Thank God I like Football more than Basketball

[The Frankish Reich]

1 hour ago, hjnick said:

Totally agree.  The NBA is just a 3 point shooting contest now... BORING.

It can be. In my NBA fan life we've gone from the showtime fast break game of the 80s Lakers to the beat 'em up and grind it out Pistons to the clear it out and let the star operate of the 90s Bulls to the kick it out and kill 'em with 3s of the 2010s Warriors and beyond. The pendulum needs to swing back a bit.

Don't get me wrong ... it still impresses the hell out of me to watch Lillard and Curry heave up and make 35 footers on purpose that would have previously been viewed as desperation shots. But I'd like to see a little more of the old physicality, a little more of the one-on-one game from 2-point range, etc.

But for those of you who gave up on the NBA last year, let me assure you: you missed one hell of a playoffs in the bubble, right up until the finals (which really weren't competitive). Some of this is the old East Coast Bias thing as most of the best basketball was being played in the Western Conference. But trust me: there were some thrilling series with some brilliant basketball being played. It was in a way Peak NBA from about the second week of the bubble onward. I don't know if we'll see the same thing this year. Last year teams were rested and in peak condition and it showed.

[MiltonWaddams]

3 hours ago, thenorthremembers said:

My oldest daughter started watching the Portland Trailblazers last year, so I ended up watching quite a few games with her.   In my mind the 2010 Heat killed basketball as they made it more about the player than the team.   I am not sure how the NBA expects fans to be loyal to a team when the stars are constantly changing teams, and the parity is so low.    Long story short, I cant devote my time to a game that allows players to carry the ball half way down the court or a game that is essentially a glorified three point contest.

 

 

Your oldest daughter decided to follow a great team to watch at least. Damian Lillard is so much fun to watch play that game.

I played both basketball and football, so my appreciation for both is very high. I follow them both immensely. I have definitely become a much larger football fan over the years for the pro game. However, I still enjoy watching basketball and appreciate the incredible athleticism that is on display in every game.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

On 11/24/2020 at 10:09 PM, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

There's enough discussion, debate argument every year here about Free agency and how much money available to sign a certain play, what the cap is, dead cap and debate on some of the rules.

 

But imagine if this were all about basketball?  We'd be arguing about how to make the salaries match up, luxury tax, two way contracts, mid level exceptions, The Bird Rule exception, non Bird exception, rookie exception, bi annual exception, traded player exception, supermax contract, who's eligible for the supermax, 5/30% vs 5/25% contracts, Cap holds, Over 38 rule, sign and trades, and much more.

 

Would there even be any time left to talk about actual play in games?

 I am a big bball fan, but never took the time to understand the CBA and all these contracts and exemptions. If you don't understand that stuff, it makes the NBA trades to be totally mind boggling. I remember for years that Brendan Haywood was like the most valuable player in the NBA because everyone wanted his contract--it was pretty bizarre and funny.

 

 

[C.Biscuit97]

1 hour ago, MrSarcasm said:

Basketball guarantees small market teams cannot do well unless they hit the lottery and draft a generational player-even then that generational player leaves for the bigger market when given the chance.

Basketball sucks.

The Utah Jazz have the best record in the nba. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

Basketball in the 80s - 00 was fun to watch but now it is unwatchable. I’m glad Buffalo just has my two favorite sports, NFL and NHL. For Baseball I root for the Cubs and Blue Jays but it’s hard to watch a full baseball game. Soccer is only growing on me because my son plays it and I’ve been getting into it recently. I only watch Tennis to see how Jesica Pegula is doing. 

[C.Biscuit97]

7 minutes ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

Basketball in the 80s - 00 was fun to watch but now it is unwatchable. I’m glad Buffalo just has my two favorite sports, NFL and NHL. For Baseball I root for the Cubs and Blue Jays but it’s hard to watch a full baseball game. Soccer is only growing on me because my son plays it and I’ve been getting into it recently. I only watch Tennis to see how Jesica Pegula is doing. 

NBA playoff basketball is very good.

[JMF2006]

Not to hard to follow all that when they have 10 or 11 guys on a team  

 

I remember trying to play in a church league when I was 10/11 yrs old.

 

I always got caught for double dribbling or travelling  

 

I was better at hockey so I just played horse in the park court 

 

 

[MrSarcasm]

12 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

The Utah Jazz have the best record in the nba. 

Yep and that has led to how many championships? The NBA is the epitome of- team has great regular season- team is out of the playoffs 1st round.

