Friday, July 8th, 2011 at 3:58 pm  |  29 responses

The Best of the West

A British NBA fan continues his quest for a favorite team.

by Ben Taylor / @benitaylor

So last night I had a couple of hours to kill while on my train from London to Manchester, and decided it was the perfect time to finally get around to watching Sonics Gate. As well as being a pretty damning look at the way Sonics fans and the people of Seattle got screwed, the passion that those guys have for their team hammered home what it means to be a fan and exactly why I’m doing this search.

A quick Sonics related story – the only time a major British football team has been moved to a completely different town was when Wimbledon (once a Premier League team, rich history, great fans) got new owners who moved them to Milton Keynes (a small city 50 miles north of London that didn’t have a professional team).

Just like the Sonics fans, Wimbledon supporters fought against the move, but they couldn’t stop it happening. So, they started their own team from scratch. AFC Wimbledon started out in the bottom rung of regional semi-professional non-league football and fought their way up through six leagues. This year, they made it to the Football League, just a couple of tiers below the Premier League. For anyone who loves sports it was a big moral middle finger at the guys who stole the team in the first place.

Anyway, back to basketball. This is the third installment of the search to find a team, and we’re onto the Western Conference. Last time out, despite the best efforts of Atlanta’s fine lap dancing establishments, I picked the Knicks, Celtics, Bulls, and Sixers as my top four from the East.

It has to be said; picking four teams from the West was tougher than the East. There are a lot of teams that I’ve enjoyed watching at some point over the last 19 years, which meant a lot of teams felt right. At one point I had a ‘shortlist’ of eleven (basically the whole conference).

Minnesota and Houston didn’t make the shortlist. No big shock there I guess, although I genuinely hope Kevin Love, Rubio and the gang get it going next year.

There were some practical choices – San Antonio I ruled out because one Spurs is definitely more than enough, and I left Dallas out because I didn’t want to jump on the champs’ bandwagon. Both great teams with awesome fans, though.

I also ruled out New Orleans (how long are they going to be around?), Utah (great fans, good young team, but I hated the Stockton/Malone team), and Oklahoma City (too obvious).

Arguably, the biggest name missing was the Lakers. I love the history of the team – the Showtime Era, Shaq and Kobe, the Celtics rivalry, and all of that stuff, but they just don’t feel like my team. I couldn’t see myself as a Laker fan.

Quite a few people mentioned Phoenix, which I put down to the Steve Nash/Tottenham link. One thing I really liked about the Suns is that historically, the owners seem to do a lot for the fans. My big worry was what would happen post-Nash. That, and the internet describing Phoenix as having “the quietness of a sleepy town in Wyoming, the business accommodations of New York City, the cleanliness of Singapore.” Sorry Phoenix.

It’s hard to imagine a few years ago that the Los Angeles Clippers would be the first name in the mix for many people’s favorite team, but hey, this is the Blake Griffin era. Without a shadow of a doubt, I’d fly 5456 miles to see The Blake champShow slam down one of those ferocious dunks in the flesh. Another big upside for the Clippers – ideally I’d like my new team will have a big local rival for me to hate. The Lakers can be that rival.

Memphis seemed like my kind of team. Scrappy, gutsy, and something of an underdog. It was a real battle between the Grizzlies, Denver, and Portland. I loved watching the post-Carmelo Nuggets, and Colorado sounds like an epic place to visit. Eventually, after much deliberation and a couple of last minute changes, I went with Portland. Great fans, seems like a cool place, and an up-and-down team with some good young players. This week’s tenuous British link – Portland drafted GB’s Joel Freeland in 2006.

One of the things I’ve loved about going through this process with you guys has been listening to what you all have to say about your teams, and who you’d pick. Based on the suggestions you guys threw in the comments over the last two weeks, there were two teams that clearly stood out – Golden State and Sacramento. Based on that alone, I couldn’t leave them out of the final four.

So, we’re nearly there. Thirty teams down to the last eight. From the East: New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. From the West: Golden State, Sacramento, Portland, and the Clippers.

