The NBA and college basketball season is right around the corner. As a huge hoops fan, this is my favorite time of year. I was wondering if there are any other BB members who are fanatics like me? I'm partial to my local and state teams (Pro-Milwaukee Bucks, College-Marquette Golden Eagles and Wisconsin Badgers) but I do follow other teams as well. I notice that this BB is not strictly gangster related so this is why I pose this topic.

Im a season ticket holder the Detroit Pistons and a few other teams(Red Wings,Lions) but I love basketball and Im glad Joe Dumars is making the Pistons a good team again.

I'm a HUGE basketball fan! Being from New York, I gotta support the Knicks & Nets. Michael Jordan & Jason Kidd are my boys! I'm going to be looking a lot at Chicago, because I love Jason William! Hope he wins Rookie of the Year! Anyone think the Lakers will loss this year? I don't. Really, who can beat them?

My NJ Nets

My NJ Nets[/QB][/quote]I hope they can! I'm pulling for them.

I think the Sacramento Kings showed them last season who will dethrone them. It all matters on Shaq's big toe. While on the subject of superstars, we haven't talked about the one who is the best of 'em all: Michael Jordan. I can't believe that he's thinking of coming off the bench!? As long as he is healthy, I see him and the Washington Wizards having a good season in the weaker Eastern Conference.

Being born and raised in Southern California, and being a lifelong Laker fan, I have to honestly say that my team has to be the favorites again. I have every confidence that Shaq will be back even better than before. If he dominated so much with a bad toe, imagine what he'll be doing to the league pain-free. Sacramento is the trendy pick right now, but they showed in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals that none of them other than Mike Bibby has the testicular fortitude to step up and make a pressure shot. And speaking of Bibby, I heard that he injured his foot. That won't be good. If the point guard is out for the preseason, it screws up the team's rhythm.

I feel sorry for you Nets fans. They may come out of the East again, but that will only mean that they're the fourth or fifth best team in the league. Mutombo was a good upgrade, and I'm excited to see what Richard Jefferson will do as a starter.

The bottom line: Lakers win again. Four-peat. Four-play. Fo' in a row. Whatever you wanna call it.

You watch wrestling? Also, and I don't mean any disrespect, but in your avatar, you look like the Rock!

I'm very excited to see what the Wizards can do. They picked up Oakley, Stackhouse, Hughes, and Russell. And like you said, they got Jordan coming off of the bench. Personally, being a long-time Knicks fan, I would love to see Ewing come off the bench as well, just to see Jordan & Ewing play on the same team!

I used to watch wrestling, which is where I did pick up the "testicular fortitude" term. And if I look like the rock in my avatar, then I will definitely take that as a compliment.

As for the Wizards, I still don't expect much out of them. Hopefully that Kwame Brown fellow will learn something from Oakley and grow the balls to play inside with the big boys. I really don't know what Ewing will do for that team. He does not seem like a coach to me. I guarantee that MJ will find a way to insert himself into the starting lineup before too long.

GO RAPTORS! Well they really don't have much of a chance to go too far and they've been struggling so far in the pre-season but I still support them. I'm still bummed that the Vancouver Grizzlies went south but hey I'm probably the only one. Don't care too much about college hoops or college football but to each his own I guess.

Don't feel sorry for us Nets fans. Last year was a dream.

In the immortal words of Rocco Lampone...
"Difficult, not impossible"

Yeah, I guess if you're a long-suffering Nets fan, a trip to the Finals is more than you can usually dream of. I, on the other hand, am spoiled. From the time I was 4 until the time I was 14, the Lakers made 9 appearances in the NBA finals and won 5 titles. I was going crazy during that run from 1989-1999 where they had no titles, but now I'm happy again with the three-peat. That's how you Yankees fans must feel, I guess.

GO ANGELS!

Heck yeah! We New Yorkers expect nothing short of the Yankees winning the World Series. It's definitely different this year since they're not in it (and it hurt so much last year that they didn't win 4 in a row), but there's always next year to look forward to!

GO GIANTS!

My parents are from Chicago, and as such I became a Bulls fan at a young age - the Gilmore/VanLier/Sloan days. Then came the glory days followed by the dismantling by Jerry Krause. I'm still a Bulls fans, but as long as Michael Jordan is playing, the first score I look for is for the Wizards. I can't stop watching that man play.

you guys ever heared of Donar from Groningen?

Me too! It's sad to know that this year (he'll be 40 remember), will probably be his last year. Still kinda brings tears to my eyes! I still wanna see him go on forever!

I don't want to see MJ retire due to injuries but I'm afraid if he does this season, then he will hang it up for good. I can't fathom not reading the sorts page and not seeing "Jordan" under statistics. Also, this "next Jordan" or "Air Canada" needs to stop. There will never, I repeat NEVER be another player who is better or made more of an impact on the game of basketball than number 23. I feel lucky to have been alive during his career.

Amen to that brother! Preach on. I'm lucky to have seen him play live, and I hope & pray to see him live again this season (for the last time probably)

They always say that there will never be another player better than (insert name here). They said that there would never be a player who could make moves in the air like Elgin Baylor. Then Dr. J came around. But no one could be better than him, they said. Then MJ came around. If you wait long enough, someone will come around that is better than him. If you told people during the 60s that there would be a 6'6" guard that would be considered better than Chamberlain, they would think you were insane.

