How to go from the 2020 Olympics to becoming the ultimate NBA fan?

How to go from the 2020 Olympics to becoming the ultimate NBA fan
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Posted: Jul 29, 2021 | Updated: 2 months ago

With the Olympics underway you may have started watching basketball for the first time and you may want to start following the NBA but how do you start? With the time difference and the sheer amount of games played it can be daunting to even start. This article will guide you on how to watch, what team to support, and how to educate yourself with the NBA.

How to choose your team 

You can freely choose whatever team you like but here will give you a couple of suggestions. I support the Denver Nuggets. I came to this decision from playing NBA2k 14 at a friend’s house where I randomly selected them and thought their name was funny. Although I now love the Denver Nuggets in hindsight I probably should have picked a team on the east coast as their games start earlier.

If you want to be a true die-hard fan and tell your friends you support your team in their darkest days. You could select the current worst team in the NBA because of the way the NBA is formatted. Teams exist in a cyclical nature, unlike football where the top team stays at the top forever. This means if you choose the worst team they will probably be good in 3 to 5 seasons.

That may be too long of a wait for you but the benefit of this is that you will be able to see your team grow and you will understand the inner dynamics of the team you support. The 3 worst teams last season were the Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic.

If you want to support a good team but do not want to be called a glory supporter, you probably should consider choosing a team planning to push into the playoffs. In the NBA there are 2 conferences east and west and the top 8 teams from each conference make the playoffs so, it is fun to support a team on the verge of making it into the playoffs, especially with the new play-in tournament, where teams from 8 – 10 compete to make up the last 2 seeds of the playoffs.

Teams to consider in this bracket I would say firstly the Charlotte Hornets, this team narrowly missed the playoffs last season and have of the funniest teams to watch with young talent like LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges plus a veteran presence of Gordon Hayward.

You could also choose the Chicago Bulls, this is a team that has underperformed ever since the Michael Jordan era, that being said this year should really be the year the Bulls finally make it into the playoffs, they have 2 all-stars now Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic. Just be warned that if you choose to support the Bulls, there are many red flags in their organisation.

Probably the most up and coming young NBA player that has not made the playoffs is probably Zion Williams, he plays for the pelicans. They are also a good team with a couple of all-stars that should be making the playoffs next season.

Okay, okay if you just want to be a full-blown glory supporter you want your team to win a championship pronto and you don’t care what people will think of you here are a few teams to think of.

The Milwaukee Bucks, this team just recently won a championship and they should be gearing up for more. Be warned though Giannis Antetokounmpo’s contract runs out after next season and he has still not made up his mind on what he will do.

The Brooklyn Nets probably have the best team going into next season with a big 3 of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. This team is probably the favourites for next season although there are injury concerns with this team.

Where is LeBron? He may be older now but he is still an icon and he now plays for the most iconic team the LA Lakers and if they win a championship this season they will have won the most NBA championships. If you want to be the ultimate glory supporter you should support the Lakers.

Whoever is drafted number one

Maybe if you want to track the career of a player you could support a player that comes from this year’s draft. The NBA draft is on the 29th of July or in the UK on 30th July at 1 am. You may decide to choose a player from that draft and follow their career. The Detroit Pistons have the number 1 pick and they are expected to draft Cade Cunningham.

What if you want your British pride to shine through in your choice of NBA team. If you want to impress the queen with your choice I would suggest the Toronto Raptors because they are the only Canadian team and Canada is part of the commonwealth.

Great Britain has rarely had a great basketball team. English teams are better than they used to be but there is still work to be done. The best player to ever play for Team GB in the Olympics would be Luol Deng he played for team GB in 2012 and he is probably best known for playing for the Chicago Bulls for a very long time. So, if you want a team.GB connection the Bulls could be the team for you.

How to keep informed with the NBA

Hopefully, you have chosen your team, there are many ways to learn about the NBA and your team, in particular, firstly I would suggest following NBA related pages on social media Twitter Instagram and Reddit. 

Then you could check out some Podcasts, there are a crazy amount of sports Podcasts to choose from so I’ll suggest two that I think will be good just for a casual introduction to the NBA, something you. can dip your toe into to see if you like it these are No Dunks and Through the Wire, both of these podcasts are quite relaxed and do not properly go into the antics of basketball.

A final good way to learn about the NBA and the players involved is to purchase an NBA2K game. These games will teach you a lot about the NBA especially in the MyLeague mode this will teach you how an NBA team is run and how. things like players congrats work.

If you are wondering where to watch NBA games there are a few ways. You could purchase an NBA league pass, this may be expensive but it is probably the best package for the NBA as you can watch games after they have played. If you have Sky Sports they play NBA games and they also show. a game for free on YouTube every Sunday. You can also watch games live on the betting site Ladbrokes if you put a bet on, this can be as low as 1p.

There it is then hopefully you have figured out what NBA team you want to support and have a good place to learn about them and also where to start to watch The NBA.

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