Hometown Buffet

What is it about college sports that makes them so much more exciting than their professional counterparts? When Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the Los Angeles Lakers he decided to bring in cheerleaders and a 15-piece band in an attempt to give the Forum that same type of atmosphere that the college game had. Every professional team these days has cheerleaders so that can't be the only reason. My guess is that we enjoy rooting for our college teams so much because the teams, for the most part, are made up of kids who are from in and around the areas where those colleges and universities are located. There's a sense that you're rooting not just for your alma mater but for your hometown as well. What if those same dynamics were applied to the pro game? What if the NBA decided to blow the whole thing up and place teams in cities where the majority of it's players hailed from? What if those teams were then comprised of players who only hailed from those cities?

I took the NBA player pool and researched where each of the players in the league hails from. I excluded players from Asia, Europe, South America and Africa since those continents could make up their own teams and form their own leagues. Exceptions were made for players like DaSagana Diop who were born in countries like Senegal but relocated to the United States before high school. Some players, like Marcus Williams of the Nets, were from one city but attended high school in another. In instances like that I assigned the player to his hometown instead of the city where he attended high school. I also found that there were enough Caribbean-born players to make a Caribbean team. Canada and Alaska were also combined.

Once I was done researching the player's respective hometowns I came up with a divisional system. There are some cities, like San Antonio, that don't have enough NBA players to make up an entire team. But when combined with El Paso, Austin and Chihuahua, Mexico there were enough players to actually put together a starting five. Other states, like Iowa, surprisingly had enough NBA talent to field a pretty decent team. Some states, like Texas, Florida and California, were split up geographically by major either major cities or separated into North and South.

I ended up with 35 teams and 4 divisions, 3 with 9 teams and 1 with 8. They are the Midwest, the West/Southwest, the Southeast and the East. My only criteria was that the city had to have at least 5 NBA Players.

Midwest Division

1. Ohio
   
2. Detroit
3. Chicago
4. Iowa
5. Wisconsin
6. Missouri/Kentucky
7. Kansas/Oklahoma/Arkansas
8. Minnesota/South Dakota
9. Indiana
   

West/Southwest Division

1. Dallas
2. Houston
3. San Antonio/El Paso/Austin/Mexico
4. Denver
5. Portland
6. Los Angeles
7. Bay Area
8. Seattle
9. Phoenix/San Diego/Las Vegas
   

Southeast Division

1. Alabama
2. Mississippi
3. Tennessee
4. Atlanta
5. Orlando
6. Miami
7. Louisiana
8. North Carolina
9. South Carolina

East Division

1. Philadelphia
2. New York
3. New Jersey
4. Baltimore
5. Virginia/Washington, D.C./West Virginia
6. New England/Pittsburgh
7. Canada/Alaska
8. Caribbean

What I gathered from most of the research is that the majority of players come from big cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Philly and Detroit. No surprise. What I was really surprised to find was that some football states like Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee and cities like Seattle are becoming basketball hotbeds. Other cities, like Boston, are showing the effects of what happens to a city when it's pro team is horrible for an entire generation. Cities like Chicago show you what can happen when your team owns a sport for a decade. The Windy City has 30 players in the NBA. Los Angeles has 32. Does this mean that we can expect an influx of San Antonians into the NBA over the next 5-10 years?

If there's enough interest, maybe I'll put each of these teams together on NBA Live '08 and see which one comes out on top over the course of a simulated 82-game schedule. It's obvious that some teams are much stronger than others. The question is which of those strong ones is the best. It's also interesting to see where each of these players is from. I was amazed how much talent came from Baltimore. I wonder why so many of these guys fled the area instead of going to Maryland, George Washington or Georgetown.

I've decided to put only the starting lineups and one or two key reserves. If you want the completed list, let me know and I'll post it either on another BR page or a separate website altogether.

The divisions are listed in no particular order.

