How the hell is the NBA a bad product?

[dland24]

Because half the league makes the playoffs. And the playoffs last for like 2 months.

So don't watch those series.

No one says **** about baseball seasons lasting 162

People DO say **** about baseball being too long of a season.....and guess what? Those people would be incorrect. 2013's baseball season lasted 214 calendar days. 2012-13's Basketball season lasted 234 calendar days.

Yet the NBA heads or anti baseball people complain about the baseball season being too long. Just comical to me.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

I've been a Lions fan and Mavs fan pretty much my whole life.

In the 90s the Mavs were horrible drafted an awkward German kid and have won more in his 15 years than the LIons have in 50.

There are NO NBA teams that have existed as long as the Lions and Browns and haven't won a championship.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

Because half the league makes the playoffs. And the playoffs last for like 2 months.

So don't watch those series.

No one says **** about baseball seasons lasting 162

People DO say **** about baseball being too long of a season.....and guess what? Those people would be incorrect. 2013's baseball season lasted 214 calendar days. 2012-13's Basketball season lasted 234 calendar days.

Yet the NBA heads or anti baseball people complain about the baseball season being too long. Just comical to me.

Man them baseball games 4 hours long B. If you take the time you have to devote to watching every baseball game your team plays it doesn't compare to any other league.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Because half the league makes the playoffs. And the playoffs last for like 2 months.

So don't watch those series.

No one says **** about baseball seasons lasting 162

People DO say **** about baseball being too long of a season.....and guess what? Those people would be incorrect. 2013's baseball season lasted 214 calendar days. 2012-13's Basketball season lasted 234 calendar days.

Yet the NBA heads or anti baseball people complain about the baseball season being too long. Just comical to me.

Man them baseball games 4 hours long B.

And still are more popular.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

Because half the league makes the playoffs. And the playoffs last for like 2 months.

So don't watch those series.

No one says **** about baseball seasons lasting 162

People DO say **** about baseball being too long of a season.....and guess what? Those people would be incorrect. 2013's baseball season lasted 214 calendar days. 2012-13's Basketball season lasted 234 calendar days.

Yet the NBA heads or anti baseball people complain about the baseball season being too long. Just comical to me.

Man them baseball games 4 hours long B.

And still are more popular.

Because they are cheaper and there are more of them.

 

[dland24]

To answer the original question, I think one of the main reasons the NBA is not a great product is because one conference is unbelievably terrible, and has been terrible for the better part of two decades. Its ridiculous when you have teams in one conference missing the playoffs, yet said team would be the 4 seed in the other conference, you have a problem. And this problem has existed for longer than a lot of people in this thread have been alive.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

I'd like to point out that the exact same percentage of NFL teams have never won a championship as NBA teams before the Seahawks got it done. Now its 40 to 43%

The NBA Finals has had higher ratings than the World Series 4 straight years and 5 out of the last 6.

 

[dland24]

Man them baseball games 4 hours long B.

Another misconception that is not close to reality. A 2013 study showed baseball games on average, last 2 hours and 58 minutes. Yet, a similar study in 2013 showed NFL games on average , last 3 hours and 12 minutes.

I dont hear people complaining that NFL games take too long.

 

[SneakerProSr.]

Man them baseball games 4 hours long B.

Another misconception that is not close to reality. A 2013 study showed baseball games on average, last 2 hours and 58 minutes. Yet, a similar study in 2013 showed NFL games on average , last 3 hours and 12 minutes.

I dont hear people complaining that NFL games take too long.

Because there are 16 of them once a week vs 3 hours of 5 times a week.

Watching every game your favorite baseball team plays is a part time job.

Playoff baseball games are typically at least a half an hour longer as well.

 

[herbshuttles15]

Man them baseball games 4 hours long B.

Another misconception that is not close to reality. A 2013 study showed baseball games on average, last 2 hours and 58 minutes. Yet, a similar study in 2013 showed NFL games on average , last 3 hours and 12 minutes.

I dont hear people complaining that NFL games take too long.

Shouldn't be comparing anything to the NFL right now, football is too popular.

Baseball is boring that's why it continues to lose popularity amoung younger fans year after year eventually you're going to have a whole generation of people who don't care about baseball.

 

[ny mavurs]

I don't think we should go as far to say that the NBA is a bad product. People just have their own preference and grew up on a certain sport. Each sport has its flaw...

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Because a lot of teams in the NBA are terrible and remain so. They never emerge to become title contenders, at best simply also-rans.

You just described 40% of the NFL

44% percent before February.

Yet teams in the NFL get better and become contenders by getting in the playoffs. Favorites get knocked off all the time early in the playoffs and underdogs have a chance. How often is that true of the NBA?

its not true in the nba because they play a series... anyone can steal one game...

