With the NBA season officially underway, fans everywhere pick up their one-size-too-small jerseys and watch their favorite teams, with the hoop dreams that this will be the year — if this was 1998.
For years, my focus, and many other sports fans’, has been on late October baseball (with the benefit of watching a team who can actually win a World Series within 102 years) and football: only glancing over to SportsCenter to catch the recaps of basketball games.
It was not always like this though.
Once upon a time there was a fine basketball player named Michael Jordan for the Chicago Bulls. He was a pretty good player, to say the least. But when he retired (for the first time), so did my love for the Bulls and basketball.
The less said about the Jordan’s time with the Wizards, the better.
The lack of interest in the NBA from many sports fans could be indifference. When baseball is finally getting to the playoffs, and the NFL starts after months of hype on ESPN, it can be tough to focus on another sport. Throw in college football, and that is a lot of sports overload — even without basketball.
The NBA has been all but forgotten during the regular season, and it only brings in modest ratings during the playoffs. It could be time for fans to give it another chance.
The Cardinals decided not to show up this October. The Green Bay Packers — well, by the time it takes to read this sentence, Aaron Rodgers has already been sacked another two times. As for college football — keyword: college. Not professional, not as awesome.
But what team is deserving of having more fans jump on its bandwagon?
After long hours staring at a computer screen looking up rosters, preseason predictions and television listings, the two most promising teams in the NBA are:
1. Chicago Bulls
It worked once before, why not try them again? Even without Jordan, or even anybody with the talent to lead them to a championship, the Bulls are still a good team for the mere fact they have a national television contract with WGN. Call it the Cubs effect if you want, because you do not have to go out of your way to turn on a channel and see at least 20 games.
However, the last thing a bandwagon jumper needs to do is hitch a ride to a team with no realistic chance of doing a lot in the postseason — if they even make it there. As great as Derrick Rose is, this team has a lot of good-but-not-great talent on it. The loss of three-point guru Ben Gordon should hurt depth and it already has screwed up its three-point shooting, missing 36 of the 43 triples this year.
Rule No. 1: Follow a team that will at least be 10 games over .500.
And the Bulls give no guarantee of that happening. Not with Brad Miller getting consistent playing time. The Los Angeles Lakers would struggle if they had Brad Miller on their roster. Just him being in the vicinity of your squad guarantees disappointment.
2. Portland Trailblazers
The Blazers were good last year, and this year their young talent is only going to get better. Brandon Roy is coming off a huge year, and should be even better this season as the shooting guard. The ageless wonder Greg Oden is back again and, unless he breaks his hip, should be a rebounding monster (as long as he learns not to foul). LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw should also help set this team among the best in the west.
Unfortunately, they play in the west. That means finding their games on TV should be an exciting challenge. And anyone who has ever been to Portland can attest that the media isn’t exactly clamoring to go and cover anything out there.
With the season underway, it is time to do something that seemed so wild only a year ago.
Sit down on the couch, eat some chips and watch basketball on TV. Maybe it will be a good time.
Ryan Voyles can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 256
