Is the NBA so star driven that your city doesn't matter?

Paul Mac bemoans the lack of loyalty in today's sports world.

I've got a lot of buddies from my home town now trumpeting the Lakers. 2 decades ago I remember being on the play ground and everyone wanted to be Michael Jordan.... with a few Dominique tomahawk jams here and there. Even when the Hawks were pretty good, I don't remember people in my circle being "fans" so to speak. Really in this area there is a dearth of any really hard core fans of anything other than College Football. By fans I mean, people who live and die with the team and hang on every move. We just don't get much of that here. It would be odd if in Boston you were anything other than Red Sox, Pats, Celtics, Bruins fan I think. In New York I wonder if even when they are terrible it's ok to not be a Knicks fan.

The concept is just sort of odd to me. Why wear a Lebron Jersey if you're not a Cavs fan? Is the name on the back more important than the name on the front? I'm not sure if it's off putting or not. Are NBA fans just front runners? Who wouldn't want to wear a Kobe or Jordan jersey and yet I could never bring myself to buy one even the Carolina jerseys and I'm a fan of the heels. Is it just normal to buy the jersey of the in player or be a fan of the winning team even if you have virtually no contact whatsoever with your city? Just having favorite players? Imagine college football if you came in wearing a Tim Tebow jersey and a USC hat?

These days I guess it just doesn't matter, we buy team colors because we just like the color I guess or we just want to be associated with winning or in some cases because your gang colors or numbers relate to the team. I like Tom Brady a lot, I like Hines Ward a lot but they don't play for my team. Would you feel like a traitor for wearing the colors of a superstar you might like that doesn't play for your team... and how do we go about picking our teams? Luck of the Draw... Rep your city regardless? Is it where you grow up or do you just select who you like and is there really any honor in sticking with it? Is there honor in really being a Cubs fan who haven't won virtually anything in a century? (I mean the few that actually care not the ones that just show up to the games to be there)

I'm not sure I have an answer to these questions. Fandom surely makes for strange bedfellows. I think if I had my druthers I'd have a hard time becoming an Atlanta sports fan if I hadn't grown up around here though. Maybe I'm weird trying to follow and or care about teams that I know have 0 chance of succeeding at the end.