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OT: ideas to improve NBA product

Zeldas Open Roof

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ok, this one is pretty out there but i saw it and thought it was interesting. what are your thoughts?


 
ok, this one is pretty out there but i saw it and thought it was interesting. what are your thoughts?



Ratings are way down and the belief is that its due to the amount of 3 pointers teams are taking. The game has just become a contest of teams shooting "warm-up" 3 pointers with very little defensive effort to limit these attempts.

The solution to this is simple. Move the 3 point line back until you get the attempts and 3 FG% you are looking for. Maybe start out moving it back 2 feet and see how that works. Also, you cut the 3 point line off when the line reaches the sidelines. Maybe that is the FT line extended as Chris Broussard says. The corner 3 should not exist.
 
Ratings are way down and the belief is that its due to the amount of 3 pointers teams are taking. The game has just become a contest of teams shooting "warm-up" 3 pointers with very little defensive effort to limit these attempts.

The solution to this is simple. Move the 3 point line back until you get the attempts and 3 FG% you are looking for. Maybe start out moving it back 2 feet and see how that works. Also, you cut the 3 point line off when the line reaches the sidelines. Maybe that is the FT line extended as Chris Broussard says. The corner 3 should not exist.
I agree 100%. The 3 is too much a weapon and you get a foul called too frequently.
 
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I wonder if you guys know that after great ratings (especially considering there were NFL games that day) on Christmas Day, up 87% over last year, that ESPN/ABC's NBA ratings are now up 5% on the season.

It's almost like as if reading too much into November basketball ratings isn't really the smartest idea ever.
 
1. Call traveling
2. Stop calling every little ticky tack contact foul, particularly on the stars. No one wants to watch a free throw shooting contest
3. Stop with the divisive political posturing. Playing political games pushes people away. Like cinema, sports are an escape from real world stuff
 
I wonder if you guys know that after great ratings (especially considering there were NFL games that day) on Christmas Day, up 87% over last year, that ESPN/ABC's NBA ratings are now up 5% on the season.

It's almost like as if reading too much into November basketball ratings isn't really the smartest idea ever.
Yea the Christmas games were blowouts for the ratings, some really good games too esp the Lakers Warriors.

All of these “fixes” are stupid. No one will care about the NBA’s politics, or the 3 point line, if the NBA has stars people care about. The league right now is just transitioning between older US stars (Lebron/Curry) and younger global stars (Luka, Wemby).

The league has more cash than they know what to do with. Expansion is coming the talent pool is so good. Amazon just gave them one of the richest tv deals ever. People act like the league is dying lol.

It’s positioned behind the NFL and ahead of everything else. That’s not a bad spot to be in
 
Yea the Christmas games were blowouts for the ratings, some really good games too esp the Lakers Warriors.

All of these “fixes” are stupid. No one will care about the NBA’s politics, or the 3 point line, if the NBA has stars people care about. The league right now is just transitioning between older US stars (Lebron/Curry) and younger global stars (Luka, Wemby).

The league has more cash than they know what to do with. Expansion is coming the talent pool is so good. Amazon just gave them one of the richest tv deals ever. People act like the league is dying lol.

It’s positioned behind the NFL and ahead of everything else. That’s not a bad spot to be in

Its too much 3 point shooting. It's bad basketball. The league was down in ratings until historic Christmas Day ratings put it ahead of last year.
 
The people that say the 3 point shooting is bad for the NBA crack me up. Please watch a game from the 90s and tell me it is more entertaining.. you can't. There is absolutely no spacing no ball movement and nobody wants to watch a bunch of post ups. Caitlin Clark said it best on the Kelce podcast today.. The players are just so good it looks like they aren't even trying or playing defense but it is almost impossible to play defense with how talented the players are nowadays. The main problem is there are too many games or they should move the season back to start on christmas and not in novemeber.
 
Its too much 3 point shooting. It's bad basketball. The league was down in ratings until historic Christmas Day ratings put it ahead of last year.
I don’t even think the league cares about tv ratings really. It’s all about engagement. Do they care about eyeballs on tv, or on YouTube? The league right now is historically rich and successful, but bashing the NBA is the new hot take.

No one is going to be watching November/December basketball if they shoot 10 less threes a game. That’s just stupid. If you have players people care about any style of play works.

Like I said, they are going to for the foreseeable future be the 2nd most important sports product in the US after the NFL. That’s how they are being paid, and will be paid. No one under 30 cares about the amount of 3s being shot lol.
 
