I lost a lot of respect and goodwill for the average NBA fan this season as I watched the Thunder ascend to the mountaintop. OKC put the lie to all the plausible explanations for why NBA fans are such bitter haters and losers:
“The modern NBA doesn’t play defense!”
“The NBA only cares about big market teams!”
“The NBA is just fake superteams, no one builds through player development, the right way!”
“NBA players are arrogant unlikeable tools!”
“NBA players are dirty and act terribly off the court!”
Okay fine then, Sam Presti built a team just for you. OKC developed its Big 3 all in house, and most of the supporting staff, too. High character guys up and down the roster. No egos, just guys having fun and being team players. They’re absolute demons on defense. Oh, and they’re playing for a city with less than 1M people, in a metro with less than 2M, smack dab in the middle of Flyover America.
Oh, and they just went 68-14 in the regular season, set an all time record for margin of victory, and won a title.
Let me look… yep, STILL hating somehow.
Social media brainrot turned the average NBA fan into a bitter fucking loser that can’t appreciate greatness. That’s why OKC isn’t getting the credit it deserves. All there is to it. Fuck em!
Those don't sound like real fans and those arguments sound 15 years old. Celtics (Tatum and Brown) were home grown, Nuggets (Jokic and Murray) were home grown, Bucks (Giannis and Middleton) were home grown. Lakers and Boston are always relevant, but small markets have done well all millennium dating back to the Spurs and Detroit. Defense has always won out,including being the actual true strength of the Warriors dynasty (D rating consistently outperforming their O rating. Draymond is a first ballot HOFer despite his personality). I don't know where you get your takes from, but I'd change it up. Read Tom Ziller, Neil Paine, Kelly Dwyer, and the real fans who love this beautiful game.
In 1977 as a 27 year old who had loved, played, & followed (NBA) basketball for 17 years, I was curious about Bill Walton's transition from UCLA to the NBA and Trail Blazers. So I kinda sorta followed the Blazers that season. Over the course of their season it became clearly apparent that they were developing into something special. By the playoffs they were playing a wonderful brand of team ball with great individual performances. Throughout the playoffs, they continued to improve. Ultimately in the Finals, you could see the getting better game by game. It was quite astonishing to watch and I don't believe I have seen any team since develop so rapidly in real time. They were an absolute joy to watch.
BTW, I recognize, appreciate, and love the Thunder's greatness, development, teamwork, etc. However, I can never root for this ex-Sonics team.
I believe that this Blazer team actually went from zero to dominant quicker than the Thunder. The three seasons before their championship, they won 27, 37, and 38 games. After their 6 game Finals win over a very good and very talented Philly team in '77, they won 50 of their first 60 games the next season. In those 60 games, they had only 1 bad loss, a 22 pt loss to those same 76ers. That is domination - at least until Walton went down, and out -with a foot injury. After that, they finished the season 8 -14, got a first round bye, and lost the Conference Finals in 6 to the Sonics.
As a life long Pacer fan I deeply respect the play of the Thunder. They wore me down and I never saw the floor 😉. The NBA game is better than ever and I’m looking forward to next season.
I think most people associate dominant teams in the NBA (in my lifetime 90s Bulls, 00s Lakers, 10s Warriors) with ones that can execute in close game situations for wins and this is just not a skill the Thunder have.
At least for me during the playoffs I felt if the game was close at the end they would lose.
They felt more like a college dominant team - typically more athletic than the competition and could use that to blow teams out.
I lost a lot of respect and goodwill for the average NBA fan this season as I watched the Thunder ascend to the mountaintop. OKC put the lie to all the plausible explanations for why NBA fans are such bitter haters and losers:
“The modern NBA doesn’t play defense!”
“The NBA only cares about big market teams!”
“The NBA is just fake superteams, no one builds through player development, the right way!”
“NBA players are arrogant unlikeable tools!”
“NBA players are dirty and act terribly off the court!”
Okay fine then, Sam Presti built a team just for you. OKC developed its Big 3 all in house, and most of the supporting staff, too. High character guys up and down the roster. No egos, just guys having fun and being team players. They’re absolute demons on defense. Oh, and they’re playing for a city with less than 1M people, in a metro with less than 2M, smack dab in the middle of Flyover America.
Oh, and they just went 68-14 in the regular season, set an all time record for margin of victory, and won a title.
Let me look… yep, STILL hating somehow.
Social media brainrot turned the average NBA fan into a bitter fucking loser that can’t appreciate greatness. That’s why OKC isn’t getting the credit it deserves. All there is to it. Fuck em!
Those don't sound like real fans and those arguments sound 15 years old. Celtics (Tatum and Brown) were home grown, Nuggets (Jokic and Murray) were home grown, Bucks (Giannis and Middleton) were home grown. Lakers and Boston are always relevant, but small markets have done well all millennium dating back to the Spurs and Detroit. Defense has always won out,including being the actual true strength of the Warriors dynasty (D rating consistently outperforming their O rating. Draymond is a first ballot HOFer despite his personality). I don't know where you get your takes from, but I'd change it up. Read Tom Ziller, Neil Paine, Kelly Dwyer, and the real fans who love this beautiful game.
In 1977 as a 27 year old who had loved, played, & followed (NBA) basketball for 17 years, I was curious about Bill Walton's transition from UCLA to the NBA and Trail Blazers. So I kinda sorta followed the Blazers that season. Over the course of their season it became clearly apparent that they were developing into something special. By the playoffs they were playing a wonderful brand of team ball with great individual performances. Throughout the playoffs, they continued to improve. Ultimately in the Finals, you could see the getting better game by game. It was quite astonishing to watch and I don't believe I have seen any team since develop so rapidly in real time. They were an absolute joy to watch.
BTW, I recognize, appreciate, and love the Thunder's greatness, development, teamwork, etc. However, I can never root for this ex-Sonics team.
I believe that this Blazer team actually went from zero to dominant quicker than the Thunder. The three seasons before their championship, they won 27, 37, and 38 games. After their 6 game Finals win over a very good and very talented Philly team in '77, they won 50 of their first 60 games the next season. In those 60 games, they had only 1 bad loss, a 22 pt loss to those same 76ers. That is domination - at least until Walton went down, and out -with a foot injury. After that, they finished the season 8 -14, got a first round bye, and lost the Conference Finals in 6 to the Sonics.
As a life long Pacer fan I deeply respect the play of the Thunder. They wore me down and I never saw the floor 😉. The NBA game is better than ever and I’m looking forward to next season.
I think most people associate dominant teams in the NBA (in my lifetime 90s Bulls, 00s Lakers, 10s Warriors) with ones that can execute in close game situations for wins and this is just not a skill the Thunder have.
At least for me during the playoffs I felt if the game was close at the end they would lose.
They felt more like a college dominant team - typically more athletic than the competition and could use that to blow teams out.