Sometime, somehow, the Dallas Cowboys got dubbed "America's Team," as if football fans everywhere not already spoken for by regional allegiances for some reason cheered for the Cowboys by default. Well, the NBA has its version of America's Team: the Boston Celtics.
I'm not sure if it'll actually catch on, but unlike the Cowboys, at least there's a bit of logic behind this. Jason Gurney of BallHype plotted the birthplaces of every NBA player on a map, and if you sort by various teams, you'll see that the Celtics are one of four teams in the league that's 100% American born and bred. Xenophobes unite! Everyone cheer for the leprechauns! (Why not cheer for the other three? Because I can't really picture many people getting behind the Knicks, Clippers and Pacers these days ...)
As Jason points out, the Suns have players on the most continents (they'll collect the whole set if they can bag an elusive baller from Greenland Antarctica (edit: Sigh. I really mangled this -- as pointed out in the comments, they need a player from Asia, Antarctica and Australia, since New Zealand isn't technically part of the Australian continent), but they don't actually lead the league in countries. Who does? You might be surprised. Is it the Spurs? The Raptors? Actually, try Golden State Warriors, who feature guys from the U.S., Guadeloupe/France (Mikael Pietrus), U.K. (Kelenna Azubuike), Italy (Marco Belinelli), Croatia (Kosta Perovic), Latvia (Andris Biedrins) and Congo (DJ Mbenga).
Also, not counting suburbs and whatnot, the city of Chicago has produced the most NBA players (17) than any other city -- NYC and Philly are second with 16. What's funny, though, is that the Bulls don't have a single player born in the state of Illinois. And the Pacers take the words "Eastern Conference" to heart, featuring a roster devoid of players born west of Texas.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Greenland's not a continent, champ.
Posted at 4:44PM on Nov 29th 2007 by petejayhawk
2. Indeed, Greenland is part of North America.
Posted at 4:51PM on Nov 29th 2007 by BrendanEff
3. Somewhere, my third grade teacher hangs his head in shame.
Posted at 5:02PM on Nov 29th 2007 by Matt W.
4. Ironic, considering that their nickname is a reference to a foreign nationality...
Posted at 6:09PM on Nov 29th 2007 by Joel
5. Mr. Watson, once again I have to ask you what this has to do with anything????? As long as Ainge is in charge who could be a Celtics fan????
Posted at 6:18PM on Nov 29th 2007 by ron
6. You sir can kiss my F'en a#s and suck my b#$@s, I have since day number one been and forever will be a Lakers fan.
The Celtics America's team?
I guess that makes syphilis America's std.
Posted at 7:06PM on Nov 29th 2007 by Lakergregg
7. Continents: Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, Antarctica. Phoenix is lacking someone from Asia and Antarctica. Smart people here.
Posted at 8:07PM on Nov 29th 2007 by aleksthethird
8. Pacers fever. Catch it. Seriously.
Posted at 8:36PM on Nov 29th 2007 by MC Welk
9. New Zealand isn't part of the Australian continent, it's part of Oceania or Zealandia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_%28continent%29
So they're missing Asia, Australia and Antarctica.
Posted at 9:21PM on Nov 29th 2007 by twoeightnine
10. Sorry, Matt, but Guadeloupe is not a country; it's part of France (specifically, it is an overseas department).
Posted at 10:53PM on Nov 29th 2007 by Jim
11. I acn see Dallas Cowboys raising cane over the Boston Celtics being called "America's Team". Calling the Boston Celtics America's Team is like calling former Miss Universe Janelle Penny Commisiong Aunt Esther.
Posted at 11:38PM on Nov 29th 2007 by George B Vieto
12. The Celtics do not care about being America's Team. They just want to be NBA Champs. As for the Laker Fan comments, the Lakers are off to a nice start. Keep playing well and you might finish with the eighth seed and get wiped by the Spurs in the first round of the playoffs.
Posted at 6:17AM on Dec 1st 2007 by David
13. Boston has a tradition like no other the lakers too ( A LOT LESS )the lakes had Wilt 100 points remember he just happen to be against Bill Russell " TEAM PLAYER " Bill did not score 100, 81, not even 50 points but he did the little things Bill 7 rings Wilt 0 rings then came Magic against Bird the problem Bird did not have a big guy Magic + Jabbar 2 agaisnt 1 now Boston acquired Walton now is more fair conclusion Boston 3 rings + Lakers 4 rings + so is an even match now lately Shaq + rest of the team rings 3 Boston 0 rings but lakers let go of Shaq BIG MISTAKE even in his decline he manages to get another ring with an average team NOT LAKERS so overall advantage Boston and now it looks they are back in this time is not against the lakers but a train call THE SPURS only Shaq derailed them if not today they would it have 6 or 7 rings instead they have 4 rings only but is about Boston and Lakers but is not is more Boston and Spursand it should be an epic battle like old times (Russell and Wilt) Kevin and Duncan will see !
Posted at 8:45PM on Dec 6th 2007 by frank