Totally agree about working-class people not being able to afford games. My dad use to take me to NJ Nets games all the time in the early 2000’s because the tickets were so cheap and he was a REAL fan. I don’t think I’ll be able to take my future kids to games in the next ten years.
This might also be a consequence of today's officiating. It is far harder to make defence. Just look at 2018 James Harden and the way he was basically exploiting current NBA rules...
Analytics say that shooting 3s at 30% is better than shooting 2s at 50%. It’s easier to make 30% of 3s than 50% of 2s. It’s simple math. The game is being figured out, just like speedrunners figure out how to play a game at maximum efficiency. Previous generations didn’t have access to computers that could solve the game, so they were way more inefficient than today. It makes the game feel soulless and computerized, but so is everything in modern society so🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️
That was a great time to come of age. No cell phones or computers to suck up our time. We hung out with each other in n groups and watched basketball on our square tvs and I wouldn’t change a thing. People that weren’t alive back then can’t begin to grasp just how famous MJ was. Nobody has come close to that since. The game isn’t the same.
Im not gonna watch players freaking whine and demand a trade because they want max contract bro they need to learn bruh like im not watching lazy ass players every game that cluck so many threes and don't play good iso basketball
Who cares? You should do like Soccer fans. They support the Club, not players. Soccer fans would boo their own players all the time, because they care about their Club(organization), not individuals.
no defense, load management, players swapping teams to play with their buddies, no real rivalries...yeah I miss the old Nba no question about it...remember when the NBA had regular season games on NBC with Bob Costas...had theme music and those regular season games were intense..
@@dominiquerosemond5682how do you explain final scores like 150-145 that happen on a routine basis? There’s no defense being played. You could land a 747 in the lane now. Players just watch each other blast by just waiting for their turn. It’s damaged the game.
@@dominiquerosemond5682 the Kings put up 176 points in a single game. The average NBA team score is over 116 points per game now. That’s because of this amazing modern NBA defense right?
what really hurt the league is ring culture. When players entire legacies is discredited because they don't win a ring, they will join super teams, flop, and chuck threes. We need a baseball culture where fans appreciate players based on their individual accomplishments. Ken Griffey Jr. never won a championship, but baseball fans never hold that against him. Shohei Ohtani is super talented and nobody cares that he's never seen a playoff game
Baseball is much less star reliant than basketball. Look at the angels. They have two of the best players in this generation simultaneously and neither is downgraded due to their lack of postseason success. There's only so much as a star player you can do in baseball regardless of whether you're a star position player/hitter or an ace pitcher. Basketball if you're a top player you might not win the championship but you'll definitely at least be in the playoffs. Basketball you're 1 of 5 and on the court majority of the game. Baseball you're a pitcher who pitches 1 out of 5 games and not even the whole game most of the time and 1 of 9 players who comes to bat every 2-3 innings not even counting the pitchers
I understand the criticism of the "ring culture", but that ring culture was very much present, and I'd argue even more prevalent in the past eras of the NBA.
Agree with you on baseball. Tony Gwynn was a must see when he came to town with the Padres, even if they were bad. You knew that he was going to put on a show (and play the whole game). Now, you run the risk of spending 200 bucks and no guarantee your fave NBA guy is going to suit up. .
@@antoniobautista6718interesting i would assume it’s gotten worse now but i’ll take your word cause i was born in 98 but ring culture definitely is ruining the game
@@antoniobautista6718 agreed. Guys seemed much more hungry back then. They were obviously playing for the chip... not simply for large salaries, and fame/fortune.
It sucks to watch a game and the offense can do anything without repercussions. The traveling, carrying the ball, push offs, and flops it's just not fun to watch.
You nailed it. Defense is such an afterthought now. Marcus Smart winning DPOY should tell you everything you need to know about defense in todays game. He’s a good player but DPOY was a bit too much.
Yeah honestly lower level of basketball is enjoyable when the effort is higher. It's like prime Halle berry is prettier than most women and therefore has a higher ceiling but if she has a bad attitude and lacks feminine motherly qualities she can be superceded by a lesser attractive woman who has more traditional feminine qualities. Kind of like comparing euro and FIBA basketball to the NBA. Yeah NBA players are more athletic and "skilled" persay but there is a raw authentic quality of the NBA game that is missing today and may never be recovered due to a variety of reasons.
