How to fix the NBA

[Nate Wesley]

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).

The schedule reduction won't work or happen for several reasons--the regional/national networks want all of those games. Also, the college basketball post-season is virtually destined to take longer to complete going forward--I just know they're going to expand it beyond 68 teams with CBS and Turner Sports signed to televise every game.

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.
...
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.

Contraction just ain't happenin' either, but you probably know that.

I honestly don't mind the smaller market teams--if they're selling out their arenas and they're competitive, they belong. The fact that they don't bring the eyeballs if they advance to the NBA Finals? That's not something the league can worry about as an immediately 'fixable' problem, unless it keeps making boo-koo promises to media partners and advertisers. Really, how would the NBA fix things so that San Antonio and Utah are less competently run, and that New York and Philadelphia are more so?

I could get behind a psuedo-contraction via relegation of 2-4 teams to the D-League, but that would undoubtedly be skewed against poor performing small market teams.

the Kings and Warriors could be combined, possibly playing games in both cities.

You should read about how much the Golden State Warriors might fetch in a sale. As for the Kings? Trust me, the Maloofs will move to Las Vegas the instant the NBA lets go its worst gambling fears, regardless of any new facility in Sacramento.

The Clippers should also be contracted - does anybody in southern California care about this train-wreck of a franchise?

The Clippers shouldn't be contracted. If there were justice in the world, they would be sold to non-racist, non-slumlord owners and moved to Seattle as the new SuperSonics. This won't happen for the same reasons contraction wont--especially for a team calling Los Angeles home. Donald Sterling's franchise is a laughingstock, but it's a profitable one.

 

[Nate Wesley]

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 Alamodome was a poor place to watch basketball, and I'll bet you nobody 'had' to buy season tickets. Which is precisely why they built a new arena where they could create a premium need for them, as well as the selling of new luxury boxes. Smart gamble considering the Spurs were in the midst of their championship years during the 2000s.

If that electorate still continues to sell the AT&T Center out, I wouldn't say they were that stupid. Maybe they really love the Spurs?!?

 

[Nate Wesley]

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

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.

Steve Nash is a two-time MVP. The Lakers' #2 guy is a Euro-league forward/center from Spain. The Celtics are back into relevance again thanks to former players (Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers) and current stars who languished on other bad teams (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen). The league's most popular player plays (for now) in Cleveland. And he has been a part of everything from Saturday Night Live to the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, and is a suitor in the biggest free-agent off-season ever seen.

If you two want to talk about the NBA, please join us in the present...and not from some part of your brain that still thinks its December 2004.

 

[landtuna]

Steve Nash is a two-time MVP. The Lakers' #2 guy is a Euro-league forward/center from Spain. The Celtics are back into relevance again thanks to former players (Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers) and current stars who languished on other bad teams (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen). The league's most popular player plays (for now) in Cleveland. And he has been a part of everything from Saturday Night Live to the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, and is a suitor in the biggest free-agent off-season ever seen.

If you two want to talk about the NBA, please join us in the present...and not from some part of your brain that still thinks its December 2004.

I see Nash multiple times every single day. And Ainge used to play here as well. Those are not the type of player I'm talking about. They are also not in a majority - and that's what I'm talking about.

I see no difference in the NBA now, in 2004 or even 10-15-20 years ago. The NBA I'd like to see again is the NBA of Chamberlain, Bird, Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, "Clyde the Glide", Bill Bradley, Dan Majerle, Larry Nance, Abdul-Jabbar and others who played hard but didn't play or represent the NBA like street thugs.

The OP asked "how to fix the NBA" which means there is something wrong with the game, presentation, rules, players etc. What I'm telling you is the game needs to get back to its roots. Dressing and acting like ghetto dwellers on the court has had much the same effect on the NBA as the Oakland Raiders had on the NFL. While it might drive a temporary increase in the number of fans, as did the "gooning" up of the NHL in the 70's, it won't last and will eventually hurt the game if it hasn't already.

