When did you get into NBA and what's the reason behind your team??

[PP34]

Seeing as the off season has entered the worst part I decided to make a thread.

What age, what season and why did you get into the NBA. Also feel free to explain the reasons behind your team choice and favourite players.

My team choice is simple I played with the C's in Live 04 as I knew the Lakers were a team lots of Aussies picked so I picked the opposite (Sports video games are the reason for the awkward NY Giants and Celtics combo as well ). Found out later the old man was a fan of Larry Legend in the 80s.

I got into the NBA in 04-05 at the ripe age of 8 I had heard of the NBA before that, played NBA Live at older family friends houses and I had seen ads for it at my grandparents on Foxtel. NBA Live 04 was what got me into NBA though (as well as beginning to play ball) The Lakers were amazing to play with and the C's were trash . Back then whatever team had Shaq was unstoppable as Shaq was unstoppable. Anyway I continued to loosely follow the L until 2006-2007ish. By loosely following I mean buying a few SLAM mags every here and there, watching it very rarely when I was at my grandparents (no internet or Foxtel at my residence) and checking the scores at school or at my grandparents. By 2007 I finally had internet so watching highlights and browsing the NBA site was easier. 2GB of internet a month though so no streams . The first time I legitimately watched it as often as I could was 2009. ONE HD finally had the rights to the TNT games so I just watched them. My NBA obsession (watching Celtics games as often as I could) began in October 2010 after the bitter loss to the Fakers). Previous to that I watched the previous season shaking my head having to put up with horrible streams and poor Celtics efforts were tough. Obviously the playoffs were magic to watch League Pass has been great for the past two seasons even with the Celtics up and down results. League Pass is one of the greatest things I've discovered and I only wish I could've discovered it a few years earlier. (and with my house having more data of course!)

So yeah that's how I got into the second greatest league in the world (behind AFL of course). As for favourite players KG has always been a favourite mainly after watching the Franchise DVD which profiled a few NBA stars. I loved his incredible athleticism and the GOAT stare downs. Shaq's another favourite. How can you hate him? He's just awesome. At one stage I almost fell into the deadly Cavs/LeBron fan thing that took over most casual NBA fans in Australia. Thank God I didn't! Rondo's another favourite. He grew on me in 2010 after he carried the team to the finals. Ray Allen would've been here. However, * YOU RAY and old favourites include T-Mac and Iverson because they were so great to watch in their primes and it's a shame that their careers didn't work out too well. I stand up for the truth, I love watching him play but he always comes in lower on my lists. I'm not sure why. Favourite non stars of mine include Nate Robinson, Big Baby and Sheed. All from one of the funnest teams I've watched. The playoff version of course though. The regular season version were terrible.

Time for you guys to post your reasons for your NBA love and when you got into it. Let's see who's the oldest bastard!

P.S First jersey was an Allen Iverson Sixers home jersey.

 

[thecatattack]

First NBA game I watch was about 01-02 and was Indiana vs Lakers. I instantly fell in love with Reggie Miller.

P.S. My first NBA jersey was an Allen Iverson Sixers away.

 

[PVF]

Started following the Heat back in 2004/05 when i was about 13 or 14. Started playing NBA live 04 i think and was using the Lakers and was dominating with Shaq. So decided to follow whatever team he was playing for which so happened to be the Heat. The thing with me is once i start getting involved in a sport I follow it obsessively so i had been watching the NBA as much as I could until about a couple of years ago when i started signing up for League Pass and now watch the Heat all the time. I also was playing in social teams cause it's a very fun sport to play.

My favorite Heat player ever is Alonzo Mourning. I wasn't watching him in his prime but i just loved how he played when he came back to the league as a good backup centre. My favorite part of basketball is defense and I love seeing people get blocked and he was one of the best.

I also want to add that I hate it when people change their teams when their star player has left or been traded like what alot of people have done when players like Melo, Iverson, McGrady etc left. Once i pick a team they are my team till the day I die. Doesn't matter if the team is like what the Heat have now or if the Heat had a roster like what Orlando has now i will still follow them forever.

 

[cAsEy_18]

Pretty typical Chicago fan story. I was only 7 when Chicago won their 6th Championship, but was your classic "Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls fan". Didn't really follow it though. Played a lot of basketball in my younger days, had a couple years off, and then when I decided to get back into it playing wise I decided to follow the NBA again. Thought I should stick with Chicago as I really do hate when people change teams.
A season after following Chicago full-time we get Derrick Rose. Fortunate to say the least.

