After What Felt Like A 3 Day Offseason, The NBA Is Officially Back Tonight. For Real.
We did it. We officially made it through the NBA offseason and in just a few hours will have actual real basketball on our televisions tonight. Of course, there will be some hardos out there that will say shit like
"Who cares it's preseason basketball. The NBA sucks"
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and my response to that is pretty simple. Suck it. I'm not going to let those people bring me down and you shouldn't either. Given the fact that we were robbed of Summer League this season, I couldn't be more excited for these fake games that don't really count unless your favorite team looks great and then it's absolutely a sign of what's to come. That's the beauty of Summer League in a normal season. The hype, the ability to put all your stock into things that are good while being able to completely ignore things that might not be good because the games don't count. It's a great time. So this year that has to happen in preseason games, that's fine by me! I'm ready to overreact based on what we see these next few days leading up to the start of the regular season.
Even if most of the main players sit these games out due to the shortened offseason, there's still reasons to be excited. Just look at today's slate. This will be our first look at a bunch of intriguing rookies. There's Obi Toppin in New York
Tyrese Haliburton in Sacramento
Patrick Williams in Chicago
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Killian Hayes and Saddiq Bey in Detroit
Cole Anthony in Orlando
as well as all the second and third year guys that will be looking to make a leap this season.
It's a little confusing for my brain to be excited for preseason basketball in December, but I've stopped trying to make sense of the world. Shit is weird, so let's get weird with it. We're at the point of the NBA schedule where every fanbase is overly optimistic. This is the year your favorite team will make the Finals. This is the year that your favorite team that has been tanking for years will finally break through and make the playoffs. All your draft picks are going to be studs. There are very few times during the year where there are only positives, and preseason basketball is one of them. I'm talking from experience. Just last year I saw Carsen Edwards make 8 3PM in a preseason game against the Cavs.
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Despite the fact that once the season started he in no way looked like an NBA caliber player, I can't forget that 8 3PM game. It's why I'm still a believer. That's going to happen for some rookie this year and there's nothing wrong with that as a fan. Allow yourself to dream.
We're about to enter a stretch where there are at least 3-4 games a night from now until the start of the season on the 22nd. On most nights, it's going to be as many as 5. I can't stress this enough, don't let the hardos get you down. NBA basketball is officially back and another insane season is on the horizon. We made it.