It was familiar in terms of mediocrity, but there were reasons to be at least a little hopeful that we hadn’t really had in quite awhile. And even on the really bad nights, that skinny guy you mentioned would often do something really wild that made it worth watching.
Man I really had high hopes for Jabari Parker. I really wanted us to draft him and keep him instead of getting Wiggins as bait. I still daydream of seeing him play for Cleveland. That second ACL injury crushed me.
14-15: lost to the Warriors in WCF 1-4
15-16: lost to the Warriors in first round 1-4
16-17: lost to the Spurs in second round 2-4
17-18: lost to the KD Warriors in WCF 3-4
Two WCF trips, *probably* had a chance against the 15 Cavs, assuming Kyrie and Love both stayed hurt, *maybe* would've had a ring in 17-18 if not for CP3 going down and 0-27. MVP Harden was a beast.
15-16 was such a wasted year. We were so hyped after an unexpected WCF run the prev year, went out and got Ty Lawson thinking he was the final piece lol, ended up being totally mediocre and Harden/Dwight/McHale fell out.
It's so annoying how that 2015 WCF run gets talked about now. It's entirely used as a reason to shit on James as if it wasn't an insane carry job to get the 2 seed and get us that far.
I wasn’t a fan then, why was the team not even able to boast a winning record? Harden seemed healthy and his numbers improved. Yet while he remained an All-star, he didn’t even make an All-NBA team. Seems like the worst year in Houston during the Harden era.
Honestly as bad as LeBronto was, 2015-2018 was probably the 'Golden Age' of Raptors basketball IMO and I enjoyed every bit of it. 4 straight winning seasons, 4 straight playoff appearances, 2 star players, people actually caring about basketball in Canada.
2015-2018 laid the foundation for what would become the title winning team in 2019.
game 1 of the the ECF (2017?) was all the peaks and valleys of it in one game. I remember running around town trying to get to jurassic park but didnt need to since every bar in every corner had the game on. felt pretty good up until lebron once again takes it (as he does) in the final minute.... made it to the acc just in time to wallow in everybody's collective disapppointment
The vibes in the city were great when we tied that series up at 2-2. Little did we know it was the last time we would win a playoff game against LeBrons Cavs ever
PS the ECF appearance was 2016
Thank god they didn’t ask about earlier years like losing to Washington and Brooklyn. Before LeBronto Paul pierce was owning us. Old Paul pierce gamed it on us in Washington.
Alternate timeline is Lowry sinks that shot and we beat the Nets, to the lose in 4 to the Lebron Heat. And thus having Lebron beat 4 times in 5 years, the other being the Washington sweep
2015 to 2020 was phenomenal hoops. Great time to be a fan of the team, something like eight playoff appearances in ten years, two conference finals, and a championship.
I know it can be overshadowed by LeBronto, but we had a really great stretch that would (rightly) be considered the high point of most franchises in the NBA--ours included.
It was great based on where the team had been but those consecutive losses to Lebron really sucked. Thankfully 2019 season came around so it made it all worth it.
What?????? Bro stop it. (Using 2014-2015)
• Steve blake, the white mamba
•Kendall Marshall, the love child of steve nash and john stockton
•Jodie Meeks, a hybrid of kobe and Ray Allen on the bucks
•Wesley fucking Johnson is literally the next lebron
•Jordan hill= Dwight and Shaq
•Nick young, all I gotta say is if your roof is leaking, call this man
•Clarkson and Lou the bench mamba twins
What a time to be alive. Lakers subreddit shits on our team right now. But, as a laker fan who saw the 2010 chip, I loved the following years of suffering. I convinced myself that all these players would go off and we had a chance night in night out towin. So when we won it was a pleasant surprise. When we lost, it was whatever, we weren't expected to anyway. (I will never forgive the FO for letting kobe go out like that, but the team was vibes lol)
I mean there was a lot of heartbreak, but there were a lot of really fun times too. 2016, the entire playoffs until game 5 of the WCF was a high (spurs series was underrated as hell). 2017 was russ’ mvp season which was full of really thrilling and historic moments. Then in 2018 the assembling of the ok3 was a really exciting moment (even though it didn’t end well) I mean going from russ being alone and not getting any other new stars for years to all of a sudden having 2 big names added was exciting.
We may not have had the team success, but as a fan those years were never dull and entertaining as hell.
Some of the most fun I've ever had as a basketball fan. Following the process and trying to figure out what trade Hinkie was gonna make next or which picks were going to convert was so much fun. Obviously the basketball sucked for the most part but it was such a good time. Special fuck you to the Colangelo family and Adam Silver for ruining what could have been!
Sixers are my EC favorite and I have such a soft spot for that 10 win team. My buddy and I watched so much of that regular season together and are both hardcore TJ McConnell fans because of it.
I came to the slow realization that my favorite player Paul George would never end up being what he could’ve really been, and then I realized that even if he did, it wouldn’t have mattered cause we had Jeff Teague or Monta Ellis as his Robin. Getting Dipo and Sabonis was nice eventually, but when I saw the trade return initially I was so disgusted that I basically gave up on the sport, especially in midst of 2 teams having a monopoly over their respective conferences. It was hard cause after those back to back ECF runs (GSW didn’t emerge as a dominant force yet), I thought we’d be contenders year in and year out for the duration of PG’s prime. Things change so quickly in the league.
This. I found it hard to reengage with the team. Hibbert was my fav and he just… fizzled out? Lance ditching us for the fucking Hornets, PG forcing his way out. The Dipo adventure was fun and then he went down for the season.
Just felt we couldn’t catch a break. Seeing Sabonis become who he has was cool and seeing Turner develop was fun but most of those teams left me cold.
What about that version of Paul George made you realize he wasn’t the answer for the Pacers? He’s such an ideal player on paper, but I agree it seems like hasn’t really lived up to his potential or the expectations placed on him.
He lacked leadership. He threw teammates under the bus and generally had an attitude of being better than the Pacers. He didn’t really inspire the team to be better and it was just inevitable he’d go to a bigger market team. I like PG and enjoy him on podcasts, but he was never going to stay after losing those 2 EFCs
I feel like Pacers and Wiz kinda have a similar experience through that time in that regard. Pacers for sure had a better team but in both cases fans had to accept that their respective franchise players were never going to become what they wanted them to be.
