The NBA is unwatchable. A heartfelt thread by your friend, MM

[Mediocre Man]

Almost 50k votes and it’s not even close. Now, one thing to keep in mind

Twitter is basically a sewage platform with racist extremists all over it since that piece of shit, Musk, bought it and renamed it

However, I have thought this same thing for a bit, and I’m not racist, my goldendoodle is black for Gods sake, and I’ve never changed my name.

Serious point is that at some point the league needs to take a hard look in the mirror and figure this out. Attendance is up, but viewership is down.

Look at our own little shitty tankers. MOST everyone’s favorite player is Toumani Camara, or as my wife says, that guy with all those cars. She laughs like Norm Macdonald is on YouTube, then continues about her day. Anyway, Camara is a fan favorite because he busts his ass on both ends of the floor, and there doesn’t seem to be a diva bone in his body. Is that it? Too soft?

I would love to here your thoughts on

A. What’s wrong, if anything

B. How to fix it

C. Is it just old people not adapting

I would love to get the super positive peoples opinion on this because I truly am wondering what’s up with the league I always thought was great as a young man, so someone share this with the people who, for some reason, have me on ignore.

I hope every single one of you has an absolutely fantastic day

 

[PtldPlatypus]

What made the league great and enjoyable was the ability for athleticism and creativity to reign supreme. IMO, this is why we love Toumani and Deni: they play an 80's/90's-style game--pushing pace, attacking the rim, defending aggressively.

Personally, I see two big changes since then:

• The current 3-point heavy environment allows many players to basically play 3-point-line to 3-point-line, reducing the need for the attributes that make for an entertaining and aesthetically pleasing game.
• The (understandable) emphasis on efficiency has highlighted the value of free throws, making drawing fouls (and by extension, flopping) a more important skill than the attributes listed above

In other threads, many (such as I) have advocated for an extended 3-point line (25 ft?) along with eliminating the corner 3, which would at least reduce the over-reliance on perimeter play.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

• The (understandable) emphasis on efficiency has highlighted the value of free throws, making drawing fouls (and by extension, flopping) a more important skill than the attributes listed above

As for fouls, what do you guys think about the notion of eliminating free throws for "body" fouls? Like, if neither the offensive or defensive player's arms are involved in the contact, maybe it's just a side out? Obviously anything that's egregious would still be a flagrant (certainly don't want to encourage shoulder-tackles), but I wonder if something like that could help curb all the drive-and-flail crap that we all hate, as well as the the 3-after brushing-a-screened-defender play that many perimeter players love to employ.

Thoughts?

 

[Foxx]

It’s a good time to be a Blazer fan, I don’t give a rats arse.

People don’t truly realize the struggle we’ve put up with to field a young athletic & talented team that plays the right way.

Im 34, watched since 6-7 years old. This is the beginning of the golden era. So so many scrubs, players who only play offense and boring iso basketball over the last 15 years.

Take a deep breath, it’s gonna be okay. Erick Barkley will haunt you no more

 

[julius]

Take a deep breath, it’s gonna be okay. Erick Barkley will haunt you no more

Erick Barkley, Sebastian Telfair, Taurean Green, Clinton Wheeler, Brook Steppe, Juan Dixon, Jonny Flynn, Armon Johnson, Eric Maynor and Nolan Smith can no longer hurt you...

 

[Chris Craig]

1.) Too many three attempts and that number will rise

2.) Refs call too many soft fouls

3.) Coddling of stars.... star treatment

4.) Specific treatment for specific teams...some teams get more respect

5.) Small market teams can't compete with large market teams. The latest CBA only makes this worse.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I think this is all bullshit. Replace the current style of basketball with 90s style moshpits and I can't imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth. That was truly unwatchable, and yet people watched it and enjoyed it, so...

 

[Cugel]

there is some truth to what you say. The all star debacle is representative of a lot of this. I mean this is a league that thinks a guy (not on an nba roster) jumping over a car to make a dunk is entertainment. The league is out of touch with regards to what real fans want. Yeah the 6 year olds out there want to see a guy jump over a fucking car but not grown men/adults who love the game. It is all marketing and whoever is in charge of it sucks.

The 3pt line is a huge problem. Again, kids love the 3pt line and casual fans do to. They have to do something about it and a bunch of proposals. If you did away with it, the game would change instantly but then teams stacked with 3pt shooters (talking to you BOS) would be screwed.

My latest idea was you only get the 3 pts if the shot was release in the last 5" of the shot clock. The downside to that is everyone would be counting down 5, 4,... and that would be god awful. Or 3pts only in the last 5 min of the game?

So, no, I have no idea what to do.

 

[Natebishop3]

1.) Too many three attempts and that number will rise

2.) Refs call too many soft fouls

3.) Coddling of stars.... star treatment

4.) Specific treatment for specific teams...some teams get more respect

5.) Small market teams can't compete with large market teams. The latest CBA only makes this worse.