1) You can't play defense now bc if you do, it's a foul. 2) they don't enforce travel and carry rules 3) players jacking up 3s and don't run an offense
The top two things that ruined the NBA is paying top tier draft picks millions of dollars before they even stepped foot on the court or earned it making them entitled and spoiled. Two, sports betting/gambling with things like Draft Kings.
@@Ghostkilla773 Yes but it’s not the outrageous amount of money that it is today. There are rookies out in the NBA right now that made more money than Jordan ever has in his career in the NBA.
@@SovereignSpectre the league is bringing in way more revenue then it is now. Plus every number 1 pick comes in making at most $10 to $12 million his first year which is a decent amount. These guys are not coming in on Max contracts making a lot of money like how you perceived them to be.
I believe sports are scripted or rigged or whatever terminology you want to use but is that what you're referring to with your comment? Because basically you're saying the integrity of the players, coaches, referees, or any combination of all 3 are compromised
As a Warriors fan, I miss Oracle Arena and it sucks that Oakland sports are leaving. None of the fans in Chase Center are real fans, because the prices of seats in the nose bleeds are hundreds of dollars!
I feel you, I paid around $600 for a seat in the last rows in the nose bleeds for Game 5 Warriors vs Lakers in the Chase Center. I was glad to go to the game, my first in the Chase Center. But when the Jumbotron was showing fans and asking them to put the yellow rally or whatever t shirts that said "gold blooded" on even over their jerseys I thought it was odd but every fan was doing it regardless, then it pans over to a sweater vest yuppie sitting 5-10 rows back from center court talking with his wife, etc and they watch the screen asking them to don the "gold blooded" shirts and they just ignore it like their shit don't stink. Those are the kinds of Warriors 'fans' that go to watch the game. They don't cheer, they don't stand up, they don't trash talk, they just want to take it in leisure. It sucks. Oracle was different, We Believe and even the dynasty with KD in Oracle had better fans. The big money crowd sticks the nose above the plebs and acts like they don't have an obligation to cheer and support the team they bought tickets to watch advance and bring more money into their community, local restaurants and bars, etc.
As a Cavs fan, I loved watching Oracle Arena go silent in game 7. But I have to agree, I feel like the crowds don't get into it as much anymore because all of the games are so expensive; same could be said for a bunch of other sports.
He can't stand up to the players, so he has to bribe them with an in-season money tournament to attempt to make them care about the regular season, which they still don't.
I watched Puerto Rican league and they play defense, ref don't call alot of fouls, way more physical and competition. They also make plays not too many 1v1. Which is how the nba should be played
This is what I find hilariously ironic about the complaints of the late 90s & 2000s era of basketball - especially the 2000s which was dubbed the dead ball era. The teams that won practically every championship during this stretch played great team basketball. Yes, there were flashes of 1v1 brilliance with the likes of Jordan, Hakeem, Shaq & Kobe, Duncan, Wade, Dirk, etc., but these players all played on great TEAMS which typically ran a system which encouraged player & ball movement. Contrast to today & the heliocentric offenses increased dramatically with the likes of LeBron, Westbrook, Harden, Luka, Kyrie, Dame, etc.
@@Awkward_Inc3l exactly, there are alot of guys that are athletic but not like the nba but it's better for the fans to watch because you see basketball plays and skill
@johnsepulvedacruz6428 I think it's like everything else too money corrupts. It's like with mma fighters two prime examples being Ronda rousey and Connor McGregor. Once you get the big bucks and fame that hunger decimated. Differenxe between playing for free playing for an opportunity versus playing with tens of millions in your bank account with tens to hundreds of more millions guaranteed to you regardless of your availability/production. At the end of the day it is just a game. A game that many people idolize its stars and players can make boatloads of money but a game nevertheless
Bro, remember when people thought the Spurs were boring to watch because they weren't flashy? If you go back and watch their games, that was some beautiful basketball being played. You appreciate the mastery of them on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
I also hate how the games are played now, too many 3's, a lot of 1v1 isolations and position-less basketball, you got centres being point guards now, and barley any defence is being played.
I would also add the never ending change of jersey: I saw a game where Phoenix played in Turquoise and Charlotte playing in black and gold or Orlando in Orange against Detroit in Green. Shoes are not even assorted to uniform and you see Lakers players wearing pink or red shoes. Every regular season game do not look like an All Star but a Rookie Game.