The people that say the 3 point shooting is bad for the NBA crack me up. Please watch a game from the 90s and tell me it is more entertaining.. you can't. There is absolutely no spacing no ball movement and nobody wants to watch a bunch of post ups. Caitlin Clark said it best on the Kelce podcast today.. The players are just so good it looks like they aren't even trying or playing defense but it is almost impossible to play defense with how talented the players are nowadays. The main problem is there are too many games or they should move the season back to start on christmas and not in novemeber.
My son and all his friends love the “we done with the 90s” clips lol. Go back and actually watch like a Bulls/Lakers series from 1990 or any NBA finals from those years. The skill level is awful lol.

But yes, the ratings were higher, for about 100 reasons, none of which are 3 point shooting.
 
This would almost be an interesting discussion if anyone here was interested in actually having a good faith discussion about it.
 
My son and all his friends love the “we done with the 90s” clips lol. Go back and actually watch like a Bulls/Lakers series from 1990 or any NBA finals from those years. The skill level is awful lol.

But yes, the ratings were higher, for about 100 reasons, none of which are 3 point shooting.

I love those. I saw one from the 60s recently and I swear if you dropped me into a time warp, I could have made one of those teams. Well, maybe not but those 60s teams would have gone winless in the Atlantic 10. Players have gotten so much better. But I agree with Caitlin Clark as that's also part of the problem. Players have gotten so offensively talented that it's extremely hard to defend these guys. They shoot to well, they are too quick and can go by you. You can't defend that. So some don't realistically try and some do try but it looks like they aren't. NBA play is very very close to watching your kid play NBA 2K on Xbox. Very close. And for me, that's not watchable. I prefer college basketball because I appreciate the variability. Players miss shots. There are turnovers. Every possession matters.
 
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I love those. I saw one from the 60s recently and I swear if you dropped me into a time warp, I could have made one of those teams. Well, maybe not but those 60s teams would have gone winless in the Atlantic 10. Players have gotten so much better. But I agree with Caitlin Clark as that's also part of the problem. Players have gotten so offensively talented that it's extremely hard to defend these guys. They shoot to well, they are too quick and can go by you. You can't defend that. So some don't realistically try and some do try but it looks like they aren't. NBA play is very very close to watching your kid play NBA 2K on Xbox. Very close. And for me, that's not watchable. I prefer college basketball because I appreciate the variability. Players miss shots. There are turnovers. Every possession matters.
I get that. I also think if you have the NBA pass and you really watch a lot of the teams there is variance in the NBA as well. There are some really, really good defensive teams and players in the league . But the skill level is just so off the charts.


My son had me convinced that any random Rob Dillingham highlight would be one of the best plays of Michael Jordan’s career and by the end of the argument I feel like he made some valid points..
 
Ratings are way down and the belief is that its due to the amount of 3 pointers teams are taking. The game has just become a contest of teams shooting "warm-up" 3 pointers with very little defensive effort to limit these attempts.

The solution to this is simple. Move the 3 point line back until you get the attempts and 3 FG% you are looking for. Maybe start out moving it back 2 feet and see how that works. Also, you cut the 3 point line off when the line reaches the sidelines. Maybe that is the FT line extended as Chris Broussard says. The corner 3 should not exist.
Yeah. I've thought this for a while. I'd do the sake in college too.
 
1. Call traveling
2. Stop calling every little ticky tack contact foul, particularly on the stars. No one wants to watch a free throw shooting contest
3. Stop with the divisive political posturing. Playing political games pushes people away. Like cinema, sports are an escape from real world stuff
Maybe I missed it, but what divisive political posturing is going on?
 
I get that. I also think if you have the NBA pass and you really watch a lot of the teams there is variance in the NBA as well. There are some really, really good defensive teams and players in the league . But the skill level is just so off the charts.


My son had me convinced that any random Rob Dillingham highlight would be one of the best plays of Michael Jordan’s career and by the end of the argument I feel like he made some valid points..

You almost can't say this as it's sacrilegious but I feel like if you dropped prime Jordan into today's NBA, he wouldn't be an All-Star. I'm talking straight into a time machine without modern-day training. He was great because he his athleticism and skill were way ahead of its time but everyone has that ability now it seems.
 