I co-sign this statement.

 

[Natebishop3]

I think this is all bullshit. Replace the current style of basketball with 90s style moshpits and I can't imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth. That was truly unwatchable, and yet people watched it and enjoyed it, so...

I disagree. People love football because it isn't soft. The NBA didn't used to be soft. Now it's soft as charmin.

 

[Cugel]

I disagree. People love football because it isn't soft. The NBA didn't used to be soft. Now it's soft as charmin.

There is truth to this. The NFL replays brutal brutal hits over and over. The public wants blood. Personally I wont watch them if they are egregious. Sickening. Like when Nurk broke his leg. Once is enough.

 

[Natebishop3]

 

[Natebishop3]

There is truth to this. The NFL replays brutal brutal hits over and over. The public wants blood. Personally I wont watch them if they are egregious. Sickening. Like when Nurk broke his leg. Once is enough.

It doesn't necessarily have to be people getting hurt, but nobody wants to see flops or bullshit touch fouls when someone dares to try to play defense.

 

[THE HCP]

What are we talking about? Some random twitter account that NBA fans don’t follow had a poll? MM, ease up on the medication FAMS! Somebody is watching! Baseball and Hockey could only DREAM to have the NBA’s viewership. Game is doing just fine and everybody here will continue to watch until they break ANOTHER record with the next TV contract.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I disagree. People love football because it isn't soft. The NBA didn't used to be soft. Now it's soft as charmin.

That is bullshit even for you. Why aren't NFL fans leaving it in droves for MMA? Or Rugby, where they don't wear the sissy padding? Why is the NBA still more popular than the NHL, where they have three fights in the first ten seconds? Try harder.

 

[BlazerWookee]

Music and sound effects while the ball is in play was the beginning of the end for me.

 

[Graduate32]

It's an interesting question to be sure. I actually don't think it's an issue of playing style persay, but rather a changing of the culture surrounding sports. Might there be too many threes and two few mid-range jumpers taken for some people's liking? Perhaps, but I don't think that is actually at the heart of the issue. As Rasta notes above, if you actually try to go back and watch a random mid-to-late 90s game, they aren't exactly easy on the eyes. Here are my thoughts:

1. The NBA season is too long (and therefore, too pointless) for the casual NBA fan (i.e. we are not the casual fan). In the tiktok era, we just don't have the attention span for 82 games, especially with the addition of load management. A Thunder win over the Nuggets in mid-February somehow means less than a mid-February win for the Blazers against the Lakers in 1992. For what it's worth, I wouldn't want this to change.
2. Though the rules haven't considerably changed, the NBA has now widely figured out (except Joe Cronin, of course) that unless you are reasonably competing in your conference or on your way there, you are better off going full steam the opposite direction. The NBA has never been more polarizing in terms of competition.
3. The ascent of the Offseason. We live in a constant 24/7/365 cycle of news and rumors, which has spurred a level of rosterbation that we've not ever seen before. For many fans, late June and early July are more engaging and, dare I say, important than late April, May, and early June. On the whole, armchair GMing has never been more fun, but on the flipside, we've lost energy in the day-to-day grind of the season.
4. Roster turnover... this is related to the point above. Players and teams have frequently obliged us in the "let's make offseason more fun" direction. Free agency has boomed like it never has, and you are frequently seeing rosters completely turnover in the span of five years. Again, this might be fine for us diehards, but for the casuals, it ain't going to work. It's also resulted in the lessening of many rivalries as players have become more transient and friendly. Jordan probably would have returned to the Knicks or the Magic in 1995 if players behaved as most are wont to now.
5. Limits for extreme physicality. I have gotten bashed on here before for saying that the play-by-play physicality of contemporary NBA is not really all that different than the play-by-play physicality of a random game in the 80s and 90s. I stand by that (seriously, go rewatch a random mercerr22 regular season game on youtube... it ain't the physical defensive slugfest you might imagine). However, the limits that were allowed then vs. now are completely different. You were allowed to levy hard, dirty fouls, get in tussles, etc. in a way you aren't now. And I don't think we miss the actual physicality as much as we miss the drama created by physicality. It created storylines, animosity between players and fanbases. And because star players largely stuck around on teams, we were able to see these tussles play out year over year.

Do we really think what we need is more Jonas Valančiūnas postups? Do we think we'd enjoy the games more if players returned to the Chris Paul midrange game? You all can (and will) disagree, but to me, those are just red herrings.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Music and sound effects while the ball is in play was the beginning of the end for me.

Earplugs. Voila, problem solved.

 

[Natebishop3]

That is bullshit even for you. Why aren't NFL fans leaving it in droves for MMA? Or Rugby, where they don't wear the sissy padding? Why is the NBA still more popular than the NHL, where they have three fights in the first ten seconds? Try harder.

