How to fix the NBA

[bpatrick]

I don't know how many of you saw the article in this morning's
Parade magazine concerning how to fix the mess the NBA
is in ($400 million in the red this year); without going through all
the details, commissioner David Stern and some player reps such
as David Falk (Michael Jordan) and Steve Mountain (Jameer Nelson
of Orlando) proposed some changes. How do you think they would
impact the television ratings?

1. Stern suggests abolishing offensive interference and allow players
to do anything with the ball above the rim.

2. Mountain would allow eight fouls before a player is ejected, although
the sixth and seventh fouls would be technicals.

3. Falk would cut the 24-second clock to 20 seconds; if not, create a
four-point play.

4. Falk suggests that potential players be out of high school for three years
before entering the draft (I think they ought to complete three years of college;
they can always go back in the offseason to complete their senior year).

5. Encourage quirks: Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated points out that
Charles Barkley still gets endorsement offers; Tim Duncan does not.

6. Mountain suggests eliminating or significantly reducing rules that require salaries
of traded players to match up.

7. Falk would cut the number of regular-season games. With a 16-game schedule,
every NFL game is important; with 82 games, many fans consider the NBA to have
too many that are meaningless. (And frankly, even though the Celtics and Lakers
are playing for the NBA championship, I have no desire to watch basketball--or
hockey--in June. Why can't the NBA playoffs take place in their entirety around,
or just after, March Madness? I would amplify on what Falk is saying and not let
so many teams into the playoffs, or have some single-elimination--read, NCAA--
rounds, at least in the early stages.)

Thoughts? Also, any thoughts about a realignment of college football that
could send Missouri and Nebraska into the Big 10, and Texas to either the Big 10,
SEC, or Pac-10?

 

[KeithE4]

I don't know how many of you saw the article in this morning's Parade magazine concerning how to fix the mess the NBA is in ($400 million in the red this year); without going through all the details, commissioner David Stern and some player reps such as David Falk (Michael Jordan) and Steve Mountain (Jameer Nelson of Orlando) proposed some changes. How do you think they would
impact the television ratings?

1. Stern suggests abolishing offensive interference and allow players to do anything with the ball above the rim.

Allow goaltending? Don't see how this would improve the game.

2. Mountain would allow eight fouls before a player is ejected, although the sixth and seventh fouls would be technicals.

This is a ham-fisted attempt to keep the big stars in for the entire game. Eight fouls would be extremely rare.

3. Falk would cut the 24-second clock to 20 seconds; if not, create a four-point play.

The shot clock ain't broke. Don't fix it.

4. Falk suggests that potential players be out of high school for three years before entering the draft (I think they ought to complete three years of college; they can always go back in the offseason to complete their senior year).

Agree there.

5. Encourage quirks: Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated points out that Charles Barkley still gets endorsement offers; Tim Duncan does not.

Barkley is a personality. Duncan is not. How many national (as opposed to Phoenix-only) endorsements does Steve Nash get? Both he and Duncan let their play do the talking, as opposed to their mouths. Barkley is a Hall-of-Famer, but if he didn't have that personality, he wouldn't be on TNT or doing T-Mobile commercials today.

6. Mountain suggests eliminating or significantly reducing rules that require salaries of traded players to match up.

I'm not sure what this accomplishes either.

7. Falk would cut the number of regular-season games. With a 16-game schedule, every NFL game is important; with 82 games, many fans consider the NBA to have too many that are meaningless. (And frankly, even though the Celtics and Lakers are playing for the NBA championship, I have no desire to watch basketball--or hockey--in June. Why can't the NBA playoffs take place in their entirety around,
or just after, March Madness? I would amplify on what Falk is saying and not let so many teams into the playoffs, or have some single-elimination--read, NCAA--rounds, at least in the early stages.)

The NBA needs to reduce their regular season to about 60 games - December thru March. Let the playoffs begin the first week of April, when baseball is just starting and the NCAA is done, but basketball is still on people's minds. They should also get rid of divisions (just East and West Conferences).

They should also get out of Canada and the small US markets - contract down to 20-24 teams, with 4 teams per conference in the playoffs.

