My twitter feed was filled with posts about how the NBA
lockout had come to an end.

Upon reading the news, my reaction was simple and, maybe,
a little unexpected.

I yawned.

Sure, it would take something incredible to elicit a
different response, since the lights were off and I was
about to hit the hay.

However, as the lockout dragged on through the summer and
into the fall I legitimately found myself not really being
concerned with the game coming back. Of course, on a
professional level I couldn’t be more pleased to have
another team to cover and something else to write about,
but on a personal level I didn’t find myself missing the
game like I did back in 1998.

Maybe that comes with me growing up a little since then.
After all, I’m no longer the same kid who would find at
least a small part of every game – all 82 plus playoffs –
but still, I was a little shocked that the sport and team
I loved the most as a kid were placed on the backburner as
an adult.

Even now, nights that would have been otherwise reserved
for the Suns are filled with adult-like chores and, when
done with those, other forms of entertainment. There has
been no void, no real loss. No Suns game? Fine, I’ll go
and watch Dexter, Homeland or one of the
other fine shows on TV these days. Already done with
those? Maybe the Coyotes are on.

I’m not the only one who feels this way, either.

Point is, the NBA will have to earn its way back into
people’s lives, and the problem, at least the way I see
it, is that there is no Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin or
Kevin Durant to look forward to seeing at the US Airways
Center. There’s not even a LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe
Bryant or Dwight Howard. There used to be an Amare
Stoudemire, but we know how that turned out.

What there is, in actuality, is a Steve Nash, and as great
as he is we learned last year that health and an
ineffective supporting cast can make even the best look
relatively pedestrian.

Then again, maybe Marcin Gortat develops into one of the
game’s better centers, Jared Dudley continues to improve,
Channing Frye further cements himself as a pretty good
player and Grant Hill returns and continues to defy Father
Time. More likely, however, is that we will get a repeat
of last season’s mediocrity, with the team simply treading
water and going nowhere.

Even with the league coming back, chances are good
excitement over Phoenix Suns basketball will be slow to
return, especially with the type of team that is expected
to take the court. As of now many Suns fans just waiting
for the day when the team hits it big in the lottery or
sees a new ownership group take over.

The NBA nearly lost an entire season, but would it have
really been missed?

Follow @theAdamGreen