True sacrifice marks this fan’s long-distance love of the game

August 17th, 2015

[the fan being, me; this originally ran on NBA.com]

Mark Deeks is a 30-year-old Englishman who didn’t play basketball growing up, didn’t coach, didn’t scout and didn’t really follow the game at all. Yet over the last decade, Deeks has become among the most knowledgeable people on earth about the game and the league, through his expertise in understanding one of the NBA’s least understandable topics: the salary cap and Collective Bargaining Agreements.

His website, ShamSports.com, has become among …