I came to college from the NOLA area not giving zero ***** for the NBA, and in my 3.5 years here the Grizzlies have been beaten down my throat. Starting halfway through last season I started watching LeBron and Durant and now I actually care about the NBA, right in time for my favorite football team's owner to buy the misplaced Hornets and change the name and begin putting together a decent roster.
Not a long term fan but what I've noticed in the last month or two is every diehard fan I know talking about an NBA championship... Then sending Memphis's favorite bench player to OKC and not being happy about it....... To completely hating the franchise and instantly becoming a Memphis Tiger fan as if it were the same team. I've never seen anything like it.
Small market teams can't trade fan favorites. The only one I can think of that makes sense is Paul, mainly because we didn't have a choice and no one liked the Hornets at the time. If they don't spend everything they have on someone like Howard everyone is going to go nuts.