Hence, my point about the NBA: bad teams never transcend their situation. The NFL is a different beast altogether, it's difficult to compare a one game playoff to a playoff series. MLB is a more capable comparison, and in baseball underdog teams DO triumph over the favorites. That almost never happens in the NBA. The strongest teams at the start of an NBA season almost always are competing at the end of it, injuries or whatever unpredictable things aside.

 

[cedric ceballos]

I wouldn't call it a bad product but its not the ideal product either.

Too many hopeless franchises and too many incompetent people running franchises.

Teams like the bucks, hawks, bobcats, timberwolves, raptors, wizards, pelicans, nuggets, kings, jazz, etc have no chance of making the finals or winning a championship in the modern current day nba. I know some of the teams I mentioned are in the playoffs right now but their realistic ceiling is the 2nd round. If by any chance a team like this stumbles upon a superstar in the draft, unless its a humble Kevin Durant type dude, their looking to move to LA, Chicago, Miami or NYC when free agency hits because there's more money to be made outside of basketball in those markets. (I can't knock them for that mindset).

Dumb gm's don't help either, and the NBA has quite a few of those. If your in a small market your room for failure is much shorter then if your in a big market but no matter how you cut it, the incompetent ownership and gm's is common with alot of nba teams.

David Stern and the NBA started focusing on marketing the individual player instead of the team in the mid to late 80's and this worked for the NBA money wise at the time but in my opinion does a disservice now. The individual marketing of guys like Jordan, magic and bird helped get the NBA out of the dark ages of the 70's where playoff games were shown on tape delay. The extreme individual player marketing really isn't needed now considering the NBA is established.

Alot of dead franchises don't have decent fanbases. I would say the nba has the most fickle fairweather fans out of all 4 major sports and part of it is because of the focus on marketing the individual as opposed to the team. It was a ton of "76ers fans" who were really only iverson fans, Laker fans who only like the team because of Kobe, heat because of lebron, thunder because of Durant etc. you don't see fairweather fans jumping from team to team because of individual players on the level it is with the NBA with NFL, MLB or NHL fans.

The lack of parody is an issue as well. Since 1980, only 9 teams have won a championship. Since 1980, only 17 teams have even made it to a finals. That's 34 years between 1980 and today.

Other leagues have their flaws, but the lack of parody, and dead hopeless franchises really seems to stand out in the NBA to me. I have no issue with the long playoffs if it was more teams that had a realistic chance of winning a title.

 

[sea manup]

 

 

Because a lot of teams in the NBA are terrible and remain so. They never emerge to become title contenders, at best simply also-rans.

You just described 40% of the NFL

44% percent before February.

Yet teams in the NFL get better and become contenders by getting in the playoffs. Favorites get knocked off all the time early in the playoffs and underdogs have a chance. How often is that true of the NBA?

when dumb NFL teams sign bad players for a lot of money they can cut them. when NBA teams sign bad players for a lot of money they are stuck with them unless they can trade the contract

its easier to be a dumb front office in the NFL

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

 

 

Because a lot of teams in the NBA are terrible and remain so. They never emerge to become title contenders, at best simply also-rans.

You just described 40% of the NFL


44% percent before February.

Yet teams in the NFL get better and become contenders by getting in the playoffs. Favorites get knocked off all the time early in the playoffs and underdogs have a chance. How often is that true of the NBA?

when dumb NFL teams sign bad players for a lot of money they can cut them. when NBA teams sign bad players for a lot of money they are stuck with them unless they can trade the contract

its easier to be a dumb front office in the NFL

That's definitely true, and if the NBA were to be able to negotiate a system like the NFL's with the player's union it would go a long way to making the NBA a better league. As it stands, fans have to tolerate terrible front offices because there's no other alternative.

 

[pmatic]

It's a tough issue to fix, but when fans get mad that they're team is winning late in the season that's a problem.

 

[dmxfury]

Five words for you.

Bill Leavy apologizes.

Fail Mary

You've had to have seen my opinion on NFL refs so you aren't giving me any news

That said you listed two total examples, and both were results of plays that were made which were 'close to scoring' and would then be up to judgement. But the nature and game play of the NBA allow the refs to have more influence on a score than any other sport. I think that bothers people especially with the stories and allegations that we have all heard. That was my point

NBA is ok to me. A bit predictable because one player can has such a great effect on the game compared to other sports where the team has most influence

 

[100027]

Refs are the only problem IMO. But it is a real problem.

All refs make mistakes, but NBA refs actions seem completely arbitrary. That and the Donaghy scandal, which was treated in a way that completely disrespected the fans, and the superstar/biased calls become that much more frustrating.