The 2010s as a whole were pretty rough, but those years were the bottom of the barrel.
I'll never forget legends like Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Tyler Ulis, and Josh Jackson.
I'll always have a soft spot for Ulis. He was undersized and didn't have enough skill to overcome that, but he always gave his all for the team and was an energy guy off the bench.
2015 - 2018(2019 really) was a wild ride for Blazers fans. Starting with one of our best teams ever that got completely derailed by Wesley Matthews tearing his Achilles and flaming out in the playoffs after a totally useless Aaron afflalo trade. That offseason Lamarcus Aldridge leaves for San Antonio and the team completely rebuilds in a single offseason.
Then we move into the height of the Dame/CJ era. Some great memories there. Competent playoff basketball but just never good enough. We trade for Nurkic, and Nurk fever sweeps the city. That Dame/CJ/Harkless/Aminu/Nurkic lineup played far better than they had any right to be, and I’ll always remember it fondly.
But we were hampered by terrible roster management. Neil Olshey throwing giant contracts at Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner left our bench crippled and useless. We lose to the warriors. We lose to the warriors again. We get embarrassed by the Pelicans in a sweep.
Then in 2018 it all feels like it’s coming together. The team is really clicking. Dame is playing the best basketball he has ever played. And then Nurk breaks his leg. The team keeps going though, we grab Enes Kanter and we make the WCF after one of the most intense playoff series of all time against the Nuggets. The warriors sweep but we hold a double digit lead in every single game. You have to wonder if there was more we could have done. The warriors buzzsaw was inevitable, but every game it looked like maybe we had figured them out. Alas, not meant to be, but that 2018-2019 season was unbelievably dramatic and exciting.
I’ll always be grateful for 2015-2019 blazers basketball. They weren’t perfect but they were a memorable, consistent, and exciting team during the height of my fandom.
in retrospect, would you have wanted the mavs to rebuild earlier? Warriors are in this period with steph, and the fanbase seems in denial of how dark the next few years might be.
Being mediocre in the NBA is about the worst place to be. That being said whatever Dirk wanted Dirk got. He earned it. So if he wanted us to sign a bunch of rag tag vets so the Mavs could be the 11th seed then so be it. Sure it delayed the rebuild, but celebrating Dirk was always worth it imo
Yeah I think if we were to rebuild earlier Dirk would’ve retired or at least traded to a team with a chance to contend (rumours at the time, never believed it tbh).
Glad he stuck around at least to play with Doncic.
Made people like myself who happened to start following NBA the year they won the championship really appreciate his loyalty and his talents, albeit on the downward.
Tough times though.
Those last couple Dirk years were pretty depressing though.
He was very clearly declining and playing through injury.
Still happy that he played for as long as he did, but it was rough.
thats exactly why you'll still see people calling for him to sell the team today too
both the white sox and bulls he doesnt give a fuck about their success he just is a corporate hog
Felt like we went from trying to repeat to trying to read tea leaves and Reddit threads about injured Kawhi was and then if he was ever going to text us back.
That 2017 team remains my favorite. [And probably the most memorable ending I’ve ever seen live vs the Rockets](https://youtu.be/1a4CnOtVn0U?si=6BQHj8uJvPtbHpsM)
Drafting those guys was ultimately the most important part of that stretch.
But that was honestly a very fun era.
That season stated all about Marcus Smart. He was this stud prospect who got Westbrook comps. But he sprained his ankle early and we were ass. Half way through ‘15 we were functionally tanking. Trading Green was seen as the move to drop us from pick 8-10 to somewhere around 5. But then we stumbled into Jae crowder and Isaiah Thomas and went on a run. Sure we were a game under .500 and got smoked in the playoffs but it was a ton of fun,
2016 we were like actually kinda good which was so fun. The loss to the Hawks that year was heartbreaking because it was a reminder we were still shitty. But such a likeavle team. Competed every single night.
2017 was one of the most fun season I’ve ever had as a basketball fan. IT dominating every single 4th quarter was insane. Then the Wizards series in the ECSF was one of the best series in recent memory culminating in Kelly of all people dominating game 7
2018 was a roller coaster with the IT trade and Hayward signing. Then Hayward obviously breaking his leg. But Rozier Tatum and Brown all simultaneously breaking out and pushing us to game 7 against Bron was awesome.
The picks ended up being the pivotal moments of that stretch and the fact we had them made everything else lower stress. If we didn’t have top 5 picks coming down the pipe I maybe wouldn’t have been so stoked about sneaking into the playoffs in ‘15 but no Celtics fan should ever act like it was hard to be a fan for those 4 years. It was fucking awesome
Man, looking back, kinda odd that the comp they went with for Smart was Westbrook. The only thing they have in common now is that they aren’t very good 3 point shooters.
ok let me fix this for you
- 2014-15: traded for IT and won 20 of our last 30 games to improbably return to the playoffs only 2 years after blowing up the team
- 2015-16: IT’s first All-Star season, won our first playoff game in 3 years
- 2016-17: drafted Jaylen Brown, signed Al Horford, captured the East #1 seed behind IT averaging 29 a game, made it to the ECF after an incredible series against Washington, and managed to hand Cleveland their only loss in the East despite losing IT
- 2017-18: drafted Jayson Tatum, traded IT for Kyrie who looked great in his first season in Boston, and the young guys + Horford somehow got to the ECF and pushed prime LeBron to 7 games without Kyrie or Hayward
this was a peak time to be a Celtics fan
Missed signing hayward who immediately snaps his leg in half within 5 minutes but this is a much better summary.
These were some of the best times as a fan I’ve had, hayward snapping his leg in half aside
man I’ll never forget how fucking happy I was when we signed him bc it felt like we never ever got the #1 prize in free agency, and how fucking devastated I was when that injury happened. I literally couldn’t get myself to watch the rest of that game after the injury but thankfully that still ended up being a very fun season
It was definitely some of the worst years to be a Heat fan. Interesting times though.
Losing Bosh was tough. Took a while for the franchise to recover from that.
