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

[GoldenHodge]

My story isn't really interesting. I've always liked the sport of Basketball but apart from watching the Australians in Olympic Basketball, I never watched it. In 2009, I happened to come across a Basketball match, Clippers vs Lakers. I decided during that match I would follow one of those teams, I don't remember who won it though.

 

[fidstar]

Played it at school and started following the Wildcats. Then saw a Mr Jordan play on some highlights. Hooked on the NBA ever since.

 

[DangerSloane]

Was a lakers fan when I didnt really follow the NBA.
The year I got into it was the year the bobcats entered, thought I may aswell get on board seeing as I used to love the hornets back in the day and had an old LJ jersey and hornets basketball.

Also loved Gerald Wallace at the time...mainly for that dunk on Boston Nachbar....Look it up if you havent seen it.

 

[J Shuttlesworth]

Was a lakers fan...

 

[DangerSloane]

Cant see the pic mate?

 

[Kickpuncher]

When I first got a PS3 I downloaded the NBA 2K8 demo where you could only play Cavs vs Spurs. Honestly didnt know about the Cavs then at all, but literally the next week I went out and bought the full game. Pretty much how I first found out about LeBron as well. After playing the demo as the Cavs over and over I went out of my way to do a little research about the team. Not bad for a 13-14 year old kid at the time.

 

[Shiv]

Got interested into basketball through nba fantasy...followed the ATL hawks when they had joe johnson...stopped following it properly for the last two years. looking to get back into following it properly this season, I'll probably support the jazz since they have dante exum.

 

[Oliver King]

Got into basketball as a kid in the 90's through playing it myself, and through Jordan. I had a pair of Bulls shorts that I always wore to practice, but didn't call myself a Chicago supporter. Never really got to watch a whole lot of games (perhaps one or two a season), but probably rented every NBA highlights video from the local video shop a couple of times each.

Most kids at my school were either Bulls, Suns, Magic, or Pistons fans. But the team that I identified with the most was the Sonics. Probably for a couple of reasons:
- NBA Jam, always playing as Kemp.
- My old mans football team were the same colours.
- I liked the name.
- I watched far too many episodes of Frasier as a kid.


(That's probably how I look with a basketball.)

I would check the back of the paper most days for NBA scores, and I took a fair bit of interest in the 1996 finals. I had a Sonics t-shirt, but never ended up getting a jersey. Kemp was my favourite player. My second favourite team was the Timberwolves, with Isiah Rider being my second favourite player (through NBA Jam), but that didn't last long.

I played ball all the way up until high school, but my interest in lessened there as I focused more on footy. After high school I was following it a little bit when Ray Allen was a sonic. It picked up a bit then when KD got drafted, but it was hard to be a massive supporter when you're a poor uni student and don't get to watch many games. Then a year later, no Sonics. I remember reading the paper one day, saying the Sonics were moving to OKC.

Didn't really follow anybody after that. Checked the Celtics scores a bit because my brother was a supporter, but my interest in NBA didn't pick right up until around 2009, when they started to show a lot on free to air. Mainly Lakers, Suns, and Cavaliers games. Didn't really connect with them though.

Onto the Warriors...

My first connection to the Warriors was in the early 00's I think it was, when this was my fishing hat for years (my ears got burnt a lot):

Don't know how I came to own it though. Somebody might have left it at my place, and I claimed it. I always thought of the Warriors as "that whitey that shot 3's" on NBA Jam (Mullin) when I was a kid, and in the 00s I would check their scores and see them usually losing. Still wore the hat.

So I kept my eye on GS a bit beforehand (really liked the Bay Area, namely San Fran), but I didn't really call myself a real supporter until a trip to the states in early 2012, when I went to a Warriors game. Loved it. I've been back there a couple of times since, and it's always been my favourite place to watch NBA (as opposed to, say, Atlanta, which was quite the opposite). Curry missed all of the games I went to until this year. Finally.

Having League Pass (and a good internet connection!) the last few seasons has been awesome too (being able to afford it!), so I'm watching it all the time.

Woah, that was a bit more than I was planning to write.

 

[Funkunbunk]

I bought Nba live 07 on the back of loving the basketball at the Beijing olympics. Playing the game a lot, as well as having decent internet to check the scores and being able to watch games on Free to Air TV made it readily accessible for the first time in my life and I've been hooked since.

I'm a fan of the Wisconsin teams thanks to watching a lot of That 70's show as a kid lol.
At least Milwaukee should be worth watching this year.