 

[kingfoamnyc]

The season needs to be shortened to 66 games, the lockout season was the first regular season that was ever exciting to me. Also the first round needs to go back to 5 games. Would love to see the playoff seeding restructure to the best 16 teams regardless of conference but we all know that'll never happen.

 

[mr marcus]

It's a tough issue to fix, but when fans get mad that they're team is winning late in the season that's a problem.

!!

Also think with older folks they dead *** don't like the look of an average nba player.

 

[ap27]

There's just too many fouls. It breaks the flow of the game, prevents teams from playing defense, and makes games less competitive. When guys are actually allowed to make contact and play defense, you naturally get people playing harder and on both offense and defense there are more impressive plays. There's nothing impressive to me about LeBron's uncontested drives to the basket or Durant shooting 20 fts. I'm not blaming or singling them out either, it's just not fun for me to watch a game without defense where refs have so much power. And after years of games being called like this, how many drives do you just see defenders letting ballhandlers go by not to pickup a foul. To me (and this is just my opinion), that's not basketball. Basketball at its best is a physical, competitive game where people can get mad, yell, and take shots at each other. It really hasn't been like this since the early/mid 2000s, so yes, even ignoring the massive disparity between good and bad teams, I think the NBA currently is a bad product.

I hate both teams, but the Lakers-Celtics 2010 game 7 was one of the better games i've seen in recent memory, and it was obviously more intense because it was a game 7 finals game, but there were a lot less touch fouls. I remember being surprised that the game wasn't being stopped every minute because guys were fighting for rebounds. It was one of the better refereed games I've seen in the NBA in a while and the refs really let them play. I absolutely hate both teams, but that game to me was real basketball, and it was a good product. Watch that game again, if it were a 2014 Heat game there would've been 40 more fouls and 5 techs. I can understand why people just like seeing tons of scoring, uncontested dunks and threes, but I think that's a bad product.

We've actually reached the point where Euro's come over and can't believe how much softer it is here. When Gallinari said that about the NBA as a rookie, I knew we went too far.

 

[100027]

There's just too many fouls. It breaks the flow of the game, prevents teams from playing defense, and makes games less competitive. When guys are actually allowed to make contact and play defense, you naturally get people playing harder and on both offense and defense there are more impressive plays. There's nothing impressive to me about LeBron's uncontested drives to the basket or Durant shooting 20 fts. I'm not blaming or singling them out either, it's just not fun for me to watch a game without defense where refs have so much power. And after years of games being called like this, how many drives do you just see defenders letting ballhandlers go by not to pickup a foul. To me (and this is just my opinion), that's not basketball. Basketball at its best is a physical, competitive game where people can get mad, yell, and take shots at each other. It really hasn't been like this since the early/mid 2000s, so yes, even ignoring the massive disparity between good and bad teams, I think the NBA currently is a bad product.

I hate both teams, but the Lakers-Celtics 2010 game 7 was one of the better games i've seen in recent memory, and it was obviously more intense because it was a game 7 finals game, but there were a lot less touch fouls. I remember being surprised that the game wasn't being stopped every minute because guys were fighting for rebounds. It was one of the better refereed games I've seen in the NBA in a while and the refs really let them play. I absolutely hate both teams, but that game to me was real basketball, and it was a good product. Watch that game again, if it were a 2014 Heat game there would've been 40 more fouls and 5 techs. I can understand why people just like seeing tons of scoring, uncontested dunks and threes, but I think that's a bad product.

We've actually reached the point where Euro's come over and can't believe how much softer it is here. When Gallinari said that about the NBA as a rookie, I knew we went too far.

YES.

 

[pmatic]

You guys can keep the late 90s-early 00s NBA games. As much as I appreciate defense, no way I'll be entertained with 84-82 games.

 

[100027]

You guys can keep the late 90s-early 00s NBA games. As much as I appreciate defense, no way I'll be entertained with 84-82 games.

I like high scoring, free flowing basketball...  But what's the difference between a 105-100 game and an 85-80 game when the entire point difference comes from 20 more free throws?  Might look better in the paper the next day, but it's not exactly fun to watch.

 

[victor page]

What's the point of conferences and divisions if the playoffs are best 16 teams? There'd be a heap of scheduling and traveling issues that would pop up. You'd have to reconfigure the entire system of how games are played. Competitive balance is always going to fluctuate. Deal with it.

Too many people live in the moment. Word to people saying teams like the Bucks, Sixers, etc. should be contracted. These are teams that were perennial playoff squads not that long ago. Should we contract the Lakers and the Knicks too? Did we all forget the Clippers were trash for most of their existence?