# Do you ever follow pro basketball?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [January 22, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331 "2012-01-22T21:18:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/1 "2012-01-22T21:18:55Z")
There seems to be a few people puzzled in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=639043) about the lack of people who actually watch (and like) basketball.
I’m one of them, since my neighbor is constantly watching it and follows it closely…so hearing that it’s seemingly not as well liked in other places was a surprise to me.
Now I know a lot of people here watch college basketball and follow that along fairly closely, but I’m not talking about that right now. I’m talking about the NBA (or WNBA even), pro basketball, which is what seems to be the thing many people don’t care for on here.
Do you watch pro basketball? If so, how closely would you say you followed it?
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### Author:  [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/2 "2012-01-22T21:28:18Z")
Nope, not a bit.
Pro basketball is what you’d get if a guy who thought soccer was boring decided to fix it by doing a find-and-replace of “not scoring” with “scoring”. Problem is, not only does that not improve anything, it actually makes it worse, since in order to accomplish that you more or less have to illegalize playing defense (which the NBA has quite handily done) and ignore any offensive rules violations (which they’re steadily working on). As I’ve said before, when it’s not uncommon for both teams to score over 100 points with a primary scoring increment of two, something pretty much has to be wrong.
Of course YMM, as always, V.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/3 "2012-01-22T21:29:52Z")
While I watch college basketball fairly regularly, I haven’t paid much attention to the NBA since the Seattle Supersonics moved to Oklahoma City. I may glance at the NBA Championship Series a bit but that’s it. If the NBA deems Seattle worthy enough to have another team, I may start watching the league again.
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### Author:  [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/4 "2012-01-22T21:30:23Z")
I really don’t follow it at all. I’ll watch some during the playoffs but not much at all during the regular season. Here in Alabama college football is king, followed by the NFL. From what I have observed from friends, sports talk radio, etc. NBA basketball doesn’t have a large following here.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/5 "2012-01-22T21:41:17Z")
Only if I’m forced to, ie, I live with someone who watches at least Bulls religiously or… if I hangout at the corner bar too much.
If I start watching, they can be fun. But I really don’t have that kinda leisure time to follow another sport; That’s why I like football.
.
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/6 "2012-01-22T21:42:17Z")
never, it pretty much is non-existant in my world
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### Author:  [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/7 "2012-01-22T21:57:31Z")
I do a quick glance to see if the Nuggets, Lakers or Knicks won, but that’s the extent of it. My mother was a huge pro basketball fan and took her to several games before she passed away. For me? Not so much.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/8 "2012-01-22T22:20:47Z")
Not in at least ten years. Don’t pay attention at all anymore.
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### Author:  [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/9 "2012-01-22T22:35:05Z")
Nope.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/10 "2012-01-22T22:48:46Z")
Pro basketball is not popular among the denizens of this board.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/11 "2012-01-22T22:53:31Z")
No. I live around Washington, DC, where we haven’t had a professional basketball team for many years now.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/12 "2012-01-22T23:00:42Z")
Don’t watch baskeball. It’s too dull.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/13 "2012-01-22T23:10:11Z")
nm
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/14 "2012-01-22T23:15:00Z")
I used to be a very big fan of 76ers, during Dr. J.'s heyday. Somewhere along the line artistry, teamwork, and fundamentals went by the boards, replaced by raw physical spectacle. Every time I’ve tried to watch it during the last 10 years I’ve been bored out of my skull by the simplistic play, and couldn’t watch more than 30 minutes of it.
I’ve never been a fan of college hoops, BTW.
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### Author:  [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/15 "2012-01-22T23:54:46Z")
Yes, quite closely, in fact.
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### Author:  [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/16 "2012-01-23T00:38:42Z")
I used to, when I had cable TV, but now that I only have over-the-air reception, there is barely any opportunity to see the NBA. I don’t miss it much. I enjoyed NBA ball in the 70s and 80s when it had more free-wheeling play and a more balanced league, but with the advent of defense-first coaching coupled with Stern’s ‘stars-get-all-the-calls’ refereeing, NBA ball became a very very boring game.
On occasion, I listen to snippets of Bucks games on the radio, or follow on Sportsline’s game tracker while doing other things.
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### Author:  [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/17 "2012-01-23T02:02:34Z")
I’m from Portland. I grew up going to Blazer games as they were the only game in town. We’re the largest market with one major league team (although we have MLS now!) I’m still very much a Blazer fan. I started a similar [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592723) last season.
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### Author:  [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/18 "2012-01-23T02:07:15Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#):
>
> I used to be a very big fan of 76ers, during Dr. J.'s heyday. Somewhere along the line artistry, teamwork, and fundamentals went by the boards, replaced by raw physical spectacle. Every time I’ve tried to watch it during the last 10 years I’ve been bored out of my skull by the simplistic play, and couldn’t watch more than 30 minutes of it.
This pretty much describes me except I was a Lakers fan. A wild and crazy Lakers fan. Once Kareem retired I started drifting away. Then the officiating began to deteriorate. Then, well, let me just say “Kobe Bryant” and leave it at that. Those Charles Barkeley commercials for Weight Watchers have made me nostalgic for the good old days of the NBA. Sigh.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/19 "2012-01-23T02:50:22Z")
I loved the Raptors. When Toronto gets a pro team again I’ll totally be into them.
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### Author:  [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-follow-pro-basketball/610331/20 "2012-01-23T03:31:21Z")
Well the fact that I thought the Raptors still existed until I read the post above should tell you how closely I follow the NBA.
And I now I see I’ve been whooshed. Again…tells you how closely I watch the NBA.
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