I’ve used the Clark argument before. I mean, how good do you need to be defensively to stop Giannis from driving the lane? Or prevent jokic from scoring and distributing? It’s almost not possible.

The problem is, there is too much crap like this:



The greatest 3 point shooter in the history of mankind is left wide open to take a shot at the end of a game. I don’t know if Christie expected reaves to switch or what, but it’s just a terrible look defensively to let a man with 3800 career 3 pointers made get that open at that moment of the game. You just go under a screen and just stop and give curry that look? It’s inexplicable
 
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Maybe I missed it, but what divisive political posturing is going on?
Im not getting into the details because Im not starting down THAT rabbit hole.

But the NBA has made no secret of where it stands on the "issues". That will push away those who disagree with that stance. We saw it in the corporate world, and it exists in sports too.
 
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They won't do it, but why not just eliminate the 3 point line, period? Teams will still have the deep shot because it is hard to defend that far away from the basket. But at least you won't be rewarding them for that shot with the extra point. It creates more incentive for developing a mid range or post game. Or the other thing they could do is only award an extra point after every third or fourth shot hit from behind the line or something like that.
 
They won't do it, but why not just eliminate the 3 point line, period? Teams will still have the deep shot because it is hard to defend that far away from the basket. But at least you won't be rewarding them for that shot with the extra point. It creates more incentive for developing a mid range or post game. Or the other thing they could do is only award an extra point after every third or fourth shot hit from behind the line or something like that.
I mean I think this argument has now jumped the shark. We are going to eliminate the 3 point line altogether because ratings which were now down, are up? People will come back to the NBA and watch in droves if we shoot a bunch of 18 footers or get back to slow developing post play?

Maybe we should go back to the 1950s and outlaw the dunk? The way people are talking on this thread I imagine there is a lot about 1950s basketball which they would prefer.

Again, the NBA doesn’t care. More eyeballs are on the sport than ever. They have more money than ever. So solutions like - eliminate 30% of the season - uh no. Baseball is so desperate they are going to a “golden batter” rule which makes absolutely no sense. Literally no one cares about hockey. The NBA is largely fine, how many sports right now have enough cash and talent that they are going to be adding teams?
 
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Im not getting into the details because Im not starting down THAT rabbit hole.

But the NBA has made no secret of where it stands on the "issues". That will push away those who disagree with that stance. We saw it in the corporate world, and it exists in sports too.
Then dont watch, just like NfL, which is at record lows right after all the political stuff. It is only divisive because of small minded individuals who think different is dangerous.
 
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You almost can't say this as it's sacrilegious but I feel like if you dropped prime Jordan into today's NBA, he wouldn't be an All-Star. I'm talking straight into a time machine without modern-day training. He was great because he his athleticism and skill were way ahead of its time but everyone has that ability now it seems.
It’s a remarkable feat - you continue to find ways to outdo yourself.
 
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Then dont watch, just like NfL, which is at record lows right after all the political stuff. It is only divisive because of small minded individuals who think different is dangerous.
Yea I saw like 24 of 32 local markets the NFL ratings are down. Maybe we should get rid of the forward pass?

How about this - all ratings are down everywhere, for literally everything. No one watches anything the same way they did 5, 10, 20 years ago.
 
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I mean I think this argument has now jumped the shark. We are going to eliminate the 3 point line altogether because ratings which were now down, are up? People will come back to the NBA and watch in droves if we shoot a bunch of 18 footers or get back to slow developing post play?

Maybe we should go back to the 1950s and outlaw the dunk? The way people are talking on this thread I imagine there is a lot about 1950s basketball which they would prefer.

Again, the NBA doesn’t care. More eyeballs are on the sport than ever. They have more money than ever. So solutions like - eliminate 30% of the season - uh no. Baseball is so desperate they are going to a “golden batter” rule which makes absolutely no sense. Literally no one cares about hockey. The NBA is largely fine, how many sports right now have enough cash and talent that they are going to be adding teams?

Eliminating the 3 point line is dumb. Just need to move it back and eliminate the corner 3 to discourage teams from taking so many. That encourages teams to play more "regular basketball" which is more entertaining than a 3 point shooting contest. This doesn't mean there won't be any 3s taken. Just less. And you get to see more real basketball.
 
