor and avoid the Cavs at all cost. The clock is ticking on the LeBron James "era", and if you hitch your cart to THAT wagon, it'll be the year 2031 before you see the likes of this in Cleveland again................

 

[Staggerlee]

Another thing i noticed is that it seems like players switch teams a lot. Ive read about players and teams here and there (when im bored i wikipedia everything you can think of) and heard some and it seems like if a player has a few good years hes likely to opt out of his contract and sign somewhere else or get traded. This would be a major turn off for me because i like to invest myself in the players and if they switch every few years id have trouble doing that. Does it really happen a lot or just seem that way?

 

[SLATEmosphere]

This from a guy who told us "auto-championship" this year............

Listen, some cities and teams have "the curse". LeBron or no Lebron, the Cav's will NEVER win a title. Shaq or no Shaq.

What the hell did we just "witness"? In case anyone forgot in the last two weeks, "we are all witness's" to what just happened. KG in Boston is out of the picture, and the Cavs STILL can't get it done. Kobe is the King of the World in a year when all we heard was "King James" 24/7............how poetic.

Follow the NBA. Great game. Great talent. Enjoy. But do yourself a HUGE favor and avoid the Cavs at all cost. The clock is ticking on the LeBron James "era", and if you hitch your cart to THAT wagon, it'll be the year 2031 before you see the likes of this in Cleveland again................

You sure like to spue nothing but garbage. I don't know how you continue to bag on LeBron. The dude did everything for his team and then some. Asking what we "witnessed" is just plain stupid. He more than stepped it up. His team did not. He doesn't have Lamar Odom,Trevor Ariza,Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. He plays with bench players at best. I would love to see what Kobe could do with LeBrons roster.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Another thing i noticed is that it seems like players switch teams a lot. Ive read about players and teams here and there (when im bored i wikipedia everything you can think of) and heard some and it seems like if a player has a few good years hes likely to opt out of his contract and sign somewhere else or get traded. This would be a major turn off for me because i like to invest myself in the players and if they switch every few years id have trouble doing that. Does it really happen a lot or just seem that way?

There are way more trades b/c of guaranteed contracts. But there are rules that help teams re-sign their own players.

 

[I LOVE ME SOME ME!]

You sure like to spue nothing but garbage. I don't know how you continue to bag on LeBron. The dude did everything for his team and then some. Asking what we "witnessed" is just plain stupid. He more than stepped it up. His team did not. He doesn't have Lamar Odom,Trevor Ariza,Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. He plays with bench players at best. I would love to see what Kobe could do with LeBrons roster.

He wouldnt b holding up that trophy, thats for sure.

 

[lewpac]

You sure like to spue nothing but garbage. I don't know how you continue to bag on LeBron. The dude did everything for his team and then some. Asking what we "witnessed" is just plain stupid. He more than stepped it up. His team did not. He doesn't have Lamar Odom,Trevor Ariza,Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. He plays with bench players at best. I would love to see what Kobe could do with LeBrons roster.

I like LeBron James, just for the record. I like his game. I like the way he carries himself. I like it that he mans-up for his woman and kids.

I just don't WORSHIP him. I don't go all "Favre" over him. It's to the point that if you say ANYTHING in anything less than absolute glowing and worshiping terms, then your dissing on LeBron.

Another thing.............Here we go with the standard "he didn't have the players" and "I'd love to see what Kobe would do with that roster" stuff. Two things: We DID SEE what Kobe did with a bench like that, and I didn't hear any letting up of the Kobe criticism during those years. In fact, the "Kobe can't win w/o Shaq" stuff got so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was so bad that Kobe had to answer more than a couple questions about it during these playoffs and last night. He had to LITERALLY talk about Shaq on the very evening of his crowning glory.

The second thing is that, while the Cavs were blowing the regular season away, and going unbeaten the first two rounds of the playoffs, we didn't hear anything about "no supporting cast" from you or anyone else. All we heard, louder and louder and louder, was "WITNESS, WITNESS, WITNESS". That's why I'm bringing "witness' back up. LeBron was great enough only a month ago to carry his team on his shoulders. Now, his followers are singing a different tune and running cover for him.

If the Cavs DO INDEED land Shaq this off season, and the Cavs DO INDEED win the title with a LeBron/Shaq tandem................I wonder if LeBron will get the Kobe treatment. You know, "LeBron couldn't win without Shaq" stuff. Then, when Shaq leaves town and LeBron goes 5 years w/o a Ring, I'd like to see how they treat LeBron THEN!

So I'm not ragging on LeBron as much as I want to see Kobe get his proper due. In the year when it was 24/7 LeBron, and the only MVP question out there was LeBron or Kobe, I just think that at this stage of his career that it's pretty sweet for Kobe to have won it all.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

it's a bad time to start getting into the NBA

the sport sucks now

 

[MC KAos]

Another thing i noticed is that it seems like players switch teams a lot. Ive read about players and teams here and there (when im bored i wikipedia everything you can think of) and heard some and it seems like if a player has a few good years hes likely to opt out of his contract and sign somewhere else or get traded. This would be a major turn off for me because i like to invest myself in the players and if they switch every few years id have trouble doing that. Does it really happen a lot or just seem that way?

ya its very rare to have a player be with a team hiw whole career. the only big time veterans out there that i can think of that have only been with one team are duncan, kobe and dirk. it seems like players do get traded or leave once they become good. unfortunately, they tend to go to the big market teams, like the lakers, celtics, knicks, etc. which, for a fan of a small market team like myself can be very irritating

 

[MC KAos]

oh btw hedo turkoglu is gonna be a free agent this year, his agent stated he will opt our of his contract this year and become a free agent. that would be a MUCH better addition than shaq for the cavs