Shoes I don’t really think matter, but jerseys 100%. It’s gross how much they try to just flood the market full of shit that’s not that good or just bad, and shit that’s not even anywhere close to the color scheme or design that team should have
You should mention sports betting on the fans side. I’m really starting to doubt people even watch sports for the sport anymore. I haven’t seen a single sports game (football, baseball, hockey, basketball, etc) in the last 2 years without hearing about everyone’s 50 bets for or against their own teams. It makes it really hard to get into the game as someone who doesn’t gamble because I can’t care to get excited for some random play that happened that just won your buddy 10 bucks. Fantasy was already a bit annoying but now on top of that everyone’s screaming about bets too.
Shitty officiating, AWFUL FLOPS (thanks, LeBron), overreliance on the three to the exclusion of all else, terrible fundamentals (traveling/carrying happens literally every possession), and weak defense. When overseas players are calling the league soft, there is a problem.
Remember when we always look forward to kobe vs ai, tmac, vc, pierce, lebron, dwade, arenas among others in the regular season? There was intensity evrytime those superstars collided in the regular season.
Also, another thing thats often overlooked but I feel like adds to the decline in the NBA. Is the uniforms and courts. What the hell happened to tradition? Teams wearing away and alt uniforms at home, home uniforms away. New court schemes every week. The Celtics new court was the last straw for me. They've had the leprechaun with the white background at center court for 40-50 years. It's just stupid. It really adds to the whole unprofessional, who cares vibe the NBA is currently giving off. It seems like no one really gives a fuck anymore. Coaches, players, the jerseys, courts, refs, fans, adam silver, etc.
@@makaihuddleston3164 Well said. Agree with every point. Also, big men are being told to be able to guard the perimeter, shoot the 3, block shots, rebound, and run the floor or the league doesn't want them. It's a damn disgrace what the league has done to big men.
@@makaihuddleston3164There’s definitely still lots of structures to teams, they just aren’t rigid at 5 specific positions that have had laws from 100 years ago. Teams build around their players skill sets now instead of artificially fitting players into rigid positional roles
Great assessment and video … u missed a huge reason why the nba sucks today and that’s teams jacking almost 40 3’s per game also the almost complete removal of the mid range game… it’s killing creativity, shot creating and showcasing of players skill sets… it’s a copy and paste league which leads to games being boring… great stuff keep up the good work
NBA became soft because Adam Silver caved in to the players a few years ago. Only reason I'm still watching NBA sometimes is because everything else on TV today is awful with subpar acting, unwanted reboots, and other absurd stuff Hollywood tries to shove down our throats......like we get it, you hate people who don't support your ideals and don't want to be part of your gimmicks...who doesn't 🙄
I mean why yall hating on the guy’s comments about Hollywood or general tv, he’s right, literally everything on tv nowadays is stupid and boring. All these dumbass tv shows and shit ain’t nobody watching them 😂
you missed by far the biggest reason - style of play. people wanna see big dudes on the low block banging, not jacking 3s. they wanna see dudes cutting for layups and dunks, not just standing around and 3s. they wanna see a midrange jumper (maybe even off the glass) not just 3s. fans want defense and rebounding, not just waiting your turn to shoot your teams 3. How to fix style of play? Move the 3 point line back, add the 4 point line, allow for more physical defense, allow the ball to be taken off the rim like in international, give an "and 2" for a basket with a foul (a real foul), add in a "flagrant flopping" foul that awards 2 free throws/the ball/and an ejection, remove the 3 second rule. How to fix the rest of the league: shorter season with more emphasis on divisional play again to make rivalries, 8 teams make playoffs with HEAVY advantage to the top 2 seeds such as first 3 at home, eliminate the draft and allow young players to sign with whoever they want like euro soccer. this last point would eliminate tanking and allow you to organically grow your own team from scratch. think everybody would just wanna play for the lakers or knicks then? maybe - but that could also leave them signing a bunch of Hasheem Thabeet or Darko Milicic busts on long contracts that they would have to manage or dump while the underdogs like OKC or Cleveland is looking for gems. It would also help the G League because teams and fans would be more vested in their potential future stars then.
It’s these One and Done kids or they skip college all together , team caters to them and gives them millions , they don’t try AT ALL. 19 years old , Zero work ethic . Takes the millions , they don’t make it or mediocre for a few years , disappear, then they get replaced with someone JUST LIKE THEM where they are almost a teenager who doesn’t make it or just plays like it’s the Rec League because they’re already “Made It.” The instant gratification mentality has destroyed the hard work and professionalism. Instant gratification. And they just basically get swiped and replaced . No trying hard , no being a professional, don’t have to work for anything ..
