NBA

History of Basketball/NBA
The sport basketball wouldn’t be so popular today if it wasn’t for Canadian James Naismith’s invention of the game a little more than a century ago. Originally a project given to Naismith by Dr. Luther Gulick, head of Physical Education at the School for Christian Workers, to create an indoor game to keep a class “athletically distracted” through the winter, Naismith created a game which emphasizes on finesse and accuracy. As popularity rose through word of mouth, the game earned its public recognition when it was officially included in the Olympics at the 1936 Games in Berlin. A number of professional basketball leagues were formed since then to stimulate basketball growth and provide a ground for healthy competition. In 1949, Basketball Association of America merged with National Basketball League to establish what is known today as the National Basketball Association. It all began with 17 teams in major and minor metropolitan cities before expanding to 30 teams across North America, with some states running as many as 3 teams (Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs in Texas).

(Left) Dr. James Naismith. (Middle) First NBA game. (Right) NBA encyclopedia on nba.com.

NBA Today
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Because it’s a winter sport, games are held indoors in gymnasiums or arenas, thus limiting spectator volume. The average attendance for the 2005-2006 season was 17,050, which helped to contribute to the total revenue of $3.75 billion generated by the NBA last year. As the third most popular and most profitable sports league in North America, behind first place NFL and second place MLB, NBA’s high-scoring and fast-paced games keep as many as 300 million people worldwide entertained. Superstars like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James bring excitement to the game night-in and night-out but most importantly, cashing in unbelievable amount of revenue for the NBA. International superstars such as Steve Nash and Yao Ming helped to accelerate the growth of interest of the NBA for their respective homelands by capturing MVPs and dominating many of the games for the past couple years. Because the NBA is the ultimate league for basketball competition, with the most generous salary paid to players, international players have all hoped for a place on one of the teams. Their awareness for realizing childhood dreams have resulted in an overall increase of skill levels worldwide and threatening domination of US men’s national basketball team. Although still ranked first place overall in the world, the Dream team, which consists of talented NBA players, have been dethroned numerous times in past international competitions like the Olympics, Olympic qualifying games and World Basketball Championship. Recent number one overall draft picks like Rocket’s Yao Ming and Raptor’s Andrea Bargnani are reflections of rapid international growth in the game of basketball and shows the amount of impact NBA brings.

(Left) 2006 Sportsman of the Year winner, Miami Heat's Dwayne Wade. (Middle) Captain handshakes prior to start of match between LA Lakers and Utah Jazz. Left, Kobe Bryant, Right, Matt Harpring (Right) Carlos Arroyo of the Orlando Magic signing autographs.

NBA and Internet
The NBA has been taking advantage of the information age by riding on the internet’s growth bandwagon to promote and advertise itself to the world. Everything from online fantasy leagues, streaming day-to-day video highlights to whole-game playbacks, the official NBA website is the most diversified and resourceful professional sports website in the world. Fans are instantly updated with NBA news, scores and schedules…etc. once logged on to the website. Successful incorporation of Youtube-like video database allows fans to stay on up of their favorite teams through visual and audio broadcasts. Built on a high speed server, NBA.com is committed to enhance the overall browsing experience for every fan in the world with lag-free video playbacks, real-time stats and instantly updating forums. Online reservation for tickets is also made possible thanks to corporation with ticketmaster.ca so people can book tickets ahead of time even if they’re not currently living in the city. The game itself is intense and breath-taking but to translate all that to every fan is not possible if it wasn’t for successfully utilizing internet to the best of its ability. The internet brought vivid sensations of the game to NBA fans around the world with few clicks of the mouse and created vast potential for growth in many years to come.

(Left) Basketball is global sport. (Middle) Chinese NBA.COM homepage. (Right) 2006 NBA Europe Tour.

“Hall of Famers.” Naismith Basketball Memorial Hall of Fame. 2002. 3 May 2006. http://www.hoophall.com/halloffamers/Naismith.htm

“National Basketball Association.” Wikipedia, 2001. 5 Dec. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association

“NBA.” National Basketball Association. 2006. 7 Dec. 2006 [|http://www.nba.com]

“Sports in the United States.” Wikipedia. 2001. 5 Dec. 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_the_United_States

“US Sports Industry Overview.” Plunkett Research, Ltd. 2006. 7 Dec. 2006. http://www.plunkettresearch.com/Sports/SportsStatistics/tabid/273/Default.aspx

Image Resources
http://www.1asport.de

http://www.bytelevel.com

http://www.hoopsworld.com

http://www.nba.com

Video Resource
http://www.youtube.com