Amen

Simmons does a salary cap column and makes a point about the Spurs I've noticed over the past couple years --

I don't believe the Spurs are even remotely boring, and anyone who says that doesn't actually like basketball.

Or watch them.  I basically think animosity towards the Spurs boils down to anti-foreigner sentiment.  Duncan, Ginobli, and Parker are all foreign-born and Ginobli probably the one who irritates people the most (because he is white).  Since it became socially unacceptable and on the border of lunacy to dislike a "black" street ball type of play (Jordan basically ended this), the tribal irrational element of fandom now focuses it's irrational dislike on foreign players, or a foreign style of play.

Even within my lifetime, before Jordan, you would routinely hear people chastise players for "bad free throw shooting" and "showboating" which was code for a dislike of the black style of play.

Now, the less progressive elements of basketball fans focus on the foreign to irrationally dislike -- you routinely will hear people criticize Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobli, Joakin Noah, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, et all.  Often it will be coded as "soft," implying that passing and shooting are inferior to driving and hogging the ball.  The one player who really overcame this was Nowitski, who for years was irrationally considered soft until he totally dominated the playoffs in 2010.  Ironically, I think black foreign players get more of a pass than white foreign players - thinking of Hakeem and Mutombo.

Enough of that, though.  The NBA is simply awesome right now.  Think of all the interesting teams/good teams.

1.  Heat
2.  OKC
3.  Denver
4.  Memphis
5.  Clippers
6.  Lakers
7.  Boston
8.  Golden State
9.  Houston
10.  Knicks
11.  Spurs
12.  Chicago

Then there are other teams that might have mildly interesting elements:  Atlanta, Utah, Brooklyn, Indiana.