Why is soccer largely unpopular in the US?

How has the NBA become more and more like soccer in terms of flopping and soft ass contact?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Why is soccer largely unpopular in the US?

You're showing your age.

soft ass contact

TMI

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Twitter is basically a sewage platform with racist extremists all over it since that piece of shit, Musk, bought it and renamed it

Exactly: replace the word "Worst" with "Wokest" and you'd get identical responses.

 

[Natebishop3]

You're showing your age.


TMI

https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx



Congrats. You're right there with auto racing.

 

[blazerkor]

Interests are far more divided than they ever have been before. Just so much programming across so many content platforms.

It seems to me that the boomers are just doing what every other generation does towards their later years and that's to romanticize the past in every way across every one of their interests and even when talking about things that never interested them. We saw and heard (oh how much we heard it) from the "greatest generation" up until a decade or two ago and now we're hearing the same tired (not in terms of repetitive but literally tired) talking points from the boomers. This isn't supposed to be a rant against boomers it's seemingly the way every generation does these things.

The NBA should stop looking at other basketball leagues in terms of game length and maybe adopt the more physical play. I would point out that the other leagues aren't letting more contact go during the shooting process but before that they don't call nearly as many fouls regarding bodying up or trying to get position.

I actually think the term gather should be eliminated from NBA vernacular. If a guy is shooting then he's shooting if he's just thinking about it or is really quick to get a shot up after instigating contact then that shouldn't be a shooting foul and for the most part unless the contact legitimately knocks the guy with the ball around or down then that shouldn't be a foul at all.

We should probably also adopt the FIBA rules as far as eliminating the cylinder.

These are pretty easily implemented and are just about emphasis on existing rules and sdopting rules that make sense from other leagues.

 

[GoZers]

Too many 3's. I get it - the math works - Boston chucks threes and wins. I am not anti-analytics, but the game has changed. People create for themselves more than others now it seems. Everyone shoots threes. Less action away from the ball, getting a teammate open, cutting, etc. Evidenced by so many people getting 50, 60 points in a game. Used to be a huge deal when someone scored 50. Amazing athletes, so skilled, but the style of the game is worse for me. I dont need to see a team jack up 60 3 pointers.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

What are we talking about? Some random twitter account that NBA fans don’t follow had a poll? MM, ease up on the medication FAMS! Somebody is watching! Baseball and Hockey could only DREAM to have the NBA’s viewership. Game is doing just fine and everybody here will continue to watch until they break ANOTHER record with the next TV contract.

Yes, people are watching. But not as many people are watching. There are only 4-5 teams who's TV viewership is up locally (in their market/local broadcast) compared to last season. All other teams are down.
The #'s don't lie FAMS!

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

The biggest thing for me is all the soft fouls that get called all game long. It stops the flow of the game and nobody wants to watch free throws.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx

View attachment 71606

Congrats. You're right there with auto racing.

No, what's happening is that most of the people voting for "football" are using it in the proper sense.

Notice also, that's "sport to watch". Let's see what the answers for "what sport do you actually play" are.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Yes, people are watching. But not as many people are watching. There are only 4-5 teams who's TV viewership is up locally (in their market/local broadcast) compared to last season. All other teams are down.
The #'s don't lie FAMS!

Who watches on TV when there are free streams on my laptop? I watch just about every Blazers game and I haven't watched basketball on the TV in a decade.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

How many games would Dawkins and Lucas have been suspended if this had happened during last year's finals?

 

[MrDraftGuy]

If there wasn't such a thing as the Portland Trailblazers, I wouldn't care about the NBA either.

Lack of Jordan killed it, sure, but the way they market the imaging of the NBA just seems so artificial, corporate safe, and doesn't scream "these are gladiators, giving it their all. They're fighting for their franchise and to prove something."

Obviously, it doesn't matter if the athletes are giving it their all or not, the packaging tape has to showcase as such to the viewer. Then, eventually a few big names will fill the rest once you advertise what to look for. Otherwise, the gift just doesn't seem all that special without that promise.

Actually, the NBA did kind of try that in the late 2000s/early 2010s with those Where Amazing Happens and NBA BIG commercials and we did see a resurgence in interest around then. But I believe Silver switched ad agencies once he took over so the advertising and promotions were no longer the same. A similar thing happened to the MLB. New commissioner, new ad agency, no proper marketing of stars, no unique narratives, decline in ratings.

Modern basketball being reduced to 37-48 three point shot attempts is pretty bad, too. At some level, it's just watching people race to the finish by passing the ball and jacking up shots and less about the strategy involved.

The way I see it. Limit 3PA into something that resembles the 2010s Warriors (under 30 per game, unlike Harden's Rockets that were pushing 38-45 attempts) and push a more masculine advertising campaign that talks about competitors while making it feel like you're going to watch Rocky rather than the Disney channel.