Proof that Philly is the best hoops city in the world

[broderickpresident]

Check out the chart towards the bottom:

deadspin.com/infographics-where-do-pro-basketball-players-come-from-513261549

As a corollary to this, I'm pretty sure the only college that has sent more home-grown players to the NBA than La Salle is UCLA. Wish every top player in the area knew that stat!

[coqui900]

My non-Philly friends (or folks who are recent-ish transplants) always give me guff when I talk about how awesome a hoops city Philly is. They rightfully point to the attendance figures and general lack of apathy when it comes to the Sixers.

I point out the following:

1) The are six D-1 programs of various fan interest located within 15 or so miles of each other. All six of these programs have had various periods of varying levels of success. And it's pretty regularly when one of these schools becomes the talk of the city -- the Pepe-era Temple teams, Villanova's various big runs, the Jameer St. Joe's team and our Sweet 16 team. Heck, even the Penn-or-Princeton-Win-The-Ivy-Every-Year eras got hoops fans abuzz locally.

2) Even high school hoops has a big following here. The local dive bars I hit up in Roxborough and Manayunk are full of Roman grads who follow that team obsessively. I know West Catholic alum who are the same. And they kind of pale compared to St. Joe's Prep guys (especially in the Speedy era -- that guy knows how to instill loyalty) and La Salle High folks.

I was at a party last week w/ a ton of La Salle alum. There were also a few UPenn guys there, one of whom is a huge Penn hoops fan. We talked at length about the City Of Brotherly Love website and Philly Hoops.

Heck, there are people who even regularly go to Summer League games.

3) The 2001 Sixers team that made the finals was the 2008 Phillies before the 2008 Phillies. They were an absolutely treasured team that had a whole city wrapped around their finger. EVERYWHERE you went there were Sixers flags and folks clad in Sixers gear.

Philly hoops fans know what constitutes a good NBA team. The past few years the Sixers were, at best, a decent team. But they got lucky in the playoffs two years ago courtesy of a Derrick Rose injury and had a good run against a near-legendary Celtics team on their last legs (that still somehow almost beat the Heat).

Philly doesn't suffer fools and that team has been run by fools for at least a decade.

It stinks because I am a gigantic NBA fan (I hate the "NBA or NCAA" argument -- basketball rules on every level) but I have no interest in going to see a Sixers game unless an interesting* team is in town.

* The teams I'd love to see in person are, in order: Memphis (Z-Bo is my favorite player), San Antonio, OKC, Houston, Golden State, Minnesota (with a healthy Love and Rubio), Denver and Indiana. Miami isn't on that list because as amazing as they are they still somehow bore me to tears. I went to see the Clippers during Blake's breakout year but that team lost me The teams I'm least interested are everyone who is crappy (except Cleveland because I love Kyrie and he's from my hometown) and the snoooooze that is the Nets.

[MisterD]

Pretty sure bulletpoint 3 is exactly why Philadelphia isn't the best basketball city in the country, no more than it was the best baseball city when people got onboard at the end of last decade. Football, sure, no argument there. People follow the Eagles incessantly regardless of how shitty the team is which is how you become "the best" or even "a good" sports town.

[luhoopsfan]

On a typical Wednesday Night or Saturday in January or February you could very well have 22,000 people (if all 6 schools played a game on campus) attend a college basketball game in this city. There aren't a lot of other towns in this country that could regularly put that many butts in a seat to watch college hoops.

In fact, there are some Saturdays where there could be 30,000+ that attend a game if Nova plays a big game at the WF center and gets 16,000 in attendance.

[MisterD]

Don't some major schools in towns far smaller than Philadelphia do 20K (with people on the outside wishing they were in) on their own?

[a10champion15]

more rural areas dont have 6 big time schools in a 15 mile radius.

Also read an article about having Allen Iverson as the new coach for the Sixers. Not sure if a guy who hated practice be the best fit but it sure be something to get the fan base excited.

[MisterD]

I imagine the triangle draws double Philadelphia with half the number of schools at any given time. That's sort of my point, the numbers given weren't really that impressive if you're vying for Basketball City USA.

[broderickpresident]

Hoops is a saturated market in Philly and the 76ers do not represent us. Football is essentially only consumed by watching. People play basketball constantly and Philly has a higher level of ball at the HS and college level than the joke of a professional organization we have that has traded away (in prime years, mind you) 4 of the 25 greatest players of all time.

The thing that makes Philly (and the Delaware Valley) the hoops mecca is that it's sent more people per capita to the pros than any other major metro area. Bragging rights.

[theneumann64]

I think Philly has a strong case, although lack of support of the NBA team does have to count as a big factor, when considering everything.

I think Los Angeles has to be in the discussion as well. Not being from within 2000 miles of there or knowing very many people from the area, I can't talk about support for the High School teams, although I'm sure it's got a fairly high level of ball played, but UCLA and the Lakers alone are enough to put them in the discussion. Throw the Clippers and USC in the mix as well on the next level down. (I know USC is not a big basketball school, but again, you're looking at the full picture).

And Indianapolis has to be considered as well, just in terms of general basketball craziness of whole state.