I have never followed the NBA or been a big fan of basketball, but I want to start watching and learning about the NBA. I’m excited to dive into the world of NBA basketball, and I understand the rules of basketball and everything but I am a complete newbie to the sport and a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of teams and players. I’m hoping you guys can help me make an informed choice on which team to support and start watching.
A little background: I’m a follower of European football, mainly FC Barcelona and Liverpool FC. But I would like to start watching the NBA more regularly. I’ve never followed the NBA before, but I’ve been hearing about it from friends, and I’m eager to get into the action. I live in Florida but I wouldn’t say that I have any geographic ties to a particular city, so I’m completely open to suggestions.
Here are a few things that might help you guide me in the right direction:
- Style of Play: I shouldn’t compare basketball to football/soccer, but I like watching teams that play fast-paced and have a unique playing style or philosophy (for lack of a better term).
- Players: I don’t want to be a bandwagon and just support players and teams that are just the most well-known.
- Team Culture and History: Preferably a team with maybe some history and a passionate fan base.
- Rivalries: A team with at least one big rival team.
- Up-and-Coming Teams: Like I said, I don’t want to be a bandwagon supporter, so maybe a team that’s kind of in the middle or close to playoffs aiming the win the league.
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Orlando Magic
Since you are in Florida, and want to consider local, the Orlando Magic are an up-and-coming franchise with some exciting young players. They aren’t a bandwagon team by any means, but they don’t exactly have a strong team culture (or history of winning, outside of some short eras).
If you want culture, oh boy you’ve also got the Miami Heat there. “Heat culture” is an actual thing (sometimes mocked by other fans), but they do have a history of winning, have an absolute legend running the organization, and has probably the best head coach in the league (who I’d expect is a lifer there).
Rivalries are tough… they don’t exist to a significant degree. The Lakers and the Celtics are the most “historic rival”, but that is more so between the fan bases than the teams themselves anymore.
Honestly just start watching some games, and frequent this sub. See what players/teams start to interest you. There’s some great superstars and a lot of young talent in the league (and the team, player, and fanbase personalities vary wildly).
I’m more interested in how the hell do you get a 3 year old account with 0 Karma and history?
Pacers
The Spurs are one of the most solid teams in the league, with a roster of very talented young players who will need to figure out how to contend together. Wembanyama is must-see-TV every night, and will likely mean the Spurs need to put a contending team around him in the next 5 years.
They play the “right way” which is sharing the ball and working hard on both ends. They’ve been criticised in the past for being a bit of a boring watch, feeding past stars like Tim Duncan and David Robinson again and again, relying on traditional scoring. Wemby is anything but traditional, and watching him learn how to use his freaky body will be a lot of fun this year. Could be considered a bandwagon, but the Spurs are a basketball fan’s basketball team.
If black and silver isn’t your flavour, the young thunder will be a ton of fun this season, and the magic would love to welcome you as their 5th fan!
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The pacers are the fastest team in league, we don’t stop running.
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Our best player is 23yo and our second best player is 21. No superstar on the team but Haliburton got the potential for it.
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We’ve been in the league for a long time but haven’t won the championship yet. The thing is we’re always competitive, before Mathurin we haven’t had a top 10 pick in the draft since maybe the 80ies. Basically we’re a team that fight with what they got (we’re usually don’t land superstars) but has always been missing that thing to put us over the top.
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We don’t have intense rivalries rn but pacers fans hate the Knicks since the 90s (Spike Lee vs Reggie Miller, you should look it up that was a REAL rivalry), we hate the pistons (the biggest fight in the history of the league happened when we faced them in 2004) and the Heat (for those Heatles years).
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Nobody will ever call you a bangwagoner for rooting for the Pacers lol you’re safe on that part. We’re on the way up
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Just watch a load of basketball this season. As many teams as you can, good and bad. Your team will find you by the end of the season, guaranteed.
Pacers
Sacramento Kings would be a good team for you to support. They are a west coast team so it might be too late for the majority of regular season games but otherwise they are probably the best option.
As far as east teams, the Cavaliers and the Pacers are good options. Both teams play good basketball and have some extremely talented young players.
NBA fandom is different from football fandom, most teams are going to be playing more or less the same way with some variation based on personnel, which is why NBA fandom is predicated on stars. The game is 5 on 5 so one extremely good player has way more impact on a game than just about any other team sport. Its perfectly fine to watch games because you want to see a certain player rather than a team.
Mavericks!
kings check all these off pretty hard
kings check all these off pretty hard
Honestly I’m just gunna give the same advice you’d probably get if you were making this post about wanting to find a soccer team to support… Watch some games/look around and see if any stand out, and then dig into their history a bit.
A few ideas that I think might sort of fit what you’re looking for are the Magic, Thunder, Spurs, Pacers, Kings, Cavs, and last but not least the Pelicans lol
just watch some games and pick a team you like to watch after a month or two. Having Reddit choose your team is lame
Always cheer for your local team. The only real exception is if you once lived somewhere else and already had a team.
Anything else is lame and just looks like you’re hopping on a bandwagon for some elite team or up and coming team.
Also, for all practical purposes, the local team is the one that’s going to be on tv 82 times a year for you, the one you can most easily go to games for, and the one that everybody is going to be cheering for around you. So why would you not just root for them?