New Jersey Nets: Yes, you are officially entering the rebuilding from the ground up phase. With Rudy Gay, Hasheem Thabeet, Marcus Williams and possibly Jeff Adrien all suiting up for the Grizzlies, you'll see plenty of familiar faces every night. So why should you, an ATLien who loves J-Smoove care about Memphis? And why should Lakers fans deign to lower their eyes to a 24 win team with about half their payroll? Listed below is a reason for fans of every single NBA team to care about the Memphis Grizzlies.īoston Celtics: Surely some of you are UConn fans, and Memphis is quickly transforming into the Huskies of the South. It's possible, and actually pretty simple, to have a second, third, fourth, or twelfth favorite team that's located hundreds of miles from your home. Alternatively I could pull up Hoophype to check their salary structure or search every rumor involving Eddy Curry for the past few months. If I want to ask Seth at Posting and Toasting a quick question I can shoot him a tweet or email and have an answer about the Knicks within minutes. Today, however, the world has unprecedented interconnectivity. There was no other option, you loved that which you knew. They were in the news, then on the radio, and finally on the television more often than any other team. You grew up knowing only the franchise nearest to your home because of exposure. Lakers, 27 Steve Nash, Phoenix, 24 Kevin Garnett, Boston, 22 Tim Duncan, San Antonio, 18 Joe Johnson, Atlanta, 16 Deron Williams, New Jersey, 14 Rudy Gay, Memphis, 10 James Harden, Oklahoma City, 8 Luol Deng, Chicago, 5 Roy Hibbert, Indiana, 5 Manu Ginobili, San Antonio, 3 Danny Granger, Indiana, 3 Joakim Noah, Chicago, 3 Monta Ellis, Milwaukee, 2 Chris Bosh, Miami, 2 Luis Scola, Houston, 2 Marcin Gortat, Phoenix, 2 Paul Millsap, Utah, 2 Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City, 2 David Lee, Golden State, 1 and DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento, 1.Fanhood used to be an almost completely regional proposition.
Other players receiving votes, with point totals: LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland, 55 Marc Gasol, Memphis, 52 Derrick Rose, Chicago, 44 Josh Smith, Atlanta, 33 Paul Pierce, Boston, 31 Al Jefferson, Utah, 30 Pau Gasol, L.A. Guard: Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City (239) Here are the lists, with their vote totals in parenthesis:įorward: Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City (591)įorward: Blake Griffin, L.A. backcourt tandem.ĭerrick Rose did not make the list, but that was about injuries not play. Dwight Howard edged out Andrew Bynum for the top center spot (it shouldn’t have been that close, Howard is still quite a bit ahead of Bynum’s game), and it’s hard to argue the L.A. But most voters (coaches, or whichever assistant they forced to do it) were sober enough not to make those choices.Īs it should be, LeBron James and Kevin Durant were the top two vote getters.
I’d love to hear the justification of the media member that voted for Luis Scola or David Lee or Serge Ibaka on to one of these teams (they all got votes). It’s just a difference of opinion, but you can defend any of these pick. I would have had Steve Nash ahead of Rajon Rondo.
You can argue if you want (and as I would) that LaMarcus Aldridge deserves a spot on the third team more than Carmelo Anthony or Dirk Nowitzki, but that doesn’t make the guys on the list bad picks. Here’s the problem with nitpicking the All-NBA teams - there are no bad players on any of the first three.