Keep the comments coming, let me know what you think about the last eight teams. Next week: The Decision.

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  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    Should’ve had your “Decision” today to coincide with the one year anniversary of LeBron’s.
    “In this fall…or whenever the lockout ends…man, this is very tough…I’ll be taking my fandom to the Near West Side and roll with the Chicago Bulls!”

  • rudy

    You better pick the Kings, I swear…to God!

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Taylor

    @Enigmatic Brilliant.

  • Pingback: The Best of the West – SLAM Online | Blake Griffin Zone

  • http://nba.com GP23

    How did you get to do a write-up on this site?? I’m from Britain aswell, (you may recognise my name, I commented on your last post). How did you get this job of writing for SLAM?? I have always wanted to do that. Anyway, go wih the Knicks, they have the richest tradition, and they play at the mecca of Basketball, Madison Square Garden. They are the up and coming team to beat in the near future, with melo, STAT, and maybe Chris Paul and Dwight Howard in 2012. But seriouly, how did you get to write for SLAM ? It’s good to have a fellow Brit working on this site.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    @GP23 – The Knicks have the richest tradition?
    The Celtics and Lakers would have somthing to say about that.
    Two championships in the 70′s. That’s it.
    Horrible franchise in the 2000′s.
    Besides playing at MSG, the Knicks’ tradition is nothing special.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    @ Eni: Well, it is one of the oldest teams in league history. The Knicks might not have the resume of the Lakers or Celtics when it comes to championship banners, but it’s still a pretty important franchise, and two titles isn’t anything to sneer at. Sweetwater Clifton was a Knick, after all, who was one of three players to first break the NBA’s color barrier.

  • Holiday

    Wow, what kind of person “hated” Stockton and Malone? Arguably the best at there position of all time….. anybody wanna argue, cause I’m ready?! They were basketball at its purest!

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    @Teddy – eh, fair enough I suppose. And as a Bulls fan, whose team has six titles, two titles don’t impress me ;)
    @Holiday – I didn’t like Stockton and Malone. Again, Bulls fan. They faced the Jazz in the finals twice. So I didn’t like them at all.

  • Holiday

    I get that, I didn’t like the Bulls either! They did cheat the Jazz outta two game 7′s after all!

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ Ben Taylor

    @Holiday Fair point, “hated” maybe a bit strong. I’ve been trying to remember why I didn’t like them, because it wasn’t just the Jazz/Bulls thing, and I finally got it – back when Stockton and Malone were doing their thing, I used to play for the only team in our area. There was only one other team close enough for us to get a game with, so we played them all the time. It was pretty full on (for a bunch of British kids), and my opposite number on their team used to wear a Stockton jersey every single game. He was all mouth and no game (unlike the real John Stockton). I hated that guy. Leading to an irrational dislike of Stockton and Malone. It’s weird how stuff like that happens.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    I think you picked the right team. They’re fan-base is pretty loyal, and they have a pretty good team.

  • http://hoopistani.blogspot.com hoopistani

    so you’ve been watching the NBA for 19 years but don’t have a favourite team yet?

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRROpiNAvPw EJ

    You should be a Mavericks fan cause they have good players like Dirk, Kidd, Terry and most importantly Petteri Koponen PERKELE!!!

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/category/blogs/adventures-of-the-catford-saints/ Ben Taylor

    @hoopistani Basically yeah, although a few of those 19 years I was a little kid, so I liked whoever I got to see on British TV- Shaq, Penny, Jordan, KG, Pippen, Kobe, Vince, AI. None of the teams stuck though. The full story is in one of my previous posts (http://goo.gl/Bf92n).

  • Edi

    loving the reasoning behind your hatred of the Jazz!… I was completely the opposite! The only team that I could see on TV that had a skinny white slightly unfashionable guard… and he just happened to be the best in the business!! Stockton was my hero – I could never dunk either, so when I played I just tried to find teammates as best as I could…. JS was the reason I’ve stuck following Utah and they’re my team – Good Luck finding yours!

