East Coast Basketball
From College to the NBA the east coast consistently dominates the league. From Miami to New York City basketball is the main sport all along the coast. All you need to play is a ball and a hoop. It can be an old ball or a fresh one, a basketball hoop that is new in a gym or one hanging from the garage that has been up there for the past 20 years. Anybody can play basketball. Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts. During the cold winter in Springfield of 1891, they needed a sport to play indoors. It was too cold for football and baseball. Naismith was given a task to create a game that would keep track athletes in shape, was not too rough, and would be fair for all players. They used peach baskets for hoops, and placed it above people’s heads- ten feet in the air, so it would not cause physical contact throwing the ball in. They were not able to dribble the ball to avoid contact so all they were able to do to move the ball up the court would be to pass it. After every made shot, the players would perform in a jump ball at half court. Since then there have been changes to the rules, such as the ability to dribble the ball and after made baskets you were able to pass the ball in from out of bounds. The first official team was the University of Kansas Jayhawks in 1898. It all started in the east.
Rucker Park in New York is one of the most famous basketball courts in the world, where many old basketball players played to build their reputation up and make it to the NBA. Some of the best NBA players of all time were from Rucker Park such as Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Julius Erving. Wilt Chamberlain has the record for most points in a game with 100 and Kareem has the most points of all time.
In college of the last 15 teams that won the NCAA Tournament, 14 of them are on the east coast, including Duke University, University of North Carolina, and the University of Florida. The east dominates in college, boasting heavy power conferences such as the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten. The ACC boasts teams such as Duke, UNC, Virginia, and Syracuse. The ACC accounts for thirteen NCAA tournament wins since 1953, the most of any conference in the country. These amazing schools Fourteen of the top 25 ranked teams are along the east coast alone. For what has felt like centuries, powerhouses such as UNC, Duke, UF, UConn, Kansas, Virginia, and Georgetown have ruled college basketball. NBA greats played at these universities, making them legendary, Michael Jordan, Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson, Patrick Ewing, Ray Allen, Grant Hill- all hall of famers, or future hall of famers. The ACC teams are famous for their amazing coaches: Roy Williams, Mike Krysheski, Tony Bennet, and the late Dean Smith, all amazing, coaches. Coaches determine whether your team is good or not, especially in college. If a school has a good coach, they are more likely to pull the best recruits out of high school, or even transferring college students. They call all the plays and make game-time decisions that affect whether their teams win or lose.
In the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers are favored to win the championship this upcoming year. The Miami Heat has won two of the last four. The team with the most championships ever is the Boston Celtics. The East has always had a leg up on the west. The East has won 40, while the West has only won 29. That is a huge margin. The East has many big destination spots for free agents in the off-season. Destination spots are high-profile cities, that players would like to play for because it is either a nice area, has a good team, or has great coaches. The biggest destination spots have consistently been Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Washington D.C. High profile players such as LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett have moved cross country to play in these destination spots, and there are rumors that Kevin Durant is looking to move out East this upcoming summer. Miami and Washington D.C. are his main options. The East has always been a high profile destination in the off season.
