Finding it hard to care about the playoffs

And this is the exact reason I am buying BonesJones a drink!

 

The prevalence of 3-pointers has rapidly killed the game. Pretty much everything is a blowout now, depending on which team is hot.

I marvel at the quality of play, but there's very little excitement and even less suspense.

 

Well he is right. There's no telling who will win when teams play each other 5 times in one day.

 

As opposed to basketball, where you play up to 7 games in the NBA Finals with the same two franchises who fill out their roster with ring chasers.

 

The problem is basically everybody had cavs and warriors for a rematch before the season started. Just boring games. Barely any competition because of these super teams. The NBA just isn't that fun. Houston spurs series has been the only good one. NBA needs to do something about the situation, small market teams like us get fucked every season, losers in the league get rewarded with the best picks, and you can somehow have 4 all stars on your team. Guys are willing to sign for nothing just for a chance at a ring with cavs or warriors which just makes their rosters better. The league needs changes. On top of it the league is very soft now. Hard fouls are flagrants and there is rarely any physicality allowed. I feel as if Adam silver has made it worse. Shit I don't know but yeah it's boring and I'm kinda just waiting for the warriors to win it all at this point

 

I am trying to remember the last time a super star like Durant bailed on his team and left for a team that had already won a championship in the last two years and was already full of all stars and super stars. Has any other super star done anything similar to this? LeBron going to Miami is in the same vein, but the last time I think anything similar happened was Shaq back in what 1996 going to LA? And even that was a stretch because Kobe wasn't a super star yet and that team hadn't won a championship since the 80's way before he went there.

Durant I think is unique in this regard, and it's a display of how little of a competitive animal the guy really is as he took the easy route to success. Sure get away from the ego maniac that is Westbrook, but Durant basically tilted the scales towards an already very good Warriors team to such a degree that it's really impacted the entire league and it's entertainment value like I have never seen. A few years ago the west was insanely competitive from 1 to 8, it was a lot of fun to watch because you really didn't know who would win. In fact I remember a #5 seeded Blazers team beating a super star studded #4 Houston team not too long ago.

With Durant in OKC it felt like the top 4-5 teams in the west were legit contenders, but now it's really just three teams in the entire NBA that seem legit and thus it makes it hard to watch until those teams begin to start playing each other as it's really just not competitive. I don't have a solution to it, but the NBA does really need to address the parity issue as it is really affecting the quality of the game which means the entertainment value is greatly diminished.

 

Hey man say what you want, I thought last years finals was a hell of a series.

 

I also thought the Cleveland vs Chicago World Series was great too. Both games are great for different reasons. But man, I think they are right, a little parity would be good for the NBA.

 

I agree, even though I was just bitching about parity in the league and what not, last years Finals was the best since the back to back Spurs vs Miami finals from a few years ago that got Timmy his last ring. I just wish it was more like the NFL where any team in the playoffs could get hot and conceivably win it all, it would make it much more fun.

Although come to think of it, had the Warriors won I probably wouldn't be remembering that series quite so fondly hehe.

 

The thing I like about the NFL is that you can conceivably rebuild your team in a three to four years and win a title. Right GM, right coach, right QB.... I realize that doesn't happened often, but in towns like Seattle and Carolina, there were enough of the right people in the right place to make those teams contenders. The game is big enough both in popularity and roster size, that when regulated correctly even a place like Green Baby can be a dynasty. The downside, games are around 4 hours long with 17 minutes of actual game play and the commercials.... Yet still, football, basketball, hockey, and baseball. They all have their pluses and their minuses.

 

Agreed, good post, football is a very unique sport in terms of the amount of players it has on the field. In a game like football a single player cannot have the same level of effect a player such as LeBron can have in a basketball game, as a result I think the NBA really needs to think about how they need to regulate the sport to control for that. Again I don't personally know how they would even attempt to do this, but I can see the problem and it certainly needs to be fixed as it's at this point ruining the sport.

 

Ball.

 

Turn on hockey.

You're welcome

 

The NFL rule that a player must be out of high school for at least 3 years to be drafted also makes a huuugge difference. Their college playing time is basically the NFLs minor league. Players are more mature, injury tested, and ready to play than the one and done NBA players. The NFL scouts have far more intel on who to pick and not pick, and in what order in the draft.

How many top 3 picks have we seen lately in the NBA that are busts? How many take several seasons to be starter ready? Sadly, way too many NBA lottery picks fall way below expectations.

The quality of play has seriously declined on both the college and NBA level because of the one and done rule. Borrow the NFL rule that is proven to work.

The NBA has turned itself into a minor league for the NBA playoff league.

 

Is there any evidence that the NFL does better at drafting? There are tons and tons of NFL first-rounders who bust, including top-3/top-5 draft picks.

 

I 100% agree and have touched upon it in the past myself. These kids need minimum 2 years of college play, if anything just so thier body can continue to mature before hitting the big time. Males aren't generally done growing at 18, so their body balance and equilibrium can potentially change dramatically from 18-21 and I have first hand personal knowledge this is a fact.

I went from 6-3 and 185 at 18 to 6-4 and 220 by 21 and was 230 by 25. That's a big change and took me a while to adjust and feel balanced leaving the ground.

Then you have the mental growth aspect I wont even get into.

 

for the NFL, its not the players in the draft, its how the teams draft. NFL is a completely different physical game, and much like baseball is much tougher to assess long term success because its alot more than just being athletic. More players on the field requires better mental skills and quicker thought processes. As fast as basketball is, I think that its a much easier sport to play because you can go one on one, but baseball and football are 100% team oriented. Plus football is a one way sport.

The great drafting teams in the NFL, could care less about high first round picks. They value stocking up on mid rounders and finding smart players who they can develop. Look at Seattle and NE. Notorious for drafting down and finding star players in the mid range.
NBA is more of an athletic sport, thus relying more on physical skill and the body just isn't matured at 18.
It isnt matured for football players either, but again, their success, to me, relies more on thinking than pure skills, so you can succeed eaiser in baseball and football easier while still not being fully physically matured.

 

Karl Malone and Gary Payton joining Kobe and Shaq in LA and LOSING!!! Ray Allen and KG joining up with Pierce in Boston also

 

I don't like the Warriors, Spurs or Cavs this season much...if the Bucks were still in it, I'd be more invested...haven't watched a whole playoff game since the Blazers were eliminated....I'm in baseball mode now and enjoying that...baseball is a great sport if you actually pay attention to the pitching and understand the nuances of the game...