More-so than any other sport, the NBA is about the biggest stars in the largest markets. There's a reason they left Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, Cincinnati, & Kansas City (the latter three being, of course, the same team). No market smaller than #25 should have an NBA franchise, and the Kings and Warriors could be combined, possibly playing games in both cities. The Clippers should also be contracted - does anybody in southern California care about this train-wreck of a franchise? Same could go for the Nets, but with their impending move to Brooklyn, maybe they can generate some fan interest.

Despite the on-court success of small-market teams like the Spurs and Jazz, they don't draw eyeballs to the NBA's urban-oriented advertisers, other than hard-core hoops fans. Does anyone think even for a second that anybody would have cared about the Jazz' two Finals appearances if they weren't playing Michael Jordan and the big-market Bulls, even with the presence of HOF-ers Karl Malone and John Stockton?

Thoughts? Also, any thoughts about a realignment of college football that could send Missouri and Nebraska into the Big 10, and Texas to either the Big 10, SEC, or Pac-10?

If all this comes to pass, we'll have four major college conferences: The SEC+Texas A&M, Big Ten+Missouri and half the Big East, ACC+the other half of the Big East, and the Pac Ten+the rest of the Big 12. Notre Dame will be forced to choose a conference eventually. NBC's deal just isn't that big by today's standards.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

1) No effect. Basket interference is only called once in a blue moon.

2) No effect. Fouls don't usually cause a player to be pulled from the game unless he is so off-kilter as to commit 2 fouls in the first quarter of a game.

3) This would probably reduce the ratings further. It takes 3-5 seconds to bring the ball across the timeline, leaving no time for trying to penetrate the defense. Fans want to see players make shots, and the 15 foot jumper isn't the shot most players will make.

4) This would do more for the college game than the NBA. You can't tell me that Kentucky wouldn't be better off if John Wall was going to return for a second year.

5) I didn't know Charles Barkley was quirky until TNT hired him. Quirky players might increase ratings locally, but the average NBA fan in Toledo isn't going to know much about Dwight Howard's (Orlando) personality.

6) Team stability is a good thing for attracting fans, so rules holding teams together are a good thing.

7) Cutting down the season would definitely help. Whether that means a schedule more like baseball, where teams play more (5, perhaps) games a week or reducing the number of games, I'm not sure. The playoffs need a trim as well. I'd have the first round played as best of 3 series, played over four days. The remaining rounds would be best of 5, played over the course of seven days.

 

[arnoldevns]

How does this relate to National TV?

 

[DToTheJ]

I second that. Not a single reference to TNT or ESPN... well, at least, until this post... :

 

[radiojomo]

I love TNT's coverage of the NBA, but I can't stand watching an NBA game on ESPN or even ABC!
It seems that when the NBA came to ABC in the first season, ABC wasn't as dedicated in advertising the fact that they were the new home to NBA basketball and didn't air a basketball game until Christmas Day, I believe. Also, Bob Costas and Marv Albert were more powerful commentors on NBC than whoever ABC has on right now.

 

[DToTheJ]

... I can't stand watching an NBA game on ESPN or even ABC! ... didn't air a basketball game until Christmas Day, I believe...

That's usually when ABC - excuse me, "ESPN on ABC" - starts their leg of NBA coverage every year, sometimes a triple-header. Usually one game featuring the Lakers is guaranteed.

 

[bpatrick]

I second that. Not a single reference to TNT or ESPN... well, at least, until this post... :

Which is why I raised the question: how do you think these proposed changes
would impact the television ratings?

 

[1st of 5]

How can the NBA be in the red? Have you tried to attend a regular season game lately? Here in San Antonio, I gave up when the stupid electorate voted to build a "smaller" arena for the Spurs with taxpayer money. We went from 35000 to 18000 seats. The ticket prices went in the opposite direction. With parking, tickets, food and drinks, it now costs about $200 to $500 for 2 people to attend a game, when I used to pay about $50 for the whole thing at the dome (there was no parking at the dome and the parking meters shut off at 6PM).

