Might also have something to do with trading away the only player on the team who did anything worth watching. But hey, don't let facts get in the way of a good social media post. You lose viewers during a rebuild, it's that simple. Even a not-quite-tanking rebuild like the Blazers are trying to pull off.
So, like.... You're saying the Blazers viewer numbers jumped UP by 68% because they traded away the only player worth watching (Lillard?). Wouldn't that mean they should go down, and not UP by 68%?
I don't agree with those numbers and many of you are correct that it's mostly due to so many ways to watch, people watching condensed games, etc. Another fact is that there is no Jordan or Kobe. The main stars today are overrated and media produced. I can honestly say that outside of the Rockets, I can't think of one team I would want to watch if my team wasn't on. Used to be the Rockets, Bulls, Lakers during my era.
NBA goes out of its way to make it hard to watch games…blackouts of your local team on LP is the stupidest thing, especially when we’re in the era where so many are cutting the cord and ditching cable Luka to the Lakers will help, but these next batch of stars like Shai/Luka/Jokic just do not have the same pull that the guys before them had like Kobe and prime Bron/Steph
I haven't watched more than maybe 3 games all year. One is that I don't have much time, but the other is I refuse to pay for the service that it requires to watch games. I am an og cord cutter and I don't pay for any streaming services at this point, although with my phone plan I get netflix and hulu, which I rarely watch. I spend my entertainment money on collecting 4k movies, and hard to get foreign films on blu ray. I only pay for one thing, at this point: the internet, for 80 bucks a month. Although My 4k movie habit has me spending several hundred dollars a month on movies, since I have particular tastes. The point being is that if it is not free (and sports should be free) I am not watching. And streaming sucks. It is ridiculous that in order to watch the playoffs you need an entire live tv package, especially since: and this is the big one, they still broadcast games in dvd quality. Give me an effing break. My eyes hurt.
The NBA does not know how to market international superstars, they are learning now with Wemby but should have done so long ago. Try that with someone who is only 6 foot 6. That is why you see they treat Jokic like he is a better Bargnani and not a Top 8 All Time talent that he is.
I don’t think it’s that simple. They know how to market international stars, they made tons of money from marketing Yao. Jokić is difficult to market because he relatively quiet and humble and often makes it clear he doesn’t even really love basketball compared to horses. Hard to market a guy who is just like “meh, winning nba championships is cool but I’d rather be a jokey.”
You mean like when he plays? Load management, the fact that 3/4 of teams get into the playoffs. The fact that there is no defense being played in the NBA these days and all they shoot is 3 pointers. The NBA is a dying product. If offense was the be-all and end-all, tell me how come the biggest sport in the world is still soccer? Well there no score in system.
I'm not even sure I understand that. Back when Yao was in the league, the Chinese had never had a superstar player. These days, I doubt a lot of people care about that. And besides, they need to make basketball relevant to people in the US again.
Yeah Yao really made it easy marketing himself for the NBA by being brash and arrogant. Maybe if he were a bit more humble he would have been able to get a favorable whistle from the refs…
Nobody wants to watch lazy fat alcoholic. Dallas was smart to get rid of him while he still had a little value.
Yao wasn't considered the best player on the planet year after year like Jokic. And they're a different type of humble. Yao is the "it's my culture not to be brash," Jokic is "I'm big so I play ball. Me no like ball. Me want play with horsie."