Sad that professional sports have evolved into entertainment: https://www.facebook.com/reel/493582335811592?fs=e&s=cl
This is why the NBA is entertainment
- Thread starter PirateDawg
- Start date
I'm confused. What are professional sports supposed to be if not entertainment? If they are not entertainment, they tend to not be professional, because there's not enough money to pay people to play it.
I like to think they are more than that.....like an extension or representation of a city/region/state or something. But the older I get, the more those delusions leave me and I just accept them as the entertainment that they are. That is why I started so many threads in the past about pro sports fandom and what not.
At the end of the day, these teams have owners, and they are just some dude who lives there, like Jerruh. This is why college remains so popular, fans feel as if they are a part of something. There's no singular group in charge. The team /school is more like an idea.
Haha, there are thousands of videos. I just used that one to emphasize the issue because it was so blatant. Carrying the ball is another one with plenty of videos. Here's the feeble attempt by NBA to explain it away as gathering. So you can bobble the ball around and take extra steps:
https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/nba/how-nba-explains-away-all-those-missed-traveling-calls
Reminded me of when I contacted the head of SEC officials with a no call in a game that would have changed the outcome. He told me, "We are a let 'em play conference".
https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/nba/how-nba-explains-away-all-those-missed-traveling-calls
Reminded me of when I contacted the head of SEC officials with a no call in a game that would have changed the outcome. He told me, "We are a let 'em play conference".
The easiest solution since it enrages you so much is not watch it, which I bet you don’t do anyway so problem solved.
Bingo! Quit watching years ago for these reasons. Always hold out hope for improvement but I'm in the minority. Folks want to see the 5 step flush!
I might go along with that if college basketball didn’t put out a dog **** product. It’s painful to watch.
I think what the OP meant is that the typical NBA game is all about entertaining the fans and has nothing to do with true competition.
For example, if the Warriors play the Lakers, then Steph will launch some 3-pointers from half court and Lebron will drive to the goal and throw down some dunks . . . and the fans will be entertained because nobody (i.e., the players, the fans, the NBA) really cares who wins the game.
The players on both teams just basically go through the motions of playing a basketball game. They don't really care to compete against each other. They will get paid regardless of who wins the game, so what does it really matter anyway?
If you want to see a truly competitive NBA basketball game, then watch some of the Detroit Pistons-Chicago Bulls games from the mid to late 1980s.
What is it about college basketball that makes it a dog-**** product?
I completely agree with you . . . except I'd expand it to ALL basketball.
And I blame it on the 3-point shot.
I think college basketball suffers from a lack of fundamental play and that’s probably a result of AAU. It leads to boring games with poor shooting and the officiating just makes it worse.
It's the style of play in the NBA the last time I tried to watch when Golden State won their first title. I plan on trying again in the playoffs this year but the 3, dunk, 3, dunk, etc gets old for me. Maybe it just got better I'll find out. I'm also gonna try to major league baseball this year and see if I can start watching that sport again. I dropped him after the draft the strike years ago and never went back except when the Cubs won the World Series
I disagree with that wholeheartedly. If you sit down and watch an NBA game you’ll see people playing their *** off to win. Now there are the bad apples and I don’t disagree people give up vast majority are super competitive and want to win. Watch a Grizzlies game and tell me they don’t want to win.
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What you claim is no different than MLB though. It's largely due to the number of games played in the regular season.
Close games are played hard. Blowout games aren't. It's pretty simple. Clearly you are referencing some blowout games.
Wait for the second season- games are better overal.
Or the Bucks, Suns, Bulls, and Celtics. Get away from the Lakers and Warriors and you’ll find entertaining basketball.
College basketball sucks because you don’t have players long enough to have enough continuity to be good. And you also have a mixture of highly skilled players and players that are athletic but haven’t developed their skills yet. NBA has turnover but the competition is so high you have smarter players who have been playing longer and it works out.
Definitely not a fan of how the nba game has evolved. But I also remember when the problem was players couldn’t shoot, not that they shoot so well it makes 2-point field goal attempts inefficient unless they are basically layups.
I was an avid fan for years. Used to attend Pelicans games ocassionally in person trying to appreciate the NBA more. Didn't work. Really haven't watched it since 2015, and I turn off sports talk shows as soon as they start chirping on it.
I can speak for myself here. I care because it was a great game and it has been reduced to catering to the stars. I once loved it but now I can't watch it and I try. There is some great young talent in the NBA.
They let the stars get away with walking, fouling, pushing off, and they never get called for charging even though they run slam over people. NBA became a joke when it decided not to foul out it's stars and give them privilege's. To hear an annoucer say, "He's not going to get that call" is ********. If a journey man gets a star to foul him then call it and quit showing favoritism. Lebron's flopping self is a joke.
Were you a Jordan fan or maybe Bird or Magic because those guys got preferential treatment too. That’s not some new thing but I’m sure you glossed over that when you thought of the “glory days”. I get the hate for Lebron because he’s a total ***** when it comes to flopping. He’s by far the worst offender with James Harden being a close second.
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College basketball has become almost unwatchable for me. Too many turnovers.....poor shot selection, and players generally not valuing the basketball.