 

[whit979]

The biggest problem I have with the NBA is that it's designed around the superstar players. It's not a team sport. As a result, there's no defense (during the regular season, at least), few offensive plays and a game that's played rather sluggishly regardless of the 24-second shot clock. I know I've probably watched a good college game when the final score is something like 52-51. NBA scores are regularly twice those numbers. Find a way to make it a team sport and the game will be more interesting. Cutting down on long TV timeouts would also be helpful. There are just 8 TV timeouts in a college game. I'd also agree with a minimum age requirement, say, 21 years old.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Require each player to hold onto a live donkey the whole time the ball is in play.
And use a medicine ball. (okay...I'm a hockey guy, can you tell?)

 

[landtuna]

Remove the ghetto mentality from the players and thugish behavior from the game.

 

[KeithE4]

Remove the ghetto mentality from the players and thugish behavior from the game.

Given who the core audience for the NBA is, fat chance. And race/color has nothing to do with it. It's about catering to an affluent, urban audience, which is what the NBA is 100% about. This type of behavior "plays" in the big cities.

The advertisers want eyeballs in midtown Manhattan, Beverly Hills/Malibu, and the Gold Coast/Lincoln Park/Wrigleyville (and other rich-folk neighborhoods) - where the urban money is. If thug behavior gets those folks to watch, then the advertisers are happy. They don't care about Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, or New Orleans - despite the successful teams in those cities and David Stern's man-love for the Spurs in recent years (which seems to be waning as Tim Duncan ages).

 

[bpatrick]

How can the NBA be in the red? Have you tried to attend a regular season game lately? Here in San Antonio, I gave up when the stupid electorate voted to build a "smaller" arena for the Spurs with taxpayer money. We went from 35000 to 18000 seats. The ticket prices went in the opposite direction. With parking, tickets, food and drinks, it now costs about $200 to $500 for 2 people to attend a game, when I used to pay about $50 for the whole thing at the dome (there was no parking at the dome and the parking meters shut off at 6PM).

The article suggests that it's conditions like you're describing that are keeping people away from the games, particularly in this economy.

I wonder, too, how much following the NBA has in areas like this one, where college basketball reigns supreme. Around here, folks can argue all day about the relative merits of the Tar Heels and Blue Devils, but the Charlotte Bobcats? Forget it, even if Michael Jordan's name comes up at all.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The Lakers just need to hit more home runs.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Remove the ghetto mentality from the players and thugish behavior from the game.

Given who the core audience for the NBA is, fat chance. And race/color has nothing to do with it. It's about catering to an affluent, urban audience, which is what the NBA is 100% about. This type of behavior "plays" in the big cities.

I can concur, having lived in the Detroit area when the Pistons won their two championships in '89 and '90.
Watching white guys who lived in $7 million houses in the Grosse Pointes tryinig to adopt the "Bad Boys" persona
was both amusing and somewhat disturbing at the same time.

 

[dhett]

I thought the NBA was already fixed.

 

[landtuna]

Watching white guys who lived in $7 million houses in the Grosse Pointes tryinig to adopt the "Bad Boys" persona was both amusing and somewhat disturbing at the same time.

What I was referring to was the players adopting the "gangsta" uniforms common on the streets of eastern urban cities. Complete with lots of bad boy tats and the inability to speak any recognizable language.

Basketball was not designed to be a contact sport and a big mouth isn't part of the equipment either.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Watching white guys who lived in $7 million houses in the Grosse Pointes tryinig to adopt the "Bad Boys" persona was both amusing and somewhat disturbing at the same time.

What I was referring to was the players adopting the "gangsta" uniforms common on the streets of eastern urban cities. Complete with lots of bad boy tats and the inability to speak any recognizable language.

Basketball was not designed to be a contact sport and a big mouth isn't part of the equipment either.

Yes, Dennis Rodman was in the process of becoming the original Tat Man at that time.

 

[ansky212]

The biggest problem with the NBA is there is way too much stoppage in play. Practically every trip down the court results in a foul which slows down the game. Just let the guys play. Every little bump doesn't need to be called.

Also, there are too many timeouts, especially when you have TV timeouts in addition to the timeouts each team gets per game. Again, resulting in stoppage of play. Basketball is fun to watch when it moves at a fast pace. I don't need to hear a whistle every 20 seconds.

And as others have pointed out, the season drags on way too long. Why do they need 3-4 off days in between playoff games?