Hoops Habit
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The Boys Of Autumn: The NBA Is Back

By Jason Luthor

INGLEWOOD, CA - JUNE 12: Guard Michael Jordan #23 of the Chicago Bulls sits nexts to his wife Juanita and his dad James while hugging the NBA Championship Trophy after the Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 after Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 12, 1991 at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Ken Levine/Getty Images)
INGLEWOOD, CA - JUNE 12: Guard Michael Jordan #23 of the Chicago Bulls sits nexts to his wife Juanita and his dad James while hugging the NBA Championship Trophy after the Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 after Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 12, 1991 at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Ken Levine/Getty Images) /
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The 2016-17 season is just around the corner, which means the thrills of the NBA are once again upon us.

The NBA is a pretty amazing thing. Not to give my age away, but I must have still been in elementary school when my cousin told me about a guy named Michael Jordan. Up until that point, I’d never watched a game of basketball in my life.

My elementary school childhood had been too concerned with avoiding tether balls in the school playground.

I remember that first game of basketball I watched. It was me and that same cousin, hanging out at my grandmother’s house on a school night.

My mom was on the edge of demanding we leave so she could get me to bed, but she let me hang around just long enough to see Jordan and the Bulls pull out a win against the Trail Blazers.

Related Story: 2016-17 Win Projections For All 30 NBA Teams

After that? I was hooked. The NBA was my new, favorite thing. Most things you like as a kid fade over time. Not basketball, which became the one sport I would love forever.

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My family was a military family, so they enjoyed the San Antonio Spurs, and I eventually became a fan of David Robinson. When Tim Duncan took over the team, I was right there in 1999 to see the Spurs win their first championship against the New York Knicks.

Ever since then, when the fall winds start blowing and the temperatures start to cool, I immediately know that basketball’s right around the corner. It’s been more than 20 years since I watched that first Jordan game.

Now, I get to look at players like Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin and Kawhi Leonard. All of them are battling to be the best in a new league.

The NBA is the ultimate drama, and a contrast of personalities. Curry tricks people with his outstanding ball handling, then drops back from impossibly long distance to hit a three.

LeBron James out muscles guys a foot taller than him, rips down rebounds, then drives home the sort of slam dunk that leaves your teeth rattling.

Griffin has evolved into one of the greatest big men in the game, with a killer jump shot but that same athletic ability to get to the hoop. Kawhi has the hands of a giant, constantly stripping the ball away and playing the sort of lockdown defense that warps a team’s offensive plans.

They all bring their own style to the game, but that’s the beauty of it. On any given night, the greatest players in the game bring something different. As fans of the NBA, as fans of the teams we love, it’s easy to get obsessed with a win.

Whether we’re talking about playoff seeding, PER, or player usage, there are countless ways to calculate success.

That’s fun. There’s no denying it. Still, when I think of basketball at its purest, at its most fun, I remember what it was like to just sit there with my cousin. It was basketball fandom at its purest, the kind of joy you really only have as a kid.

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It was the thrill of seeing someone do something you couldn’t possibly pull off yourself – only to try and replicate it on the basketball court the next week at school.

Even today, with all the stat tracking and constant jockeying for seeding, basketball is at its best for me when it’s just me and my friends being thrilled by the game. People sometimes question why there are 82 games. They ask why the season should be that long if only a few games matter.

The answer for me, and a lot of my friends, is because basketball isn’t always about winning. It’s about reliving that childhood joy of seeing people do the amazing. It’s the Hakeem Olajuwon Dream Shake.

It’s the Kobe Bryant fade back three. It’s the John Stockton–Karl Malone pick and roll.

The NBA, at its best, is about seeing the amazing. Yeah, everyone’s worried about winning a championship. As fans though, sometimes it’s important to just step back and enjoy the impossible.

Next: 10 Relative Unknowns Entering Defining Seasons In 2016-17

NBA opening night is Tuesday. Don’t miss the amazing.