Edited February 18, 2021 by MrSarcasm

[C.Biscuit97]

1 minute ago, MrSarcasm said:

Yep and that has led to how many championships? 

I don’t get this point. How many championships has Buffalo won? Or Cleveland? 
 

I do think it’s harder to keep your stars in basketball but I was pointing out that the smallest market had the best record. Portland and Milwaukee are also really good teams. 

[MrSarcasm]

4 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

I don’t get this point. How many championships has Buffalo won? Or Cleveland? 
 

I do think it’s harder to keep your stars in basketball but I was pointing out that the smallest market had the best record. Portland and Milwaukee are also really good teams. 

When was the last time a bottom 10 market team won in the NBA? 1971 Milwaukee Bucks. Now compare to the NFL where the Packers did it in 2010 and the Chiefs did it last year( are Chiefs small market?)

 

Their is no parody in the NBA- this is really not debatable.

Edited February 18, 2021 by MrSarcasm

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

2 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

NBA playoff basketball is very good.

After watching MJ play I guess anything would look bad once he’s gone. I guess I can relate it to being married to Scarlett Johansson and then being with Sarah Jessica Parker.
 

 

[C.Biscuit97]

1 hour ago, MrSarcasm said:

When was the last time a bottom 10 market team won in the NBA? 1971 Milwaukee Bucks. Now compare to the NFL where the Packers did it in 2010 and the Chiefs did it last year( are Chiefs small market?)

 

Their is no parody in the NBA- this is really not debatable.

The Cleveland cavs 4 years ago. Toronto is a big market but is a bottom nba market and won it 2 years ago. 

1 hour ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

After watching MJ play I guess anything would look bad once he’s gone. I guess I can relate it to being married to Scarlett Johansson and then being with Sarah Jessica Parker.
 

 

Honestly, as great as Jordan was and how tough the league was back then, it was kinda awful basketball. I do agree the 3s of gotten out of control (and too many fouls) but basketball is a way smoother game now. 

[Nextmanup]

On 11/24/2020 at 10:09 PM, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

There's enough discussion, debate argument every year here about Free agency and how much money available to sign a certain play, what the cap is, dead cap and debate on some of the rules.

 

But imagine if this were all about basketball?  We'd be arguing about how to make the salaries match up, luxury tax, two way contracts, mid level exceptions, The Bird Rule exception, non Bird exception, rookie exception, bi annual exception, traded player exception, supermax contract, who's eligible for the supermax, 5/30% vs 5/25% contracts, Cap holds, Over 38 rule, sign and trades, and much more.

 

Would there even be any time left to talk about actual play in games?

There are a lot of modern sports fans who seem to thrive exclusively on this aspect of sports.

 

They enjoy playing the role of the GM, and seem to be quite knowledgeable on even the fine print in the CBA.

 

I never got that.  Nothing is further removed from the fun of watching a sporting competition than the legal drudgery of sorting out a CBA, and I'm an attorney! 

 

I come to sports entirely to leave stuff like that behind.

 

 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

38 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

The Cleveland cavs 4 years ago. Toronto is a big market but is a bottom nba market and won it 2 years ago. 

Honestly, as great as Jordan was and how tough the league was back then, it was kinda awful basketball. I do agree the 3s of gotten out of control (and too many fouls) but basketball is a way smoother game now. 

I liked watching the big guys fighting for position in the paint and all the elbows and hand checking. All the crazy dunks and players were allowed to do crazy things. When the Bulls and Pistons played it was a brawl. Jordan would get absolutely pummeled in those games and they were so entertaining to watch. 
 

The few games that I have watched in the last few years is three pointer, foul, commercial, repeat. I just can’t watch it. 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

42 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

There are a lot of modern sports fans who seem to thrive exclusively on this aspect of sports.

 

They enjoy playing the role of the GM, and seem to be quite knowledgeable on even the fine print in the CBA.

 

I never got that.  Nothing is further removed from the fun of watching a sporting competition than the legal drudgery of sorting out a CBA, and I'm an attorney! 

 

I come to sports entirely to leave stuff like that behind.

 

 

 

I don't mind the GM role, but like to keep it simple, i.e. easily understand the Bills situation and who/what they can do to free up money.  But basketball seems to be in another universe.  There to play the GM role takes quite the education and/or time.

[without a drought]

On 11/25/2020 at 8:49 AM, teef said:

i thank god i like football more than jai alai.

Says no one.

 

 

 

 

 

[LabattBlue]

46 minutes ago, without a drought said:

Says no one.