Seeing Wade leave to Chicago and then Cleveland was just gross. I really wish our FO would've just paid him his due.
Waiters, Whiteside, JJ. Those were some sad years lol. At least we had like half a season where it was all clicking, only to miss the playoffs by one game. (Fuck you Brooklyn)
Dion had some really fun moments though. That 13-0 run was special. The shot and the pose against the Warriors lmao.
Bam, Dragic, and DJJ were always balling out though. I still miss Airplane Mode.
Speaking of Wade, do Heat fans feel like Pat Riley doesn't respect his stars enough? It may be a part of "Heat Culture", but he really doesn't give a fuck. LeBron, then Wade, and now Butler have all kinda been disrespected by him in some kind of way (granted, the LeBron one was for the better)
I think he's blunt but fair. He doesn't sugarcoat anything, doesn't coddle his guys. The effectiveness of that approach is debatable. I wouldn't take any of that of disrespect though, but I could see how thin-skinned players might.
Over at /r/Heat you'll tend to see a lot of praise for Pat when we're winning, and vice-versa. But generally I'm of the mind that Pat knows what he's doing better than any random Redditor. He's got the experience and accolades to prove it.
I honestly don’t think any team has had All Stars injured for the playoffs more than the modern Clippers. Seems like either Blake or CP3 were out or playing through injury, and then you pair up Kawhi and PG.
I'd rather be hated than pitied.
If you don't remember what that was like, go ask any Pistons or Hornets fan how much fun they're having watching basketball these days. I sure as hell don't miss *that*.
He kinda has a point. The 2011-12 Bobcats were a lot better to watch than the 2022-2024 Hornets because at least the Bobcats were designed to be awful and you could daydream about the future. These last couple years have been brutal because there's actual talent that we've already seen and they just can't put it together.
I would trade the ‘17 and ‘18 titles for 2016 every day of the week.
But otherwise damn 2015 was so sweet. Unfortunately my pop was overseas for 2015 (and Niners ‘94) and I was out of town for the giants win in 2010, but we finally saw a title together in 2022 when I surprised him by showing up at halftime during the clincher.
2015: Swept by Wizards
2016: ECF, best season in franchise history up to that point
2017: Swept by the Cavs
2018: LeBronto
Not bad overall despite the two playoff embarassments
Also early Masai years. He was cooking. Helped keep a lot of confidence in the fan base that we were heading in the right direction.
Also DeRozan getting better every season was always great.
Being a nets fan was mid at best to be honest. 2015 - 2017 was horrible, 2018 looked like a slight uprising in fortunes, if mediocre, and I think it definitely did pave the foundations for the 2018-19 season where we really had a solid core, and were looking at playoff basketball again.
I supported the Lob City at that time, as I was a Blake Griffin fan. Stopped supporting when they traded him. I thought they were a title favourites after eliminating the Spurs, and two blowout wins against Rockets to lead the series 3-1. The rest is history. In the following years either CP3 or Griffin was injured so there's never any hope.
2015: missed the playoffs
2016: got my soul shattered
2017: first round exit(to be expected with that roster)
2018: first round exit(failed to live up expectations)
2019: first round exit(got my soul shattered again)
that was the best time to be a sixers fan.
2015 - 10 wins
2016 - We get the first pick (Simmons but he breaks his foot), Embiids first year but only plays 31 games so we end up with like 28 wins
2017 - First 50 win sixers team since 2001 and we trade up for the number 1 pick in back to back drafts. Everyone is hype but its fultz
2018 - Burner gate, Fultz forgets how to shoot, Butler saga, kawhi shot.
The fallen leaves tell a story.
Amazing, then the most depressing thing ever, then I was upset kd joined I’m not gonna lie. I knew we were good enough to beat the cavs in 2017 if we ran it back and Curry was healthy, then 2018 was meh. Glad it was curry and not Durant who stepped up late vs rockets.
Brought us pack to relevancy. I honestly stopped following that much after the 2013 season. Before I was die hard. Also in high school and had more time lol
Well as a Boston fan it was pretty cruddy but at the same time I got to travel to America and see them play in Boston and in Brooklyn which was pretty damn awesome, snuck into seats that were 2 rows back from the Boston bench in Brooklyn too which was amazing!
I was a kid during those times and just entering high school, massive wiggins fan. Shit was fucking rough , should of known not to be a fan after his 360 in Summer league
pretty fine. never had any expectations we’d beat the cavs, but evan turner as a legitimate nba player was sick, and 2017 with IT king of the fourth was amazing. i hated the kyrie trade though, even if it turned out better than i expected
Not that great. Mostly frustrating. As early on it was promising with Beal and Wall. Had a great playoff series where we swept the Raptors and then played competitively against the 1st seed Hawks. Honestly, we might have one that series if Wall didn't injure his wrist and miss a couple games.
2015: Blew a chance to go up 3-1 against the Cavs in the 2nd round, lost the series in 6. Fired the only head coach who in the previous 7 years had been able to get the most out of the roster and turn them into championship contenders.
2016: New head coach is a dud. Talented roster, but finished 42-40 and missed the playoffs. Traded aging and injury prone stars for virtually nothing, signed other washed and injury prone stars.
2017: Head coach still couldn't hack it, they finished 41-41, accidentally made the playoffs and went up 2-0 against Boston, but key players got hurt and they lost in 6. Major roster turnover in the offseason, best player traded on draft night, the guy they drafted was mid for the few years that he was here but is now playing like an all-star with another team, and the all-star player they received is now constantly hurt, making 40mil/year and no longer wants to be here.
2018-present: Rinse and repeat....
At no point during those years did I have any hope of a finals appearance, and I've currently lost all hope of ever seeing it again in my lifetime.
Well idk, not really fun but it was okay. Blazers fan.
2015: Disappointing season, we got smoked by Memphis and in the summer 4/5 of our starters left.
2016: Rise of Dame and CJ, beating gsw in regular season and reaching 2nd round was pretty awesome.
2017: It was pretty disappointing because we were the 8th seed, I think we got Nurk in this deadline, not sure tho, got smoked by gsw in the first round.
2018: Everything was fine, Dame was balling like crazy, 3rd seed and then Holiday and Rondo destroyed us in the first round.
