Getting to know Pounding the Rock’s writers: Bill Huan
A Spurs fan from Canada… who would have thunk?
Welcome to “Getting to know Pounding the Rock’s writers”! During the All-Star break, we thought it we be fun to get to know a little bit more about our writers here at PtR.
A bit about myself
Hello there! My name’s Bill, and my friends call me, well, Bill. I was raised in Vancouver, Canada, which is known for its natural beauty, multiculturalism, and being the province directly underneath the Yukon.
My love for sports began at a young age. As someone with the athleticism of a turtle, though, my most memorable athletic moment was dislocating my knee playing the lowest level of soccer possible then never participating in any organized sports again.
Even so, my admiration for athletes and their will to win persisted. As a proud Canadian, I grew up obsessed with hockey, and my two favorite sports memories are Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal and Alex Burrows slaying the dragon — both of which happened in Vancouver within 14 months.
That span is still the most fun I’ve had as a sports fan. Not only did my hometown host the 2010 Winter Olympics, but Canada also set a record (at the time) for gold medals won with 14. Then, just over a year later, the Canucks (my favorite hockey team) made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and wo— wait, I don’t actually remember what happened in the finals. Probably wasn’t important, anyway.
Thankfully, Canada has still been at the top of the hockey world. We repeated as gold medallists in the 2014 Olympics and won the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 too. There hasn’t been an international best-on-best tournament since then, but that’ll soon change when the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off happens next February. And even though the Americans have a better team on paper, Canada will win because we still have Crosby and some guy named Connor McDavid.
Outside of sports, I love watching movies. I’m a huge fan of Wong Kar-Wai and Denis Villeneuve, so it’s not surprising that my favorite films are In the Mood for Love and Blade Runner 2049. Speaking of the latter, remember to get your Dune: Part Two tickets. Mark my words: it will be the Empire Strikes Back of this generation.
How I became a Spurs fan
So, a Spurs fan from Vancouver, huh? How odd, I’m not entirely sure how that happened, either.
Jogging my dubious memory, I believe I got into basketball during the 2015-16 season, which many fans now consider to be one of the greatest campaigns in league history. The last day of the regular season was absolutely bonkers, with the Warriors getting their 73rd win and Kobe dropping 60 (when scoring 60 was still cool) in his final game.
Then, the playoffs were somehow even better! OKC blew a 3-1 lead, Game 6 Klay happened, the birth of LeBronto, and of course, the Cavs coming back from down 3-1 with game 7 of the finals being the greatest match ever played.
Going into the 2016-17 campaign, I knew I had to pick a team, and as a low-key guy who tries to avoid drama, I naturally gravitated towards the Spurs. San Antonio was coming off a franchise-record 67-win season and just lost its cornerstone in Timmy to retirement, and yet there was barely any press surrounding the team. They also played a team-first brand of basketball that I loved, and everyone sacrificed individual stats to win. Simply put, I was sold.
Why didn’t I pick the Raptors, you ask? Honestly, I’m not quite sure myself. Maybe I was just trying to be different and edgy, but I can assure you that I did not hop on Toronto’s bandwagon in 2019. Sure, I was happy that basketball became more popular in Canada, but I didn’t have any allegiance to the team at all.
Naturally, after choosing the Spurs, I also became a die-hard Kawhi fan. I was absolutely devasted when the whole Uncle Dennis fiasco went down, but hey, that was so 2017. I’ll always appreciate Kawhi’s time in San Antonio regardless of what happened, and a part of me celebrated his championship with the Raptors while another part kept dwelling on the what-ifs.
Even though Kawhi was the one who got away, trust me when I say that Spurs fans have had it easy. The Canucks have never even won a championship before and have been arguably the biggest dumpster fire in hockey since their finals run, and all the Spurs had to endure was a couple of rebuilding seasons before getting one of the greatest prospects of all time.
The glory days will return, San Antonio: Wemby’s only 20, and yet his work ethic and dedication are already light years ahead of what most of us can ever hope to achieve. His commitment rivals his precocious talent, and there’s no doubt that Wemby will do everything in his power to become an all-time legend.
How I ended up at Pounding the Rock
My dream has always been to become a sportswriter, and I started that journey by contributing and eventually becoming editor of The Canuck Way. I then started blogging about basketball on fan sites such as Hoops Habit and Last Word on Basketball, before finally mustering up the courage to reach out to J.R. Wilco and asking to write for PtR.
Surprisingly, he agreed! Maybe it was the extensive body of work I already had, or my nice Canadian manners, but regardless, I somehow made it. I’m very fortunate and grateful to be given the leeway by J.R. to write anything I’m interested in, which happens to be my Around the NBA series most of the time. Lots of my ideas and jargon used are inspired by friends (you know who you are), and I feel very lucky to have a great support group and editor who allows me to do what I love.
GSG!
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