Welpee wrote:

Nalod wrote:
Watched the game with my buddy who really was like Rooting for Bucks because of Giannis, and then said he liked Griffith, was a fan of Durants when in OKC but put off by his free agent moves, Respected Hardens play, and was thinking kyrie is not liked by teammates. WE talked and he was off base. HE figured if Boston fans were hating then t must be the team hating.
Basically he is either a fan of some players and considered others “villains”. He does not have a team and thus sees NBA as individual stars and roots for them or not. Found it interesting and really its very typical of many basketball fans. We have hero’s and villians.
We all have our own fandom and viewership values.

Harden was a shell of himself. MIlwaukee had relative health of its big guns sans DiVchenzo. I’m happy for them as a team that has moved thru the last few years to get here. Nets are not a team but a “merger of talent” and thus I find no affinity for them. I’m cool with enjoying guys Ike Harden (When healthy), Kyrie and Durant perform. Great talents.

I root for knicks and outside of that don’t hate on others. To each their own.

I feel the complete opposite. I find Kyrie, Durant and Harden barely likeable personalities. I find the Nets organization completely impossible to root for after putting up that billboard across the street from MSG several years ago. I find most of their fans are frontrunners who have very flimsy ties to their "team." I was able to root for the Nets until the Russian owner came to town. In addition to the billboard incident he bragged about how their involvement in the Melo sweepstakes increased what we had to give up to get him. I know they now have new ownership but the damage is done in my book. Yeah, I now root against the Nets.

"The Brooklyn Merger" -- yep, that's their name.

The affinity and allegiance to specific (superstar) players over individual teams is the inevitable outgrowth from the NBA's marketing strategy. A successful one you could say and perhaps any division is predominantly generational. Well get the hell off my lawn. What started with Lebronna's "The Decision" and perhaps reached an unsavory apex with "The Merger" has been a boon to the NBA and game of basketball only in giving me great joy when these teams or their player/diva/general managers fail.

On the other hand we have our Knicks -- scrappy, over achieving, as humble as anyone could have the right to expect in today's NBA. It would be really nice to see this unfashionable template succeed.

smackeddog wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

Clean wrote:I also don't want to hear any excuses about Nets injuries. Not having enough money to build a bench good enough to withstand injuries is part of the risk you take to pay 3 superstars max money. They made their choice and it did not workout for them.

Agree. I will say, KD did everything he could. Nearly 100 total points in two must win games. He might be soft off the court, but he brought it when it counted.

He's a great, great player, that's what makes his off court persona so frustrating- I just can't root for him because of it

Jmpasq wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

Clean wrote:I also don't want to hear any excuses about Nets injuries. Not having enough money to build a bench good enough to withstand injuries is part of the risk you take to pay 3 superstars max money. They made their choice and it did not workout for them.

Agree. I will say, KD did everything he could. Nearly 100 total points in two must win games. He might be soft off the court, but he brought it when it counted.

He's a great, great player, that's what makes his off court persona so frustrating- I just can't root for him because of it

Its a shame I have to hate the guy because he is such a great player. Fuck the Nets. I'm so happy they lost this series. Bull**** how they added Aldrige and Blake Griffin for free during the season. The rules need to be changed next season. Teams that are over the cap should not be able to retool their entire bench without assets.

Totally read you. This superteam crap is really annoying. It was fun in Barcelona back in 1992, but that is about it. Imagine if Michael, Magic and Larry got together on an NBA team. Would the league have had any of the epic battles of the 1980s and the early 1990s?

Now, if you team is smart in drafting, signing or trading for great players, then it is fair game. Like the Steph-Klay-Dray Warriors. But when you then add a Durant on top of it, how can that be good for the league?

Clean wrote:

ESOMKnicks wrote:

Jmpasq wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

Clean wrote:I also don't want to hear any excuses about Nets injuries. Not having enough money to build a bench good enough to withstand injuries is part of the risk you take to pay 3 superstars max money. They made their choice and it did not workout for them.

Agree. I will say, KD did everything he could. Nearly 100 total points in two must win games. He might be soft off the court, but he brought it when it counted.

He's a great, great player, that's what makes his off court persona so frustrating- I just can't root for him because of it

Its a shame I have to hate the guy because he is such a great player. Fuck the Nets. I'm so happy they lost this series. Bull**** how they added Aldrige and Blake Griffin for free during the season. The rules need to be changed next season. Teams that are over the cap should not be able to retool their entire bench without assets.

Totally read you. This superteam crap is really annoying. It was fun in Barcelona back in 1992, but that is about it. Imagine if Michael, Magic and Larry got together on an NBA team. Would the league have had any of the epic battles of the 1980s and the early 1990s?

Now, if you team is smart in drafting, signing or trading for great players, then it is fair game. Like the Steph-Klay-Dray Warriors. But when you then add a Durant on top of it, how can that be good for the league?

This is 100% how I feel about super teams. If you draft well then that is fine. I can't fault you for that. However, if you have 3 of the top 10 players in the NBA just decided to force a trade or sign then I am not interested. For me 2 superstar should be max so we don't have to rely on injuries' for competitive balance. There are so few superstar level players that having 3 on 1 team will render a lot of teams seasons pointless. There will be too big of a talent gap to realistically have a chance at winning it all.

It's really up to the players and they seem to be fine with top guys stacking squads.

Welpee wrote:

Uptown wrote:KD is an amazing talent. One of the best scorers the game has ever seen. With that said, F*** the Nyets Last nights game was very enjoyable. Especilly when the final buzzer sounded

+100

I liked that Hardens showing up to camp late and overweight, more focused on strip clubs than practice, to force his way out of the rockets, eventually caught up with him in the form of a hamstring injury, which cost him a ring.

Nalod wrote:
Watched the game with my buddy who really was like Rooting for Bucks because of Giannis, and then said he liked Griffith, was a fan of Durants when in OKC but put off by his free agent moves, Respected Hardens play, and was thinking kyrie is not liked by teammates. WE talked and he was off base. HE figured if Boston fans were hating then t must be the team hating.
Basically he is either a fan of some players and considered others “villains”. He does not have a team and thus sees NBA as individual stars and roots for them or not. Found it interesting and really its very typical of many basketball fans. We have hero’s and villians.
We all have our own fandom and viewership values.

Harden was a shell of himself. MIlwaukee had relative health of its big guns sans DiVchenzo. I’m happy for them as a team that has moved thru the last few years to get here. Nets are not a team but a “merger of talent” and thus I find no affinity for them. I’m cool with enjoying guys Ike Harden (When healthy), Kyrie and Durant perform. Great talents.

I root for knicks and outside of that don’t hate on others. To each their own.

I hear you but for me personally, hell must freeze over before I’ll be okay with Simmons being an NBA champion.