 

[didaksrightfoot]

Started following the Wildcats in very early primary school at the start of the glory years (90-91ish)... got into the NBA soon after - from basketball cards, a basketball magazine ("1 on 1" rings a bell) and a sat-morning NBA show (NBA Action?). A video game called Lakers-vs-Celtics on our old 386, NBA Jam, and NBA Live '95 on SNES all sealed the deal.

I think all it took was reading one article about David Robinson and he was immediately my favourite player, and I loved the Spurs ever since... and particularly their constant focus on character. (Though I have to say - as a youngster I really liked Rodman (defence, rebounds) - and was a bit disappointed that didn't work out - but glad we got Elliot back for nothing)... and I always wished the Spurs would somehow have been able to team the Admiral up with my 2 other favourite players at the time (Reggie Miller, and Tim-bug Hardaway).

 

[Hipster Doofus]

When I was looking for a team to support in 2007 I thought I'd learn everything about the NBA's history so I could make a rational decision, I wanted to support a team that was s**t so I could be there from the beginning and watch them rise.....too bad in the past 6 seasons we haven't risen at all

It was the greatest show on court which swayed me to support the Kings over many others I considered, the passing and selfless mindset which they played with was intoxicating. Hopefully those days can return to Sacramento soon.

Recently I've really loved Cousins development, and with his new role as the team leader I've felt a far greater emotional attachment to the Kings and their fortunes.
It was tough with all the relocation movements and rumours that marred a lot of my first days trying to follow Sactown.

I'm loving Nik Stauskas's story too, I was irked that we didn't pick Vonleh when he was there to be taken and with the disaster we call the Power Forward position, but watching him at summer league and training camps I've come to have a lot of respect for the high I.Q humble shooter.

 

[peternorth]

Started following the Wildcats in very early primary school at the start of the glory years (90-91ish)... got into the NBA soon after - from basketball cards, a basketball magazine ("1 on 1" rings a bell) and a sat-morning NBA show (NBA Action?). A video game called Lakers-vs-Celtics on our old 386, NBA Jam, and NBA Live '95 on SNES all sealed the deal.

I think all it took was reading one article about David Robinson and he was immediately my favourite player, and I loved the Spurs ever since... and particularly their constant focus on character. (Though I have to say - as a youngster I really liked Rodman (defence, rebounds) - and was a bit disappointed that didn't work out - but glad we got Elliot back for nothing)... and I always wished the Spurs would somehow have been able to team the Admiral up with my 2 other favourite players at the time (Reggie Miller, and Tim-bug Hardaway).

collingwood - black and white
juventus - black and white
spurs - black and white

 

[didaksrightfoot]

collingwood - black and white
juventus - black and white
spurs - black and white

yep - that to.
(suprising how many times I'm wearing my juve jersey and people think its collingwood)

 

[peternorth]

i went for the lakers back when cedric "the franchise" ceballos wore no 23 for the lakers. i was swayed by relatives living in LA who were mad laker fans, and also UCLA alumni (if there is a "when did you get into NCAA and whats the reason behind you team" thread i would elaborate there).

like everyone here, support for the game reached nirvana pre internet days in the early/mid 90s with steve carfino hosting an nba show on weekend mornings - i think saturday. glossy nba mags and one-on-one newspaper publications helped with keeping abreast of the league.

then came nick van exel. i was enamoured with his swagger, confidence and weird arse lips. also being a PG myself (who liked to slide to the forward position at times in my brief career), i modeled my game on his.

i researched and educated myself in the ways of laker basketball prior my recruitment and became familiar with the likes of Magic "HIV" Johnson, James Worthy, B Scott, et al.

but my personal nadir of this experience was in 2000 when i visited USA as a mature individual (previous visits were as a child). it was here I snuck into an adult entertainment expo in vegas, reserved for discernible gentlemen. my eyes were like saucers, and i simply didn't know where to look. needless to say i don't think i was the only male walking around advertising Rays Tent City.
also went to staples to watch LAL dismantle cutino mobley/steve francis led rockets.

i read veraciously on the lakers, and the league. was sponge like in my appraisal of laker players. Mike Penberthy, doesn't miss, number 12, undrafted, 3 pt specialist, 6'3".

another reason for the better side of LA being my selected team was their colour scheme. their predominant colour was also part of my school uniform, which translated into social ball jerseys, and then coincidentally the palette was the same as my FFV soccer team. lolz.

 

[Sidebottom2Beams]

I got into Basketball as a kid in the late 80's and after watching Clyde Drexler was a instant Jailblazers fan.

Then got into collecting basketball cards over the next 5 or so years which I still have all my sets of

You know you're old when you have, Penny, JKidd and Shaq rookie cards as well as the Admirals ROY card

Fav basketball vid has to be in the rise and destruction of the fab five