Basketball's over for the Blazers, but it's not over for everybody yet. Photo courtesy of NBA All Star Wallpaper.

The 2010-11 season is over for the Trail Blazers, and because of this, Portlanders are in somewhat of an unfortunate position. There’s basketball left to play, and the Blazers won’t be playing it. I’m a fan of the Blazers first, but a fan of the NBA a very close second, and quitting pro basketball cold turkey is not in the cards for me.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that Portland’s season is over early for yet another year, and in the next day or two I’ll definitely have a season recap post. In the meantime, there’s still Playoff basketball left, and if the second round and beyond is anything like the first round it’s sure to be a barnburner. Watching basketball from here on out will be a little easier; less potential for cardiac arrest and/or deep depression based on the trials and tribulations of the Blazers. But it’s important to have some investment in games, even if it’s not the die-hard investment that someone like me has in the Portland Trail Blazers.

In order to better flesh out which team is going to be my team going forward, I’ve developed a formula of sorts that assigns a numerical value for criteria that play a key role in choosing which teams I root for when the Blazers are not involved.

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No, it is not the NBAs version of the nWo leading the way. It’s the Boston Celtics who are the team with the most National TV Appearances with 30 games to be televised during the 2010-11 Regular Season. The NBA released their regular season schedule, and I, like a dork was curious to see who got the most national love this season. The Orlando Magic come in 2nd with 25 while the Lakers and Miami are tied for 3rd with 23 a piece. The Bulls come in at 4th with 22, tied with the San Antonio Spurs but don’t sleep on the Thunder who have taken a giant leap to 5th with 21, tied with the Mavericks. The Blazers actually came in tied for 6th on this list with the Nuggets with 20. The combination of geekiness and boredom made me compile this list.

Seven teams will get no national TV love during the 2010-11 season: The Nets (thank goodness), Timberwolves, Raptors, Hornets, Warriors and Knicks  I’m a little surprised with the signing of Amare and the Knicks actually having a chance to *gulp* be halfway decent for once that they weren’t all over TV. No Chris Paul is also surprising.

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Thanks to a grandiose smile from Lady Fortune, I am going to work for the Miami Heat, a position taken before, and made quite interesting by, the choices of a few others. I’ll be doing in Miami, not South Beach, many of the same things I did here, the first and foremost of which will be interacting with everyone and anyone — my favorite part of all. The basketball community, as dysfunctional as we can all be at times, is a joy to be a part of, and I hope to keep up our dialogue over at Heat.com.

But, incredibly grateful as I am for this opportunity, I inevitably must leave some things behind. And I’ve become quite attached to this writing space, once which came about quite slowly and clumsily over three years ago as SJ and I thought it would be neat to put our marathon text-conversations on the web. Then, every single unique visitor was a push forward, every comment a cause for celebration. To create something from that, with a very good friend, that is, well, read at all gives me a great deal of pride.

This was never about traffic or being recognized, though. It was about promoting thoughtful discussion about something I thought deserved it and that would never have happened without you, whether you’ve been here once, twice or a hundred times. Nor would it have happened without SJ, who will continue to be an incredible asset here, during a period of transition, and for a long, long time to the world of hoops.

Perhaps SJ’s greatest contribution, though, was reminding me that, like Andy giving up his toys, it was time to pass on this toy box in theoretical space to someone else rather than let its contents linger in the corner of a new home, alone and unplayed with. This is an opportunity for you and I hope you contact us with interest and ideas, because at the very least we can offer you a head start in this complicated web game. I hope you can make this place even better.

Whether or not you want to take over, whether you liked this place or not, whether you gave us the time of day, returned our emails or supported us in ways you never had to, even if we were meant to compete, thank you. That’s for every @ reply, every comment, every visit, every chat, every opportunity. I’m not much for naming names, in part because I still do not know the names of many of those who have helped us with a simple click, but thank you. And so, in the interest of time, to borrow a line from a short, kindly adventurer, I bid you a very fond farewell. I hope to see you elsewhere soon. Goodbye.