I am encouraged to learn there are steps being considered now to put age limits on draftees. This will give young players time to mature and hopefully complete their early education. In this area especially the NBA has been incompetent.

 

[cowboybud]

The Clippers shouldn't be contracted. If there were justice in the world, they would be sold to non-racist, non-slumlord owners and moved to Seattle as the new SuperSonics. This won't happen for the same reasons contraction wont--especially for a team calling Los Angeles home. Donald Sterling's franchise is a laughingstock, but it's a profitable one.

David Geffen has reportedly made Sterling an offer for 51% of the team.

 

[searadiofreak]

The NBA needs to be in the top 20 media markets, no doubt. Seattle is in line for a struggling team, but the stadium/arena issue is more complicated, especiallly when Seattle has become one of the few, (but correct), cities that refuse to subsidize one.

Overall, not sure the NBA needs to be "fixed". The league got the matchup it wanted, LA vs Boston. Nobody is crying in the NBA media department right now.

 

[brian4]

All of these best of seven series. I know it generates TV (talking about TV on National TV Board!) revenue but also stretches out the games. Why should you worry about losing the first game? Make it best of three and you will see some great basketball.

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.

Totally agree. Watch the last 2 minutes of NBA Finals versus last 2 minutes of Stanley Cup and see which is more exciting.

I thought the NBA was already fixed.

I've always believed that somehow the Finals are fixed. Not sure how Stern picks the winners. That's for another topic/board!

 

[flytrap]

No chest thumping
No dangling from the hoop
No excessive celebration
No thug behavior
No slam dunking
No playing ball with your mouth wide open and your tongue hanging out
No orgies after the game
No molesting women
No getting thrown in jail
No crazy clothes or weird haircuts
No acting like a diva
No acting like a fool on or off the court

 

[DToTheJ]

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?

Agreed. It's not as if it's like the NFL or MLB trying to move their championships into sweeps months; based on that, the NBA ought to either start the season earlier, or trim the number of games per season.

 

[Nate Wesley]

No chest thumping
No dangling from the hoop
No excessive celebration
No thug behavior
No slam dunking
No playing ball with your mouth wide open and your tongue hanging out
No orgies after the game
No molesting women
No getting thrown in jail
No crazy clothes or weird haircuts
No acting like a diva
No acting like a fool on or off the court

Crazy clothes and weird haircuts? Well, there goes the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s...lol. No dunking, no mouth-open-tongue-out? What a joke.

That you listed 'thug behavior' separate from all of these other alleged or observable maladies (Is it somehow different from the rest?) pretty much confirms to me you aren't whittling off anything you've thought about critically, or much at all.

These complaints and those earlier ones of landtuna's aren't based upon substance--they're based upon stereotypes. The NBA is better off by not having irrational people like ya'll as fans.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Overall, not sure the NBA needs to be "fixed". The league got the matchup it wanted, LA vs Boston. Nobody is crying in the NBA media department right now.

I agree with these sentiments. From a TV perspective, there's not much needed to make the TV product better. And there's nothing the league can do if Milwaukee and Oklahoma City happen to be the last two squads standing for The Finals. ABC or the broadcaster of choice will just have to swallow bad ratings, and hope one of the big draws make it next year.

Remember when the OP mentioned the debt service that teams were dealing with (the $400 million in the red figure)? That's on ownership, not the players or the game itself. They're supposed to be the smart guys making smart business moves, right? Watch the narrative devolve into 'greedy players' if there's a work stoppage, though.

 

[landtuna]

These complaints and those earlier ones of landtuna's aren't based upon substance--they're based upon stereotypes. The NBA is better off by not having irrational people like ya'll as fans.

So we're perfectly clear....I am not a fan of the NBA but I do have eyes and ears and am anything but irrational. The biggest reason I am not a fan can be attributed to the issues I raised (and, although not a tall guy I played basketball in high school and in the navy so I do have an understanding of the game). And, for the record, some of those same issues carry over substantially to the NFL which is why I much prefer watching the NCAA instead.

Second, I based my opinions on personal observation but, and pay attention to this, stereotypes are always based on reality. If you think what I described is a stereotype then somewhere, someplace, someone made it real.

