Favorite non-Wizard? (after Kevin Durant)

[deneem4]

Jimmy Butler...wish was a gone another season so he can be #1 option...

[barelyawake]

Magic is my favorite player in history. Gilbert is my second favorite. Zo is my third. Kareem, Duncan, Ewing, Oakley, PJ Brown, Wilt, Prince, KG, Spud, Sabonis, Reggie...I mostly like smart players and/or tough players...

Current players I want (or have wanted) on the Wiz (after KD): Dirk, Cousins, Hibbert, Birdman, Oladipo, Iggy, George, Thabo, Beaubois, Kabongo, Marco, Rubio and almost anyone who ever played for the Spurs.

[hands11]

Active players ?

Duncan, Dirk, Kobe

Others I pull for or like watching

Marc Gasol
Manu
Nikola Vucevic
Stephen Curry
Paul Pierce
Tony Parker
Mike Conley
Jarrett Jack
Birdman

Past Players... Thats a long list... MJ, Magic, Bird .. what a great era that was. All 3 were sickly talented.

[doclinkin]

Being a fan is about having an irrational passion for vicarious competition, no matter how we pretty it up with our cerebral attempts to make sense of it all. In that vein I like both good guys and villains alike. Players who show passion and hate to lose.

Kevin Durant I like and admire as a good guy, a PG kid, he's easy to root for and no matter what I wish him well.

But of the rest:

Kevin Garnett is still fun to watch. KG is 'irrational passion' incarnate.

Manu Ginobili is trailing off and I will hate to see him go but even as a toothless old hound he manages to do things in a quirky lefthanded oddball way that works. I mean come on:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyTC324si54[/youtube]

Tony Parker was mentioned already but he's worth watching. And I love Tim Duncan, especially when he does the disbelief face, but he deliberately leeches all emotion away from his game, little flair in his excellence. He rarely looks like he's having any fun, man has perfected 'deadpan'.

But James Harden always looks like he's having fun, even when he has his angry plumber face workin'. Like Manu his game often looks like it shouldn't work but f-- you, you stop him then.

Rondo, I have to agree, is always compelling. Not sure why I didn't root harder for the Celtics then, I just have met more than a few Bahston denizens that I never got along with and good gahd that accent is wicked tough to heah in your eah witout wantin to put a bullet in youah head. But yeah Rondo is fun.

I like seeing how Blake Griffin has embraced the role of punk-ass instigator, doing dirty work while keeping that 'who me?' innocent look.

And I can't help but watch with baited breath whenever JaVale is on the court because it's gonna happen and it's gonna be spectacular, you just don't know which way it will go: OOOhhh or OMG what a dxckhead! One or the other.

Faried though is fun because of how dynamic and scrappy he is.

Oh and LeBron can eat a colostomy bag. Got no use for that sack of pus no matter how good he is, I can't even be impressed with how spectacular his game is because my dislike for him is so vibrant and throbbing. He's my exception to liking the villains as well as good guys. Gah, LeBron, scrape him off my shoe, yick.

[montestewart]

And I love Tim Duncan, especially when he does the disbelief face, but he deliberately leeches all emotion away from his game, little flair in his excellence. He rarely looks like he's having any fun, man has perfected 'deadpan'.

Perfect description of my all-time favorite, Big Wes, minus the disbelief face, which was a little too much expression for him. There was a meanness in the blankness of Unseld's face.

[stevemcqueen1]

I agree with everyone about Manu and Parker and Curry. They can be breathtaking. Nash and Amar'e used to be too. Those Phoenix teams were the funnest offensive basketball to come along in a while.

I appreciate Noah and I think Cousins is one of the most compelling and misunderstood players in the NBA. I like their nastiness. I don't mean playing outright dirty. I mean the attitude of fearlessness--they don't usually say much but they won't hold back or shy away from a fight when they're pissed off.

Jamaal Tinsley is one of those fun guys on the fringes.

Some more retired guys who were awesome in their prime: Kevin Johnson & Shawn Kemp.

Darrell Dawkins is one of the more... interesting players in NBA history.

He was a little before my time, but I always liked and respected Moses Malone, being from central VA.

[WizardsWorld]

DURANT is my favorite player in the league. An obvious choice and one shared by most on here for sure.

Jason Kidd was my favorite player in the league during his prime and before Durant came in.... Now he's a coach obviously....

So other than Durant my favorite active non-Wizard player is KG. Have always been a big fan of him even since his TWolves days. Love his passion, loyalty and heart he brings to the game. Something we will probably never see again from any other player. My most recent favorite KG thing is how he disses that p*ssy b***h ray allen. Most players say "oh its a business" and still go out drinking with a guy like that after.... but with allen's benedict Arnold move to miami was something that hurt KG and not something he's going to get over easily. Only thing missing was I was hoping at some point last year when allen tried to take it to the hole, KG would come in with a real hard foul.... maybe next season

[Ruzious]

Being a fan is about having an irrational passion for vicarious competition, no matter how we pretty it up with our cerebral attempts to make sense of it all. In that vein I like both good guys and villains alike. Players who show passion and hate to lose.

That sums it up so well. The players who exude the passion to play are the most compelling to watch and the ones you pull for the most or root against the most - the good guys and villains. Vince McMahon's formula.