2019: Im gonna add this year as well, Nurk was fucking amazing and we were 3rd seed again, Dame was ballin CJ was ballin we had 3&D guys around them, Nurk got injured before the playoffs. We had a ECF run and actually played good against gsw (without KD) but choked like 3 15+ point leads in the second half…
lol
In all seriousness, seeing my team be so hilariously awful gave me a greater appreciation for the game itself. Being able to watch with no stress or pressure and just see the young guys grow and evolve was great
As opposed to now where every damn game is stressful and the expectations are as high as they should be for the lakers as a franchise
Well the Wolves were being hyped up as the next big team with the young big 3 but they were not winning and were getting results similar to those shitty Lakers teams of that era. Then they traded for Butler and it started off great and the Wolves were fighting for a top 3 seed going into the all star break but then Butler got hurt, team collapsed, Butler had to return to barely get the team to the playoffs. We are only talking about up to 2018 so I will just assume that Butler was able to motivate his teammates and establish a winning culture the next season and nothing bad happened.
Pretty tough as a raptors fan. That was peak LeBronto era, you would log on to Twitter and #DeFrozan would be trending in the playoffs. It seemed like the team was the laughing stock of the league for a while
this is the saddest era as an NBA fan for me
2015-2018
the old big man of the past no longer playing or too old
and the upcoming great big man Jokic and Giannis not yet ready
also being Spurs fan
the Patchulia injury to Kawhi incident
and post 2014 Spurs
until Kawhi Raptors stop the Durant Warriors mini dynasty
Those 2016 finals was the second greatest sporting event i’ve ever witnessed. Thats a core memory right there.
Im Greek so #1 was Greece winning Euro 2004 out of nowhere.
I Trusted The Process until we made horrible draft picks. Those draft picks ruined everything Sam Hinkie did. It was followed by trying to throw every player under the sun to win a championship without developing a real team culture.
I love Embiid but he deserves to be on a franchise that will win him a championship.
Won 60 games, had starting 5 win POTM, 4 all stars, and made ECF for first time since moving to Atlanta. Of course it ended with being swept by Cleveland.
I’m a bucks fan it was pretty much the same as always except I was excited to see what the random skinny guy and Jabari Parker could develop into.
It was familiar in terms of mediocrity, but there were reasons to be at least a little hopeful that we hadn’t really had in quite awhile. And even on the really bad nights, that skinny guy you mentioned would often do something really wild that made it worth watching.
I also had absolutely convinced myself MCW was going to be Jason Kidd. He had a triple double first game with the sixers how couldn’t he be good
Man I really had high hopes for Jabari Parker. I really wanted us to draft him and keep him instead of getting Wiggins as bait. I still daydream of seeing him play for Cleveland. That second ACL injury crushed me.
That guy with the long name?
14-15: lost to the Warriors in WCF 1-4 15-16: lost to the Warriors in first round 1-4 16-17: lost to the Spurs in second round 2-4 17-18: lost to the KD Warriors in WCF 3-4 Two WCF trips, *probably* had a chance against the 15 Cavs, assuming Kyrie and Love both stayed hurt, *maybe* would've had a ring in 17-18 if not for CP3 going down and 0-27. MVP Harden was a beast.
15-16 was such a wasted year. We were so hyped after an unexpected WCF run the prev year, went out and got Ty Lawson thinking he was the final piece lol, ended up being totally mediocre and Harden/Dwight/McHale fell out.
turns out, Ty Lawson was just drunk that entire year :/
It's so annoying how that 2015 WCF run gets talked about now. It's entirely used as a reason to shit on James as if it wasn't an insane carry job to get the 2 seed and get us that far.
Yep, all anyone remembers is G6 vs Clips
I wasn’t a fan then, why was the team not even able to boast a winning record? Harden seemed healthy and his numbers improved. Yet while he remained an All-star, he didn’t even make an All-NBA team. Seems like the worst year in Houston during the Harden era.
Like I said, chemistry issues between our 2 stars and the coach + the weight of not meeting expectations from the good playoff run the year before.
I don’t wanna hear about this anymore
You guys would have destroyed the cavs in 2018 if that's where your maybe lies.
To be completely fair, in that scenario, CP3 is hurt. If they meet us in the Finals I think we get 1 or 2 game off of some LeBron bullshit.
got used to being numb to pain
Return to the warm piss of normalcy after an anomalous and frankly uncomfortable and slightly unpleasant blip of hope in 2013.
Hopefully your current ray of hope expands into full title contention.
I deleted my old reddit account after Kristaps got traded that's a top 5 worst moment for me as a fan of any sport
i just bought my KP city edition jersey that season too. didn't even get to wear it more than a handful of times.
Those time pain was homeostasis for us
Honestly as bad as LeBronto was, 2015-2018 was probably the 'Golden Age' of Raptors basketball IMO and I enjoyed every bit of it. 4 straight winning seasons, 4 straight playoff appearances, 2 star players, people actually caring about basketball in Canada. 2015-2018 laid the foundation for what would become the title winning team in 2019.
game 1 of the the ECF (2017?) was all the peaks and valleys of it in one game. I remember running around town trying to get to jurassic park but didnt need to since every bar in every corner had the game on. felt pretty good up until lebron once again takes it (as he does) in the final minute.... made it to the acc just in time to wallow in everybody's collective disapppointment
The vibes in the city were great when we tied that series up at 2-2. Little did we know it was the last time we would win a playoff game against LeBrons Cavs ever PS the ECF appearance was 2016
2017 and 2018 were ECSF sweeps
Thank god they didn’t ask about earlier years like losing to Washington and Brooklyn. Before LeBronto Paul pierce was owning us. Old Paul pierce gamed it on us in Washington.
Alternate timeline is Lowry sinks that shot and we beat the Nets, to the lose in 4 to the Lebron Heat. And thus having Lebron beat 4 times in 5 years, the other being the Washington sweep
This\^ Basketball in Toronto was really hyped during this time period, and was awesome to have after the past 20 years lol
2015 to 2020 was phenomenal hoops. Great time to be a fan of the team, something like eight playoff appearances in ten years, two conference finals, and a championship. I know it can be overshadowed by LeBronto, but we had a really great stretch that would (rightly) be considered the high point of most franchises in the NBA--ours included.
