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

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

 

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

 

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...

 

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.

 

I co-sign this statement.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

Earplugs. Voila, problem solved.

 

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?

 

You're showing your age.

TMI