Most Valuable Tweeters
The NBA Twittersphere can often be a world of questionable orthography and irrelevant tweets talking about finished workouts and soon-to-come meals. But there are some guys out there that provide real insight into the life of NBA players or, at the very least, funny interaction with fans. We rank the best of them.
10. Shaquille O’Neal, Cleveland
Like in basketball, Shaq’s best days on Twitter are behind him. That said, he’s the one who helped popularize the website among NBA players and to this day remains the most followed of them all by far. While not that active anymore, to his credit he’s had more tweets than games played this season. No more digs at players or coaches recently, though.
9. Rudy Gay, Memphis
Gay’s fun-loving personality is at display on his Twitter account. You will not find many deep reflections there, but he’s good for a laugh. Example: “Mbenga might be a champion but he’s still ugly.”
8. Baron Davis, LA Clippers
One of the NBA pioneers in seeing the Web’s potential when it comes to connecting directly with fans without the media filter. His tweeting falls more on the promotional side, but it’s still interesting because he does have a lot going on outside of basketball.
7. Steve Nash, Phoenix
The Suns All-Star guard uses the website to promote his foundation, media appearances and hilarious videos. Doesn’t let his wit show as much as you’d like, though. With his dry humor, he could have been the Twitter heir to Thunder forward Nick Collison, who has (sadly) been very inactive in the site ever since the regular season began.
6. Rashard Lewis, Orlando
Probably spends more time getting back at fans than any player not named Stephon Marbury (left off the list because he’s not an active NBA player).
5. Ron Artest, LA Lakers
Just like with everything else, Ron Artest is a strange bird on Twitter. For some reason, the Lakers forward has three different accounts, in which he displays the typical Artest persona – outrageous, funny, contradictory, self-promotional… Worth the read.
4. Jon Brockman, Sacramento
The prototypical player who’s bigger on Twitter than in basketball. Became a Twitter sensation during his senior year at Washington thanks to a prank on a Cougar fan and it only got bigger once in the NBA. Even though he’s hardly a household name at this point, he ranks among the most followed players in the league.
3. Chris Douglas-Roberts, New Jersey
Often uses Twitter to vent about haters or, more recently, about the Nets’ record losing streak. Brash talk is common with the 6-foot-7 swingman, who is not scared to voice strong opinions and gives us a peek of his personality probably moreso than any other player on Twitter.
2. Charlie Villanueva, Detroit
If Shaquille O’Neal is the one who started to make Twitter popular, Charlie Villanueva is probably the responsible for the mid-2009 boom in the NBA. Dozens of players signed up right after he got called out by Scott Skiles for tweeting during halftime of a game. The episode with Skiles, who unsurprisingly doesn’t have an account (very typical: Alvin Gentry is the only head coach with one and hasn’t tweeted since July) did nothing but increase Villanueva’s profile. The bilingual Dominican forward combines witty comments with updates on personal and team developments. He raced Chris Bosh to 50,000 followers and lost. The Raptors forward may win in number, but Villanueva gets the nod in quality.
1. Jared Dudley, Phoenix
Who said Shaq didn’t have a positive impact in Phoenix? At least, he got Jared Dudley into tweeting. Now, the former Bobcat is the clear Twitter MVP. His trade to a relevant team like Phoenix and his impressive activity with the social media website have made him a recognizable face for NBA fans – which wasn’t the case one year ago while still in Charlotte. Dudley reports news (calls himself JMZ), gives away tickets and interacts with fans, journalists, owners and fellow NBA players.
Easy to see how his Twitter success could translate into a media career down the road. For now, he’s trying to come up with new ideas to tweet about.
“I got something called Twit my Ride, like a spin off of Pimp My Ride,” Dudley says. “We’re going to do Robin Lopez. He drives a 1985 Toyota (laughs). And when I’m in OKC, I’m going to do something with Kevin Durant. A spin off of MTV The Life.”
Must follow.
deceptive5 Said,
December 6, 2009 @ 8:08 pm
where are their tweet names so we can easily follow them?
captain obvious Said,
December 6, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
Click on their names in the article. You’ll find them there.
Joey P Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 1:06 am
Now you need to do one for NBA coaches. Mike D’Antoni is easily the best NBA coach/twitterer @Coach_D_Antoni
Rachel Johnson Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 1:19 am
why wasn’t Dwight Howard on that list? He has over 1.3million follower on Twitter. What’s up with that?
Skraight Up Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 1:36 am
Imma tell you…
Aside from Shaq, the rest of these guys need to spend more time working on their game and watching film. Twitter is horrible for pro sports and sooner than later, (ala Mike Beasley) it’s gonna come back to bite someone in the behind!
Skraight Up!
KDs a Beast Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 2:28 am
Umm… your forgetting Kevin Durant… He tweets way more than these guys… So does Jeff Green and James Harden
anen Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 5:57 am
Lol @ Captain obvious^^^…
Hey where’s Manu on this list. I enjoyed his bat incident journey
Warriorsworld Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 7:57 am
CDR should not be on this list. He’s not good enough to act as cocky as he does. We get it dude, you’re from the hood, no need to remind people ALL the time. He’s unbearable. I unfollowed him a long time ago, I can’t stand the guy. He deserves to be on a 1-18 team.
Basketball for Breakfast, Dec. 07 Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 9:42 am
[...] to see the Suns fall behind like that, but still loved watching Dudley play. Oh, another thing: HoopsHype named him the NBA’s MVT. And… one more thing. I came across this fantastic picture of him: [...]
TwittLink - Your headlines on Twitter Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 10:40 am
[...] Tweets about this great post on TwittLink.com [...]
Lauri Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 11:21 am
Nazr Mohammed is an excellent read on Twitter, too.
http://twitter.com/NazrMohammed
Max in Missouri Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
What makes you an “MVP of twittering”? Talking a lot? Being a loudmouth, underacheiving player? I love this site and have been a daily reader for like 5 years, but this is the most disgusting article I have ever seen posted. The top 4 players are basically throw-aways in the NBA. Def not showing Shaq the love you should for pretty much inventing the NBA twitter game. Of course, Shaq not getting credit for his contributions is nothing new. I just expected better from you guys.
Kevin Durant should be on the list, if nothing else, for his constant racist comments.
daydo Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 4:55 pm
where is my man, POB? its ok Patrick… i’ll keep following you. and hopefully i’ll scoop up those tix to the acc one of these days
Ashton Kutcher Demi Moore Pillow Talk On Twitter | Ashton Kutcher Celebrity Monitor Said,
December 7, 2009 @ 8:16 pm
[...] HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs – Jorge Sierra » Most Valuable Tweeters [...]
JonBorowski Said,
December 9, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
I won a bunch of stuff off of Twitter. Six pairs of sneakers from Kevin Durant, tickets form Lou Williams to a game, and tickets from Jared Dudley as well.