 

[hamG]

I was a kid during the golden era - I even lived in the USA for 18 months in about '92 when I was 11-12. So in hindsight it was pretty amazing to actually be in the USA while the '92 olympics were on.

And for myself

 

[hamG]

Dominique was doing it before Blake Griffin was even born!

 

[Footypie32]

These threads are always interesting.
I was lucky enough to be a young tike in the golden 90's. Obviously I knew about basketball and thought it was pretty cool that I lived 3 doors down from Mark "The chairman of the boards" Davis. The lattest fad was basketball cards (for our younger viewers, they were like pokemon, but real) and of course I got swept-up. Not knowing who half of them were, I can only imagine the dumb deals I must have got screwed on. I still haven't forgiven one mate for stealing one of my Shaq cards (I know you took it Craig!!).
This introduced me to this guy called Mike. I knew nothing about him, except that he could fly and everyone wanted his card. He was everywhere and those that are too young to remember really wouldn't understand how much he was marketed. There was nothing you couldn't get with "AIR" Jordan on it. Because of this, I started to not like him that much.
I decided that Shawn Kemp was man. I think it's because of the way the 'A is marketed, that I've always followed players more so than Teams. The problem with the "Reign man" was that he never won anything. There were a few others I tried out, Mourning, Hardaway (Penny and Tim), as well as Chuck, but that damn Mike kept winning everything!
I remember staying up every night to catch that 20 sec bit on Sports Tonight, when they would show the NBA highlight for that day and Mike's latest victim.
I've always liked the big men (insert gay joke) and the 90's was a very good era for this. As Jordan's tenure at Chicago was coming to an end, this big bloke from the Virgin Islands was drafted #1. I didn't know much about the Spurs, but I had found out they had 2! big guys. In a league of flash and dazzle, Duncan had none. Who was this guy? Everyone else spoke trash. Tim didn't. He just let his incredible footwork do the talking. He came into the league like he'd been there for 20 years. One thing I did know was that I didn't like the Knicks. I'm not sure why, but I didn't. Maybe it was Ewing, maybe it was Sprewell. So when the Spurs played them in the Finals, I knew I was gonna root for the little guy.
The Lakers juggernaut came around and it looked like no one else was going to win a title for the next decade, but I held my breathe. The Admiral was struggling to get fit and the Spurs were treading water. Then they drafted a French guy. A French guy!! What were they thinking? But, this kid could play. And boy was he quick. He looked like he'd graduated from the Ason Kidd school of Jump shooting, but that didn't matter because he could get to the rim at will. They also brought in Andrew Gaze which gave me added incentive, even though he mainly kept the towels folded.
The Spurs ability to re-invent themselves every couple of years was phenomenal. Every year they would pluck some kid out no where with pick 43 etc. They continued to play a style of ball that seemed boring to the casual fan, but in the end, won them games. I have come to respect the Spurs organisation more than just about any other in the world and will be incredibly sad when Tim Duncan and Pop eventually give the game away.
While I say that the Spurs are my team, there are still plenty of other players and teams that I have a soft spot for and would be quite happy if they won a championship.

Oh, and I love Mike now.

 

[stewie griffen]

These threads are always interesting.
I was lucky enough to be a young tike in the golden 90's. Obviously I knew about basketball and thought it was pretty cool that I lived 3 doors down from Mark "The chairman of the boards" Davis. The lattest fad was basketball cards (for our younger viewers, they were like pokemon, but real) and of course I got swept-up. Not knowing who half of them were, I can only imagine the dumb deals I must have got screwed on.

What this guy said

I played district for most of my junior days in the late 80's and early 90's, hovering in the mid divisions in underage and everyone was into the A, so it was an easy jump. I started following around the 91 Finals with Michael vs Magic and used to get people with Foxtel to tape the game of the week for me. I also made some mix-vids of the top 10 plays throughout the year. We all got caught up in the card phase bigtime as well and had dunk comps at the school on the 8 foot rings. My grandma lived around the corner from the Powerhouse, so my sis and I used to head down and park at her place for the Sixers games, mainly during the Rob Rose, Mee and Brooks eras.

 

[ioppolo]

I first started getting into the NBA around 2007 or so, but never really followed a team. I decided around 2009 that I would follow a team. I looked at the final season standings from 2009/2010 and thought "I won't pick a top team or a s**t team, I'll pick someone around 5th - 11th on the table".

