I figured since I'm always telling people about why the Thunder are so great, I'd explore how I came to be a fan of theirs. To do this I need to go back to when I first started watching basketball. I wasn't an NBA fan my whole life. In fact, there was a time where I'd rather bust out the N64 than watch a basketball game (this was back then before the ps3 or the xbox 360). My dad was the one who introduced me to the NBA (no surprise). But the introduction wasn't a formal introduction, like the "this is this and that is that" type of intro. Rather, he would watch games on TV and every now and again I'd start watching with him. Since we live in LA and the Clippers haven't ever been relevant (unless you want to target Donald Sterling for his legal problems), the team I watched was the Lakers.
Watching the Lakers in those years was great. You had one of the most dominant centers ever in Shaq, paired with up and coming mega super star Kobe. They had a great supporting cast of role players (Robert Horry anyone?) The team was built for greatness. Going into every game, you knew the Lakers were probably the favorites to win (I can't say this for certainty for reasons I'll go into shortly). I caught games here and there during their amazing three-peat years. That got me hooked into the NBA. The year after they won their three-peat, I officially got into the NBA. This was when I started just reading box scores in my spare time (just a side note so you can see when I started remembering the stats of players). That year, the Lakers added Gary Peyton and Karl Malone! HOLY CRAP, ARE YOU SERIOUS!? That's how monumental those additions were. Going into the season, you could see the fourth championship. Of course... at that time I wasn't as exposed to the NBA as today, so I wasn't aware of things such as chemistry (AKA Shaq and Kobe wanting a divorce). I'm going to skip through the season and just say that the results of the NBA Finals were disappointing, even though you could see it from 100 miles away (a Pistons team where every player looked out for each other vs. a Lakers team where Peyton wanted minutes, Shaq and Kobe probably hated each other, and Malone got injured at the worst possible time...).
The transition started that year. A Lakers team that fell apart and was subsequently blown apart in the off season. Shaq was traded, Peyton was traded, Malone retired, Fisher left, Horry left, and Fox was packaged together with Peyton. Now you had a Lakers team that featured starting pg Chucky Atkins (Yes, the pain officially starts). This was the year where my level of Lakers "adoration" cooled considerably. Let's face it, you can like a team and support them, but when your starting pg is some unknown named Chucky Atkins, something's going to feel out of place. So since my attention wasn't focused solely on the Lakers, I started to catch glimpses of other teams. Oddly enough, I started liking underdogs. Yes, I even rooted for the Clippers at one point (seriously, they were so bad that the fans that were interviewed even admitted to liking underdogs as the only reason they watched the Clippers... sad sad sad sad sad sad SAD franchise).
Next year brought pretty much the same, except I believe we had a starting center of Kwame Brown and a starting pg of Smush Parker (you thought Chucky Atkins was bad, meet these 2). People always griped about Kobe not passing, but come on... with those 2 flanking you... would you want to pass to them? Kwame Brown was a turnover waiting to happen, and Smush Parker is Smush Parker... The Thunder still hadn't been formed yet, I hadn't found another team that I liked, AND Kobe managed to score 81 points in a game, so I was once again a full time Lakers fan. Of course, for those of you who remember (Lakers fans probably remember), the Lakers got knocked out of the playoffs by the Suns that year and the following year (Heartbreaking 3-1 lead by the Lakers and they still lost... I personally blame Smush Parker for putting up the worst playoff series ever and for being Smush Parker).The 07-08 season was when things started to change.
The 07-08 season brought about real change for me as a fan. Greg Oden and Kevin Durant had now entered the league (Oden subsequently getting injured), Seattle was about to lose it's team, and the Lakers had completed a mid season steal of Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown (yes, that same Kwame Brown I just called a turnover waiting to happen), Javaris Crittenton (the same one who decided to play gangster with Areans), and 2 first round picks (destined to be bottom picks), and the rights to Marc Gasol (the one redeeming quality of that trade). The Lakers were once again a dominant team after that stretch of mediocrity, and they managed to reach the 2008 Finals. I won't recount what happened... (Here's a hint: ANYTHING IS POSSAAAAAABULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!) In that same year I watched Durant play once or twice, and I instantly loved watching his games. Following the disappointment of the Finals loss (soft anyone?), I started warming to the former Sonics. Not to mention, Durant had a shot that I just loved watching. And it always amazed me how much of a stick he was.
08-09 season. The Lakers win the championship this year with complete dominance thanks to the Kobe + Gasol combo, the emergence of Trevor Ariza as an offensive three-ball threat (I thought he was defense only until this year), and Odom being a kick-a** sixth man turned starter thanks to the Bynum injuries. Good time to be a Lakers fan. This was also the year where the Thunder come into existence. They had drafted Russell Westbrook, Durant was entering his second year, and Green was coming along nicely. I jumped at every opportunity to watch their games. I remember having one of the worst headaches of 2009 (seriously I couldn't even stand for more than a minute without getting dizzy), and I still forced myself up just so I could watch a Clippers Thunder game. They had become THAT important to me (Did I mention yet how AMAZING Durant's shot is? The thing is seriously the closest thing to automatic from 18 feet in not called a lay-up). And I couldn't forget the rook-soph game that year, where Durant showed that he belonged in the All-Star game (seriously... watch that game and watch how Durant dominated... the MVP award for that game was his, and he showed you why). His three-ball percentage jumped 20% (thanks to some competent coaching), and for the last stretch of games they actually performed decently after one of the most abysmal starts ever... How could you not like this team?
So we come to the present year. Lakers come out as the champs and look to repeat, but that's a secondary storyline in my eyes. The primary one is the continued development of the Thunder. They took what they learned from the second half of last season, and they applied it. Came into this season projected to win about 35-37 games by most experts, they have already reached 41! Durant has increased his production in nearly every category (even turnovers...), and Westbrook should seriously be considered one of the better point guards in the league. The team has adopted a defensive mentality, ranking high among teams in the NBA in defense (I don't know the actual ranking, but they're high). Their GM is an incredibly shrewd one (Stole Eric Maynor from the Jazz, drafted Westbrook, blew up the team before the 07-08 season when he saw it wasn't working). I just have to say, this team is one of the teams of the next 10 years. If this core of players (Green, Westbrook, Durant, Harden) stays together, they could really be tops for years to come, and I just have to say I'm glad I warmed up to them before this year, because I got to catch glimpses of their journey, from the bad to the good, and the good is going to be GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!
:)
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