OT: Fixing the NBA

[KFuqua]

To the people that don’t enjoy the NBA. Outside of Kentucky basketball do you enjoy college basketball ?

Yes. I can watch college basketball any time, but cannot stand the NBA.

 

[AllBall]

The league is soft. Way too much handcheck fouls and flopping.

 

[RACdad]

Yes the NBA game is boring as hell. Everyone wanys to shoot 3s. What through me off years ago was flopping, carrying and traveling. The NBA decided to let players carry and travel if it led to a highlight play. Then it escalated to normalcy. Players flopping to get calls gotbway out of control. And then the constant botching if by some miracle they don't get the call. I don't let my son watch the NBA for these reasons. I love SGA, he is a Wildcat. But I do not like his game.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

It’s in the eye of the beholder. I love the NBA. The best players in the world playing at the highest level.

Well coached teams and outcomes decided by the players.

Watching the game within the game.

The rules have changed too much in favor of the offense and needs some changing. But basketball skills are a premium in today’s NBA so it’s hard to not appreciate that.

Pat Riley said many years ago the perfect team is 5 guys 6’9” and all 5 skilled. Truly positionless basketball.

It’s not there yet but it’s getting closer.

Watching guys like Ja play is just a joy.

Watching a true team like the Pacers is fascinating.

And then it all ramps up in the playoffs!!

 

[jeffky]

I used to watch the NBA a little bit between middle school and college. Recently, though, I have no desire to sit and watch at all.

I saw a tweet by Clay Travis that suggests I might not be the only one, with NBA viewership decreasing by 48% since 2012.


Replies largely mirror my qualms with the NBA: players sitting out, tons of games, and a near complete homogenization of systems and player skills. It's boring watching an NBA game.

Players can carry the ball and travel. Defense is basically punished. Offense sold tickets, but we now have too much of a good thing, IMO. NBA games are lifeless, stale products. Moreover, personally, I feel like defense has suffered for the same reason it has in the NFL – stars are commodities and investments, and hard fouls or aggression towards them should be punished severely.

That's great from an investment standpoint, but it's kind of like having a really nice China set that nobody's allowed to use. The pieces are just for looks and once viewing it has lost all novelty, the set has completely lost its utility.

Furthermore, the NBA has a near universal system: drive, kick, shoot, rebound, drive, kick, shoot.... Yeah, that's great, but basketball now has something of a "meta build," to borrow a gaming term. Everyone does the same thing and strives for the exact same players. The NBA isn't a chess match, it's a game of who's got better cards.

An idea I've toyed with for a while is how the NBA would look if half the games were 3 point "on" games and 3 point "off" games. I watched UK's win against Duke in '78 when Goose got loose, and it's such a completely different game that emphasized post moves, strength, interior passing, cutting, and more.

Teams wouldn't be able to sell out on buying three point experts at each position. You'd need traditional big men, and they'd have to have expanded roles even in the 3-point games because they're an investment just like a Klay Thompson or Steph Curry.

Now, I don't think that'll solve the NBA's myriad problems, and I certainly don't think it'll ever get implemented. However, as a biologist, I know that if you have an environment suited for one organism and one organism only, it'll fill all the niche space available. We need a diverse ecosystem to create a space where multiple organisms (styles) can compete and thrive.

So, I'm interested in what your ideas are or how you'd react if the NBA has 3pt on and off games. Maybe even on or off halfs or quarters.

Of course, defense needs to be rewarded again, offense needs to be punched down a bit, and other factors need to be addressed, so again, I'm interested to hear what your thoughts are on all this.

If nothing is done, I doubt I'll ever watch even a quarter of an NBA game again, and it seems that's a growing sentiment among basketball fans.

They place political propaganda over playing on the hardwood and that bald headed commissioner is a freak to say the least nba is a over priced joke like most professio al sports golf and football only ones I can stomach

 

[Hoskins91_rivals]

“People who don’t watch the NBA telling you what’s wrong with it” is always entertaining.

 

[Runt#1969]

Reggie going against the Knicks was great stuff for me. I even bought mini season tickets and playoff tickets. Over the last several years/decade honestly have made me not give a darn about the NBA game. Haven’t watched a game in years.

I despise how blatant the NBA became in “protecting” their stars. LeBron and his flops and constant bitching are things I despise. Add in their insistence on forcing the viewpoints of the LeBrons and others who basically have a HS education upon us—especially the whole bending the knee to China while criticizing the US—was just too much. But hey got to make cheap sneakers and opening up new markets is so important, please just ignore the hypocrisy.

Rant over.

I agree with everything said in this thread so far.

The weird thing is that I've ben watching NBA playoff basketball this year more than in the past 25 years. And while I agree with everything being said, in the playoffs this year, these teams and games have been highly entertaining, from the true basketball sense.

It's not the 3 point shooting contest with no defense or effort spilling over into the game, God forbid! NO!!!
NO!

it's not.

It's Halliburton giving the CHOKE sign JUST LIKE reggie miller did years ago playing ..... the Knicks. No less. And the league NEEDS games and players and teams and effort like what we see in the playoffs. And maybe that isn't the problem.

The problem being, they don't play the regular season nor have anything remotely close to a watchable product for the All Star game / weekend. It's a horrible product.

But in these playoffs, I'm seeing real effor tand high drama. Even if it is manufactured and highly scripted.

And then again, there's where we get the rub, isn't it ?

Just look at the NBA draft and how that went down this year, and you wonder how the sport exists at all.

I dunno, I hate the sport in general right now, but these playoffs have been great for me to follow. Bottom line is, I really don't have a dog here, but I like Oklahoma City and watching SGA.

It's definitely love hate, but right now at the playoffs, where it actually means something to them, it's worth watching is all I'm saying.

 

[DraftCat]

The best way I can sum up the NBA is to me it's like background noise. Nothing exciting or meaningful happens in the game until the last 5 minutes due to how it's played.

 

[SemperFiCat]

The best way I can sum up the NBA is to me it's like background noise. Nothing exciting or meaningful happens in the game until the last 5 minutes due to how it's played.

That's how I usually feel, but these playoffs have been pretty good. First round games were pretty damn good.

 

[cats#1again]

Take away the 3 point line and move it to 10 ft inside half court. Problem solved

 

[uky8unc5]

College means more since my umbilical cord was Ky Blue.
But knocking the NBA defies logic.

I mean, what pro sport do you watch? Baseball???
Plus College ball is trying to become what the League is producing.

 

[Cat06]

“People who don’t watch the NBA telling you what’s wrong with it” is always entertaining.

Most of the NBA critics are former fans. The league, like any other business should want to find out why they left with their $$$.

 

[JPFisher]

“People who don’t watch the NBA any more telling you what’s wrong with it” is always entertaining.

Viewership is down. Listening only to people who still watch is survivorship bias.

 

[RexBowie]

I actually don’t think it’s the schemes and style of play, but a lot more simple. Similar challenge to like a 1999-2002 NBA.

LeBron is old and no longer the draw he was. Same goes for Durant, Curry, CP3, and that whole generation.

Wemby is a generational talent but still young and doesn’t have the same penetration being French.

NBA needs a new face, new storylines…