That’s why you see these undrafted players play better than some top ten picks. They actually work to get good and get attention. KG, Kobe, Tmac and Lebron definitely had a part of influencing this one and done skip college thing
Floping ,no defense ,bad calls , mooded refs , not calling shit like traveling MOST IMPORTANT NO DEFENSE HIGH SCORING @ 9:00 great point plus the league being soft ass baby shit add that in there
It is amazing how casual most fans are at the arena. Almost everyone in the arena doesn't know the players or the rules. Most of the time the only people who are loud and bring the energy are in the upper levels.
Too much flopping, No more team rivalries because superstar players demand a trade even they just signed a contract. Superstars doing the load managing, then when they do play gets injured. There are many excuses now not to play. Lazy players
@@roboninja3194Superstars used to rep their teams and used to be the franchise. Now people like James Harden beg to sign a contract then demands to get traded the next season. I don’t blame the older players playing 50 games aged 34+ but now we have dudes that are 24-29 in their prime missing games that are equivalent to having a major injury
Honestly….the refs just need to actually be referees you know, that’s what’s killing the NBA. Fred VanVleet was right when he called them out, props to him for stating how the current league is. It’s also just gotten soft.
I live in Ohio and around September of 2022, me and my sister were planning to go see the Cavs play later on in the season last year against either the warriors or suns which are my two favorite teams. I’ve never been to an nba game btw and so I scheduled some vacation days and we bought tickets to see the warriors come into town and play the Cavs. Fast forward to January when they came into Cleveland, the warriors sat Steph, Klay, and draymond for rest. I was highly disappointed I didn’t get to see them play. They weren’t hurt but just tired. I understand what the “science” supposedly says but as a consumer idgaf about that. I want to see healthy players play and not be on the sidelines in street clothes. I shelved out $3000 plus hotel accommodations for me and my lil sister to come watch them play. I was upset and I don’t think I’ll ever plan on going to an nba game again. Didn’t get my moneys worth.
There is way more talent in the league right now. It's actually shocking how good most guys are. It's why the game has changed so much. Everyone can shoot so you can't have eight guys standing around the basket. I'm 50 years old and I love today's game.
Two things can be true. Players can overall be better while the purity of the game has gotten worse. Obviously the NBA is much more popular and lucrative than previous generations especially with internet but the core game has been compromised as money is the focal point now with sponsorships and TV deals and overall mass appeal. Like when an artist goes from making the music they want to signing a deal and becoming mainstream they're compromising who they are and their subsequent art they produce. While these players are highly paid it is a job at the end of the day. There's a difference in getting paid to play and everything that comes with it good and bad and doing it in your freetime and enjoying it how you want
It’s demonstrably true, sure the stars of all eras will be able to succeed in any era. But if you take the 10th best player from an 80s team and a 2023 team it’s a clear cut difference in basketball ability.
@@chidori5399 I am warching from '88. I am 47. Today NBA is far away advanced and much more harder and complicated with much more talent. 90 ies were only USA + just dozens of foreign. Now talents are from all planet 8 billion lol. Video game. Jokic or Luka or Steph etc - video game insane level of skills Now teams need to defend hard even on 30 feet. That is much harder. Before only in 15 feet defense. It is much more variaty in today NBA
There are a few things you missed. 1: there are too many players that are on the offensive side of the ball. What I mean is that too many players are only play offensive and for that reason players scoring 50pts is like scoring 20 nowadays. It’s impressive but when you do that 20 times it get less impressive. Especially when role players can do that. scoring is way too easy now. 2. Everybody in the nba does two things. Shooting 3 pointers or dunking. And while seeing a long distance 3 or a windmill dunk is cool and all but when you do that too much it gets less and less amazing. Kd and demar are the only ones (and I’m sure a few others) that shoot middys. We don’t just want to see 3s or dunking.. we want to see Fadeaways, Post moves, and a lot of other stuff. There are a lot more things to the game of basketball than shooting and dunking. 3. The league is way too soft and that isn’t just the refs.. the whole nba will fine you for trash talking 🤦♂️. There are a lot more things I don’t like about the nba but I can’t think of any thing else. You pretty much covered it all. Overall the nba right now does suck.
