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You can't look at the finals as an indication of today's NBA game. The east conference is similar to the NBDL and the NBA Championship was determined by the Western Conference playoffs which all were really good! If the NBA would just seed a tournament at the end of the season rather than an east vs west, we would be watching really good basketball right now.
What happened to the NBA? I think Arena Football has some to do with it. It's become quite popular over the last decade, and considering football is America's favorite sport, Arena Football practically makes it year round. It's even becoming more and more popular on TV as made evident by the better contracts it's getting.
A point I haven't heard discussed much is that we just don't know as much about many of the players. There are a lot more players in the league that either came from outside the US or didn't play/played-only-a-year of college ball, so we didn't get to know them well before their were NBA players. Face it, before Lebron we just didn't see many Cavs games on TV except for 2-3 years the Bulls whipped their last good teams...usually in the first round of the playoffs.
Although the NBA isn't all I'd like it to be, it is a TON better than 5 years ago. The 2003 draft (LeBron, Carmelo, Hinrich, Wade, Bosh, etc.) was a savior for the league. Teams like the Spurs and Suns although vastly different in style are "teams" in a real sense. Remember the thuggery of the late 90's? Teams were winning without scoring many points and the basic premise of the game was to grind down your opponent. People couldn't shoot and the game was not what it was intended to be. I am all for great defense, but not thuggery. The Shaq and Kobe Lakers winning their titles did nothing for league image in my mind. Now you see team basketball, young talent and likeable players. It still has a way to go, but I can watch these guys.
I think the fact that people have been watching the NBA playoffs for a month and a half have something to do with it too. The playoffs are just too long.
I definitely agree with that. Especially how they lengthened the first round to best of 7 and then made them play like twice a week to milk it.Quote:
Originally Posted by cycloneworld
I think a lot of it has to do with no one knowing these players. When I watched the NBA in the 80s and 90s, you knew everyone. There were big rivalries. I would get excited waiting for a bulls/nicks game or even better pacers/nicks, because you knew something big was going to go down.
Now all the players are seeing who can out thug the other one, it used to be you had only a few thugs in the league (Lambeer, Rodman, etc), now that is pretty much all you have.
I think part of the problem is too many kids in the league that are having to learn on the job and are not as polished as a lot of the players that came into the league were back in the 1980's and 1990's. This year's draft might be a good indicator if the new age limit is going to help that. Oden and Durant are probably more developed players now after a year of college than they would have been coming out of HS last year.
Also the league has taken some hits with it's image as like the NFL has in some cases with all the thugs on some teams. The style of play is more focused on 1-on-1 sometimes instead of a more balanced team attack. Some of those great teams mentioned had some great players but they also played good fundamental team ball too. For instance look at all the role players the bulls had around Pippen and Jordan. When it came crunch time Jordan was usually the man but let's not forget some of the big shots Steve Kerr, John Paxson, and even Bobby Hansen hit to help win those titles. Jordan and Pippen counted on those guys to make plays when they didn't have a shot and they trusted them because they played as a team in the regular season too. No one is going to mistake Luc Longley as an All-Star center but he had some of his best years playing with those guys in that system.
I'm watching more lately but mostly just Bulls games. I've always been a Bulls fan even after the dynasty was broke up but I really like the style they play now. It's almost like watching a college game because they play as a team and they hustle the whole game while running it up and down the floor. The Bulls don't have that 1 big star so you don't see 1 guy going 1-on-1 all the time like you do some teams and I find that a refreshing breath of air compared to having to watch the Kobe show where it seems like its always just him and 4 "other" guys on the floor.
I'm sorry but if the Droids...er, Spurs are what has become of the NBA then frankly I could care less if the whole league implodes. It is utterly painful to watch their methodical, vanilla style of basketball. Back in the day I loved watching the Bulls, Pistons, Lakers, Knicks and Celtics because they had some charismatic players that made the games fun and the rivalries exciting. If Lebron was not involved in this series, I'd hate to see the TV ratings.
I think this will do wonders for the NBA. Instead of just hearing about how good of high school players Durant and Oden were before getting drafted, everyone has heard their names, seen them play, etc. At least for me, I am much more likely to follow Kevin Durant's NBA career because of his college basketball career rather than a great high school player coming into the NBA. 2 words: Name Recognition.Quote:
Originally Posted by travman23
The Spurs are as fundamentally sound a team as you can find in the world. Add to that the fact that their stars are humble, law abiting citizens and you have exactly the opposite of all the "thuggery", "showboating" and "criminal" complaints that have followed this thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by rd4isu
They are kind of boring, and they are not up-tempo ... but they win playing the "right-way" that so many of you wish for.
Much like Tim Floyd's bball teams at ISU. It was slow boring basketball to watch, but we were winning and the fans loved it. Contrast that with Wayne, it was more exciting to watch, but they were losing, so no one was interested. I see the exact same thing with the spurs.Quote:
Originally Posted by clones_jer
I think that there is a problem with the media always declaring who could be the next Micheal Jordan. There is never going to be another MJ but there can easily can be many great players in the future but never the next MJ.
HAROLD mmmm-MINOR!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by isumellie
The immortal Daniel "Boobie" Gibson who I think just made another three in Hilton against Wayne's 2-3 zone (remember that game :no6xn:)Quote:
Originally Posted by ISUKyro