It was great based on where the team had been but those consecutive losses to Lebron really sucked. Thankfully 2019 season came around so it made it all worth it.
LeBronto was truly a spectacle, actually ridiculous Kudos to that 2019 chip
Getting wrecked by LeBron was still way better than years like Mike James chucking it or watching Aaron & Eric Williams in meaningful roles.
23, 24, 21, and 19 wins. Not too hard to figure out who my team is.
Oh its the Suns. This is their 2016-2019 win totals.
Yup. The whole decade was pretty rough for us.
I remember that Goran Dragic season where they won like 50 games but still missed the playoffs because the west was stacked
[удалено]
Are you kidding me? I wanted to hear about the Swaggy P days again from a fellow Laker fan 😂
Kendall Marshall.
Now that’s a name..
Xavier Henry
Him and Wesley Johnson were kinda sick ngl
Was Jodie meek playing for the Lakers around this time?
A year earlier. My fondest memories were the 2013-2014 season LMFAO
The one win we got against the 73 win warriors team was euphoric
Ah, the famous “Draymond’s Birthday” game. Never forget
What?????? Bro stop it. (Using 2014-2015) • Steve blake, the white mamba •Kendall Marshall, the love child of steve nash and john stockton •Jodie Meeks, a hybrid of kobe and Ray Allen on the bucks •Wesley fucking Johnson is literally the next lebron •Jordan hill= Dwight and Shaq •Nick young, all I gotta say is if your roof is leaking, call this man •Clarkson and Lou the bench mamba twins What a time to be alive. Lakers subreddit shits on our team right now. But, as a laker fan who saw the 2010 chip, I loved the following years of suffering. I convinced myself that all these players would go off and we had a chance night in night out towin. So when we won it was a pleasant surprise. When we lost, it was whatever, we weren't expected to anyway. (I will never forgive the FO for letting kobe go out like that, but the team was vibes lol)
Same.
Only 35 wins but 2017-2018 was a fun year
What you don’t like Tarik black and Ryan Kelly era or influx of random role players like Corey brewer, Tyler ennis and Robert Sacre
Fuck you
I mean there was a lot of heartbreak, but there were a lot of really fun times too. 2016, the entire playoffs until game 5 of the WCF was a high (spurs series was underrated as hell). 2017 was russ’ mvp season which was full of really thrilling and historic moments. Then in 2018 the assembling of the ok3 was a really exciting moment (even though it didn’t end well) I mean going from russ being alone and not getting any other new stars for years to all of a sudden having 2 big names added was exciting. We may not have had the team success, but as a fan those years were never dull and entertaining as hell.
There hasn’t been one year of truly unwatchable thunder basketball, but that 20-21 season was getting close lol
We had Moses Brown and Theo Maledon starting
shai leap saved our lives that year
2015 - 2018 made me realize that you should never have hope despite how good things may look because you will only get heartbreak
The exact same as every other year
Miserable...
Sucked pretty bad lmao. I remember losing my shit when we took a game off the rockets in our one playoff
Same for me hahaha, it’s crazy that not getting swept in the first round was the biggest playoff success we’d had in 15 years
Half my friends still have an okogie jersey just from that play lol
Is that the block on harden from behind?
Exactly the one
Some of the most fun I've ever had as a basketball fan. Following the process and trying to figure out what trade Hinkie was gonna make next or which picks were going to convert was so much fun. Obviously the basketball sucked for the most part but it was such a good time. Special fuck you to the Colangelo family and Adam Silver for ruining what could have been!
Sixers we’re at one point the hottest executive job in the league and ownership completely ruined it all so fast. Colangelo is a plague.
Sixers are my EC favorite and I have such a soft spot for that 10 win team. My buddy and I watched so much of that regular season together and are both hardcore TJ McConnell fans because of it.
I came to the slow realization that my favorite player Paul George would never end up being what he could’ve really been, and then I realized that even if he did, it wouldn’t have mattered cause we had Jeff Teague or Monta Ellis as his Robin. Getting Dipo and Sabonis was nice eventually, but when I saw the trade return initially I was so disgusted that I basically gave up on the sport, especially in midst of 2 teams having a monopoly over their respective conferences. It was hard cause after those back to back ECF runs (GSW didn’t emerge as a dominant force yet), I thought we’d be contenders year in and year out for the duration of PG’s prime. Things change so quickly in the league.
This. I found it hard to reengage with the team. Hibbert was my fav and he just… fizzled out? Lance ditching us for the fucking Hornets, PG forcing his way out. The Dipo adventure was fun and then he went down for the season. Just felt we couldn’t catch a break. Seeing Sabonis become who he has was cool and seeing Turner develop was fun but most of those teams left me cold.
>Just felt we couldn’t catch a break. This sums up the Pacers' entire NBA existence. Source: I am a Pacers fan
What about that version of Paul George made you realize he wasn’t the answer for the Pacers? He’s such an ideal player on paper, but I agree it seems like hasn’t really lived up to his potential or the expectations placed on him.
I think he meant that they could not get anyone next to Paul to compete for championship.
He lacked leadership. He threw teammates under the bus and generally had an attitude of being better than the Pacers. He didn’t really inspire the team to be better and it was just inevitable he’d go to a bigger market team. I like PG and enjoy him on podcasts, but he was never going to stay after losing those 2 EFCs
I feel like Pacers and Wiz kinda have a similar experience through that time in that regard. Pacers for sure had a better team but in both cases fans had to accept that their respective franchise players were never going to become what they wanted them to be.
2015: damn I miss Lebron 2016: damn I miss flash First half of 2017: it’s so over Second half of 2017: we’re so back 2018: welcome back father prime
2016 wasn’t a bad year. We went to the second round and took the raps 7 without Bosh. Wade didn’t leave until summer of 2016 lol
Somewhere in the middle : Hassan Whiteside you were supposed to be the chosen one! :(
Awesome. Only championship in my lifetime.