Sound like a true fan. But it's also why I find it hard to rate modern players. What they are doing isn't that impressive and there is no killer instinct If they who are paid millions to play don't even care about the game why should we?
Agreed on all points. @pleaseentername.9782. Here is one I greatly dislike. Lebron. He started the whole player empowerment crap and the super teams. His fan base is like a cult. When you point out he shoots 37% outside of 3 feet for his career (yes it's true look it up) they lose their minds. His insecurity: Calling himself the goat, demanding respect, that corny ass crown emote he keeps doing, the I might retire to take the focus off his team getting swept, certain media members being paid by Klutch Sports to tear down Jordan, Kobe, and other great players to prop up Lebron. It's all so contrived, so manipulated. It's high level cringe and makes me never want to watch basketball again.
The midrange is not dead, it’s just dead if you can’t shoot. Dejounte Murray, Joel, Booker, Brandon Ingram, CJ McCollum, Zach LaVine, and more still take plenty of midrange shots. What’s changed is an open midrange shot from a non-shooter is no longer a desired shot. Although it isn’t as frequent, there are still many players who put their back to the basket and look for their fadeaway shot too. It’s just that 3s are worth the most, and a dunk is the easiest shot in basketball.
😂 You are insanely delusional. Iso was in 90 ies Today small market team---can be champion--Denver, Bucks, Toronto Before only Lakers, Boston, Chikago lmfao. So borring NBA in 90 ies
I expected you to mention the reliance on the 3-point basket. This has significantly changed the style of play. It reduces the need of a paint and/or post game, which is where many stars were made back in the day. Working in the paint forced contact, which led to a much more physical game. The physicality also contributed to some of the rivalries that we're fond of. That said, I think the reliance on 3's is a symptom of a larger problem. The league has become more profit driven, in a technical way. It's easier and more efficient to shoot three's to win a game. As soon as teams picked up on that, their training camps doubled down, and the pipeline of players coming into the league all needed to be able to shoot the 3-ball. I also expected you to talk about building super teams. It's almost impossible to build a rivalry if you're guaranteed to face a whole new roster next season. Rivalries are built on individual players first, and then absorbed by the franchise and their fans. However, guys have been building super teams for about 15 years. This undermines competition and gives too much leverage to cities with big budgets. Small cap cities often don't have a chance unless they're lucky to draw great players like the Bucks did with Giannis.
Haven't seen the video yet, but I think the league is in a much better spot now than it was during the KD Warriors era. These past NBA playoffs were nothing short of thoroughly entertaining, and I think most true basketball fans love watching Jokic play.
A major one is not highlighted enough.... the exploited 3 pointers. It takes away a team's identity and player's organic skill set while making players less defensive, refs more eager to call, and athleticism less incentivized.
I'll add two more: only a few teams in a given season have a realistic chance of winning a title and most possessions teams don't even try to rebound. They just chuck up a three and run back on defense while four players from the defensive team stand under the basket and get the missed shot.
And it might just be me, but I can’t be the only person who noticed that refs, for a while now, have been blatantly ignoring fundamental/rudimentary calls like traveling. It’s a part of why I stopped watching the league along with the flopping. Though I’ve heard earlier in the regular reason this past season they’re starting to get a little better at actually making those rudimentary calls. But I wouldn’t know for sure. I haven’t watched an NBA game in a few years
I’m glad you said that. I really don’t watch much basketball but it always blows me away that dudes can just run away with the ball like that and not get called for it. I thought I was the only one who noticed
The object of every sport is to win the championship. Yes, there are other individual & team goals, but the ultimate prize is the championship. It's always been that way & it'll never change. That's not what decreased the quality of the NBA.
@@atlien1988 it has though you're proving the point. The NBA is a business above all else. By diminishing the regular season you make fans feel like they shouldn't have to attend or watch those games because it doesn't matter right.