Elsewhere in this thread someone else opined that it isn't the NBA in trouble as much as individual owners/teams. If that is true then revenue isn't keeping up with expenses which means (a) owners are paying too much for talent or (b) the stands are not being filled. Assuming this issue affects more than one team I can only surmise it comes down to the game itself or the presentation. And that is indeed an NBA problem.

 

[flytrap]

"Crazy clothes and weird haircuts? Well, there goes the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s...lol. No dunking, no mouth-open-tongue-out? What a joke.

That you listed 'thug behavior' separate from all of these other alleged or observable maladies (Is it somehow different from the rest?) pretty much confirms to me you aren't whittling off anything you've thought about critically, or much at all.

These complaints and those earlier ones of landtuna's aren't based upon substance--they're based upon stereotypes. The NBA is better off by not having irrational people like ya'll as fans. "



I guess some folks just don't understand sarcasm do they??

 

[Nate Wesley]

I guess some folks just don't understand sarcasm do they??

When that sarcasm is expressed so poorly, you probably can't blame them.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Second, I based my opinions on personal observation but, and pay attention to this, stereotypes are always based on reality. If you think what I described is a stereotype then somewhere, someplace, someone made it real.

It also makes one intellectually lazy, by admission. Good luck with that.

 

[btone1035]

Overall, not sure the NBA needs to be "fixed". The league got the matchup it wanted, LA vs Boston. Nobody is crying in the NBA media department right now.

I agree with these sentiments. From a TV perspective, there's not much needed to make the TV product better. And there's nothing the league can do if Milwaukee and Oklahoma City happen to be the last two squads standing for The Finals. ABC or the broadcaster of choice will just have to swallow bad ratings, and hope one of the big draws make it next year.

Remember when the OP mentioned the debt service that teams were dealing with (the $400 million in the red figure)? That's on ownership, not the players or the game itself. They're supposed to be the smart guys making smart business moves, right? Watch the narrative devolve into 'greedy players' if there's a work stoppage, though.

ABC is more mainstream. They only care about the Lakers and LeBron, and maybe the Celtics and Magic. Far as the other teams, who cares. They want the exciting teams, superstars, since that will attract mainstream viewers. That's why ABC/ESPN is messed up. Playing Kesha and Katy Perry for pregame show is ridiculous. This is the NBA, not WNBA. NBC, while they did show the popular teams during their run, they showed and respected the smaller market teams. Even if the smaller market teams were in the finals, they had good ratings. They cared about the game, ABC doesn't, just celebrities.

 

[DToTheJ]

... ABC/ESPN is messed up. Playing Kesha and Katy Perry for pregame show is ridiculous. This is the NBA, not WNBA...

Have you ever seen the intro to ABC's - excuse me, "ESPN on ABC's" - Saturday night college football? They've had pop stars perform a theme song in the opening segment. It's called "playin' the hits"... It's no different than what NBC does when they pluck a different female artist every year to recycle an old Joan Jett melody at the start of "Sunday Night Football." Remember Pink?

 

[imhomerjay]

A different female every year? Pink had it one year, the rest of the years it's been Faith Hill all along. Hardly a merry-go-round of talent.

 

[vibe]

Professional golfers can hit the ball about 10 % further than 10-20 yrs ago. As a result they have to play much longer courses than in the past. Why not setting the rim about 10% higher to 11 ft to bring back some of the finesse and rebounding skills that are much less evident than in the past. And why not have a 4 pt circle from about 35-40 ft so a team down 4 in the waning seconds still has a shot, albeit a very long one. Or maybe a team can have a 12th man as a long range specialist.
Star and certain teams should not get the calls simply because they draw perceived higher TV ratings. It adds an element of the WWF to a sport (BB) whose credibility is slowly declining as a result.

 

[quadraphonic]

An 11 or even 12 ft goal and a 15 foot longer court is a good idea, but it would make it harder for ESPN to find highlights. That's what it all revolves around, a lot like the WWF in that way too.