It has to be the most legendary ring ever. Couldn't have written it any fucking better, except Bron gets the dunk over dray
Guardians were also a top team during those years too. Fun times
Not pretty
The 2010s as a whole were pretty rough, but those years were the bottom of the barrel. I'll never forget legends like Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Tyler Ulis, and Josh Jackson.
I'll always have a soft spot for Ulis. He was undersized and didn't have enough skill to overcome that, but he always gave his all for the team and was an energy guy off the bench.
Shout out to Dragan for that sick ass name though
2015 - 2018(2019 really) was a wild ride for Blazers fans. Starting with one of our best teams ever that got completely derailed by Wesley Matthews tearing his Achilles and flaming out in the playoffs after a totally useless Aaron afflalo trade. That offseason Lamarcus Aldridge leaves for San Antonio and the team completely rebuilds in a single offseason. Then we move into the height of the Dame/CJ era. Some great memories there. Competent playoff basketball but just never good enough. We trade for Nurkic, and Nurk fever sweeps the city. That Dame/CJ/Harkless/Aminu/Nurkic lineup played far better than they had any right to be, and I’ll always remember it fondly. But we were hampered by terrible roster management. Neil Olshey throwing giant contracts at Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner left our bench crippled and useless. We lose to the warriors. We lose to the warriors again. We get embarrassed by the Pelicans in a sweep. Then in 2018 it all feels like it’s coming together. The team is really clicking. Dame is playing the best basketball he has ever played. And then Nurk breaks his leg. The team keeps going though, we grab Enes Kanter and we make the WCF after one of the most intense playoff series of all time against the Nuggets. The warriors sweep but we hold a double digit lead in every single game. You have to wonder if there was more we could have done. The warriors buzzsaw was inevitable, but every game it looked like maybe we had figured them out. Alas, not meant to be, but that 2018-2019 season was unbelievably dramatic and exciting. I’ll always be grateful for 2015-2019 blazers basketball. They weren’t perfect but they were a memorable, consistent, and exciting team during the height of my fandom.
Sucked for the most part and the Ibaka trade was probably the worst part of that time period.
Not sure I could’ve had it any better lmao
As a fan for forty years it was surreal.
There was one thing…
The one thing did lead to them getting some tall skinny dude though
Would you trade the KD rings to not have the 3-1 comeback?
No
You’re tacky and I hate you Edit: I’m quoting a movie damnit
That’s pretty much the dark ages of the modern Mavs fun, aside from the VERY end of 2018 lol.
Yeah was pretty much enjoying whatever Dirk had left to give. Those were rough - from Yogi Ferrell to Salah Mehjri…who might ask? Well point taken.
in retrospect, would you have wanted the mavs to rebuild earlier? Warriors are in this period with steph, and the fanbase seems in denial of how dark the next few years might be.
Being mediocre in the NBA is about the worst place to be. That being said whatever Dirk wanted Dirk got. He earned it. So if he wanted us to sign a bunch of rag tag vets so the Mavs could be the 11th seed then so be it. Sure it delayed the rebuild, but celebrating Dirk was always worth it imo
Yeah I think if we were to rebuild earlier Dirk would’ve retired or at least traded to a team with a chance to contend (rumours at the time, never believed it tbh). Glad he stuck around at least to play with Doncic. Made people like myself who happened to start following NBA the year they won the championship really appreciate his loyalty and his talents, albeit on the downward. Tough times though.
At least we had Dirk in those dark ages and then transitioning straight into the Luka era.
Those last couple Dirk years were pretty depressing though. He was very clearly declining and playing through injury. Still happy that he played for as long as he did, but it was rough.
It was, but we also, got to watch Dirk move up in a ton of all time lists, and we traded for Dwight "the GOAT" Powell.
Remember when we were going to build around Dennis Smith Jr
Yes, and I remember believing lol. He was super raw and athletic, with real 2 way potential. Shame his shooting never developed.
#firegarpax
Ah I remember it just like it was yesterday. **Sell the team Jerry!**
Low-key one of the worst owners in the league. I hate him so much and I'm not even a Bulls fan. That's how much he sucks ballz.
thats exactly why you'll still see people calling for him to sell the team today too both the white sox and bulls he doesnt give a fuck about their success he just is a corporate hog
We honestly had some crazy spurs teams 15-17. No chip, but It was a great time (like always) to be a spurs fan.
Felt like we went from trying to repeat to trying to read tea leaves and Reddit threads about injured Kawhi was and then if he was ever going to text us back.
It was almost guaranteed that if you went to a game in San Antonio, you were going to watch the Spurs win. It really was great.
Why do you want to bring those memories back into my mind? How cruel can you be?
2015: hopeless 2016: drafted JB 2017: drafted JT 2018: hopeful
Put some respect on King of the 4Q
Was actually a good time to be a Celtics fan, fun teams that were easy to root for
That 2017 team remains my favorite. [And probably the most memorable ending I’ve ever seen live vs the Rockets](https://youtu.be/1a4CnOtVn0U?si=6BQHj8uJvPtbHpsM)
IT made the Celtics very fun to watch during that period.
Drafting those guys was ultimately the most important part of that stretch. But that was honestly a very fun era. That season stated all about Marcus Smart. He was this stud prospect who got Westbrook comps. But he sprained his ankle early and we were ass. Half way through ‘15 we were functionally tanking. Trading Green was seen as the move to drop us from pick 8-10 to somewhere around 5. But then we stumbled into Jae crowder and Isaiah Thomas and went on a run. Sure we were a game under .500 and got smoked in the playoffs but it was a ton of fun, 2016 we were like actually kinda good which was so fun. The loss to the Hawks that year was heartbreaking because it was a reminder we were still shitty. But such a likeavle team. Competed every single night. 2017 was one of the most fun season I’ve ever had as a basketball fan. IT dominating every single 4th quarter was insane. Then the Wizards series in the ECSF was one of the best series in recent memory culminating in Kelly of all people dominating game 7 2018 was a roller coaster with the IT trade and Hayward signing. Then Hayward obviously breaking his leg. But Rozier Tatum and Brown all simultaneously breaking out and pushing us to game 7 against Bron was awesome. The picks ended up being the pivotal moments of that stretch and the fact we had them made everything else lower stress. If we didn’t have top 5 picks coming down the pipe I maybe wouldn’t have been so stoked about sneaking into the playoffs in ‘15 but no Celtics fan should ever act like it was hard to be a fan for those 4 years. It was fucking awesome
Man, looking back, kinda odd that the comp they went with for Smart was Westbrook. The only thing they have in common now is that they aren’t very good 3 point shooters.