I mean I think this argument has now jumped the shark. We are going to eliminate the 3 point line altogether because ratings which were now down, are up? People will come back to the NBA and watch in droves if we shoot a bunch of 18 footers or get back to slow developing post play?
Yeah they'll never do it. But I grew up in the late 80s and 90s so I was raised on the slugfests that existed in the NBA back then, and I am somewhat nostalgic for that basketball. I'm sure the current generation thinks it was bad basketball, but as Pittsburgher with no real allegiance to any particular team, I generally thought those intense rivalries made for compelling story lines. There's some dislike that exists between certain players and teams today but I don't think it's on the level that we had back then. It's also a fine line, you don't want to so much bad blood that you end up with the malice in the palace.
 
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Yeah they'll never do it. But I grew up in the late 80s and 90s so I was raised on the slugfests that existed in the NBA back then, and I am somewhat nostalgic for that basketball. I'm sure the current generation thinks it was bad basketball, but as Pittsburgher with no real allegiance to any particular team, I generally thought those intense rivalries made for compelling story lines. There's some dislike that exists between certain players and teams today but I don't think it's on the level that we had back then. It's also a fine line, you don't want to so much bad blood that you end up with the malice in the palace.
im the same way.. i grew up watching the 80's and loved it. not even just the lake show and celts but teams like the hawks with dominique and will, the trailblazers with Clyde the glide and Porter, Houston was fun to watch with Olajuwon and then i jumped on the knicks bandwagon big time and i loved those teams in the late 80's and into the early 90s.

Of course the dominance of the bulls, the bad boys. Just really nostalgic and great times as an nba fan in my opinion. but yeah, new generations will say the same thing in 20 years about this league while old heads will talk about jerry west and oscar robinson, george gervin while i roll my eyes. that's how it works .
 
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nah, all it needs is more fighting and super cool intro music for every game.."they're on the floor and ready to score"..don't write em like that anymore...
i just listened to "basketball" by Curtis blow last week. had my alexa play it. I freakin loved that song growing up. thought it was like the best rap song ever..

Spoiler alert, it isnt, it wasnt and its terrible..
 
i just listened to "basketball" by Curtis blow last week. had my alexa play it. I freakin loved that song growing up. thought it was like the best rap song ever..

Spoiler alert, it isnt, it wasnt and its terrible..
then I won't even bring up Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces as it was before your time...
 
The 3 point line is not the problem. Just because Lebron says so doesn’t make it so. Ever consider that Lebron is making stuff up out of denial? People like 3pt shooting. People don’t like him. And I live in LA and see people everyday who can’t stand the guy. So I can’t imagine what it’s like throughout the country.
Eliminating the 3 point line is dumb. Just need to move it back and eliminate the corner 3 to discourage teams from taking so many. That encourages teams to play more "regular basketball" which is more entertaining than a 3 point shooting contest. This doesn't mean there won't be any 3s taken. Just less. And you get to see more real basketball.
 
Yeah they'll never do it. But I grew up in the late 80s and 90s so I was raised on the slugfests that existed in the NBA back then, and I am somewhat nostalgic for that basketball. I'm sure the current generation thinks it was bad basketball, but as Pittsburgher with no real allegiance to any particular team, I generally thought those intense rivalries made for compelling story lines. There's some dislike that exists between certain players and teams today but I don't think it's on the level that we had back then. It's also a fine line, you don't want to so much bad blood that you end up with the malice in the palace.
You said the key word there - nostalgia. Everything was better in the 80/90s, right? I was there too.

Except my kids are going to be longing for the days of 60 three pointers in a game becuase that is how they are growing up.

Every generation longs for the culture, music, movies, sports from when they were 13-30 year olds. They just do. It’s a rational response. But this NBA, in whatever bastardized form it is, is in many ways better than a 1990s NBA game. And I challenge anyone to actually watch a game from then again and tell me otherwise.
 
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But this NBA, in whatever bastardized form it is, is in many ways better than a 1990s NBA game. And I challenge anyone to actually watch a game from then again and tell me otherwise.
i watched a few games and i want to rip my eyes out of my socket. so i'll respectfully disagree.
 
We need more rivalries and better storylines to go along with them. That will attract the casual basketball fans.
 
That’s fine. Now go on YouTube. Force yourself to watch a 1991 Bucks-Pacers game and tell me how much more fun you have. (It won’t be much)
lol, can i watch a knicks vs pistons game or something better? i hate the pacers.

i cant watch terry cummings in the league's ugliest uniforms go against mark jackson and that tall awkward white blonde hair dude. it would be painful., i agree.
 
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