I took at interest in Oklahoma City (who finished 8th and 50-32 that season, so no I'm not a bandwagoner). A different location to most professional American sports teams got me interested to begin with. Then I saw James Harden's beard. That sold me on OKC.

In a few years this has really paid off as were now looking at winning NBA finals. It could've gone the other way if I chose say, Charlotte (who finished around 7th in the east that season...)

 

[djrossie16]

For a long time I casually enjoyed the NBA. Probably around 2008 I started watching college ball a bit and the NBA. Getting Foxtel helps although not so much with the A.

I'm still probably more of a NBA Playoffs fan rather than a complete basktetball junkie throughout the season.

I took an interest in Golden State for this upcoming season basically because I love Bogut and Curry and the team they're putting together. Fingers crossed they have a good run on the injury front.

 

[nufan]

Been playing since I was 5 so was always interested. Can't remember the first game I ever watched but have very fond memories of watching NBA action on saturday mornings. The year I started playing was the year Larry Johnson was drafted to my Hornets and got a Jersey for my birthday. The next year I got an Alonzo Mourning jersey. Been an avid collecter of basketball cards all my life, they're in a shoe box somewhere now.

Had foxtel for as long as I can remember but it never showed the NBA games because ESPN was on Optus Vision, so the old man got Optus vision (Old man was a crazy basketball nut like my self) Then when league pass came to my attention I've never looked back, had it for the last 3 seasons, cooincidently I have been single that entire time

In short been a life long Hornets fan from age 5 because of LJ and Zo then fell in love with Dell Curry on NBA Jam session on sega mega drive.

 

[Brad Goodman]

I was an NBL fan initially, taken to North Melbourne Giants games from about the age of 6 (1989). I have a really vague memory of watching a Detroit Pistons game on the ABC at my grandma's house, so they were kind of the team I chose initially but never followed it up. When the NBA got big around 1992 I like most of the guys in my grade took an interest in the NBA, especially basketball cards. It was like what you graduated to after you outgrew footy stickers. I chose the Sonics because everyone else either chose the Magic (Shaq), the Bulls (Jordan) or the Hornets (Zo). And of course I started playing in a team around then and have been playing ever since.

 

[Mitchemx]

Always used to follow the NBA throughout high school and a little bit after that. Used to play a lot myself, but somehow lost interest.

Couple of years ago happened to flick over to a Orlando game where Howard was just dominating and followed them ever since. Unfortunately he's gone now and our team is looking horrible at the moment.

 

[Gus Poyet]

I started following the Celtics in 1979. I was playing under 8's basketball and everyone had a team so i went with the team that had an Irish connection like myself.

Back then results were to be found in certain sporting papers once a week.

I worked in a trading card store during the boom years of the 90's.

 

[peternorth]

lots of tldr posts here.

so ill be short.

went to the LA olympics and watched the aussies or the usa play apparently. dont remember much other than buying an olympics souvenir eagle holding a bball.

anyway, in the mid-late 80s for some reason i collected nfl cards and was a fan of the raiders despite my relatives in LA being mad laker fans. i lost interest in the nfl and relos advised going for the lakers. i knew magic et al, didnt rejoice in their success, but my love for the lakers spiked (homo) when van exel was drafted. achieved boner after boner watching him, ceballos, jones and elden campbell light it up on ch 10s highlights package.

then in 2000-1 i went back to LA and experienced my first laker game.

load.

blown.

fantastic game vs the rockets. thoroughly enjoyed and cemented my status as a laker paid up member.

the trip was also memorable as i also went to vegas for the first time. it was there i snuck my way into their version of sexpo.

 

[peternorth]

I started following the Celtics in 1979. I was playing under 8's basketball and everyone had a team so i went with the team that had an Irish connection like myself.

Back then results were to be found in certain sporting papers once a week.

I worked in a trading card store during the boom years of the 90's.

so i take it there were no coloured persons in your U8s team as well?

PS: great username!

 

[Gus Poyet]

so i take it there were no coloured persons in your U8s team as well?

PS: great username!

None.

But there were more Black men in Celtics uniforms than Irishmen in Lakers uniforms in 79...

 

[Burningleviathan]

Got into it when I was around ten years old back in the early 90's.

As others have mentioned, it was all basketball cards and Michael Jordan. Didn't go for the Bulls as everyone went for the Bulls. There was only two players I really liked, Shawn Kemp and Hakeem Olajuwon. It was a 50/50 battle for a while but I decided to go for Houston.