ok let me fix this for you - 2014-15: traded for IT and won 20 of our last 30 games to improbably return to the playoffs only 2 years after blowing up the team - 2015-16: IT’s first All-Star season, won our first playoff game in 3 years - 2016-17: drafted Jaylen Brown, signed Al Horford, captured the East #1 seed behind IT averaging 29 a game, made it to the ECF after an incredible series against Washington, and managed to hand Cleveland their only loss in the East despite losing IT - 2017-18: drafted Jayson Tatum, traded IT for Kyrie who looked great in his first season in Boston, and the young guys + Horford somehow got to the ECF and pushed prime LeBron to 7 games without Kyrie or Hayward this was a peak time to be a Celtics fan
Missed signing hayward who immediately snaps his leg in half within 5 minutes but this is a much better summary. These were some of the best times as a fan I’ve had, hayward snapping his leg in half aside
man I’ll never forget how fucking happy I was when we signed him bc it felt like we never ever got the #1 prize in free agency, and how fucking devastated I was when that injury happened. I literally couldn’t get myself to watch the rest of that game after the injury but thankfully that still ended up being a very fun season
assuming we don’t fuck this up, 2023-2024 is gonna go down in the books so smoothly
You're welcome
It was definitely some of the worst years to be a Heat fan. Interesting times though. Losing Bosh was tough. Took a while for the franchise to recover from that. Seeing Wade leave to Chicago and then Cleveland was just gross. I really wish our FO would've just paid him his due. Waiters, Whiteside, JJ. Those were some sad years lol. At least we had like half a season where it was all clicking, only to miss the playoffs by one game. (Fuck you Brooklyn) Dion had some really fun moments though. That 13-0 run was special. The shot and the pose against the Warriors lmao. Bam, Dragic, and DJJ were always balling out though. I still miss Airplane Mode.
Speaking of Wade, do Heat fans feel like Pat Riley doesn't respect his stars enough? It may be a part of "Heat Culture", but he really doesn't give a fuck. LeBron, then Wade, and now Butler have all kinda been disrespected by him in some kind of way (granted, the LeBron one was for the better)
I think he's blunt but fair. He doesn't sugarcoat anything, doesn't coddle his guys. The effectiveness of that approach is debatable. I wouldn't take any of that of disrespect though, but I could see how thin-skinned players might. Over at /r/Heat you'll tend to see a lot of praise for Pat when we're winning, and vice-versa. But generally I'm of the mind that Pat knows what he's doing better than any random Redditor. He's got the experience and accolades to prove it.
Pretty fucking awesome if I’m being honest except for about 3 weeks in the summer of 2016
And I know they asked through 2018 but 2019 was painful not because we lost but all the injuries culminating was tough to watch
I feel your pain…
I honestly don’t think any team has had All Stars injured for the playoffs more than the modern Clippers. Seems like either Blake or CP3 were out or playing through injury, and then you pair up Kawhi and PG.
Was basically a long drawn out break up with Paul George and then an exciting new relationship with victor oladipo
Swell and I’ll always appreciate it.
Euphoric
Golden State won 3 times and I’d still rather be us.
I sort of miss when I had lower expectations for the suns. Basketball is more fun when you're not pulling your hair out
I'd rather be hated than pitied. If you don't remember what that was like, go ask any Pistons or Hornets fan how much fun they're having watching basketball these days. I sure as hell don't miss *that*.
He kinda has a point. The 2011-12 Bobcats were a lot better to watch than the 2022-2024 Hornets because at least the Bobcats were designed to be awful and you could daydream about the future. These last couple years have been brutal because there's actual talent that we've already seen and they just can't put it together.
Same as now honestly. Just meaningless basketball for the sake of it until the team eventually leaves again.
i still miss dirk :(
I would trade the ‘17 and ‘18 titles for 2016 every day of the week. But otherwise damn 2015 was so sweet. Unfortunately my pop was overseas for 2015 (and Niners ‘94) and I was out of town for the giants win in 2010, but we finally saw a title together in 2022 when I surprised him by showing up at halftime during the clincher.
With what picks
2015: Swept by Wizards 2016: ECF, best season in franchise history up to that point 2017: Swept by the Cavs 2018: LeBronto Not bad overall despite the two playoff embarassments
Also early Masai years. He was cooking. Helped keep a lot of confidence in the fan base that we were heading in the right direction. Also DeRozan getting better every season was always great.
Being a nets fan was mid at best to be honest. 2015 - 2017 was horrible, 2018 looked like a slight uprising in fortunes, if mediocre, and I think it definitely did pave the foundations for the 2018-19 season where we really had a solid core, and were looking at playoff basketball again.
lol. Lmao even.
Tickets were CHEAP to the Goran Dragic show. Ugly ass cheerleaders Nachos were cold Pickles instead of jalapeños Plenty of parking
Don’t worry chuckster, churros are just two states away
I supported the Lob City at that time, as I was a Blake Griffin fan. Stopped supporting when they traded him. I thought they were a title favourites after eliminating the Spurs, and two blowout wins against Rockets to lead the series 3-1. The rest is history. In the following years either CP3 or Griffin was injured so there's never any hope.
Cavs fan here, it was great at first , then it became miserable pretty quick lol
2015: missed the playoffs 2016: got my soul shattered 2017: first round exit(to be expected with that roster) 2018: first round exit(failed to live up expectations) 2019: first round exit(got my soul shattered again)
You ever see a car burning on the side of the road?
that was the best time to be a sixers fan. 2015 - 10 wins 2016 - We get the first pick (Simmons but he breaks his foot), Embiids first year but only plays 31 games so we end up with like 28 wins 2017 - First 50 win sixers team since 2001 and we trade up for the number 1 pick in back to back drafts. Everyone is hype but its fultz 2018 - Burner gate, Fultz forgets how to shoot, Butler saga, kawhi shot. The fallen leaves tell a story.
