If an NBA lockout scrubbed the whole season, would you miss

[thrill]

Or maybe if you went back and watched them, you'd notice less of the banging around that I'm talking about.

I dvr every episode of NBA classics. I watch old games all the time. I don't know what you're talking about when you say banging around. When I say banging around, I'm usually talking about doing it.

[Maclowery]

I agree with one part of Popeye's distaste of the NBA - I hate that expiring contracts are such valuable trade chips. That said, I really have no idea how to fix the NBA salary system other than completely ripping up all existing contracts, and starting from scratch. Which would be awesome, but obviously will never, ever happen.

I'm not sure how you can say "I watched 10 minutes of NBA this year" and then say "It's worse than 20 years ago".

I watched dozens and dozens of full games, and I heartily agree with thrill. We're seeing very complex coaching schemes that have been made successful due to very visible gains in body conditioning. If you're turned off by seeing all these absurdly athletic freaks crashing into eachother at high speeds, then I suggest you watch the WNBA instead. Lots of jump shots and nicely-run half court offenses that don't feature Derrick Rose accelerating absurdly fast toward the rim, or Dwight Howard catching a rebound 12 feet in the air.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

To me, the NBA is pretty easily the least compelling sport I follow with any interest. There isn’t much in the way of surprises during the regular season because of the nature of the game, and if they were, they’d only make a difference in seeding since half the league makes the playoffs. It’s the worst regular season in sports and it’s not particularly close. Because of that, it’s far more difficult for me to pick up during the postseason. The fanbases and stadiums do little to distinguish themselves(compared to baseball, soccer, and college sports), and if a team doesn’t have a Top 5 or so player in the game they have little to no hope of making noise. The playoff series are interminably long, and while it does do the best job of making sure the best teams face each other in the playoffs, the result is that you’re left wondering why you bothered for the first 6 months of the season. Sure, the conference semis and on were great this year, but it took 90 games to get to a point. And for what payoff? To root against the team that made a mockery of the roster building rules that were designed to prevent the sort of thing we saw last summer? Maybe this is a long-winded way to say that I’m just not very into basketball. But there’s structural issues there, from the scheduling, to the roster rules, to the rules of the game(what other sport has more officiating impact?), that add up to something worse than where we came from.

[thrill]

To me, the NBA is pretty easily the least compelling sport I follow with any interest. There isn’t much in the way of surprises during the regular season because of the nature of the game, and if they were, they’d only make a difference in seeding since half the league makes the playoffs. It’s the worst regular season in sports and it’s not particularly close. Because of that, it’s far more difficult for me to pick up during the postseason. The fanbases and stadiums do little to distinguish themselves(compared to baseball, soccer, and college sports), and if a team doesn’t have a Top 5 or so player in the game they have little to no hope of making noise. The playoff series are interminably long, and while it does do the best job of making sure the best teams face each other in the playoffs, the result is that you’re left wondering why you bothered for the first 6 months of the season. Sure, the conference semis and on were great this year, but it took 90 games to get to a point. And for what payoff? To root against the team that made a mockery of the roster building rules that were designed to prevent the sort of thing we saw last summer? Maybe this is a long-winded way to say that I’m just not very into basketball. But there’s structural issues there, from the scheduling, to the roster rules, to the rules of the game(what other sport has more officiating impact?), that add up to something worse than where we came from.

This is all extremely valid and I agree with it. In the years between Jordan and Rose, I was still a big Bulls fan but I watched more non-Bulls games than anything else. NBA fan culture has really evolved into something unlike most other sports where people watch players more than they watch teams or the sport itself.

Baseball fans watch their team and hardcore baseball fans watch the sport (by that I mean, random games that don't involve their favorite team). Football fans watch their team and almost all of them watch the sport. The NBA? I'd say for the majority, it's about the players. People watch LeBron and Wade and Kobe and Griffin and Rose. I'm guessing that's a response to what you've mentioned, the incomprehensible financial structure leading to strange transactions, the corporate crowds and fan culture, the way the really great teams learn to pace themselves in the regular season to save for the playoffs, the amount of regular season games and most of all, the predictability of the regular season.

[TheoSqua]

I think the other negative basketball has is the scoring system. In every other major american sport the bulk of possessions/attempts don't result in scoring. So there's 2-3 big moments in each game that will decide it. That's what develops the excitement of the game and compels someone to watch the bulk of it.

In basketball the bulk of possessions end in the team scoring, rather than less than 10 points being scored (And even football, where the numbers can be higher it's due to multipliers) per game. So you basically have to hope the last 5 or so minute of a game are close for it to really be exciting, and then you have to hope you don't have 45 minutes worth of fouls for it to happen.

Reminds me a bit of soccer in that the joy of the game isn't necessarily the goals scored, but the systems implemented and the process to getting those. It's more a game of momentum than just scoring.

Which is probably a long-winded way of saying that I don't really understand basketball/soccer as well as the other major sports.

[jim]

All I know is it's the only sport that if my jaw doesn't drop to the floor 3 times in a game then I'm disappointed. It is the most entertaining spectator sport for me, I don't really care about contracts and stuff like that. I just love watching the athletes play the game, it really is amazing to me and nothing else comes close.

[Felix The Cat]

I can't stand the style of play in the modern NBA, with the emphasis on physical play, which ends up making the game way too reliant on the judgement of officials as to whether a foul was committed or not. I'm not alone in this opinion. I watched a total of about 10 minutes of NBA action this season. That was more than enough for me.

Nothing bores me more about the NBA than players driving to the hoop with little to no chance of scoring a FG just so they can get a whistle from the ref. Putting the burden on the refs (who admittedly have a tougher job than the refs in most other sports) is a big reason why there are "superstar" calls and "home team" calls IMO. Too many close calls where the ref just errs on the side of the superstar or home team. Let the defense be a bit more physical and maybe we can avoid some of the diving acts that being more common too.

[lukethedrifter]

Or maybe if you went back and watched them, you'd notice less of the banging around that I'm talking about.

If it really is just more sophisticated defenses, then I guess I don't like sophisticated defenses, because watching an NBA game for me is not fun.

The Detroit Pistons ca 89-90 would like to say hello.


Oh, and looking to get the years correct I found out that Bill Laimbeer was a goddam Sleestak in High School. As in, he played a mother [expletive] Sleestak on Land of the Lost. How did I not know that???

[Popeye_Card]

Tell them I said hi, and thank them for being the beginning of the end (for me).

Seriously folks, if you like the style of play in the NBA is great, more power to you. But personally, I think it is akin to the pre-lockout NHL in terms of a more boring style of play.

[st.lewis11]

I like watching the NBA games, but there's alot more stupid "look at me!"posing for the crowds nowadays. You'll notice in the old days, after the great plays, the teammates get excited congratulating each other, whereas now they congratulate themselves, by pimping for the cameras/crowd.