The NBA has definitely evolved. It's not as physical as it used to be, and I think that's given rise to a bunch of divas that are perceived as great today - but would have been just another player in the 80s/90s. That said, the skill of these guys can't be denied, and just because they make things look easy doesn't mean they aren't playing hard. It's a beautiful game. And watching the NBA (I've been going to Grizzlies games for years now), you get used to the skill level, which is why I struggle watching college ball now.
And I think that’s why it’s harder to watch college basketball now. The gap between college and pro has widened even further to where college looks like rec league. And yeah the pros make it look easy because they’re so damn good and it makes people think they’re not being defended. Best example is go early to a college game for shoot around and then go early to an NBA game shoot around and see the difference. The shooting skill is on another planet.
It really is. I can't remember the player's name, foreign post player for the pelicans a few years ago, but he looked sort of uncoordinated, but he was just swishing everything from 18 ft and in during warmups. The guys that can get by on defense and athleticism and be liabilities on offense are fewer and fewer. Really have to be a freak to justify that because shooting has gotten so much better in general.
It's somewhat surprising to me that this hasn't filtered down to college. I know players aren't staying as long and so a lot of your good athletes that can shoot are gone before making much if any difference in college, but you'd think you'd see more college teams trading off some athleticism for shooting, especially if it means they get to keep players for four years.
Yeah. If they didn't play tough defense in the NBA, you'd routinely see teams scoring in the 130s, like in the 1960s.
Bird was one of many. Clyde the Glide, The Dream, Round Mound of Rebound, Dr J did some crazy things on the court, the Sky Hook of Kareem was unstoppable, Stockton/Malone was a thing of beauty, the Chief just did work, to the meanness of the Bad boys of Detroit with Isiah Thomas to my favorite center of all time in Bill Russell.
Russell considered it a screw up to block the ball out of bounds. It's stupid and you aren't even trying to win when you do that. Now a days it's like the thing to do is knock it into the stands to get the crowd excited but it's dumb as 17. Russell would tip a block to himself or a teammate. Think about it, if you block a layup out of bounds and the ensuing inbounds play nets the other team a three, then you failed and would have been better off not blocking the shot.
I didn't address the question. I never noticed Bird getting preferential treatment. I saw him get knocked silly and no call many times. Jordan? Yes, that's when I first noticed it. He would push off a defender or hook them a dozen times a game and no call. That's when they started losing me.
I will say that there are some really good young players that are coming up. They just aren't allowed to play on even playing field with the stars.
Seems like if a coach went against the grain and recruited/coached fundamentals and shooting, then he might find a niche. I guess that's like what Nate Oats does, with all the analytics and such? I don't really know, I'm ignorant for the most part about basketball. I forgot about defense, obviously shut down defense is a part of good fundamentals.
I'm going to try and watch tonight/tomorrow and pick up on some of these things everyone mentions. I just don't know the game enough to know what is good fundamentals and what isn't.
Is Nolan Richardson's style kinda what I'm thinking about? I guess the problem in this day and age would be finding talented enough players, especially when you start talking about working hard and all.
Tbh college womens basketball is a better product than the mens
It's actually basketball. And they play pretty damn tough. I don't know what the root of men's basketball being so terrible is, but any rules change they want to make in effort to make the game more exciting, I'm for it.
Agree with the NBA part too. There is a Grand Canyon sized gap between the college and professional game - which is to be expected to an extent but they almost don't even resemble the same sport aside from it being 5 players trying to toss a ball in a basket. Part of it are the rules are better/more entertaining in the NBA, but the talent disparity just shows up in the game way more than it does in football or even baseball. You still get quality demonstrations of the sport at the higher amateur levels there.
It's actually basketball. And they play pretty damn tough. I don't know what the root of men's basketball being so terrible is, but any rules change they want to make in effort to make the game more exciting, I'm for it.
Agree with the NBA part too. There is a Grand Canyon sized gap between the college and professional game - which is to be expected to an extent but they almost don't even resemble the same sport aside from it being 5 players trying to toss a ball in a basket. Part of it are the rules are better/more entertaining in the NBA, but the talent disparity just shows up in the game way more than it does in football or even baseball. You still get quality demonstrations of the sport at the higher amateur levels there.
The 80s and ealy-mid90s was a ridiculous time in NBA basketball when it came to physical play. The pendulum had swung way too far one way at that point in time.
You say stars today would have been common players back then, well maybe.
And many of the memorable enforcing stars of that era wouldn't see the court for more than 15min each game these days because they 1- weren't reliable enough on offense and/or 2- would quickly pick up 6 fouls.
If fouls had been called better back then, play would have adjusted and much of you fondly remember wouldn't have happened. Basically, you long for a time when refs didn't call fouls like they do now. There was some crazy hard play in the paint that was not called, even though it violated rules. There was some crazy hard hand checking on the prrimeter that was not called, even though it violated rules.
No matter which way you look at it, many of the stars back then were successful because they got away with things. Wrestling on the court isn't something I miss, even though I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way at this point.
Is today's shooting in the NBA better? That's a good question.
Here's a link: https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html
Not exactly sure what all these stats show, but, at first glance, the overall FG shooting in the 80s looks a little better than today's.
Certainly, today's 3-point FG shooting is better. Today's free-throw shooting is a little better too.
Concerning defense, surely nobody wants to argue that today's defense is better, right? Especially with the way the refs are calling the games today.
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