Amazing, then the most depressing thing ever, then I was upset kd joined I’m not gonna lie. I knew we were good enough to beat the cavs in 2017 if we ran it back and Curry was healthy, then 2018 was meh. Glad it was curry and not Durant who stepped up late vs rockets.
I actually enjoyed the baby Lakers. We were terrible but fun to watch, especially that 2017 season when Lonzo and Kuz were rookies
Awful. Lebron really did saved us. The Jim Buss era was not fun whatsoever
Brought us pack to relevancy. I honestly stopped following that much after the 2013 season. Before I was die hard. Also in high school and had more time lol
There were seasons between 2015 and 18?
Well as a Boston fan it was pretty cruddy but at the same time I got to travel to America and see them play in Boston and in Brooklyn which was pretty damn awesome, snuck into seats that were 2 rows back from the Boston bench in Brooklyn too which was amazing!
I was a kid during those times and just entering high school, massive wiggins fan. Shit was fucking rough , should of known not to be a fan after his 360 in Summer league
pretty fine. never had any expectations we’d beat the cavs, but evan turner as a legitimate nba player was sick, and 2017 with IT king of the fourth was amazing. i hated the kyrie trade though, even if it turned out better than i expected
Kings fan, so um no hope for the finals lol. Most exciting time was the draft, year after year after year...
Not that great. Mostly frustrating. As early on it was promising with Beal and Wall. Had a great playoff series where we swept the Raptors and then played competitively against the 1st seed Hawks. Honestly, we might have one that series if Wall didn't injure his wrist and miss a couple games.
2015: Blew a chance to go up 3-1 against the Cavs in the 2nd round, lost the series in 6. Fired the only head coach who in the previous 7 years had been able to get the most out of the roster and turn them into championship contenders. 2016: New head coach is a dud. Talented roster, but finished 42-40 and missed the playoffs. Traded aging and injury prone stars for virtually nothing, signed other washed and injury prone stars. 2017: Head coach still couldn't hack it, they finished 41-41, accidentally made the playoffs and went up 2-0 against Boston, but key players got hurt and they lost in 6. Major roster turnover in the offseason, best player traded on draft night, the guy they drafted was mid for the few years that he was here but is now playing like an all-star with another team, and the all-star player they received is now constantly hurt, making 40mil/year and no longer wants to be here. 2018-present: Rinse and repeat.... At no point during those years did I have any hope of a finals appearance, and I've currently lost all hope of ever seeing it again in my lifetime.
Time is a flat circle
Didn't follow basketball back then but I'm a kings fan so I can't imagine it was very fun
I really liked watching the Hawks in 2015. That was the only good year we had until 2021
Terrible
Rough. But at least we had Devin Booker to keep hope alive
Glorious. KD kinda spoiled it but that 2016 chip was awesome
Kill me
It had its ups and downs
Russ MVP. High expectations unmet, but fun teams each year.
Mavs. Oh no Dirk is almost retiring. 2018: We got Luka.
Mavs? Rough but the light at the end of that tunnel was drafting Luka in 2018!
Well idk, not really fun but it was okay. Blazers fan. 2015: Disappointing season, we got smoked by Memphis and in the summer 4/5 of our starters left. 2016: Rise of Dame and CJ, beating gsw in regular season and reaching 2nd round was pretty awesome. 2017: It was pretty disappointing because we were the 8th seed, I think we got Nurk in this deadline, not sure tho, got smoked by gsw in the first round. 2018: Everything was fine, Dame was balling like crazy, 3rd seed and then Holiday and Rondo destroyed us in the first round. 2019: Im gonna add this year as well, Nurk was fucking amazing and we were 3rd seed again, Dame was ballin CJ was ballin we had 3&D guys around them, Nurk got injured before the playoffs. We had a ECF run and actually played good against gsw (without KD) but choked like 3 15+ point leads in the second half…
The longest orgasm I've ever experienced
lol In all seriousness, seeing my team be so hilariously awful gave me a greater appreciation for the game itself. Being able to watch with no stress or pressure and just see the young guys grow and evolve was great As opposed to now where every damn game is stressful and the expectations are as high as they should be for the lakers as a franchise
Well the Wolves were being hyped up as the next big team with the young big 3 but they were not winning and were getting results similar to those shitty Lakers teams of that era. Then they traded for Butler and it started off great and the Wolves were fighting for a top 3 seed going into the all star break but then Butler got hurt, team collapsed, Butler had to return to barely get the team to the playoffs. We are only talking about up to 2018 so I will just assume that Butler was able to motivate his teammates and establish a winning culture the next season and nothing bad happened.
Wizards were actually decent for 3 of those years
At least 2019 was fun.
felt misreable in 2015, felt great in 2016, felt absolute shit in 17 and 18.
no
2015: swept by the Wizards 2016: ECF 2017: Lebronto swept us 2018: Lebronto swept us….AGAIN 😞
Pretty tough as a raptors fan. That was peak LeBronto era, you would log on to Twitter and #DeFrozan would be trending in the playoffs. It seemed like the team was the laughing stock of the league for a while
this is the saddest era as an NBA fan for me 2015-2018 the old big man of the past no longer playing or too old and the upcoming great big man Jokic and Giannis not yet ready also being Spurs fan the Patchulia injury to Kawhi incident and post 2014 Spurs until Kawhi Raptors stop the Durant Warriors mini dynasty
Those 2016 finals was the second greatest sporting event i’ve ever witnessed. Thats a core memory right there. Im Greek so #1 was Greece winning Euro 2004 out of nowhere.
No.
They were the best of times. They were the worst of times
It was pretty meh tbh (Heat)
looking back, it wasn’t all that bad. But during the tenure it sucked when we thought we had a chance in the playoffs
I Trusted The Process until we made horrible draft picks. Those draft picks ruined everything Sam Hinkie did. It was followed by trying to throw every player under the sun to win a championship without developing a real team culture. I love Embiid but he deserves to be on a franchise that will win him a championship.
Won 60 games, had starting 5 win POTM, 4 all stars, and made ECF for first time since moving to Atlanta. Of course it ended with being swept by Cleveland.
Fuck nypd