It really is a boring product these days.
I truly think forcing the league to run more can be mentally and physically exhausting while also being far more taxing on the body, in the long term. Basketball isn't the same thing as running a marathon, where slow twitch muscles are emphasized, nor is it soccer, where you have both slow and fast twitch but not as much physical contact since there is plenty of space to move around. Basketball is explosive impact and physical, anaerobic and aerobic, played within a smaller and more confined space relative to the other major professional sports, and involves lots of travel and little rest.
Therefore, why risk your body? Why not just run back and forth and shoot 3s all day? Why not play full 82 game schedules if you can extend your career with another multi-million dollar contract?
My point is that the play style causes the game to be stale and the players to become too tired, too quickly. As such, I do think if the game slowed down to 80s/early 90s levels (as opposed to 2000s levels), you would reduce load management and make a more impressive product.
I don't know if Silver understands this since he's merely just managing the league that Stern set up rather than setting forth his own vision and I get the feeling a bean counter/manager type like Silver might not understand what the physical demands playing a sport entails. But if you can replicate a system that previously worked and was incredibly popular - namely, the 80s/90s, why would you want to ignore that possibility?
I think a way to deal with this would be to extend the 3 second rule into a 7 second rule, at minimum. This should make big men more effective again. I also think limiting 3 pointers made to 7 per quarter with the exception of the 4th quarter could force players to score via more unique methods. Then, the 4th quarter could be where the 3pt made limit is removed and shooters given free reign and therefore, making for an exciting finish (if that's too limiting, you can make 1st and 4th quarter 3pt free).
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Anyway, trying not to veer this off topic.
I noticed Demin had a bad game today and previously watched his other game where he was okay but still impacted the game in other ways. I think that is the reality with a player like that. There are shades of Franz Wagner but Wagner was a little more offensively fluid and versatile than what Demin currently demonstrates. For that, I want to say he's showing that he's more Lamar Odom tier. It's similar with Deni, too, who is very Odom-like right now. Josh Giddey with better defense is another comparison I've seen that fits here.
Otherwise, it's still Cooper Flagg at #1, who is like Siakam but can muscle his way in like healthy Ben Simmons. Despite him patterning his jumper after Bird, he has shades of Magic Johnson to his offensive game but his defense is a lot like Bird and a few of those 80s Celtics players, where his hustle and his defensive stance/shuffling of feet is just second nature. Pretty good for a 17 year old.
But Dylan Harper, I see some Jalen Brunson, some Brandon Roy, some Kyrie where his offensive game is pure skill. Frye previously stated Kyrie and Roy were the two best offensive players he's ever seen and you have various players - Aldridge, Paul George, Lebron, Kobe, KD, etc - confirming their takes here. I really wouldn't be surprised if he's the biggest superstar in this draft but maybe has less overall impact that Cooper Flagg might have. Good if you need offense (he plays good defense too) but might not be ideal if you lack the 3-4 combo that has been present in every championship since 2008. I think he can play next to Sharpe but that would mean Scoot is probably out of the picture.
Either way, I just wanted to say that the Flagg vs Harper conversation is reminding me of Oden vs. KD back in 2007.