 

 

 

 

 

5-6 years ago, I had an opportunity to see Jai Alai at a place not to far from Ft Lauderdale airport....maybe in Hollywood, FL?  It was a lot of fun, no charge to get in, you could bet on the games, and you could bring in your own food and drink as they were in the middle of a remodel at the time.

Edited February 18, 2021 by BTB

[The Frankish Reich]

7 hours ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

The Cleveland cavs 4 years ago. Toronto is a big market but is a bottom nba market and won it 2 years ago. 

Honestly, as great as Jordan was and how tough the league was back then, it was kinda awful basketball. I do agree the 3s of gotten out of control (and too many fouls) but basketball is a way smoother game now. 

You mean Cleveland isn't a top ten market? 😀 That sure didn't take a lot of research.

Look, the NBA can be frustrating ever since LeBron set the tone for "I'm moving on and finding my own Big 3 to play for someone else" thing. But there's a rough kind of parity in that the dominant teams change over the course of a year or three. Toronto a couple years ago. The Lakers were horrible before they got Anthony Davis; he may need achilles surgery before too long, and that may kill their chances again. Dallas, Denver, Portland - one of them may get hot and win it (I don't think Utah has the playoff juice). Will the crazy Nets Harden-Durant-Irving thing work? The Celtics looked solid, now, meh. Why can't Milwaukee get over the hump? It's a really good competitive league. The season is too long - last year showed us the gains in quality of play a shorter or interrupted season can bring. (No fan wants to pay a few hundred bucks a ticket to see a star player only to see that he's not playing due to "load management" - they ought to give a 50% refund or something.) But the league is healthy and popular, and as many have noticed, the NFL is heading in exactly the same direction where star players have the ultimate say in who they're playing for and who they're playing with.

[purple haze]

On 11/25/2020 at 10:03 AM, BITE ME said:

 

MLB and NBA ratings were in decline before Covid.  Now they are just cratering  The NFL is doing fine. Barely down 6 percent this year. It is a juggernaut.

 

MLB and the NBA have problems.  One is basically and old white person's sport. The other a young black person's sport.  Recipes for disaster. MLB has lost virtually all of it's young viewers and most of it's African American viewers.  Basketball is hemorrhaging  it's white viewers across all ages and Hispanics and Asians in the US have no real interest.

Soccer is growing and will continue to grow.  It has the perfect demographics for the future.
 

Data does not lie. Baseball and Basketball have to either grow overseas or they are heading towards hockey numbers.

Basketball is a global sport and there is a strong international presence at every level of the NBA.  They aren’t suffering for fans.  The young people who watch don’t necessarily do it on traditional television sets either.  Phones and computers have overtaken that.

[Buftex]

15 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

It can be. In my NBA fan life we've gone from the showtime fast break game of the 80s Lakers to the beat 'em up and grind it out Pistons to the clear it out and let the star operate of the 90s Bulls to the kick it out and kill 'em with 3s of the 2010s Warriors and beyond. The pendulum needs to swing back a bit.

Don't get me wrong ... it still impresses the hell out of me to watch Lillard and Curry heave up and make 35 footers on purpose that would have previously been viewed as desperation shots. But I'd like to see a little more of the old physicality, a little more of the one-on-one game from 2-point range, etc.

But for those of you who gave up on the NBA last year, let me assure you: you missed one hell of a playoffs in the bubble, right up until the finals (which really weren't competitive). Some of this is the old East Coast Bias thing as most of the best basketball was being played in the Western Conference. But trust me: there were some thrilling series with some brilliant basketball being played. It was in a way Peak NBA from about the second week of the bubble onward. I don't know if we'll see the same thing this year. Last year teams were rested and in peak condition and it showed.

I am an unapologetic NBA fan...but I am sort of with you on this.  What the Warriors did was amazing...but it lead to a lot of really horrible basketball in recent seasons.  Nobdy is afraid to take a 3 point shot anymore...and guys who are good shooters in general, just take bad shots too often.  I have seen my teams leading games comfortably, when all they have to do is take what the defense gives them (2ptrs.) and play a modicum of defense.  Instead, they start jacking up rediculous 3 point shots, missing them, and letting the other team back in the game.  It is incredibly frustrating to watch.  I know, old guy...I still enjoy the game, but i liked it so much more when each team had one or two "snipers" in their lineup. and 3 point shots were exciting.  Great, you made 5 threes in a row...but what about the 8 in a row you missed before that?