I agree 100%. NCAA men's basketball is a shadow of what it once was.
The NBA is Boring!
- Thread starter Farnsworth
- Start date
Which arena? Some of those places are as good as any college arena. Especially during the playoffs. Except for programs that are good most college arenas are just as empty. Places like OKC and Utah are as good as any atmospheres you'll find in sports. I went to a Suns playoff game a few years ago and it was as good as any atmospheres I've been to at Hilton Coliseum. It's the one team Phoenix unites around.
Whether there actually are too many games or not, I disagree with the idea that shaving off 15 or so games from the season would make it any more appealing. Why? Because the NBA has played 82-game seasons since the 1960s (in the mid-60s it increased from 80 to 81 to 82 in consecutive years). Did anyone think the NBA was too boring from the 1980s-early 2000s because there were too many games? Not to my recollection.
If the game is boring, it's going to be boring regardless of how many games the season is - and if it were dropped to 60 games give it a decade and people will complain that 60 games is too many. Why? Because you effectively slapped a Band-Aid on cancer instead of fixing the root issues with the game - such as metrics driving offenses to be only 3-pt shots or dunks, to, since the late 2000s, the assembly of super teams via free agency. I don't even know how you begin fixing those issues, but those are among the issues that need to be fixed.
If the game is boring, it's going to be boring regardless of how many games the season is - and if it were dropped to 60 games give it a decade and people will complain that 60 games is too many. Why? Because you effectively slapped a Band-Aid on cancer instead of fixing the root issues with the game - such as metrics driving offenses to be only 3-pt shots or dunks, to, since the late 2000s, the assembly of super teams via free agency. I don't even know how you begin fixing those issues, but those are among the issues that need to be fixed.
I disagree that reducing games won’t help fix things. One of the (in my mind) legitimate complaints is the stars don’t play enough with load management. Reducing games simultaneously increases the importance of each game while also allowing more rest for player. That should help with getting the stars to play more games.
I agree on the 3-point line. It needs to be made more difficult somehow, so it’s not as advantageous to an offense.
They’ve already fixed the assembly of Super Teams with the new CBA and the aprons. That has really curbed the power these superstars have and parity in the league is the best it’s ever been.
About 70% of the teams are trash with zero chance of doing anything.
This thread sounds a lot like my Grandpa on my mom’s side in the 80s and 90s. He hated the Jordan era because he said the game was boring because the players were too talented. His famous quote was “the game is just dribble, shoot, swish because nobody misses”. He claimed it was just 4 teams with the best players and nobody played defense like Bill Russell, not physical enough, etc. Meanwhile im a kid/teen thinking he’s crazy and loving the NBA.
Fast forward and I have an 18 year old who’s still obsessed with the NBA and regular season is can’t miss games for him. He and his buddies tell me all the time this is the best era of the NBA because of how talented the game is overall. Just like I felt in the 90s.
Fast forward and I have an 18 year old who’s still obsessed with the NBA and regular season is can’t miss games for him. He and his buddies tell me all the time this is the best era of the NBA because of how talented the game is overall. Just like I felt in the 90s.
This is kind of when your traditional big man started evolving to what we have now with athletic but skinnier bigs who have zero post moves but can rim run and jump out of the gym and maybe shoot some 3s
What’s your definition of doing anything? If it’s winning a championship, that statement applies to almost all sport leagues
Silver is piloting a multi-billion dollar sinking ship and he knows it.
It's funny because I can't pinpoint exactly what happened, but my jumping off point seems to line up with others. I'd watch alot of NBA up until about 2 years ago. This year, I don't think I've watched more than 5 minutes of basketball. I couldn't tell you who is good, who isn't good, etc. I'll watch some playoffs, but I'll gladly watch about any other sporting event over an NBA game.
I think part of the problem is the old stars are fading away, and the new stars are on teams I don't really care about. Harden, Durant, Kawai, etc. are all after thoughts. Steph is stuck on a bad GSW team. Lebron is about the only one doing anything of significance. Wemby is stuck on a ****** team in San Antonio. SGA is obviously great but boring. Luka can't seem to stay on the floor. Ant is about the only real draw for me right now.
I don't subscribe to the "no defense" theory. I think they are trying to guard. I just think the rules and the talent of the players makes it such that it's damn near impossible to get a defensive stop. And that just makes for a bad product, to me at least.
I think part of the problem is the old stars are fading away, and the new stars are on teams I don't really care about. Harden, Durant, Kawai, etc. are all after thoughts. Steph is stuck on a bad GSW team. Lebron is about the only one doing anything of significance. Wemby is stuck on a ****** team in San Antonio. SGA is obviously great but boring. Luka can't seem to stay on the floor. Ant is about the only real draw for me right now.
I don't subscribe to the "no defense" theory. I think they are trying to guard. I just think the rules and the talent of the players makes it such that it's damn near impossible to get a defensive stop. And that just makes for a bad product, to me at least.
It's not the same though when now, 2/3 of the shots are 3's. That is such a different paradigm shift than the 70s to 90s, etc.
I do not like the Warriors / Celtics style of almost 70% of shots are 3's. I wish they would change some rules to where it was something like:
- Dunks and alley oops are worth 3
- Move back 3 pt line
- Oh and in the colleg game STOP giving guys 3 free throws for guys who miss a three and then just fall over. That is the worst play in competititve sports.
I still say the college game is more fun in hoops than pro b/c the college game is not totally contingent on the 3 point shot. Leads to better ball movement, inside / outside, etc.
He had some things to say about the All-Star game format last night and I would agree with that too.
The most interesting part of that thing last night was pondering whether I could dunk on Lil’ Kev on a Little Tykes hoop
NHL has figured out a format that works
When players like Grady **** and Johnny Phurphy are coveted and players like Udoka Azubuike and Armando Bacot don't even sniff the league.... you know what the problem is.
"To all fans defending the NBA, thank you for taking the heat off us for a while"
- soccer fans
- soccer fans
This all star format was just a way to play to egos of the inside the nba crew. Just have a simple all star game instead.