Agree wholeheartedly with this video, especially the rivalry and flopping part. Something very important you talked on which I don't think any one else has is the real fans nit being there because of ticket prices and richer folk just coming to games to be there. That is an underrated cause of why the nba sucks
The issues you mentioned are mostly legit, but they arent the biggest ones i have with todays league. 1. Stop praising superstars for forcing their way out of legal valid contracts and into superteams. Its outrageous that people in the highest tier of basketball are allowed to team up with other superstars, stack the deck even more in their favor than nature aleady did, and still receive praise for it. Lebron is the main culprit here, to name names. Everyone else just follows suit, but noone else including KD crowned themselves the GOAT while doing this kind of weak stuff. Before someone whines about how bad that cleveland team was - i dont say its wrong to leave a team that fails to help at some point (not as fast as LeBron did, but eventually). However, leaving the hopeless team does NOT imply you have to build or join a superteam - this is the point LeBron stans hate to discuss. Nothing stopped him from going to the knicks, and help develop their talent (another thng he never did) and bring a title to them, WITHOUT surrounding himself with two other top tier superstars. 2. Break the influence of player on the league, the media. The reason why point 1 isnt discussed is the MASSIVE influence that Rich Paul, Klutch, and therefore LeBron have on everyone who wants to be in touch with teams and officials and who wants to receive quick updates. Its banned to discuss certain players, and most of all LeBron, in a negative way. Whoever does it will be cut loose. Its well documented, too. Talk about load management, PED, favorable whistle and you will be dried out. Its inacceptable that an active player can have this knd of influence on the game. 3. Stop favoring offense so brutally. The reason why the european product is so much better, despite a lot less talent, is that they keep their integrity intact, meaning the sport is still the main focus, not envertainment for a casual fan. That implies that defense is empowered according to the rules where the NBA loves to call phantom fouls to discourage eveyrone to even come near 3pt shooters. The result is the endless parade to uncontested 3pt shots we get to see every day, every game nowadays.
I pretty much agree with everything, although with the 3rd point, I wouldn’t say it’s an offense problem, it’s just a lack of defense problem. Shitty rule changes don’t allow for it anymore. (If that’s what you already meant, then 👍)
@@sp123 Absolutely. He left and formed Superteams (at least one, I’d say), but he never left out of a contract. In fact, he quite literally always played through every contract, and brought a championship to every team he’s played for; particularly this occurred AFTER his hopeless runs with the Cavs initially, when he actually started forming better teams with LeGM mode
@@Jonathan-A.C. He failed to win anything without stacking the deck massively in his favor prior to the season. Then when they (THEY) won, he made sure it was all about him. Think about what he achieved in LA without AD; missed the playoffs twice iirc. Yet everyone acts like AD is some scrub that gets carried by LeBron, when the reality is the exact opposite.
You nailed almost everything. Well done! However, I know you probably won't want to say this but the other thing that is killing the league for me is forcing all the WNBA players and women refs and broadcasters into the game. I'm sorry but I don't want to hear women calling men's basketball after night. I don't care what anyone thinks.
I don’t the nba *or anyone* should preference their employees based off gender, but the “don’t believe women should ref” part is pretty much a you problem. If they earned the job the same way as a man then I give all power to them
Well, as Jazz fans, what did it for me & my dad was starting in 2017-present, where the league got less professional and more like gangsta-ball. There's just too much cheese ball "thug life" in the league right now. When was the last time a coach wore a suit every game? What happened to the kid-friendly environment(no embarrassing halftime shows & music)? When will players stop complaining about the "underprivileged(I love playing ball but I'm only 5' 8")", a word most players can't truly sympathize with as NBA players making more than double figures a year? When will player empowerment over organizations & coaches end? I feel like there aren't as many REAL coaches anymore(yelling at players to do the right thing & sweating while drawing up plays that give chances to win close games. Who needs a coach nowadays, almost every teams' star player is the one really in charge of the team(LBJ, Kyrie, KD, CP3, AD, Wesbrook, PG13, Harden; just to name a few). It is all very sickening, even in the Utah Jazz franchise, there's just too much of some of these problems that me and my dad can take.
The actual fans/arenas aren’t the same bc the players are actually so soft these days hs they will cry about a fan and get them kicked out, the fans were a part of the rivalry not just the players. Player move from team to team too much, no loyalty, flipping is horrible, the politics, the constant firing of coaches, and the list goes on and on and on. What used to make it so great was how the players and coaches would stay together even during bad times, so when the team finally was good it made it so much better
They need to make divisions matter more. If you look at the NFL, all the rivalries are mainly division rivalries. There needs to be 16 teams in both the East and west, and split the 16 teams into 4 4 team divisions. Make winning the division an automatic entry into the playoffs, then, the 2nd place and 3rd place teams of each division play eachother for the last 4 spots in the playoffs, the teams that lose miss the playoffs, as well as every team that came in last in their respective division. Wouldn’t be that hard to do either, you could keep the 82 game schedule and just get rid of a few inter conference games, and replace them with inner division games.