Lost interest when it went off free to air, tried to follow the results in the paper but hard to remain keen on the sport. Managed to get broadband a few years back and discovering the joys on internet streams meant I was able to pick up my love of the Rockets again.

 

[Warsaw]

Standard story.

8 or 9 and all basketball meant was MJ, so everyone was a Bulls fan by default. Jordan leaves, everyone's looking for the next star to latch onto. Most kids my age went with Kobe/Shaq, a lot of them left NBA altogether till LeBron but I looked at Iverson and went yep that's my guy. Cornrows, tattoos, swag and dem crossovers.

He leaves, but couldn't see myself going for anything but Philly. Wish I got to see more of the Sixers-Iverson era.

 

[OrdinaryJoel]

Ah, I've been waiting for a thread like this! Time for a dribble about my invested love of bball!

Let me see... I was around 5-6 y.o when I played "NBA '98" on the PlayStation. I wasn't an avid sports follower back then as I am now, but I enjoyed playing that video game and seeing the ball go through the hoop. One thing that stuck out in my mind from that game was that there was no commentary and all you heard was the ball dribbling and the arena annoucner for every play. "WELCOME TO ORLANDO, TONIGHTS MATCH BETWEEN THE ORLANDO MAGIC AND THE BOSTON CELTICS" is the memorable announcement. There were players in it like "SCOTTYYY, PIIIIPPEN" and "KOBEEE, BRYYYYANT" in the game as well. (Note: That was how the annoucner said the names...) However, I was only a kid with no clue so that memory did not re-surface until 2008.

It was in '08 that I played 'NBA LIVE 08' and the first team I used was... Cleveland and the LBJ crew. This was coming off of the Beijing Olympics and there were only a few names that I had heard of before like Kobe and LBJ, which was about it. Anyway, after playing a quick game with Cleveland V. Milwaukee (oh yeah, and I heard of Bogut too), I decided to do a 'Dynasty Mode' and I chose the Houston Rockets as they had this tall guy named Yao and he was Asian. Then I saw a guy named Tracy McGrady and I laughed at a male named Tracy (didn't know it was a uni-sex name). So I used that franchise and drafted Acie Law and so on and so forth. However, during my progression of the season I was playing, I saw a multi-million dollar man named Rashard Lewis playing on the CPU team (Orlando of course...) and I said to myself, "s**t, THIS GUY IS ATHLETIC". Then, whilst I was at school, a friend of mine was also an NBA supporter and he went for Phoenix and loved Stevie Nash (I didn't as he was unathletic and white *ray cest*). What then followed was a mammoth month of researching on Wikipedia about the 'A (I get really into the history of sports etc) and I found out T-Mac once played for the Magic, and also that one of the most exciting young centres in Dwight played there! So with that info and my burning desire to find out more about the 'A, I started watching games on stream with my sibling. What transgressed during the '08/09 Season was the Magic being underdogs and making it all the way to the Finals!!!

So, since then, I have always loved the Magic and I also follow other players from other teams (B-Roy from Portland and his gamewinner against Houston was a reason why I followed him). Not to mention my hunger to learn more about the history of the 'A, and now I am basically all up to speed with everything 'A related. Know nearly all the players in the 'A and will continue 'til the day I die to support the Magic!

 

[Burningleviathan]

Shame, you could of been a Houston fan. You missed out there!

 

[skittler]

When I was younger in alot of the earlier NBA games my usual game style was shoot 3's and I always seemed to do it well with Bonzi Wells so when I started following NBA properly in 2006 I chose the Rockets as that was where Bonzi was at the time. Of course since then the reasons why I enjoy the Rockets are totally unrelated but do really enjoy the fact I support the Rockets instead of one of the big market sides.

 

[OrdinaryJoel]

Shame, you could of been a Houston fan. You missed out there!

I know, I know...

 

[cAsEy_18]

I dropped 102 with Shandon Anderson once in 5mins 1/4's on Kobe Bryant - Courtside on N64. Almost made me a Utah fan.

 

[peternorth]

When I was younger in alot of the earlier NBA games my usual game style was shoot 3's and I always seemed to do it well with Bonzi Wells so when I started following NBA properly in 2006 I chose the Rockets as that was where Bonzi was at the time. Of course since then the reasons why I enjoy the Rockets are totally unrelated but do really enjoy the fact I support the Rockets instead of one of the big market sides.

houston is a large market team.

large market.