The AFL fan guide to choosing your NBA team, part 1
The AFL season is over, and whilst Western Bulldogs supporters will be celebrating all summer (and deservedly so), the NBA season is about to kick-off.
It's time throw your support behind an NBA team. If you're an AFL fan and not sure who you should support in the NBA, you're in luck - here's a handy guide to help you choose your team.
Richmond Tigers are the Sacramento Kings
Richmond fans know how to cope with disappointment. In fact, one might say that's all they get from their beloved club. To be a Sacramento Kings fan you need to be thick-skinned and stay by your team, even when they suck - which is almost always.
Richmond fans are used to this. Rebuilds and the following false dawns are commonplace in Sacramento and Richmond.
Richmond haven't won a Finals game since 2001, and don't look likely next year. Sacramento haven't been in the Playoffs since the 2005/06 season and haven't won a Playoffs series since the 2003/04 season.
Western Bulldogs are the Cleveland Cavaliers
Western Bulldogs and Cleveland Cavaliers fans had suffered for a very long time, but this all changed in 2016. The Cavaliers finally broke through and ended a 52-year Championship drought for the city of Cleveland and the Bulldogs ended a 62-year Premiership drought.
Cleveland have King James and the Western Bulldogs have King Bontempelli.
Bulldogs fans have finally tasted success and by supporting the Cavaliers whilst LeBron and Kyrie Irving are on the team, you can expect them to continue to clock up the wins.
Sydney Swans are the San Antonio Spurs
These two teams have had sustained success this century. It's pretty simple, the Spurs always make the Playoffs - they haven't missed the Playoffs since 1996/97 season. Sydney have had a say in 13 of the last 14 Finals series.
These teams never rebuild, they just regenerate talent and always find a way to win games when they need to and make some noise in the Finals and Playoffs.
The vets just keep delivering for the their respective teams, whilst the likes of Kawhi Leonard for the Spurs and Isaac Heeney for the Swans ensure they just keep winning.
Brisbane Lions are the Brooklyn Nets
Pretty obvious here. The Nets are the worst team in the league and Brisbane finished second bottom, missing out on the wooden spoon thanks to Essendon.
When you can name the kicks they're wearing but not the players 🤔 #NBAMediaDay
A photo posted by Bleacher Report Kicks (@br_kicks) on Sep 26, 2016 at 1:06pm PDT
The future of both teams aren't looking great. The Nets handed all their draft picks to the Celtics for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett a couple of years back and don't have a first round pick in the next two years because of that. Whilst that is fantastic for Boston fans, the reality is, the Nets are going to struggle for many years to come.
Brisbane have just announced a new coach for 2017, Chris Fagan, and he has his work cut out for him trying to rebuild and generate some hope for the fans.
Greater Western Sydney are the Minnesota Timberwolves
Both of these teams are young and exciting. Whilst Greater Western Sydney may be a year or two ahead of Minnesota in terms of development, both teams look to be building a strong core that will help them contend for many years to come. Embed from Getty Images
Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Antony Towns, Zach Lavine and Kris Dunn are crazy talented, much like Jeremy Cameron, Toby Greene, Dylan Shiel and Stephen Coniglio.
If you're looking for a bandwagon, but don't want to go for the super obvious choices, the Minnesota Timberwolves are the team for you.
Fremantle Dockers are the Oklahoma City Thunder
Both of these teams have been at the top of their game for the last few seasons, barring the disaster that was this past season for Fremantle.
Heading into the 2016/17 season, there are question marks aplenty for the Oklahoma City Thunder. With the biggest question mark being, who will stand up and help Russell Westbrook? He may try to do it all himself, but he will need the likes of Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo to help out.
Russell Westbrook EXPLODES down the lane for the @OKCThunder in Barcelona! #NBAGlobalGames on @NBATV https://t.co/xCqNltI70T
— NBA (@NBA) October 5, 2016
This is the case for Fremantle as well. With Nat Fyfe coming back next season, he is clearly their best player and will need those around him to stand up and help him if they are to bounce back with any success.
Port Adelaide Power are the Houston Rockets
Both teams are talented and have exciting players. James Harden can turn it on at any given moment, much like Chad Wingard. But with all the talent on the park, both fell short of expectations last season and need to improve heading into next season. Embed from Getty Images
The upcoming season for the Rockets is vital - if they fail to make noise in the Playoffs, changes will be made. This is the case for Port Adelaide too - if they miss the Finals again, surely Ken Hinkley's job will be in trouble.
Melbourne Demons are the Los Angeles Lakers
Both teams are young and talented, with the majority of pundits expecting big things coming up.
The Lakers have D'Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson - who they expect to lead them back to the top of the West. But can they live up to the hype?
The Demons have Christian Petracca, Jack Viney, Max Gawn and a newly re-signed Jesse Hogan - can these players finally help Melbourne break their Finals drought?
Whilst the some expect Melbourne to break their Finals drought in 2017, don't expect the Lakers to do so.
Adelaide Crows are the Boston Celtics
Don't get me wrong, the Boston Celtics and Adelaide Crows are very different, but they play very similarly in many ways too.
Small men are the excitement machines for their respective teams - Isaiah Thomas can go bananas and score at will, Eddie Betts can do just that as well - from anywhere on the field.
Then there is the similarities between Taylor Walker and Al Horford. Both of these big men work extremely well with the small guys. Whilst Horford and Thomas haven't played a regular season game together yet, I have a feeling that pick and roll will work very nicely. Just look at the success Horford had in Atlanta.
If your AFL team isn't above, stay tuned for part 2!