Nailed it. I hated football after high school. Loved nba regular season until the warriors dynasty honestly. Now this year I haven’t watched a single nba game and missed the whole finals last year. I watched nfl games last 3 seasons and watched Christmas Day for the first time. I always watched basketball on Christmas but not anymore
The weak rules: No carries called, no travels called, defenders with arms behind their backs so a rip-through foul doesn’t get a called on them, defensive 3 seconds, zone defense allowed, no hand-checking, the 4-step step-back-3, on top of the flopping that looks like everyone got double-bounced on a trampoline.
Middle class is starting to not be able to afford a lot of things. When I was a kid we went to games, movies, theme parks, etc. We still do fun stuff, but its things like county fairs.
International leagues are where it's at. I watched the World Baseball Classic game between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and it was insane. The game was 3 hours long and it had me wanting more. Let's face it. When national pride is at stake, the level of intensity goes up a notch. There are certain cities like NY, Philly and Boston, where the fans are Uber passionate. But that's an exception, not the rule.
It comes down to this. It's a players league and everything on the court caters to that. From the rules to how coaches coach and if they don't like it the coach is gone or they leave anyways.
I make it real simple No one plays defense Everyone wants to shoot from half court, We overhype one-sided stars, there is only a handful of two-way players and they are pretty-much all big men (Giannis, Embiid) This is the first season I can recall that a team won a championship and there was ZERO All-Defensive players on the starting lineup. The game is garbage now, due to a lack of true elite players. How you become an MVP and you never been on an All-Defensive team?
It’s not that no one plays defense it’s just that the rules caters to offensive play too much. It made the whole league one sided you can’t even breath on a player anymore without it being called
Die hard lakers fan since the 80s and had no interest watching lakers v Celtics on Xmas. Thats how bad the game is today. From flops, to three pointers to traveling violations and no defense all ISO or high pick n roll with content commercials, the game straight sucks.
One of the big ones that can be added another video is definitely load management. That has made even going to games something that may stray fans away from going to see games live at the arena.
I think this thing about the crowds exists in other sports,too. In soccer, here in Brazil,we cannot have organizated cheer crowds,because real bloody beef episodes that happened in the 80,90,and 2000's ..well, still happens,but in less cases,and when the world Cup was about to come in 2016 the soccer teams directories quickly started to setup their stadiums to raise It to make FIFA happy and get an autorization to their stadiums to be useful to the Cup. This made the tickets more expansive, expelled the low classes of the stadiums and even the food in the stadiums is more expansive now than ten years ago. Arenas to soft people and soft games.
When Kobe retired he took the heart of the NBA game with him... the ONLY player i enjoy watching is Giannis, plays hardnosed physical basketball , humble and dominant and isnt chummy with anybody who isnt his teammate.
its still funny how they tried to get giannis to join lakers or warriors, still the funniest thing ever, but it was mostly warriors, they thought giannis was like kd, it was at the beginning of 2020-21 season, that those narratives and rumors of giannis going to warriors were at an all time high, and then on his birthday, he made sure to stay on the bucks, and everyone scrutinized him and said he wouldn't win, and that he needs to play with curry in order to win rings, and then God in the sky rewarded him, and he got a ring, I feel this is not talked about enough or reminded by many enough, complete turnaround
One more thing is that defensive rule changes allow the offensive player to not be touched. So, teams are taking more 3s. I noticed a lot of off-ball action was below the free throw line, now it’s all above the arc. When a player can penetrate with ease, it allows them to break down defenses until you get an open 3…
when I was young, players who flopped the most were Bill Laimbeer of the Pistons and Vlade Divac with Lakers/Kings. What I remember most that young uneducated fans dont understand today is that both those guys were not just floppers. They mastered it to a point they were so good at it that they could flop and make it look authentic. They never tried to over sell it. Todays players honestly grew up watching and wanting to be like Lebron James and if even Lebron fans were honest, Lebron has spent his career trying to set a record that could never be broken with the most career flops. What the league is today is a non stop never ending contest to see who can make the most flops every single game and no player tries to master the art of deception the way Vlade or Bill Laimbeer did in the old days. Today guys that are built like Lebron will act like a player 6 inchs shorter and 75 pounds lighter who just ran by them suddenly knocked them 8 feet backwards and so on. I mean its some of the most stupid flops I have ever seen and that is why I no longer watch the NBA along with the other total destruction of the game with Adam Silver rule changes who is by thr an embarrassment as a commish since the David Stern days when the league actually was the best sport on TV anywhere.
bro and people say the WNBA is trash. At least that league gives me that old school 90s nba feel. Plus surprisingly that league is more physical than the NBA.
