by Maxwell Chirco and Tarky Lombardi
The return of the NBA is a time of year when people buy their favorite player’s jersey, wish they had season tickets, and cheer their teams to victory. Jamesville-DeWitt High School students are gearing up for big wins and rivalries all the way until June.
Many students are hoping to see their favorite teams steal the show this season. The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to be a favorite among fans. Students like sophomores Jake Wright, David Pimentel, Riley Burns, Mary Austin, and junior Andrew Leclair are all hoping to see the Cavaliers get back to the finals this year. All because of one reason: Lebron James. Austin is a fan of LeBron because he is “extremely good looking” and “good at basketball.” Wright, though, likes him more for his performance on the court. He says that everywhere James has played he’s always “shown why he is the best” and “carries the team on his back.”
Others like senior Luke Rowe, freshman Marc Baum, and freshman Tyson Echols think differently. “I’ve liked the Miami Heat ever since they had the trio of Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade. I’ve always stuck with them,” said Rowe. Baum is a fan of the Houston Rockets because he likes James Harden. Echols thinks the Oklahoma Thunder are the best team in the West. Freshman Kendale Thompson roots for the Los Angeles Lakers and their starting shooting guard, Kobe Bryant. However, Counsler Denise Becher is a fan of team basketball. She belives that the San Antonio Spurs do that the best. “They’re are so unselfish. They all understand the game,” she said.
Even though students are fans of a lot of different teams, they mostly all have one thing in common. They think Steph Curry and James are the best, and also their favorite players in the league. Students like sophomores Jungyun Kim, Burns, Austin, Wright, and freshmen Max Schulman and Jakob Ellithrope all agree. “(Curry) is a pretty shifty guard,” says Schulman. “He scores on average 28 points per game. He makes threes for days,” Rowe said. Although they have different reasonings, they both agree on him as a favorite.
J-DHS Varsity Basketball coach, Jeff Ike, is a fan of his hometown hero, Carmelo Anthony, rather than Curry or James. He likes Anthony because “(Anthony) was one of the huge reasons why SU won a national championship.”
The similarity between the favorite players was reflected in the teams picked to make the Finals. Almost everyone predicted that the Cavs or the Warriors would be victorious this season. Pimentel thinks that there will be a rematch of last year’s Finals. “I’d imagine (the Golden State Warriors and Clevland Cavilers will) probably play each other,” he said. Baum and Ms. Becher agreed with Pimental. Echols, though, made a bold prediction: “I’m calling it right now,” he said, “the Warriors are going to beat the Chicago Bulls.”
Now that the NBA is back, people are getting ready, and so should you. Go cheer for your favorite team until the end. Cheer until you can’t cheer anymore because, the NBA is back.