  • http://www.optimabbc.be Max

    Mephis fell off?

  • http://www.optimabbc.be Max

    Memphis*

  • marx

    Honestly, the Knicks will def disappoint you in the long run. They’ve got the most money, but a terrible front office. The thing I don’t like about the knicks is how almost every player just wants to go there. The knicks and grizzlies are kinda opposites. The knicks use their market size, money, and location to get themselves stars. No real hard work put into it. Trust me, it feels amazing to see a team being built piece by piece through patience, drafting, and good signings-kinda like the Grizzlies and Blazers. This ended up being kinda long, but here’s a quick rundown: Celtics are getting old, and are gonna have to start rebuilding soon. If you’re willing to sit patiently thru that process, then pick them. However, picking the Celtics now will also make you seem like a bandwagon fan, and that’s the worst in the real basketball community. Bulls are great (I’m a die hard bulls fan from Chicago), but again there’s that whole bandwagon thing. That, and they have already built their team. And the only thing left is for them to win a championship. Sixers are a good pick, they still got some work to do and I can see them getting their name out there again soon. So I would have to say your final three should be the BLAZERS, GRIZZLIES, AND SIXERS. Good teams that are getting better.

  • marx

    I change my mind, stick with the west coast. Blazers, Warriors, and Kings. With Steph Curry as their centerpiece, I think the Warriors will rise again. However, I also think that the Kings will be even better as soon as they learn to play defense. Tyreke Evans, Demarcus cousins, Jason thompson, and marcus thornton (and maybe jimmer fredette) are all really great starting pieces for this team.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/category/blogs/adventures-of-the-catford-saints/ Ben Taylor

    @marx Cheers man, appreciate the comments. I’m with you on the bandwagon thing, trying to avoid that if I can.

  • Hugh Jass

    How about just watching a few games and seeing which team/players you enjoy watching the most? That’s pretty much how I became a Knicks fan and I am sure that’s how most people who don’t live in the USA (and maybe some who do) choose their teams.

  • JN

    “One thing I really liked about the Suns is that historically, the owners seem to do a lot for the fans”

    Haha you obviously haven’t heard of current Suns owner Robert Sarver, you know the worst owner in the league, the guy who trades draft picks for cash, lowballs joe johnson, blowing up the western confrence finalists, doesn’t resign Amare, trades for Hedo Turkoglu who was coming off the worst year of his career, signing Quentin Richardson for $42 million wen they could have got Igodala or Deng with the picks they traded away, trading Shawn Marion for an aging Shaq.

    The only thing the owners do a lot for is their bank balances

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    @GP23 Ben knows the right people…oh, and he can really write!

  • giogolo

    It’a between chi and the clippers. 2nd runner ups are golden and Sac. choose wsiely. = )

  • http://twitter.com/BeezKneezy LA Huey

    I had this problem after my Sonics left. Couldn’t go to traditional rivals in Portland (in case the Supes return) and definitely couldn’t ride with OKC. And couldn’t hop on the bandwagon of teams with large, established fan bases. I chose GState because they’ve always been fun to watch. I also know they’ll never truly contend so my hopes will never get up just to be crushed by reality.

  • http://www.angryarab.com Tariq

    If I were you, I wouldn’t want to pick a team that might move. So that would negate the Kings and Clippers. I don’t know what’s appealing about rooting for GS. They’ve been horrible forever, aside from that Biddy-Jax moment in 2007. I like the Blazers in the West.
    In the East, I think that NYK are intriguing. True, their heritage is not as great as people make it out to be sometimes, and they’ve been horribly mismanaged, but I can imagine a future where the Knicks are relevant again. It might not be in the next couple of years, but I can see it.

  • http://www.triplajunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Of the 8 teams you’ve picked I would side with the 76ers. I don’t have a reason.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/category/blogs/adventures-of-the-catford-saints/ Ben Taylor

    Thanks for the comments, appreciated as always. @LA Huey Mate, you’ve summed up being a fan perfectly there: “my hopes will never get up just to be crushed by reality.” Brilliant.

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