Europe just does sports better. They support a team as opposed to the American way which is supporting a player. If LeBron changes team, you see that fan switch allegiance just because LeBron moved. I've also seen Americans having two teams they support. That makes no sense to a European. Your team is your identity in Europe. You go through the hardships as well as the highs.
Nba isn't basketball anymore it's just Entertainment . You can't defend You can do like 444466422577 steps Everything is based on highlights instead of fucking basketball
Video games are still good, indie games are the new wave, Triple A games just suck now. Nowadays 15 year olds are making better games than a company of 3k devs are
Ya need to address the root of the problem: Adam silver. He’s allowed the league to get this point. I haven’t really been a nba fan since the early 2010s, but I feel ALOT of the issues come back to him
Euro leagues are like that in soccer too those fans have songs for their teams that they sing, they get more into it, and its just a whole nother feeling. In the NBA though lol these days people are more fans of players then teams!
You didn’t even touch on the defense-okay, the lack of it-the absence of real center play, and the heavy emphasis on 3-pointers. I was a huge basketball fan in the 70s and 80s, but haven’t watched a game in years. Watching guys stand around the perimeter and jack up threes is boring.
I agree about the ticket prices , I go to the warrior games and we gotta sit all the way up top . Before they moved and when they wasn't good the tickets were cheap and you can sit close
One ref incident I remember was with Jon Barry when he was on the Pistons. A foul was called while Barry had the ball. Barry walked over to the ref and handed him the ball as he was on his way to use the scorers table to tie his shoe. The ref T'd him up.
4:55 is that for the NBA? Cause it says provisional basis for summer league games. Also flopping fouls should count as personal fouls. Rivalries can't happen anymore because the best players jump from team to team every 2-3 seasons. Player empowerment ruined rivalries. Thanks Lebron. He'll be the 1st superstar who when he retires will have left the game in worse shape than when he entered it. And $500 to see Lebron play no defense and AD in street clothes? What a deal.
I can hardly make it through a game now. It’s just so boring to watch. No defense, no post game, a foul called every other play, etc. I fail to see how it’s on par to what it was in the 90s. For me, it’s declined majorly.
I go to hawks games and it sucks because the only tickets that are affordable are birds view. There are whole sections empty every game because the ppl that wanna go can’t afford them but the ppl that can afford them don’t care to go. Smh
Bro I almost broke my TV when the refs called no foul when Jaylen Brown got knocked in the head while shooting!!! The ref said he hit the ball first even though he didn’t! Then they have the nerve to say they reviewed it and it wasn’t a foul. They tried to hide it by saying the Porzingis foul was a bad call but not the hit on the head?! 😂😂😂 we got robbed and everyone saw it! Buddy Hield even said he hit JB!! Absolutely ridiculous! The head ref is from Indiana too. What a coincidence!!!
Another problem is the authority of Adam Silver. David Stern was a bad ass and if you to do it his way, you ll get trouble (Iverson, if your read us). Under Stern’ s area, Ja Morrant would have been suspended the whole year. Durant has so much disrespect for Silver that he s calling for Marijuana to be authorized… « Stay in School » of 80s area seems really far
Adam Silvers caters to the players too much he needs to put his foot down and be an actual commissioner. I remember Melo got suspended 15 games for just fighting meanwhile we have other players getting the same suspensions for far worse
The ticket prices are too damn high. I wanted to go to a playoff game this year, and a decent (not great, decent) seat was $3,000 to $5,000. A nosebleed seat was still $300. And no, I'm not in NY or LA or any big market. If you want rowdy hooligans, good luck when you're charging 1-2 month's pay for a seat in the lower level.
These guys make sooo much money, once they sign that paper a bunch of them will lose motivation. Shit, you got guys averaging 8ppg off the bench making 10 million a year. 4 year 40 million is enough for life. Also you're on point with the rivalry thing. I didn't even notice that, but 100% true.
More so Adam Silver he gave into the players. Could’ve been more stricter on the team hopping and always gives controversial players the minimum punishment
