For me, July 2nd 2018 started in pretty standard fashion. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and fired up Twitter: earth’s most tumultuous app. It was there that my brain suddenly found itself overwhelmed.

“LeBron James signs with the Los Angeles Lakers.”

As a sports guy, this news sounded pretty interesting to me. Outside of attending an admittedly forgettable Lakers game just a few months earlier, the NBA was simply something that I’d never watched. As an Englishman, it was much easier avoided but even still, LeBron James seemed pretty cool (based on the gifs of course), and this story of him signing for a legendary franchise was undeniably intriguing to me. So I went from one app to another, pulling up YouTube and typing in ‘LeBron James.’

10 minutes later and I was convinced that I’d seen some form of superhero. I mean don’t get me wrong, his established brilliance wasn’t a mystery to me but good lord, a flurry of his best plays was unlike almost anything I’d ever seen before. Some of his moves had the genius guile of Lionel Messi, but all with the explosive power of a heavyweight champion. It was an incredible sight. Here’s the thing though, I’m forever in fear of becoming a cliche. I’ll watch this NBA stuff but I can’t be a Lakers fan, that’d just be lame.

So I got talking to some of my social media acquaintances from across the pond, and asked them to give me a team. I gave a criteria first, using my football team Tottenham Hotspur as a base.

I wanted a team with a few key things:

· History that I can embrace

· Young, exciting players

· Most importantly, a team that allows me to believe just enough that their failure stings

Now granted, that last one is a little sadistic but as I said earlier, I’m a Tottenham fan.

My friend responded with two options: the Utah Jazz or the Philadelphia 76ers. My mind was quickly made, Philly was the team for me. As a boxing fan, that city had a built in perception and personality for me but moreover, my awareness of Joel Embiid’s twitter made it an even easier fit. With a team decided, it was now time to learn. For the next 3 and a half months, I watched every NBA clip possible. Documentaries, talk shows, highlight reels etc etc. I read up on ‘The Process’ too but if I’m being honest, my interest hadn’t really locked in on the Sixers as of yet.

A lot was going on elsewhere and frankly, that had captured my attention far more. In late September, that slowly began to change though. The Sixers were playing a pre-season game against Melbourne United and my interest began to build. Ben Simmons used the backboard to assist himself…in an assist. As a result Ben swiftly became my favourite player in approximately 5 seconds. 60 games later and that remains the case. There’s a real unique feel to his game, a frenetic calm that can find a pivotal pass in the blink of an eye.

Either way, the season was soon underway and it began with a loss in Boston. I remember heading to the Sixers subreddit after that game and being stunned by the disappointment. Four months later and I now understand it more than I’d like to. We’ll beat them when it matters…or that’s what I tell myself at least. We somewhat rebounded after that but while I found the team very entertaining, I didn’t feel as though I was watching the elite team that some analysts had predicted.

Speaking of such, I’m thankful that my fandom wasn’t out of control when watching the overtime loss in Detroit. That was tough enough then if I’m being honest. Nonetheless, major news soon came to the fore. The Sixers had traded two of their starters for all-star Jimmy Butler. Considering that my only real knowledge of Butler was his infamous ‘third-stringer’ tale, I only had one choice: read and listen to every opinion available. Even though my experience had been brief, I couldn’t be less surprised to see Sixers’ fans disheartened by Robert Covington and Dario Saric’s departure.

Both brought an infectious energy and with Covington in particular, the Sixers had a player that embodied their famed ‘Process.’ Nonetheless, Butler’s arrival was greeted by excitement and caution all at once. Ideal I suppose. His impact was immediate regardless of perception, hitting two game winners that skyrocketed my passion for this team. One also featured an infuriatingly brilliant showing from Kemba Walker and the other was wonderful simply because for the first time in my experience, we were the team making a comeback.

Jimmy’s whole approach was refreshing to me. He wasn’t media trained or considered but instead, passionate, quirky and in some ways, unpredictable. More than that though, he’s one of those rare athletes that can only truly be enjoyed when he’s on your side. That was clearer than ever in the Sixers’ revenge win in Detroit, with Butler impacting things in the smallest and biggest ways all at once. Before long, our long-awaited run of doom commenced, facing the league’s best and as a result, suffering heartbreak as well as encouraging success.

That leads us to the all-star break and more importantly from our perspective, the acquisition of Tobias Harris. I certainly don’t need to recap this season anymore but I guess what I’m trying to figure out is that at some point, I fell in love and I’m not sure when, why or how. At some point, I began to say Marc Zumoff’s greatest hits with him. At some point, I began to feel distress at every long Mike Muscala 3…enjoy LA by the way Moose. At some point, I used to leap to my feet for every Jonah Bolden block. At some point, I began to care.

I’m now so far in that the dribble hand-off either infuriates me or in turn, furthers my love for JJ Redick. It all depends on whether or not he makes the shot too, the rest of the execution is irrelevant in my view. It’s the same for our talisman: Joel Embiid. If he shoots out of the paint and it doesn’t go in, I’m enraged. If it does go in though, my faith never wavered. I’ve watched so many Sixers games at this point that TJ McConnell’s energy now frustrates me but even still, I find myself fired up every time the crowd rises for one of his many effort plays.

I have no clue why I’m even writing any of this though in truth, I have to concede that at times, I feel a certain guilt. In my brief fandom, moves have been made that shifted this team’s perception but even if that wasn’t the case, I’m now living the dreaded life of a bandwagon fan. I didn’t witness ‘The Process’ and no matter how many videos I watch, I didn’t suffer through those lows which as a result, limits my appreciation of the highs. ‘The Process’ is only a story but even still, I care to a comical extent.

That was clearer than ever before last week, finding myself genuinely gutted at our recent loss against Boston. The whole point of this was simply having a team to root for but after questionably watching every single game, I now feel the losses to a painful degree. I ponder our upcoming games and feel pride when watching celebrations of a history that I learned about only six months ago. Each classic Zumoff cry of ‘YES’ resonates with me and every iconic imagine hits home too. I reiterate, the reasoning for this remains a mystery but here I am, falling in love with a team that I’d never seen just months ago.

I guess that’s a credit to the energy surrounding the Sixers but it’s also a compliment to the NBA’s general impact on me. It’s enthralling. Elite talents shouldering superstar pressure while embracing the contrasting glory and disappointment that comes with it. On a personal level, this experience has brought my father and I closer together too, a shared experience that I’d missed since steadily losing interest in football. That means a lot to me and I don’t know why I’m writing this publicly but that’s the point of these pieces I guess.

Trusting the process has been exhilarating thus far and with the play-offs not far away, I can’t wait to see what comes next.

If you made it this far, you’re either generous or in some strange way, you relate to this story.

Either way, trust the process I guess? That’s what I do now and thus far, it’s been pretty fun too.