True, and I understand where you're coming from. But there won't be another Jordan, I don't think. I mean, has there been another Babe Ruth? I don't think so. I mean, people have broke his records and such, but has there REALLY been another Babe Ruth? Has there been another Pistol Pete?

The thing about Babe Ruth and Pistol Pete that make them so memorable is that they were innovators. Babe was really the first player to use the home run as a weapon, and as a result, the game was changed. Pistol Pete was probably the first player with that kind of flash, and that also changed how the game was played. Although Jordan was great, I don't think that the game itself changed because of him. Of course, during his tenure as the league's greatest player, the NBA went global and basketball became hugely popular. He did not create the art of skywalking, he merely mastered it. Other players hit clutch shots before him. I would say that Magic Johnson had a greater impact on the game that MJ.

This is not to say that I don't appreciate the man. As a young fan I worshipped the guy, and I even managed to persuade my parents to name my brother Jordan while MJ was still at UNC. My brother is now 19, and I'm glad that it all worked out. His name just as easily could have been "Bowie."

Today's athletes are better in general than their predecessors, and that goes for all sports. Training methods are better, diets etc. This is proven by the fact that in sports in which its the athlete against a clock, like running a mile for example, or against some other measure like a high jump or pole vault, world records keep falling.

Babe Ruth and his contemporaries played in an era in which runs were cheap, just as they are in today's game. Thats why many of baseballs all time offensive records were set in the late 20's and 30's. If you have a baseball encyclopedia and looked up 1930 or 1931, you'd see that the leagues batted around .300 (as a whole!) and the league E.R.A. was probably well over 5.00.

If you check out 1968, tho, the year that Bob Gibson posted a 1.12 E.R.A. with about 10 shutouts, you'd see that there were maybe 30-40 starting pitchers with E.R.A.'s under 3.00, that hitters averaged about .230, and Carl Yazstremski won the A.L. batting championship hitting .301. In that era, runs were very scarce.

My point is that while there never be another Babe Ruth, had the Barry Bonds of 2000-2002 been playing then, his stats would have dwarfed the Babe's numbers, just like if Pedro Martinez or Randy Johnson had pitched in 1968 they probably would have been Gibson's equal or better.

Yes..First there was Elgin Baylor, then Dr.J, then MJ, but done the line somewhere there will be a player who will prove to be better than even Jordan.

I'm just sorry it wasn't Keith Van Horn (actually he was going to be the next Larry Bird)(just some humor from a die hard Nets fan)

I like to look at it like this: If you were able to pick from the all time players, in their prime, who would be your first pick? Great as they were, I don't think many would pick Erving, Baylor, or even Chamberlain. Somehow they didn't turn their teams into winners like others.

Jordan, Magic, Kareem, Russell are the players I would pick from. I think I would still go for Jordan (that shot against the Lakers when he changes hands and lays it in left-handed convinced me)but it's not easy. Who can stop a 6'9" point guard, or that sky-hook? And Russell has more rings than fingers to put them on.

If I had to pick a team of 5 guys, past or present, this would be mine:

(Remember, these guys would all be in their primes!)
Point Guard-Magic Johnson
Shooting Guard-Michael Jordan
Small Forward-Larry Bird
Power Forward-Wilt Chamberlain
Center-Kareem Abdual-Jabbar

It took some good thinking but I made a list of the top 5 players of now, all-time and other greats.

Now
Point Guard: Allen Iverson-Hate to say it, but he gets the nod.
Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant
Small Forward: Michael Jordan *Will never pick anyone over him*
Power Forward: Tim Duncan
Center: Shaquille O'Neal

All-Time
Point Guard: Magic Johnson- he and Larry Bird changed the game, before MJ.
Shooting Guard: Michael Jordan- his natural position.
Small Forward: Larry Bird- *See Magic Johnson*
Power Forward: Bill Russell- played center but HAS to be on this list
Center: Wilt Chamberlain- responsible for changes to the game

Other greats
Dr. J
Dominique Wilkins
"Pistol" Pete Maravich
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Isiah Thomas
Charles Barkley
Karl Malone
Bernard King
Sidney Moncrief
Walt Frazier
John Havlicek
Oscar Robertson

[QUOTE]Originally posted by badguytony:
[QB]It took some good thinking but I made a list of the top 5 players of now, all-time and other greats.

Now
Point Guard: Allen Iverson-Hate to say it, but he gets the nod. [QB][QUOTE]

Iverson doesn't play the point. If he did, no one else on his team - including one of all-time greats - would EVER see the ball. You can't make Bill Russel a forward, either. At least not on a team with a legit center. What would his role be? Surely not scoring.

BTW, my son gets Sports Illustrated For Kids. They pick New Orleans (nee Charlotte) and Sacremento to go to thr finals. Ha!

Plawrence-Allen Iverson is the size of point guard. Are you gonna tell me he's gonna guard a SG who's 6'6" or 6'7". Also, Bill Russell never was a scorer, he did the little things and he was great at all of them. GO BUCKS!!!

Besides, AI plays with guys of those talents in All-Star games. Didn't he win MVP of the game a few years ago? All of this is hypothetical stuff, so don't take it too seriously.

Any time someone says that Alan Iverson should be on an all-star team ahead of my man J. Kidd, and playing POINT GUARD no less, I take it VERY seriously!!