ESPN's NEXT vs. The Nextians

The biggest question we get here over at The Nextians is if we are somehow related to the ESPN annual "NEXT" issue. Many of you subscribe to ESPN Tha Mag and have seen Kevin Durantula and his lanky 7'3" wingspan grace the cover of this year's issue. Well, the short answer is "Fuck No". But the long answer is a follows:


ESPN's annual attempt at NEXT is all about picking who is going to be a star in a certain sport. This year "Tha Mag" has gotten lazier than ever picking the uber obvious Kevin Durant and this guy from another sport league called the "NFL" named Christopher Johnson. You don't have to be a fantasy sports guru to figure out that these guys are far from NEXT. They are NOW. It is incompetent and an utter mail-in to call some of the best players in their respective sports NEXT. NEXT what? NEXT in line to be the best player in their game? Shit, these guys are already there! Where else do they have to go? Puhh-lease.

The moniker "Nextian" comes from something very different indeed: the NBA's redheaded stepchild the WNBA. In the early days of the WNBA their slogan was "We Got Next!" which refered to women's professional basketball starting up after the NBA finals and playing for 2.5 months in the summer months. As we became fans of the incredible game played in the WNBA, we decided that even though the slogan was gone after 1999, it would live on in our followings of the NBA. We called ourselves Nextians.

Over time the Nextians name has taken on several meanings. But most importantly we make it our goal to predict which players will be Next in the NBA. We sniffed Anthony Morrow out after seeing his 35 point explosion last year vs. The Clippers. We knew that Tyreke Evans was going to dominate smaller guards even as a rookie. We saw that the Houston Rockets would produce fantasy basketball studs from late round (fantasy draft) no-names by buying into the Daryl Morey's moneyball system. We also drink scotch, 40's and play some roundball ourselves from time to time. Lastly, we like the city of Reno (especially the Peppermill Casino) and The Warriors and/or Kings. There's some other stuff that defines us but I'm sworn to secrecy to not post certain Nextian photos of booze fueled concerts that take place on a bus with Bilbo's acoustic guitar.