Basketball Teams, 2006

I watch a decent amount of basketball. NBA basketball that is. I'm not much for the college or high school game. I'd rather see guys getting paid for their efforts rather than being cash cows for their school. Also, I like to follow players and in college or high school ball they are only there for a maximum of four years.

I like basketball enough that the only reason I own a satellite dish is so I can see the Seattle Supersonics. A couple or three years ago Fox Sports NW bought the rights to the games which means they are only shown on cable or satellite. I'm still not particularly pleased about that. I much preferred watching the games on KONG tv. The advertisements were less annoying, particularly since there weren't ads for Fox Sports programs, all of which suck.

I grew up watching the Sonics and can remember going to my first game back when Michael Cage was playing for LA. I think it was even a playoff game. Ever since then they have been my favorite professional sports team. When Shawn Kemp started playing for Seattle that is when I really started to pay attention to the game. He was like a barely contained force of nature that just blew people away. Then Gary Payton joined them, lightning fast, insane ability to create, and one of the best defending guards in history.

The days of GP, the Reign Man, Hersey Hawkins, Detlef Schrempf, Nate McMillan, and George Karl from '93-96 remain my all-time favorite era of watching sports. I think I saw most every game that was on tv back then. I was in college and even had cable via the dormitory for part of that time. Nate was the floor general and defensive genius. Nobody ever shut down Magic Johnson like he could. Payton was the young guard who turned it over a bit too much but was insanely fast and was learning all of McMillan's defensive tricks. Kemp was the most powerful power forward in the game. Hawkins and Schrempf were role-players who could score and pass and were very smart on the court. Then there was the awesome rivalry of Utah, Seattle's more mature rival. Payton and Kemp were mirror images of Stockton and Malone. Best basketball ever.

After that era McMillan became an assistant coach, and the team broke up. I followed the Sonics some but wasn't living where I could see most of the games. Also, the team wasn't exactly worth watching after George Karl left. I much prefer a team that at least plays some defense. Then Nate McMillan became the head coach. That definitely renewed my interest. I always liked Nate because I loved his attitude and work ethic when playing the game. He was a defense leading to fast break kind of guy which is my favorite kind of basketball.

The next few years were mired in mediocrity as the players didn't seem to listen to McMillan. Then last year it was like something clicked. They started playing defense and good team offense. It was a great season. They played basketball the way basketball should be played.