Ever since Michael Jordan’s third retirement, League Commissioner David Stern has been faced with increasing pressure as fan interest on domestic soil has been consistently on the fall. Amidst a lack of a true heir to MJ, criminal charges, hip-hop culture, domestic violence, brawls, and now a reffing scandal – natural growth for the sport has naturally become inconceivable. First the NBA did what any other MNC is doing these days, and that is gaining a new market by banking on globalization. While this has been largely successful, it hasn’t changed things back at home, as clearly shown by the worst ratings ever for a Finals series this year.
So David Stern and the League Office, instead, have tweaked with the game to try to make it more viewer friendly, to make it more ‘entertaining’. While this has certainly helped attract new fans into the league, with players like Wade and LeBron becoming the heroes of so many unsuspecting fans and teenage girls across homes, it has taken chunks out of the game that has no doubt left hardcore fans, true fans that have stuck by the league in lockout seasons and recent bad years, out in the cold.
Why go Casual?
Let me first warn you that what is about to follow is not for the casual basketball/sports fan, so if that’s you then STOP reading immediately. Now that that’s out of the way, I can tell you without any guilt or remorse, why casual basketball fans have and will keep ruining the sport of basketball for us true fans. For any of the casual fans that have passed through the filter I carefully planted at the beginning of this paragraph, don’t be too mad, the hate is not directed at you. Fact of the matter is it’s not really your fault but the fault of the NBA for wanting to grow and become more important by any means necessary.
Yes, they could have clearly co-existed without making any changes despite slumps in ratings. NBA revenues might have fallen, stadiums attendances as well, but at the end of the day this would only lower the player’s salaries. So what if Rashard Lewis makes 7million per year rather than the 20 or so he will average for the next 6 season. You think he’s going to say “Ah screw it, I’m gonna go take that job at Wal-Mart”? European/International basketball is no where near offering the same salaries as the NBA so there isn’t even anywhere he can go play basketball. Oh wait I almost forgot, he can join the And1 Tour and make some pocket change embarrassing a 48 year old man called “Half-Man Half Amazing”. Oh and if the Players threaten a lockout, you can read them that last line I just wrote, it should send chills down their spine. Alternatively teach them a little something about free market economics, or yet just basic maths – a team making 40 million can’t spend 50 million on its players.
Why does the NBA want to grow and grow, 70% of the revenue goes to the players anyways. As much as I love the NBA and its players, I am getting sick of getting screwed over with far less than ideal basketball so the likes of Juwan Howard can make 20 million per year. I would never spend couple hundreds of my hard earned money on an NBA game, unless it’s Kobe in a game 7 of the Playoffs. Is this what the game has fallen down to – me, an NBA fan since I learned to open my eyes and stare at a TV screen, doesn’t want to go see a game? As a fan, should I care that the League becomes more profitable, should I care that more people watch, should I care that the WNBA/NBDL exists? No. If it is entertainment that you are trying to sell me, Mr. Stern then I don’t care about any of those things. I don’t care about woman’s basketball, why should I support it, you’re just selling me entertainment after all, not a sport, not an art form. You don’t care about spreading the beauty of the game, you’re the one ruining it to increase your profits!
NBA: Entertainment, not Sport
There’s a reason why true basketball connoisseurs laugh at the USA ‘dream’ team every time it ‘unexpectedly’ gets crushed by international opposition. Back in the day I use to cheer for the Dream Team, the original and only ‘Dream Team’ that is. It was a team whose life was basketball, who earned the respect of their ‘colleagues’ around the world with playoff wars that left the viewers in pain, awe, and appreciation. Then you look at the last couple teams that strolled in with complete arrogance, eliteness, headbands, and fancy high-fives. The players? The likes of LeBron, Dwayne, Bosh – who are the leaders of this new NBA, already regarded as heroes for a couple years of living and dieing by the referee’s tight calls. Do I need to mention what happened with these NBA heroes at these international tournaments? Dwayne realized he can’t shoot, and that he needs to run over a couple people then jump into a couple more to score/get fouled. Same for LeBron. Chris Bosh, meanwhile, looked like a Dinosaur (in more ways than one) wondering where the hell he was.
Charge after charge, travel after travel, miss after miss – my hope for basketball began to grow again. I thought perhaps after 3 successive major tournaments without a championship, that the NBA and USA might learn its lesson. It might perhaps learn that what they are playing over there in America isn’t real basketball. It isnt a sport that was designed to use all 5 players to the max, it isnt a sport where teamwork above anything else is important, it isn’t a sport that gives sacrifice, intelligence, or camaraderie any where near the amount of respect it deserves. Unfortunately, the Americans haven’t learned a thing. They have always been known for repeating mistakes they have previously made, this is no exception. You have rules that prevent players from taking charges in specific places, you have rules preventing teams to properly play defense as a team, you have rules preventing your bench team mates to give you support when something breaks out on the court. Meanwhile, international players keep taking over the NBA and not because of superior athleticism, but simply because they know what the game is about – smart teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns have taken advantage of this.
What kind of league is this?
We have taken out the most important ingredients of basketball and replaced it with high flyers, one-on-ones, star players, and highlights. “Oh we dont want players to get called for travel, the casual fan might Exercise/”>Lose interest and switch over to watch WWE instead”. “Lets put this little circle below the free-throw line where players cant stand, so there can be more dunks in a game, you know how much those random fans love to see dunks.” “Oh and lets not allow players to dress ‘wrong’, or bench players to rush on to the court, that might lead to the perception that we condone gangsters and fights.” “Hey, lets tighten the officiating so maybe we can see someone score loads like MJ did.” So what’s left? A league where basketball is eroding, and entertainment is taking over.
Darkening memories of the Past
The current state of the league doesn’t stop at abysmal basketball today, but also darkens our memory of basketball in the past. Do you remember back in the day, when 50 point games would wow you and be on your mind the rest of the day. I do, although very vaguely. Today, everyone and their mother is scoring 50 points. The officiating has become so tight, that drivers and slashers have started to receive a huge advantage over not only over the current batch of shooters/post players, but over the drivers/slashers of the past. LeBron James and Dwayne Wade don’t deserve to be even mentioned in the same sentence as Michael Jordan. Both have used the horrid state of the Eastern Conference, and referee protection to turn themselves into superstars and downright legends. Worst of it is that everyone is buying into this. There are very few amounts of people that don’t realize that Wade’s performance in the Finals, and LBJ’s performance in this year’s playoffs were far far less impressive than people make it out to be. When years pass, and us crazy ‘conspiracy theorists’ are no longer around, what do you think the general public is going to remember and believe.
Adios NBA Basketball
I’ve said a lot, more than I wished to say on this topic. Very few people will probably derive any meaning or even sense from this article. I guess this is just something that I needed to get out of me, this was my way of finally accepting the fate of the NBA. I will never say goodbye to basketball in general, but it certainly feels like this was a goodbye to basketball in its highest form. I’ll still see real basketball, when I watch kids playing out in the streets just battling to stay on the court, I’ll still see basketball in high schools where kids listen to their coach and execute plays and win as a true team – I’ll still see basketball and that, no greedy businessmen can ever take away from me. However as far as the NBA is concerned, this is it, adios. When I look at you from now on, it will not be basketball that I watch, but mere entertainment.
