ratings are actually going up this year... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/More-viewers-tuning-into-NBA-apf-2974858881.html?x=0&.v=1
Many many reasons for ratings decline. One is the players involved and the cities involved. Boston vs. L.A. with Kobe is going to be a bigger draw than Detroit and San Antonio. But even more significant is that ratings across all sports are down. People just have so many entertainment options now. You have hundreds of channels to watch, tons of video games to play, netflixs and what not. In the 80's a lot of people didn't have more than 6 or 7 channels to choose from.
The league has been watered down like Utah beer, but not for the reasons Lebron so eloquently listed. David Stern has managed to commoditize and micro-manage so many aspects of the game that it's homogenized the styles of play out there. Like the painter that can't stop adding strokes to his masterpiece until its a scribbly mess, the NBA has implemented so many rules that it becomes less about the pure game of basketball and more about how well a player is adapted to the whistle (Kevin Martin). That combined with the collective bargaining power of the union and the age of free agency has watered down the competitive nature of the players. Capitalism at work. This has resulted in a trickle down effect evident in this forum with the endless trade speculation and dream rosters y'all come up with. I may be old school, but I root for the pieces our team has assembled like a ******* blind dog diggin for a bone, and trades really shake my ass up. Question: is it possible that the game of basketball is just fine when governed by streetball rules, or do you think a new rule or two should be added every year like amendments on the constitution? Blah blah blah, soapboxes are lame.
Back then, if you were a basketball junkie you could only watch NBA games on the weekends or crappy Hawks games on TBS. Now, you can watch multiple games every day. I watched so many Hawks games I once thought Dan Roundfield was the greatest PF ever. Damn you Carey!
LeBron is right about the competition being better on the court if a few teams contracted. However, somebody needs to tell LeBron that when you are trying to repair your badly damaged image you might not want to suggest laying off a couple dozen of your fellow union members plus hundreds of people from team administration, concessions, parking attendents, security, souvenir vendors, etc... Especially when there is 10% unemployment or worse throughout the country. Oh well, I guess he doesn't have time to think about the "little people" anymore.
so lebron went to Miami because he cared less about winning? you haters don't realize the stupidity coming through the screen.
ratings went up with Magic/Bird/Jordan, they went down when they left. no need to over analyze it. you think players in the nfl or mlb care less about money than in the nba?
The league needs to get rid of Charlotte, New Orleans, Memphis and Minnesota. The other teams are carrying these teams revenue wise anyway. Have a contraction draft and change the number of players allowed on each squad to be 16 so more players can be assigned to the D league. The league is way too watered down these days. NBA won't do this though. They prefer the big market teams being artificially inflated and looking better than they are by beating up on weak teams to gain fan interest.
I didn't say he didn't care about winning. I said he cared LESS than being in the limelight. If you don't see his attitude ever since he came into the league, then I don't know whose stupidity is that. Look, I used to defend LeBron a lot. I still believe he is the best player in the world, and yes, I would even say that he is arguably more talented than Michael Jordan. But his attitude is not where near those old school players. And look at Melo Anthony. If he really wanted to win, he could have demanded to go to a better team than New York. Heck, he could have just stayed in Denver. Bosh said he wanted to be THE man on a contending team. But what he really cared about is making a documentary of his "decision" last summer. These guys have no competitive fire. They just want an easy and glamorous road.
I think you're showing a little bit of inconsistency here. You're talking about all the young players wanting to be in the limelight rather than playing in small markets. At the same time, you say Melo should prefer Denver over NY because the Nuggets are better. But the Nuggets aren't good enough to win a championship and they will never be attractive to other young stars because they're not a major market. While NY might not be that great right now, if Melo goes there and teams with Amare in a city that is attractive to young stars, they would have a much better chance of becoming contenders than the Nuggets do simply because there will be young stars lining up to play in NY.
If Melo's 1st priority was winning, shouldn't Dallas rank above NY and NJ as his preferred destinations? All the news that's come out so far points to NY and NJ being his preferred destinations, and that his wife is at least part of the reason why he wants to go to NY/NJ.
Debatable. You're assuming Dallas doesn't keep "reloading" on the fly as they've done the last 10 years, and that Amare stays healthy despite D'Antoni playing him heavy minutes. NY being attractive to young stars has not helped it much in the last 10 years has it? Walsh is certainly more competent than Isaiah, but there's already been talk of Isaiah returning due to Walsh's bad health - a Melo/Amare pairing in NY is not a slam dunk to be contenders for the next 6 years to me. Dallas for the next 2 to 3 years is, and beyond that I have more faith in the Mavs as an organization than the Knicks to put a good team around Melo.
^And even if you do think NY is a good option for winning, how do you explain him wanting to go to NJ over Dallas?
Ummm does LeBron know he is part of a union that is currently negotiating a new labor agreement? You don't make a statement that favors the opposing side. How out of touch is this guy?
Thats a bunch of self serving stuff Lebron said. Playing on the sympathies of the "old days" trying to pair it with what he HE'S doing to cast himself favorably. Its McGrady-esqe in my opinion. He has a right to make comments, my underwear doesn't get twisted by the fact he's attempting truthful dialogue. I just respectfully disagree that the content he spoke has any real merit.