Midwest Division

Ohio

1. Kevin Martin
   
2. Michael Redd
3. LeBron James
4. James Posey
5. Calvin Booth

Key reserves: Daequan Cook, Antonio Daniels

Detroit

1. Willie Green
2. Jason Richardson
3. Morris Peterson
4. Shane Battier
5. Chris Kaman

Key reserves: Charlie Bell, Paul Davis

Chicago

1. Deron Williams
2. Dwyane Wade
3. Corey Maggette
   
4. Shawn Marion
   
5. Eddy Curry

Key reserves: Andre Igoudala, Michael Finley, Juwan Howard

Iowa

1. Kirk Hinrich
2. Kyle Korver
3. Ricky Davis
4. Nick Collison
5. Raef LaFrentz

Key reserves: Ryan Bowen, Adam Haluska

Wisconsin

1. Anthony Carter
2. Devin Harris
3. Coby Karl
   
4. Caron Butler
5. Carl Landry

Key reserves: Travis Diener, Steve Novak

Missouri/Kentucky

1. Tyronn Lue
2. Earl Watson
   
3. Larry Hughes
   
4. Derek Anderson
   
5. David Lee

 Key reserve: Kareem Rush

Kansas/Oklahoma/Arkansas

1. Derek Fisher
2. Joe Johnson
3. Kelenna Azubuike
4. Adrian Griffin
5. Shelden Williams

Key reserve: Maurice Evans

Minnesota/South Dakota

1. Mike Miller
2. Eric Piatkowski
3. Devean George
4. Kris Humphries
5. Joel Pryzbilla

Key reserve: Patrick O'Bryant

Indiana

1. Mike Conley, Jr.
2. Bonzi Wells
3. Rodney Carney
4. Zach Randolph
5. Greg Oden

Key reserves: Brad Miller, Jared Jeffries

West/Southwest Division

Dallas

1. C.J. Miles
2. Desmon Mason
3. Kenyon Martin
   
4. LaMarcus Aldridge
5. Chris Bosh

Key reserves: Jason Maxiell, Sean Williams, Ike Diogu

Houston

1. T.J. Ford
2. Stephen Jackson
3. Rashard Lewis
4. Kendrick Perkins
5. Emeka Okafor

Key reserves: Daniel Gibson, Gerald Green

San Antonio/El Paso/Austin/Mexico

1. Devin Brown
2. Eduardo Najera
3. Kenny Thomas
4. Jeff Foster
5. Shaquille O'Neal

Key reserve: Chris Mihm

Denver

1. Chauncey Billups
2. Pat Garrity
3. Nick Fazekas
4. Michael Ruffin
5. Jason Smith

Portland

1. Damon Stoudamire
2. Ronnie Brewer
   
3. Fred Jones
   
4. Mike Dunleavy, Jr.
5. Michael Doleac

Key reserves: Dan Dickau, Salim Stoudamire

Los Angeles

1. Baron Davis
2. Gilbert Arenas
3. Paul Pierce
   
4. Tayshaun Prince
5. Tyson Chandler

Key reserves: Andre Miller, Jordan Farmar, Jason Kapono

Bay Area

1. Jason Kidd
2. Brent Barry
3. Bruce Bowen
4. Drew Gooden
5. Robert Swift

Key reserves: Matt Barnes, DeShawn Stevenson

Seattle

1. Jamal Crawford
   
2. Jason Terry
   
3. Brandon Roy
4. Marvin Williams
5. Spencer Hawes

Key reserves: Adam Morrison, Martell Webster, Luke Ridnour

 
Phoenix/San Diego/Las Vegas

1. Mike Bibby
2. Richard Jefferson
3. Luke Walton
4. Channing Frye
5. Scot Pollard

Key reserves: Jared Dudley, Marcus Banks

Southeast Division

Alabama

1. Gerald Wallace
2. Jamario Moon
3. Robert Horry
4. Antonio McDyess
5. Ben Wallace
   

Key reserve: Theo Ratliff, Mario West

Mississippi

1. Mo Williams
2. Monta Ellis
3. Travis Outlaw
4. Al Jefferson
5. Erik Dampier

Key reserves: Lindsey Hunter, Othella Harrington

Tennessee

1. Corey Brewer
2. J.J. Redick
3. Shawne Williams
4. Brandan Wright
5. David Harrison

Key reserves: Trenton Hassell, Thaddeus Young, Lorenzen Wright

Atlanta

1. Louis Williams
2. Morris Almond
3. Josh Smith
4. Shareef Abdur-Rahim
5. Dwight Howard

Key reserves: Jarvis Hayes, Matt Harpring

Orlando

1. Chucky Atkins
2. Vince Carter
3. Tracy McGrady
4. Reggie Evans
5. Amare Stoudemire
   

Key reserves: Damien Wilkins, Marquis Daniels

Miami

1. Steve Blake
2. James Jones
3. Raja Bell
4. Udonis Haslem
5. Solomon Jones 

Key reserves: Eddie Jones, James Jones

Louisiana

1. Chris Duhon
2. Brandon Bass
3. Danny Granger
   
4. Tyrus Thomas
   
5. Paul Milsap
   

Key reserves: Glen Davis, Stromile Swift

North Carolina

1. Chris Paul
2. Jerry Stackhouse
3. Josh Howard
4. Antawn Jamison
5. David West

Key reserves: Chris Wilcox, Rashad McCants

South Carolina

1. Raymond Felton
2. Ray Allen
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Jermaine O'Neal
5. Mikki Moore

Key reserves: Kwame Brown, Anthony Johnson

East Division

Philadelphia

1. Jameer Nelson
   
2. Kobe Bryant
   
3. Rip Hamilton
4. Malik Rose
5. Rasheed Wallace

Key reserves: Donyell Marshall, Kyle Lowry, John Salmons, Hakim Warrick

New York

1. Stephon Marbury
2. Ben Gordon
3. Ron Artest
4. Lamar Odom
5. Elton Brand
   

Key reserves: Rafer Alston, Andray Blatche, Wally Szczerbiak, Charlie Villanueva

New Jersey

1. Brevin Knight
2. J.R. Smith
3. Luol Deng
4. Al Harrington
5. Andrew Bynum

Key reserves: Randy Foye, Troy Murphy, Tim Thomas

Baltimore

1. Jarrett Jack
   
2. Sam Cassell
   
3. Kevin Durant
   
4. Rudy Gay
5. Carmelo Anthony 

Key reserves: Jeff Green, Steve Francis, Juan Dixon

Virginia/Washington, D.C./West Virginia

1. Jason Williams
2. Allen Iverson
3. Grant Hill
4. Joe Smith
   
5. Alonzo Mourning

Key reserves: DeSagana Diop, Delonte West

New England/Pittsburgh

1. Matt Carroll
2. Demetris Nichols
3. Ryan Gomes
4. Matt Bonner
5. Marcus Camby

Key reserve: Aaron Gray

Canada/Alaska

1. Steve Nash
2. Carlos Boozer
3. Joel Anthony
4. Nazr Mohammad
5. Jamaal Magloire

Caribbean

1. Carlos Arroyo (Puerto Rico)
2. Francisco Garcia (Dominican Republic)
3. Mickael Pietrus (Guadeloupe)
4. Al Horford (Dominican Republic)
5. Tim Duncan (St. Croix)

Key reserves: Ronny Turiaf (Martinique), Samuel Dalembert (Haiti), Adonal Foyle (St. Vincent & The Grenadines