KG, KD, PHX and my future as an NBA fan
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by user Kevinsecaur
I haven’t watched an entire NBA basketball game since Michael Jordan retired after leading the Bulls to the 1998 NBA title. I admit I was a bandwagon Bulls fan during the Jordan era, but I offer no apologies for this.
Since ’98, I have had no interest in the Association. I’ve followed the league in an “I can’t really consider myself a huge sports guy unless I have at least some knowledge of what’s going on in pro hoops” sort of way.
I knew who was good and who was bad. I knew which players were talkin’ ’bout practice and which were facing sexual assault allegations. I took a mild interest in the Lakers’ three-peat and Tim Duncan leading the Spurs to three championships in a seven-year span. But for the most part, I simply did not care about NBA basketball. To me, it was nothing more than poorly played, poorly officiated and (more often than not) poorly coached basketball played by selfish, spoiled athletes. For those (among other) reasons, I saw no incentive to follow or watch NBA hoops on a regular basis.
Fast forward nearly ten years to May 2007, and I – like MJ himself – am pondering a comeback … to NBA fandom that is.
Now before I go losing my mind and making any rash decisions, let me explain three things. First of all, I’ve always been a big Kevin Garnett fan. Ever since my college roommate Tim and I engaged in a long -running debate about who was a better player – Tracy McGrady or Garnett – during the 2002-’03 season, I’ve been a KG guy. You see, I took on the position that McGrady was selfish and one-dimensional. And though extremely talented, McGrady was no match for KG, who was a 23-10 guy giving maximum effort despite playing for a mediocre T-wolves team. Tim’s case was … well, I honestly don’t know what his argument was, but I’m pretty sure it was weak and that I clearly out-debated him.
It should be noted that this was the same season in which KG led Troy Hudson, Wally Szczerbiak, Rasho Nesterovic and company to a 51-win season. T-Mac, meanwhile, was busy leading Orlando to a 3-1 series lead and saying how great it felt to finally get past the first round only to lose three straight to Detroit and get eliminated.
KG went on to win league MVP honors the following season and lead (admittedly, a much better) Minnesota team to the Western Conference finals, at which point I proclaimed myself victorious and pretty much stopped thinking about this subject entirely.
Now, a few years have gone by. Garnett finds himself still putting up those 22-and-12s but on an atrocious T-wolves team that has missed the playoffs for three straight seasons. I know his teams have sucked, but you just can’t miss the playoffs entirely in the NBA. T-Mac, on the other hand, has found some success in Houston. He’s among the best pure scorers and one of the better all-around players in the league today, but has yet to advance past the first round in the playoffs. I bring this up not to rekindle the debate (which I’ve already won) but rather to establish my reasons for being such a big KG supporter.
Needless to say, I’m firmly in the camp that believes Garnett could win – and would have already won – a championship if ever provided an able supporting cast.
Secondly, I’m a huge Kevin Durant fan. I could write an entire column on the whole Oden vs. Durant thing, but I’ll spare you. I’m not even trying to say Durant is going to be better than Oden or that I’d draft Durant ahead of Oden; I’m just saying I love watching Durant play. Watching him dominate – no, dominate is not a strong enough word. Watching Durant demolish his competition as an 18-year-old college freshman was simply a thing of beauty. Suffice to say, I’ll be among those closely following KD’s professional career.
The third factor deals with the Phoenix Suns or, as I like to call them, the only watchable NBA team. My apologies to NBA fans out there, but pro b-ball is boring! The Spurs are great and all, but I’d rather have a root canal than watch an entire San Antonio game. Same goes for the Pistons. And don’t even get me started on LeBron’s Cavs, who are a pathetic basketball team prospering because they have one superstar and play in what is possibly the weakest conference in NBA history.
Anyway, my point is if you forced me to become a fan of an NBA team and, you know, actually watch its games on a consistent basis, I’d choose the Phoenix Suns and nobody else even comes close.
So, with all of that in mind, I present to you four scenarios involving my future as an NBA fan in order from least to most likely:
4) The least likely scenario involves simply waiting for this summer’s NBA Draft and immediately becoming a fan of whoever drafts Durant, regardless of the team. Durant will likely go second overall, so I could even prepare myself by watching the draft lottery, which will be held on May 22. It is, as I said, simple but how much fun would it be to declare blindly that Memphis, Boston or Milwaukee is now “my team” simply because they’ve drafted KD?
3) Our next scenario is less likely to happen in real life but more likely in terms of converting me into a full-fledged NBA fan. Did that sentence make any sense whatsoever?
This scenario also involves Durant but is far more complex. You see, one of the rumors I’ve heard is that – if they fail to win a title this year – the Suns would be looking for a major shakeup this off-season. Trailing 3-2 and facing a game six in San Antonio, it looks like Phoenix’s days are numbered in ’07. After being bounced from the playoffs, the Suns instigate said shakeup by protecting Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire and offering up pretty much anyone and everyone else for the second pick in the draft.
Look, I’m obviously no expert on the NBA and I don’t even know how a deal like this would work, so forgive me if this is way off base. But let’s say the Suns offered up Shawn Marion, Raja Bell OR Boris Diaw and their lottery pick (from Atlanta) for the #2 pick. That seems like a lot to give up to me, but this is just a hypothetical. Then the Suns take Durant with their pick and have a nucleus of Nash, Barbosa, Durant, Bell/Diaw, Amare, James Jones and Kurt Thomas. I don’t know if that team could win an NBA title, but I do know that I’d pre-order a blue and orange Durant jersey tomorrow, and the NBA would have itself one more fan. How much fun would that team be to watch?
2) The second most likely scenario in reference to my future as an NBA fan is the one laid out by espn.com’s Bill Simmons earlier this week. Writes Simmons: “If Phoenix gets bounced this week, don't they HAVE to trade Amare Stoudemire for KG?”
My answer: I don’t know but god I hope so. His trade scenario, in short, is Amare, Marcus Banks and Phoenix’s lottery pick for Garnett and Minnesota’s pick. Now, you’ve got a Suns teams led by Nash, KG and Marion. Wow! Speaking of ordering jerseys, put me down for a Phoenix #21 please. Hell, I might even order NBA League Pass if this deal goes down.
1) The University of Dayton, my alma mater, has a blue-chip recruit coming in for the first time in … oh, I don’t know … ever! His name is Chris Wright and he has a chance to be the first Flyer in the NBA since Negele Knight. If a UD player ends up in the league, there’s no way I do not immediately become a fan of any team he lands on. So I guess you’d have to say that the most likely scenario regarding my fandom is … that’s right, complete apathy toward all things NBA until a Dayton Flyer enters the league. Which might take a while.
So there you have it. Here I sit contemplating a Jordan-like comeback to the world of NBA basketball, and I’ve laid out four possible scenarios for such a thing to occur. I guess the only question now is: will it be a mid-‘90s Jordan to the Bulls comeback or a 2001 MJ to the Wizards-type comeback?
Now that, not unlike following the NBA for an entire season, is a scary thought.
